This week included International Mens' Day and a reception at Downing Street. Howfar can the political weather level up he cultural odds? Cop 30 nears its conclusion this weekend and we look at the performance of the absentees as well as the attendees. Mal's former student George Monbiot cits an '...Epistemic crisis' in how we get clear information which we examine a bit.

It seems a while since the Oval Office spoke of '...Draining the swamp' , owever as Trump considers litigation against the Beeb, London Citizens have been in 'Enemy Of The Peole' mode agin Thames Water's lucrative failings. Byline Times has bn ibestigating the Trump-funding links through JD Vance's mentor appearing soon, for example, at 'How The Light Gets In' to points across the political spectrum.

Mal's By-Election Corner hops across the pond to look at Momdani and the Dem wins  this week- before that, we track the progress of Angela Rayner's Employment Rights Bill and what it will  achieve in the current financial climate, and the fiscal, scientific and optical aspects of Cop-30 in Rio.

Will Lucy Powell's election to Deputy Leadership tilt the Starmer ship of state? Amid Gaza's very fragile cease fire other conflicts rage relatively unnoticed- whither intervention/ national interest? And Paddington's dodgy bros' impending court case and what it might be now to be a national treasure.

The sidelining of a century of Labour political history in Caerphilly, Reform UK's Welsh leader involved in a political engineerng conference in Russia before his arrest (s Byline Times reports this month), George Monbiot on whether the UK needs a written constitution to stop the far right and how thecuts at the Met (Police not Opera) will pan out.

After a hiatus around media protoco, it as a pleasre this morning to resume my regular conversation abot politics and culture with www.andyworthington.co.uk - we attempted to condense events in Gaza and across the pond pivoting on an HR announcement from Reform UK this morning.. As I publish this fresh attacks on Gaza in response to alleged volatioons of the ceasefire by Hamas....:/

We reflect on the Gaza ceasfire in its fragility , Zelensky at the White House  for a third encomium,on the collapf the Chinese espioage trial in the UK and a volatile set of By-Election results this eek.

By-Elections occured during the Labour conference, and do not augur well- yet the applause in the hall is voluble. There is mood music.Will it be that way for  the Tories next week ? We have to start with the horrendous event in Manchester and thebreak-up and deporting of much of the Gaza Floitilla.

Leonie is we gather off to the Labour conference, Mal is away- we consider Starmer and the foment around his leadership in relation to Ed Davey's stunt/personable/ barnstorming at the Lib Denm conference, not least in the light of speculation that the two parties might yet collaborate to fend off Reform( incidentally near theoffice, where Reform have just won a council seat, an old timer was waxing lyrical about Ben Habbib and Advance UK of whom more perhaps next time).Graham the Architect also considers the Gatwick runway go-ahead and the teetering on the brink of pedestrianising the dreaded Oxford Street ( for expats and visitors, two of the potential bottlenecks in your sojourn at the present time) 

The image is of Graham the conceptual artist and eco-engineer at work in St Katherine's Dock in the 60s animating his problem-solving and illustrative art- amongst other things, he had a simpoler vision for the soon-to-be unveiled Thames Tideway Tunnel . I recently saw him acclaimed as part of the Architecture on Stage season at the Barbican. here are some early morning thoughts on the trends and alarms of our times and their sources, plus a sideways glance at Party Conference season (Leonie is doubtless on her way to Liverpoool for next weeks' Labour bash)