Paul
@bitoclass.uk
SE Londoner, in Lewisham. Been here ages, enjoying the "2008 Twitter" vibes. Interests include: London, transport, politics, food, feminism, music, arts, culture, Manchester, the media. Hoping for Leveson 2
Reposted by Paul
Seeing lots of commentary along the lines of 'no-one saw the Mandelson scandal coming', which just isn't true.
Some of us have been warning about it for years. Here's what I wrote two years ago bylinetimes.com/2024/01/04/k...
Some of us have been warning about it for years. Here's what I wrote two years ago bylinetimes.com/2024/01/04/k...
Keir Starmer Faces an Immediate Test of His Pledge to 'Crackdown on Cronyism'
The Labour leader's decision to make restoring trust in public life the centre piece of his election campaign, raises questions about his own record
bylinetimes.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:28 PM
Seeing lots of commentary along the lines of 'no-one saw the Mandelson scandal coming', which just isn't true.
Some of us have been warning about it for years. Here's what I wrote two years ago bylinetimes.com/2024/01/04/k...
Some of us have been warning about it for years. Here's what I wrote two years ago bylinetimes.com/2024/01/04/k...
Reposted by Paul
Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick
February 11, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick
Reposted by Paul
The Bannon/Farage/Johnson plot to topple May looks pretty damning by November 2018, but starts that summer when Johnson resigns. 15 July Bannon goes on Farage’s LBC show to lambast May. Epstein texts: “Good work on LBC”. Next day he tells Epstein he’s in “London with Boris”
February 11, 2026 at 11:49 AM
The Bannon/Farage/Johnson plot to topple May looks pretty damning by November 2018, but starts that summer when Johnson resigns. 15 July Bannon goes on Farage’s LBC show to lambast May. Epstein texts: “Good work on LBC”. Next day he tells Epstein he’s in “London with Boris”
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Exactly no (0) people go on the record to talk up this guy, and the people claiming he’d be a nightmare for the Tories are *the actual Tories*, but you’d be a cynic if you thought British journalism was basically a plot to mislead the public
Alistair Carns: Labour’s ex-marine who ‘would be a nightmare’ for the Tories
Alistair Carns: Labour’s ex-marine who ‘would be a nightmare’ for the Tories
Amid leadership speculation, former commando has been quietly talked about as a possible future contender
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Exactly no (0) people go on the record to talk up this guy, and the people claiming he’d be a nightmare for the Tories are *the actual Tories*, but you’d be a cynic if you thought British journalism was basically a plot to mislead the public
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Cannot wait for unions to start using their new right of access to all workplaces, and for all social care employers to be bound into collective bargaining
A good example of how strangely unpolitical this government is at times.
The Economist is fretting that trade union laws have been tilted (sharply!) back towards strengthening unions.
But is the government making an argument around this to progressive voters? No.
economist.com/britain/2026...
The Economist is fretting that trade union laws have been tilted (sharply!) back towards strengthening unions.
But is the government making an argument around this to progressive voters? No.
economist.com/britain/2026...
February 10, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Cannot wait for unions to start using their new right of access to all workplaces, and for all social care employers to be bound into collective bargaining
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The Times, eh
The real Tavistock Clinic scandal: 1,000 court cases that never materialised | A FoI request for the data behind the media hysteria over the Tavistock Clinic presents quite a different picture | Marie Shrewsbury
The real Tavistock Clinic scandal: 1,000 court cases that never materialised
A FoI request for the data behind the media hysteria over the Tavistock Clinic presents quite a different picture
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 7:46 PM
The Times, eh
On @channel4news.bsky.social, a piece about how dangerous and unmoderated content on the big social media/video sites is, followed by a clip of an interview on the subject which you can watch by going to their YouTube page 😬
February 10, 2026 at 7:51 PM
On @channel4news.bsky.social, a piece about how dangerous and unmoderated content on the big social media/video sites is, followed by a clip of an interview on the subject which you can watch by going to their YouTube page 😬
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Not just any online nazi, one of the most notorious online nazis in the country
Turns out The Times gave an interview promoting the content of a far-right neo-Nazi
www.channel4.com/news/unmaske...
www.channel4.com/news/unmaske...
February 10, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Not just any online nazi, one of the most notorious online nazis in the country
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No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.
February 10, 2026 at 11:40 AM
No-one seems to have noticed, but many of the core developments in the Mandelson/Epstein story these last few days have been broken on this website. @pickardje.bsky.social and @petergeoghegan.bsky.social are both posting each breaking development on BlueSky, not X.
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Anas should call for Wes to release their WhatsApp chats. For transparency of course!
February 10, 2026 at 11:01 AM
Anas should call for Wes to release their WhatsApp chats. For transparency of course!
6 Music Festival smaller than ever this year, no more Victoria Warehouse. Probably the right size though, and possibly slightly more events than last time? (Still not over them settling in a single music-rich city instead of taking music to cities which might not otherwise have the profile though)
February 10, 2026 at 9:26 AM
6 Music Festival smaller than ever this year, no more Victoria Warehouse. Probably the right size though, and possibly slightly more events than last time? (Still not over them settling in a single music-rich city instead of taking music to cities which might not otherwise have the profile though)
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Sorry, what exactly is this bullshit on BBC News? The third one down is sponsored content for fucks sake!
February 10, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Sorry, what exactly is this bullshit on BBC News? The third one down is sponsored content for fucks sake!
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Reposted by Paul
‘That is why diversity in leadership is so important.’ That is why I, a man, need to be leader.
Ignore the smears: I was never a close friend of Peter Mandelson. And I fully understand the lessons we must learn | Wes Streeting
Ignore the smears: I was never a close friend of Peter Mandelson. And I fully understand the lessons we must learn | Wes Streeting
I knew him but not well, and worry now that he thrived in our political culture. There was a failure of moral seriousness, says health secretary Wes Streeting
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 11:08 PM
‘That is why diversity in leadership is so important.’ That is why I, a man, need to be leader.
Good job Wes Streeting has defeated the rumours that he was friends with the pal of a convicted paedophile by releasing a load of texts which show he was friends with the pal of a convicted paedophile
February 9, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Good job Wes Streeting has defeated the rumours that he was friends with the pal of a convicted paedophile by releasing a load of texts which show he was friends with the pal of a convicted paedophile
Reposted by Paul
A Scottish party leader calls for an embattled PM to quit but his cabinet rallies round and backbench MPs bang desks to show their support....
February 9, 2026 at 10:01 PM
A Scottish party leader calls for an embattled PM to quit but his cabinet rallies round and backbench MPs bang desks to show their support....
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arguably the biggest news of the week that Lisa Nandy is currently doing something related to her brief
Only three cabinet ministers have not Tweeted or put out a message of support for Starmer:
Wes Streeting
Shabana Mahmood
Lisa Nandy (who is at the Winter Olympics)
This could of course change, but it's where we're at just before 3:30pm
Wes Streeting
Shabana Mahmood
Lisa Nandy (who is at the Winter Olympics)
This could of course change, but it's where we're at just before 3:30pm
February 9, 2026 at 3:27 PM
arguably the biggest news of the week that Lisa Nandy is currently doing something related to her brief
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This is the key point that is lost in so much Westminster bubble talk on net zero. It is popular. It’s hugely popular with Labour’s base and with the progressive voters it needs to vote tactically to defeat Reform. And it’s even popular with Tories who Labour needs not to switch to Reform.
…as well as being supported by the vast majority of Lab/Lib/Gn voters, almost all Labour MPs, a 2-1 majority of voters overall and – even now – a healthy majority of Con voters
February 8, 2026 at 10:16 PM
This is the key point that is lost in so much Westminster bubble talk on net zero. It is popular. It’s hugely popular with Labour’s base and with the progressive voters it needs to vote tactically to defeat Reform. And it’s even popular with Tories who Labour needs not to switch to Reform.
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I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
February 8, 2026 at 10:23 PM
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
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What links Jeffrey Epstein and Keir Starmer’s government? A thick seam of contempt | Nesrine Malik
What links Jeffrey Epstein and Keir Starmer’s government? A thick seam of contempt | Nesrine Malik
We’re often told the PM is a ‘decent’ man. But in appointing Peter Mandelson he chose political convenience over doing right by trafficked women and girls, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:00 AM
What links Jeffrey Epstein and Keir Starmer’s government? A thick seam of contempt | Nesrine Malik
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Just beyond parody at this point
February 8, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Just beyond parody at this point
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Journalists should interrogate obvious lies before repeating them imo. My view
NEW: McSweeney allies suggest he carried can for Starmer over Mandelson decision. They say it was wrong to suggest he pushed for appointment, and was careful to ensure others shared views, which were unanimous. “He gave his advice, but that’s all it was. Keir made the decision.”
February 8, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Journalists should interrogate obvious lies before repeating them imo. My view
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"He has sought to keep a low profile in public" just not true is it. Everyone knows how much time he spent briefing the media, including about his own brilliance
February 8, 2026 at 4:07 PM
"He has sought to keep a low profile in public" just not true is it. Everyone knows how much time he spent briefing the media, including about his own brilliance
Reposted by Paul
Not to overanalyse, but this pattern: send out ministers to defend bad decision in the morning media round, walk back bad decision in the afternoon is what ultimately killed Johnson's administration.
February 8, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Not to overanalyse, but this pattern: send out ministers to defend bad decision in the morning media round, walk back bad decision in the afternoon is what ultimately killed Johnson's administration.
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Have... have I just died? And I'm having to sort out my own cemetery space?
February 8, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Have... have I just died? And I'm having to sort out my own cemetery space?