Alan Calder

Trump acknowledges Putin might be helping Iran 'a little bit' "I think (Putin) might be helping them a little bit, yeah, I guess," Trump said. "And he probably thinks we're helping Ukraine, right?"

⚡️ Trump acknowledges Putin might be helping Iran 'a little bit.'

"I think (Putin) might be helping them a little bit, yeah, I guess," Trump said. "And he probably thinks we're helping Ukraine, right?"

This is top notch trolling by the BofE given who tends to use cash these days…/s

“He is, of course, a serial liar & prone to espousing completely contradictory positions within moments of each other.” It is extraordinary to me that journalists continue to ‘analyse’ Donald Trump without adding this constant caveat. It does readers, listeners & viewers a grave disservice.

EXC: Nigel Farage defends Reform-run Kent County Council increasing council tax by 3.99% despite election leaflets last year pledging to “reduce waste and cut your taxes”.

Mr Farage told ITV News Meridian: “Cutting taxes can be not putting them up as much, I suppose.”

Crude oil prices, showing a very sharp increase in the last day, from around 65 to 101 dollars per barrel..

Oil prices wouldn't be all over the news today if more of our economy was powered by local, secure renewable energy.

This isn't an "energy crisis". It's a fossil fuel crisis.

44% of UK electricity came from renewables in 2025. More of that plus an electrified economy => no more oil shocks.

Meanwhile, Spain's massive investment in renewables is paying dividends now: with prices for Spanish industry and consumers low and stable compared with other European economies.

www.ft.com/content/ac77...

Rabobank on the unfolding worst case scenario:

Tweet from Daniel Pipes: "The uprising in Iran in early January suggested an even greater insurgency would then follow on the U.S.-Israeli campaign to erode regime power. Yet, the populace now appears cowed into near-silence. This ranks as the most surprising and disappointing development of the past week. Without a new uprising, the regime will likely remain in power, less powerful but more awful than ever. (The picture below is from Jan. 10 in Tehran.)"

Amazing how quickly "We're fighting this war for freedom of the Iranian people" becomes "The Iranian people are at fault for not rising up."

For the Iraq war no doubt he was sincere in his catastrophic beliefs and now maybe its still his refusal to admit such a mistake, but with TBI - “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it” always seems to apply.

So what physical mechanism caused temperatures to increase, since the mid 1970s? Suns output has been stable with small fluctuations, volcanic activity has been minor. Nothing else, generates the extent of forcing needed.

Any chance a camera motorbike can take Pogacar on a small diversion? /s

#stradebianche

The idea the North Sea is some great goldmine waiting to be tapped is entirely at odds with reality.

Christopher Harborne has cemented Reform’s status as a mo... New political donation rules won’t stop him giving as much as he likes

In the second half of 2025, one man accounted for almost 40% of all money donated to political parties in the UK: a crypto-billionaire who lives in Thailand.

Britain desperately needs to rewrite its party funding rules.
observer.co.uk/news/the-sen...

At least 13 hospitals and health facilities hit during attacks on Iran, WHO says Global health body investigating reports that four medics are among the 1,230 people killed in Iran since start of war

The US and Israel have bombed at least 13 hospitals and health facilities in Iran and one in Lebanon.

A sickening society is clear in these statistics

So why is it not in the news?

Powerful wake-up call from @chakrabortty.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

"Yea, we built them their own lanes, and you might see a few people using them in rush hour, but the rest of the time those lanes are unused. What a waste"
#FourEmptyDrivingLanes
#Cycleway #C3 #CS3 #Embankment

A case of you get what you asked for. Labour’s Home Secretary literally said Labour didn’t want these voters, so the voters go elsewhere.
I suspect if you want them back you’d need a different Home Secretary.

Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey:

"Tax exiles like Isabel Oakeshott and washed up old footballers who mock ordinary people who stay in the UK and pay our taxes... As we protect them, it's only right for tax exiles to start paying taxes to fund our armed forces, just like the rest of us".

Nigel Farage lied multiple times at his press conference today - including saying no-one who voted Green in Gorton and Denton has a job and he's "certain" Reform won most British born voters in the by-election, based on zero evidence, and yet not a single journalist there pushed back on them

This is idiotic

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez: “Today more than ever, it is essential to remember that one can be against a hateful regime as is the case with the Iranian regime…and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law.”

In Iran, air power alone will not reshape the regime. Since WWI, dozens of U.S., Israeli & allied air campaigns have tried to force political change — none installed friendly governments. None! They strengthen nationalism and intensify resistance.

the guy who wrote the literal book on this stuff is dunking on the admin:

Spectator headline "The Green party is playing with fire in Gorton" by Ed West.

Dunno Ed, if I had to pick a party in Gorton that's "playing with fire" I think I might take a closer look at the Blood and Soil chaps micro-parsing who gets to call themselves English and flirting with Great Replacement Theory, not the nice Greens lady encouraging brown people to vote.

So the candidate who left school at 16 with no A-Levels and who's spent her whole adult life vocational, manual jobs beat the ivory tower academic turned cushy media pundit, but you can be sure we'll still get plenty more casual description of the latter as "white working class".

I like that the picture suggests that he’s just written this graceless codswallop on the notes section of his phone

Drop in overseas workers is ‘car crash’ for UK hospitals and care homes, say experts Care roles hit particularly hard by UK’s lurch to the right on migration, according to analysis of Home Office data

"Ministers need to wake up."

Indeed. Some shift away from the exceptional levels of overseas recruitment 21-24 was natural/desirable.

But current "strategy" - no new visas and making life as unpleasant as possible for migrants already here - is madness.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

bsky.app/profile/hann...

So they are basically claiming it was a fix, family voting - such sore losers

Gorton & Denton By-Election Result:

🌍 GRN: 40.6% (+27.4)
➡️ RFM: 28.7% (+14.6)
🌹 LAB: 25.4% (-25.4)
🌳 CON: 1.9% (-6.0)
🔶 LDM: 1.8% (-2.0)
🎩 MRP: 0.4%
☑️ ADV: 0.4%
🇪🇺 REU: 0.3%
🗽 LBT: 0.1%
🔴 SDP: 0.1%
⚒️ CLG: 0.1%

Green GAIN from Labour.
Changes w/ GE2024.

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