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Reposted by Kate Martin

Patrick - Here for the craic 👍🏼 @patrickopatrick.bsky.social · 1h

Lest we forget one month ago Angela Rayner resigned over underpaying stamp duty on her £800,000 flat in Hove

Within a week Farage exposed not to own a £885,000 house in #Clacton he claimed he’d bought & accused of avoiding £44,000 in tax by funding his girlfriend to buy it

It got buried quick eh❗️😡

Angela Rayner resigns after underpaying tax on Hove flat - BBC News

Her departure comes after the PM's ethics adviser concludes that she breached ministerial rules.

www.bbc.com

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The Story of Writing @sownow.bsky.social · 2h

Charlotte Bronte’s landmark novel "Jane Eyre" was first published on this day in 1847. The book proved instantly, immensely, and enduringly popular. It owes some of its success to the failure of Bronte’s first manuscript, titled "The Professor."
#BookSky #WriterSky #Bronte #OTD

"The Professor" was rejected by publishers, but they gave Bronte some valuable feedback: make it longer, more dramatic, and give readers a tumultuous story of a tortured hero.
Bronte did all that and – importantly – gave voice to Jane Eyre’s inner thoughts. Readers were shocked to get a window into a woman’s psyche and see her desire for independence – and her insistence on being seen and treated as a human being.
About 50 years after Mary Wollstonecraft published her groundbreaking book "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman," the character Jane Eyre gave readers a hero who fought for those rights.
The book’s first printing sold out in less than three months and for 178 years, "Jane Eyre" has never gone out of print.

A yellowed image of the title page of the first printing of the novel "Jane Eyre." It's original title included the words "An Autobiography," and it was published under Charlotte Bronte's pen name: Currer Bell.

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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 5h

DAY 1 of Dan Hodges getting a legal issue comically wrong but deciding to stick with it for another 168 DAYS.

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 4h

NEW

What the Chinese spying case witness statements reveal

The Crown Prosecution Service appears to have made at least one serious error, while the government's position now makes sense

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/what-the-c...

Yesterday this blog sought to make sense of the decision to drop the Chinese Spying prosecutions on the information then available, and averred that both the positions of the government and the Crown Prosecution Service did not make sense.

Now the government has published three witness statements, the picture now changes. The government’s position now makes sense, and the CPS looks as if it made at least one serious mistake and possibly another.

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 3h

plot twist

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 4h

tldr - the third witness statement shows the government was providing relevant evidence and was not seeking to spike the prosecution.

The CPS decision to drop the prosecution seems perverse.

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Kate Martin @ktmartin.bsky.social · 6h

I'm really struggling to see how a criminal case can rest on this nonsense.

If you have evidence of spying, you have evidence of spying.

Surely, opinions about who the spies are spying for should be irrelevant?

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Peter Kay @theonlypeterkay.bsky.social · 16h

Conservative defector Maria Caulfield stumbles out of the Tory gloom into the searchlights of @vicderbyshire.bsky.social
Gill’s leech like attachment to Farage comes under scrutiny as Victoria uses the traitor word. “You must have been horrified when you read about it!” This isn’t going away.

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Victoria Derbyshire @vicderbyshire.bsky.social · 15h

"Does that make you question Nigel Farage's judgement?"

"No, not at all."

Reform UK supporter & former Tory MP Maria Caulfield responds to ex-Reform Wales leader Nathan Gill admitting Russia-linked bribery charges

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Francesorfran @francesorfran.bsky.social · 16h

Interesting how the china spy thing suddenly appeared- overshadowing this genuine security threat.

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Parody Keir Starmer @parodypm.bsky.social · 20h

This is how Farage and Tice reacted at PMQs when someone raised the issue of one of their politicians accepting bribes to spread Russian propaganda. Apparently it’s funny to be a traitor.

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Kate Martin @ktmartin.bsky.social · 7h

Deirdre will be pleased.

Kate Martin @ktmartin.bsky.social · 7h

Umm.. good news - people comply with the law? It's slightly damning that you have to praise Reform for complying with the law.

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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 16h

Except ofc Pogrund. DPP explained to C’tee tonight what happened. They asked DNSA to go further than confines of Tory view of China at relevant time. He refused. They asked him again. He emphasised it’s still no. Gabriel added 2+2 and got 12 - and instead of apologising now insists his sums add up.

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Da Vinci @disqualified.bsky.social · 17h

Traitor Tice.

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 20h

"Another Reform MP has been accused of being in breach of Parliamentary rules, after its deputy leader Richard Tice failed to register lavish hospitality he received from Lubov Chernukhin – wife of a former Russian deputy finance minister"
leftfootforward.org/2025/10/refo...

Reform’s Richard Tice failed to register lavish hospitality from former Russian finance minister’s wife

'Tice and Oakeshott stayed at the Chernukhins’ “turreted villa” with “a stunning view of the Mediterranean” and had supper with them at a Michelin-starred restaurant'

leftfootforward.org

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marty1981.bsky.social @marty1981.bsky.social · 16h

@lewisgoodall.com and the newsagents might want to apologize instead of doubling down like they did on todays podcast

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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 16h

I notice all those brave journalists, Guido alumni, and Tory hacks, who manufactured a scandal - a dangerous one to national security, at that - out of gossip, supposition, and sticky tape, have gone ALL QUIET now the witness statements have been released and are exactly as the PM detailed at PMQs.

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Rory Cellan-Jones @rorycj.bsky.social · 1d

youtu.be/_VTeRiMisfc?... I hadn’t heard of Geobeats but when they told me they wanted to tell the story of #sophiefromromania I gave them an interview and a whole pile of video - I hope you will agree they have done a lovely job

Terrified rescue dog hid behind sofa for 6 months

YouTube video by GeoBeats Animals

youtu.be

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

What I love about Holden’s “when I was in Cabinet, these guys were charged”, is, yes, the same week that the PM was (rightly!) trying to get a meeting with Xi Jinping!

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 1d

INCREDIBLE clip.

<Richard Holden MP shouts like an angry man in a pub>

Lisa Nandy: "Can you calm down a bit, mate? You're shouting like an angry man in a pub."

Richard Holden: "That's not fair."

<continues to shout like an angry man in a pub>

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Kate Martin @ktmartin.bsky.social · 1d

He stated the witness statements would be released during his statement before PMQs. How was he tied on knots and conceded what he had already stated? Your post makes no sense.

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Michael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 1d

Ofcom used qualitative "focus groups", including GB News viewers, to reach the view there was "no consensus" to stop politicians fronting "current affairs" shows. Farage's show not classed as "news".

This new quantitative research appears to contradict that finding.

Could Nandy/Ofcom reopen this?

Michael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: Net migration almost halved last year. But 84% of regular GB News viewers believe it went up.

More importantly, new research revealing this also suggests the public opposes politicians presenting shows - contradicting Ofcom.

Lisa Nandy now taking note:

www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

GB News viewers more likely to wrongly believe net migration to UK rising, study finds

Research also finds majority of people are against letting politicians front current affairs programmes

www.theguardian.com

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

Kemi Badeoch's spokesman tying himself in knots trying to explain why the substantive evidence the Conservative Government gave to the CPS on the China spy trial wasn't good enough to secure a conviction, but the additional evidence Starmer's Government later supplied somehow should have been

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "If somebody is doing a bad job and if I feel there is unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni, the head of FIFA, and I would say, 'let's move it to another location.' And he would do that ... I could say the same things for the Olympics."

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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 2d

MI5 issues guidance on countering espionage and interference

We have seen previous cases of political interference, including most recently the case of the former Member of the European Parliament, Nathan Gill

www.gov.uk/government/n...

MI5 issues guidance on countering espionage and interference

MI5's National Protective Security Authority issues new security guidance to protect democratic institutions from espionage and foreign interference

www.gov.uk

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 2d

Faintly amusing that the IFS' argument to Reeves on tax reform is basically: You're fucked either way, so you might as well do something decent for the country while you're taking all this pain www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks...

UK's Reeves should use budget to reform tax system, IFS says

British finance minister Rachel Reeves should use her budget in November to carry out a long overdue reform of the taxation system which could help her to raise more revenue while limiting the hit to the economy, a think tank said on Monday.

www.reuters.com

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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 3d

Rupert Lowe on Nathan Gill, former Reform leader in Wales, who has pleaded guilty to taking bribes from pro-Russian proxies:

"I had absolutely no idea. I was new to the European Parliament, Nathan had been there for years alongside Farage - they were very close."

Shots fired. ~AA

Rupert Lowe MP
@RupertLowe10
I have received A LOT of questions about Nathan Gill, having sat as a Brexit Party MEP alongside him in Brussels and Strasbourg. He was also the Reform leader in Wales. For those who don’t know, he has pleaded guilty to taking pro-Russian bribes over a number of months.

Obviously, I had absolutely no idea. I was new to the European Parliament, Nathan had been there for years alongside Farage - they were very close. He was the head of the delegation of our MEPs, so with the whip ran the day-to-day affairs of our grouping and organised activity in Brussels/Strasbourg. He was one of just two MEPs from the previous term Farage allowed to stand again.

He seemed particularly interested in Russian/Ukrainian developments which I found peculiar. There was one event, right at the beginning of our term, which he asked me and other MEPs to attend. Due to his position in the grouping, I agreed. It had a very pro-Russian slant, with individuals who claimed to be close to Putin there. For obvious reasons, I did not attend another such event.

I thought his obsession with that part of the world was strange, but given his years in the Parliament and position in the party, I didn’t think there was more to it. Other MEPs also found it unusual, but we just got on with job.

So to journalists asking, there is my response.

It is disgraceful behaviour, treasonous behaviour.

I am ashamed to have ever sat alongside him.
7:44 AM · Oct 13, 2025
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