Sri Viswanatha

All views my own...

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

@DavidLammy @Keir_Starmer A terrible disappointment who not only failed on the greatest moral issue of our day but actively collaborated with and assisted an entire government of genocidal maniacs

[Double Down News @DoubleDownNews]

We are truly heartbroken to learn of the passing of anti-racist campaigner Maz Saleem

Her 82-year-old father Mohammed Saleem was killed by a neo-Nazi terrorist who went on to bomb 3 mosques

She dedicated the rest of her life to fighting racism & Islamophobia

Rest in power Maz

[Mohammed Zubair @zoo_bear]

Yaad hai @narendramodi ?

[Matt Kennard @kennardmatt]

We need to proscribe the Labour Party

[Sri Viswanatha @drumbuster]

@Andric1961 I have, over my 15 years travelling to the suggested country, realised that there are only two types of people on this planet. Not left-right, not rich-poor, not tea-coffee lovers.
The great divide is Smoki lovers, I'm one of them, and the others (who shall not be named).

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

Joint Statement: Paul Holden and Andrew Feinstein Regarding Labour Together, APCO and the Labour Party

On Wednesday last week we received documents from Labour Together following Subject Access Requests that we submitted to Labour Together in February 2026. The documents provided by Labour Together are deeply disturbing.

They show that Labour Together and APCO targeted us, our colleagues, our associates and Paul’s family with utterly false and highly defamatory allegations, and that this was done with the knowledge of the highest levels of the Labour Party. Indeed, we are now of the view that the operation to investigate us, our families and associates was effectively a joint operation run by the Labour Party, Labour Together and APCO.

This highly invasive campaign was launched because of Paul’s factually accurate reporting. This reporting raised serious questions about whether Labour Together and Morgan McSweeney deliberately failed to report £730,000 in donations to the Electoral Commission in violation of the law. It is now plain that Sir Keir Starmer benefited from the work funded by these donations and that they facilitated his rise to power.

We are calling for a full inquiry into Labour Together.

We also call on Sir Keir Starmer to clarify his role in this scandal. Considering the documents that have been disclosed to date, we find it nearly inconceivable that Sir Keir Starmer did not know about this despicable project that included Labour Together reporting us to the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), a part of GCHQ, based on utterly false and highly defamatory allegations. These highly defamatory allegations were then shared with at least one major newspaper outlet.

The newly released documents reveal six important facts.

First, they show that Morgan McSweeney and Paul Ovenden were aware of the APCO and Labour Together investigation into us from at least January 2024. McSweeney was the Labour Party’s head of campaigns and subsequently Sir Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff in Number 10. Paul Ovenden was the Director of Labour Party communications and subsequently Head of Strategy in Number 10.

The emails show Simons arranging a meeting between himself, Ovenden, McSweeney and Tom Harper, a senior APCO employee, to discuss the investigation into us. A third Labour employee was copied into the email, but, because of redactions, we do not know who this is. We ask the Labour Party to confirm who else was copied into this correspondence.

The excellent @PeterKGeoghegan and Democracy for Sale have confirmed with a Labour Party source that the intended meeting did take place.

Second, they show that APCO’s Tom Harper actively coached Josh Simons and Labour Together on how to submit a ‘crime complaint’ about us to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ. Harper provided text for Simons to submit to the NCSC. The decision to complain about us to the NCSC was made only days after Simons had emailed McSweeney, Ovenden and Harper about APCO’s upcoming report into us, asking for a meeting to discuss its contents.

Third, Josh Simons has repeatedly claimed in public that he appointed APCO to investigate a ‘hack’ of Labour Together materials. But the new documents show that Labour Together and Simons did not conduct any meaningful cybersecurity review to establish whether materials had been hacked from Labour Together, or where else they may have been sourced from.

Labour Together did, however, appoint a cybersecurity expert to review a potential hack in late 2025. This review, a summary of which has now been disclosed to us, shows that there was no ‘hack’ of Labour Together. This is obviously true, as we have repeatedly explained that the investigation into Labour Together was based on documents legally leaked from the Labour Party by whistleblowers concerned about misconduct by the Party’s most senior officials, open-source materials, and Freedom of Information requests.

Fourth, they show that Josh Simons and Labour Together told the NCSC that they were reporting us because they were concerned that Paul’s reporting ‘may be a co-ordinated effort to discredit Labour Together in order to undermine Mr McSweeney and by extension, Mr. Starmer in the run-up to next year’s general election.’ It is our view that this joint Labour Together, Labour Party and APCO operation was launched because Paul’s factually accurate reporting would have shed light on the highly problematic and unlawful aspects of Sir Keir Starmer’s rise to power.

Fifth, they show that APCO had sent a ‘case summary’ to Josh Simons of Labour Together on the 20th of November 2020, on the basis of which APCO were contracted by Labour Together two days later. The ‘case summary’, setting out a proposed scope of work, clearly identified us as journalists. From the very beginning, therefore, APCO and Labour Together knew that they were looking to investigate journalists – the very journalists who were reporting accurately on Labour Together, Morgan McSweeney and undeclared donations.

Sixth, they show that Simons wrote to an unknown person at the Labour Party in November 2023 asking for ‘intel’ on us. This shows that Simons’ immediate response to announcement of Paul’s book was to seek the assistance of the Labour Party. At the time, we were both Labour Party members. The reply to Simons’ request has been redacted in our documents. We call on the Labour Party to release all documents to us relevant to this scandal, and to confirm whether Josh Simons, Labour Together or APCO were provided with any of our private, personal information.

[Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi]

India’s foreign policy emerges from the collective will of our people.

It should be rooted in our history, our geography, and our spiritual ethos based on Satya and Ahimsa.

What we are witnessing today is not policy.

It is the result of the exploitation of a compromised individual.

[Matthew @MatthewTorbitt]

Barry Gardiner with the most truthful 105 seconds you’ll be likely to see this week.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

🚩My new report is out.
With their actions and omissions, third states have enabled the oppression of the Palestinian people and their genocide.

Those states have an obligation to stop their complicity and deliver justice.

And We The People, have to make it happen.

[Matt Kennard @kennardmatt]

NEW: A source very close to the senior leadership of MI6 has got in contact. They wanted to make public the opposition within the intelligence agency to the proscription of Palestine Action.

Senior figures are said to feel it is a distraction from the battle against real terrorist threat - and should never have happened.

The source has been verified.

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

BREAKING: The Trades Union Congress, representing over 5 million workers across the country, unanimously passed a motion calling on the government to repeal the proscription of Palestine Action.

https://t.co/xHyNnPtPT9

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

We’ve just finished Day 1 of The Gaza Tribunal.

We heard powerful and devastating testimonies from legal experts, journalists and survivors of the Gaza genocide.

Join us tomorrow for Day 2. The truth will out.

[Private Eye Magazine @PrivateEyeNews]

“If I said I was wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt would you get here quicker?”

From the new Private Eye, in shops now.

[Mohamed Salah @MoSalah]

Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

I once got into a conversation about Israel with the late great @BZephaniah Prof Benjamin Zephaniah. At one point, I was burbling on about Balfour, and the Middle East as the West sees it... and he laughed and said, 'It's racism, isn't it?'

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

@Keir_Starmer #GazaIsStarving and you are about to become complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. DO SOMETHING!

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

❌BREAKING❌
1/#Rafael, Israeli state-owned arms manufacturer, has actively supported the genocide in Gaza. Now, in an utter display of cruelty, it uses footage of Palestinians being killed as a marketing tool to promote kamikaze drones. It is IMPUNITY that fuels such depravity.

[A. @acharjee_speaks]

Stan Swamy a patient of Parkinson was denied the dignity of a sipper and straw, GN Saibaba was denied the opportunity to see his mother's last rites.But a self-styled godman convicted of rape got bail on medical grounds.
Credit to the SYSTEM.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

We will stand forever with the people of Palestine until they have justice, peace and freedom.

[Sri Viswanatha @drumbuster]

Mandovi Exp (10103) 7th Jan, 2025. Coach S5. Cockroaches everywhere, crawling on and under luggage, on seats and all panels. A pic of one of many we took out of service. Loving the experience, thanks. Will travel again, NOT. @KonkanRailway @maha_tourism