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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Why Did the ECHR Deny Us the Right to Know the Full Extent of the Russian Attack on British Democracy?
Whistleblower Sergei Cristo argues that the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights serves to protect Kremlin meddling
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Reform Council Accused of ‘Trump-Like’ Behaviour Over Pride Flag Ban
EXCLUSIVE: Nigel Farage’s party accused of dodging accountability after removing LGBT+ and Ukraine flags in one of their newly won councils without any formal decision or paper trail
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Mystery at the Heart of £1 Billion UK Legal Offensive Against Top Putin Ally
A sanctioned former Kremlin politician was sued for shares in his multi-billion-dollar fertiliser company. But why did a trio of companies with links to Russian interests in football get involved?
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Reform’s Elon Musk-Style ‘DOLGE’ Team Accused of Making ‘False and Misleading’ Claims About Flagship Council
A Reform report into spending at Kent County Council was based largely on dubious claims made by the party’s own former chairman
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Paying to Play: Europe’s Costly Concessions in Trump’s New Trade War
The US-EU trade deal is a “hopelessly one-sided” agreement, which will ultimately harm the economy on both sides of the Atlantic, argues Simon Nixon
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‘Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act Is a Ticking Time Bomb for Elder Homelessness’
The number of homeless Americans over 50 is expected to triple by 2030 as Trump unveils massive cuts to social safety net programmes, reports Mary O’Hara
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The Parliamentary Funding Loophole Allowing Murdoch To Dodge Scrutiny
‘MPs engaging with these groups may have no idea whose interests dominate the funding… allowing wealthy interests to quietly steer policy’
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‘House of the People’ Citizens’ Assembly Provides Alternative to UK’s Far-Right Descent’
The first sitting of the assembly recommended a ‘People’s Charter’, backed a wealth tax and an arms embargo on Israel
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‘Keir Starmer’s Government is Sleepwalking Britain Into the Grip of Trump-Supporting Big Tech’
The new ‘partnership’ between the UK Government and OpenAI is in reality a sellout to the one-sided interests of US tech corporations, argues Donald Campbell
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Caroline Lucas and Campaigners Consider Appeal on Russian Interference Case After European Ruling
Former MPs lose case arguing Government failed to properly investigate Moscow’s election meddling, despite judges acknowledging ‘shortcomings’ in ministers’ response
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Reform Council Bans All Mentions of Climate Change While Quietly Taking Green Funds From Government
Reform-run West Northamptonshire is removing all references to ‘climate change’ and ‘net zero’ from official documents, yet continuing to take government green grants
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Democracy in Crisis as Half of Young People Fail to Register to Vote
As the UK Government extends the vote to 16 and 17 year olds, MPs warn that many young people believe politics is no longer offering anything for their lives
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‘What Trump’s Ukraine U-Turn Really Tells Us About His Psychology’
Trump’s shift from betraying Ukraine to turning on Putin reveals a lot about the man and his Presidency, argues George Llewelyn
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Bungs from Billionaires: Do Labour’s Political Funding Reforms Really Pass the ‘Musk Test’?
Josiah Mortimer investigates whether the Government’s new reforms will stop the likes of billionaire X owner Elon Musk from funnelling millions of dollars into British politics
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‘Grassroots’ Pressure Group Opposing Equality Act Is Bankrolled by Tufton Street-Linked Funder
EXCLUSIVE: Supposedly independent campaign group Don’t Divide Us, is funded by body that has anonymously funnelled millions to right-wing groups
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Reform’s Darren Grimes Seeks Help From European Convention on Human Rights After Previously Calling It ‘Utterly Bent’
EXCLUSIVE: The former GB News host wants to rely on the same European laws he has campaigned against
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Nigel Farage Says He Wants to Scrap the Two-Child Benefit Cap – But There’s Something He’s Not Telling You
The Reform leader needs to be reminded whose idea it was to push hundreds of thousands of children into poverty in the first place, writes Josiah Mortimer
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Compulsory Voting Is Needed to Combat ‘Disastrously Low’ UK Turnout, Report Argues
Stark turnout gaps by class, race and age are creating ‘warped incentives’ for politicians, new analysis suggests
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Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives are ‘Cynically Misrepresenting’ Statistics With Plan to Ban Non-Brits From Claiming Disability Benefits
Experts suggest Conservative frontbenchers are deliberately misleading the public
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Reform UK’s ‘Children’s Book Bans’ Could Open the Floodgates for Censorship
The party that claims to champion “free speech” is now trying to crack down on books whose messages they disagree with, reports Katie Dancey-Downs
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Reform UK Tells Prospective Candidates Who Failed Vetting to Reapply Under New ‘Common Sense’ Rules
Individuals previously blocked from standing for Nigel Farage’s party have been told to reapply under new rules prioritising “freedom of expression”
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‘Progressives Must Unite Against Nigel Farage and National Populism or Reform Will Win’
Neal Lawson on the series of numbers that really matter in UK politics right now
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The £350 Billion a Year Lost to Corruption, Tax Dodging and Crime Every Year in the UK
As ministers search for cuts, a new parliamentary report reveals the hundreds of billions of pounds that could be clawed back into the UK’s flagging economy
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Patel, Braverman and Jenrick Immigration Scheme Led to Unexpected and Unregulated Influx of 1.2 Million Foreign Workers
Nearly ten times as many entered the UK under under Brexiters’ unvetted skilled worker visa scheme as arrived in small boats
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Reform’s Darren Grimes Accused of Lying After Police Deny Telling Him Not to Hold Council Surgeries for ‘Security’ Reasons
EXCLUSIVE: Local police have rejected the Reform UK deputy council leader’s claim that they advised him not to meet his constituents
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Leading Lawyers Back Open Letter to Home Secretary Opposing Ban on Palestine Action
Senior barristers and campaigners warn Keir Starmer’s Government is ‘conflating peaceful protest with genuine terrorism’
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Claims that Online Misinformation Fears Are Overblown ‘Radically Understates’ the Scale of the Threat
Entire communities are now becoming locked into dangerous belief systems that are almost impossible to challenge, argues Eliot Higgins
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How Billionaires ‘Look Sideways as People Die in the Very Supply Chains of Our Businesses’
The ‘Excessive Wealth’ Conference hears from a millionaire heir about how global corporations exploit consumers and undermine democracy
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Reform UK’s Darren Grimes Seems to Have Forgotten Something on his Register of Interests – and He’s Not the Only One
The former GB News host is among a series of newly-elected Reform councillors who appear to have left basic information off of their registers of interest
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Cryptocurrency Loophole Could Allow Foreign Billionaires to Secretly Bankroll UK Political Parties
Anti-corruption campaigners warn of untraceable foreign interference, as Nigel Farage’s party seeks big money crypto donations
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Public Trust in Government Collapses to Record Low as Demand for Electoral Reform Surges
New research finds record levels of support for a fairer voting system as trust in Government collapses to new lows
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Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf Accused of Politicising Council Staff With Propaganda Picture
EXCLUSIVE: Photos show council chief executive posing with Nigel Farage’s ‘DOGE’ team in image used for Reform party promo
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Repression Without Borders: How Putin Targets Russian Opposition Figures Abroad
The Kremlin has successfully launched a campaign to export Russia’s repressive state machinery into the global sphere, reports Denis Mikhailov
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£2 Billion of Fraudulent Covid Loans Remains At Large With Government Accused of ‘Passivity’ in Claiming Funds
Huge sums of money have yet to be returned by businesses five years after the last Conservative Government’s Covid ‘bounce back’ loan scheme was launched
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Cambridge University Takes Own Professor to Court for Joining Pro-Palestine Protests
Protesters accuse university colleges of being “complicit in Israeli genocide” due to their investments in arms companies
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From Lawnmower Mishaps to Expenses Scandals: 10 Fresh Embarrassments for Reform UK
Nigel Farage’s newly-expanded party is already struggling with costly U-turns, police investigations and increasingly bizarre behaviour
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‘Traditional Gender Norms Are the Exact Opposite’ of What UK Economy Needs, New Report Finds
A study shows that gender inequality is worsening financial hardship in deprived regions
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Gambling Firm 1XBet Branded ‘The Wagner Group Of Sports Betting’
Gambling industry experts suggest 1XBet is the world’s biggest ‘visible illegal sports betting operator’ in the world
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Americans Oppose Trump Joining Israel-Iran War and Do Not See the Iranian Nuclear Program as an Immediate Threat
New polling suggests that voters do not want the President to further involve the US in the Middle East conflict
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Inside the Collapse: How Putin’s Russia Turned Its Opponents into Exiles
There is a deliberate policy by the Kremlin to exile, neutralise, and effectively erase alternative political life within the country, reports Denis Mikhailov
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Reform UK Councils Are Facing Protests After Cancelling Climate Change Preparations
Nigel Farage’s party is culling anything to do with tackling climate change, including local planning for rising sea levels
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Resignations, Cancelled Meetings and Culture Wars: How Reform UK Councils Are Descending Into Chaos
Nigel Farage’s band of newly-elected councillors are already starting to struggle, reports Josiah Mortimer
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JD Vance’s ‘British Sherpa’ Chairs Organisation Funded by Billionaires Urging a Second US Civil War
The man described as the Vice President’s “philosopher king” is linked to a series of right-wing billionaires who have condemned democracy and called for a “limited dictatorship” in the US
