Outside the system
Month: September 2026
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Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives Block Byline Times From Conference After Condemning Reform for Journalist Ban
The ban comes just weeks after the Conservative leader called Reform’s barring of critical journalists from their conference an “authoritarian” attack on the free press
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Times Higher Education, Sponsored by Orbán’s Hungary, Failed to Report James Orr Allegations
The publication signed a partnership with Viktor Orbán’s government and has since published no coverage of the allegations around a Cambridge academic and former Reform UK policy chief whose foundation receives Hungary-linked funding
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‘Andy Burnham’s Plans to Make Britain Great Again Are the Polar Opposite of Trump’s’
If Burnham succeeds where Trump has failed, the whole MAGA agenda will be exposed, argues Alexandra Hall Hall
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Andy Burnham’s Pledge for Electoral Reform: What We Know So Far
After years of pressure from campaigners, a Labour Prime Minister has now finally committed to overhauling Westminster’s First Past the Post voting system, reports Josiah Mortimer
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Andy Burnham’s Labour Conference Speech Offers a Clear Break From the Politics of Despair
The Prime Minister’s emotional and expansive speech opened the door to a genuine shift in our politics, argues Adam Bienkov
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UN Acknowledges ‘Conflicts’ of Interest After Byline Times Exposes AI Panel’s Ties to OpenAI and Anthropic Funders
The supposedly independent panel has close ties to donors who financed the AI giants they have assessed, a Byline Times investigation has found
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Rupert Murdoch Flew Kemi Badenoch and Her Deputy to Mediterranean for Summer Trips Worth £12,000
The Conservative leader and Alex Burghart MP held “off-site meetings” with the billionaire media mogul in August
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Ukraine Comes Under Assault From Putin’s Terror and Trump’s Delusions
Paul Niland reports from Kyiv as the city comes under attack from Putin’s new strategy of ‘psychological terrorism’
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Nigel Farage-Backed Bitcoin Firm to Buy Gold Dealer That Paid Him £685,500
The deal would put the Reform leader’s gold bullion ‘brand ambassador’ fees in the hands of a crypto company he part-owns
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Royal British Legion Says It Wants ‘No Association’ With Anti-Migrant Group Behind Poppy Fundraisers
The charity says it never authorised a Hampshire group’s ‘Raise the Poppies’ appeal, as crowdfunding sites take pages down
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‘Almost Started A War’: Trump Administration’s AI Policies Are Hurtling Towards Catastrophe
The same technology marketed as the only way to defend the US from China militarily may be the very thing that starts a war with them in the first place, reports Caroline Orr Bueno
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Bonnie Greer: The Golden Thread
Stephen Colegrave pays personal tribute to our much-loved Byline Times contributor, who died last week
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Reform Council Leader Denies Climate Change Crisis After Record Heat Deaths
Leader of Kent County Council dismisses recent surge of wildfires and heat deaths as a “scare” and suggests the world is merely emerging from a “mini ice age”
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The Two Professors and a ‘War on Ideas’
The different stories of the Cambridge academics Jason Arday and James Orr reveal the wider cultural and ideological forces at work around hierarchies and structural power. Hardeep Matharu reports
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Upside Down
John Mitchinson explains why Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is the wrong role model for Big Tech
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Money Talks
Adam Bienkov explores what the downfall of Reform senior advisor James Orr means for the future viability of the Nigel Farage project
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Finding the Right Energy to Tackle Our Existential Climate Dread
John Mitchinson finds an inspiring warmth in the reality-checking work of climate justice activist Mikaela Loach
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The Digital Domain Is the Most Mortal of All
Social media and digital storage are radically changing our concept of time and consciousness of death, writes Peter Jukes
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Directed by History
Stephen Unwin is bringing back ‘Man to Man’ almost 40 years after first working on the seminal play with Tilda Swinton. What’s changed?
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Who Owns Our Beautiful Game?
Global capital is threatening a takeover of the essence of football – but it’s that essence that makes the sport such a commodity, writes James Bloodworth
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‘You Want to Love His Music. Without Thinking That This Guy Raped Kids Year After Year’
After the phenomenal success of the Michael Jackson biopic this year, Hardeep Matharu sat down with Dan Reed, the director of ‘Leaving Neverland’ – which documented sexual abuse allegations against the late singer – to explore how he feels seeing the icon’s continued success, the cult of the ‘cultural god’, and telling complicated truths
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Jason Arday and the Story Behind the Story of the Times’ ‘Impossible Data’
The newspaper of record failed to distinguish between corrections and retractions in the work of the late Cambridge University academic, fuelling the media firestorm that engulfed him. Special investigation by Nafeez Ahmed
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Nathan Cofnas and America’s Protection for Anti-Black Racism
The reinstatement by Ghent University of a key figure in the Jason Arday affair followed pressure from Trump’s State Department. It reveals a wider ideology of ‘injustice as illusion’. Karam Bales reports
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Beyond Spectators: Following the American Money that Funded the Hate Against Jason Arday
How a well-connected think tank has helped bring culture wars to the UK. Nafeez Ahmed and Suha Kidwai report
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‘A Problem With Liberal Democracy Is That, Though It Prides Itself on Tolerance and Honesty, It Colludes With Intolerance and Lies’
I’m really pleased that, after years of persistent effort, Josie Appleton, director of the Campaign for Freedom in Everyday Life, has finally got serious mainstream media coverage. She fights valiantly against what seem like minor injustices.
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‘For Once, the Record Shows the Real Farage’
I spent 30 years in Republican politics – which means I spent 30 years with men who, to put it mildly, had a certain moral flexibility on campaign finance laws.
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Otto English as Katharine Birbalsingh
Back to school season takes me back. It all began when David Cameron approached me at the Conservative Party Conference and told me about his first visit to a state school.
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‘Weren’t Those Black-Clad Lads on That Dover Train So Terribly Polite?’
The fascist loves balance. He won’t admit he does. He’ll rage about the weakness of the liberal media and lying press. But he loves balance.
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Reform U-Turns on Reform
Reform UK’s 2024 ‘Our Contract With You’ – Nigel Farage’s manifesto in all but name – couldn’t have been clearer in backing “proportional representation voting for the House of Commons”.
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Peter Oborne ‘It Is Unforgivable That the Wretched Starmer Allowed British Democracy to Be Debauched in This Way’
One of the many pleasures of Philip Hensher’s new A History of the Novel in Britain is his advocacy for Nevil Shute, a writer who enjoyed success in the middle decades of the 20th Century but has been neglected ever since.
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Letters
Submit a letter for consideration about this month’s edition to the Editors Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes at letters@bylinetimes.com
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Dark Forces Erupting Into View
Ever since Byline Times started seven years ago, we have aimed to connect the immediate with the long term; to show how breaking news is not just ‘the first draft of history’ but a telling symptom of deeper, underlying forces.
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Revealed: The Pro-Hitler Messages Behind the ‘Neo-Nazi’ Libel Case Funded by Reform’s Crypto Billionaire Donor
Ben Delo financed a failed defamation case brought by two writers, who privately exchanged pro-Hitler messages and talked about studying Mein Kampf, against a British Jewish artist who accused them of antisemitic bullying.
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Nigel Farage Handed Platform by GB News to Defend Reform UK’s £72m Donations From Crypto Billionaires
“These donations are completely legal,” insisted the Reform UK leader as he used his first appearance as a GB News host for six months to dismiss all questions about where his party is getting its record-breaking funding from
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Why Canada Could End Up With a Better Deal With the EU Than the UK
As the UK continues to hesitate over drawing back towards the EU, Canada has spotted an opportunity, argues former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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The Two Professors and a ‘War On Ideas’
The different stories of the Cambridge academics Jason Arday and James Orr reveal the wider cultural and ideological forces around hierarchies and structural power – and who gets to belong in our institutions
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How Reform UK’s Crypto Billionaire Donor Christopher Harborne Made Millions From the UK Taxpayer
Have UK taxpayers inadvertently helped fund Nigel Farage’s party?
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The Reform Councillors Embedded in Britain’s Masked ‘Patriot’ Anti-Migrant Network
A Reform councillor and campaign co-ordinater urged his followers to join and support the masked group
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Conservative Donor Is Major Player in Gambling Syndicate That Used George Cottrell’s Betting Accounts
Adam Franks’ firm used the convicted fraudster and Nigel Farage aide as a stalking horse to place bets, according to court documents
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Reform UK Could Pocket Nearly £500,000 in Interest if They Are Forced to Return £72 Million Crypto Billionaire Donations
EXCLUSIVE: Electoral Commission confirms interest earned on impermissible gifts can be kept, prompting calls for Nigel Farage to hand any proceeds to charity
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Behind the AI ‘Extinction’ Power Bid: Soaring Costs Could Hit 10% of World GDP
AI firms are invoking unproven extinction warnings to justify restrictions on developments by their smaller rivals whilst seeking greater influence over regulation
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Why Reform UK Could Be Forced to Hand Back Their £72m Donations From Crypto Billionaires
Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo gave a record £36 million each over the weekend to Nigel Farage’s party, but a new law means they may have to take it all back
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Nigel Farage Funder George Cottrell’s Inner Circle Hosted Indicted Cocaine Trafficker
Cottrell’s partner is the sister of two men indicted over an alleged operation involving 5,670 kilograms of cocaine, who are tied to one of the most powerful organised crime groups in the Balkans
