"If Kamala Harris went from bacon to wind in her interview...the next morning she would not be the nominee...do we just have an absurdly low standard now for the things Donald Trump says and does?"

Important question raised in UK Parliament today from Lord (David) Alton following reports that references to Taiwan have been removed from UK teaching material. Our Banned by Beijing reports exposed Beijing interference in the UK and Europe. The trend needs to be taken seriously.

A quick scan while on Eurostar suggests "plan" is somewhat optimistic. Which is OK right now, two months into a new government given eight years failing to find similar, but crucial to Labour's success will be the next couple of months - and getting this right will be complex.

Another great piece from David Phillips on LG finance. The system is broken. Funding allocations have become increasingly random. Last govt failed to fix. Ambitions for devolution depend on fixing funding first.

#RIP to these poor souls. The only way to stop this happening is by providing safe and humane routes for those desperate enough to risk their lives, and to stop those profiting from their plight.

These are big in year spending cuts. It is a tight settlement from UK govt this year. But as David Phillips points out Scottish choices to freeze council tax and raise public pay and welfare benefits more than in rUK played a big role.

How to be a Hitler person, a free post open.substack.com/pub/davidaaron…

What we know (and don't know) about the new Mpox outbreak... The Briefing Room podcast with David Aaronovitch. 🎧 Listen on BBC Sounds. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

The full Grenfell report has just been published. It’s huge, but @BBCRadio 4 has just updated a series of 15 minute explainers of what happened. It’s reported by Kate Lamble and it is exemplary journalism. bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0j…

Looks like every second Tenet pundit was also peddling Orbán's propaganda, or even visited Hungary. Besides getting secret payments from Russia, it seems like they received speaking fees for talking at Mathias Corvinus Collegium or Danube Institute. Laura Chen was in Hungary just weeks ago.🧐

British universities say they are at a ‘fork in the road’ and will ‘slide into decline’ without action to sort out their finances. Earlier this year David Aaronovitch and guests looked at university funding in this episode of The Briefing Room - bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

This week’s episode of The Briefing Room with David Aaronovitch is available now - bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0… - expert analysis from Paul Johnson Mehreen Khan Chris Giles Or listen live at 16.00 on BBC Radio 4

David Aaronovitch or bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…

Let’s be clear, there is no plan of the German Government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The discussion is about processing asylum applications in third countries under international humanitarian law and with support of the United Nations.

Listen to this week’s episode of The Briefing Room with David Aaronovitch here - bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0… - expert analysis from Paul Johnson Mehreen Khan Chris Giles

The international world order is ‘under threat in a way that we haven’t seen since the Cold War’ according to the heads of the UK and US intelligence services. Listen to The Briefing Room three part series on rising global tensions with David Aaronovitch bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Update: original Johnson plan was to give Nigel Adams and Charlotte Owen peerages. Adams was blocked, but is now (per Carole Cadwalladr ) CEO of Better Earth. And Johnson is Chair; Owen is VP and in HoL. The plot thickens

Interesting. Of course I might be better prepared to discuss the report had anyone sent it to me