Richard Brooks
@rbrooks45
Private Eye hack, author of Post Mortem (@privateeyenews.bsky.social), Bean Counters (Atlantic, 2018), The Great Tax Robbery (OneWorld, 2013). Co-founder @taxwatch.bsky.social.
In latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money, Bank of England eases capital rules for banks at same time as its financial stability report warns of risky asset valuations and members of its financial policy committee worry about dangers of the move…
As the evidence of their nefarious use mounts, the government tries turning the UK into a stablecoin playground. More in latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social
Reminder of @privateeyenews.bsky.social review of George Cottrell’s How to Launder Money book from four months ago…
Last week’s @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money revealed the Palantir UK set-up with hundreds of sales staff, no UK directors and minimal returns to U.K. company, limiting tax payments. Buy the mag for details!
Never mind who’s playing - who’s paying? Latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money has a guide to the World Cup’s questionable finances…
Review of Post Mortem in Socialist Lawyer magazine: “Brooks brilliantly exposes how the whole Post Office scandal was fed by commercial interests put above the lives of its employees…”
New @privateeyenews.bsky.social reveals biggest payday yet for businessmen given the deal of the century by Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen. Will take their investment-free return to >£500m. Buy the mag to find out how.
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money - how Barclays’ income from helping fund Israel government continues to grow….
As Harborne pours more money into Reform U.K., reminder from @privateeyenews.bsky.social of his influence…
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money - how the Sunday Times Rich List underestimates the wealth of Farage’s bankroller Harborne by the odd 10 or 20 billion; plus the towering wealth of the North West skyscraper developer thanks to Burnham’s ‘Manchesterism’
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money this issue: poor show- the scourge of late payment for small businesses and the government’s inadequate response….
@privateeyenews.bsky.social last December on the big property beneficiaries from Burnham’s Manchesterism, funded by public housing fund to build luxury blocks with no affordable housing.
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In The Money - the company dumping engine oil in the U.K., via Dubai, that EU says is “materially supporting Russia’s military and industrial complex”. No sanctions here though.
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money this issue: the great ‘stablecoin’ ruse and the $1bn a year it’s worth to Farage’s paymaster Harborne; plus the tax incentives for dangerous “predictions markets”….
How @privateeyenews.bsky.social first delved into Christopher Harborne’s background a mere six and a half years ago….
In current @privateeyenews... In the Money: the Global Counsel fall-out; the private equity cash-in on discounts for emergency workers; the record of the man running Farage-backed bitcoin co in, er, failed bitcoin companies; and the financial nightmare - still - of running a post office.
Profits of doom… look who stands to win from ballooning fuel prices. See latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social for full story.
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money: hedge funds’ (incl GB News owner’s) stratospheric profits from economic turmoil; PFI returns to pour taxpayers’ money into BlackRock; latest crapto-currency scam; watchdog who wants ‘more Shoreditch, less Whitehall’; plus student loan accounting lunacy
Flagship Freeport Teesside gives up on “customs zone” that behind the policy in the first place as if falls into financial disarray - and more on scandalous shake down of a local company to extract millions for the businessmen controlling it. Details in current @privateeyenews.bsky.social.
In a packed @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money section this issue - more cash in circulation when legitimate use falling - wonder why?; the fall of Macquarie-backed NCP; Farage’s new mate’s dubious Covid loan; the towering cronyism of “Manchesterism” 1/2
They were supposed to be the great “Brexit benefit”, so how are the UK’s freeports doing? Er, wasting money and distorting investment. Special report in latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social In The Money…
In latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money - more Mandy money; Farage’s gold-into-crypto alchemy; over-priced karats in the gold coin market; and an assessment of Britain’s freeports five years on.
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money: bankers’ bonuses ratcheting up thanks to inflation hitting everybody else; Farage’s friend’s money laundering book highlights areas favoured by Reform backers; and more AI-perbole as govt makes Accenture “reinvention” boss an “AI champion”.
In case you haven’t had enough Mandelson, here is my account of his disingenuous role in foisting the Horizon IT system on the Post Office. From Post Mortem - available from all good booksellers!
Email in the Epstein Files belies Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy’s account of the tax-efficient structuring of his and brother Christian’s One Hyde Park Development - an account given to HMRC and in court. Story in new @privateeyenews.bsky.social, In the Money section.
If you're around Birmingham in a couple of weeks, do come along to @1000trades.bsky.social to hear me talk about Post Mortem, my book on the Post Office scandal. "A concise, clear and seethingly but suppressedly angry book" - @thetimes.com
More Tees… yet another major porkie exposed, as the taxpayer coughs up for a £113m quay that Lord Houchen said local businessmen (making £100ms from land deals it brings) were paying for. Full story in current @privateeyenews.bsky.social
In @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money: new tech, same old tax tricks - how Nvidia, the world’s most valuable co, pays no corporation tax in the UK. Full story in the mag.
In current @privateeyenews.bsky.social, In the Money looks at - the fugitives, sanction-dodgers and, er, British patriots calling Dubai home; Abramovich and the UK’s faltering efforts to seize dodgy money; and (then) Prince Andrew’s equerry’s no-show for a top job at royal bankers Coutts.
When Private Eye revealed the giveaway of Teesside regeneration land to local businessmen, mayor Ben Houchen said they kept £50m in the bank for investment in the project. New figures show they’ve extracted that as dividends while investing nothing. Story in new @privateeyenews.