I've been thinking (again)

Having had a couple of days away from the front line, I had time to think.

I really hadn’t realised what this fight does to people until I stepped away this weekend to try and gather my thoughts and focus on where to next. As those who regularly read my work will know, I produce a daily post, most of which include detailed research and analysis. In just eight months on Substack, I like to think I have become a trusted source not only for the truth but as a refuge where readers can explore beyond the populist stories of the day to understand the geopolitical implications of what is happening in the US.

At a time when corporate media has decided to put profit ahead of rigorous reporting and a willingness to ask difficult questions, I am proud to tell it as it is, without fear or favour. There are times in life when you are forced to face the challenging task of telling people what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. Difficult though that might be from time to time, the truth will always be the antidote to propaganda and deceit. I don’t participate in this battle for the soul of a nation in search of followers or subscribers; I think I’ve demonstrated, through my work, that I do so because it’s in my DNA to fight social injustice.

Shifting from short-form social media to long-form writing has proved challenging but truly liberating for me. The sole purpose of joining Substack was to record my thoughts on what I believe to be a historical inflexion point, as tyranny came knocking at our door. I never thought that, in just nine months of this thoroughly rewarding journey, I would gather 85,000 fellow truth seekers to join my 130,000 followers on X, in what has become a mission to speak truth to power. More importantly, to provide an opportunity to promote critical thinking and to challenge the tsunami of deceit we are subjected to each and every day.

Image courtesy of A-Z Quotes

With voice and reach comes responsibility, and that responsibility is paramount in my mind as I sit down each day to share my thoughts. My mission has a singular focus: to constantly examine where we are and to concentrate not only on the dangers we face, but on the steps we can take to counter the threat. Given that corporate media appears to have largely abdicated that responsibility, there must be voices that continue the fight. Having had time to reflect and look towards the future, I have made some important decisions this weekend on how Truth Matters can hopefully make a sustained and valuable contribution to our collective fight against tyranny.

I am blessed to possess additional underused technical and production skills that seem criminal to waste in this moment when they could be put to good use. So, with this in mind, I sat down over the weekend with the love of my life for a chat to discuss my commitment — and, by extension, our commitment — to this vital collective effort. I felt it important to have an open and frank conversation, given that we are both now approaching the autumn of our lives. We are both veterans of social justice advocacy, having been activists in the UK Labour Party since our youth, which, once upon a time, was the champion of the working class. How times have changed. If love has ever been sustained by a belief in doing what’s right, then I am proud to say we are as one in facing the existential threat not just to the US but to the world together.

I have spoken about this in the past, but together we have made some concrete decisions on the way forward in this current election cycle. It’s pretty ambitious, but I believe in the audacity of hope, and that Truth Matters can take an important further step in taking the fight to Trump and his sycophants.

Beginning after the Christmas break, I’ll be launching a podcast, an idea I’ve had on the back burner for about 4 months. The name has evolved over the months, and I’ve settled on ‘The Political Truth’. In addition, there will be a new website called ‘The Truth Portal’, an idea I’ve had for about 2 years now. The idea is to consolidate the Truth Matters brand across social media, including both Facebook and Instagram. However much I dislike Zuckerberg, there has to be a consistent approach across the whole social media landscape to speak to people where they are.

As you can imagine, this will involve a lot of work, so beginning this week, I’ll be posting here on Substack Monday to Friday, and on weekends, I'll be building out the production capabilities and preparing for a January launch of the new vision. There will be a soft launch on January 7th 2026, with the whole operation beginning in earnest on February 1st. I will, however, have the beginnings of the website up and running later this week as part of my advocacy for a targeted economic disengagement framework, as discussed last week.

My aim here is NOT to set up my own campaign in competition with those advocating for economic backouts and a general strike. I simply aim to build a technical framework to facilitate coordinated campaigns on any policy issue. I’m not here for the glory; I’m here to help provide carefully considered solutions to the problems ‘We the people’ face in Trump’s war on the American people. I’m done with the politics that is suffocating the conversation, because I don’t know who people can trust anymore. When a party is prepared to advocate for a known sexual predator for Mayor of New York over someone who wants to put the people first but happens to be a Muslim, how can I place any trust in the leadership of that party?

Let me bring some clarity to the above statement. I DO NOT believe the Democratic caucus is a lost cause, and there is no getting around the fact that they remain the only game in town when it comes to opposition in a two-party system. That, however, does not change the fact that they have an out-of-touch leadership team consisting of slaves to self-preservation, funded, it appears, by their own cabal of special interests. Change is never easy, but failure to recognise necessary change is essential to avoid a societal value extinction event.

I’ve said time and again: the Democratic Party is blessed with a deep bench of political talent that is being held back by a party establishment that is visionless, risk-averse, and, frankly, represents the same threat to true representative democracy if its sole aim is to represent its own set of monied interests. US politics has tragically become all about the lesser of two evils, hardly an endorsement of the Democratic Party. There is absolutely no question that Chuck Schumer voted against the CR for no other reason than the threat of a primary campaign from AOC. That should tell you everything you need to know.

Never in recent American history has there been a time more conducive to delivering common-sense politics to America. It’s time to stop thinking that healthcare as a human right is socialism and not a societal imperative. It’s a policy that, if you polled the American people today, would have overwhelming support. By their own policies, Republicans are actually unwitting allies in this argument. The real tragedy in the Democratic Party is that it refuses to advocate for universal healthcare, just as it seeks to turn a deaf ear to stock trading that allows legislators to enrich themselves. This is not a representation; it’s the exploitation of their obligation to serve the people.

It’s time to STOP apologising for advocating for what’s right. It should not be regarded as a struggle to deliver a living wage, paid family leave, affordable child care, and pay caregivers to support disabled and elderly loved ones at home to ensure they enjoy a decent quality of life. Jesus, this should be the bare minimum in a responsible society. This has nothing to do with affordability; it’s about the poverty of ambition—the acceptance of mediocrity and a vision that extends no further than self-preservation.

There needs to be a political revolution, yet democratic leadership is sitting around saying, ‘Don’t rock the boat. ’ My argument is blow the f*cking boat out of the water, because until you do, political mediocrity will lead to the extinction of the vulnerable and the working poor, not to mention the society that men and women died to protect. The fact of the matter is, the revolution is already underway, but it’s not coming from the Democratic Party; it’s coming from a coalition of their base and people who have had enough of the tyranny of a criminal extortionist. We are seeing the birth of a historic No Kings coalition of people who are not natural allies, but who share the belief that representative democracy should prevail over theocratic autocracy.

Democrats' lack of action has made this fight apolitical, and if this new demographic can be mobilised, then we will see the emergence of a third way for US politics. I’ve reached the point where I believe in the American people’s commitment to a more progressive approach to politics, more than I believe in the Democrats’ ability to deliver change. There are 90 million disenfranchised Americans who sat it out in 2024, and it’s time to bring them together in a movement for change. If Democrats can’t facilitate that movement, then maybe we are witnessing the dying gasp of a party that has long been on political life support.

Image - Getty Images

Change is never easy, and revolution often seems beyond reach, but history teaches us that from adversity, a ‘beloved community’ can emerge if we want it badly enough. You cannot, however, achieve this without unity, and there, my friends, is the challenge.

Today, I have outlined my vision for Truth Matters, and I hope it’s as exciting to you as it is to me. I don’t pretend to be a leading voice in this fight for freedom, but I fully intend to punch above my weight moving forward. There’s no question, this is going to take a lot of hard work, but that’s something I have never feared. I want to emerge from the Christmas break and hit the ground running, combining what you read here with high-production-value visual content to complement my work. Substack will remain the heartbeat of my vision, and I hope supporters of the project will come to embrace the new value-added content available. If you are interested in getting involved, please feel free to reach out. If you want to help support the project, you can simply become a paid subscriber.

Last week, I received the first significant donation of $2,500 to Truth Matters, which was truly humbling and amazing. As a result, moving forward, if anyone prefers to donate outside the Substack subscription model with a one-off donation, I can now facilitate that by providing a secure one-off donation link through the same secure payment provider used by Substack.

I stress once again that my work here WILL ALWAYS REMAIN FREE TO EVERYONE. There is NEVER any pressure to contribute, and to those who often reach out to say they wish they could contribute but can’t afford to, I say, please don’t even give it a second thought, we are here as a community to support and ensure that you will always have free access to the truth here, because that’s how community works. We are a family, and no family member will be left behind.

Tomorrow, regular service will resume as I return my focus to the economy and the impending starvation campaign Trump will begin on November 1st.