David Jones

As highlighted by @FraserNelson there is a glaring conflict of interest when Farage's funding by crypto tycoons, his advocacy on behalf of that business, and his personal investment in crypto are all combined. This is a huge scandal involving a political leader in broad daylight.

What an absolutely great film. Beautifully put together. So much to be proud of- where we were and where we are now, wow! Love the 🍒

Wow spotted a few #afcb players driving from the Training ground today. First Evanilson, then lovely smile from Rayan. Later Alex, and finally best smile & wave of all, Lewis Cook. Really lifted our day. After walk, Tav (totally lost in thought) drives up alongside us. Love 🍒

The only foreigners able to receive student loans are EU citizens with settled status. Most were either born here already or are already living/working/staying in the UK. Get your facts right Dickie and stop putting everyone in the same bag. Going to war with EU settled citizens will not go well for Reform.

My comment just now to @BBCNews was: these were private words to schoolchildren two months ago. Someone recorded them and stored them up to leak at the most embarrassing moment. Keep it in proportion, it’s not a big deal. He said he was speaking as a citizen not as Ambo./

Banal and obvious points. This is a confected non-story.

@cathalmcb @AaronBastani @matthewsyed Hindsight, Margret Thatcher and Jimmy Saville ?

@david_profdavey @AaronBastani @matthewsyed A political decision to hire the corrupt best friend of the world's most notorious paedophile

The bandwidth sucked up by the Mandelson non-story is embarrassing. A minor appointment taken in what was perceived to be the national interest. Astonishing that the Westminster bubble is still obsessed but then tittle tattle started to define British politics a long time ago

@BethRigby is it surprising , surely a question of professional perspective, lawyers used to keeping notes ,not least for billing and insurance reasons, decisions in business and public bodies are made without detailed notes and where notes are made they are often ‘designed’ to be read

What I am finding genuinely surprising and perplexing from these hearings is there appear to be no notes of meetings regarding the decision to make a political appointment, to make Mandelson the ambassador, or records of meetings between Robbins and officials on the developed vetting. You can see why Thornberry incredulous about that given the importance of the process and the red flags raised!

@Peston C’mmon Robert , yes it was risky , but at the time the decision was accepted for what it was , yes there were some stupid decisions and poorly managed but heh not earth shattering,

The prime minister will look back on his disastrous appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, a misjudgment that may yet cost him his job, as a succession of missed opportunities to avoid scoring that most spectacular of own-goals. One such error was not to involve the then head of the foreign office, Sir Philip Barton, in any part of the decision-making process in appointing Mandelson. Starmer’s exclusion of Barton was eccentric, to put it kindly, given that Barton was in charge of the UK’s entire diplomatic network and he had worked in Washington at a senior level. Barton told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee today that he was informed on 15 December that the PM had chosen Mandelson to fill the most important and sensitive of all ambassadorships, and that was the first he knew of it. The deal was done. There was nothing for it, said Sir Philip, than for he and the Foreign Office to execute the PM’s will. Had he been asked at an earlier stage, he would have warned the PM that Mandelson’s Epstein links made him unsuitable, because his US expertise and contacts told him Epstein was a bomb waiting to go off in Washington. As it happens, said Barton, he subsequently revealed his Epstein reservations to the PM’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell. But by then it was too late. The die was cast. The PM’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney revealed another crossroads that the PM manoeuvred wrongly. These were the emailed answers to McSweeney’s three questions to Mandelson about his Epstein links. McSweeney said he still may not reveal the detail of what Mandelson wrote to him, because the Met Police are saying doing so could prejudice its investigation of Mandelson. But he did reveal that he and the PM thought it was ok to appoint Mandelson because Mandelson said the late billionaire paedophile Epstein was an acquaintance not a friend. This seems a quite astonishingly flimsy basis on which to make the appointment, especially since Mandelson admitted his “acquaintanceship” with Epstein continued after Epstein had been imprisoned for soliciting a child for prostitution. I am not sure either McSweeney or Starmer can stay afloat on a raft built on the idea that Epstein was “only” an acquaintance of Mandelson. That said, today’s proceedings in parliament are all about whether the PM lied to MPs that due process had been followed in Mandelson’s appointment and in saying pressure had not been imposed on the Foreign Office to expedite vetting. Barton’s evidence today on these questions harmed the PM’s cause - he couldn’t bring himself to say whether due process had been followed, though he did say vetting should have happened before Mandelson was given the job - but the overall picture is perhaps nuanced. What is not nuanced is that a normally methodical and risk averse prime minister made the most catastrophically reckless decisions in choosing Mandelson in the first place. This is why Starmer will struggle ever to recover from the Mandelson debacle.

@AaronBastani @matthewsyed Nah , it was a political decision that went wrong , people make mistakes , and yes it wasn’t handle well, before, during and afterwards, but heh hardly earth shattering

@matthewsyed It shows the PM has appalling judgment. Quite important actually!

Yup

I’m super excited to share that @neilperrett_ and @afcbournemouth have contacted me today to ask if I’ll be the fans champion on Sunday for the #afcb match against Palace. If you’re going to be there please give me a wave whilst my class are watching on tv 🍒🍒🍒

- @BBCNews gave blanket coverage to the demise of Football Focus on Thursday - and dedicated 20 seconds to the murder of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil. Powerful denunciation from the former Editor of @NewsChan4

@SportScran You bet

Octopus sandwich in the Italian 2nd division SSC Bari 🇮🇹 €8.00 (£6.93) ⚽️ Would you try this, let me know in the comments below 🤯

@mamboitaliano__ Wonderful, so captivating , thank you for posting

Bonus: A beautiful detail that truly gives some people goosebumps is that there are football fans who have adopted this song as their anthem, using it to support their beloved team 💚

“Bella Ciao” The rebel song that went global from Italian 🇮🇹 rice fields to resistance A Thread 🧵 on one of the world’s most enduring anthems of protest

@afcb_r0b Oh I see

@david_profdavey I've seen reported that there was a break clause in his contract so probably a fraction of that.

BigO announcement incoming at #CFC 🤡

This says a lot if not all

@korsikoff It really is , a ‘signature’ goal with a ‘twist’

This is a bloody brilliant goal.

@keithcb49 @LukeEdwardsTele Same in The Times, big club blinkers

#afcb 8th in the PL table but the disrespect shown to our team still persists. Look no further than the 'match report' in the Sunday Telegraph. A master piece by @LukeEdwardsTele, who in three lengthy columns barely mentions who played, and beat, Newcastle. Come on Boscombe!