Oliver Rivers
maxrothbarth.bsky.social
Oliver Rivers
@maxrothbarth.bsky.social
COO at OCCRP. Usual disclaimers about whose these opinions are (mine) apply in the usual (obvious) way. Aspiring cat owner. Corruption, investigative journalism, art, classical music, not necessarily in that order.
Chuck in a cones hotline, that should clinch it.
February 4, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
The Al Carns stuff is a real “the PLP has learned nothing and forgotten nothing” thing.
Talk has turned to who replaces Starmer (again).

Labour MP tonight:

“As far as I'm concerned, Starmer is done. What matters is what's next. If it's Angela, the honeymoon lasts a week. If it's Wes, a month. If it's Al, 6 months. Hard to see how it turns around beyond that.”
February 4, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
I don’t like this
February 4, 2026 at 7:49 PM
He doesn’t.
The tone of this debate about releasing the Mandelson info is really fascinating. It's become a matter on the sovereignty of parliament itself. Owen Patterson has been mentioned. And Labour MPs are standing firm against the government.

Starting to really wonder how Starmer gets through this
February 4, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Stupidest line in an atrocious performance. Political instincts of a slug.
Keir Starmer: "Morgan McSweeney is an essential part of my team. He helped me change the Labour Party and win the election. Of course I have confidence in him."
February 4, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
I’m not sure ‘our national security developed vetting technique can be beaten if a candidate is prepared to lie’ is an especially helpful line to push.
February 4, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Starmer’s cooked. Awful performance.
February 4, 2026 at 12:16 PM
An Anglican bookshop called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Creeds.
A bookstore specialising in the works of Herman Hesse called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Beads.
A consulting detective agency called Maslow & Maslow’s Hierarchy of Leads
February 4, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Wes Streeting saying on Today that Mandelson is ‘not the man we thought he was’ but the trouble is, he is exactly the man we thought, just on a much worse scale than almost anyone thought. And there is an alternative world where none of this is this govt’s problem, because they never gave him a job
February 4, 2026 at 8:16 AM
This is a wonderful thread.
I've told this story on ContrabandCamp but it's worth sharing for BHM because it's one of the greatest stories ever.

A thread.
February 4, 2026 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Only 2 days left to join OCCRP Briefing "After Maduro: The Future of Venezuela's Criminal State" where our expert panel will analyze the implications for regional security and financial crime, and what compliance professionals should anticipate as power dynamics shift in Caracas buff.ly/62eEEUb
February 3, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
a lot of the men who were not *directly* abusers still had essentially a class interest in defending abusers
You can really see why they fought so hard against Me Too, they're all implicated either in deed or silence and it's hugely fucking embarrassing for the Masters of the Universe
February 3, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Credit to the FT landing this. Genuinely huge work.
February 3, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Funny that.
February 3, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
the wealthiest man alive, custodian of the light of Consciousness unto the stars, and guy who once offered a flight attendant a pony for a handjob:

you idiots - I could simply have optimized myself into an exponentially more efficient sex monster than Jeffrey Epstein. I even did the math long ago
February 1, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
If you’re exploring non-US search engines:

DuckDuckGo is American too.

Ecosia is German but built on U.S. crawlers.

Mojeek is British with its own crawler.

Fireball adds another German crawler to the mix.

There are more options. Indie search is bigger than people think. #EndOligarchy #Trump
“The main event is this: the world is building optionality away from U.S. policy and platform dependence. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it — because it’s showing up in procurement decisions, supply chains, defense budgets, and capital flows”
Europe just started building a ‘kill switch’ for U.S. tech — and the market isn’t priced for it, says this strategist — MarketWatch
Zoom and Microsoft are among those companies that could lose business, says Matthew Tuttle
apple.news
February 3, 2026 at 7:25 AM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Starmer is a mannequin who took office not even owning the shirt on his back or the glasses on his own face. No confidence he’ll do the necessary. But worth pointing out the hypocrisy of mr clean up politics if there’s no empowered, broad inquiry and a clear mandate for the police
February 2, 2026 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
One reason for Mandy to shun Epstein’s ‘advice’ was that Epstein *was in prison for soliciting a minor for prostitution* while Mandy was breezily forwarding him secret government financial assessments. He has to be thoroughly investigated, well beyond Epstein
February 2, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
“There was no reason to shun his advice” - utterly unrepentant, a total shit
Let’s do a fun thought experiment: imagine that e.g. Seumas Milne had just been caught sending sensitive emails to a notorious international noncemaster and giving foreign bankers tips on how to strong-arm the Chancellor during a global crisis. Do you think the Times coverage would look like this?
February 2, 2026 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Let’s do a fun thought experiment: imagine that e.g. Seumas Milne had just been caught sending sensitive emails to a notorious international noncemaster and giving foreign bankers tips on how to strong-arm the Chancellor during a global crisis. Do you think the Times coverage would look like this?
February 2, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Reactions at the time to Brown’s decision in 2008 to bring Mandelson into Cabinet.
McDonnell: an extraordinary step backward
Blunkett: a masterstroke
February 2, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Of course the PM doesn’t have the power to unilaterally remove Mandelson from the Lords. But given it can only be removed via an act of Parliament in government time, Starmer is hardly powerless, indeed he is the only person who can make it happen.
February 2, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Who leaked this Number 10 discussion to Jeffrey Epstein? And are there consequences for the leaker?

It’s an internal discussion re. getting markets moving in the aftermath of the financial crisis. No doubt of great interest to Epstein and his financial market clients.
February 2, 2026 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Really striking going through Epstein disclosures just how often British defamation lawyers are referred to: Schillings; Paul Tweed; oblique suggestions to sue to silence

Why? Because our libel laws let rich and powerful buy silence

Why I signed this last week pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/an...
Editors unite to demand Parliament takes action on SLAPPs
Editors from national newspapers including The Guardian and The Times demand action on SLAPPs in next King's Speech.
pressgazette.co.uk
February 1, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Oliver Rivers
Heroes come in many forms and this is one of them
February 1, 2026 at 8:17 PM