John McGhie

The paperback of my shortlisted #novel 'White Highlands' published today! In all good bookshops...and some bad ones too I hope. #goodreads #colonialism #BritishEmpire #Kenya #MauMau #warcrimes #thriller #Lovestory #author #writing

@joncraig @SamCoatesSky Remember him fondly from his time at GMB. Excellent source of stories. Once got me so pissed in the box at Fulham (GMB were proud sponsors) that he persuaded me to pick man of the match. I didnt know what day it was let alone the score or who won. Recall the boos at my choice tho

Sad news: Former Labour minister Phil Woolas, MP for Oldham West & Saddleworth 1997-2010, has died from brain cancer, aged 66. Popular at Westminster & famous for live TV clash with Gurkhas’ champion Joanna Lumley in 2009.

@PaddyBriggs @lady_valor_07 Off (and the first one's not hats)

@lady_valor_07 Off (you can guess the first)

What would it be?

@YouGov "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." — Cyril Connolly

As schools across the country celebrate World Book Day, our study last year found that 40% of Britons hadn't read a single book in the past 12 months - the median Briton had read 3 books in the preceding year

🚨 Muslims Taking Over the UK? An important message from Shah Lalon Amin, group director of award-winning Delhi 6 street food group, who in 2023 won the Curry King title at the inaugural Nation's Curry Awards. “I never thought I’d have to write this. But I keep seeing people say Muslims are trying to take over the UK, bring in Sharia law, or push the country toward civil war. And I know some of that fear feels real. So I’m speaking plainly, not to argue, not to attack, just to bring this back to reality. This is not a Muslim-majority country. It is a parliamentary democracy and a country with Christian heritage. Laws are made by elected representatives. Muslims make up around 6–7% of the population in a country of roughly 70 million people. There is no legal, political, or demographic pathway for replacing British law with any religious law. That isn’t secretly unfolding. It isn’t slowly building. It isn’t a hidden long-term plan. The average Muslim in Britain does not spend their time plotting political change. There are no secret strategy meetings. No takeover conversations. No coordinated agenda. And no, we don’t have some secret WhatsApp group discussing who’s arriving by boat next week. The only WhatsApp groups we have are about exam results, family gossip, and who’s bringing dessert for Ramadan. When Muslims get together, the conversations are painfully ordinary. Football results. Who’s top of the league. Ronaldo vs Messi debates. The cost of living. Mortgage rates. Trump being unpredictable. Children’s school reports. Business worries. Holiday plans. During Ramadan, it’s fasting and food. That’s the reality. That’s because we are British, our daily lives look very similar to the average person in this country. What people call “Sharia courts” in the UK are religious councils that mostly deal with marriage and divorce paperwork or mediation. They cannot override British courts. They cannot enforce criminal punishments. They cannot replace Parliament. If anything conflicts with UK law, UK law wins every single time. It’s no different in principle from Jewish Beth Din courts that handle religious matters within British law. Religious arbitration exists under the legal system. It does not replace it. Yes, many asylum arrivals are young men. Dangerous journeys are often made by the strongest family member first so they can seek safety and claim asylum and if approved, reunite with their families legally. This pattern has been seen throughout migration history. Wanting secure borders is reasonable. Wanting efficient processing is reasonable. Criminal behaviour should be punished. But that’s immigration policy, not proof of a coordinated religious invasion. Sometimes I hear people say, “We want our country back,” or “We just want to protect our country.” I understand that feeling. Wanting safety, stability, and a sense of identity isn’t wrong. But Britain hasn’t been taken. It hasn’t been stolen. It’s still here. Its laws, institutions, culture, and democracy are intact. Protecting a country doesn’t mean hating your neighbours, it means upholding fairness, rule of law, and shared values. There is no secret Muslim lobby running Westminster. British Muslims are not politically unified, do not vote as one bloc, and do not answer to a central authority. Most British Muslims are doing what everyone else is doing: working, paying taxes, raising children, worrying about bills, hoping their kids succeed, wanting safe streets and a stable country. We don’t want to change Britain into something else. We are part of Britain. You can want law and order. You can want borders controlled. You can want your country protected. That’s fair. But if anti-Muslim panic exists on your screen and nowhere in your real life, that’s not society—that’s an algorithm selling you fear.” 🇬🇧

Good morning, everyone. I think this is the best advertisement I’ve ever seen.

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer over the last week deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics. 1. Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues. 2. Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence. 3. This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness. 4. The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives. 5. There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting. 6. None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals. 7. A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

Should Nigel Farge resign after being found to have broken the MPs code of conduct - not once - but 17 times? Please RT after voting - thank you.

@JamesMelville Interesting...but outside of defence, what are his wider politics? What is his big vision for the country? Not asking negatively, genuinely want to know.

If Labour want to start afresh and reconnect with voters, they should go for Alistair Carns MP as their next leader. He’s a former Royal Marines Colonel who is down to earth and unlike so many Labour politicians, has experience outside of politics.

Epstein files reveal Russian links to Brexit campaign

Why Al Carns is gaining ground as MPs mull Starmer’s replacement ft.trib.al/HC6yy8f

Mentions of Starmer in the Epstein files.....0 Farage ...41 Guess which the media want as PM?

Ex MP Jonny Mercer knows very well that military policing has in recent years failed to properly investigate allegations of some of the most serious alleged crimes during overseas military operations. He has said so, publicly, himself.

🚨NEW: Singer Neil Young is boycotting Amazon Music due to Jeff Bezos's support for Trump and has gifted his entire catalog to the nation of Greenland! RETWEET to thank @NeilYoung for standing up for our democracy!

Ben Stokes is doing that slightly unglamorous captain thing in this Ashes. The bit that rarely shows up neatly in the results column... He bowled 19 overs, then walked out to bat in 17th over today & then he stayed there for two full sessions. It felt less like a batting innings & more like a statement of intent(or lack of?) delivered with tired legs... Across this Ashes, Stokes has already faced 373 balls. That’s more than anyone else from either side. No one has crossed 300 except him. For a side built on Bazball momentum & tempo, that number matters. It shows a captain willing to absorb pressure, not just dish it out... Here’s the part that really lands. Stokes alone has faced 21.6 percent of all deliveries bowled at England in this series. Add Joe Root into the mix & two of them account for 38.4 percent of England’s total balls faced... And this isn’t happening in isolation from the ball. Stokes has bowled 51 overs in this series as well. In 2025, he is England’s leading wicket taker with 28 wickets at 24.57 average... The runs may not yet scream Ashes-defining. But leadership isn’t always loud. Sometimes it looks like fatigue, time at the crease & a captain quietly deciding that if someone has to take the hit, it might as well be him...

@barneyronay What's possibly even worse is that England management think this bone headed fool is the future...the man who puts the thick into thick edge. More painful is that underneath the reckless bravado he is insanely talented. What a waste.

Genuinely stupid batting from Brook. There is no register of don't-give-a-fuck where that's a good choice

THIS IS *GARGANTUAN* 💥 One of the Chief Priests of Economists for Brexit has now publicly admitted: 🟥 Brexit made Britain poorer 🟥 Business investment collapsed 🟥 Productivity weakened 🟥 EU-facing firms cut jobs & spending 🟥 New trade barriers drag the economy down 🟥 Brexit deepened the fiscal crisis 🟥 There are no meaningful upsides 🟥 The damage is undeniable in the data This is the economic equivalent of a senior Vatican priest admitting the Pope is wrong about God. Even the architects of Brexit are confessing the truth 👉while Farage still lies. 🧵 full article next tweet

@MichaelVaughan #Englandcricket recklessly boneheaded, putting the thick into thick edge. Ffs.

This England management do it their own way .. that’s fine .. I would personally have loved to see them all playing a pink ball 2 day game to prepare for a pink ball test ..

Please think about joining in and reaching out to Jewish people you know this evening.

🚨Just announced Women Against the Far Right Counterprotest Wed 1 Oct 9.30am 📍Downing St The far right are calling a “pink protest” in Westminster to “protect our women & kids”. The reality is they want to spread racist hate & division. Join us to oppose them @AntiRacismDay