SubscriptionsColumn / Investigation: Crypto Politics
Dark money, lobbying, regulatory capture, state institutions hollowed by donor factions, foreign interference, and the financialisation of political power.
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‘Our Economic Masters Failed on Their Own Terms’: Health of Deprived Areas Stuck in Previous Decades
The NHS is being burdened by the scale of Britain’s health inequalities, reports Sam Bright
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Russian Economic War: How Putin’s Dirty Money Corrupted the West
Pekka Kallioniemi assesses the Kremlin’s effective use of energy and financial dependency as part of its playbook shaping European politics
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Hedge Fund Feudalism: Right to Roam Goes to War
Max Colbert reports from Dartmoor where a Court Ruling has provoked a mass demonstration this weekend over the ancient right to camp in the National Park
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Rees-Mogg’s Bonfire of Environmental Bureaucracy
Campaigners fear that laws put in place to safeguard the environment could be ‘accidently’ lost if the Retained EU Law Bill is implemented
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‘Farcical’: Government Slammed for Pledging Millions in ‘Levelling Up’ Funding to Tackle Dover Brexit Queues
Money promised to deprived areas after Brexit is instead being used to deal with the aftershocks of leaving the EU, reports Sam Bright
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Falling Through the Cracks: Migrant People at Risk of Homelessness
From arriving in the UK with nowhere to turn, to falling through the cracks and sleeping rough, Byline Times looks at the experiences of migrant people who are homeless
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‘Greed is Good’: The Government is Quietly Rolling Out Dozens of Changes that could “Unleash the Next Financial Crash”
The Conservatives are gearing up for a ‘Big Bang 2’ deregulation of the City. At what cost?
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Landmark Ruling in Strasbourg as MPs Challenge UK Government over Failure to Investigate Russian Interference in Brexit
‘Nothing less than the future of democracy is at stake’ says Caroline Lucas as a cross-party coalition and The Citizens win an unprecedented hearing over electoral safety and national security
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Scandal of the Moonlighting MPs: Conservatives Take Jobs Worth £700,000 Working for Party Donors
The Labour Party told Byline Times there is ‘no reason why a serving constituency MP needs to make thousands and thousands of pounds as a consultant or by lobbying on behalf of businesses’
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‘The Brexit Lies that Literally Made Us All Poorer’
Iain Overton examines the lack of consequences for the Brexiters that promised us sunny uplands
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Special Investigation: The Vested Private Interests Behind Westminster’s Influential Lobbying Groups
Sam Bright investigates a murky aspect of our political system, where landlords fund private rental research and fossil fuel firms donate to environmental groups
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Shocking Findings by Byline Times Uncover Tip of the Iceberg of Mould Complaints by Council Tenants
An exclusive investigation by Sian Norris reveals the ‘national disgrace’ of council tenants struggling with mould
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‘Beware One-Sided Political Narratives about NHS Reform’
Consultant David Oliver analyses the claims about spending, waste and inefficiency in healthcare and proposes a ten point plan to restore services to their 2010 level
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Millions Could Lose Right to Vote as Vast Majority Still in Dark Over Voter ID Change, New Poll Shows
Up to two million people could be denied a vote unless they apply for ID – with public awareness about the new rules worryingly low, polling for Byline Times has found
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‘The Conservative Party: No Common Good’
The Conservatives have abandoned their post-war commitment to any meaningful social contract, argues Chris Painter, and are reduced to discredited market dogmas and neo-imperial fantasies
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Conservatives Accused of ‘Camouflage’ Campaign Tactics After Imitating Green Party Leaflets
A number of Conservative candidates appear to have suddenly dropped the party’s blue branding, reports Max Colbert
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Government Offers No Dedicated Cash for Councils to Warn People they will Need Voter ID in May Elections
Councils could have to choose between hiring extra staff to implement the change or informing voters that their vote is at risk, Byline Times has learned
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Number of Single Parent Households in Severe Food Insecurity Doubles
New data shows the number of people going without food has increased by 100% since before the pandemic, with health outcomes for the poorest households worsening
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The US Far-Right Cheerleaders of the Attack on Brazil’s Democracy
The links between Brazil’s far-right leaders and the US Stop The Steal activists suggest a globally-connected movement determined to attack democracy, reports Sian Norris
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Clashes over the definite Left
Anthony Barnett explores what he sees as the global emergence of a radical, progressive politics – especially in the United States
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Conservatives Branded ‘Hypocrites’ Over Minimum Service Law Threat to Unions as Lords are No-Shows
Many members of the Conservative Party’s lords bench seem to be taking indefinite strike action, Byline Times analysis suggests
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‘Labour is Carefully Painting a More Pro-European Picture’
The party’s agenda of closer alignment and the bulldozing of barriers in an increasing range of areas could help Britain escape the Brexit trap, writes Shamik Das
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Mass Misinformation: The Catholic Charity and the Far-Right Activists
An exclusive report in collaboration with the Citizens and funded by the European Fund for Investigative Journalism explores the links between a Catholic Nationalist group and the Italian far-right
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The NHS and Brexit: What We Now Know
Sam Bright examines the contribution of Brexit to our current healthcare crisis
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Income Inequalities in Britain’s Public Service Pay
Now the gap between the lowest and highest paid in the UK is one of the highest in the OECD, Iain Overton looks at the role of public sector pay in widening the disparities
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For the Love of Money: Michelle Mone – the Epitome of Modern Conservatism
The scandal-hit baroness was elevated for years by the party now backtracking over the PPE firm linked to her that won millions in pandemic contracts
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How the British Press Got Almost Everything Wrong In 2022
If you want to know what happens next in the UK, you’d be better off flipping a coin than listening to most political pundits, argues Adam Bienkov
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Subcontracted: Amazon Christmas Worker ‘Blocked’ from Staff Transport
Josiah Mortimer reports on a night shift worker at an Essex logistics hub who has to walk hours in freezing temperatures
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In Neo-Dickensian Britain Politicians Should Heed the Ghost of Marley
There’s a reason Dickens’ Christmas Carol is a perennial festive favourite, says A V Deggar – the Malthusian ideas of Scrooge are still with us
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Macron, McKinsey, and the British State
The French President is facing allegations of corruption over his relationship with US consultancy firm McKinsey, which in turn is increasingly embedded in the British state
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‘Held Ransom by the ‘Blue-Eyed Babies’ of Sovereignty and Elective Dictatorship, What’s Our Escape?’
At the end of the year of three Conservative prime ministers leading a country in crisis, AC Grayling considers what the UK can do to free itself of the constitutional and political chaos it finds itself in
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‘Without a Place to Go’: Homeless at Christmas
Manasa Narayanan speaks to people who are homeless, surviving on Westminster’s streets in the shadow of Parliament
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British Firms Spend Less on Skills Retraining After Brexit, New Report Finds
The number of adults participating in government-funded further education and skills training has dropped dramatically, according to a report by a parliamentary committee
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More Russian Linked Lobbying in UK Parliament
Further investigations by Iain Campbell reveal key Russian businessmen tied to Parliamentary groups involved in tech and healthcare data
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Christmas in the Cost of Living Crisis
As temperatures drop, turkeys are added to shopping lists, and letters to Santa are written, how are people coping during a winter of inflation and financial hardship? Sian Norris reports
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‘We Are Not Done’: Conservatives Remain in Thrall to Tufton Street
Sam Bright reports on the Conservative Party’s enduring alliance with the libertarian lobbying groups that ‘crashed the economy’
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What Keir Starmer Isn’t Telling Us About His Plan for a ‘Better Brexit’
The Labour leader is not being honest about the impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU, writes Adam Bienkov
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‘Human Rights – Here at Home?’
Sanchita Hosali, CEO of the British Institute of Human Rights, explains why 158 civil society groups have written an open letter to Rishi Sunak, urging him to stand firm on the Human Rights Act
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MPs Advocate for NHS Privatisation While Being Funded by Private Health Firms
Sam Bright investigates how a parliamentary lobbying group on healthcare has been backed by private interests
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Can Citizens’ Assemblies Improve Our Response to Crises?
Governments should use assemblies to tackle the issues at the heart of public debate during a crisis, write Stefan Flothmann and Brett Hennig
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Gove and Hancock Rewriting the Record With PPE ‘Bullying’ Claims
All the evidence indicates that senior Cabinet ministers facilitated the awarding of COVID contracts to favoured suppliers, reports Sam Bright
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Gordon Brown: Government Most Corrupt in ‘At Least a Century’
Sam Bright inspects the former Prime Minister’s plans to rewire British politics
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Xi-Think: The Imminent Dangers of Absolute Power in China
The fate of China and much of the world is now dependent on the whims of one man, says Chris Ogden
