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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Keir Starmer Plans to Crack Down on Political Interference by Foreign Billionaire Donors
The Prime Minister is under pressure to close legal loopholes that would allow tech billionaire and Donald Trump aide Elon Musk to funnel millions of dollars into right-wing political parties in the UK
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Blue Labour on MAGA Square: Maurice Glasman’s Journey to Trumpism
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar look at the nationalist populist drift of Labour’s anti-progressive tendency
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Farage Celebrates Securing Clacton ‘Free Port’ Coup as Part of US-UK Trade Deal
True purpose of the Reform Leader’s visits to Washington revealed as Trump-backed plans to transform the Essex coastline into the ’51st State’ are unveiled
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Moscow’s Ties to the Georgian Regime Ran Through Kensington and Chelsea
Leaked documents reveal how UK firm Hunnewell Partners, controlled by alleged enablers of Georgia’s ruling oligarch, facilitated a top Putin crony’s attempts to exploit the collapse of a more than $1.5bn corruption scheme in Uzbekistan
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‘Trump’s Betrayal of America’s Closest Allies Should Be a Wake Up Call for the UK’
The UK Government’s attempts to bridge the divide between Europe and the White House are rapidly running out of road, argues Alexandra Hall Hall
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Reform UK Is Being Sued by a Group of More Than 50 Voters for Breaching Their Personal Data
Nigel Farage’s party could be forced to pay damages if found liable by the courts
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Reform UK’s Murky Corporate Structure Raises Legal Red Flags, Experts Warn
Nigel Farage’s party is structured around a series of opaque companies, but who is really behind them? Josiah Mortimer investigates
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Deadly Lies: Ukraine on Tenterhooks as Putin and Trump Talk of Truces
In his latest dispatch, Chris York reports on overnight attacks on Kyiv, Trump’s diplomacy and the latest drone and media manoeuvres
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‘Why the Democrats Must Start Fighting Back Against Trump and Musk’
Former Obama and Clinton staffer Tom Malinowski tells Alexandra Hall Hall why the Democrats’ reluctance to push back against the Trump administration is only making things worse
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Civil Servants Felt Pressured Into Giving ‘Special Treatment’ to Conservative-Connected COVID PPE Suppliers
Private correspondence reveals officials felt threatened by firms benefiting from “back-scratching” by Conservative ministers
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‘Welcome to Soviet America’
The return of Donald Trump to the White House has exposed the need for major reform of the US political and constitutional system
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Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Funded by Tax Haven Linked Firms as Party Seeks Tax Exile Donors
The party is seeking overseas funding from those who are “unhappy with the amount of regulation and tax in the UK”
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Protest Crackdown in Britain Now Amounts to ‘State Repression’ And the Labour Government is Continuing the Trend, Warn Campaigners
Infringements on the right to protest have been ’emboldened’ by successive governments, report argues
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Musk’s DOGE Is Inspired by Pro-Kremlin Monarchists and 1930s Technofascism
Musk’s top DOGE operative is linked to a Russian American network of anti-West pro-Kremlin monarchists inspired by the 1930s counter-democracy “Technocracy” movement, of which Musk’s grandfather was a member
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Kemi Badenoch Ditches Net Zero Target After Taking Donations From Funders of Tufton Street Climate Denial Group
The Conservative leader and her Shadow Net Zero Secretary took funding from key backers of lobby groups campaigning to curb action against climate change
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The ‘Gag Order’: Trump Comes to Bury Free Speech, Not Defend It
The most sinister instances of censorship and repression are happening in America right here, right now
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Dazed and Confused: How the World Must Respond to Trump’s Assault on the Global Trading System
Former EU Trade Negotiator John Clarke on how to counter the method behind the madness of current US trade policy
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Starmer’s Moment of Truth: ‘Britain Must Align Itself with Europe’s Regulated Capitalism and Collective Security’
The PM’s pronouncement that Britain need not choose between the US and Europe is ‘downright reckless’ and an ‘exercise in dangerous delusion’, argues Clive Lewis
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Women Launch Legal Challenge Against Watchdog Over ‘Bullying’ Employment Judge
Ten complainants, including doctors and a nuclear whistleblower, claim judge displayed misogynistic behaviour in employment tribunals – but judicial regulator refuses to investigate
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The Brutalist: How Europe Can Respond to Trump’s New World Order
For all its chaos in operation, Trump’s regime has a strategic rationale and must be fought strategically, argues Jon Bloomfield
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Republican Activist Wins Police Settlement After Unlawful Arrest for Shouting at King Charles’ Proclamation
Thames Valley Police acknowledges arrest was unlawful but offers no formal apology as campaigner Symon Hill warns of ‘wider struggle’ to protect protest rights
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Cabinet Office Misled the Public Over Michael Gove’s Involvement with VIP Lane’s Biggest Winner
Unispace Global were awarded £679 million in PPE deals from the government after the company’s offer “came through” Cabinet Minister Michael Gove – contradicting the then-Government’s claims of no involvement
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One Hundred Days of Protests: Georgia on the Crossroads between East and West
Zarina Zabrisky explores the cultural and political tensions of a country caught in the crossfire of global conflict
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Keir Starmer’s ‘Geo-Political Minefield’ Between Donald Trump and Europe
With Starmer thrust into a damage limitation exercise by the Ukraine crisis, Chris Painter reflects on the fluctuating relations between British Prime Ministers and American Presidents.
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Warning Over UK ‘Slide Towards Authoritarianism’ After Raft of Just Stop Oil Prison Sentences Are Upheld
The Court of Appeal upheld sentences totalling 35 years for climate activists
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Clouds Darken Over Ukraine: But Is There a Sliver of a Silver Lining?
In his regular dispatch from Kyiv, Chris York explains how US actions feel like a complete betrayal in the interests of Putin
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Needs Musk: Minister Pledges Crackdown on ‘Dark Money’ in British Politics
Keir Starmer’s Government looks set to close loopholes that would allow foreign billionaires like Elon Musk to bankroll UK political parties
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For Ukrainian Survivors of Putin’s War, Donald Trump is Yet Another Threat to Their Lives
“Let the Trumpists come and spend a few days [here] and feel, hear, and see how Putin ‘wants peace’” a mother of a fallen Ukrainian soldier tells Kris Parker
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The Loopholes That Allow MPs’ Corrupt Conflicts of Interests to Go Undetected
New research exposes the gaps in parliamentary rules which allow MPs to hide their donations, financial interests and client relationships from voters
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Michael Gove Told Officials to Buy 10,000 Ventilators From Dyson During Pandemic in ‘Affront’ to Procurement Rules
Evidence published by the Covid Inquiry reveals that the Conservative Minister was “insistent that an order” was placed with leading Brexiter Sir James Dyson’s firm
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Fear and Favour: What Does Trump Owe Putin? Maybe His Life
With the increasingly bizarre compliance of the US President to the Russian President, Zarina Zabrisky wonders if the KGB/FSB tradition of assassination and mafia-style intimidation may be key
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How the German Elections Were ‘Successfully Manipulated’ By Foreign Actors and AI-Generated Content
Social media posts using generative AI were widely circulated by far-right supporters and the AfD
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UK Taxpayers’ Cash Is Funding an Arms Firm Whose Biggest Shareholder Is Now Bankrolling Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
The UK Government’s big increase in defence spending will likely hugely benefit Reform UK’s biggest donor
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‘Reform’s Policies Are Dangerously Out of Step With Public Opinion and It’s Time the Media Started Scrutinising Them’
The British press has given Nigel Farage’s party a free ride for too long, argues Salman Shaheen
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Trump’s War on ‘Woke’ and DEI: Incubated by a Nazi Eugenics Foundation
Mainstream American conservative icons Christopher Rufo, Peter Boghossian, and Richard Hanania – who inspired Trump’s assault on diversity – were bankrolled by the funder of a Nazi eugenics foundation
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‘Blind Rearmament Won’t Counter the Threats from Putin and Trump’
With the US potentially allied to Russia over the fate of Ukraine, there needs to be a root and branch rethinking of British and European security
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‘Trump’s War on Science Could Be Coming to the UK Soon’
There is a concerted global effort to undermine the very concept of evidence-based policy and scientific progress, argues Kit Yates
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‘Georgia is Descending Into a Pro-Putin Mafia State’
As Trump axes all aid and humanitarian efforts grind to a halt, the country’s Pro-Russian Government is cracking down on dissent, reports Will Neal
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Nigel Farage’s US Trip to Meet Elon Musk Was Partly Funded by a Convicted Felon
The Reform UK leader also accepted £91,000 for four hours work as a “brand ambassador” for a Mayfair-based gold bullion firm
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‘Keir Starmer Must Embrace Proportional Representation and End the Coercive Duopoly Throttling Our Democracy’
Britain will never truly change for the better as long as Britain’s deeply unfair voting system remains in place, argues Neal Lawson
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‘Trump’s New World Order: America Will Enable Authoritarians to Win’
The spread of war in Europe is now a greater possibility than it has been since the height of the Cold War, writes AC Grayling
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Will the US Celebrate the Third Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion by Betraying Ukraine?
Zarina Zabrisky explores Trump’s new alliance with Putin and the dark economic and ideological forces behind this new phase in the war
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‘F**k Trump’: Kyiv Faces the Darkest Hour
Chris York explores the mood in the capital as Ukrainians try to make sense of the US President’s support for the Kremlin
