@direthoughts.com
Investigations Correspondent, The Guardian | Tips: henry.dyer@theguardian.com/henrydyer.01 (Signal) | Interested in Politics/Media/🚂/CofE https://www.theguardian.com/profile/henry-dyer http://direthoughts.com
‘As a couple, Andrew and Sarah Ferguson have always been too stupid to understand the vulnerability of the institution that supports them, and they began wrecking it from the inside as soon as they met.’
Andrew O’Hagan on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, in the next issue.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
"But a Guardian investigation has shown the money isn’t necessarily real, the datacentres may not be new, the jobs are unaccounted for – and the supercomputer site 12 miles north of London is still a scaffolding yard" - fascinating report from @aishadown.bsky.social
a brent offering?
If they made some sort of Slay the Spire/Balatro combo I fear my life would end
NHS official pushed to add patient data to Palantir platform while also advising company ft.trib.al/5F32aYS
Photographer Murdo MacLeod patrols Scotland's hills with members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, which has since 1988 published daily forecasts of the avalanche risk in six mountain areas.
h/t @severincarrell.bsky.social @theguardian.com
Gummer, aka Lord Chadlington, now the sixth peer to be censured by Lords authorities following recent Guardian reporting. He joins the Earl of Shrewsbury (two wks suspension), Lord Evans of Watford (5 months), Lord Dannatt (4 months), Lord Duncan of Springbank (apology) and Lord McNicol (apology).
Peter Gummer to quit House of Lords after damning conduct committee report recommends 12-month suspension over introduction of PPE company to govt and failing to cooperate with earlier inquiries. Top reporting from David Conn
From byelections to regime change: how gambling on any event fuelled the rise of prediction markets
A Whitehall scoop:
A bill is coming to increase the number of paid ministers
11 new salaries will be created to bring the payroll in line w/ the average size of a modern government
"The PM believes that ministerial office should not be reserved for those wealthy enough to fund it for themselves"
The proposal would hide details of secondees to parliamentary offices paid for by corporations and charities; where MPs hire the family members of other MPs - and also cuts off the ability for staffers to see where MPs churn through their aides, a red flag for many!
Completely mad proposal from the Commons to hide the names of MPs staff who have parliamentary passes which could prove invaluable to vested interests looking to buy access to Westminster. Staff members taking hospitality + freebies would no longer be identified.
please just admit you have played and enjoyed both "Middle-Earth: Shadow of War" and "Batman: Arkham City" and confused them, they're both good games
"in fact, Sam, the goons were alluded to by Tolkien in 'The Silmarillion' as one of the first beings created by Eru Ilúvatar, and then he reused the name for a dwarf in the Fourth Age, Glóon"
astonished to find "actually, it's Tolkien" is a verbatim quote of Badenoch talking about her "orcs and goons" line, and not a sketchwriter's invention. please could her next television pool interviewer ask her to describe the goons of Middle Earth?
Head of Police Federation of England and Wales arrested on suspicion of corruption
That fourth frame is particularly lovely!
But doctor - I am Wonko The Sane
🎉 Really positive news coming from parliament that the government will scrap the Strategy and Policy Statement for the @electoralcommission.org.uk.
⚠️ We previously warned about the risks of keeping the statement in place in our report, Democracy in Danger 🧵 ⬇️
IPSA announces MPs salaries for 26/27 increased to £98,599 - how long until Parliament decides after all it might be worth adjusting the tax thresholds and the £100k 'tax trap'?
‘Do what you really want to do while you’re still alive’: Masayoshi Takanaka, the Japanese guitar hero surfing a second wave in his 70s
The Guardian’s positive action work experience is open for applications! There are (paid) schemes for disabled, BAME, and working class wannabe journalists.
Because the media needs more people like us.
Info here: workwithus.theguardian.com/entry-level-...
Labour Together ‘making clean break’ after former director resigns as minister
Undercover officer 'got free romance trip to Venice'
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
"Simons described Pogrund’s treatment as 'a disgrace', although the letter does not include an apology. It also notably declines to praise the journalism or acknowledge the treatment of Paul Holden, the South African journalist and author of The Fraud [...]" - @pronouncedalva.bsky.social
and hats off to @petergeoghegan.bsky.social for breaking the story 3 weeks ago about Labour Together hiring APCO to investigate the journalists who had written about the thinktank and its £730k of undeclared donations used to help elect Starmer, which is where the really significant questions are.
Few developments:
- In a statement this evening, Labour Together's new management describes the scope of APCO's report as "indefensible"
- Simons said he "acted too hastily" in appointing firm
- Simons's resignation letter did not address outstanding questions about earlier statements
Full details:
