Author: Miles Donavan

“As road users and taxpayers look for tangible improvements in return for public funding, the figures from National Highways are certain to prompt reflection about where the balance lies between reward and responsibility.” Newly released accounts from National Highways show a sharp contrast in pay rises between the company’s chief executive and its frontline workforce, fuelling criticism as the UK’s road network continues to deteriorate. National Highways, the government-owned body responsible for operating, maintaining, and improving England’s motorways and major A roads, reported that its chief executive, Nick Harris, received a total remuneration package of £426,304 in 2024–25, an 8…

“To outsource editorial control wholesale like this is unprecedented, misleading for viewers, and probably doesn’t meet Ofcom’s impartiality rules.” Sky News has faced a wave of complaints following “excessive” coverage of Reform UK. The backlash comes after the channel aired two live feeds directly from the party’s own TV studio, sparking accusations that Sky had “outsourced editorial control” to Nigel Farage’s party. One of the live segments showed Reform’s leader Nigel Farage interviewing his party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, about the Online Safety Act. During the same broadcast, Reform also aired Sky News’s own interview with tech secretary Peter Kyle, creating…

“Brexit, the scourge of the British electorate. Lied to by the right-wing self-interested.” Contrary to claims from critics that ‘wokeness’ is driving visitors away from major UK art institutions, new data suggests a different culprit – Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. Attendance at London’s Tate Modern and Tate Britain has dropped by 27 percent since 2019, equivalent to 2.2 million fewer visitors, according to the latest figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). The fall is notably steeper than at other prominent cultural venues in the capital. The National Portrait Gallery saw a decline of just 3 percent…

For a better future the power of corporations and wealthy elites must be curbed and reversed The evidence of ailment is all around us. The gross domestic product, considered by many to be an indicator of wealth generation, barely grew by an average of 1.5% between 2009 and 2023. Successive governments expect the private sector to investment in new and emerging industries, but that hasn’t happened. Despite recent record low rates of interest, inflation and corporation tax, the UK has languished at the bottom of the G7 league for investment in productive assets in 24 out of last 30 years. It ranks 28th…

‘Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role. Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it.’ Rushanara Ali has stepped down as Homelessness minister, following an i Paper investigation that revealed she evicted tenants before raising the rent on a property she owns. After facing numerous calls to go, Ali resigned from the role yesterday. In her resignation statement, she said if she remained she would be a “distraction from the ambitious work of this government”.  Ali maintained that she had followed “all relevant legal requirements” at all times.  The i Paper reported that four tenants who rented a house…

‘If you attack somebody’s community, particularly if you’re meant to be representing them, people will push back.’ Sarah Pochin MP appeared on ITV’s Granada Reports last Friday, repeating her claims that ‘illegal immigrants’ living on Greenaway Road in Runcorn are causing anti-social behaviour.  In a previous BBC interview, she said her office was collecting statements from businesses and locals, and suggested she would take legal action against residents who have publicly disagreed with her.  Rob Littler, who sent an open letter to Pochin challenging claims she made about anti-social behaviour by ‘illegal immigrants’ in a video on 13 July, told…

The offer of ‘champagne with Farage’ has raised concerns over rich donors having influence over party policy and the future direction of the populist party. So much for being a party of working people! Reform UK is using its annual conference as an opportunity for corporate executives to sip champagne with Nigel Farage – for a mere £250,000. In a move that has led to accusations of ‘cash for access’, a glossy commercial brochure for the party’s annual conference in Birmingham early next month invites sponsors to “an intimate champagne breakfast with Nigel Farage”. Sam Bright writes on his Substack:…

After embarrassing himself, Lowe has said he would be donating funds to the crew’s charity. Former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has been left red faced after mistaking a charity rowing crew for ‘illegal migrants’. The now-independent MP for Great Yarmouth, who was booted out of Reform by Nigel Farage, had posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. “Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW,” he wrote on X. “Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool…

The party says it is to “avoid another Rupert Lowe” Reform UK vetting process includes psychiatric testing, used to assess candidates’ mental health and check for ‘problem behaviour’.  PoliticsHome reports that candidates identified as having “behavioural issues” are then ruled out from standing for the right-wing party.  A senior party source said the tests are also used to identify potential future leaders and will help Reform “avoid another Rupert Lowe” incident. Candidates are also sent for psychometric testing, which tests their personality traits and cognitive abilities, so the party can understand how they act in situations and how they work…

The far-right false claims are being called out… Essex Police are tackling head on false claims made by far-right accounts on social media about recent protests in Epping relating to a hotel housing asylum seekers. Recent days have seen a number of protests in Epping over a hotel housing asylum seekers, after a man living in the hotel was arrested, and subsequently charged, with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity. Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, has denied the offences and is in custody. Following the arrest, Epping has seen a number of protests from…