You couldn't script this stuff. The flag fanatics are defacing war memorials now it seems www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwal...
Chief Reporter at UK political outlet Byline Times. I write the 'On the Ground' column in our print edition. Interested in democracy & protest. 'Fake news w*nker' - Tommy Robinson Content may include my cat, and bits of music. Got a story? Get in touch
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You couldn't script this stuff. The flag fanatics are defacing war memorials now it seems www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwal...
They've been holding conferences for four years, but yes you're right this one is particularly being hyped up
(Obviously I'd hope that everyone watches their local council meetings, but clearly nobody does, and either way this could prove a very useful tool for researchers, journos and citizens)
This is brilliant đđź
Tell me itâs all a dream.
Dire
Brilliant
You donât need outside experts to check what Jack Straw and Policy Exchange are claiming here. You can just read the public text of the Good Friday Agreement to see it relies upon ECHR membership. If the UK leaves, the agreement either needs renegotiating, or itâs been breached. Itâs that simple.
Yep true, they tend to be fairly resistant to those traditionally but the mood might have changed
*could see
I could seen a Green/Your Party pact happening but only on a local level. Leaders don't actually have the power to implement national pacts in the Greens. So there could simply be hundreds of quite different agreements/disagreements by seat - a case by case arrangement. Still messy/unpredictable ofc
It's quite noticeable IMO that despite being co-leader he's had such an incredibly low profile, even during this leadership contest. Will be interesting to see how many quiet backers he and Chowns have ha though or if the Greens are fully (and not pejoratively) leftist by and large now
If there are any Green supporters here with interesting takes or predictions let me know, for the sake of fun/nerdy political hypothesising
A 2029 election with the Greens and Corbyn's party running against each other in hundreds of seats, Reform polling strongly, and little electoral gap between Tories, Labour and Lib Dems could get very messy under FPTP indeed.
It's the Green Party leadership announcement tomorrow. Whoever wins it's going to be interesting Polanski: prospect of a left-wing alliance with the new Corbyn party. Or a much-divided left-of-Labour vote Chowns/Ramsay: Greens will be arguably closer to Lib Dems, but more distinct from Your Party
Reform have arguably had more coverage for a content-free press conference than the Govt has for a major policy development affecting millions of parents
The Government is doing its best at the moment to imply it has no problem with the ethnonationalism now rearing its ugly head. And I don't understand why. 1/5
Terrifying
And still Government departments are addicted to a platform which will now steer engagement towards a far-right party intent on mass forcible deportations
Yes I feel Reform may be over egging it slightly. Then again, have they done this at Reform conference before?
That's not how Reform are spinning it, and I haven't seen them do it before. But it is possibly being over egged by the party. Be interesting to see how much Reform are (getting away with) charging
Someone has posted some context claiming they're actually sponsoring/running the VIP lounge - which would still mean them stumping up big money AFAIK
That is not quite the full picture. If they're sponsoring and running the lounge, they would have stumped up big cash for that.
Canât tell if this says more about Reformâs status or that airport lobbying wars are back. Back in 2015 Heathrow/Gatwick were both throwing so much ÂŁÂŁÂŁ around that they basically funded most internet UK political media. âOh yeah⌠we have a podcast⌠two MPs have listened to it⌠£200k for sponsorshipâ
ICYMI: Heathrow Airport has been unveiled as a "major sponsor" of Reform UK's conference this coming weekend. Reform says "big businesses flock to the Party they perceive to be most likely to form the next Government." (Heathrow is majority owned by state-owned sovereign wealth funds - inc. Qatar)
A Unite insider opposed to Sharon Graham tells me: "Unite have a history of settling embarrassing matters with its employees [with] an NDA - [that] canât be done now as union conference banned their use." It's possible that we'll see more stories like this as a result.
This is a big deal - especially as Unite has said it has put employers "on notice" about new sexual harassment laws. Unite says the issues were "raised a number of years ago but have now resurfaced." So when did Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham (who appointed him) know about them?
A Labour Party spokesperson responds to Reform UK's press conference this AM:
I've just learned that (Reform-run) Durham County Council have rejected a resident's request for anonymity in reporting this complaint against Darren Grimes. Resident's response to the council below: bylinetimes.com/2025/08/29/r...
Some 150 media organisations around the world - including The Guardian, The Independent and @bylinetimes.bsky.social in the UK - "today support calls for the killing of journalists to stop and for movement of media in and out of Gaza to resume"
Via Press Gazette: Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed around 200 journalists in Gaza and Lebanon. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists has concluded that in 21 cases people were targeted because they were journalists. It describes these killings as murder.
I'm sure this will be called a mini-shuffle, as there don't seem to be any major job losses. Downing Street presenting it as a "bolstering" of No 10 and Govt delivery & comms (which few would disagree needs improving)
Tim Allan has been appointed as the Govt's Exec Director of Communications, based in No10, working alongside Director of Comms Steph Driver. The PM's Deputy Chief of Staff Vidhya Alakeson will "take on expanded & additional responsibilities of overall oversight of Policy & Delivery within [No 10]."
Baroness Minouche Shafik has been appointed directly by the PM as his Chief Economic Advisor. Daniel York-Smith has been appointed as the PM's Principal Private Secretary. Short-lived PPS "Nin Pandit remains within the No10 team and turns to leading a newly reformed Downing Street Delivery Team."
No 10 says it is "bolstering the Downing Street operation" to "deliver on the countryâs priorities: growth people feel in their pockets, secure borders, & getting the NHS back on its feet." Parliament is in "a new term" so they're "ramping up of the next phase of this [Govt's] domestic agenda."
A reshuffle *is* happening this week then in No 10. Darren Jones and James Murray will attend Cabinet. Jones' Chief Sec role is new: "[He] will work collaboratively across UK Govt to drive forward progress in key policy areas, reporting directly to the PM." No mention of 'missions' anywhere though
From the terms of ref: "Labour's official policy recognises 'the flaws in the current voting system are contributing to the distrust and alienation we see in politics'. The Government is already acting on this understanding by abolishing the use of First Past the Post for mayoral and PCC elections."
Lots of Labour MPs backing this idea now
Such a bizarre pledge from the Tories - which ironically, makes it clear that oil and gas will run out, unlike...the sun, wind and tides. A policy that appeals primarily to potential donors, and those who work in the sector who don't want a just transition www.thenational.scot/news/2542953...
Politico: "Reform [have another] press conference from 11 a.m. â though this one is focused on the new councils it controls" I wonder if the BBC (and other broadcasters) will continue the dire trend of broadcasting the whole thing with little counter or fact-checking
BREAKING: Our hearts Our new front page #ProtectJournalistsInGaza #LetReportersIntogaza Www.bylinetimes.com
Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey will table a Humble Address motion when Parliament returns this Monday to force the Government to publish the legal advice it has received on breaches of international law in the Israel-Gaza war
These people are racist thugs, pure and simple. If the Government doesn't tackle them head on - including at the Lobby briefing tomorrow - ministers will be heading beyond redemption
These same masked men no doubt want to ban the burqa and blame asylum seekers for crime in Britain news.sky.com/story/police...
Thanks for sharing
Reform UK are cited ahead of the actual Government in this piece. Farage's party continue to be given the VIP treatment by the Beeb
These people aren't even hiding their racism anymore. Carswell, like many of the far-right fanatics stirring up unrest in Britain, lives in the US of course
Rowan's new toy is giving me a lot of (much needed) amusement at the moment
Sunder is again performing an important public service in providing an evidence-based record of attendance at protests and counter protests across the country.
Ben Obese-Jecty is the only Conservative MP and frankly one of the vanishingly small number of MPs, full stop, to react to this stuff in a normal way.
Unfortunately, there's very little doubt - it's an established far right meme/trope
As usual with these drooling cowards, they won't do things like say the 'n' word with their full chest, they'll do it in a way that's full of plausible deniability but this doesn't detract from the fact they would *love* to be able to say it fully without consequences.
Absolutely - and unfortunately many of the MPs rightly opposed to this unabashed racism are still feeding the beast that boosts it
ICYMI: A sitting British MP, James McMurdock, is using the N-word to attack a journalist, Mhari Aurora. Far-right influencers such as Andrew Tate have been deploying the capital "N" as racist shorthand in social media attacks on Black people.
Indeed! @bylinetimes.bsky.social was actually the first to cover that stuff bylinetimes.com/2024/07/13/f...
This is the guy who was convicted of assault - kicking his ex girlfriend outside a pub - before he was selected as a Reform candidate. If Reform had a few hundred MPs, how many people of this calibre would be in Parliament? M
I can see the posters now: 'Vote Zombie Party! We need brains'
Reform UK now appear to have blacklisted local outlet Inside Croydon: "Ex-Croydon & Sutton branch chair Scott Holman also accused the outlet of âpeddl[ing] liesâ & declared his branchâs refusal to engage with its journalists" That's becoming a habit among Reform politicians, as London Centric notes
Via London Centric: "Reformâs London Assembly member Alex Wilson told us that Inside Croydon had âcompletely fabricatedâ the ânon-storyâ [about selecting someone who's dead to be their mayoral candidate] and âwe havenât selected anyone whoâs alive or deadâ. Quite something for it to need saying...
Ah that's lovely, congratulations to you both!!
âŚwhat in the actual?!
Please don't do that. There's always hope. Message me if you want to chat
Actually jaw dropping from James McMurdock MP, even by his standards. We cannot become numb to this. The far right are in Parliament, and they're trying to normalise outright, vicious racism (same goes for the likes of Rupert Lowe too)
My latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social' Reform Uncovered project bylinetimes.com/2025/08/29/r...
Reform-led Durham Council are removing some England flags. I don't imagine this will make GB News or one of Darren Grimes' hysterical videos...
Reform UKâs deputy leader on Durham Council, Darren Grimes, is the subject of an official complaint after speaking as a representative of âyour Reform county councilâ in a video that uses fake AI footage of Keir Starmer at the helm of an asylum boat bylinetimes.com/2025/08/29/r...
đ´ Reform UKâs Darren Grimes Under Investigation Over Fake AI Asylum Video of Keir Starmer Grimes faces an official complaint to the council after using manipulated imagery and attacking asylum seekers as âdeviantsâ bylinetimes.com/2025/08/29/r...
Guardian: "Last year, Parisians voted to triple parking costs for SUVs, in order to tackle air pollution and climate breakdown by targeting generally richer drivers in heavy, large and polluting cars. Reports suggest this is already beginning to have an impact in Paris."
Come to Kensington and Chelsea: the ultimate rugged offroad driving experience. đ¤
Pretty cool. Engineers successfully shipped an entire road bridge by barge along the narrow rivers of Stratford to get to a new housing development www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/wat...
Janet Clementine Grauberg of the Liberal Democrats won yesterdayâs West Hampstead by-election. The vote was sparked by the resignation of Shiva Tiwari. Reform came second to last, basically joint with the Greens. Turnout just 26% news.camden.gov.uk/west-hampste...
A London councillor, Martin Abrams, has resigned from the Labour Party, citing its "complicity over Israel and Gaza" www.brixtonbuzz.com/2025/08/brea...
Londonâs SUVs now take up the same space as the entire borough of Kensington and Chelsea, with more than 800,000 registered in London alone. Madness. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
Via the London Minute: "Meanwhile the Stockwell Gardens area of Lambeth will trial a new âhealthy neighbourhoodâ with new traffic restrictions and âpublic realm improvementsâ" love.lambeth.gov.uk/lambeth-to-t...
Oxford Street will go traffic-free on Sunday September 21 for a trial event ahead of its planned pedestrianisation by the Mayor www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
Thanks!
They're in the insanely expensive R&D phase. I think some people will get burnt but there will be firms making a lot of money out of it eventually. But yep, it's currently the pure-chaotic scramble part of the story, and v hard to guess which bets will pay off.
Hard to say. I'd like to think people take outputs with a large pinch of salt. The problem is almost the opposite though, that no one ends up trusting anything anymore. E.g. AI image creators getting so good no one trusts a single photo again. No one trusting that an email came from a human, etc etc
(Mollick is very much a glass-two-thirds-full proselytiser when it comes to AI, so the warning in there is note-worthy IMO)
Individual requests are getting cheaper to run, but the quantity of them is expanding pretty much exponentially. Overall yep the cost is still huge!
Most of them, I'd guess. They mostly come with that caveat anyway. Doesn't change the fact that people are now using them en masse for an increasing range of tasks. Everyone should be paying attention
Some very powerful Large Language Models are being released. Many of them are now being opened up for free. About a billion people are already regularly using LLMs like ChatGPT according to estimates. Things are about to change even faster in work, education, democracy and yep, misinformation...
đ´Reform UK Councillors âExploited Legal Loopholeâ to Dodge Spending Limits on Farage Election Leaflets At least 12 newly elected Reform UK councillors in Durham did not declare costs for mass mailings from party leader that attacked local councilâs spending bylinetimes.com/2025/08/28/r...
đ´Far Right and the Press Accused of âWeaponising Violence Against Womenâ to Fuel Hatred of Migrants Womenâs rights groups condemn politicians and the media for spreading false claims about migrants while failing to back calls to fund actual support for sexual violence victims
Absolutely. She's also likely to feature in the next edition.
This reminded me (this kind of counter-narrative is much needed at the moment IMO) bsky.app/profile/mark...
Today I interviewed @billybragg.bsky.social for the next issue of @bylinetimes.bsky.social - about the idea of progressive patriotism, and positive alternatives to the current far-right narratives around England (and its flag). It was a very interesting chat. Will share when it's up
In that he's massively miscalculated and going to unleash a set of changes he didn't remotely intend?
Selecting someone who isn't alive is one way to lower the chance of a scandal I suppose
www.railadvent.co.uk/2025/06/scot...
Hmm. A pub in Bath appears to be advertising for a job paying below minimum wage - seemingly as it's cash in hand. I'm sure whoever gets it won't mind losing their NI pension entitlements! (I've reached out to the pub to see what's going on...) Via Reddit:
The British Film Institute is (effectively) scrapping a Black music festival programme, African Odysseys. Lots of opposition to it from its founders and film fans: www.change.org/p/save-17-ye...
Hope Not Hate have launched a campaign to stop Nazi music fans flocking to Great Yarmouth for a far-right music festival secure.hopenothate.org.uk/page/176528/...
Politico: "The Conservative-run council argued housing asylum seekers is not 'more important' than local concerns, and that protests in Epping made housing asylum seekers in the hotel 'intolerable.'" The Govt says (in court) there's no evidence crime is higher in areas hosting asylum seekers.
Latest on the Epping asylum hotel court challenge via Politico: "The government argued thereâs no evidence of increased crime where migrants are housed, and that the perceived risk among protesters is 'fueled by dis-information on social media.'" What is the Govt doing to tackle that?...
SNP: "Meanwhile, a recent survey showed that Scottish Water is the joint most trusted utility supplier in the UK, scoring a remarkable customer satisfaction level of 94%...Customers pay over ÂŁ100 less in water bills than those in England & Wales, for some of the best quality water in the world."
Via SNP: "The SNP has hailed the benefits of public ownership of essential services...Earlier this year, Scotrail was ranked the best large rail network operator in the UK by passengers. A survey showed customer satisfaction levels have risen from 67% to 91% since coming into public ownership" (1/2)
UK Govt officials say that since the start of this Parliament, the Government has introduced 46 Bills. 24 have already got Royal Assent, with several more reaching the end of their parliamentary stages. The Government has apparently introduced (on average) a Bill every 4 Parliamentary sitting days.
More laws are planned to "reform sentencing, protect marine life by ratifying the BBNJ (Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction) treaty, strengthen cyber security, & establish Great British Rail." "The [Govt] also remains committed to bringing forward a Hillsborough Law at pace."
Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell: âBy any measure, this is a bumper first parliamentary session delivering on the Governmentâs Plan for Change. No new incoming Government has set out such an ambitious legislative programme in its first year, that delivers for working people." Rest here:
