How Jo Cox stood out as a politician and why her message is more important than ever. My column in today’s @yorkshirepost yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opi…

The Met Police denies announcing the 1.5m Arsenal parade crowd figure that’s being attributed to them in posts shared widely online. While it might not appear major, it’s another reminder about how unverified info spreads in appealing-to-share social posts, not from media

Is it done yet Declan?

Hey Arsenal fans, you’ve got the lyrics to your version of allez allez allez now, “We’ve never won in Europe, we always eff it up, Paris down to Turkey, we’re unoriginal donkeys”

A more pliant option that won’t challenge those in the boardroom. Alonso would have wanted more authority. That’s why the timing of the decision was delayed. Cue the fluff about data says this and that about Iraola.

Whilst on #Hajj, still writing a newspaper column on an issue that matters to us - #AntiMuslimHostility #Islamophobia- and is affecting so many #BritishMuslims. yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opi…

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because they have been.

I left school when I was 17 (got 'asked to leave', is the more accurate term I guess). This was 1997. My unqualified, entry-level salary was more than the average salary now. My Dad - hopping mad - had sent me to three months of secretarial college and I came out into an £18k job in the local Glaxo factory as an admin assistant. To give a sense of how long ago this was - my boss would hand-write messages onto sheets of paper and I would touch-type them into this new-fangled 'email' thing she couldn't fathom. Nearly 30 years later, the equivalent - in purchasing power at least - would be £36k. A year later, I parlayed that up to a £21k job in the R&D side - still as a PA, 18 years old. I saved up and went to Taiwan to teach English for a bit. When I got back, I went to London and got a job earning £24k designing presentations and documents in a marketing agency. I was 20yo. The equivalent in 2026 would be £46k. With zero qualifications beyond the ability to touch-type and a certificate saying I could use Word, Excel and PowerPoint, I was on 1.35x the average salary now. I made a lot of mistakes as a kid. Most of my mates did. But the economy I lived in allowed the messiness of life to roll out. We could learn, take risks and still be able to live and breathe. We are failing future generations. And we have a generation that's already been failed. Our politicians are addicted to cheap slogans. They want power, not service. The failure of their reality-denying ideologies continues to spiral outwards. Yes, immigration plays a role. Yes, housing, technology and deindustrialisation play a role. But the state has morphed into a deeply incompetent, self-indulgent boondoggle machine, that spends more time bribing voters than it does serving - or investing in - the country.

Asked for a quick interview with Reform UK leader Craig Ward after the airport meeting today Was told he was "too busy" with other engagements. As I'm leaving council an hour after the meeting finished, I've seen him drinking a pint in a pub garden over the road with other cllrs

100 pc wrong. Starmer carried out the McSweeney strategy to the letter - albeit not very well - endless micro announcements on migration that anyway did not impress Reform voters but added to sense Starmer had no agenda/beliefs. The chief threat to Labour is the chronic inability to articulate in primary colours why it is in power.

You just know that there are some within Labour ranks who are looking at these results today and thinking if only we had Mandelson to advise us. This is what happens when an administration is bereft of original ideas and lacks conviction.

Watching PSG has been nostalgic. I remember the days where we had a front three that would dart around pulling the opposition pillar to post. Now we have this. Whatever this is.

How is this Slot’s fault that the team had no shape, no fight, is poorly conditioned, can’t string two passes together, makes mistakes all over the pitch and doesn’t run anymore. He’s just a passenger in this disaster. Right? #LFC

Liverpool can now concentrate on the pursuit of seventh place. Best not demand any fight from the team, in case a former centre back accuses the fanbase of being fickle.

Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police’s pledge to set the record straight on the Hillsborough Disaster is another step towards closure but families are rightly cautious. yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opi…

The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election.

All those sideswipes aimed at through anonymous briefings are coming back to bite the geniuses now in charge. Klopp would never have accepted the intensity dropping off in the second half of back to back games, never mind almost half a season. Conditioning is off clearly.

Unbelievable

…except on day three.