The system is rigged – and the political and media class rigging it are not about to draw our attention to the ugly reality of what they have been up to over the past decade
Excellent piece of journalism. Thank you for clarifying lines and connections that I couldn't quite nail. I've spent most of the last two years working in and out of Lebanon and I cry in frustration as I hear the mainstream reporting of the conflict and how it no way reflects the reality of the conflict on the ground. At times it feels as if the BBC are reading from IDF press releases. I was the only Scottish journalist on the ground yet I can get no mainstream media (except The National) to take my reports or on the ground commentary.
Back home we can all see the result of the Israeli-led police state Starmer has put in place - to the extent that Scotland's separate judicial system has been compromised. Hundreds arrested in protects around the sentencing of the Filton Four and the proscription of Palestine Action yet only 17 arrested and two charged over the riots in Belfast that saw houses set on fire and 27 families fleeing in terror. Riots that were led by loyalist/unionist thugs that PSNI failed to keep in check.
Starmer is probably on the way from today but I see that Andy Burnham's first foreign visit will be to Israel.
An excellent article by @Jonathan_K_Cook.. @Keir_Starmer is certainly a liar and grossly incompetent. He's in great company with a shameless, corrupt political system and a corrupt media.... Thank you Mr Cook for your tireless journalism. I'll be purchasing The Fraud by Paul Holden... 👍
What stands out here is less the individual scandals and more the claim that Labour Together reflects a broader shift toward tightly managed, donor-aligned party politics. The strongest sections link media dynamics, factional control, and internal discipline into a single system rather than treating them as isolated failures.
I’ve written about this broader pattern before, particularly around how political messaging, institutional gatekeeping, and media framing interact in ways that narrow democratic space. This piece sits in a similar analytical lane, even if it pushes some of its claims further than is fully evidenced - I'd really appreciate an expert's feedback if you have any time to give it a read!
The main argument of the piece is still the same: modern politics is increasingly shaped by narrative management rather than open democratic contestation, and this article is strongest when it focuses on that structural argument.
Thank you for this important post . Not only every member of the public in the UK should read it ( and be appalled !!) but also every Australian . Similar suppression of “events” and the shrivelling of the concept of a “Labor party” are occurring here . We have a carefully selected and unelected “antisemitism envoy” who has and maintains extraordinary levels of power over government policies . Democracy appears to be fading fast …..
Basic information missing: the membership of Labour Together and Labour Friends of Israel mostly overlap. Lifelong Zionist McSweeney learned his ways on the kibbutz when he was 17 and reeks of some kind of Starmer Netanyahu go between role. Something like a Likud fixer in the Labour Party. Far from “forced to resign”, he more likely resigned to stop the buck and hide Netanyahu from the picture. Netanyahu was likely to benefit from the appointment of Mandelson, who is compromised by Epstein like Donald Trump.
Basic information missing: the membership of Labour Together and Labour Friends of Israel mostly overlap. Lifelong Zionist McSweeney learned his ways on the kibbutz when he was 17 and reeks of some kind of Starmer Netanyahu go between role. Something like a Likud fixer in the Labour Party. Far from “forced to resign”, he more likely resigned to stop the buck and hide Netanyahu from the picture. Netanyahu was likely to benefit from the appointment of Mandelson, who is compromised by Epstein like Donald Trump.
That Corbyn proved too gentle to deal with the backstabbers is true, but saying "Good riddance" implies that you don't care how grossly unprincipled the Labour Together crowd behaviour was, and even that you think they did the right thing.
I also find it hard to take your jeering seriously, unless you can honestly state that you were ever in that sort of situation where the Parliamentary Party and the whole nation's establishment media were all against you, smearing your name daily, and you held firm against it. Can you?
Don’t most leaders who try to take a party in a new direction run into internal resistance? We’ve seen it repeatedly with Conservative leaders, particularly around Europe, where factional pressure ultimately led to a referendum. It feels more like a structural feature of party politics than something unique to one period or one side.
Of course they do, but calling what the Labour Right did to undermine Corbyn just "internal resistance" is like calling the nuclear strike on Hiroshima "an unusually warm afternoon in south-west Japan."
Whilst I recognise the truth of the damage done to Corbyn by new Labour, and that it should absolutely never have happened, I do believe the narrative about Mandelson's questionable security clearance. But that is only due to the fact I worked in security and pieces processed many security clearances (though not at DV level) and I know the Foreign Office and the Home Office are very secretive about the process, the data and to a great extent the outcome. It's not at all like DBS, where the sponsor is informed of at least some of the findings, so they can make their own decision. DV is a very intrusive process, and I don't think our attitudes to privacy would accept the information being shared. It would also weaken the vetting process a great deal (in my opinion anyway).
I watched "The Lobby" when it came out. It was agonising to see the takeover of the Labour Party happening in real time. It was clear that Starmer was a wrongun at the Labour conference in 2017 when he sabotaged Corbyn's Brexit plans by declaring Labour would implement a 2nd referendum. This had not been agreed, and was done purely to bring Corbyn down. Whether you like Corbyn or not, you should be very worried about the undermining of democracy by Starmer & co., and the handing of your data to Palantir. The UK is rapidly becoming an authoritarian, surveillance state (Tony Blair's son Euan just happens to be behind the ID cards). Palantir will use AI to predict the likelihood of *you* committing a crime. Israel is using AI to trace anti-Zionist activity and attack those journalists and citizens. So if you complain about the genocide in Gaza and subsequently lose your job (or get raided by the police like Asa Winstanley), that's the algorithm working.
Excellent piece of journalism. Thank you for clarifying lines and connections that I couldn't quite nail. I've spent most of the last two years working in and out of Lebanon and I cry in frustration as I hear the mainstream reporting of the conflict and how it no way reflects the reality of the conflict on the ground. At times it feels as if the BBC are reading from IDF press releases. I was the only Scottish journalist on the ground yet I can get no mainstream media (except The National) to take my reports or on the ground commentary.
Back home we can all see the result of the Israeli-led police state Starmer has put in place - to the extent that Scotland's separate judicial system has been compromised. Hundreds arrested in protects around the sentencing of the Filton Four and the proscription of Palestine Action yet only 17 arrested and two charged over the riots in Belfast that saw houses set on fire and 27 families fleeing in terror. Riots that were led by loyalist/unionist thugs that PSNI failed to keep in check.
Starmer is probably on the way from today but I see that Andy Burnham's first foreign visit will be to Israel.
An excellent article by @Jonathan_K_Cook.. @Keir_Starmer is certainly a liar and grossly incompetent. He's in great company with a shameless, corrupt political system and a corrupt media.... Thank you Mr Cook for your tireless journalism. I'll be purchasing The Fraud by Paul Holden... 👍
What stands out here is less the individual scandals and more the claim that Labour Together reflects a broader shift toward tightly managed, donor-aligned party politics. The strongest sections link media dynamics, factional control, and internal discipline into a single system rather than treating them as isolated failures.
I’ve written about this broader pattern before, particularly around how political messaging, institutional gatekeeping, and media framing interact in ways that narrow democratic space. This piece sits in a similar analytical lane, even if it pushes some of its claims further than is fully evidenced - I'd really appreciate an expert's feedback if you have any time to give it a read!
The main argument of the piece is still the same: modern politics is increasingly shaped by narrative management rather than open democratic contestation, and this article is strongest when it focuses on that structural argument.
Thank you for this important post . Not only every member of the public in the UK should read it ( and be appalled !!) but also every Australian . Similar suppression of “events” and the shrivelling of the concept of a “Labor party” are occurring here . We have a carefully selected and unelected “antisemitism envoy” who has and maintains extraordinary levels of power over government policies . Democracy appears to be fading fast …..
Basic information missing: the membership of Labour Together and Labour Friends of Israel mostly overlap. Lifelong Zionist McSweeney learned his ways on the kibbutz when he was 17 and reeks of some kind of Starmer Netanyahu go between role. Something like a Likud fixer in the Labour Party. Far from “forced to resign”, he more likely resigned to stop the buck and hide Netanyahu from the picture. Netanyahu was likely to benefit from the appointment of Mandelson, who is compromised by Epstein like Donald Trump.
Basic information missing: the membership of Labour Together and Labour Friends of Israel mostly overlap. Lifelong Zionist McSweeney learned his ways on the kibbutz when he was 17 and reeks of some kind of Starmer Netanyahu go between role. Something like a Likud fixer in the Labour Party. Far from “forced to resign”, he more likely resigned to stop the buck and hide Netanyahu from the picture. Netanyahu was likely to benefit from the appointment of Mandelson, who is compromised by Epstein like Donald Trump.
Unfortunately Corbyn is a coward and opportunist who refused to confront the Zionists in his party and cabinet. Good riddance
That Corbyn proved too gentle to deal with the backstabbers is true, but saying "Good riddance" implies that you don't care how grossly unprincipled the Labour Together crowd behaviour was, and even that you think they did the right thing.
I also find it hard to take your jeering seriously, unless you can honestly state that you were ever in that sort of situation where the Parliamentary Party and the whole nation's establishment media were all against you, smearing your name daily, and you held firm against it. Can you?
As for opportunist... HUH? Give some examples.
That is an excellent piece of writing, Jonathan. I can also recommend ‘The Fraud’ by Paul Holden, as I have elsewhere.
What's really astonishing is the profound idiocy of the people who voted for a man with all the charm of a breeze block.
Don’t most leaders who try to take a party in a new direction run into internal resistance? We’ve seen it repeatedly with Conservative leaders, particularly around Europe, where factional pressure ultimately led to a referendum. It feels more like a structural feature of party politics than something unique to one period or one side.
Of course they do, but calling what the Labour Right did to undermine Corbyn just "internal resistance" is like calling the nuclear strike on Hiroshima "an unusually warm afternoon in south-west Japan."
censuring me ?
hi johnthan ;)
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WITH THE STATE?
WHY NOT ???
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FAKE LIBERALS
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Whilst I recognise the truth of the damage done to Corbyn by new Labour, and that it should absolutely never have happened, I do believe the narrative about Mandelson's questionable security clearance. But that is only due to the fact I worked in security and pieces processed many security clearances (though not at DV level) and I know the Foreign Office and the Home Office are very secretive about the process, the data and to a great extent the outcome. It's not at all like DBS, where the sponsor is informed of at least some of the findings, so they can make their own decision. DV is a very intrusive process, and I don't think our attitudes to privacy would accept the information being shared. It would also weaken the vetting process a great deal (in my opinion anyway).
Nothing but bigotry, bile and bullshit.
I watched "The Lobby" when it came out. It was agonising to see the takeover of the Labour Party happening in real time. It was clear that Starmer was a wrongun at the Labour conference in 2017 when he sabotaged Corbyn's Brexit plans by declaring Labour would implement a 2nd referendum. This had not been agreed, and was done purely to bring Corbyn down. Whether you like Corbyn or not, you should be very worried about the undermining of democracy by Starmer & co., and the handing of your data to Palantir. The UK is rapidly becoming an authoritarian, surveillance state (Tony Blair's son Euan just happens to be behind the ID cards). Palantir will use AI to predict the likelihood of *you* committing a crime. Israel is using AI to trace anti-Zionist activity and attack those journalists and citizens. So if you complain about the genocide in Gaza and subsequently lose your job (or get raided by the police like Asa Winstanley), that's the algorithm working.