Reposted by Andrew ShimminRobert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 19/03/20261. Britain has very much *NOT* always tolerated minority faiths. Just ask Jews and Catholics. 2. The idea that religious expression should be "in conformity with our values, our norms, our beliefs" should worry every faith group, starting with Christians. 52785223 785
Reposted by Andrew ShimminJay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger.bsky.social · 19/01/2026An observation -- not a new one, but still: When people on the right sneer at "moral vanity" and "moral preening" and "moralism," they are talking about what, until very recently, they themselves regarded as a simple and necessary recognition of right and wrong. 822543 225
Reposted by Andrew ShimminRobert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 20/01/2026Why is Donald Trump changing his mind every five minutes and saying completely mad stuff an embarrassment for Keir Starmer? It feels like it should chiefly be seen as an embarrassment for the United States. 711274260 1.3K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminMax Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 19/01/2026We had endless articles and TV clips about Biden's mental capacity but silence about Trump's obvious unfitness when he says he's going to start a war with Denmark over Greenland because he didn't get the Nobel Peace Prize. 813308981 3.3K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminJames O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 03/01/2026The only thing any of the western allies can do is quietly de-risk from America by unlinking our economy/institutions - but this is a slow process that takes years (and should have started in 2016). Saying something true that will upset Trump now needs to have a function beyond catharsis. 107917 79
Reposted by Andrew ShimminSimon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 19/07/2025I think @robertshrimsley.bsky.social is much too kind to Jeremy Hunt here. In time, Hunt will come to be reviled as second worst chancellor in modern times after Kwarteng. In 1997, faced with similar circumstances, Ken Clarke put the national interest first. Hunt salted the earth. Shame on him 20570180 570
Reposted by Andrew ShimminRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 04/07/2025The welfare revolt does *not* prove that Labour MPs are "constitutionally incapable of making hard choices". It proves that they will not just wave through hugely damaging changes, that harm those most in need, on which they've not been consulted. That's MPs *doing* their jobs, not abdicating them 2432868 328
Reposted by Andrew ShimminStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Friends fear he is once again boarding the 'radical candour' bus, etc: but I do think they would be better off if their line to take had just been 'it was this or raise taxes', if nothing else because it would a) concentrate minds and b) be some useful advocacy for raising taxes and c) is true. 927453 274
Reposted by Andrew Shimminjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 11/06/2025W.E.B. Du Bois on Robert E. Lee: “Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.” 296385708779 38.6K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19/05/2025Today is unfortunately a good reminder of just how depraved many Trump supporters are. It should be the easiest thing in the world to just wish someone well in light of a devastating health diagnosis. That they can't even meet that very low bar says a lot about their character. 48196311840 9.6K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminLeonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 13/05/2025Yes, and I totally see how "Starmer should fix the NHS" isn't a particularly astute insight, but ultimately all government bandwidth that isn't channelled into boring, mind-numbing deliverism is - at best - a waste of time, at least from a purely electoral strategy point of view. 1183 18
Reposted by Andrew ShimminOtto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Labour has a whopping great majority and four years left to turn this country around. They should be setting the agenda, not chasing about trying to placate voters of a party with five MPs who will never vote for them anyway. It's not only disappointing... it's embarrassing 29264081553 6.4K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAdam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Why trying to out-Farage Farage is just never going to work for Labour. The most hardline, anti-migrant set of policies from any UK Government in recent years and the Daily Mail still portrays it as a betrayal 911432455 1.4K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminPaul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Toughening migration rules doesn’t challenge Reform. It validates them. 832405639 2.4K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminRob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 11/05/2025If a government with over 400 seats and 4 years left to govern cannot summon the courage to level with the public on social care then I despair at the capacity of our political system to ever deliver the change we need. 331134262 1.1K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminSpinningHugo @spinninghugo.bsky.social · 08/05/2025He was hardcore, Jesus Christ. /ends 1121 12
Reposted by Andrew ShimminGiles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 08/05/2025UK governments always look for a sweet spot in immigration policy- tough enough to win votes, not so tough as to hurt the economy - but always find the opposite- clumsy enough to damage business, not enough to impress Reformesque immigration-phobes. so depressing. 1538777 387
Reposted by Andrew ShimminMax Mosley @maxmosley.bsky.social · 07/05/2025On this basis, it seems unlikely that the proposed tightening of eligibility for PIP will achieve much other than causing further hardship for a group struggling the most since the pandemic. Link to the full @neweconomics.bsky.social analysis here: 174 7
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAlex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Superb research from Runcorn by @38degrees.bsky.social. Striking contrast between areas of concern vs areas of action. A majority (including even a big chunk of people for whom immigration is the top preoccupation) look to different policy areas to actually judge a government. @mcgregor.bsky.social 86419 64
Reposted by Andrew ShimminCharlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 30/04/2025(And interesting in itself that there is outrage in papers and these sorts of reports being written about private school fees and household income but not, especially, about childcare) 051 5
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAlexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 26/04/2025So much of Blue Labour comes down to the desperation of a very bourgeois network of people to signal that they have not betrayed a working class identity that only exists in their imagination 1121543 215
Reposted by Andrew ShimminJWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 07/04/2025Remember all those people in the US who decided the most important thing to do last November was teach the Democrats a lesson because they were just like - or even worse - than the Republicans? Well, how's that working out? 2186 18
Reposted by Andrew ShimminChris Kendall @ottocr.at · 07/04/2025Since the EU referendum, the UK civil service has grown by approx 130,000 employees. Just to recall, the entire European Commission employs 32,169 people. The EU system as a whole has around 60,000 civil servants serving a bloc of 27 countries. #redtape #bureaucracy 13191102 191
Andrew Shimmin @adshimmin.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Thanks Google, but I feel that particular clarification was unnecessary. (Was looking up about Sejanus 🧐) 020 2
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAlexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 18/03/2025On the international stage Trump is a mark who thinks he's a con 310622 106
Reposted by Andrew ShimminIan Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 08/03/2025Where is the outrage in America about this shameful betrayal by Trump? Where are the Senators and Members of Congress who cheered Zelensky when he addressed them, but are now too afraid of Trump to say a word in defence of Ukraine? 621295473 1.3K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminDmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 05/03/2025Conversely, I suspect one of the things Trump finds most attractive about tariffs is that the CEOs and Chairman of vastly more succesful companies than his have to come grovelling to him for exemptions that he can grant or withhold without any process, oversight, or transparency. 16417103 417
Andrew Shimmin @adshimmin.bsky.social · 05/03/2025A very good summary of the only explanation of any of this which makes any sense. He's just a horrible person. And anyone who's ever assisted or condoned his rise knew this, knows it now, and is complicit and morally contaminated. 010 1
Reposted by Andrew Shimminjamelle @jamellebouie.net · 05/03/2025tired of people treating trump like he is anything other than an ego-driven simpleton (i wrote this, this is a piece about why he is nothing more than an ego driven simpleton.)nytimes.comOpinion | Trump’s Revenge Tour Finds Its True Target (Gift Article)It is hard to describe the president’s first month and a half in office as something other than a retribution campaign against the American people. 232102222045 10.2K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminRichard Branson @richardbranson.bsky.social · 04/03/2025(1/3) It needs repeating: in 1994, Ukraine was persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons to Russia in return for the US, the UK, and Russia guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity. 17507563822548 75.6K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminPopehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 04/03/2025“Governor Trudeau” is part of the Trump administration’s ethos of pathological insecurity. A weak person is constantly compelled to insult and belittle others, even allies, to show “strength.” An actually strong person isn’t. Bullies are weak, as are their sycophants. 953866644 3.9K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminEd Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 04/03/2025By suspending all military aid to Ukraine, Donald Trump has humiliated the people who pretended he was a reliable ally only in search of peace. The UK and Europe must seize frozen Russian assets to resist Putin’s unjust and savage war. 842089591 2.1K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminIan Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 04/03/2025A truly vile decision, giving the lie to all Trump’s claims that he is horrified by the killing in Ukraine. Apparently he’s fine with the Russians doing the killing, but is determined to stop Ukraine striking back. Europe must wake up to how serious this is, not just for UA but for its own security. 271150373 1.2K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminCALL TO ACTIVISM @calltoactivism.bsky.social · 02/03/2025This is Marco Rubio explaining how the USA promised to defend Ukraine forever if they got rid of their nuclear arsenal left after the Soviet Union fell. This is why lil marco was sinking into the couch. He was hoping we wouldn’t find it…so don’t RT right now this very second. 20245395036857 54K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminIan Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 01/03/2025“If Roosevelt had told Churchill to sue for peace on any terms with Adolf Hitler and to fork over Britain’s coal reserves to the United States in exchange for no American security guarantees, it might have approximated what Trump did to Zelensky.”nytimes.comOpinion | A Day of American InfamyA dreadful moment for Ukraine, for the free world, for the legacy of an America that once stood for the principles of the Atlantic Charter. 9380126 380
Reposted by Andrew ShimminEd Zitron @edzitron.com · 01/03/2025Just so we're clear was it not a crisis when it was the other way around? 18891741780 9.2K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminJonathan Liew @jonathanliew.bsky.social · 02/03/2025barney's column this weekend is sensational www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/m...theguardian.comNasser Hussain’s cricketing truth-bomb fights back against march of AI robots | Barney RonayThe Sky Sports pundit deserves an award for his accurate assessment of India’s Champions Trophy gerrymandering 47315 73
Reposted by Andrew ShimminHelene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 01/03/2025I understand (and share) the feeling but this would not help Ukraine, Europe or the U.K. Instead of performatively cutting ties with the US, the U.K. should focus on doing more with Ukraine and Europe as a whole. Don‘t say 'I won‘t have anything to do with you‘, just do more with the others. 3242039 420
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAdam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 01/03/2025 185411027426855 110.3K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminAndrew Stroehlein @andrewstroehlein.bsky.social · 18/02/2025I wish political leaders in Europe over the last decade had spent less time & effort fighting the invented “invasion” of immigrants and more time & effort addressing the very real, atrocity-ridden invasion to the east. 5498132 498
Reposted by Andrew ShimminSam Greene @samagreene.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Journalists and commentators: What happened in the White House was not a “shouting match”. Only the American side was shouting. 750396 503
Reposted by Andrew ShimminJames O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 28/02/2025It's been obvious since January 6 that he was an enemy of the USA, the UK & the whole of the free world. Everybody still in his camp understands this as completely as everybody against it. They just prioritise personal interest over the national & international. And they know it. They all know it. 1314481807 4.5K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminDr Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Zelenskyy was not humiliated. He’s a better man than those clowns insulting and extorting him will ever be. 2454 45
Reposted by Andrew ShimminJames O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 28/02/2025He is not just appeasing Putin, he is aligned with him. And every single client journalist, political shill & public/online cheerleader on both sides of the Atlantic is too. Against Zelensky. Against Ukraine. Against freedom. Against the most basic tenets of decency. 24778501678 7.9K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminGarry Kasparov @garrykasparov.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Zelensky is a wartime leader watching his people suffer and die under Russian attacks every day. To be lectured and lied to by Trump and Vance, as they defend the war criminal dictator committing these atrocities, is unimaginable agony. An everlasting shame for America. 283158664256 15.9K
Reposted by Andrew ShimminTimothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Russia does not want to end the war, and the Trump administration has shown no ability to induce Russia to end the war. And so, predictably, the Trump administration blames the victim, blames Ukraine. 16374541841 7.5K