Because my Dad was infected with HIV in the Infected Blood Scandal, my Mum was sacked from her job. This is what the owner told the local paper.

My insanely talented friend Caroline Crampton's book about hypochondria is Radio 4's Book of the Week — ranging from searingly honest accounts of her illness to the C17th Parisian glassmaker who was convinced his buttocks were broken. Definitely worth your time

bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Writing Playbook was clearly getting too easy so I’ve decided to do it with a broken foot 😁 Westminster tweeters, hit me up with your gossip, job moves and all that as usual!

(But the one big story in town tomorrow is more important than all that noise …)

EXC: Gordon Brown considered returning to parliament after two botched selections in his patch.

He has now definitively ruled out a comeback, but his influence will be felt if Labour returns to power: politico.eu/article/labour…

NEW: I went to Japan, ate loads of noodles and wrote about how post-Trump & post-Brexit the UK and Japan have become best buds

Featuring Alessio Patalano, 小林 麻紀　KOBAYASHI MAKI, Yuichi Hosoya　細谷雄一, Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦, Nigel Farage, Kazuto Suzuki and tons more

politico.eu/article/how-br…

NEW — Jacob Rees-Mogg says on his GB News show: “The prime minister should offer candidate selection to senior members of the Reform party, such as the estimable Ben Habib, Richard Tice and of course, the one and only Nigel Farage.”

This is v interesting politically; it shows (along with people like IDS) that calls to abolish some of the more stringent Osborne-era welfare rules don’t only come from the centrist wing of the Tory party.

Reminder also that Keir Starmer has said he would keep the 2 child limit

V interesting story from Eleni Courea

Forget 80-20 (defend 80 gain 20) — CCHQ is quietly looking at defensive action in around 200 Tory seats

theguardian.com/politics/artic…

Great work by Aggie Chambre on one of the most confounding stories I’ve worked on — the Westminster honeytrap scandal

open.spotify.com/episode/4xJ9ir…

Dominic Cummings has given his first newspaper interview since leaving government to i newspaper.

Jordan Tyldesley reveals:
🗳️ his plans to smash the two-party system
🇷🇺 his view on how Putin sees the west
🔟 why 'the only MP who has real power is the PM'

Read: inews.co.uk/news/politics/…

Ben Houchen's Tees Valley authority has released this photo to celebrate £1 bus fares for under-21s. 🔎

Dominic Cummings running focus groups for 'The Startup Party.' Top scoop from Stefan Boscia:
politico.eu/article/domini…

A great example of how disinformation spreads.

I got sent this video and didn’t report on it, because I listened and couldn’t hear racist words it claimed were said.

But when subtitles are overlaid, your brain wants to believe they’re true, and tries to make the sounds fit

EXC: Backlash over Natalie Elphicke defection

Seven female Labour MPs tell us they are unhappy at her admission, one left in tears by the news.

w/Aggie Chambre
politico.eu/article/tory-n…

👀 Rachel Reeves in Dec 2022: 'Natalie Elphicke - when Rashford missed a penalty her tweet was 'if he spent more time on football rather than trying to get free school meals for our kids maybe he'd be better'?

'F*** off!'

(h/t Tom Larkin)

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…