Gavin Esler
@gavinesler.bsky.social
Writer, broadcaster, new book “Britain Is Better Than This” gavinesler.substack.com
Contact: lfennimore@noelgay.com
Contact: lfennimore@noelgay.com
If you discovered that a British politician took money from the Russian government or any part of the Kremlin’s vast propaganda machine, would that politician ever be fit to hold any public office in the UK? (Just wondering…)
Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and allies say
Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and allies say
Former opposition leader’s death while in Arctic jail at age of 47 result of mixture of diseases, according to Moscow
The Foreign Office has blamed the Russian state for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which it said was the result of poisoning from a dart containing frog toxin.
The frog poison – called epibatidine – is said to have been used when Navalny, 47, died suddenly on 16 February 2024. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:28 PM
If you discovered that a British politician took money from the Russian government or any part of the Kremlin’s vast propaganda machine, would that politician ever be fit to hold any public office in the UK? (Just wondering…)
It really is astonishing that government ministers and their advisers thought this was a sensible way to proceed. The independence of our courts and judges is something to be cherished www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
UK Palestine Action ban ruled unlawful, in humiliating blow for ministers
Thousands arrested for supporting group since proscription are now in legal limbo as Mahmood says she will appeal
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:56 PM
It really is astonishing that government ministers and their advisers thought this was a sensible way to proceed. The independence of our courts and judges is something to be cherished www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
They are right - And any National Commission should be given a rapid timetable to come to a conclusion because the arguments have been obvious for years. Decades.
APPG Members Sean Woodcock MP and Jo Platt MP today warn that Westminster's First Past The Post electoral system could deliver chaos, and call on the government to launch a National Commission on Electoral Reform.
🚨"Right now, Labour has the chance to lead this conversation and head off this issue. There is no time for complacency."
Sean Woodcock MP & Jo Platt MP warn that FPTP is headed for chaos.
✍️ For @labourlist.bsky.social @seanlwoodcock.bsky.social @joplatt.bsky.social
labourlist.org/2026/02/labo...
Sean Woodcock MP & Jo Platt MP warn that FPTP is headed for chaos.
✍️ For @labourlist.bsky.social @seanlwoodcock.bsky.social @joplatt.bsky.social
labourlist.org/2026/02/labo...
February 12, 2026 at 3:37 PM
They are right - And any National Commission should be given a rapid timetable to come to a conclusion because the arguments have been obvious for years. Decades.
Reposted by Gavin Esler
APPG Members Sean Woodcock MP and Jo Platt MP today warn that Westminster's First Past The Post electoral system could deliver chaos, and call on the government to launch a National Commission on Electoral Reform.
🚨"Right now, Labour has the chance to lead this conversation and head off this issue. There is no time for complacency."
Sean Woodcock MP & Jo Platt MP warn that FPTP is headed for chaos.
✍️ For @labourlist.bsky.social @seanlwoodcock.bsky.social @joplatt.bsky.social
labourlist.org/2026/02/labo...
Sean Woodcock MP & Jo Platt MP warn that FPTP is headed for chaos.
✍️ For @labourlist.bsky.social @seanlwoodcock.bsky.social @joplatt.bsky.social
labourlist.org/2026/02/labo...
'Labour must confront the crisis of first past the post before it’s too late' - LabourList
First past the post is fuelling distrust, fragmentation and instability. If Labour is serious about democratic renewal, it must lead the case for electoral reform now
labourlist.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:34 PM
APPG Members Sean Woodcock MP and Jo Platt MP today warn that Westminster's First Past The Post electoral system could deliver chaos, and call on the government to launch a National Commission on Electoral Reform.
Vox pops are pointless and misleading. If they have to be balanced then what do they prove? If they are not balanced they don’t give a variety of views. I speak as someone who was once asked why my vox pops from Clydebank (where I was born) didn’t seem to include any Conservatives…. Any guesses?
Vox Pops: yes or no?
Am obviously hating the way Radio Four, rather than binning vox pops on this and other issues, now just uses a few comments from Radio Five Live's morning phone-in. Cheaper, and saves a reporter having to stand in the cold recruiting jobless and retired passers-by. But it's still rubbish journalism.
February 12, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Vox pops are pointless and misleading. If they have to be balanced then what do they prove? If they are not balanced they don’t give a variety of views. I speak as someone who was once asked why my vox pops from Clydebank (where I was born) didn’t seem to include any Conservatives…. Any guesses?
Yes - if 40% of the UK Voting Age Population does not vote (as in 2024) and Labour won a third of the votes of those who did vote, that means the Labour landslide was based on 20% of the Voting Age Population. This is not an anti Labour point- it is a pro democracy point.
Appreciate there are no perfect electoral systems, but FPTP has been increasingly difficult to defend on a democratic viability basis since 2014 (I despise UKIP, but they amplified the FPTP issues).
With GEs now seeing FPTP majorities on <30% vote shares, 70% disenfranchised rate isn't sustainable.
With GEs now seeing FPTP majorities on <30% vote shares, 70% disenfranchised rate isn't sustainable.
February 10, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Yes - if 40% of the UK Voting Age Population does not vote (as in 2024) and Labour won a third of the votes of those who did vote, that means the Labour landslide was based on 20% of the Voting Age Population. This is not an anti Labour point- it is a pro democracy point.
Yes -
This would certainly seem to further support that FPTP isn't fit for purpose, or beneficial for voters, in the modern political climate...
bsky.app/profile/sund...
bsky.app/profile/sund...
NB: partisan polarisation is a massive effect
Prog party voters (Lab/LD/Green) are still +40 economy, +39 culture in 2025, but were only just +4 economy, +5 culture in 2011, and +60 in 2022
`Right-wing (Reform/Con) are -44 economy, -52 culture in 2025 having been -5 and -1 in 2022 but -30 in 2011
Prog party voters (Lab/LD/Green) are still +40 economy, +39 culture in 2025, but were only just +4 economy, +5 culture in 2011, and +60 in 2022
`Right-wing (Reform/Con) are -44 economy, -52 culture in 2025 having been -5 and -1 in 2022 but -30 in 2011
February 10, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Yes -
Surely now we have to recognise that the “two party” system of government and opposition, Labour and Conservative, is dead and needs to be buried?
7. The failure to change our disastrous electoral system, which might gift the UK to Reform on a small share of the vote, can, I feel, be understood as a matter of putting party over country and faction over party.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
If Reform ever wins power in Westminster, it will be because of Labour’s cowardice | George Monbiot
Starmer could improve our unfair electoral system to stop the hard right, but he won’t. All the party has left are threats about ‘splitting the vote’, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:52 AM
Surely now we have to recognise that the “two party” system of government and opposition, Labour and Conservative, is dead and needs to be buried?
Reposted by Gavin Esler
🚨Start Your Week🚨
Labour’s widely unpopular senior advisor Morgan McSweeney falls on his sword but will it be enough to stop Starmer from being consumed by the Mandelson/Epstein fallout? @nndroid.bsky.social and @gavinesler.bsky.social discuss this and more ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod
Labour’s widely unpopular senior advisor Morgan McSweeney falls on his sword but will it be enough to stop Starmer from being consumed by the Mandelson/Epstein fallout? @nndroid.bsky.social and @gavinesler.bsky.social discuss this and more ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod
February 9, 2026 at 3:14 PM
🚨Start Your Week🚨
Labour’s widely unpopular senior advisor Morgan McSweeney falls on his sword but will it be enough to stop Starmer from being consumed by the Mandelson/Epstein fallout? @nndroid.bsky.social and @gavinesler.bsky.social discuss this and more ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod
Labour’s widely unpopular senior advisor Morgan McSweeney falls on his sword but will it be enough to stop Starmer from being consumed by the Mandelson/Epstein fallout? @nndroid.bsky.social and @gavinesler.bsky.social discuss this and more ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod
Reposted by Gavin Esler
Reposted by Gavin Esler
Your daughter deserves better - we all do.
Daughter’s prime minister count is 6 already, could very well be 7 before her 11th birthday.
February 7, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Your daughter deserves better - we all do.
What leadership looks like:
🇲🇩🇺🇦 Moldovan President Sandu said that she is against her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, because there are more worthy candidates - Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Sandu emphasized that it is Ukrainians who are truly sacrificing themselves for the sake of peace and security in Ukraine and the EU.
Sandu emphasized that it is Ukrainians who are truly sacrificing themselves for the sake of peace and security in Ukraine and the EU.
February 7, 2026 at 5:19 PM
What leadership looks like:
When whatever happens at the top of the Labour Party finally happens and given the sorry mess that British politics has been for years, is it maybe time to fix a broken system? Get rid of the “two party politics” delusion? Embrace PR? It’s apparently good enough for Scotland, Wales and N Ireland.
February 7, 2026 at 1:55 PM
When whatever happens at the top of the Labour Party finally happens and given the sorry mess that British politics has been for years, is it maybe time to fix a broken system? Get rid of the “two party politics” delusion? Embrace PR? It’s apparently good enough for Scotland, Wales and N Ireland.
Definitely worth a read. And worth thinking about too:
New on FT website:
Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract.
www.ft.com/content/5bba...
Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract.
www.ft.com/content/5bba...
Starmer faces questions over visit to Palantir office alongside Mandelson
Former ambassador was also shareholder in lobbying group that counted US tech firm as a client
www.ft.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Definitely worth a read. And worth thinking about too:
Reposted by Gavin Esler
From the @bmj.com this week - some commentary on the exodus of medical leaders from X that used to be Twitter.
It’s sad, but I think it’s the right thing to move away from that platform.
#MedSky
Link here:
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
It’s sad, but I think it’s the right thing to move away from that platform.
#MedSky
Link here:
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
February 7, 2026 at 10:27 AM
From the @bmj.com this week - some commentary on the exodus of medical leaders from X that used to be Twitter.
It’s sad, but I think it’s the right thing to move away from that platform.
#MedSky
Link here:
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
It’s sad, but I think it’s the right thing to move away from that platform.
#MedSky
Link here:
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
I loved reading the Washington Post and as a young trainee journalist met my hero Ben Bradlee … then interviewed him when I was working for the BBC in Washington - this is a very sad moment for journalism.
And for America.
And for America.
I grew up with the Washington Post, wrote editorials for the Washington Post and published a column there for more than 15 years. To watch its owners destroy it, seemingly deliberately, in just a year and a half is devastating.
February 6, 2026 at 6:24 PM
I loved reading the Washington Post and as a young trainee journalist met my hero Ben Bradlee … then interviewed him when I was working for the BBC in Washington - this is a very sad moment for journalism.
And for America.
And for America.
Me too:
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Me too:
Reposted by Gavin Esler
Senior state department official Sarah Rogers travelled to European cities in December and has spoken to key figures in Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party about deploying grants to spread ‘American values’. ft.trib.al/Kx8ta8a
February 6, 2026 at 2:41 AM
Senior state department official Sarah Rogers travelled to European cities in December and has spoken to key figures in Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party about deploying grants to spread ‘American values’. ft.trib.al/Kx8ta8a
This.
Relatives of a Ukrainian serviceman who had been listed as killed and even buried heard his voice for the first time after his return from captivity. The moment came after the fighter was freed in a prisoner exchange and contacted his family following years of uncertainty. #Ukraine
February 5, 2026 at 9:13 PM
This.
The behaviour of those British people associated with Epstein was absolutely despicable - but where are those Americans associated with Epstein being held accountable for their behaviour? There’s something very big missing here.
February 5, 2026 at 6:38 PM
The behaviour of those British people associated with Epstein was absolutely despicable - but where are those Americans associated with Epstein being held accountable for their behaviour? There’s something very big missing here.
Reposted by Gavin Esler
If Mandelson really told Starmer he barely knew Epstein, that was an epic whopper of a lie.
Here's Mandelson to Epstein in 2009: "You are the only person who knows everything about me. Don't go away".
Their relationship only got closer after 2009.
Here's Mandelson to Epstein in 2009: "You are the only person who knows everything about me. Don't go away".
Their relationship only got closer after 2009.
February 5, 2026 at 5:49 PM
If Mandelson really told Starmer he barely knew Epstein, that was an epic whopper of a lie.
Here's Mandelson to Epstein in 2009: "You are the only person who knows everything about me. Don't go away".
Their relationship only got closer after 2009.
Here's Mandelson to Epstein in 2009: "You are the only person who knows everything about me. Don't go away".
Their relationship only got closer after 2009.
Yes.
This is rather on the nose from Janan Ganesh about how thinking on the right of politics is boxed in on foreign policy when as Carney pointed out, middle powers will need mini alliances with multiple countries on an issue by issue basis
www.ft.com/content/0429...
www.ft.com/content/0429...
February 5, 2026 at 7:27 AM
Yes.
Reposted by Gavin Esler
Jeff Bezos took over the Washington Post Editorial Board and turned it into a mouthpiece for pro-corporate, pro-billionaire propaganda.
Now, WaPo is laying off hundreds of *real* journalists — including the reporter covering Amazon.
Democracy dies in billionaire hands.
Now, WaPo is laying off hundreds of *real* journalists — including the reporter covering Amazon.
Democracy dies in billionaire hands.
February 4, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Jeff Bezos took over the Washington Post Editorial Board and turned it into a mouthpiece for pro-corporate, pro-billionaire propaganda.
Now, WaPo is laying off hundreds of *real* journalists — including the reporter covering Amazon.
Democracy dies in billionaire hands.
Now, WaPo is laying off hundreds of *real* journalists — including the reporter covering Amazon.
Democracy dies in billionaire hands.
Sometimes I just need Private Eye ….
February 4, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Sometimes I just need Private Eye ….