Refreshingly Independent Politics – smerconish.com is to create a clearinghouse for non-ideological thinking. We want to give people a chance to contribute to, and consume media that isn’t predicated on the usual, extreme talking points of the polarized media. Instead, we aim to promote independent thinking and diversity of thought.
Tag: politics
theintercept.com
The Intercept is an award-winning news organization dedicated to holding mainstream views and misinformation.
ICE Targets App Delivery Drivers — and the Tech Giants They Work for Stay Silent
26 August 2025 @ 5:48 pm
As part of the federal takeover of D.C., ICE agents have been targeting delivery drivers for the likes of Uber, Grubhub, and DoorDash.
The post ICE Targets App Delivery Drivers — and the Tech Giants They Work for Stay Silent appeared first on The Intercept.
The Student Newspaper Suing Marco Rubio Over Targeted Deportations
26 August 2025 @ 10:00 am
The Stanford Daily argues the First Amendment protects journalists from arcane laws used against Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk.
The post The Student Newspaper Suing Marco Rubio Over Targeted Deportations appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump Administration Wants to Banish Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda
25 August 2025 @ 5:13 pm
Trump aims to expel Abrego Garcia as his global gulag expands to Uganda, which has a long record of human rights abuses.
The post Trump Administration Wants to Banish Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda appeared first on The Intercept.
Pentagon Document: U.S. Wants to “Suppress Dissenting Arguments” Using AI Propaganda
25 August 2025 @ 4:08 pm
The U.S. is interested in acquiring machine-learning technology to carry out AI-generated propaganda campaigns overseas.
The post Pentagon Document: U.S. Wants to “Suppress Dissenting Arguments” Using AI Propaganda appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s D.C. Takeover Is Scaring Immigrant Parents Out of Taking Kids Back to School
24 August 2025 @ 10:04 am
While parents fear pickup and drop-off, teachers say the D.C. public school district has offered little support.
The post Trump’s D.C. Takeover Is Scaring Immigrant Parents Out of Taking Kids Back to School appeared first on The Intercept.
Accepted at Universities, Unable to Get Visas: Inside Trump’s War on International Students
23 August 2025 @ 10:00 am
With interview slots vanishing and arbitrary visa denials, the U.S. could see 150,000 fewer international students this fall.
The post Accepted at Universities, Unable to Get Visas: Inside Trump’s War on International Students appeared first on The Intercept.
Egyptian Officials in New York Beat Two Gaza Protesters on Video. The NYPD Arrested the Protesters.
22 August 2025 @ 6:54 pm
The protesters’ parents said the officials beat their sons with chains at Egypt’s U.N. mission. The NYPD arrested the brothers for assault.
The post Egyptian Officials in New York Beat Two Gaza Protesters on Video. The NYPD Arrested the Protesters. appeared first on The Intercept.
Airdropped Aid Is Crushing Starving People in Gaza
22 August 2025 @ 10:30 am
Human rights groups have stressed that it’s safer to provide aid by land. Israel is killing Palestinians by dropping it from the sky.
The post Airdropped Aid Is Crushing Starving People in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Democrats Are Missing Political Layups And Dooming Us All
22 August 2025 @ 10:00 am
Veteran strategist Nina Smith warns the Democratic Party is failing at the basics.
The post Democrats Are Missing Political Layups And Dooming Us All appeared first on The Intercept.
ICE Hunts Down Immigrants by Spying on Their Wire Transfers
21 August 2025 @ 2:30 pm
Investigators traced the remittances an immigrant was sending from Hawaii to Mexico to figure out his location.
The post ICE Hunts Down Immigrants by Spying on Their Wire Transfers appeared first on The Intercept.
questioneverything.io
To critically evaluate the global response to COVID-19 and present a series of responsible pandemic exit strategies to help ensure that total harms are minimised.
thefreedomcycle.com/pub/
THE PEOPLE’S UNION OF BRITAIN
Taking back sovereignty through common law.
goodlawproject.org
The Good Law Project is a not-for-profit campaign organisation that uses the law to protect the interests of the public. The Good Law Project fight cases that defend, define or change the law and we use litigation to engage and educate. The Good Law Project challenge abuses of power, exploitation, inequality, and injustice.
whocanivotefor.co.uk
An updated list of candidates you can vote for the up and coming UK elections.
politics.co.uk
Politics news from the UK.
Elon Musk is right and Richard Tice is wrong – batteries are the ‘new oil’
13 August 2025 @ 10:00 am
Richard Tice calls battery sites a menace. Nigel Farage brands them a con. Reform-led councils have already put the brakes on projects that could store about six gigawatts of clean power, enough to run six million homes. Social media carries those claims far and fast, yet the evidence behind them is wafer thin. A battery storage site is not... Read more »
The post Elon Musk is right and Richard Tice is wrong – batteries are the ‘new oil’ appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Nigel Farage ‘on the side of predators’ with Online Safety Act criticism, says Labour
29 July 2025 @ 8:07 am
Nigel Farage is “on the side” of predators like Jimmy Savile with his criticism of the Online Safety Act, the technology secretary has suggested. Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said Reform UK’s policy of repealing online safety laws means Farage has taken the side of “people out there who... Read more »
The post Nigel Farage ‘on the side of predators’ with Online Safety Act criticism, says Labour appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Ben Goldsborough: ‘Reform’s prison plan is a sick joke – and criminals are the ones laughing’
23 July 2025 @ 7:00 am
If you think Reform UK are the hard-men of law and order, think again. Behind the tough-guy act is a soft-touch scam that would be funny — if it weren’t so dangerous. They talk a big game. They shout about cracking down on crime. But their prison plan? It’s a disaster waiting to happen. It’s... Read more »
The post Ben Goldsborough: ‘Reform’s prison plan is a sick joke – and criminals are the ones laughing’ appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Lord Alton: ‘Peers have a duty to scrutinise the flawed assisted suicide bill’
23 July 2025 @ 7:00 am
Throughout my time in parliament, first in the House of Commons, and now in the House of Lords, assisted suicide has been a subject of serious and sustained debate. My views are well known, and my basis for them is based on principles and practicalities. First, legalising assisted suicide undermines the inherent dignity and worth of every... Read more »
The post Lord Alton: ‘Peers have a duty to scrutinise the flawed assisted suicide bill’ appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Sarah Smith: ‘Backing Institutes of Technology can help deliver Labour’s opportunity mission’
23 July 2025 @ 7:00 am
After being appointed as Labour’s opportunity mission champion last year, I made it clear my role was to get out and learn from the education institutions that are making a real difference. It is of course important to know the national numbers on how many students are studying which qualifications and what they progress to.... Read more »
The post Sarah Smith: ‘Backing Institutes of Technology can help deliver Labour’s opportunity mission’ appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Roz Savage: ‘Why Britain needs legal guarantees on climate and nature’
11 July 2025 @ 9:12 am
Each MP has their own path into politics. Mine began with years spent rowing alone across oceans, immersed in the wonder and majesty of nature. I saw first-hand just how vast and awe-inspiring our planet is – but also how vulnerable it has become. That experience taught me that we are all connected to the... Read more »
The post Roz Savage: ‘Why Britain needs legal guarantees on climate and nature’ appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Farage urged to rule out Liz Truss joining Reform UK after ally’s defection
10 July 2025 @ 9:10 am
Reform UK has been challenged to rule out recruiting Liz Truss to its ranks, after her one-time party chairman, Sir Jake Berry, became the latest former Conservative MP to defect from the Tories. The Liberal Democrats described Berry, who like Truss lost his seat at the 2024 general election, as an “architect of economic disaster”... Read more »
The post Farage urged to rule out Liz Truss joining Reform UK after ally’s defection appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
‘Treat us as two peoples’: Ersin Tatar on the future of Northern Cyprus and the UK’s role
10 July 2025 @ 8:48 am
Ersin Tatar is the leader of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. On a recent diplomatic visit to London, he sat down for an exclusive conversation with Politics.co.uk. Ahead of visits from democratically-elected foreign leaders to Westminster, usually the red carpets are hoovered and the finest silverware is polished. But when Ersin Tatar, the leader... Read more »
The post ‘Treat us as two peoples’: Ersin Tatar on the future of Northern Cyprus and the UK’s role appeared first on Poli
Three out of five people think Keir Starmer does not respect them, poll suggests
8 July 2025 @ 8:13 am
A significant majority of the British public, 63 per cent, believe prime minister Keir Starmer does not respect people like them, marking a dramatic reversal in sentiment since the 2024 general election, a new poll indicates. The concept of “respect” was a central pillar of Starmer’s successful pitch in opposition. However, a report published by... Read more »
The post Three out of five people think Keir Starmer does not respect them, poll suggests appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
Former Conservative cabinet minister David Jones joins Reform UK
8 July 2025 @ 7:35 am
A former Conservative cabinet minister has announced he has left the party to join Reform UK. Jones, who was the MP for Clwyd West from 2005 until standing down in 2024, said he had quit the Tories after “more than 50 years of continuous membership”. Jones served as secretary of state for Wales under David... Read more »
The post Former Conservative cabinet minister David Jones joins Reform UK appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
artsparty.org.uk
Introducing arts thinking into politics and promoting creative, scientific and evidence based ideas that improve the lives of as many people as possible, while mindful of the few.
Arts Party Conference 2019
16 August 2019 @ 9:30 am
The Arts Party welcomes it’s first party conference from the heart of where water meets dirt, Brighton. We will be hosting debates for purposes of socialising, conversation and recreation. Located in Camelford Street, Brighton, BN2 1TQ, United Kingdom. All are welcome to attend, please use the contact form below to register your interest. [Fully booked]
The post Arts Party Conference 2019 appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Dinner for few
9 June 2019 @ 12:41 pm
A short and stark reminder of the state of play in politics today/yesterday. Thanks to a Dinner for a few, award winner from Nassos Vakalis. DINNER FOR FEW from Nassos Vakalis on Vimeo.
The post Dinner for few appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Scotland takes steps to put culture at the forefront of policy-making
6 July 2018 @ 9:31 am
A CULTURE STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND – reflecting the past, challenging the present, shaping the future . The strategy seeks to stimulate a step change that will bring about a shift in how society and government view and value culture. It aims to build collaborative alliances that will help to realise the full potential of culture …
Continue reading "Scotland takes steps to put culture at the forefront of policy-making"
The post Scotland takes steps to put culture at the forefront of policy-making appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Arts teachers in decline
5 July 2018 @ 9:35 am
As well as a fall in teaching hours, the arts has lost almost a quarter (9000) of teachers working in secondary schools in England since 2011. Sourced from https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/news/arts-teacher-numbers-plummet-almost-quarter
The post Arts teachers in decline appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Why the Arts Matter
12 May 2018 @ 7:11 am
We’ve come across a great graphic that really sums up why the Arts matter – enjoy!
The post Why the Arts Matter appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Creativity and politics
17 April 2018 @ 11:19 am
Heather McGhee talks about the influence that music, film, and other arts can have on social change. https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/heather-mcghee-on-creativity-and-politics/
The post Creativity and politics appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Why is creativity the most important political concept of the 21st century?
17 April 2018 @ 11:15 am
There is no concept more politically important today than creativity. I’ll give four reasons why but first a definition. ‘Creative’ has narrow, broader and even broader connotations in English. It’s the last of these we should be most interested in. The narrow meaning immediately leads one to think of activities directly associated with the arts. …
Continue reading "Why is creativity the most important political concept of the 21st century?"
The post Why is creativity the most important political concept of the 21st century? appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Arts can help children avoid a lifetime of gang crime
14 April 2018 @ 11:05 am
Andria Zafirakou, who won the $1million title in Dubai last month, said subjects such as art, music and drama can transform the lives of vulnerable young people and give them the confidence to walk away from gangs. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/arts-can-help-children-avoid-a-lifetime-of-gang-crime-says-1m-prizewinning-teacher-a3813071.html
The post Arts can help children avoid a lifetime of gang crime appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Creativity and the arts in decline
1 February 2018 @ 11:34 am
Creative arts subjects are being cut back in many secondary schools in England, a BBC survey suggests. More than 1,200 schools responded – over 40% of secondary schools. Of the schools that responded, nine in every 10 said they had cut back on lesson time, staff or facilities in at least one creative arts subject. …
Continue reading "Creativity and the arts in decline"
The post Creativity and the arts in decline appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
Drawing the Future
20 January 2018 @ 10:34 am
A report launched by Education and Employers and found that children’s career aspirations only marginally differ from age 7 to age 17. It also showed that some sectors vital for economic health look set to be badly under-resourced in future. In the biggest survey of its kind, primary school children aged seven to 11 were …
Continue reading "Drawing the Future"
The post Drawing the Future appeared first on ARTS PARTY.
theyworkforyou.com
Keeping tabs on the UK’s parliaments & assemblies
“We can all be improvers of our built environment”, with FixMyStreet
21 August 2025 @ 7:55 am
Nothing makes us happier at mySociety than finding out that our work is doing some good in the world — and an unexpected email from a happy FixMyStreet user certainly put a big smile on all of our faces. Michael, who lives and works in London, wrote: “FixMyStreet has allowed so many people to report…
New ways in to Freedom of Information
20 August 2025 @ 8:05 am
We launched WhatDoTheyKnow with two goals: to make Freedom of Information more accessible to all; and to provide a free public archive of all the information that is released as a result. Today, 17 years later, those goals still guide us, and there’s more we can do towards them every day. Most recently, we’ve developed…
How access to information can help us understand AI decision making
19 August 2025 @ 3:41 pm
If you were one of the 100+ people who joined us for today’s webinar, you’ll already know it was hugely informative and timely. We packed three fascinating speakers into the course of one hour-long session on using FOI to understand AI-based decision making by public authorities. Each brought so many insights that, even if you…
Using LLMs to write text classification rules
12 August 2025 @ 4:26 pm
I’ve written before about how we’re thinking about “low resource” use of Large Language Models (LLMs) — and where some of the benefits of LLMs can be captured without entering the “dependent on external API” vs “need new infrastructure to run internally” trade-offs. One of the use cases we have for LLMs is categorisation: across…
Summer 2025 Update: Strengthening our networks, sharpening our tools, sharing our ideas
6 August 2025 @ 3:28 pm
Partners across the Access to Information Community of Practice have been hard at work this summer. Read on to find out what we’ve been up to, and book your tickets for our exciting new webinar! At mySociety, we’ve had a packed few months: in May we kicked off a new three-part webinar series on the…
Work in progress: Statements, EDMs and open letters
31 July 2025 @ 9:57 am
Here are some notes on our in-progress work on TheyWorkForYou, including what we’re doing around Early Day Motions (EDMs) and open letters. To put this link at the top, we’re looking for more examples of open letters signed by MPs – if you have any, let us know! Showing signals better Our trajectory with voting…
TICTeC videos, slides and photos now live
31 July 2025 @ 8:05 am
So many insights were shared at TICTeC, from so many practitioners who joined us, in person or remotely, from all around the world. You can access their presentations now in a variety of ways: via the conference schedule – click the ‘see session detail‘ button on any session to find the links to the associated…
The best of both worlds: combining parliamentary video and official records
23 July 2025 @ 8:00 am
Transforming and publishing official Parliamentary transcripts is one of the key activities of parliamentary monitoring organisations (PMOs) — in our case, that means running our website TheyWorkForYou, but there are many organisations around the world doing the same for their own parliaments. Building on top of transcripts means that PMOs can focus their time on…
Election reform: a solid start with work ahead
22 July 2025 @ 8:15 am
We don’t talk a lot about elections at mySociety: we see our unique contribution as being about the democracy between elections, with a focus on how democratic institutions work (sometimes how they can work better), and the connections between the public and those institutions. But whatever part of the democratic system you care about, elections…
The Climate Coalition Mass Lobby: #ActNowChangeForever
21 July 2025 @ 2:05 pm
Here at mySociety, we’ve built a number of tools around data and the climate: CAPE, the Climate Action Plans Explorer; the Council Climate Action Scorecards, and, most recently, Local Intelligence Hub, which allows you to look at climate-relevant data in your own area and compare it with the nation as a whole. All these sites…