Deborah Vella

It’s hard to believe we are watching a fanatical regime commit war crime after war crime and the rest of the world is just letting them.

I'll tell you who does 'rely on benefits'. It's the supermarket chains that pay their bosses millions of pounds a year while driving shopworker wages down to levels that force staff to claim Universal Credit.

@NiallHarbison Niall is Just a marvel 😍

Dolly Parton was getting some very good news today. The most perfect outcome for this very special little girl ❤️

@NiallHarbison My Bella used to love David Attenborough shows ♥️ Great to see Stormzy thriving so

You won’t believe what little Stormzy does every night before bed. He is just too precious ❤️

Instead of letting Thames Water off the hook for £123m in fines, I've got another idea. Why not ban it from paying a penny in dividends until it stops dumping shit in rivers?

So the whole world is demanding Iran opens up the Strait to all, condemning Iran, threatening Iran... In Cuba, every single person on a ventilator in hospital died overnight, because of Trump blocking fuel. Why aren't you condemning him? Why has there not been a peep?

Can we get this article about Palantir shared 1000 times?

@NiallHarbison ❤️

My confidence and self worth haven’t been great lately and I just wanted to say thats ok so other people who suffer with depression or anxiety know that it’s ok to feel like that. I’m CEO of Happy Doggo and most people in positions like mine have to hide stuff like this. Most people in all positions In life do actually. It’s really hard to admit you don’t feel the best about yourself. That’s why I just write it down as I feel because maybe it’ll help someone. Between our team, partners and everything wrapped up in what I do there are probably 100+ people who rely on me. Add in social media, donors and everything else and that’s a massive happy facade to keep up. I’ve learnt though that it’s ok to say you are not ok. At the moment I’m going through the motions. Still working hard and trying my best but I feel a bit worthless. No self worth at all. I also have imposter syndrome. I know I can jus read the comments here or look at the dogs saved and I should be happy but it doesn’t bring me anything. I look in the mirror at the moment and can’t even really look at myself. No particular reason or spark for this. As people who suffer know it just comes in a dark wave like a fog. I could easily share some happy dog photos and smile and pretend I felt amazing. But I’d rather be honest and try to help others. I have untold amounts of support and good luck that many of you dont. So if you're feeling down or a little rough right now, that's okay because so am I, and it's absolutely fine to say that. Have a lovely weekend and be kind to each other ❤️

@doctor_oxford Definitely stay, we need you. I do need regular breaks but it's still a place for real information from the right people. Thanks for what you do

Have flip-flopped so much over staying on here in 2026 - the biases of the platform & the ethics of its owner, versus the persistent presence of the vast majority of media, public figures & so many people I greatly respect. Staying, for now, to keep on speaking up for what I believe matters, even if that can sometimes feel futile. Our voices matter, especially en masse. Here’s to using them for good.

Poverty is deepening. 🔎 Our #UKPoverty2026 report was launched this morning. People in very deep poverty now make up the biggest group of people in poverty, at 6.8 million people. This is unacceptable for the fifth richest country in the world, and it has consequences.

It’s hard not to grieve the NHS What we have lost as a nation What we’ve lost as a profession I remember what it was like 20 yrs ago - probably the best health service in the world We need a government who wants what’s best for the public: a well funded NHS!

“Interest paid to its shareholders alone totalled almost £26 million in the company’s most recent financial year — equivalent to almost £3,000 an hour.” And that my friends is how the water industry works. I invest in the company and take dividends I have to pay tax on it. I rig it as an ‘inter company loan” and I can charge whatever interest rate I like and it’s all tax free. Happy days. thetimes.com/business/compa…

@EuropeanPowell Love your posts & research, I became interested in all this during the creation of the London Freeport, made me curious re funding etc. You woke me up, now I spread the word and point people in your direction, it's bleak.

I want to thank all my followers for your continued support. What you have all done has considerably expanded my reach in raising awareness of the free zones phenomenon, so little reported in the MSM. I primarily use X, Bluesky, and Substack to post threads and in-depth articles on the deregulated free zones scattered across England, Scotland, and Wales, rolled out by both the Tories and Labour in the post-Brexit era. All my work is thoroughly researched, drawing from UK Government sources, public domain information, and key books that explore this under-the-radar area of corporate capture of the commons. The deeper I dig, the more it feels like I’m mapping a new kind of corporate political territory, one that’s rapidly expanding behind the headlines. In 2025, I published several articles on free zones for The Canary, which shared my concern about the lack of MSM coverage. I continued speaking at public events about the dangers these zones pose, while taking calls with the FT, people in and around Parliament, and fellow campaigners—all volunteers pushing for transparency from councils and government on aspects of free zones that deserve real scrutiny and opposition. A book on Breakdown and Collapse is due out this year, with contributions from several authors. I was invited to write an essay on UK free zones, and the editors are now finalising the texts. This will be my first book-form publication on the topic. As many of you know, I’ve been covering the proposed Forest City 1 in Suffolk, a Charter/Free City project backed by the Free Speech Union, CAPX, the Adam Smith Institute, Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects, and others (including endorsements crossing party lines, such as from Dame Patricia Hewitt, former Labour MP/Secretary of State for Trade and Industry). I’ll be providing regular updates on this right-wing libertarian project, the first of several coming to the UK. Forest City 1 relies on deregulated SEZ status in Suffolk, complete with 10-year tax breaks, 25-year licenses, and £160 million in state aid. Thank you all so much for your support. Best wishes for 2026! David Powell

Always worth a repost!

You don’t need to justify wanting privacy. You need to question why others want access.

PSA: If you live in the UK you can get a library card with which you can get a PressReader account that gives you free access to all national and many international newspapers, magazines, and so on. Many people have totally given up on the mainstream news, understandably, but it’s good to check in once in a while and there’s no need to pay because you already did through taxes. In short, join your library and use it because libraries are awesome.

Something significant has emerged in the UK’s nationwide rollout of deregulated free zones You may (or may not) have heard of Forest City 1 – the charter city proposed for Suffolk, which is conveniently located right inside an existing SEZ. This isn’t an isolated project; it’s the next (and likely final) phase of a much bigger pattern. The stepping stones are now clear: Freeports → SEZs → Investment Zones → Industrial Strategy Zones → and now charter/free cities. I wrote several detailed articles and threads about Forest City 1 last year, and recently spoke at a Suffolk residents' meeting about this dreadful project. Please read and share widely – because the zonification of not just the UK but the western hemisphere is accelerating. Suffolk is ground zero. Be warned: this is the final stage. Once the zones stack, the democratic safeguards disappear – and they’re very hard to reverse. Time to pay attention. open.substack.com/pub/europeanpo…

Outside the EU’s State aid framework, the UK Govt now operates with minimal oversight on how much public money can be channeled to private corporations through their free zones. Teesside freeport overspent 22 times the £25 million fixed amount, a staggering £560 million of taxpayers money gone. The National Audit Office were refused permission to investigate, instead Michael Gove set up his own independent committee, the result? Nothing to see here. This tells you everything about who these zones are really designed to serve, and who gets to ask questions about them. substack.com/home/post/p-18…

Over the next few years, the UK public is going to see the emergence of 'parallel institutions, along with parallel states', which will be direct outcomes of the duopoly's nationwide free zones rollout. This project is being completely bypassed by the MSM, and the majority of left-leaning media outlets. The free zones policy was initially rubber-stamped with primary legislation, quickly followed by secondary legislation, meaning zero parliamentary debate, zero consultation with the public, and zero notification of the press. This is why next to no one has heard of free zones. 'Zone Fever' is all about breaking down the 'problem of democracy' into smaller, more manageable pieces. The Tories and Labour both colluded in carving out enclaves of corporate-governed jurisdictions with separate laws and regulations from the host country within a few years after Brexit. Brexit was the gateway drug for Zone Fever, it's main components being the access to use State aid (public money as profit motive in free zones. This was illegal in the EU, why? Because it would destabilise the Single Market by ushering in competition and distortions that neoliberals craved via the deregulatory frameworks of free zones. The word Brexit is a conjunction of 'Britain' with 'Exit' Deregulation fast-tracks planning, while gifting billions in pounds of State aid to lure corporations into the zones, where 10-year tax holidays are accompanied by 25-year licenses. Free zones under a deregulated corporate governance structure represent very real barriers to rejoining the EU. No one seems to understand or acknowledge this.