Nigel’s poster is going viral

RT @GordonFielden: This is the largest sporting event on the planet, despite what some Americans may believe, and the decision to prevent A…

You know, I think Annabel Denham is still Communications Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, essentially grifting for billionaires and the super rich. She's ashamed of it though and blocked me for mentioning it here, so whatever you do don't let anyone know.

RT @Care2much18: American far-right, assisted by the British far-right, spent the last week asserting three young women were "murdered" in…

RT @Care2much18: Almost 10,000 likes for straight-up lies by Annunziata Rees-Mogg, quote: "Asylum seekers make up 0.08% of Dorset's popula…

Wow, @bbcnews in full on Labour & Green bashing tonight. Still nothing about Reform though. 🤔

Hey @thismorning - when do you plan to have two left of centre pundits doing your “morning view” slot? Consistently platform two right wingers. Never seen it the other way.

Say what you like about the British press, but I find it reassuring that they spend months ripping apart a Labour PM for properly declaring some glasses and football tickets, then all but ignore someone who wants to be PM when he tries to cover up a £5 million gift.

After watching @raceacrosstheworld last night, how have the nation of #kyrgystan not been promoting their country as a major tourist destination. It looked stunning!!

Stevenage’s superpower for the run in is that not one fan gives one iota of a damn about which league we are in The others have a huge weight of expectation

Isabel Oakeshott who you’ll recall screeched like a banshee thrice daily for months on end to get Angela Rayner to resign, is here crying because a right wing newspaper has ran two fully researched and accurate stories about Tice’s ongoing tax shittery

@hzeffman hi Henry, I was just wondering about this chyron during your report on BBC Breakfast this morning. Are party branded chryons going to be a thing now?

Nothing fake about Stevenage. No crypto bros, wealth funds or money launderers here. A club competing for a place in the Championship on merit. A small town; a new town. Fifty year old football club, bloodying the nose of sides with 100 years more history. Fair play to them.

If the Japan and Uruguay games are anything to go by, the World Cup is going to be incredibly tedious. Teams just packing their defence and the oppo just knocking it backwards and forwards in front of them. Very boring. 😴 #England #WorldCup

So grab a guy by the shirt and shove him to the ground - no pen. Gently brush a guys shirt - pen. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ And I’m a neutral! #BOUvMANU @SkyFootball

Really excellent piece this. Spot on. open.substack.com/pub/broken…

🚨 The leaked draft of the Govt's social cohesion strategy has been irresponsibly misrepresented by right-wing MPs and national news media, creating a widespread but false impression that the government itself branded the Union Jack and St George's flag as a "tool of hate." The report actually said that national symbols were "at times deployed last summer to exclude or intimidate" communities, and crucially, that the "extreme right has tried to turn symbols of pride into tools of hate". This distorted framing of the strategy document, titled Protecting What Matters, has fuelled outrage, accusations of anti-British bias under Labour, and political division, while driving significant engagement through sensational headlines and social media amplification. The misrepresentation chain starts with The Spectator, bought last year by Paul Marshall who funds GB News, which first obtained and reported on the 47-page early draft. While The Spectator provided some context on integration and extremism concerns, its summary on the flags stated there was "a claim that last summer’s widespread flying of English, Scottish and Union flags were 'tools of hate' and the 'misuse [of] national symbols to exclude or intimidate.'" This interpretive phrasing loosely characterises the document's discussion of misuse during 2025 unrest (likely tied to riots or tensions), but it is not a verbatim quote and does not directly attribute the "tools of hate" label to the government viewing ordinary patriotic displays as hateful. Subsequent coverage by outlets like the Daily Mail, The Sun, GB News, and others escalated the narrative dramatically. Headlines and posts such as the Daily Mail's "Flying a Union Jack flag is branded a 'tool of hate' in Government's leaked 'social cohesion' strategy" (accompanied by photos of innocent rows of Union Jacks and English flags on lampposts), explicitly imply the government condemns the flags themselves or their normal public flying. These framings stripped away nuance to deliberately provoke outrage and viral backlash. Yet the actual wording in the leaked draft, consistently quoted in the body text of even these sensational reports (including the Daily Mail, The Sun, and GB News), is far more precise and qualified: national symbols were "at times deployed last summer to exclude or intimidate" communities, and crucially, the "extreme right has tried to turn symbols of pride into tools of hate" (or close variants like "far-right groups have attempted to transform 'symbols of pride into tools of hate'"). The document attributes the "tools of hate" framing specifically to attempts by the far-right/extreme right to co-opt or weaponise symbols in divisive contexts — not to the flags broadly or to everyday patriotic use by the public. This nuance, which was visible beyond the sensationalist misleading headlines in the articles themselves, was omitted from headlines, social media summaries, and viral posts, allowing the inflammatory version to dominate. Politicians amplified the misinformation further: Reform UK's Suella Braverman opportunistically repeatedly blasted it on @X and in interviews Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice amplified it e.g., telling The Sun it was "absurd" that "our national flag is a tool of hate used to intimidate," calling the document "divisive nonsense" to be binned). Copying Reform UK's Robert Jenrick's earlier stunt of being photographed on a ladder putting up a union flag, Restore Britain's MP Rupert Lowe opportunistically climbed a ladder (in a suit, as captured in photos and videos shared widely) to erect a flag in a symbolic protest, captioning it "Very proud of my 'tool of hate'" and telling the government to "SOD OFF" as Restore Britain's response, actions that played directly into the outrage cycle, potentially skirting rules on unauthorised flag placement on public property. Overall, this pattern, beginning with The Spectator's interpretive summary and turbocharged by right-leaning print and broadcast media, prioritised misleading clickbait and political point-scoring over accurate reporting. It portrayed the Labour government as attacking core British identity, stirring unnecessary division on national symbols and cohesion, even as the quoted source material focuses narrowly on far-right misuse. With no major fact-check debunking the framing by March 8, 2026, the distorted narrative spread unchecked ahead of the final document's expected release, maximising engagement at the expense of truth. I'm fucking sick of this irresponsible bullshit.

Oh good, the Indian commentators are back - shouldn’t hear England mentioned for a few overs now! 🙄🙄 #INDvENG @skysports