Unless you were concerned about contempt of court
Freelance investigative journalist and writer of original fiction. Creator and one-time editor of the Iraq Inquiry Digest.
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Unless you were concerned about contempt of court
Telling that you only get questions like this from regional BBC journalists, as opposed to the "are you also frightened asylum seekers will assault your daughters, PM?" questions now levelled by their national colleagues
Glasman is a desperate attention seeker.
On my Transport Insights blog I note that the Department for Transport has presented the continuation of an existing funding stream as a "funding boost", while giving a sneaky boost to floating bus stops. transportinsights.blog/2025/09/02/i...
So the institutionally corrupt, institutionally racist Met carried out 40 searches where they believed it was "likely people will have items on them that could be used to commit offences" and made zero arrests. Either they are lying or have very poor intelligence. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Cracking stuff from Press Gazette: "In total 63.24% of the shares in Byline Times Ltd are held anonymously." pressgazette.co.uk/media_busine...
Each day I am astounded and mortified by this countryâs descent into open and brazen racism I am equally astounded and mortified that rather than push back on the malign forces taking us to these dark places - an elected Labour government appears more interested in trying to learn from them
@samcoatessky.bsky.social hi Sam, this morning you stated ââŚthe main opposition parties, the Cons and Reform UKâŚâ Unless I missed 67 Parliamentary by-elections since July, the Lib Dems are very much the main opposition party with the Cons, not Reform. Do we have to keep doing this?
You are treating "Rylan" as if he is a real person, where he is obviously computer-generated. You may as well ask for Max Headroom to be fired.
On my Transport Insights blog, I note that roads minister Lilian Greenwood has described a scheme that her own govt chose last year to have a long, hard look at as a "no-brainer". Meanwhile, it turns out that the future of roads is the same as the past of roads transportinsights.blog/2025/09/01/g...
You don't seem to know how government or grammar work as you seem to think government is simultaneously singular and plural. The ECHR is an international treaty. It cannot be unilaterally amended by a signatory. Anyone who thinks it can because one government minister says so is a gullible idiot.
You donât have the first idea how international agreements work, do yo Brian?
Can Straw, Falconer, and all the other Blair-era war criminals please shut the fuck up
Wonder if Phillipson realises they canât just change the ECHR unilaterally. Unless of course, this is just a pretext to leaving it.
How does Labour amend an international treaty Brian?
This is dumb beyond words and largely the fault of lazy journalists. The UK government cannot amend an international treaty
Moral panic = worrying about stuff that liberals and centrists are too sophisticated to worry about
Only if you wanted someone to mark the passing of President Clinton
From the author of Bring Home the Revolution: âreveals how Americans control of their own lives, shape their own communities and vibrantly assert their rights. This what has made America the diverse, freedom-loving, self-sufficient, independent icon to the worldâ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Classic nepo line www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...
The way that Cooper and Starmer have lied, Blair-like, over this is disgusting. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Definitely worth staying with the BBC News live blog for updates and insights like this
An extension of the belief that if Yvette Cooper were leader, her sheer virtue would have led to a Remain victory somehow something something centrism. While the actual Yvette Cooper is currently supporting the arrest of people holding up pro-Palestine Action signs.
On my Transport Insights blog, I look at another Transport Action Network "National Highways Watch" piece, to which I contributed, which calls out the company's use of designated funds just as the Department for Transport is re-examining their purpose and role. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/29/p...
In this case the emergency areas were officially too far apart (with no prospect of a fix) while the stopped vehicle detection worked as well as could be expected - just not well enough to save Mr O'Reilly's life. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/28/s...
I also note on a further post that a Mr O'Reilly's death highlights problems with both the spacing of emergency areas on smart motorways and over-reliance on technology. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/28/s...
I suggest that Labour is happy to see more deaths on smart motorways, such as that of Kevin O'Reilly in 2023, where the coroner raised concerns about emergency area spacing and National Highways said it was not funded to fix the problem, beyond the NEAR retrofit programme, which finished in March.
On my Transport Insights blog I note that the draft third Road Investment Strategy makes no commitment to improving smart motorway safety, for example by adding emergency areas where the current spacing is longer than the official standard. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/28/d...
"We did a review of all of the studies globally, which included half a million road traffic injuries, and that found that if you are hit by an SUV compared to being hit by a passenger car you are 44% more likely to be killed. Among kids it's higher - it's 82%â www.bbc.com/news/article...
The money was just resting⌠www.theguardian.com/music/2025/a...
The man is pure evil www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
On my Transport Insights blog, I smugly note that the draft 3rd Road Investment Strategy effectively admits that stopped vehicle detection is not up to the job it is being put to - keeping people safe when vehicles break down on so-called "smart motorways". transportinsights.blog/2025/08/27/o...
I note that National Highways has succeeded in ditching its longstanding ambition of "zero harm" by 2040 and conclude that if Labour wanted it to do something significant to cut casualties, it would give it a meaningful target and the resources to achieve it but is clearly happy with the status quo.
Why are commentators spending so much time on how RefUK would go about implementing fascist policy and not enough time explaining that RefUK are fascists?
Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?
Going to echo Stephen Bush here, but if they can't make the moral case for not sending people to be tortured and killed, not putting people into camps and not hanging out with members of Combat 18, what is the point of Labour?
I note that National Highways has succeeded in ditching its longstanding ambition of "zero harm" by 2040 and conclude that if Labour wanted it to do something significant to cut casualties, it would give it a meaningful target and the resources to achieve it but is clearly happy with the status quo.
On my Transport Insights blog, I have a quick look at what the Department for Transport is calling a draft of the 3rd Road Investment Strategy, but is in fact a "high-level vision" policy document with little detail. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/26/s...
I think BBC Verify live fact-checking has lost the plot
The fact that an anti-migrant politician, who tells us every single day that he doesn't like immigration, is saying it once again, is not in any way news
The media failing to report growing post-Trump scepticism about quitting international treaties is related to its misreporting of asylum protests as a mass movement
More shameful client journalism from the same hack. The Home Office has not promised anything. An anonymous, unaccountable âsourceâ has said something is âexpectedâ to happen. If it doesnât happen, whatâs the comeback? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This bullshit is what passes for journalism these days. âBut a Labour source dismissed Cleverlyâs criticismâ How the fuck is a spin doctor saying ânothing to seeâ a source? Pure client journalism www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Note that theyâre not even promising to stop hassling you if you give them ÂŁ12 a month. Itâs like a protection racket or kidnappers, coming back for more
My Guardian app is close to being unusable with this constant bullying
The government can take action against X, government departments and MPs do not need to remain on it, they have chosen to continue to support and legitimise a platform that crossed the line a very long time ago.
The rise of hate and extremism online should have been addressed by government and parliament a year ago in the aftermath of the riots. There is complacency across the political spectrum, and remarkably most MPs remain on X despite the way its owner and algorithm operate. Wake up!
It's been a bad weekend for broadcasters' digital teams. BBC, Sky, and ITV have all had issues with this story and/or the Connolly story. A case of buying the hype in planning meetings and then struggling to overturn the story's topline as it became clear how small the protests were?
I wonder if contempt of court provisions may apply to this arrest?
I donât want to be too shrill about this but I think the BBC, ITV and Sky have disgraced themselves in their coverage of the anti-refugee protests. A massive failure of judgement. But now we know the next time a progressive protest âisnât newsâ that itâs nothing to do with numbers
Iâm just glad she didnât use a gendered term to describe it www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
After 800 people attended across 8 protests on Friday, up to 2000 across a dozen modest protests on Saturday, "UK braces for more protests" is an absurd headline Largest protests & counter so far this weekend well below 500 people (but a much larger Gaza protest on Friday night mostly unreported)
"Erupt across UK" is a crazily inaccurate ITV news headline for a patchy smattering of protests eg 150-250 people in Orpington, Horley & Cheshunt; a peak yesterday 300 in Mold; & outnumbered by counterprotests in Liverpool, Bristol and Perth ITV should report accurately, not invent "erupts"
While relatively small gatherings of far-right protesters are reported as the start of some kind of national civil revolt, much larger protests on other issues are routinely ignored at best, and openly demonised at worst www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/anywhere-b...
The real 'two tier' divide in British politics is between the wife of a Conservative councillor calling for refugees to be burnt alive, being treated as a brave 'political prisoner', and the protestors calling for the end of mass starvation and genocide, being treated as domestic terrorists
This might be a stupid question, but signed by who?
It is increasingly clear that anti-asylum protestors were not "out in force" for the Friday protests or the Saturday protests I guess Monday is another day
Times new liveblog has "protestors are out in force" as a standfirst before any verification of whether that materialises Protests "have already begun" in Liverpool "a handful" + 200 antiracists & Bristol "two dozen" but a large counterprotest which is "out in force" & Perth
You are a victim of your own success đ
Go for it!
It is ludicrous for serious news outlets to treat this online hype from persistent bullshit merchants at GBNP as predicting large organised protests
At this rate of 700 people at six Friday protests, the attempt to generate 27 protests might attract about 2500-4000 people nationwide. Even if a little bigger on Saturday, it seems a poor return on the front-page splash repeating exaggerated online hype (yet again)
To be fair, I think politicians are conditioned by pr types to say invest when they mean spend.
In what sense is this an investment?
On my Transport Insights blog I note that the Department for Transport is saying next steps for its road safety strategy will be set out "in due course", having expressed a "hope" that the strategy will come out this year. Are they being coy, or backtracking? transportinsights.blog/2025/08/22/h...
The ORR also knew that the Department for Transport had told National Highways that it was keeping the shelving of the scheme secret. Perhaps that is why the regulator repeated the lie? transportinsights.blog/2025/08/22/e...
I reveal that the Office of Rail and Road knew full well that funding had been withdrawn from the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham scheme before it told the public and Parliament that the scheme would go ahead imminently, subject to getting planning permission. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/22/e...
I have another exclusive on my Transport Insights blog as I dig further into a story that the industry-friendly media are steering well clear of. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/22/e...
A particularly dumb headline: unreliability might be a problem but "reliability" isn't. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This is possible. But it is a very weak basis for a frontpage splash, learning absolutely nothing from credulous media reporting two weekends ago of a wave of protests that barely happened
True to form, National Highways failed to deliver on safety. True to form, its regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, which had promised to hold the company to account, has showered it with praise, once again saying it "is doing everything that it can". transportinsights.blog/2025/08/21/e...
On my Transport Insights blog I exclusively reveal that National Highways delivered fewer than two-thirds of the road safety schemes it promised under its secret "enhanced safety plan", which was supposed to improve its failing record on cutting casualties. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/21/e...
True to form, National Highways failed to deliver on safety. True to form, its regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, which had promised to hold the company to account, has showered it with praise, once again saying it "is doing everything that it can". transportinsights.blog/2025/08/21/e...
On my Transport Insights blog I exclusively reveal that National Highways delivered fewer than two-thirds of the road safety schemes it promised under its secret "enhanced safety plan", which was supposed to improve its failing record on cutting casualties. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/21/e...
But the appearance of Alastair Campbell, who literally produced propaganda in support of an illegal war, passes without comment. If Adolf Hitler flew in today...
I too am willing to accept hundreds of millions of dollars to get things wrong, and to keep accepting them to get things wronger, until one of us learns our lesson.
Bin the Blue Labour defensive identity bullshit, bin the "these people have a point actually" which just encourages the worst racists and narcissists, you were elected because you were supposed to be offering something more positive. Do it.
With no hope or expectation, until this government tells a positive story about this country including immigrants then Reform will keep on winning. Sure, delivery. But that has to be in the service of a better vision.
"The government is very focused on deliverables and big wins that they can announce with the trip" ...and this focus on announcements every day, how is that going for the government? www.politico.eu/article/uk-b...
On trade and investment the over-excitable announcements are particularly damaging because they normally take years to make any difference, by which time people will have concluded they didn't. Oh, and the last government did the same. Where's the "change"?
On my Transport Insights blog, I look at Labour's seemingly genuine attempt to fill the funding and electrification gaps left by empty Tory promises on the Transpennine Upgrade, alongside some so far unfulfilled promises of its own on Northern Powerhouse Rail. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/19/6...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
On my Transport Insights blog, I look at Labour's seemingly genuine attempt to fill the funding and electrification gaps left by empty Tory promises on the Transpennine Upgrade, alongside some so far unfulfilled promises of its own on Northern Powerhouse Rail. transportinsights.blog/2025/08/19/6...
Absolutely baffled as to why "Joseph deserves thanks ... and we wish him well" had to come from an anonymous "Reform UK source". www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
On my Transport Insights blog, I note that the latest piece of Telegraph rage bait contrives an an imaginary "secret war on motorists" not just from Labour not doing something but not doing pretty well what it said it wasn't doing 10 months ago... transportinsights.blog/2025/08/19/t...
On my Transport Insights blog, I note that the latest piece of Telegraph rage bait contrives an an imaginary "secret war on motorists" not just from Labour not doing something but not doing pretty well what it said it wasn't doing 10 months ago... transportinsights.blog/2025/08/19/t...
On my Transport Insights blog I note that ministers plan to ditch the development consent order (DCO) for the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham scheme, which the Tories withdrew funding from 3 years ago. But the DCO was approved on the basis that it would be fully funded transportinsights.blog/2025/08/18/m...
Another story about a very rich man determined to strip London's cultural assets. And another story that highlights the job that the London Evening Standard *hasn't* been doing: reporting on London.
And âthe unanimous recommendation to ministers from the cross-government security expert review groupâ looks like more sleight of hand, appearing again to deliberately conflate the issue of meeting the threshold for proscription with actually recommending it.
As Iâve said before âdisturbing information given to me that covered ideas and planning for future attacksâ is just using pejorative language to make things sound bad
But this mixes up advice and intelligence. Whether PA satisfies the tests in the Terrorism Act 2000 is both a legal judgement and not really something you need advice on, given how ludicrously widely drawn the tests are. And Intelligence does not tell you what âshouldâ happen. So more sophistry.
âThe clear advice and intelligence given to me earlier this yearâ is pure Blair âthis is what our intelligence services are telling meâ. Then PR words like âworld-leadingâ and ârobustâ with a claim that the âadvice and intelligenceâ is that PA satisfies the relevant tests & should be proscribed.
Letâs start with âdamage, including to Britainâs national security infrastructureâ. Itâs a cheap trick of citing national security but also implying that any damage to any part of the âinfrastructureâ threatens our national security. Then a long list of unsubstantiated claims of âintimidationâ etc.
This is sophistry from beginning to end & Cooper must know it. Huda Ammori does a great job of calling it out also in the Observer, pointing out that Cooper is âtrying to litigate it in the media, where hard facts are swapped for soundbitesâBut here fwiw is my take⌠1/ observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Can you wake me up when weâve been globalised?
Newcastle fans have a very strong sense of morality when it comes to the club spending the Saudi blood money www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Another âexclusiveâ that looks very much like one side spinning a line www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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It isnât www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
Tbf it is our governmentâs approach to Israelâs genocide with all that bollox about a never-gonna-happen two state solution