fleetstreetfox

Tomorrow I will be reading this as the eulogy at my father’s funeral: one of the hardest things I will ever have to do, but I’m determined not to let him down. It’s free to read, but if you feel so inclined please make a donation to the hospice which made his end - and my mother’s experience - so much kinder and better: hospiceintheweald.org.uk/donate/ I don’t want tomorrow to happen, but I know it must. I love you Dad. fleetstreetfox.substack.com/p/one-more-rid…

37 Years since Hillsborough Disaster:My call to @Keir_Starmer to personally intervene & ensure the Hillsborough Law is enacted. ⁦⁦@NowHillsborough⁩ ⁦⁦@AndyBurnhamGM⁩ ⁦@steverotherham⁩ ⁦@IanByrneMP⁩ ⁦@HumanRightsCtte⁩ davidalton.net/2025/11/14/hou…

Into the Atom - Invitation to a private viewing. The 28th of April is the anniversary of Operation Grapple Y. The Wings Museum will be holding a private viewing of of it's first Cold War exhibit, which will focus on a very unique piece of British History - British Cold War Atomic & Thermo-Nuclear Cloud Sampling. This exhibition is the first truly in-depth and permanent exhibition in the UK exclusively dedicated to this incredible subject. Places are limited and are on a first-come, first-served basis. Join Alan and Susie at the exhibit with Daniel and Kevin Hunt, the Museum's founders. Please RSVP via email to resolute@76rising.co.uk to attend this private viewing.

@fleetstreetfox I will be reading a eulogy to my lovely dad tomorrow. And the same. I do not want the day to dawn.

To remind: AOAV's online event (16 April, 1pm): it covers our new report on Lariam toxicity and British veteran support Please join us. aoav.org.uk/2026/aoav-even…

Los libros de historia pasaron por alto discretamente el hecho de que Barack Obama, durante las noches más saturadas de presión de su presidencia, se retiraba solo a la Sala de Tratados en el segundo piso de la residencia de la Casa Blanca —no para trazar estrategias, no para tomar llamadas, sino para escribir a mano cartas personales a diez ciudadanos estadounidenses comunes cada única noche, una práctica que mantuvo con una devoción casi monástica durante los ocho años completos, seleccionando él mismo las cartas de las 40.000 que llegaban diariamente a la Casa Blanca, y su directora de correspondencia de toda la vida, Fiona Reese, confirmó que Obama a menudo lloraba en privado mientras leía ciertas cartas, doblándolas con cuidado antes de escribir respuestas tan personalmente detalladas y emocionalmente presentes que los destinatarios describían frecuentemente la experiencia de recibirlas como el momento más significativo de sus vidas, con un obrero siderúrgico de Ohio escribiendo de vuelta para decir que la carta de Obama lo había detenido físicamente de tomar una decisión que habría alterado permanentemente el futuro de su familia. Lo que hace que esta práctica sea casi insoportablemente conmovedora es el detalle que surgió después —Obama nunca usó una computadora para estas cartas, siempre un bolígrafo de punta de fieltro negro, siempre papel legal amarillo primero como borrador, siempre reescrito a mano una segunda vez en el papel membretado de la Casa Blanca, porque él creía, como le dijo a la historiadora Doris Kearns Goodwin en una rara conversación privada después relatada en su obra de 2018, que el acto físico de presionar la pluma contra el papel obligaba a una calidad de atención que simplemente teclear no podía replicar, una filosofía arraigada en sus años como profesor de derecho constitucional en la Universidad de Chicago de 1992 a 2004, donde desarrolló la convicción de que la democracia solo funciona cuando sus líderes permanecen genuinamente, incómodamente cerca de la gravedad específica del sufrimiento humano individual en lugar de procesarlo desde la distancia aislante de las instituciones y las pantallas.

.@IanByrneMP to the PM: "37 years today 97 innocent children, women and men went to a football match and were unlawfully killed at the hands of a corrupt state.. will you commit today to ruling out any carve out for security services & finally delivering a full Hillsborough Law"

@MarksLarks thank you Mark

@fleetstreetfox Sorry for your loss

Tomorrow I will be reading this as the eulogy at my father’s funeral: one of the hardest things I will ever have to do, but I’m determined not to let him down. It’s free to read, but if you feel so inclined please make a donation to the hospice which made his end - and my mother’s experience - so much kinder and better: hospiceintheweald.org.uk/donate/ I don’t want tomorrow to happen, but I know it must. I love you Dad. fleetstreetfox.substack.com/p/one-more-rid…

@fleetstreetfox Sorry for your loss. End of life care is so important and those who provide it help make a tough time a bit easier.

37 years on. No more waiting. Hillsborough Law must be delivered in full, now. liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool…

'This is government as normal by a corrupted, decaying, scandal-ridden British state, where injustice and cover-up have become a way of life' open.substack.com/pub/fleetstree…

These are the only people we wanted to be thinking about and speaking about this week. We specifically asked for the anniversary week to not be politicised. We made it clear that we wanted to respect the dead and give other families and survivors a chance for downtime and reflection. It is my view that today's leak was in revenge of me leaking that the Home Secretary has been obstructive in relation to the Bill. And I stand on that because it's the truth. I dont need a legal duty of candour to make me be transparent. Today is my son's 17th birthday, and yet again a day that should be all about him has been a little overshadowed by the fuck ups of others and the upset it causes his mum. I've spent today distressed, at points inconsolable. Waiting for an uodate from the government.....that never came. Trying to support other distressed members of our coalition, updating those who struggle to use social media, gathering others thoughts and opinions. Only for others to slag the government off for politicising the anniversary to then politicise it some more. I dont even know why im writing this, I think I want to apologise to those of you who already struggle at this time of year and dont need your trauma using in such a way but also to say - I'm feeling it too. But im going to rest, reset and refocus and remember my lovely dad. Our Jimmy. The loss of him, the sorrow of his absence, the sadness of him not being here to celebrate his grandson's birthdays and football matches or the funny little one liners, that's my drive. That what pushes me to want to help others. For the 97. ❤️

Editors like political reporters because they have impressive contacts and low mileage claims. Whitehall sources like them too, because like all journos they want to believe. Today Keir Starmer finally likes them as well: open.substack.com/pub/fleetstree…

@mexicola25 no, it doesn't override any existing legislation about the security services. The version put forward by families expressly makes the point.

@fleetstreetfox Duty of candour would override, for example keeping an undercover operatives identity secret, could force them to accidently disclose sensitive information essential to national security. I didn't agree with a blanket carve out for security services but it needs a middle ground.

The bill was pulled in January. Keep up, Mr Journalism-Is-Dead.

Here’s the background on Hillsborough Law, how today’s reported changes to it came about, and how politicians exploit the news cycle to cloak themselves in glory rather than, you know, do what they were elected for. Read on, if you dare: open.substack.com/pub/fleetstree…

There is nothing in the bill that requires MI5 or others to reveal more publicly than the law currently requires them to. It insists only that when they do so it is the truth. Ie they can continue to operate in complete secrecy, but when answering a judge or a relative or a prime minister or anyone else, they tell the truth.

@fleetstreetfox It isn't flapping in the wind, this is an important thing to get right with this bill, the amendment introduced wasn't right and it was good it was blocked, but we need to ensure MI5/MI6 can do their jobs, and unfortunately that job requires a lot of secrecy and anonymity.

@mexicola25 Which meant the entire thing was flapping in the wind, with no more votes until the amendment could be reintroduced. And now it'll fall before end of session anyway

@fleetstreetfox Government pulled their amendment not the bill...