Alex Swanson

@scottygb Strong opener. Star power guests, genuinely funny sketches, high production values, and the regulator talent is new to UK TV. Hoping it finds an audience on Sky.

What is everyone's thoughts so far then #SNLUK

POV: you are a bacon sandwich in 2026 and this time your opponent is battle-ready

since 2000, London has grown by the population of Paris (from 7 million to 9 million). It's added roughly two Manchesters every decade. It is completely deranged and unserious to say it is dying x.com/dc_lawrence/st…

Sometimes I love how unserious my country is

Met Police chief Mark Rowley: ‘How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous. The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It’s lower than all their big cities.’

We've had a new report out into maternity and neonatal care and honestly... there's not a single surprise in it. It's still - and I don't use these words lightly - a total disgrace. We've had multiple reports telling us this. And yet the same problems keep happening. Women not being listened to - mums and babies being harmed or even dying - when they shouldn't be. So many people have their own stories - I'm sure if you're listening to this right now you might have your own story - or know someone who does. There's one thing I wanted to pick out from the report by Baroness Valerie Amos. The investigation heard cases of women who had lost babies being placed on wards with newborns. This might seem like a little thing. But can you imagine losing a baby. The worst moment of your entire life. All those hopes and dreams for your child's future. Carrying the baby inside you - feeling it grow - and then the blood, the desperation that maybe it's going to be ok, surely it's got to be ok, and then the reality that you've lost your child. And then what happens? You're put on a ward full of other mothers just like you... but these mums have their little babies in their arms. That is not just negligent. It is cruel. And it also happens systematically throughout the NHS. Having a miscarriage? Go to the maternity unit. Just had a scan where you'd hope to see your baby kicking but actually find out it doesn't have a heart beat? Go and sit down with all the happily pregnant mums. This is symptomatic of a system where women are treated like vessels not like people who should be heard and listened to. Because bringing life into the world can be the happiest time of your life. But it can also be the worst time of your life. Either way - it's the most important moment. And that's why we've got to get this right.

Lawless London latest

As Putin terrorises Ukrainian civilians, his own losses are piling up.    Russia has suffered over a million military casualties for just 1.1% territory gained since November 2022.     Putin must end the fighting, come to the negotiating table and engage in meaningful talks.

@NationCymru @ShiptonMartin Your argument is that people who didn’t do Welsh at school but later in life do something to support the Welsh language are disingenuous?!

Cardiff West Labour MP Alex Barros-Curtis’ backing for the Welsh language has been described as “odd” by one of his contemporaries at school in north Wales ✍️@ShiptonMartin nation.cymru/news/labour-mp…

London murders have fallen to 89 in the last 12 months. The lowest rate on record.

Pulling out of ECHR is a dangerous, xenophobia-fuelled gimmick. It won’t stop the boats. But it would wreck cooperation with France and Europe that’s key to tackling the smuggling gangs.  It would also rip up rights we all rely on like fair trials, free assembly and workers’ protections – and jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement.   Let’s call this out for what it is: a dangerous, xenophobia-fuelled gimmick when Britain needs fair, grown-up, practical solutions that actually work.   The so-called party of law and order wants to recklessly shred international laws the UK wrote in order to chase Reform’s tail.

Reform’s plan to get rid of indefinite leave to remain would mean no matter how people arrived in this country, no matter how long they lived here, no matter how much they have contributed - if they work or they raise their families here they could be rounded up and sent home. That’s exactly the kind of language of the National Front in the 1970s. - @nowak_paul on #BBCAQ

Two things can be true at once. Rayner was foolish in her conduct and right to resign. It’s also true she was always despised by much of the right wing press because she was a working class powerful woman. She was therefore threatening to them, because she authentically spoke for the same people they (erroneously) claim to speak for and could not be dismissed as a liberal elite- their favoured tactic with anyone they don’t like. She’s therefore been the subject to endless snobbery and classism and extra scrutiny from day 1- another reason she was foolish not to be meticulous.

The facts behind our work in the Channel. In 2024, our crews launched 114 times to Channel crossings – that's just 1.2% of our total launches. Our core purpose is to save lives at sea. Anyone can drown, but no one should.

Improving working conditions is exactly how you properly use your platform.

@MartinSLewis @RachelReevesMP The £20,000 limit is an annual allowance, and only 16.9% of *ISA subscribers* hit that limit, important context imo. Source: gov.uk/government/sta…

Reports @RachelReevesMP will announce a cut to the cash ISA limit at her 15 July Mansion House speech. If true, I think it's a mistake. I doubt it'll substantially nudge people to invest not save; said to be the aim. This isn't nudge economics, its piss people off economics. Currently you can put £20,000 in tax-free ISAs, whether cash (savings) ISAs, shares (investments) ISAs or the smaller types. Its said the reduction'd only be for cash ISAs, so people can still invest the same tax free. NB At this point I should note, it is v likely to only impact future ISA limits (though whether the cut would start this tax year is a big question) so those with money already in cash ISAs shouldn't panic My suspicion is that for many who use cash ISAs, it will just result in many having to pay more tax on their relatively paltry savings interest, not have an epiphany and think "oooh i'll just fill up the remainder of my ISA allowance with investments instead". Now I should note, I am in favour of encouraging people to invest in the UK. It's good for individuals over the longer term and for the economy, especially if a way is found to encourage people to invest in UK firms. Yet this isn't the route to do that. I'll be disappointed if the Chancellor chose to listen to the big investment firms in the City, and shut down many building societies and consumer groups who've said its not a good route. Instead lets start a conversation about how we encourage investments - even possible intervention when people save to explain other options. We need to educate, provide better 1-on-1 easy guidance, and start to change the way people think about risk. But lets use the carrot not a stick.

Great to see this public support for a traffic-free Oxford Street! But this has to be *just the start* of a transformation for the wider area. Look out for our report on a Low Traffic West End...👀 bbc.com/news/articles/…

@OzKaterji @jasonhickel It's embarrassing that he is paid to come up with this stuff and just deletes without comment! The ease of getting on that gravy train would be somewhat attractive if it weren't for having to spend time with insufferable people who don't like and can't cope with challenge...

Hey shit for brains you forgot to delete this one too @jasonhickel

This stupid fucking asshole thinks the US did a regime change operation in Ukraine. Literally every time you scrutinise the academic work of these self-described anti-imperialists, you find they are simply regurgitating imperialist Kremlin propaganda. x.com/jasonhickel/st…

Me running to the front door when my Uber Eats order arrives #Eurovision #ESC2025

@Thehullboy1 Well done, donated :)

FIRST MONTH COMPLETED AND INTO THE LAKE DISTRICT. The hottest day of the year won’t stop us, day 30 of running the UK completed. What a day. Hottest day of the year on 6 hours sleep was always going to be a recipe for disaster but in fact has been one of my favourite days of the challenge. Ran with some legends today, reached the beautiful Lake District and tomorrow we will reach the half way mark of the entire challenge. So grateful to make it this far, I promise I will never give up. I will however miss my taco bells. The population of them seems to thistle after tomorrow. Mental health matters, you matter ❤️ Day: 30 Day KM: 29.60 (18.3 miles) Total KM: 704.5 (445.4 miles) Total money raised for @mindcharity: £32,470 gofund.me/37d41d7b