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ska-dave.bsky.social

@ska-dave.bsky.social
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 08/01/2026
We’ve updated our Government Tracker with the latest on plans to build three new National Forests in England, after the government said the second of these will be in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor and that a “competition” will determine the location of the third.
fullfact.org
Is the government on course to create three new National Forests in England? – Full Fact
Full Fact takes a look at Labour’s pledge to create three new national forests in England, and to plant millions of trees.
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Overcharging by asylum contractor bit.ly/45uCBhK there’s a surprise!
bit.ly
Firm in overcharging scandal won £3.9bn in public sector contracts
Australian travel group that supplied the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge for the Home Office has admitted UK clients overpaid at least £80 million
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Fujitsu ‘not a parasite’, boss says while refusing to give redress figure for Horizon IT scandal victims. It lied. Enabled the Post Office to convict innocent postmasters, boosted exec pay. Public purse has paid £1.32bn compensation. Zero contribution from Fujitsu. Still gets govt contracts.
theguardian.com
Fujitsu ‘not a parasite’, boss says while refusing to give redress figure for Horizon IT scandal victims
Paul Patterson questioned by MPs as firm continues to make millions from UK government contracts
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Insurance gives you peace of mind until you claim part 94! bit.ly/4jDJq6v more than one in four (26%) of home insurance contents claims are rejected. Always appeal.
bit.ly
Victory for couple after insurer claimed stolen gold was fine art
Fairmead argued that the precious stash was not covered by the terms of the insurance policy
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
🔴 Reform Chairman Who Boasts of Expertise in Business ‘Compliance’ Had Ten Firms Struck off for Breaking Company Law Exclusive: Paul Donaghy established at least 10 firms struck off by Companies House, according to official records bylinetimes.com/2026/01/05/r...
bylinetimes.com
Reform Chairman Who Boasts of Expertise in Business 'Compliance' Had Ten Firms Struck off for Breaking Company Law
Exclusive: Paul Donaghy established at least 10 firms struck off by Companies House, according to official records
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Company failures with unpaid tax and Covid loans dog Durham Doge designer bit.ly/4jpI1QY
bit.ly
Reform council leader’s firms collapsed owing £1.5 million
Andrew Husband, a former model, made it his mission to slash Durham council’s £1.5bn budget while presiding over companies with big debts
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
BREAKING: Ed Davey’s response to Keir Starmer’s statement
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Michelle Mone can keep the £15,000 a week rent paid for her £25m Belgravia mansion which is frozen with £50m of other assets during investigations into her and her husband Doug Barrowman’s £148m Covid contract scandal bit.ly/3LnAipM and £39m unpaid tax. He promoted tax avoidance schemes.
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D.Moore @d-moore.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Interesting that Stanley Johnson met with Farage to chat about Brexit & came to this conclusion
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Except we break in context with all our other work on Farage and his finances. We always search for ‘first reported’ in any story. It’s a bit strange the Guardian doesn’t.
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Active management of investment funds doesn’t - cannot - work in the long term data shows bit.ly/49BzZRx
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Project fear debunked by facts. Reeves’s £1.5bn tax take seems safe as imposing 20% VAT on school fees did not have the devastating effect forecast by, er, private school representatives.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 01/01/2026
As we enter 2026, the need for global, independent reporting remains crucial. Support the Guardian today. theguardian.com/support/ny-sc
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Crypto tax evaders face crackdown in New Year information sharing laws bit.ly/49AMOLS gains are taxable if you sell and make more than £3000 in a tax year. And if you don’t think that’s much of a taxfree allowance blame the previous govt who slashed it from £12,300.
bit.ly
Cryptocurrency investors forced to declare winnings to HMRC
Regulations coming into force on New Year’s Day will make it harder for holders of assets such as bitcoin to hide their gains from international tax authorities
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Only 0.9% of pubs close despite economic pressures - is an alternative headline to this one bit.ly/3YEbpJP
bit.ly
Britain’s ‘social fabric being lost’ as one pub a day closes
More than 360 pubs were demolished or converted for other uses in 2025, highlighting mounting pressure on the hospitality sector
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Tory legacy Backlog of 7.3m NHS England hospital appointments; 6.24m individuals awaiting treatment. 2.8m waiting over 18 weeks or more. NHS money depleted by PFI payments, privatization of services. Farage prefers US style insurance-based system, millions won't get any healthcare.
bma.org.uk
NHS backlog data analysis
Analysis of monthly data releases by NHS England to highlight the huge pressures being placed on backlogs across the NHS - including operations data, cancer waiting list GP referrals and A&E waiting t...
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The Pitch Inspection @thepitchinspection.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Where does the World Cup ticketing revenue go.. Gianni Infantino recently accepted Lebanese citizenship from President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun. On the same day FIFA announced that a new 30,000 seater stadium will be built in Beirut funded by FIFA. Sound ethical to you? Thread 1/7
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 29/12/2025
Full Fact’s Head of AI, @mrdudders.bsky.social, reflects on how AI has shaped misinformation this year—and how our own AI tools are helping fight back.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
So after the Conservatives spend years accusing Keir Starmer of betraying Britain in his work as a former Human Right's lawyer, Kemi Badenoch's own Shadow Attorney General in the Lords takes a job representing a sanctioned Russian oligarch
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
What happened to the execs who ruined lives during the Post Office scandal? Fujitsu execs, accountants, lawyers also made millions from the scandal. All living in comfort. None fined, prosecuted. Even when that happens, litigation will last for years. The UK legal system doesn't deliver justice.
dailymail.co.uk
What happened to execs who ruined lives during Post Office scandal
Next year's final report from the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is expected to find failings of senior management, while a criminal police operation is gathering pace.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Former Wessex Water CEO received £170k bonus despite ban on performance pay. Received total of £693,000 in pay from Malaysian-owned parent company, YTL Utilities (UK), including bonus. Company has 47+ criminal convictions, dumps sewage in rivers, fleeces customers, rewards bosses.
theguardian.com
Former Wessex Water boss received £170,000 bonus despite ban on performance pay
Company owners say bonus was unrelated to water business and complied with ban after pollution conviction
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 27/12/2025
Videos on Facebook claim a new law bans music being played in moving cars. As you may have guessed, this isn’t true. It appears to be yet another example of the fake stories about personal freedoms we’ve seen all over social media lately.
fullfact.org
No, a new law isn’t being introduced to stop people playing music while driving – Full Fact
Videos shared on Facebook make false claims about a supposed new law banning music in moving cars and a new monthly electricity charge.
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Gianni Infantino’s decision to award a phoney peace prize to Donald Trump was far from the first time he has fêted a strongman leader. 🧵1/4
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 27/12/2025
A video which has been shared thousands of times on social media appears to show a British soldier confronting a police officer over “arresting people for words”. But the clip is fake and has been created with AI.
fullfact.org
Video of soldier shouting at police officer is AI-generated – Full Fact
A video shared thousands of times on social media appears to show a British soldier confronting a police officer, but is AI-generated and not genuine.
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 22/12/2025
A new wave of fake stories about curbs on personal freedoms and bogus taxes has had millions of views on social media. In the three months since we first wrote about this trend, we’ve fact checked a further 45 claims. Our new investigation 👇
fullfact.org
New wave of fake stories about curbs on personal freedoms and bogus taxes rack up millions of views on social media – Full Fact
In the three months since we first covered the problem, we’ve fact checked a further 45 false and misleading claims, about everything from nighttime curfews to a “Christmas decorations tax”.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
English hospitals that cut registered nurses saw more deaths while those hiring nurses saw more patients survive. Even when hospitals tried to fill gaps with non-nurses, deaths still went up. Major new study exposes dangerous NHS variation www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...
thetimes.com
Death rates rise when NHS cuts back on nursing
Using lower-paid workers to plug the gaps left by a failure to hire registered nurses damages safety, new research has shown
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Monaco based tax-exile Jim Ratcliffe businesses received up to £70m UK subsidy in last 4 years. More promised. Free cash, not repayable, no means-testing, no equity stake taken. Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth to be £17bn. Benefit cuts for the poor, free cash for corporations/Rich.
theguardian.com
Jim Ratcliffe chemical firms received up to £70m of UK state aid in last four years
The government is preparing a £50m bailout for Ineos’s Grangemouth plant, after Jim Ratcliffe asked for help in October
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 21/12/2025
Excellent! "Forget the 'bridge across the Atlantic' fantasies: on trade, on defence and in terms of our identity, we are Europeans." www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2…
theguardian.com
Finally, Labour is finding its nerve and getting Britain’s bad Brexit deal undone | Polly Toynbee
Rejoining Erasmus should just be a first step – as the economic evidence piles up, the need for closer ties with Europe could not be clearer, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
It’s an inequitable life, Henry bit.ly/3MTCHsM victims of one of the first major financial scandals still waiting for compensation a quarter of a century later. If you remember the slogan you’ll remember the story!
bit.ly
‘I’m sure they’re waiting for us to die’ — the Equitable Life victims fighting for compensation
Company collapsed owing £4.1bn to its customers, yet payouts to savers fall well short
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
UK CEO salary increases outstripping those of the workforce. Remuneration Committees & non-execs perpetuate fat-cattery as rises provide a benchmark for their greed. Need worker-elected directors on boards of large companies, workers to vote on exec pay to secure equitable distribution of income.
highpaycentre.org
CEO salary: an opportunity cost? - High Pay Centre
Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, data highlights a worrying trend: CEO salary increases outstripping those of the wider workforce.
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Out on a Limb. Newly nominated peer did not have a PhD as she has frequently and publicly claimed or an MA bit.ly/3MRLAmD she is also chair of King’s Foundation charity and was chair of Scouts and Athenaeum. She’ll get £371 a day taxfree for turning up at Lords. She says she has honorary doctorates.
bit.ly
Labour nominee for Lords lied about having a PhD
Dame Ann Limb, chair of the King’s Foundation, called herself a doctor
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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Is tax theft? Many people think so. In this video, I explain why the popular claim “it’s my money, why should the government take it?” is based on a fundamental mistake. If you care about public services, this is the conversation we need to have. youtu.be/SK-PmfkViDE?...
youtu.be
Tax is not theft: why the “it’s my money” argument is wrong
YouTube video by Richard J Murphy
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Fujitsu boss to face grilling from MPs over the Post Office Horizon compensation. Public purse footing the bill. Fujitsu and its execs, PO execs, lawyers, accountants benefitted from false prosecutions, haven't paid anything. No one charged for the scam which destroyed lives of innocent people.
news.sky.com
Fujitsu chief to face MPs grilling over Post Office compensation
Paul Patterson will appear before the business and trade select committee on 6 January amid mounting pressure on Fujitsu to make a sizeable contribution to the Horizon scandal compensation bill, Sky N...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Thames Water has deferred £2.5m bonus, disguised as retention payments, to execs. First tranche of £2.5m already paid, millions more promised Bonus for what - fleecing customers, dumping sewage in ruvers, not investing, boosting profits? Let customers vote on exec pay/bonuses.
theguardian.com
Thames Water defers controversial £2.5m in bonuses to bosses
Heavily indebted utility puts back ‘retention payments’ for 21 executives until new year amid search for rescue deal
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
NOW OUTSIDE PAYWALL A guided tour of President Trump's 33-page, $5 billion lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation How some parts are strong, some parts are weak - and why a strict legalistic analysis will not tell the whole story. emptycity.substack.com/p/a-guided-t... By me
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 14/12/2025
This report, from the cross-party, cross-industry UK Trade and Business Commission (UKTBC) delivers 17 substantive recommendations for the UK Government, and our EU partners on how we can make a youth experience scheme a reality. www.bestforbritain.org/ukeu-yes-sch…
bestforbritain.org
The UK-EU Youth Experience Scheme Report
This report, from the cross-party, cross-industry UK Trade and Business Commission (UKTBC) delivers 17 substantive recommendations for the UK Government, and our EU partners on how we can make a youth...
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 14/12/2025
It’s time for Starmer to quicken the pace on green jobs and green growth. To push harder for the cleaner air, cheaper energy and healthier lives that we all deserve. Let’s make sure the government feels the heat: goodlaw.social/h5ik
goodlaw.social
Make Keir Starmer step up on climate
The government is failing to tackle global heating – so we’re forcing it to take action
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Yes is the answer but we don’t know how yet bit.ly/3L1yiDB this will turn out to be a logistical nightmare, complexifying what was a fairly simple system
bit.ly
Will I be taxed on cash in my stocks and shares Isa?
Tom Selby from the investment platform AJ Bell offers his advice
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Gold promoting, crypto financed party leader now finds firm he is an ambassador for is being threatened with bankruptcy by @HMRCgovuk over unpaid taxes bit.ly/4abxaaL gold firm says problem was due to an ‘in correct digit’
bit.ly
Gold bar seller promoted by Nigel Farage chased by HMRC
Direct Bullion, which has paid Reform’s leader over £400k, says winding-up petition will be withdrawn
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
This ludicrous Telegraph piece calls the bonus Labour’s bit.ly/4j2gEwg it was introduced in 1972 by Edward Heath (Conservative) and was worth far more than a week’s pension which was £6.75. It has never been cancelled by any govt (Conservative or Labour) or uprated.
bit.ly
Labour’s Christmas bonus. It’s for welfare claimants of course
Gloomy clouds gather over the private sector
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
If your parcel is stolen or never arrives that’s retailer’s responsibility not delivery company’s and it must refund you bit.ly/48BqNwa never nominate safe place or neighbour - that moves responsibility away from retailer. What’s your experience of missing parcels?
bit.ly
How to beat the porch pirates this Christmas
Thousands of parcels are dropped off every minute, which is great news for thieves. Just make sure yours are not left in a ‘safe place’
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
The @crisis_uk choir in the stunning Southwark Cathedral last night for carols, moving testimonies by people Crisis has helped out of homelessness, and celebrity readings. A wonderful evening. If you can give, please do. Here’s the link bit.ly/4abu6LN
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
The policy of making students pay fees for their own tuition was based on the premise that they would earn more and get that money back. It’s always been a questionable argument, now a new report shows that for many it is not true bit.ly/44rPsRq
bit.ly
Half of graduates ‘would earn more as a higher-level apprentice’
After five years apprentices can make £12,500 more than those with low-value honours from university. How does your degree compare?
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 13/12/2025
Videos claiming that Sadiq Khan cancelled the King’s ‘garden bridge ceremony’, leading to a political row and protests have been viewed widely on Facebook. But these are completely false. There was no such event, and it was never scrapped.
fullfact.org
False claims Sadiq Khan cancelled non-existent royal ‘garden bridge ceremony’ circulate online – Full Fact
Videos claiming that the Mayor of London has clashed with King Charles after the cancellation of an event has been viewed over 100,000 times on Facebook.
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Full Fact @fullfact.org · 13/12/2025
Earlier this week Kemi Badenoch criticised the government’s use of relative low income as a measure of poverty. Our recently updated child poverty explainer looks at the various ways in which the scale of poverty can be measured.
fullfact.org
Child poverty and the two-child benefit cap: explained – Full Fact
Our explainer looks at the different ways child poverty is measured, and the impact of the two-child benefit cap.
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Simon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Amazing, the @dailymail.co.uk manages to publish an entire lengthy feature bewailing (!!!!) the exodus of Poles from Britain without once mentioning Brexit. Apparently this outcome (which is surely exactly what they campaigned for in 2016) is all the fault of Keir Starmer. mol.im/a/15379789
mol.im
The great exodus: How Poles are ditching UK for their booming homeland
New statistics reveal that while 7,000 Poles arrived in the year ending last June, 25,000 returned home: a net outflow of 18,000. The UK's total Polish population has shrunk to 750,000.
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Why is Keir Starmer so hellbent on digital ID? Two words: Tony Blair. At @thenerve_news we’ve tracked Blair’s influence - & his billionaire backer Larry Ellison - behind a policy that nobody asked for & almost nobody wants. 1/
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 13/12/2025
"Brexit was a self inflicted shock, and not just a small shock." "It's as if they decided to throw the three bar electric fire into the bath whilst it was plugged in and they were sitting in it" "A 4% drop in productivity, 15% drop in trade, £100 billion hit to our GDP."
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