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Sarah Murphy

@13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
48K followers 1.7K following 5.2K posts

Welcome to my shiny new echo chamber… hoping here that I can keep it clean and tidy and ‘woke’. IRL - lawyer (of the lefty, campaigning variety).

PostsRepliesMedia
Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 8h
Yeah right… Says man with net favourability rating of minus 45, a shitload of investigations into possible corruption, a team of utter inadequates and with every constituency bar 4 favouring rejoining because we all know how crap Brexit is now. Bore off. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Burnham’s reopening of Brexit debate is ‘biggest boost in my career’, says Farage
Reform UK leader tells supporters PM’s move has ‘opened up a huge flank to us’
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“The question is not whether we can afford to remain within the Convention [ECHR]. It is whether, in an increasingly dangerous world, we can afford not to” Political liars and lightweights, like Badenoch and Farage, must never be allowed to take that risk. www.lawgazette.co.uk/commentary-a...
The Law Society
Gazette

In short, if Britain were to leave the ECHR, it would not be
'taking back control. It would be surrendering influence over the rules and institutions that help keep us safe.
The debate about the ECHR is too often conducted as though it were a choice between national sovereignty and international law. That is a false choice.
The Convention advances British interests because it reflects British values: liberty under law, democratic government and the accountability of power.
Walking away would not make Britain freer. It would make Britain weaker.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A country that will not fix its mistakes is a country that has given up on the future. And Brexit was, it’s now clear, a terrible, terrible mistake inews.co.uk/opinion/brex...
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This mindset is the least we deserve from a leader. Of course it has to be turned into action. But this kind of ambition and love for the country, this kind of personal but positive vision is what takes people with you. How feeble-minded Farage and Badenoch seem. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Photo of Burnham waving to the audience in front of HOPE AGAIN backdrop Burnham was not going to die wondering. He knew he might be delivering one of the longest suicide notes in history, but he did it anyway. Because he couldn't not do it. Better to go down remaining true to his principles than being slowly airbrushed out of history like the previous six prime ministers. Failures all. Andy was prepared to burn through all his political capital right there in Liverpool, right then. Not just for his own legacy but for a country he wanted to rebuild. It was the only way he could look himself in the mirror.
Honour his parents.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If people don't want to pay tax to make this country function and help out the rest of society and particularly those who need help most... then maybe they should move to Dubai and stop bleating about it. Really sick to death of it.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham made Farage seem “angry, thin-skinned… absurd. What we witnessed today was a masterclass in political communication which makes Farage look like an amateur” Finally. The confidence that comes with emotional intelligence. It could make all the difference. iandunt.substack.com/p/burnham-sp...
iandunt.substack.com
Burnham speech: An astonishing moment of radicalism and commitment
It’s easy to be cynical, but it would be false. Something extraordinary is happening here.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 29/09/2026
🚨 BREAKING 🚨 Burnham: "Homes, water, energy, transport, care, broken up and sold off." "The British right talk about taking back control. Never let them forget they are the ones. That gave it away in the first place."
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Sean Jones KC @seanjones.org · 29/09/2026
The rush to speculate that asylum seekers are responsible for every crime in the news is a sort of opportunistic informational terrorism. Until it’s disproved it stokes fear and hatred. When it is disproved there are no adverse consequences and they know that they only have to be lucky once.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham edges Labour closer to finally, maybe, being sane about Brexit. Over 10 years, £Billions of cost, thousands of business failures, mountains of red tape, wasted resources and lost opportunities later…. our govt may, at last, cautiously, start to be honest about the Brexit moronathon. Yay.
The Independent front page headline: 

Burnham edges Labour closer to rejoining EU
After Ed Miliband tells party conference Britain's future is at the heart of Europe, ministers say it is 'not if but how' prime minister will include Brexit reversal in next election manifestoThere is growing optimism that a way back into the EU could be put to voters at the next election after the prime minister and senior ministers made it clear they believe Brexit has been a failure at this year's party conference.
When The Independent asked Mr Burnham about whether Rejoin would be in Labour's next election manifesto on his recent trip to the UN in New York, he refused to rule it out - having said a year ago when he was
Manchester mayor that he believes the
UK should rejoin the EU.

Andy Burnham has already warned about the 'drift and division' in the decade since Brexit (Getty)
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Farage honks his mouth off about ongoing police investigations, when told not to. His Welsh leader is in prison for taking bribes from Russia. He whips up riots. He’s in bed with Trump, foreign money, crooks and crypto billionaires…. A massive problem with national security is Farage himself.
sky news

'We have a massive problem with national security': Farage challenged on Fairford speculation
Reform UK leader told his social media followers the five men arrested after an RAF Fairford situation were "Iranian nationals". Sky's Rob Powell spoke to him after it was confirmed the men arrested are British nationals.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Times - which has v much joined in the rightwing clamour to reduce immigration - now reporting that Mahmood’s “success” has cost the economy £4- to £7Bn. Would they like to now honestly confirm that fewer people = less spending power for all. There’s a high price to pay for this nasty obsession.
Patrick Maguire
Chief Political Commentator Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Falling migration numbers could cost the chancellor as much as £7bn in fiscal headroom as he writes his first budget, The Times has been told.
Government insiders believe that John Healey, who already faced an uphill battle to balance the books next month, is likely to have an even bigger challenge after immigration undershot projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimated last month that the success of Shabana
Mahmood's
reforms, which have cut net migration to the low hundreds of thousands, could cost Healey some £4bn.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Tom Tugendhat in Sunday Times insists on leaving the ECHR to tackle “soaring” immigration. What a miserable rat. Lying to us all. Betraying our country’s best interests. Threatening to flounce out of our human rights framework, trashing our treaties and torching our protection from abuses of power.
The Tories are planning to make the ECHR a dividing line at the next election. Last week the party announced plans to deport every foreign criminal, apart from those convicted of the most trivial offences, and said their plan for ECHR withdrawal meant only the Conservatives were equipped to take on the problem of soaring immigration. One of the problems withdrawal would create is a legal dispute over whether it breaches the Good Friday agreement, which committed the UK to fully incorporate the ECHR into Northern Ireland's justice system. Tugendhat said the issue had not yet been raised in his conversations with lawmakers in the US, adding:
"There's a lot of work to be done."
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
What’s your legacy Johnson? Brexit. Total collapse of trust in politics. And this. The small boats symbolise your dishonesty and your failure. You’re responsible for nothing but damage. Not one good thing. Not one proud moment. You’re forever a shameful disgrace who threw his own mandate in the bin.
Boris Johnson @BorisJohnson
X.com
It's a disaster, and it can all be traced to Labour ideology. Burnham has no mandate from the people. He has no real ideas, and no plan.
BORIS JOHNSON: UK is defenceless against migrants without...
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Sure. Brexit meant we huffed out of our agreements on managing the flow of asylum seekers. The boats symbolise “taking back control” by going it alone. But it’s only a “crisis” because politicians and media choose to blame immigrants for their own failures. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Burnham blames Brexit for small boats crisis - but rules out early general election
Burnham lamented a ‘loss of collaboration with neighbours’ following Brexit but has ‘knocked dead’ the idea of an early election before 2029
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Don't worry Jess, once Reform are in power you will have no employment rights at all, which should make the process of sacking you much simpler and less upsetting. 😁
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Wow Rory Stewart. Just wow. What a horrible misrepresentation of how it all works and why it doesn’t. Put asylum seekers in prisons? Refuse to share the responsibility for this human tragedy with our European neighbours who are accepting more refugees than us already? Fgs. What’s wrong with you?
Rescue.org/UK
Donate
Why don't refugees stay in France?
They do and France actually receives a much larger number of asylum claims than Britain - around 167,000 in 2023, compared to 67,000 in the UK.
Those who arrive in France often choose to remain there and a relatively small proportion of the asylum seekers intend on moving on to the UK.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
“Between 2019 and 2025, export volumes slumped 31 per cent as Brexit added border checks and trade complexity, pushing up costs for businesses” … and threatening our food security. Why TF would *anyone* want this for our businesses and our country? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Brexit and Donald Trump’s tariffs push UK’s food and drink trade deficit to £21bn
In the first half of 2026, the sector’s export volumes fell 11.7% to hit their third-lowest level on record
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
No amount of money can buy you popularity. For every person who likes Farage, there are 2 or 3 who really loathe him. The number against him might even go up, the richer he gets. He simply cannot make people like him. And we will not change our minds. We’ll do whatever we can to make him fail.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Where do Farage’s loyalties lie? Let’s ask Nathan Gill. Farage needs misinformation for power. He distorts, pays for biased polling, works for crypto billionaires/foreign money… He wants chaos and rage. This is a sulky footstamp at having his toys taken away. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nigel-...
huffingtonpost.co.uk
Nigel Farage Has Attacked The Government's Plans For A New Russia Misinformation Unit
The Reform UK leader claimed it is “targeted directly” at his party.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thank you for this, @privateeyenews.bsky.social Farage needs ridiculing far more. It’s a form of scrutiny he can’t cope with and one he so richly - yes pun intended - deserves.
TV HIGHLIGHTS
72 Up
The award-winning documentary series continues, charting the progress of one posh little boy, Nigel, over the years.
The last time we saw him was over a week ago in 36
Up when he had been given £36 million out of the blue.
In the latest instalment Nigel is given another £36 million, making the total donation a jaw-dropping £72 million.
This is a life changing moment for the former prep school boy who was recorded in the first episode singing the Horst Wessel song and coming up with charming but embarrassing comments about admiring Hitler.
As the clock moves forward
to 72 Up, viewers now see a completely different Nigel from the one we have come to know so well over the years
- from Europe-hating MEP to Brexit-promoting campaigner to the triumphant bin-defeating statesman of today. It's been a roller-coaster ride for Nigel
- and indeed the viewer - and this remarkable series ends with a poignant and moving climax in a Clacton oyster bar, where the older but no wiser Nigel faces the prospect of being Prime Minister and/or going to jail after criminal proceedings.
EYE VERDICT: "Boring, boring, Boring! Nothing to see here
- put a sock in it, love." 

(Insert photo of him slurping up oysters)
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Why does the UK press continue to treat Trump like a normal politician when he is demonstrably wicked and insane inews.co.uk/opinion/trum...
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Nick Davies @njdavies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Great to hear the PM say “We are going to be much prouder in standing up for our values and the rule of law” re foreign information warfare. I wonder if he or the Home Secretary might consider doing the same when it comes to masked vigilantes shutting down infrastructure and harassing the RNLI
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
That thug sabotaging rescue efforts, racist riots, flags on lampposts, pink ladies wanting to burn down hotels, doxxing charity workers, ICE-style deportation plans, threats to scrap the Equality Act and leave the ECHR… “legitimate concerns” No. A tornado of hate and prejudice set off by Farage.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Rebuilding our relationship with the EU “is the cheapest way to boost the economy, the fastest way to unite Europe in the face of security threats and the best way to get leverage on a global system that no longer has an American anchor.” So obvious it hurts. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Brexit has left Britain ‘impotent – a bobbing cork in the sea,’ says David Miliband
Exclusive: Former foreign secretary adds to mounting pressure for a new UK deal with EU to repair Brexit damage
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Tom Freeman @tomfreeman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I mean, any time now would be good. If it's not too much trouble
Headline: "‘Outright racist’ Daniel Thomas will face full force of law over any crimes, says home secretary"
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We are now in a society where flash mobs can turn up anywhere and police will simply stand back. Misinformation is enough to fuel it. At some point people will start using social media to dox people or organisations. It's a huge civil order threat that government and police aren't taking seriously.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 22/09/2026
Maybe we should have arrested this guy for blocking ports.
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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
They always sound so excited, too. “It’s a political earthquake! It’s a shockwave!“ Well yes, that’s the rumble of approaching jackboots. Why are you so hyped?
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“Dan Thomas has been doing a brilliant job,” Nige continued. “I’m sorry for his personal difficulties.” Yeah, Dan. Great bloke. Brilliant Reform leader….just unfortunate he’s been arrested on suspicion of assault and coercive control.” Crace - Reform’s nemesis. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Another day, another Reform Wales leader. Grumpy Nige seems to miss the old one | John Crace
At a low-key event, Helen Jenner replaces Dan Thomas, who was arrested on suspicion of assault and gets warm words from Farage
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
So, £72million from crypto billionaires to get Reform “ready for government”. Absolutely no chance. They have over 300 candidates to find and this is their track record… They attract total liabilities and Reform is too racist, corrupt and idiotic to recruit anything better.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Lots of talk of growth ahead of the Budget, as if it were a baroque puzzle. Our problem is basic. It's that we no longer support the things which facilitate growth: Europe, immigration, higher education, tax simplification, policy stability. These are all choices and could stop making them anytime.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Would be good if we had a PM prepared to talk honestly about what responsible sovereignty should mean, rather than sticking with the brexity version that’s all about rejecting teamwork, bowing to Trump, erecting monumental trade barriers and waving big ‘you’re not welcome’ signs at foreigners.
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 20/09/2026
I don't think we disdain the center-right enough. First, they rode nativist populist tigers to power to get their tax cuts and deregulation; Then, they lost control of their own parties to those tigers; Now, they sit in lucrative jobs as columnists writing about how it's all the left's fault.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The only 4 constituencies where rejoining the EU wasn’t the preferred option were those of Lee Anderson, Farage, Tice and Lowe. In those 4, the top answer was ‘don’t know’. Confirming that Brexit has no real support at all. Not surprising for a total shitshow. And makes red lines seem very silly.
Independent front page. 

Voters across Britain back rejoining EU
Reversing Brexit is most popular option in 646 of 650 constituencies, finds new electoral survey of 12,000Bar chart showing
Which EU relationship respondents most wanted the Uk government to propose

EU membership 35%
Single market 6%
Customs Union 5%
Uk govt position  18/19%
Starts quo 8/9%
Don’t know 16%
Loosen ties 11%
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Jim Ratcliffe, tax-dodging Brexiter billionaire living in Monaco, says the poorest and most vulnerable should have their rights & benefits removed to bolster our economy. Don’t bother telling us this rancid man’s opinions unless you say how much he’s avoided in tax and what Brexit is costing us all.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Good letters in The Times on Canada’s moves towards the EU. Seems we’re far happier to discuss the strategic sense of Canada rethinking its allies and trade arrangements, than we are to discuss our own not-so splendid Brexit isolation. Looking very foolish again, UK.
EU suggestion of Canadian membership

2 of the letters 

Sir, Gerard Baker is right ("Grin and bear it, Andy, and stick with Trump", comment, Sep 18)……

….The problem is that the US is neither as reliable nor as reliably friendly as it once was. If it is willing to impose tariffs on friends, that economy becomes rather less reassuring. If the US prevents the UK regulating to protect our children, those new industries are not as positively transformative as we may have thought. And if Washington no longer thinks European security is its concern, then all that military might counts for little as far as we re concerned. Ultimately, the UK has little choice but to try and limit its dependence on a partner that is far less reliable than it was, and to do so, in part, by working more closely with its European neighbours. Managing this without further irritating the US president must be the ambition.
Anand Menon
Professor of European, KCL; director, the UK in a Changing Europe

Sir, Mark Carney's address to the European parliament was
extraordinarily impressive. It was a vision of what politics can be when it looks beyond the next poll, election or headline. Carney spoke of Europe and Canada building something together based on democracy, freedom, sovereignty and resilience. He offered both a dream and a practical route towards it: co-operation in defence. energy, critical minerals, technology, Al, trade and education. What struck me most was the clarity and scale of his thinking. He spoke of the challenges confronting western democracies but did not simply complain about them: he asked what could be built in response.
His metaphor of the forest was particularly memorable: a single tree mav be brought down by the storm. but a forest will endure because its roots are interconnected. I am 80 and I cannot remember recently hearing a western political leader speak with quite this combination of ambition, seriousness and intellectual clarity.
Thomas Kendall
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This should be the moment people finally realise that Farage has turned them into fascists. If you’re choosing this dangerous inhumanity over the rescue work of the RNLI, you’ve lost your minds to racism and hatred.
Reform UK
Follow
@reformparty_uk
Charities' actions in aiding and abetting the invasion of our country will be illegal under
Reform UK.

Photo of Farage on Gb news
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“There can be no more trying to pretend there’s a respectable anti-immigration position which is meaningfully distinguishable from far right thuggery” We must actively make racism shameful again. Because this is where it has led and it’s unforgivable. No more indulging ignorance and hate.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
British journalism and polling are both utterly implicated in the Farage funding scandal iandunt.substack.com/p/british-jo...
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Harborne: “My £36M is a philanthropic gift to the nation” Delo: “My £36M creates a level playing field for Reform” Farage: “I’ll slash CGT to save you £100M/yr” Reform: bought by millionaires to enrich millionaires. Reform voters… They. Are. Laughing. At. You. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Reform to hand crypto investors hundreds of millions in tax breaks
Exclusive: Analysis seen by The Independent reveals the wealthiest crypto investors would get £100m a year in tax relief from Nigel Farage’s party
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I would love to ask a prominent BBC journalist to give me an example of an illegitimate concern. Is seems to me that it has become a question not of fact, logic, or ethics but of volume. If a big enough proportion of a village was anxious about Bigfoot or Chemtrails, BBC would cover it in a way...
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Steve Reed on 25 March explaining that the £100k cap on donations "will therefore apply retrospectively, so it includes all donations from overseas electors received from today". Yes, but how are people who never bother going to Parliament supposed to know that?
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
While rightwing media nods approvingly at the prejudiced outcry in Piddington, a RNLI station has to close because of white British thuggery and threats. This is where the constantly toxic obsession with immigration leads. To racist, flag-wielding vigilantism that ruins this country for everyone.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Like all abusers, Trump hates it when people try to move out of his control.
bbc.co.uk
Trump threatens 'serious tariffs' on EU over proposal to make Canada 'associate member'
"I think it's laughable," Trump said, when asked about the Canada-EU proposal. The Canadian prime minister is speaking at the European Parliament today.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“Life is crap, vote for us” is a losing message. The first half is not true and, even if it were, the second does not follow. Farage…used to know all this.” But now he just lines his pockets while he moans and exudes hatred and disloyalty. We’re very bored of it. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
The British right’s patriotism problem
Andy Burnham seems at ease in his country. Are his opponents?
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Good plan, Australia and Canada. Huge sigh, UK. How long do we wait, how much do we lose, how stupid do we have to be?
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
£72million can’t fix this. Nothing can fix this. This is Reform. A bunch of raging liabilities who shouldn’t ever be anywhere near public office. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Reform's Dan Thomas resigns as Wales leader after arrest
Thomas said he has done nothing wrong as Gwent Police confirms arrest on suspicion of assault.
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Leader of Reform in Wales has quit, Reform MS Sarah Cooper-Lesadd has defected to Plaid Cymru and now three councillors in Durham have resigned. Just another day on our unstoppable march to power.
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