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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Facebook’s Big Lie is Finally Being Exposed
Kyle Taylor puts the social media platform’s recent scandals into context and argues that the House of Zuckerberg is slowly crumbling
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Conservative Donors, Turning Point USA and the US Capitol Attack
A man charged with assaulting police officers in Washington D.C. on 6 January arrived at the riot on a bus organised by Turning Point USA. Sian Norris explores the transatlantic background of the youth conservative group
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£121.7 Million Increase in Profits for COVID Contract Winners With Conservative Links
Twelve COVID-contract winning firms with ties to the Conservative Party have increased their profits by 57.1%, Byline Times and The Citizens reveal
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The Far-Right’s Corruption Paradox
Sian Norris explores why populist and far-right leaders win on anti-corruption platforms only to be accused of exploiting their positions for personal gain
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The BBC Has an Institutional Culture of Brexit Self-Censorship
Former BBC producer Patrick Howse explores why the broadcaster is unwilling to speak truth to power over Brexit
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A Turning Tide? Johnson’s Campaign to Turn Two Fingers Up at Business Continues
Mike Buckley reflects on the Prime Minister’s attempts to distract from the economic plague that the Government has inflicted on the nation
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Brexit is to Blame for Lorry Driver Shortages, Voters Say
In an exclusive poll commissioned by Byline Times, voters revealed their views about the current HGV crisis, Brexit, the Government’s flagship ‘levelling up’ policy, Boris Johnson, and tax rises
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Britain’s Brexit Crises: On the Road to Perdition
Richard Barfield explains how long-term solutions will be required to reverse the labour shortages being experienced by the UK in the wake of EU workers returning to the continent
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Fixing A Chaotic State: How Should Labour Tackle Brexit?
The ‘B’ word is Labour’s elephant in the room. Mike Buckley considers how the party could finally turn it into a vote-winner
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Labour Should be Talking More About the Problems Caused by Brexit, Voters Say
Byline Times exclusively polled voters about the Labour conference, Brexit, the fuel crisis, and the ongoing ‘Corbyn versus Blair’ debate
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Risk of Price Hikes Will Continue Without EU-UK Energy Deal, Expert Warns
Sam Bright speaks to a former EU energy chief about the problems posed by Brexit
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‘Project Fear’ is ‘Project Here’: UK Supply Chains Seize-Up Due to Anti-Immigration Politics
The Chief Executive of Scotland Food & Drink explains how a hard Brexit caused the current crisis, with the lowest stocks in shops and warehouses since records began
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The Brexit Tax: How Boris Johnson Broke his Promise on Energy Prices
In May 2016, the future Prime Minister promised that fuel bills would be slashed after Brexit – Sam Bright explores why the opposite has occurred
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Murdoch and Morgan: The Reunion From Hell
Mic Wright unpicks the announcement of a new right-wing, Rupert Murdoch television station in the UK – and how it may have spotted a gap in the market following events at a certain beleaguered anti-woke news channel
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Corporate Takeover: NHS Spending on Private Sector is Up But Positive Patient Outcomes Are Down
In the second part of her investigative series on corporate interests in the NHS, Sian Norris explores how private sector NHS spending has increased – but so have waiting lists, staff vacancies, and patient dissatisfaction
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Polish Foreign Minister with History of Homophobic Remarks Addresses Polish-British Forum
The Belvedere Forum invited Zbigniew Rau to speak alongside UK politicians, despite him referring to LGBTIQ rights as creating a “civilisation of death”
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Poorly Pooches Abandoned by Brexit
David Hencke reports on the national vets shortage, caused by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the Coronavirus crisis and a rise in the number of people buying pets
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72% of Voters are Against the Award of Peerages and Honours Following Political Donations, Poll Commissioned by Byline Times Finds
Exclusive polling with independent research company Omnisis reveals that the public are generally disapproving of political donors receiving rewards and access after parting with their cash – with Conservative voters more concerned than Labour
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Political Capture: How Donations Made in the Shadows are Putting Democracy in Danger
An investigation by the Byline Intelligence Team and The Citizens, revealing the profiles of Conservative Party backers in the UK, has exposed how a lack of transparency and the culture of political donations is putting British democracy at risk
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The Great Social Care Gold Rush: How Hedge Funds and Private Investors are Distorting the ‘Market’ of People in Need
Katharine Quarmby and Sian Norris dig into the story behind the funding of the social care system, asking: who will benefit from the extra cash?
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Mandatory Voter ID: The Cost to Taxpayers – and Democracy
The Government’s assessment of how much its proposals to make everyone show ID in order to vote at polling stations will cost represents its ‘staggeringly warped priorities’, according to campaigners
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As Healthcare Data Breaches Mount, How Secure are Digital IDs?
Kiki Woods explores the potential flaws in plans for digital ID systems based on the supposed safe storage of our most sensitive data
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The View From The Rock: Brexit in Gibraltar
Since the EU Referendum, remain-voting Gibraltar has faced uncertainty, food shortages and ignorance – and people in the territory are doubtful that this will change
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‘A Party Within A Party’: Calls for Investigation into European Research Group, Paid Quarter of a Million in Taxpayer Cash Since Brexit
Byline Times reveals the membership and ministerial backing of the powerful group of ‘hard Brexit’ Conservative MPs
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Brexit and the Economy: The Story So Far
Jonathan Portes delves into the data on the economic performance of the UK after its exit from the EU’s single market and customs union on 1 January and assesses the real-world impact of these new trade barriers
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‘Deception and Possible Fraud’: Ministers Accused of Misleading Parliament Over HS2
Lord Tony Berkeley, the deputy chair of Boris Johnson’s review into the high speed rail link, claims the public is being kept in the dark over spiralling costs
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Afghanistan: The Terrible End of the War on Terror
In the collapse of its $2 trillion 20-year war in Afghanistan, which cost hundreds of thousands of lives, Hasan Sari sees the last disastrous epitaph for US foreign policy
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The Corporate Takeover of the NHS: What Does ‘Privatisation’ of Health Services Really Mean?
In the first of a series of investigations into the corporate takeover of the NHS, Sian Norris considers what NHS privatisation looks like now, and what could change with the new Health and Social Care Bill
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Cummings’ Brexit Confessions Reveal the Hollow Heart of a Hallowed Project
Jonathan Lis explains how the admissions of leading Brexiters five years on expose the continuing corruption of British politics by outright lies
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Light and Shadows: Law-Makers and Populist Attacks – A Transatlantic Comparison
Amid the multiple similarities between the populism of Donald Trump and Brexit, Peter Jukes and Heidi Siegmund Cuda look at the stark differences between the way in which the UK Parliament and the US Congress deal with threats to democracy
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Poland Passes Media Law That Threatens Press Freedom
hat could further repress press freedom in the country – despite initially planning to suspend the vote after ruling coalition collapsed
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Touring in Europe: The Broken Instruments of Brexit
Philippe Auclair discusses the cultural isolation and loss which will result from British musical artists being deterred from performing in Europe
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While Britain Obsesses Over Europe, Europe Turns Away
Though Brexit no longer dominates the headlines in Europe, Europeans view it with a mixture of pity and concern, and look forward to the UK returning to its senses soon – if not to the EU
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Government Procurement and the Lack of Trust
After the scandal of crony contracts, Stephen Colegrave digs into the Government’s Green Paper setting out a new regime to regulate nearly £300 billion in public spending
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GB News Presenter Nigel Farage Emerges in Unredacted FBI Files
Zamaan Qureshi explores new revelations from the Mueller probe into the leaking of emails hacked by Russian intelligence services to Wikileaks during the 2016 US Presidential election
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Tucker Carlson’s Visit to Hungary: Lobbying, Free Speech and Far-Right Conspiracy
Fox News’ bombastic Conservative commentator, Tucker Carlson, meets Hungary’s authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, two years after a firm where his father is a director received thousands from the Hungarian Government to help with media and PR, Sian Norris reports
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Subverting the ‘Will of the People’: How Brexit Sowed the Wind
Chris Grey explores the forces unleashed by Brexit and how they reveal the weaknesses of Britain’s unwritten Constitution – vulnerable in its reliance on norms and conventions to deliver representative democracy
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Revealed: The Involvement of Palantir and Faculty in the UK Public Sector
Peter Thiel’s Palantir and an AI-company linked to Dominic Cummings combined have won public sector contracts worth over £100 million – including contracts connected to NHS data. Max Colbert reports with The Citizens
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Highwire Act: Why the Northern Ireland Protocol is the Ultimate Brexit Test
As the UK struggles with the reality that it is the only country in the world to create its own internal trade barrier, Mike Buckley looks at the dangerous pitfalls for Boris Johnson
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Prominent Conservative Donor Wins Large Contract with Ministry of Justice
Company behind £450,000 donations to the Conservative party awarded a series of emergency Covid-19 work, alongside contract for new prison build, Max Colbert reports
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The Cost of COVID Loans and PPE: An Augury of More Austerity?
Richard Murphy looks at the Government’s poor decision making around Coronavirus costs, and how their poor accounting could be used as another excuse to cut public spending
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US Foreign Policy For Sale: Thomas Barrack, Jared Kushner and the UAE
After the indictment of the former president‘s ‘best friend’, Zamaan Qureshi ties together the web of links between the Trump Campaign and agents of foreign governments
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‘What is he Doing for his Wage?’: Lord Philip Hammond’s Revolving Door Continues
ust two years after leaving office, the former Chancellor and life peer is now free to lobby the Government on behalf of businesses registered in tax havens and set up by Conservative peers
