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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Boris Johnson Under Pressure to Explain Questionable PPE Procurement Deals
Rushanara Ali MP has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to explain questionable COVID-19 contracts, including two deals exposed by Byline Times
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Irish Independent Politicians Excuse Kremlin Crimes and Oppose Belarus Sanctions
Sarah Hurst reports on two Irish MEPs who regularly appear on Russian sponsored media to defend Putin’s imperialist policies
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‘When Suicide Becomes Logical’: Inside A Separatist-Run Prison In Ukraine’s Donetsk
Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Asyev explains why choosing life over death was so important during his horrific 962 days imprisoned by the Kremlin-backed statelet
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CONSUMED BY LIES: Britain’s Masochistic Trashing of its Global Reputation
With Boris Johnson now U-turning on the Withdrawal Agreement he signed with the EU in December, Alex Andreou argues how the entire Brexit project “never made any sense” from the very start
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Russian State-linked Figures Promoted Portland ‘Cruise Rally’ and Fake News Site Inciting New American Civil War
Iggy Ostantin reveals Putin’s interference in US politics appears to be even deeper and darker in 2020
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Saving Private Equity: Why Johnson Really Wants Us Back in the Office
Christiana Spens looks at the financial pressures and potential lobbying from property developers that could be driving the UK Government’s Coronavirus response
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Government Procurement Scandal Continues with £43.8 Million PPE Contract for Dormant Firm
New documents reveal that TAEG Energy has earned more than £52 million in Government deals in total for the supply of personal protective equipment during the Coronavirus pandemic
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Government Spends £364 Million on Coveralls, Delivers Just 432,000
The Government has shelled out over £840 per bodysuit delivered to the NHS, reports Sam Bright
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Belarus: Are the Russians Coming?
Nikola Mikovic assesses the chances Putin will intervene militarily in his turbulent neighbour given the dangerous precedent of Ukraine
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Government Awards £240 Million PPE Deal to Firm Linked to Religious Sect
The biggest recipient of Government PPE spending has been a firm with ties to a fundamentalist religious sect, finds Byline Times
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Pure Poison: Putin’s Links to Espionage, Terrorism and Organised Crime
Zarina Zabrisky talks to Artyom Kruglov, an independent investigative journalist and Putin biographer, about the Russian President’s background
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Fact-Free Farage: UK Sees Fall in Asylum Applications
New Government figures show the Brexit Party Leader’s asylum ‘invasion’ for what it is: a myth
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Conspiracy and Paranoia: Lukashenko is Trying to Exploit the Fears of Moscow and the West
The Belarusian dictator has hatched a complex, contradictory plan to stay in power, reports Kseniya Kirillova
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Government Awards £8.4 Million in PPE Procurement Contracts to Dormant Firm
Millions in taxpayer cash has been given to company that doesn’t appear to have traded since it was founded in 2016 – a questionable move in a bigger “scandal”, according to one MP
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The Conservative-Crosby Insider Running Coronavirus Meme Firm Topham Guerin
The digital start-up given £3 million to help run Coronavirus communications has hired a member of Tory party royalty as its managing director, Sam Bright reveals
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SWEENEY INVESTIGATES: What Changed to Make Evgeny Lebedev No Longer a Security Risk?
John Sweeney investigates the Russian newspaper proprietor who parties with the Prime Minister and the change in security clearance that enabled his ennoblement
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The Body in the Bath: The Russian Connections to the Strange, Unexplained Death of a British Spy
With Parliament’s Russia Report exposing Putin’s covert operations in the UK, Iggy Ostantin looks at new Kremlin connections to the MI6 money-laundering expert found dead in his Pimlico flat in 2010
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Outsourcing Giant G4S Claims £10 Million Government Coronavirus Support – Despite £187 Million Profit
The billion-pound security firm took Government Coronavirus relief despite exceeding profit estimates
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Is Belarus the New Ukraine? And What Will Putin Do?
In the wake of a popular uprising against President Lukashenko, Steven Komarnyckyj looks at the important differences with the overthrow of Ukrainian President Yanukovych in 2014
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Data Danger: Cabinet Office Admits Holes in its Cyber Security
Amid its attempts to centralise Government data, Michael Gove’s department is exposed to cyber security incidents, Sam Bright reports
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Cabinet Office Launches New Contract System for ‘AI’ Procurement – Reducing Public Transparency
David Hencke reports on the extension of a new contract system by Michael Gove’s office which avoids publication of early bids from tech companies
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Companies Linked to ‘Exclusive Brethren’ Evangelical Sect Awarded Hundreds of Millions of PPE Government Contracts
Byline Times has discovered a litany of Coronavirus contracts handed to an evangelical movement with supporters in the Conservative Party
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‘Sasha 3%’: Time is Up for Belarus’ Dictator – Revolution is Underway
Paul Niland argues that the popular protests against President Lukashenko are the beginning of a popular revolution against injustice which could follow the model of Ukraine
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Belarus Citizens Go into Battle – How Long Can Resistance Last?
As ‘Europe’s Last Dictator’ Alexander Lukashenko claims victory in the Presidential election, Sarah Hurst reports on clashes with riot police and the future of popular protest
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Poachers to Gamekeepers? Vote Leave Data Firm Now Promoted by Government as Anti-Disinformation Expert
Faculty AI, an artificial intelligence company employed by Dominic Cummings during the Brexit campaign, is being marketed to foreign countries as an antidote to fake news
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Showdown: Belarusian Analysts Predict Bloodshed on Election Day
Sarah Hurst analyses the signs that the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko is panicking in the face of public opposition
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Why Would Russia Want to Interfere in British Politics?
Russia’s foreign policy seems based on nihilism according to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee but Misha Glenny argues that Putin is much shrewder than that
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Babylon Health and the Health Data Goldrush
John Lubbock looks beyond the hype at Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock’s enthusiasm for health services based on artificial intelligence
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Actions Speak Louder: The Facts that Prove Boris Johnson Doesn’t Care about the NHS
Beyond the rhetoric, Stephen Colegrave produces nine examples of the UK Prime Minister’s lack of care for the NHS in its time of greatest need
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Does Putin Really Want to Destabilise Belarus?
In the most dynamic and interesting election in the past 26 years, Nikola Mikovic analyses why President Lukashenko is playing the Russian Interference card
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Kompromised: How Britain’s Political Parties Responded to the Russia Report
Sarah Hurst reports on how every major party, with the exception of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives, has changed their stance on Kremlin intervention
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The Government’s Shambolic Re-Lockdown Shows How Little it Cares About the North
The slapdash reimposition of lockdown measures by Boris Johnson’s administration exposes its real attitude towards its new ‘Red Wall’ voters, argues Sam Bright
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Is Russian Propaganda Amplifying the Nation of Islam’s Antisemitic ‘True Hebrew’ Trope?
John Lubbock looks at the new ways divisive racial messages which seek to divide minority groups in the US could be amplified by agents of the Russian state
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Another Strange Trio of PPE Contracts Emerge
The handing of Coronavirus contracts to companies with questionable experience in providing personal protective equipment in health settings continues
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Russian Interference is a Threat within the Brain
The Russia Report failed to grasp the philosophical underpinning of Vladimir Putin’s plans for the West, argues Zarina Zabrisky
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Gove’s Data Control Coup Emerges from the Shadows
David Hencke explores the implications of one of the most extraordinary Government power grabs he has seen as a political reporter
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All the Data in the World: The Dangers of Trump’s Favourite Firm Going Global in a Crisis
Sam Bright tracks the global expansion of data mining company Palantir during the Coronavirus pandemic
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SWEENEY INVESTIGATES: From Russia With Leave – The Curious Case of John Whittingdale
With the Labour Opposition calling for RT’s license to be revoked, John Sweeney investigates whether the Government minister responsible has a conflict of interest
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Boris Johnson’s Great Spaffometer
Stephen Colegrave tries to estimate how many billions the Prime Minister and his Government have wasted in their first year in power
Advertising and Marketing, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Business, Conservative Party, Coronavirus, Corruption, Dominic Cummings, Economics, Finance and Money, Economy, Health, Michael Gove, Newspapers, Populism, PR, Public Health, Social Media, The European Union, UK Politics, Whitehall and the Civil Service
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Hell of a Year: Britain Under Johnson’s Rule
Otto English compiles the epic accomplishments of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, during his first year as Prime Minister
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Britain is Back on the Road to the Brexit Cliff-Edge: Is Anyone Even in the Driving Seat?
As the EU’s chief negotiator warns of a ‘no-deal’ crash-out, Jonathan Lis assesses whether the chaos is a villainous plot or pure incompetence
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UK Parliamentary Report into Russian Interference Understates Threat and Ducks Brexit
Steve Komarnyckyj argues that the Russia Report has downplayed the evidence of Christopher Steele and ignored important leaks about the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine
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How Two Right-Wing Meme Merchants Scored a £3 Million Government Coronavirus Contract
Sam Bright tracks the rise of Topham Guerin, the New Zealand ‘propaganda pair’ in charge of the UK Government’s online Coronavirus communications
