Mike Phelps
@mike1phelps.bsky.social
Retired ex-academic economist and civil servant
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Good grief
Evan Davis described Chris Patten as a voice from the left on BBC PM tonight.
November 11, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Good grief
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Reposted by Mike Phelps
How Israel made away entirely with its already-weak system of accountability for torture of Palestinians.
theconversation.com/arrest-of-to...
theconversation.com/arrest-of-to...
Arrest of top whistleblower shows extent of Israeli impunity over torture of Palestinian detainees
The episode highlights serious problems with accountability in Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in custody.
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:42 AM
How Israel made away entirely with its already-weak system of accountability for torture of Palestinians.
theconversation.com/arrest-of-to...
theconversation.com/arrest-of-to...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Scoop from @cjayanetti.bsky.social - Reform-led council is planning to double council tax on second homes six months after Nigel Farage denounced such policies as “madness” www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Reform Council To Double Tax On Second Homes Despite Nigel Farage Calling The Idea 'Madness'
A Reform-led council is planning to double council tax on second homes six months after party leader Nigel Farage denounced such policies as “madne...
www.politicshome.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Scoop from @cjayanetti.bsky.social - Reform-led council is planning to double council tax on second homes six months after Nigel Farage denounced such policies as “madness” www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
1945 the British made sure that Germanys public broadcasting system would never be taken over by an authoritarian leader again by creating a complicated federal system.
They didn’t see to that at home which has left the BBC vulnerable.
This needs to change now.
They didn’t see to that at home which has left the BBC vulnerable.
This needs to change now.
Well, this is quite a serious allegation. I do hope the BBC shows true impartiality and investigate whether or not some of its Board members are systemically biased. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
BBC board member with Tory links ‘led charge’ in systemic bias claims, say insiders
Sources say Robbie Gibb amplified criticisms of Trump, Gaza and trans rights coverage, and had ‘a lot of oxygen in the room’
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:40 AM
1945 the British made sure that Germanys public broadcasting system would never be taken over by an authoritarian leader again by creating a complicated federal system.
They didn’t see to that at home which has left the BBC vulnerable.
This needs to change now.
They didn’t see to that at home which has left the BBC vulnerable.
This needs to change now.
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Again - this hyperpartisan outfit paid tens of millions of dollars in defamation damages, due to its false pro-Trump claims about election voting machines. Extraordinary Gibbery to interview them
It’s already started - the BBC allows Newsmax boss to opine about bias, suggest some of the Jan 6 mob were merely innocent tourists visiting Congress, without pushback
November 11, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Again - this hyperpartisan outfit paid tens of millions of dollars in defamation damages, due to its false pro-Trump claims about election voting machines. Extraordinary Gibbery to interview them
Reposted by Mike Phelps
This is the most deranged situation. We are literally being kicked about by fake-newsers threatening to bankrupt our own public service broadcaster, to shield an insurrectionist from a reality that he can’t accept.
November 11, 2025 at 8:51 AM
This is the most deranged situation. We are literally being kicked about by fake-newsers threatening to bankrupt our own public service broadcaster, to shield an insurrectionist from a reality that he can’t accept.
Reposted by Mike Phelps
The Panorama edit was poor journalism, not sure how it happened (more than 15 yo when I worked there we all had to go on a course because someone made the Queen look grumpy about something in the wrong order). But of all of it, this is the only piece I’ve read that properly nails the issue…
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:49 AM
The Panorama edit was poor journalism, not sure how it happened (more than 15 yo when I worked there we all had to go on a course because someone made the Queen look grumpy about something in the wrong order). But of all of it, this is the only piece I’ve read that properly nails the issue…
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Robbie Gibb issue is just one case where Labour has left in place people appointed by the Tories : Arif Ahmed at OfS, Kishwer and Reindorf at EHRC. Real self-sabotage.
November 11, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Robbie Gibb issue is just one case where Labour has left in place people appointed by the Tories : Arif Ahmed at OfS, Kishwer and Reindorf at EHRC. Real self-sabotage.
Reposted by Mike Phelps
The improvement in the employment rate of non-EU migrants to the UK over the past 15 years is remarkable, especially since the pandemic.
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...
November 11, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The improvement in the employment rate of non-EU migrants to the UK over the past 15 years is remarkable, especially since the pandemic.
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
One strange thing about the BBC/Trump row is that the programme in question was actually made by an independent production company. Yes, the BBC producers and Panorama’s editor should have checked everything before it was broadcast. But…
1/3
1/3
November 10, 2025 at 11:02 PM
One strange thing about the BBC/Trump row is that the programme in question was actually made by an independent production company. Yes, the BBC producers and Panorama’s editor should have checked everything before it was broadcast. But…
1/3
1/3
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Key point in an important thread.
We might also wonder why the BBC entrusts episodes of its leading current affairs strand to outside producers. But that takes us back to Conservative govmt demands, under the guise of market liberalisation, that they shift spending to independents. The slow death of the BBC was planned long ago…
3/3
3/3
November 11, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Key point in an important thread.
Usual excellent analysis from Simon Wren- Lewis
New post: Labour’s Brexit stance is as untenable as their tax pledge
mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/11/labo...
As public perception and econometric estimates of the damage caused by Brexit rise, Labour's refusal to discuss rejoining the EU's customs union or single market means more self harm.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/11/labo...
As public perception and econometric estimates of the damage caused by Brexit rise, Labour's refusal to discuss rejoining the EU's customs union or single market means more self harm.
Labour’s Brexit stance is as untenable as their tax pledge
In my last post about the prospect of Labour breaking its tax pledge, I did something I don’t often do, which is indulge in some ‘I told y...
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Usual excellent analysis from Simon Wren- Lewis
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Oh lovely, Southern Water are ‘sorry’ but are leaving the clean up to volunteers!
Apparently yesterday they sent 3 voluntary junior employees without buckets down there! How do they get away with this again & again
Apparently yesterday they sent 3 voluntary junior employees without buckets down there! How do they get away with this again & again
Southern Water apologises for catastrophic spill of plastic biobeads in Sussex
Southern Water apologises for catastrophic spill of plastic biobeads in Sussex
Resulting pollution on Camber Sands beach poses threat to wildlife including dolphins and seals
Southern Water has taken responsibility for the catastrophic spill of plastic biobeads that polluted the Sussex coastline.
Local charities reported a huge spill of millions of biobeads over the weekend, washing up on beaches including Camber Sands. Andy Dinsdale, the founder of the plastic pollution campaign group Strandliners, said it was the worst pollution event he had seen. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Oh lovely, Southern Water are ‘sorry’ but are leaving the clean up to volunteers!
Apparently yesterday they sent 3 voluntary junior employees without buckets down there! How do they get away with this again & again
Apparently yesterday they sent 3 voluntary junior employees without buckets down there! How do they get away with this again & again
Reposted by Mike Phelps
🔴The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the ‘Right-Wing Coup’ Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:18 AM
🔴The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the ‘Right-Wing Coup’ Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
Well, this is quite a serious allegation. I do hope the BBC shows true impartiality and investigate whether or not some of its Board members are systemically biased. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
BBC board member with Tory links ‘led charge’ in systemic bias claims, say insiders
Sources say Robbie Gibb amplified criticisms of Trump, Gaza and trans rights coverage, and had ‘a lot of oxygen in the room’
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Well, this is quite a serious allegation. I do hope the BBC shows true impartiality and investigate whether or not some of its Board members are systemically biased. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
The poppy on the front of the Telegraph looks absurd next to its gleeful reporting of a right wing foreign power's attempt to destroy a British institution.
November 11, 2025 at 9:21 AM
The poppy on the front of the Telegraph looks absurd next to its gleeful reporting of a right wing foreign power's attempt to destroy a British institution.
Reposted by Mike Phelps
It would be fitting if Robbie’s legacy ends up being ‘Gibbery’ entering the lexicon as a term for organisations engaging in actively self-destructive behaviour
Again - this hyperpartisan outfit paid tens of millions of dollars in defamation damages, due to its false pro-Trump claims about election voting machines. Extraordinary Gibbery to interview them
It’s already started - the BBC allows Newsmax boss to opine about bias, suggest some of the Jan 6 mob were merely innocent tourists visiting Congress, without pushback
November 11, 2025 at 9:13 AM
It would be fitting if Robbie’s legacy ends up being ‘Gibbery’ entering the lexicon as a term for organisations engaging in actively self-destructive behaviour
Reposted by Mike Phelps
can't think of a headline that better sums up the BBC at present
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
BBC slammed for asking Kelvin Mackenzie about journalism standards
Liverpool fans and others staggered by choice to invite former S*n editor to discuss ongoing issues at the BBC
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:13 AM
can't think of a headline that better sums up the BBC at present
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
It takes an obscene amount of hubris to lecture the BBC when you have The Telegraph’s record on truth-telling.
Some of the paper’s errors this year are so bad they’re almost laughable 👇🏻
Some of the paper’s errors this year are so bad they’re almost laughable 👇🏻
The Telegraph’s BBC hypocrisy
A paper that knows a thing or two about editorial f*ck-ups...
writesbright.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
It takes an obscene amount of hubris to lecture the BBC when you have The Telegraph’s record on truth-telling.
Some of the paper’s errors this year are so bad they’re almost laughable 👇🏻
Some of the paper’s errors this year are so bad they’re almost laughable 👇🏻
Reposted by Mike Phelps
“If the papers keep saying the BBC is lying to you, that it’s biased, people start believing it.”
Has the BBC’s Trump edit error been blown out of proportion because of deeper motivations, asks @maitlis.bsky.social.
Has the BBC’s Trump edit error been blown out of proportion because of deeper motivations, asks @maitlis.bsky.social.
November 10, 2025 at 9:11 PM
“If the papers keep saying the BBC is lying to you, that it’s biased, people start believing it.”
Has the BBC’s Trump edit error been blown out of proportion because of deeper motivations, asks @maitlis.bsky.social.
Has the BBC’s Trump edit error been blown out of proportion because of deeper motivations, asks @maitlis.bsky.social.
Reposted by Mike Phelps
When Boris Johnson was Prime Minister one of his senior advisers confided to me that one of the only things in politics his boss actually cared about was “killing off the BBC”.
Five years on, and it is a campaign that appears to be finally coming to fruition.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
Five years on, and it is a campaign that appears to be finally coming to fruition.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:49 PM
When Boris Johnson was Prime Minister one of his senior advisers confided to me that one of the only things in politics his boss actually cared about was “killing off the BBC”.
Five years on, and it is a campaign that appears to be finally coming to fruition.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
Five years on, and it is a campaign that appears to be finally coming to fruition.
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
"My father remained at the Texas detention center until October. During those six months, he went completely blind in one eye and lost most of the vision in the other, because he wasn’t receiving adequate medical care for his Type 2 diabetes."
From @vanessalop.bsky.social: He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation
chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...
chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...
He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation
Deportation has taken away the father I once knew and given me back a person I no longer recognize.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
"My father remained at the Texas detention center until October. During those six months, he went completely blind in one eye and lost most of the vision in the other, because he wasn’t receiving adequate medical care for his Type 2 diabetes."
Reposted by Mike Phelps
FUN FACT: "MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging is medical imaging technique that uses magnets with strong magnetic fields & magnetic field gradients along with radio waves to form images of the organs inside the body."
bsky.app/profile/atru...
bsky.app/profile/atru...
November 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
FUN FACT: "MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging is medical imaging technique that uses magnets with strong magnetic fields & magnetic field gradients along with radio waves to form images of the organs inside the body."
bsky.app/profile/atru...
bsky.app/profile/atru...
Reposted by Mike Phelps
This is what happened to a man in the USA who dared to get Cancer.
Health Insurance doesn't cover you when you get sick or old or are disabled.
It just covers people who don't use it.
Health Insurance doesn't cover you when you get sick or old or are disabled.
It just covers people who don't use it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
This is what happened to a man in the USA who dared to get Cancer.
Health Insurance doesn't cover you when you get sick or old or are disabled.
It just covers people who don't use it.
Health Insurance doesn't cover you when you get sick or old or are disabled.
It just covers people who don't use it.