Fact Or Fiction is our evidence hub for claims made by politicians, influencers and other public figures where evidence can be checked. Each entry starts with the claim as people are likely to encounter it, separates what is known from what is assumed, and links readers to the evidence used for the verdict. We identify the original source, check dates and context, look for primary evidence where possible, and distinguish a false statement from a true fact.

Numbers Not Noise looks at housing supply, social housing, rents, affordability and waiting lists using official data and enough context to stop a single statistic being turned into a political slogan. The aim is not to make the numbers say what we want; it is to show what they can and cannot tell us. A headline figure can be accurate and still mislead when the denominator, time period, population change, inflation, reporting method or legal definition is.

Fact Or Fiction is our evidence hub for viral crime claims, policing statistics, public-safety rumours and claims about offenders. Each entry starts with the claim as people are likely to encounter it, separates what is known from what is assumed, and links readers to the evidence used for the verdict. We identify the original source, check dates and context, look for primary evidence where possible, and distinguish a false statement from a true fact.

Numbers Not Noise looks at LGBTQ+ population estimates, hate crime, attitudes and public services using official data and enough context to stop a single statistic being turned into a political slogan. The aim is not to make the numbers say what we want; it is to show what they can and cannot tell us. A headline figure can be accurate and still mislead when the denominator, time period, population change, inflation, reporting method or legal definition is.

Fact Or Fiction is our evidence hub for claims about asylum, migration routes, hotels, benefits and border statistics. Each entry starts with the claim as people are likely to encounter it, separates what is known from what is assumed, and links readers to the evidence used for the verdict. We identify the original source, check dates and context, look for primary evidence where possible, and distinguish a false statement from a true fact presented in a.

Fact Or Fiction is our evidence hub for health scares, scientific claims, medicines, public-health rumours and misused research. Each entry starts with the claim as people are likely to encounter it, separates what is known from what is assumed, and links readers to the evidence used for the verdict. We identify the original source, check dates and context, look for primary evidence where possible, and distinguish a false statement from a true fact.

Fact Or Fiction is our evidence hub for AI-generated images, edited video and viral clips that may not show what captions claim. Each entry starts with the claim as people are likely to encounter it, separates what is known from what is assumed, and links readers to the evidence used for the verdict. We identify the original source, check dates and context, look for primary evidence where possible, and distinguish a false statement from a true fact.

Numbers Not Noise looks at recorded crime, victimisation, offending, prisons and public safety using official data and enough context to stop a single statistic being turned into a political slogan. The aim is not to make the numbers say what we want; it is to show what they can and cannot tell us. A headline figure can be accurate and still mislead when the denominator, time period, population change, inflation, reporting method or legal definition is.

Fact Or Fiction is our evidence hub for fabricated letters, fake offers, scams and deliberately manufactured hoaxes. Each entry starts with the claim as people are likely to encounter it, separates what is known from what is assumed, and links readers to the evidence used for the verdict. We identify the original source, check dates and context, look for primary evidence where possible, and distinguish a false statement from a true fact presented in a.

Five evidence-led stories on Glasgow asylum tensions, falling asylum figures, a fake council letter, Notting Hill Carnival at 60 and the online economy of division. The numbers can change while the political narrative stays frozen. That is the thread running through today’s briefing: real pressures deserve serious answers, but they are made harder to solve when viral claims, fake documents and profitable outrage replace evidence. Here are five stories.

Settlement rose, while asylum claims and hotel use fell. The Home Office figures show why mixing arrivals, settlement, citizenship and asylum misleads. The numbers being shared about future UK settlement are real. The problem begins when those numbers are presented as though they mean millions of new people are about to arrive in Britain. Settlement is not the same as arrival. It is a legal status generally obtained by people who are already living in the.

Christopher Harborne’s defence interests add a new transparency question to the £5m Farage controversy — what is documented, fair to ask and still unproven. When a political leader receives a £5 million gift from a billionaire with major commercial interests, scrutiny is not an accusation. It is the minimum a functioning democracy should expect. That is why the relationship between Nigel Farage and Christopher Harborne deserves careful examination: not.

Five verified stories on political money and defence interests, settlement figures, Glasgow’s refugee-housing capacity, James Cleverly’s campaign positioning and London funding to tackle hate. Money, migration and the politics of division connect today’s five stories. The common lesson is that a headline can be technically true while still leaving out the information readers need most: who paid, what the number actually measures, what local services are.

Claims that foreign nationals are taking social homes can sound simple. Official figures show a more complicated picture: eligibility is tightly controlled, most new lettings go to UK nationals, and asylum seekers and many visa holders are not eligible at all. “British homes for British people” style arguments work because they turn a complicated housing shortage into an apparently simple queue. If someone born elsewhere receives a social tenancy, the.

Wes Streeting says the volume of homophobic abuse since becoming Britain’s first openly gay Defence Secretary has been extraordinary. Yet his appointment was also treated as almost unremarkable. Progress and backlash are happening at the same time. Britain can move forward and backwards at the same time. Wes Streeting becoming the country’s first openly gay Defence Secretary is a striking example. In one sense, his appointment passed with remarkably little.

A Reform UK councillor was suspended again after being charged over a grossly offensive social-media post. One case can be an individual failing. The harder question is what repeated cases say about candidate selection, vetting and accountability. When Sunderland councillor Glenn Gibbins was suspended by Reform UK pending the outcome of legal proceedings over an allegedly grossly offensive social-media comment about Nigerians, the immediate facts were.

Polling, internal rows and a difficult summer have challenged Reform UK’s image of unstoppable momentum. Farage remains the party’s defining figure, but that is also the risk: when one man is the brand, every problem lands on him. For much of its rise, Reform UK benefited from a story almost as powerful as any individual policy: momentum. The party was growing, the old parties were retreating and Nigel Farage seemed to dominate the political conversation..

Politics becomes dangerous when every problem is explained by finding another group to blame. Migrants, asylum seekers, LGBTQ+ people, British citizens born abroad: the list grows. The question is what happens when politics needs a permanent enemy. There is a familiar rhythm to divisive politics. A complicated problem is introduced, the structural causes are pushed into the background, and a recognisable group is placed in the foreground. Housing becomes.

Nigel Farage called his Clacton by-election a fight between the people and the establishment. Then the main parties stood aside and Count Binface became his most visible opponent. The theatre was funny. The political question underneath it was not. Nigel Farage framed the Clacton by-election as a dramatic confrontation between ordinary voters and the establishment. There was one practical problem with the script: the major parties largely declined to play.

Political choices are rarely cost-free. When parties promise large tax cuts, sweeping spending reductions and tougher rules, voters should ask a simple question: if I support the promise, am I also prepared for the part of the policy that lands on me? “Turkeys voting for Christmas” is one of politics’ oldest insults. It is usually thrown at voters assumed to be supporting something against their own interests. The phrase can be patronising, because voters.