iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

can I be the first to congratulation Mary Lou on her promotion to UK regional leader.

Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Mike Huckabee, Trump’s representative in Israel, was on Today pushing against sanctions on West Bank settlements. He just asked rhetorically where the sanctions are against North Korea and Russia. You can’t get out of Tesco nowadays without tripping over kimchi from Pyongyang.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It makes for an unsettling state of affairs - not just for Malta, but for the whole EU.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

If the pipeline were to go ahead with EU backing, it would further enrich Fenech. To be clear, Fenech was acquitted. He points the finger at the ex-PM's chief of staff Keith Schembri. And Schembri (who denies wrongdoing) was also deeply involved in the gas deal. timesofmalta.com/article/keit...

timesofmalta.com

Electrogas inquiry finds Schembri and Mizzi planned ‘corrupt payments’

Planned money flows link the ex-government officials with funds generated by Electrogas consortium members

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The plan, which has been in the works for a decade, is one of only two gas pipelines in Europe listed as a "project of common interest". The latest decision came in June. This means it can benefit from EU funding despite the withdrawal of support for fossil fuels. www.gov.mt/en/Governmen...

gov.mt

PRESS RELEASE BY THE MINISTRY FOR ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE REGENERATION OF THE GRAND HARBOUR Malta secures Council backing for continued EU funding eligibility of hydrogen-ready pipeline projec...

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

But there is also is an aspect to this affair that goes to Brussels. At the centre of the prosecution case was Caruana's investigation into a gas power plant in which Fenech has an interest. There is a plan to link the plant to the European gas grid via the Melita pipeline running from Italy.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The businessman Yorgen Fenech was acquitted on Wednesday of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese investigative journalist. @juliettegarside.bsky.social's piece from Malta is a must-read on Fenech's contact with the man who hired the assassins. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

theguardian.com

Sabotage, leaks and political ties: the story of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial

Maltese businessman cleared of involvement in journalist’s death, but trial revealed challenges faced by those leading search for killers

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I'm really not victim-blaming here... but aren't they all Arsenal pubs in Finsbury Park?

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Andy Burnham said, perhaps a wee bit clumsily, that a border poll was "off the table". Harold Wilson, by contrast, had a plan to deliver a United Ireland by some time around 1986. What changed? marcusleroux.substack.com/p/how-nation...

marcusleroux.substack.com

How nationalism lost Labour: a story in five quotes

Wilson had a plan to deliver a united Ireland by the mid-1980s; Burnham says a border poll is “off the table”. What changed?

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

In Northern Ireland, the union has long been more popular than unionism - "Neithers", unwedded by instinct to either constitutional position, lean to remaining in the UK. But what repels Neithers from unionism could over time repel them from the union. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politic...

belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Former UUP councillor: ‘If my future is in politics, it will be with the SDLP’

Linzi McLaren, who quit over party’s failure to match its words about reaching out with actions, is now firmly in the camp of those seeking a ‘new Ireland’

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Le Monde had Comte *à* tête de poubelle which I think lends it a certain elan to an English speaker.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

we're now at the "youth hosteling with Chris Eubank" and "arm-wrestling with Chas and Dave" stage of brainstorming justifications for drilling in the North Sea.

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Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

www.economist.com/britain/2026... Wrote about how the 1990s has a chokehold on Britain, whether it is a luvvies reminiscing at the Groucho or a Jim Davidson gig in Purfleet

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Thameslink Southern Great Northern... a name that screams "clear sense of direction".

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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 24/04/2026

At the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Essar owed $3.1 billion to VTB, the Kremlin-controlled Russian bank. Our latest story, with the Guardian, reveals that its response to sanctions on VTB was to shift the loans out of the EU from Cyprus to Mauritius. www.source-material.org/essar-stanlo...

source-material.org

UK oil refiner shifted Russian loans offshore – SourceMaterial

Essar shifted billions to tax haven following Ukraine invasion

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I suppose we can get drunk on Guinness and ethno-nationalism once a year

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

this all sort of falls apart if you are aware that St Patrick was a Brit bsky.app/profile/mayo...

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AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · 16/03/2026

INVESTIGATION: Indonesian firms targeted in a palm oil fraud probe supplied European firms, an investigation by AFP and SourceMaterial (@Source_Mat) has found. The European firms include Italian energy giant Eni and Finnish sustainable aviation fuel leader Neste u.afp.com/SLMh

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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 16/03/2026

New: Last month, Indonesian authorities arrested 11 people on suspicion of bribery and disguising palm oil as a less strictly regulated byproduct. SourceMaterial can reveal that exporters targeted in this probe supplied major international companies. www.source-material.org/indonesian-e...

source-material.org

Indonesian exporters in palm oil probe supplied European fuel majors

Indonesian exporters targeted in a palm oil bribery probe supplied major international companies, a SourceMaterial investigation has found.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

A reminder that Ratcliffe was knighted after returning with Ineos from Switzerland… but was already scouting for properties in Monaco. The honours committee felt they had been had. “When he buggered off I personally was incandescent”, a source said. www.source-material.org/plastic-patr...

source-material.org

Plastic Patriots – SourceMaterial

Ineos, the controversial chemicals giant that turns fracked gas to plastics, trumpeted its return to the UK. Its billionaire owner, Jim Ratcliffe, appears to be less patriotic about his taxes For thos...

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The year before the EU referendum, the UK car industry was predicting record production of 2 million units a year by 2020. It's kind of mad how little political weather this makes. www.thetimes.com/business/com...

thetimes.com

UK car output at its lowest in 70 years, but there is a spark of hope

The government’s target of getting production back up to 1.3 million by 2035 looks increasingly unlikely — unless the Chinese get involved

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Rosa is ridiculously talented and lovely to work with. Sign her up before it's too late.

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George Greenwood @georgegreenwood.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade. The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia. www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

thetimes.com

Major Tory donor sanctioned over role in Russian oil trade

The government sanctioning statement alleges that Murtaza Lakhani’s activities in the oil sector have supported the Kremlin

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I wonder if the SEC is taking an interest.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I wonder has Boris Johnson ever seemed in need of assistance while boarding a flight. bsky.app/profile/flyi...

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...

democracyforsale.substack.com

BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government

Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”

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Luke Barratt @lukewbarratt.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Can't recommend today's SourceMaterial offering enough, by @marcusleroux.bsky.social. It's the story of the son of a lorry driver from Calabria who has often struggled to distance himself from the Italian mafia and is now poised to buy 11 North Sea gasfields www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...

source-material.org

North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial

Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Francesco Mazzagatti is awaiting approval to buy a terminal that provides a fifth of Britain's gas. We took a close look at episodes in his career that experts say ought to be of interest to the regulator in charge of stewarding the UK's oil and gas. www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...

source-material.org

North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial

Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

"Transparency is a one-way door". A leaked Amazon document reveals its anxiety over disclosing how much water their data centres use.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

this is a dizzying yarn with a drunk Australian getting hit by a car in Paris at its centre and threads leading to the dictator of Congo-Brazzaville and a prominent Irish family via Monaco and Dubai. villagemagazine.ie/dubai-heir-c...

villagemagazine.ie

Dubai Heir, Congo Air - Village Magazine

When Paris police picked up a drunk Australian carrying €195,000 in cash, they uncovered an alleged money-laundering scheme led by a Dubai-based Irish horseracing heir linked to British royals.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

I'd love to have attended the meeting where this came up.

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SourceMaterial @source-material.org · 21/08/2025

At dawn in Accra, Ghana, Lydia Bamfo (51) sets out to collect plastic waste. For 25 years she’s battled the tide of rubbish overwhelming her city. Now she says the World Bank’s “solution” has done nothing to help workers like her. 🧵

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

William of Ockham: we're gonna need a bigger blade.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

'Veit Barthel took time out to sample some Buckfast - declaring that it made him “feel fantastic”.' 🥹https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/european/hundreds-of-german-fans-march-through-lurgan-before-football-tie-is-completed-after-65-years/a100611419.html

belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Hundreds of German fans march through Lurgan before football tie is completed after 65 years

Hundreds of German football fans marched through Lurgan today before a European tie was finally completed - after a 65-year wait.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

On the Kneecap website you can buy a £25 “RUC not welcome tee”, in reference to a police force that was reformed and renamed before Mo Chara was in primary school. marcusleroux.substack.com/p/the-real-t...

marcusleroux.substack.com

The real trouble with Kneecap

The perils of the single transferable victim

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

A lie can be half way around the world before a preliminary crisis analysis has its trousers on.

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Rosa Furneaux @rosafurneaux.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Fresnillo, one of the UK’s largest mining groups, has been told it should pay as much as $630 million to a Mexican community whose land it illegally mined for gold, according to documents obtained by SourceMaterial → www.source-material.org/fresnillo-so...

source-material.org

Fresnillo faces $630m demand to restore 'illegally-mined' gold – SourceMaterial

The goldmining giant lost access to a Mexican mine in 2013 — now a court-appointed review says it must return $630m of gold it mined there.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

unless the next page is a restaurant bill or a particularly tricky invoice, I'm not sure what use the calculator is

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Isobel Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader - but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with Arron Banks, who Reform’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online. New from @marcusleroux.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/does-isabe...

democracyforsale.substack.com

Does Isabel Oakeshott still believe Arron Banks was “used by the Russians”?

Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with the party’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

this is why I take AI results with a pinch of bitumen.

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Marcus Leroux @marcusleroux.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Rosselkhozbank was also the bookrunner of a major bond issuance by the oil arm of Gazprom, the state-owned energy giant behind the strategically important Power of Siberia 2 pipeline project. Small wonder the Kremlin wants the bank reintroduced to global finance. It is a Trojan Horse.

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