RT @b_judah: Northern Ireland remaining in the EU single market for goods means we have an entire region running as a counterfactual on how…

Too close for comfort, but chaos was rejected.

My story today - set to be a very close vote, no country has ever tried to put a hard cap on its population. bbc.com/news/articles/cx23kz…

In our Makerfield constituency poll we also asked people how they might vote in a future EU referendum. Despite the fact the constituency voted 65% to Leave in 2016 our poll suggests residents would now be more likely to vote to rejoin.

Palantir loses legal challenge against Swiss investigative magazine ft.trib.al/lvINPtz

Does referee case show Fifa has lost control of its own World Cup? bbc.in/49Rqxtc

Canada says Somali FIFA-certified referee Omar Artan, whose U.S. visa was denied, is welcome to officiate matches in Vancouver. 🇨🇦

On our Inside Geneva podcast this week, we host a debate on a key question: what’s the point of foreign aid? Listen to the full episode, wherever you get your podcasts. 👇 🎧Apple Podcasts: buff.ly/w4AZggJ 🎧Spotify: buff.ly/XRgich9

RT @LibyaLiberty: The U.S. World Cup in one horrible photo:

Reform UK turn their focus on 'lanyards and books on gender identity' in Warwickshire libraries trib.al/Gf6TkRh

Reform 'Bans Essex Libraries From Promoting Pride and Black History' bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9we…

As Ed Davey reveals MI6 tried to recruit him as a spy, @willydunn shares his conspiracy theory about Lib Dem sleeper agents.

JD Vance took time this week to explain to the British that the murder of 18-year-old student Henry Nowak was actually about immigration. Justice Secretary David Lammy apparently rang Vance to set the record straight. “You’re wrong about this,” Lammy told him. Which must have been an uncomfortable conversation for a vice-president who has built an entire political career on being confidently incorrect about things happening in other people’s countries. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, England’s football squad was busy preparing for the World Cup in Kansas City, Missouri. Nine people were shot near England’s planned training facility and hotel on Troost Avenue at four in the morning. Police arrived to find a large crowd scattering. A second shooting the same evening, just miles away on Troost Avenue, left two people dead.  The Kansas City Police were quick to reassure everyone that the incident “did not occur near a World Cup venue or anything else World Cup-related.”  Which is technically true, in the same way that a house fire next door isn’t technically in your living room. The Americans are hosting a World Cup. They have strong opinions about immigration and British crime statistics. They would just like everyone to ignore the bit where nine people get shot near the visiting team’s hotel before breakfast. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

Well - 10 years on from #brexit some 52% now want to rejoin and 33% stay out. (Personal prediction - the 52% will need to be nearer 70% before it happens )

Good take by @adam_tooze in the FT. I think a good analogy to use is this: imagine Saudi Arabia offered to sell their oil wells at 80% off, and you could somehow ship them home. You'd call any leader who refused that deal a complete fool. Well that's pretty much what China is doing with solar panels. That's what people fail to understand: there's such intense competition and so much supply in China - the so-called "involution" phenomenon - that it's YOU, as a customer, who's getting subsidized when you buy solar panels. This is literally China paying your energy bill. And it's like oil wells because, once it's installed, there's no dependency. You buy it once, and for three decades (the average lifespan of a solar panel) you're extracting energy from your own sun, just like an oil well extracts from your own ground. It's one of the most sovereign energy asset you can buy. The rational response when you see this is to buy as many as you can, as fast as you can. All the more when you're Europe and you have massive energy supply problems (and no solar industry of your own to protect). But no, we scream "overcapacity" and put up tariffs. We're so deep into geopolitical brainworms that we can't recognize the best deal in the history of energy. Src for the article: ft.com/content/b6cac184-75a4…

This is extremely important. Later this year the world will suffer two simultaneous disasters: the collateral damage of Trump and Netanyahu’s stupid war, and the biggest El Niño ever.

🚨 THE DEATH OF THE DOLLAR IN EAST AFRICA? 🇹🇿 💵 ​If you think dedollarization is just a theory, think again. Tanzania just officially locked the U.S. Dollar out of its domestic economy. ​As detailed in the legal breakdowns the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has completely banned the use of USD and other foreign currencies for local transactions. The one-year grace period for existing contracts officially ended this month (June 2026). ​Here is what is now strictly ILLEGAL inside Tanzania: ​❌ No USD Pricing: You cannot quote, display, or advertise prices in USD or EUR. Everything must be in Tanzanian Shillings (TZS). ​❌ No Foreign Cash for Local Deals: Accepting or forcing payments in foreign currency for local goods/services is a criminal offense. ​❌ No Rejecting Shillings: Refusing to accept the local currency is officially a punishable crime. ​Why does this matter: This isn't a temporary rule—it is fully codified under Government Notice No. 198. The government is aggressively moving to protect and strengthen the Tanzanian Shilling (TZS) by forcing every single local business, hotel, and supplier to drop the greenback. ​Is this the blueprint for the rest of the continent? 👇🏿

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran tells PoliticsHome: "There's definitely a frustration that it feels like [the party has] been talking about the same things and that just felt like we weren't really moving forward" As the Lib Dems come under pressure to remain relevant, a strategy "rethink" is now underway at the top of the party, PoliticsHome can reveal politicshome.com/news/articl…

The constant banging on about DEI is an infuriating American import into the UK. In the UK we call it EDI. And EDI training is essentially summed up like this: ‘Don’t be a knob to other people, and realise some people face barriers you don’t.’ It’s not some woke conspiracy.

It's not just the exploitation of a tragedy. JD Vance's picture of Britain - where migrants have led to a crime surge - is the opposite of the truth. comment.press/vance1234