the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

Ever since she did that *oh for goodness sake* eye roll when the Chakrabort was talking about dead disabled people on QT. I have really wished the worst on Creasy and hope her political is a fucking disaster tbh.

*career

tweets from stella creasy about...
disability: 17
ESA: 0
benefits sanctions: 11
indie music: 277

*with the obvious caveat that I realise twitter isn't the be all and end all (apart from to me)

— joe (@cillanoir) November 10, 2017

^ ^ ^

Tories eh?

Glad I only voted for her once tbh

Tbf to her, she wasn't championing Morrissey. The whole thing started with her saying "All of us are asking just what it is that can make a good man turn bad..." and linking to that interview, then she got people replying to that tweet who didn't seem to understand it was referring to Smiths lyrics ("Turn bad? In what way - erm that’s incredibly rude, dismissive and short sighted Stella. I think you’ll find it’s his opinion. #freespeech", "You are the one who is prejudiced and cannot tolerate the idea that people have different views to you. The so-called tolerant left has become intolerant. People are entitled to voice their opinions without being insulted. But you like to insult.", etc.) and she replied to them with more Smiths lyrics...and then just kept running with it.

And in other news R4 wasn't championing Enoch Powell this weekend, NBS.

REVEALED: UK govt refused to assist a French investigation into suspected money laundering by telecoms giant Lycamobile – saying the company is the “biggest corporate donor to the Conservative party” & gives money to a trust founded by Prince Charles. https://t.co/dBYEISUUay

— Heidi Blake (@HeidilBlake) April 19, 2018

Incredible. pic.twitter.com/PKPQWHd1BS

— Alan White (@aljwhite) April 19, 2018

BBC News is leading with (clutching at) straws.

6Music bulletins leading with Dale Winton.

That Buzzfeed story is an absolute humdinger, the quote is astonishing, like how could anyone possibly self-clown like that?

almost worth starting a new politics thread just to use "not some third world banana republic where the organs of state are in hock to some sort of kleptocracy".

an amazing quote. I say go for it

It doesn’t look like it has been picked up by anyone other than Buzzfeed yet. Four hours in, you would expect the Guardian, etc, to have mentioned it in the live blog, at least.

I wonder if they have their doubts as to whether it holds up.

BuzzFeed News revealed that Lycamobile was depositing rucksacks stuffed with hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash at Post Offices all around London — practices experts said should raise red flags with anti-money-laundering and tax authorities

u don’t say

I'd imagine Buzzfeed would have ran this through their legal ppl before publishing?

Buzzfeed are notoriously loose when it comes to publishing stuff and Heidi Blake, who is credited, has published some absolute junk recently but this, on the face of it, looks more substantial.

Nothing in Le Figaro yet, either.

Lycamobile’s owner Subaskaran Allirajah paid to join an exclusive donor group that dines privately with Prime Minister May and her cabinet. He is also close to foreign secretary Boris Johnson after bankrolling his London mayoral campaign pic.twitter.com/Djgoc8v6lD

— BuzzFeed UK (@BuzzFeedUK) April 19, 2018

someone bollock me if this is Canary style spuriousness.

i think you mean "absolutely destroy" you

i smell a swamp that needs draining

Good 'hope this doesn't come back to bite my arse' expression from Johnson in that pic. If only he were sackable.

This still isn't anywhere outside of Buzzfeed, which is highly odd.

You ever had a political scandal on your hands and nobody else paying attention, LBI?

I have actually. And it's silly but it's the fucking best feeling seeing every minute pass by without others taking notice, knowing they will be shocked into reporting it as well.

haha no I get that totally

Buzzfeed have been pursuing the lycamobile for a while. Perhaps lycamobile have a lot of pull in the (rest of) uk media. Unless the quotes are totally fabricated, it's certainly a big story for one news cycle, even if nothing ends up being firmly pinned on tories/hmrc/lycamob/all of em

They didn't get sued for the Breaking Bad style piece they did, covertly filming Lycamobile bagmen doing huge cash drop-offs at various post office branches.

I'm under no illusion abt the state of UK media, but Lycamobile having such a pull that not a single big news org is willing to report this seems unimaginable.

xp

don't worry folks, RT are running with it now!

lol

Nick Timothy and Dan Hodges covering themselves in glory on this.

NT reckons TM was on holiday when the Go Home vans were sent out... get fucked!

The Times are running with the Lycamobile scandal now.

Unrelated, but:

would you rather save a) a tree, or b) a working class child

liberal environmentalists: that's a tough one but i think everything considered i’d have to go with option a pic.twitter.com/M7AX2xA3FY

— Clare Hymer (@ClareHymer) April 19, 2018

Nick Timothy p much "Mistress opposed the vans actually no really but then went on holiday so they just did it anyway."

we should be grateful for the moderating influence of the LibDems in the coalition years.

PS the benefit sanction turned out to be illegal and never went ahead. Ha Ha.

— Polly Mackenzie (@pollymackenzie) April 19, 2018

(the defense is that their legal advice told them that it would be illegal, but still fucking hell)

Check out the votes on the 2014 Immigration act if you really want to despair.

What did they give you for the 2014 Immigration Act? A handful of pick and mix and a lottery ticket?

— I Am Damo Godzuki ⬛🔴 (@b11ckchps) April 19, 2018

Lib Dems are pretty consistently anti sugar and anti gambling.

— Polly Mackenzie (@pollymackenzie) April 19, 2018

Policy wonks who really don't need to be on twitter.

(Lycamobile story beginning to pick up a head of steam btw)

about fucking time!

xp
complete idiots who are so extremely solipsistic, they aren't fit to be in a position to effect government policy.

And here's Mark Harper - the minister who approved the vans - in January 2014, telling MPs the vans were part of a "deliberate strategy". He does not say that the home secretary had blocked them and then they were approved without her say when she was on holiday pic.twitter.com/Nl1XUypvOy

— Henry Zeffman (@hzeffman) April 19, 2018

Would be nice if media scrutiny happened most of the time and not just when journalists scented blood, but:

Been looking into the dates of the "go home" vans that Theresa May's former advisor said happened when she was "on holiday"

1/

— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) April 19, 2018

Buzzfeed are notoriously loose when it comes to publishing stuff and Heidi Blake, who is credited, has published some absolute junk recently but this, on the face of it, looks more substantial.

Didn't someone at HMRC confirm the email?

They've confirmed what was said but they're denying it had anything to do with the decision.

The positioning seems to be that the French investigators approached HMRC with a weak case and were told that it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny - with an addendum that this was a firmly established company in good standing with the government they were talking about, not a cut-out laundering front.

According to asylum Twitter, if you’re a detainee at a refugee centre your only option for communicating with friends and family are phone cards supplied by... Lycamobile!