Fortunate husband of 55 years, father of 2 amazing daughters, grandfather of two wonderful grandsons. Writer, mostly of detective stories. Former Commissioner of HM Customs & Excise. Born in the East Midlands, now a Londoner of 55 years.
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Each day I am astounded and mortified by this country’s 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
"Every one of these people is taking with them skills and knowledge that will be difficult to replace. But there may be no single individual whose departure better captures what is being lost and destroyed than Demetre Daskalakis."
If you're 60, 69.1% of all job growth since your birth occurred under Democratic administrations. If you're 45, that number is 74.7%. If you're under 28, the number is 100%. Happy Labor Day.
Parliament reopened today, but Nigel Farage was in Washington DC on his 10th trip to the US since becoming an MP. You don't get to earn £1m from 12 jobs by wasting time on what is meant to be your full time role.
This is nothing else but a hybrid war that Russia wages against Europe Let's name things as they really are:Russia has made an assassination attempt of the President of the European Commission Russia has been jamming GPS-signals over many Eastern Europe countries that are in its immediate vicinity
"Nobody wants to be a cop [in DC]. They were abused. They were spit on." "When you when you say they were abused and spit on, I'm assuming you're talking about January 6th, correct?" "All you guys want to do was bring up J6 about the answer to everything."
Look at this graph. The share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was lowest (and share to lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, inequality has widened. This is why we must build back union power.
‼️Eighty-six years ago, the world entered the bloodiest war in history. Its outbreak became possible because for too long the dictator was not confronted with force. Instead, attempts were made to appease him with concessions and negotiations.
This is the stupidest thing ever! Trump just called for the full datasets from the Covid Vaccine manufacturers to be released. Trump's FDA has the full datasets. They required the datasets in order to approve the vaccines. The vaccines have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Kemi Badenoch said Britain was in trade talks with Canada and the Canadian high commissioner confirmed it wasn't. Now she's saying she got an offer to study medicine at Stanford and the university has confirmed she didn't. The Tory leader seems careless with the truth.
❗️The plane Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu was on was forced to land in Bulgaria due to suspected Russian GPS interference -FT There are reports that the pilots even had to use paper maps due to GPS jamming as they made the emergency landing.
Labour, Cooper in particular, have gone over to the dark side
The likely impact of introducing even more barriers to safe family reunification for refugees is that MORE people will instead take dangerous smugglers’ routes to reunite with their loved ones. & then Labour, Tories & Reform can demonise THEM on #r4today too. Yay.
Why bother with a discussion of what family reunion actually is & an analysis of the impact of changes with, say, @ramfel.bsky.social who recently published an excellent report excoriating the system’s EXISTING failures that keep families apart? Nah. It’s #r4today🤷♀️ www.ramfel.org.uk/family-reuni...
Another day, another utterly shameful cruelty against refugees announced. Recognised refugees - so people granted the long term right to stay in the UK because they have escaped real danger - will face new barriers to reuniting with spouses & children safely in the UK #r4todat
"We all share a common goal to provide sanctuary, a warm welcome, and integration support for refugees in need of protection" Chris Philip as Immigration Minister in July 2020, making the case for providing refugees support, and resettling many more refugees is very different to 2025 Chris Philp
They stopped proper fact checking by 2016 and the present leadership is allergic to any fact checking of RW statements
Ukrainian intelligence says Russia’s top tank maker depends on more than 260 Western-made machines that require foreign parts and updates — exposing a major gap in sanctions. www.kyivpost.com/post/59254
Inevitably, when invited by a country where you share significant interests, you turn up, smile & shake hands. It doesn't mean that all or even most of your interests coincide. But at present, you do want to show Trump that his tariff policies won't make you knuckle under & underline alternatives.
🤝Extraordinary meeting of NATO-Ukraine Council taking place in Brussels
🤡For the first time in many years, Russians showed former Ukrainian President and traitor who fled to the Russian Federation, Viktor Yanukovych, who stated that he "was always against NATO" and "sought closer ties with the EU, but the Europeans behaved incorrectly."
And the latest wheeze from Cooper seems to be to make it harder for refugees to bring their families to join them. What is it about politicians that reduces their empathy to zero? With common humanity following close behind.
I turn on my TV and a TV presenter is asking a Govt minister why they are talking about rolling out free childcare when the big issue is asylum hotels. This is objectively insane.
what slick messaging? the policies have been wrong. the basis for them is misconceived. the next budget must rectify her mistakes & set a more radical course than essentially pursuing policies which have already been seen to fail.
Pritzker: "We don't want troops on the streets of American cities. That's un-American and frankly the president ought to know better. This one doesn't seem to. He hasn't read any books. He doesn't seem to understand the Constitution or the laws."
It has been successfully linked by the RW media, farage etc (& even Labour) to "defending our shores","patriotism" and "getting our country back". The Little England/racist/xenophobic coalition which brought us Brexit is being brought together, removing an essential barrier to Trumpism
🇺🇦 Zelensky: Conducted the Headquarters. Air defense needs. Priority – shooting down “Shaheds”. We separately discussed the protection of networks and energy facilities in front-line and border communities. We are accelerating the supply of additional air defense systems for missile defense.
This is the second judge in a week that has brought up the fact that the government can't be trusted with clear instructions - likely because the government ignored Judge Boasberg's order to turn the planes around last March saying "verbal orders from judges don't count."
Washington Post vs Democracy Docket. This one is easy. The Washington Post ignored Trump's latest attack on democracy entirely. It went with one about "grey rocking" instead. Support pro-democracy independent media. Subscribe to Democracy Docket today. hubs.ly/Q03jcjqP0
Medicare for all, paid leave, universal childcare. Busting up big corporations and tackling Wall Street’s greed. Getting big money out of politics. Supporting unions and fighting for higher wages. If Dems want to win back working people, this is the agenda they must support.
“Palestinian journalists are being threatened, directly targeted and murdered by Israeli forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work.” Committee to Protect Journalists. At least 189 Palestinian journalists are dead in Gaza;l www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
From what I've seen over the last year, I wouldn't trust Labour (especially Cooper) with my human rights any more than the Tories. Shows how low they have sunk.
Bridget Phillipson, "Labour believes there needs to be reform to the ECHR" Trevor Philips, "You want to see changes in the ECHR?" Bridget Phillipson, "Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is looking at Article 8 Provisions to see if they need updating" *Article 8: Right for private and family life*
Please SIGN: Violence in eastern #DRCongo is a disaster for the forest and human rights. Neighboring #Rwanda is driving #BloodMineral mining and reaping the profits. Tell the #EU to end its partnership with Rwanda on critical raw materials! #petition rainforest-rescue.org/petitions/13...
Pritzker: "No one in the administration -- the president or anybody under him -- has called anyone in my administration or me. It's clear that in secret they're are planning this invasion with US troops."
The Govt has declared ‘transparency’ a foundational principle for a future national radioactive waste facility’s success. So why did their General Manager - Social Licence just refuse access to 13 docs and heavily redacted 9? 🤦♂️ #DemeritPoints #FOI #auspol
The Chicago Police Department will be barred from helping federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement or any related patrols, traffic stops and checkpoints during the surge, according to an executive order signed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. https://to.pbs.org/4oYtsGe
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
The Social Security Administration official who exposed that the Department of Government Efficiency had left millions of Americans’ personal data vulnerable says he has been forced to resign due to retaliation. Charles Borges, who served as the SSA’s chief data officer, told
"Here’s the truth we cannot escape: If Ashli Babbitt is honored, then few things are sacred. If loyalty to the Constitution and an attempt to overthrow it are treated as equal, we lose the very meaning of service." www.thebulwark.com/p/honoring-a...
💙💛 Pupils of the first and last grades take part in the opening ceremony of a reconstructed new school in the town of Bucha #OTD August 31, 2022. A large number of schools and other educational facilities in Kyiv region were damaged as a result of the aggressive military actions of the Russian army
RADDATZ: One of the things they are trying to do in DC with the National Guard is have them back up local law enforcement WES MOORE: They are picking up trash
💙💛 Starting September 12, Russia is preparing "fierce wave" of disinformation, - Budanov According to him, "attacks will come from all sides." About 90% of them will come from the Russian side censor.net/en/news/3571...
True. But because NS oil is extracted by oil companies &n we have little say over where it goes, in practice little comes to the UK, so we don't even get the benefits of proximity
Why on earth do the Tories want to keep people locked into high energy bills? And, come to that, why is the BBC citing Reform but saying nothing about climate science or renewable alternatives? Complete madness - except for the fossil fuel industry of course
Trump’s plan to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War shows (once again) that his self-characterization as the “pro-peace” candidate was complete bullshit. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
Nutty as a fruitcake
I also wonder how many Eppingers will actually stop paying their council tax when the demand letters and possible fines start to appear in front of their bigoted eyes?
Douglas Carswell’s massive racism update:
#WhiteHousePressCorp
💙💛Photographs taken #OTD August 31, 2022, show the interior of destroyed school in a southern Ukrainian village in Mykolaiv region, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine
⚡️Russian soldier allegedly executes unarmed civilian in Donetsk Oblast, footage shows. Ukraine’s 1st Azov Corps said the victim was clearly in civilian clothing and unarmed, describing the incident as a direct violation of the Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians.
“Human rights aren’t baubles handed down by ministers — they’re guarantees.” The Bear demolishes the myths around the ECHR, and asks why Labour are so quiet while the far right set the agenda.
What a ridiculous person.
As Marco Rubio shuts down USAID, CNN find clips and a letter of him praising USAID
“The ECHR isn’t Brussels meddling. It’s the foundation that protects you from your own government.” 👏👏👏
it's become a RW equivalent of "things I don't like", so it essentially describes most of the modern, decent, open world
Greetings from Kyiv, where I’ve just finished writing the Sunday Letter and having my warcoffee. Black. Strong. No sugar. No peace.
💙💛 Today, August 31, Russians claimed the life of another Kherson resident as a result of a payload dropped from a drone #HumanSafari 😡 Earlier, around 10:00 a.m., Russian forces shelled a medical facility in Kherson’s Tsentralnyi district, injuring 6 civilians censor.net/en/news/3571...
Absolutely right and THAT narrative needs to be the dominant one
🤬 While Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko shows the body of a murdered child who died as a result of a Russian attack during the UN Security Council, the Russian representative demonstratively looks at her phone…
🤬 In the Dnipro district of Kherson, Russians killed a woman with a drone. In the morning, Russians attacked one of the city's medical facilities with artillery: six people were injured. Last night, Russians struck the Kherson Regional State Administration with artillery.
The only way the Epstein abuse could have gone on for decades is to have the "right people" in place. The right people have always been in place. The right people are STILL in place.
You don’t see this👇🏼news pushed by the BBC on its main news page like they “report” when Farage opens his mouth or a migrant lands etc.. #RightWingScum put a Union Jack on a Mosque to intimidate them.. So its leaders put it in a window saying 'This is our flag... we are proud British Muslims”👏🏼👏🏼👌🏼
It's a crying shame that Starmer won't stand up and say so loud & clear
Leaving the ECHR won’t “Take Back Control” – it will hand your rights to politicians “The myths are seductive, the reality is very different – without the ECHR your freedoms rest on whichever Home Secretary wakes up grumpy” eastangliabylines.co.uk/politics/jus...
Labor has always been on the frontlines in the fight against fascism – and today is no different. Unions are fighting Trump’s cruel agenda in the courts and in the streets, and workers across industries are standing up for each other. There’s courage – and hope – in solidarity.
Fears Grow For Lukashenko Critic Who Disappeared In Turkey Anatol Kotau went missing on August 21, shortly after landing in Istanbul from Warsaw, where he lives in exile. www.rferl.org/a/anatol-kot...
The war has a frontline and a rear; calm days and terrible nights. I try to show you its different faces. A moment from Kyiv in the video.
The toadies surrounding him tell him that late at night so he’ll stop rage-posting and go to sleep.
Reuters knows Israel Is lying in claiming the camera on the stairwell at Nasser Hospital was being used by Hamas. How? Because it was a Reuters camera being used for its live feeds. So why is Reuters playing so dumb? Matthew Alford reads my latest article: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-eve...
But probably accurate in that the supine/corrupt SCOTUS will back him.
Our politicians and media have dug out from under their rocks some of the nastiest people in the UK
Thousands of farm animals & livestock are going unattended. They aren’t being milked. They aren’t being fed. I feel a great deal more for those animals than for the farmers who voted for this shit. They KNEW who their workers were & where they came from. But they voted to hurt them anyway.
Corporate America’s playbook: 1) Exploit workers to maximize profits 2) Use profits to buy Congress 3) Use Congress to pass union-busting laws 4) Use these laws to further exploit workers 5) Repeat Let's break the cycle and keep building back a powerful labor movement.
@nealkatyal.bsky.social: “You’ve got the president who's imposed the largest tax increase on American consumers since 1993 … and he did it without Congress saying one word. That is not our constitutional structure.”
👇🏻
I hope you find my new book helpful for understanding the time we’re in, how we combat the bullies, and why I believe so passionately that we will succeed. Here's a bit more on why I wrote it.
Finally gone over to the dark side
It's not just Starmer wearing Reform's clothes. The official Labour party Twitter account is happy to get in on the immigrant-bashing action too. If you're still a Labour supporter, try cleaning your mirror.
Stephen Manning, this guy’s lawyer, is one of the best in the country. It’s very good news that he’s taken this case.
Psaki: Comer was a little slow to move forward with the subpoenas, at least in my view. Moskowitz: That’s actually his regular speed. He’s just a little slow in general.
CHICAGO…
I see Starmer quoted as saying all these people who "arrive illegally" should be sent back. If accurate, it finally completes his journey to the dark side.
🇪🇺 A group of a dozen EU countries has looked into unexplored legal possibilities to proceed by qualified majority instead of unanimity, - Bloomberg. ‼️ Making the change would allow faster and more decisive action in the context of increased geopolitical competition.
I hope people realize how absolutely fucked this situation is. This isn’t normal. People are resigning all over the place because the government is mishandling our data, ruining our public health services, and generally making Americans less safe.
Good.
"She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it. She was not protecting lives at a gate in Iraq; she was forcing her way through windows in the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power." New from @markhertling.bsky.social:
They don’t care if you have papers or not. What they care about is whether you look like an immigrant from south of the border.
Garcia: We finally got word from the Epstein estate. They're going to be providing the actual Epstein book… the estate is actually going to actually now get us that book and a bunch of other documents that they have that's actually not been reported yet.
The damage this man has done is incalculable.
there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...
We want to apologize if it feels like we’ve been venting a lot lately. It’s just hard to ignore that nearly every move from this administration seems to be illegal, unlawful, or outright unconstitutional and yet nothing happens.
