Ian Blease

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

🚩🚩🚩 This is getting very disturbing.

The Sunday Times has been investigating the money surrounding Farage, Cottrell and Reform.

Farage & Tice are now suing the NCA over alleged leaks.

And Arron Banks appears to admit commissioning private investigators to investigate the Sunday Times journalist leading the investigation, responding: “When you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”

Don’t lose sight of what’s happening here.

Journalists scrutinise politicians. Politicians and their wealthy backers should answer the questions not turn the scrutiny onto the journalists asking them.

That’s what a free press is for.

[Steve Rosenberg @BBCSteveR]

40 years ago I began my Russian Studies degree course at the University of Leeds. The era of perestroika & glasnost. At night, on a short wave radio, I’d listen to music from the USSR. I can still remember some of the melodies, some of the music that struck a chord.

[Count Binface @CountBinface]

There now follows a party election broadcast by the Count Binface Party, And if I do say so myself, it's a banger. #VoteBinface #Clacton

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Meet Christopher Harborne, the billionaire bankrolling Reform UK.

He moved to Thailand in the 1990s and became a Thai citizen, but he has pumped over £25 million into UK political parties, including £15 million to Reform UK and £10.2 million to the Brexit Party.

How is he legally allowed to do this?

A Channel 4 News investigation can reveal that Harborne specifically re-registered as a UK resident to cast his vote for the Brexit referendum whilst declaring just a few months later in a UK company documents that he lived in Thailand.

It’s a move that legally enabled him to pump tens of millions into British politics. Experts are calling it a "gaping loophole".

We look into the man behind Nigel Farage's £5 million gift.

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

🚨 More new Sunday Times revelations

George Cottrell (the convicted fraudster who bankrolled Farage’s staff, security and housing) paid thousands of pounds to Mark Brnovich, a senior Trump ally and former Arizona Attorney General,
for legal advice while lobbying for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.

Cottrell and Brnovich became close 👉socialising, GB News appearances, and mutual support and US records show the payments for advice during the period Cottrell was pushing for clemency. Cottrell dedicated his book How to Launder Money to Brnovich. Brnovich’s widow was recently photographed at Cottrell’s Montenegro penthouse. Raises questions about influence in any future Trump pardon process.

And Reform UK’s bank account was frozen for two weeks during the 2024 election over the same Cottrell-linked donations.

Full story in today’s Sunday Times Insight.
#Farage #Cottrell #Trump

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

🚨 😹 Kemi Badenoch calls for a televised debate between Nigel Farage and @CountBinface.

Starmer: “They intend to spend the summer arguing with a bin.”

“My advice to everyone is: put your vote in the bin.”

Reform desperately wants fury, persecution and the establishment but the comedy is drowning them out. 🤣

#PMQs

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

🔥 @DannyFink nails it: Farage is arguing for immunity from normal accountability!

And apparently immunity from his own ideology too.

Reform lecture the country about welfare and state dependency.

Farage turned down state-funded security, used security to justify a £5m gift and now we’re told the taxpayer should fund his protection.

State support for me, austerity for thee.

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

😆 USA 🇺🇸 enjoying the Monty Python spectacle of @CountBinface v Farage Clacton by election.

“On 6th August Farage is going to have to actively prove to voters that he’s better than a garbage bin!”

[Steve Rosenberg @BBCSteveR]

"I've been to a few SPIEFs. But none quite like this one." What we saw at this year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Producer @BBCBenTavener https://t.co/xhUxB17fXF

[The New Statesman @NewStatesman]

Cheeky!

[Pippa Crerar @PippaCrerar]

EXCL: Nigel Farage has been trying to block Bank of England cryptocurrency plan that could be costly for billionaire bankrolling his party.

Reform UK leader has said Christopher Harborne wants nothing in exchange for millions donated to party and undeclared £5m personal gift to Farage revealed by Guardian.

But Farage used private meeting at Bank to urge governor to drop plans for state-run alternative to digital currency that has made his Thailand-based benefactor one of richest people in world.

Cracking tale from @tomburgis

https://t.co/o4ljHGx8fZ

[Murielle /European ⚖️/🇪🇺🇬🇧🇺🇦 @frenchieinlimbo]

Mariana Mazzucato s'exprime sur le #Brexit, affirmant qu'il a entraîné le départ d'entreprises du Royaume-Uni, réduit les opportunités commerciales et nui aux investissements. Elle déclare à The Fourcast que Nigel Farage et Boris Johnson n'ont toujours pas été tenus pour responsables de ce qu'elle qualifie de l'une des plus grandes erreurs économiques du pays.

Nigel Farage et Boris Johnson ont tous deux nié avoir menti au public.

#lesfrexitersvousmentent

[Steve Rosenberg @BBCSteveR]

Headline in one of today’s Russian papers: “Russian regions and big business are arming themselves to defend against attacks by Ukrainian drones.” Plus, a newspaper article from last week that has disappeared. #ReadingRussia

[Steve Rosenberg @BBCSteveR]

One Russian paper says Russia's “on verge of recession” & warns of “a large-scale bank liquidity crisis.” After Putin & Xi failed to reach a deal on the 'Power of Siberia 2' pipeline, another paper writes: “Chinese media ignored the topic of the gas pipeline.” #ReadingRussia

[Reuters @Reuters]

Newly released footage shows the moment a recovery crew opened the hatch of Artemis II's Orion capsule and welcomed its four-member crew home from a historic lunar mission on April 10

[Byline Times @BylineTimes]

🔴 EXPOSED: How Viktor Orbán Bankrolled the Network Around Reform UK

As Hungary’s Prime Minister suffers a historic electoral defeat, Byline Times maps out how his government’s funding arm channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds into organisations at the heart of Britain’s hard right.

https://t.co/9IFdHy1zT1

[Amock_ @Amockx2022]

THIS IS ULTRA SAVAGE 🔥

Journalist –– Why do you think President Trump posted that photo depicting Jesus?

🇺🇸 Rep Nancy –– "You should ask a psychiatrist. It needs diagnosis, not conversation" 😂

[Keith Siau @drkeithsiau]

According to a shocking report by BBC News, 331 children tested positive for HIV in one single city in Pakistan, likely due to transmission through infected syringes.

These children were diagnosed within a single year in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Investigators ruled out vertical transmission in the majority of cases where mothers tested negative. Staff were seen to reuse syringe bodies (after changing the needle). Medical procedures were commonly performed without gloves. Some children have sadly died of complications of HIV, and the fate of many remains unclear.

An important learning point was found - a syringe contains a needle connected to the syringe body. Even if you change the needle, the syringe body can still be a reservoir for infection. If you see this in your practice, please point it out, as this can avoid an unnecessary tragedy.

[Le Contemplateur @LeContempIateur]

Mais quelle voix en envoûtante ! Je pourrais les écouter durant des heures... 🐦🎶

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

Huge moment from @GeorgeMonbiot on #BBCQT.

Britain and the US overthrew Iran’s elected leader Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 after he nationalised oil.

The Shah followed. Then the 1979 revolution.

Decades later the consequences are still unfolding.

That’s imperial blowback.

Britain defended corporate oil interests abroad and yet at home we let our own resources flow into the global market instead of protecting national wealth.

History has consequences.
#IranWar