For the love of mid-century, eclectic, all things home, architecture, gardens and creative 😍
Britain
Joined October 2010
- Tweets2.6K
- Following1.1K
- Followers948
- Likes9.3K
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
🚨URGENT ACTION: Tell your MP to say NO to passports for the internet
On 2 November, MPs will debate the Government's plan to demand everyone's IDs to enforce a "social media ban"
This is a digital ID scheme by the backdoor - use our tool to stop it⤵️
bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campa…
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
Today marks 100 days since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.
Keir Starmer led the most hostile government towards free speech in modern British history. Andy Burnham’s first 100 days suggest he could be even worse.
Different Prime Minister. Same hostility towards our fundamental right to free speech.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
It’s time for @AndyBurnham to do the right thing, and Axe the Family Farm Tax. 🚜
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
Valdo Calocane killed Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates.
He escaped murder charges and was found guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Now he could be released as early as January - less than four years after he killed them.
He should never walk free.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
THE UK FISCAL POSITION A WEEK BEFORE THE BUDGET.
So we learned this morning inflation has jumped up, with the 1st Burnham-Healey Budget now a week away. But we also got the latest fiscal backdrop this morning. It’s not great.
The government borrowed another £24.5bn in September — £1.8bn more than last Sept and £1.9bn above both the OBR's March forecast.
In cash terms it's the second-highest Sept on record, behind only Covid year 2020.
Year-to-date government borrowing is just shy of £98bn. That's over £4bn less than YTD 2025 but £6bn more than the OBR forecast.
Why? Not because of a revenue shortfall. Tax receipts are £5.8bn ahead of forecast for the year so far (helped by inflation). At £90bn, September tax receipts were up 5.2% on a year earlier.
Spending is the problem, especially debt interest, which was almost £11bn in September — UP 16.6% ON A YEAR AGO, £2bn above OBR forecast and the highest September since records began in 1997.
Overall, YTD spending is almost £9bn above forecast. Debt interest accounts for £3.8bn of that and welfare benefits for £2.5bn.
The Labour government’s two Achilles Heels.
ALSO — net national debt has passed £3 trillion — 94.0% of GDP (over 100% on IMF measure, which allows for international comparisons).
So the UK fiscal position is being undermined by inflation and debt interest. The latest OBR forecast, out with the Budget, will be driven by both these factors. Could make for some dismal reading.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
There’s a lot of self-serving spin emanating from the UK government about how virtuous it is re fiscal consolidation.
Here are the facts.
Labour inherited an OBR budget deficit forecast of £87bn (3.1% GDP) for FY2024/25. After R Reeves’ 1st disastrous budget the actual deficit was £153bn (5.2%). Massive jump.
Labour inherited OBR budget deficit of £77bn (2.7%) for FY2025/26. After RR’s disastrous 2nd budget that turned out to be £133bn (4.3%).
So in its first two years it added over £120bn to borrowing/deficit (despite huge increase in taxes).
The OBR forecast it inherited for this FY2026/27 was £69bn (2.3%). It is now forecast to be £116bn (3.3%). That looks like an underestimate. More likely to be closer to £130bn again.
Inherited budget forecast for 2027/28: £51bn (1.6%). Latest forecast: £97bn (2.9%).
Inherited budget forecast for 2028/29: £39bn (1.2%). Latest forecast: £86bn (2.5%).
Far from fiscal consolidation Labour is forecast to borrow an incredible £260bn more over the 5 years from 2024/25 than the forecasts it inherited. Despite the tax rises.
Which will continue. Alone among G7 countries the IMF projects the UK tax burden to rise by 3.7% of GDP 2025-31. The only other country with a rising tax burden is France (0.8%). Italy is static. Rest of G7 have falling tax burden.
And let’s not forget Labour’s so-called ‘fiscal consolidation’ is all backloaded to end-decade. Unlikely to happen. So taxes will have to rise by even more.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
People need to understand clearly what is happening here.
Andy Burnham has never been a fan of Britain’s democratic decision to leave the European Union in 2016. The referendum was one of the biggest democratic processes in modern Britain, with strong views on both sides.
The Prime Minister now claims officials told him that Russia interfered in the referendum.
Burnham used his first speech at the UN to announce the creation of the National Centre for Information Defence. He said it would tackle Russian misinformation that sows division, interferes in our democracy, spreads false narratives about Britain and pushes people towards the “far right”.
But today, a Foreign Office minister slapped down that claim, saying Russia was not successful in influencing the Brexit referendum.
It is clear that this new centre will almost certainly be used to clamp down on those who do not subscribe to Burnham’s vision of Britain or the progressive orthodoxies he promotes.
It looks as if Andy Burnham is now spreading misinformation about misinformation — the very thing he claims threatens democracy.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
The British Government is preparing an apparatus of internet censorship without parallel in the modern era.
At the UN, Andy Burnham announced the creation of a National Centre for Information Defence — Labour’s Ministry of Truth.
The Prime Minister says the centre will protect us from hostile foreign powers such as Russia, which he accused of spreading lies and disinformation about Britain, amplifying “far-right narratives” and interfering in our democracy.
But the real purpose is to suppress dissent and silence those who criticise the Government or express views about the state of the country that run counter to Labour’s prevailing progressive orthodoxy.
FSU Director of Policy and Research David Rose has written a new briefing examining the threadbare research the Government has used to justify its plans. The Government is clutching at straws — and, ironically, already spreading misinformation about the threat of misinformation.
It has ignored a wealth of evidence from leading academics to push ahead with its new censorship regime.
Burnham’s Government is putting Britain in the same league as some of the world’s most authoritarian powers.
Watch the new episode of the FSU Podcast with General Secretary of the FSU Lord Young of Acton on YouTube and read @DavidRoseUK’s report below 👇
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
⚠️Digital ID for the internet is coming soon
A social media ban – which would require ALL of us to submit digital ID to go online – will come into effect by next March.
Help build the biggest campaign possible to stop internet ID checks.
JOIN US ⤵️
bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/join/…
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
One of the biggest campaigns the FSU has been fighting is to save our right to trial by jury — a right that dates back to Magna Carta.
David Lammy claimed, without credible evidence, that curbing this right was the only way to tackle the Crown Court backlog.
We hoped that when @andyburnham became Prime Minister and sacked Lammy, the reforms would go with him. So far, they haven’t. Burnham’s ministers have reportedly said they still believe the plans are the most effective way to address the backlog.
There is a real danger that this ancient right, a bulwark of English liberty, could still be curbed.
This matters greatly for free speech. FSU research has found that people accused of speech offences are almost twice as likely to be acquitted in a Crown Court with a jury than in a magistrates’ court without one. Under Lammy’s plans, more people could be banged up for exercising their right to free speech.
Jury trials are a vital defence of our liberties — especially our right to free speech.
✍️ Sign our petition calling on the Government to guarantee our right to trial by jury 👇
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
"Reform's billionaire donors are being accused of buying influence. But if anyone's captured by money and influence, it's Labour and the trade unions."
@toadmeister on the Sceptic.
Full episode 👇
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
The Government is using the age-old threat of Russian interference to suggest that British citizens are being pushed to the “right” on key issues facing the country.
Couldn’t it simply be that people are unhappy with the failures of successive governments to grapple with mainstream issues such as mass, uncontrolled migration?
What Burnham is proposing will lead to the censorship of British citizens.
The Government is spreading misinformation about misinformation — and that is an even greater risk.
The UK should, of course, fight back against malign foreign powers such as Russia. But we have no guarantees that the National Centre for Information Defence will not be used against British citizens, or to clamp down further on tweets that challenge the Government’s agenda or prevailing progressive orthodoxies.
As FSU Director of Policy and Research @DavidRoseUK told @GBNews earlier today: “The academic research shows that these claims… are invariably overblown and exaggerated, and used to create arguments for censorship.”
You can find out more in David’s latest report, Misinformation about Misinformation, below 👇
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
⚠️Mission creep alert: GP patient data is being fed into Palantir’s NHS data platform.
This goes well beyond Palantir's initial remit for hospital-only operations.
Even worse, it remains ‘unclear whether patients consent before [their data] is shared.’
Patients didn’t ask for this. The country didn’t ask for this.
Palantir turn our data into their profit, and they will never be satisfied. The Government must put the public first. No more data to big tech without consent.
Read⤵️
cityam.com/palantirs-nhs-pla…
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
Ministers want social media platforms placed under broadcast-style duties of "accuracy and balance" before elections, forcing government-approved "trustworthy" news into every feed while demoting everything else. Barely noticed by opposition or media, this is the most restrictive speech-control regime since Charles I.
The justification: that algorithms engineered to monetise outrage now threaten democracy itself. Repetition has made this narrative feel like fact. The evidence says otherwise. A 2024 Nature review led from the University of Michigan found exposure to misinformation is low on average and concentrated among a small fringe who actively seek it out.
"Untrustworthy" sites made up under 6% of news visits; "fake news" was roughly 0.15% of the average American's media diet. A 2023 Science experiment switched off Facebook and Instagram algorithms for tens of thousands of users. After three months, no measurable change in political attitudes, and the algorithms served less untrustworthy content than a plain chronological feed.
None of this appears in the Government Office for Science review commissioned to justify the crackdown. Its claim that algorithms are "exclusively" profit-driven rests on a single 2025 paper from a small private Indonesian institution ranked outside the world's top 12,000 universities. A freedom of information request revealed the review cost taxpayers just under £500,000.
Even the word "misinformation" is being stretched to cover dissent: questioning net zero timelines, heat pump efficiency, or electric vehicle claims now counts. The US Embassy has formally objected, warning that boosting "government-preferred media" would not be meaningfully different from removing disfavoured speech. In 1637, Charles I's Star Chamber controlled the presses. Now it is platforms. He failed.
As David Rose writes, “Charles I also hoped to stifle opposition and, of course, he failed. Now we are being asked to accept analogous curbs on free speech based on terrifying claims that are undermined by evidence the Government ignores”.
This Government is peddling misinformation about misinformation, and we will all suffer for it.
Read more from FSU Director of Policy and Research @DavidRoseUK In @Telegraph 👇
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
Yesterday, the consultation on the Government’s green paper, Watch This Space, closed.
Under the proposals, social media companies would be forced to prioritise “trustworthy” media outlets — predominantly public service broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 — while demoting others.
In what self-respecting democracy does the Government get to decide what its citizens can and cannot see — or what constitutes a “trustworthy” news outlet?
This is beyond Orwellian.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
The Great Barrier Reef has just recorded five years of near-record coral cover. AIMS data shows hard coral stable or rising across all zones. You won't read that in the Guardian, says Chris Morrison.
dailysceptic.org/2026/08/13/…
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
This is one of Andy Burnham’s first decisions as Prime Minister.
To let thousands of criminals - including killers and paedophiles - out of prison early.
We will amend his legislation to keep the most dangerous criminals - like the killers of PC Harper - locked up.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
In my three years covering the energy brief, I have never seen anything like this.
I first raised concerns put to me by whistleblowers within NESO in the House of Commons on 7 July.
The main allegation is that our grid is not being run securely, and specifically that the rules put in place to prevent blackouts were breached on 23 June, when a heatwave put strain on our electricity supply.
Since then, we have seen a conveyor belt of dismissals, denials, and downright lies from NESO and Ministers.
The problem? Time and again, the whistleblowers keep being proved right.
At first NESO denied that rules were breached on 23 June, telling staff and the press that the allegations were “false”.
Ministers Ed Miliband and Michael Shanks said I was “scaremongering”, and Shanks told the House categorically that “at no point did we come close to breaching” reserve standards.
However, leaked internal documents have since shown that NESO's initial view was that they did breach reserve standards, and that “system security was compromised”.
NESO has confirmed these documents are genuine and has provided no evidence to contradict them.
Strike one.
Senior management also criticised the whistleblowers internally, saying on an all-staff call that they had “let them down”.
They denied this was said, only for a leaked recording to prove that it had been.
Strike two.
Then Ministers and NESO management insisted an 'independent' investigation would take place, only for it again to become clear that this was not true.
Ministers and Ofgem had left NESO to mark their own homework. Engineers were told that if they wanted to contribute, they had to identify themselves to the very NESO managers whose necks would be on the line if the inquiry found them to be at fault.
Strike three.
After my repeated complaints, some improvements have been made to the investigation. But there is still no route for control room operators to raise concerns about grid security without going through NESO managers.
Miliband was completely absent during this scandal, too busy trying – and failing – to become Chancellor.
His Ministers have been firmly on the side of NESO management despite their repeated poor behaviour.
Whatever your view on renewables, it is clear that the more wind and solar we pile onto our grid, the less engineers can perform the delicate balancing act needed to keep the lights on.
You need to have a lot of back-up power on standby in case the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine.
And if the wind blows or sun shines too much, you need to pay to switch things off.
Balancing costs us £1.5bn per year now, but up to £10bn by 2030 - all paid through your bills.
These 'hidden costs' triggered my battle to get the energy department to do a true costing of renewables. We have to look at their full system costs, not just their cost when the wind is blowing the right amount.
Sadly, one of Ed Miliband’s first acts was to cancel that work and ask NESO to take it on instead.
They delivered one of the most discredited reports I have ever seen, showing through shameless statistical contortions that Labour's dash to Clean Power 2030 was, conveniently, both achievable and consumer-friendly.
As the sole shareholder of NESO, only the Secretary of State can hold them to account.
The NESO leadership’s craven support for his plans, worked out behind the scenes with his political advisers, shows they had already given up on the standards of impartiality and integrity required from our independent public bodies.
When public bodies face no accountability, the British public will always lose.
The fact that things have got so bad for expert engineers within our control room that they are talking to an Opposition politician and the press at huge personal risk is shameful.
The Ministers dismissing their concerns do these courageous individuals a huge disservice.
We should be applauding them, not denigrating them.
I will not stop until they are heard.
Whittaker & Gray retweeted
Ed Miliband just approved the country's second biggest solar farm.
4,000 acres.
Half of it on our best quality farmland.
This is not the free market at play - farmers are competing with heavily subsidised solar developers.
Food security is national security and we are deliberately driving it off a cliff.
