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Andrew Purcell

@andrewpurcell.bsky.social
417 followers 550 following 363 posts

Journalist turned human rights activist, creative project enthusiast, runner, father of two boys, exhausted shell of a man.

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Reposted by Andrew Purcell
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Years ago I wrote this essay, and the clamor for compromise and one-sided pandering marches on, and of course David Brooks is a standard-bearer in the parade. As Jamelle Bouie notes, what if they are Nazis?
lithub.com
Rebecca Solnit: On Not Meeting Nazis Halfway
When Trump won the 2016 election—while losing the popular vote—the New York Times seemed obsessed with running features about what Trump voters were feeling and thinking. These pieces treated them …
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Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Dear tv and radio producers. Thankyou for the invitation. But, no, I do not want to appear on your show to defend the idea that I am English, after 50 years of living and working here, because the increasingly feral right want to turn this into a "debate" and you cannot see how you're being played
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Liliana Segura @lilianasegura.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I've been thinking and talking and writing about the death penalty for my whole adult life and the past week+ has been truly surreal and exhausting, not only because of the onslaught of horrors but because there seems to be so little historical memory of what this system is and always has been.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"That's Peter," I thought, immediately.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"I am engaged in a meeting" 😂 "I am great with texts" - it may be a sophisticated scam but the 'voice' needs work.
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Michael Caley @michaelcaley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
the essay is a narrative written by Ronaldo in the purest notes app quasi-apology genre form depicting himself as the Real Victim Here, describing how he ended up leaving the national team camp the core of the story is (for real) about Jorge Jesus not reading the talking points Ronaldo gave him
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Nunca soube dele. Parece um cara muito interessante. E sim, seria bom ouvir mais dessas ideias (e esse senso de humor absurdo) em 2026. Obrigado a dica.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Brazilian stocks went up 10% overnight. The Real rose 4% against the dollar. As always, 'the market' loves fascist gains. If you haven't read this book, about how business ushered in the Nazis, I highly recommend it. Very uncomfortably relevant in current political era.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Utterly grim. They've chosen *organised crime* - Bolsonaro links to militias in Rio very well documented and a huge ponzi a scheme exposed on eve of election. The Senate is a horror show, with a fascist supermajority. Expect Jair Bolsonaro to be freed, supreme court justices impeached etc
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Reprieve @reprievehq.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"'It is hard to see how this can be allowed to continue — not only in Tennessee, but nationwide,' said Maya Foa, the chief executive of Reprieve, an anti-death penalty group. She called the failed attempt to kill Ms. Pike 'one of the most catastrophic executions' in US history."
nytimes.com
‘How Does That Happen?’: America’s Execution System Is Long Flawed
The failed execution of Christa Pike, which left her clinging to life in Tennessee, was the latest grisly error to take place in an American execution chamber.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"What we saw was the awful, ugly, indefensible reality of the death penalty."
theguardian.com
What do Britain’s death-penalty cheerleaders have to say about Christa Pike? | Maya Foa
Her harrowing botched execution is a reminder of why we must not even entertain the idea of restoring capital punishment, says Maya Foa, CEO of the human rights charity Reprieve
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The ability to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into a loss-making TV channel, bent on wrenching British politics sharply to the right, is yet another of the ways in which extreme wealth is trying to remake UK democracy. It needs to be part of any serious conversation about political funding.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's like a studs-up, two-footed, knee-high tackle on the ref.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
*Of course* Meta has a thumb on the scales for Bolsonaro.
techpolicy.press
On Eve of Brazil Elections, Meta Content Moderation Decisions Raise Questions
Two recent moderation decisions—while later reversed—have raised concerns about the company's policies and practices, writes Laís Martins.
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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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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Was feeling a bit daunted by the working week after a long and stressful Monday, but then found out that Stevie Wonder just dropped four tracks that didn't make the cut for Songs In The Key Of Life. They are, of course, amazing. Things are looking up.
open.spotify.com
Songs In The Key Of Life - The EP - EP by Stevie Wonder | Spotify
Stevie Wonder · EP · 2026 · 4 songs
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
as a satire on so-called late stage capitalism how could one beat investors pouring a trillion into a company offering to wipe out humankind
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This can't be real. Is it real? A sub editor asleep, or have they all been laid off?
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Was it Clare Runacres?
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Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
January 2025 🤷‍♀️
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If you ever need help with your incantations, let me know. We spent roughly £15,000 on it. So much stress. It did have a happy ending for us - she is now a British citizen - but the impression that the UK is a mean and money-grasping place is unshakable.
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Donald Campbell @dncampbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I might also gently suggest to the BBC that when Jim Ratcliffe comes out with this garbage you could maybe say: "what about the half a billion plus pounds of backing you've received from UK taxpayers for just one project?" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
More. Always more. And less for everyone else. As a Man United fan it is endlessly distressing that this awful man owns a chunk of the club and continues to spout bile (and make headlines, in outlets that should know better and have a duty to accuracy and balance).
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Holger Hestermeyer @hhesterm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
How is this news? billionaire oil person says uk needs to drill more and tax less, though, of course, he‘s actually in Monaco. And he would do more in the uk if the state subsidised him more. Dear BBC, that‘s like me saying the uk‘s problem is underpaid law profs. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Love that you call them Paw Patrol. Ridicule is one of our most potent weapons and I bet they hate it. More of this, please.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Many people have worked very hard to secure this outcome, but none more so than Jagtar's brother Gurpreet. He has fought tirelessly for nine years. This is not justice: not until Jagtar is home with his family and the charges are dropped. But I am elated that he will soon be out of prison.
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Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Eye popping. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft. Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Hilarious argument that is as tissue-thin as Sydney's kecks. Boils down to "if you criticise sexualised images, why don't you support criminalising abortion?"
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Of course. A bold "yes, I am, and we'll spend it on making Britain a better, fairer country" is SOCIALISM and cannot be countenanced.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Great thread. The video clip is worth scrolling down to watch as she is *so* good: knows what she wants to say, corrects the reporter when she brings the right wing framing, stays calm even when she's getting emotional about something that is causing huge distress to her family.
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Paul McNamara @mpaulmcnamara.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Pretty much this
Ed Sheeran: "I'm gonna side with oppressive colonizers. Literally everyone I'm touring with is Irish. Can't see any way this will go
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This epitomises the UK's utterly broken system for reviewing possible miscarriages of justice: an enquiry that assumes Lucy Letby is guilty, led by a judge who dismisses mountains of evidence that she may have been wrongfully convicted as "noise" and "comment".
theguardian.com
Thirlwall inquiry has left biggest questions around the Letby case unanswered
Decision not to pause proceedings means £18m report does not engage with concerns over former nurse’s conviction
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 14/09/2026
Look at this photo we found from Donald Trump Jr.’s lavish Bahamas wedding. Can you spot the Russian oligarch close to Putin who bankrolled the event? 🧵
A group photo shows about 35 people, including Donald Trump Jr.; his wife, Bettina Anderson; Ivanka Trump; Jared Kushner; Tiffany Trump; and Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev.

Little Pipe Cay/Lux Hospitality Bahamas; Laura Gordon Photography via Instagram; Laura Gordon Photography
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is completely on Andy Burnham Last week Labour could have stopped this. Now we have a single person giving more money than the entire general election spending limit for a political party www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
telegraph.co.uk
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 11/09/2026
How it started / How it's going
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
That interview within hours of the WTC falling in which Trump boasted (incorrectly) that he now owned the tallest building in the New York is the most Trumpian thing that has ever happened. It's his entire life, ethos, and purpose in one anecdote.
glennkessler.substack.com
Trump’s 9/11: Where He Cleared Rubble, Predicted bin Laden, and Lost ‘Hundreds’ of Friends
From exaggerating his role at Ground Zero to inventing cheering crowds, a review of Trump’s most misleading claims about September 11.
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 10/09/2026
‘One of the main differences between today’s far right and the fascism of the mid-20th century is the absence of a uniformed paramilitary street wing. The anti-migrant protests in Dover and Portsmouth at the weekend mark an attempt to create one.’ Daniel Trilling: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Daniel Trilling | Masks Off
One of the main differences between today’s far right and the fascism of the mid-20th century is the absence of a...
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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My brilliant, erudite, funny mum was forced to die in this horrible way because some people didn't think it was right for her to have a dignified death. That it was wrong for her to choose her own way to leave the world when *she was dying anyway*.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
No doubt they feel the same way about kids in masks nicking phones. Just exercising their right to privacy while going about their business.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It is staggering how "hurrah for the blackshirts" this piece is. I'll hazard a guess the train didn't feel quite as "safe" for people with brown skin.
thetimes.com
We were on a day out. Then masked migrant protesters got on our train
Activists who brought Dover to a halt on Saturday refused to remove their balaclavas but were ‘very polite’, say fellow travellers
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"It is hard not to draw the conclusion that the police and Home Office seem to be incapable of an appropriate response to the threat of far-right activity and violence."
nicklowles.substack.com
Did Kent Police ignore a 999 call?
Contrary to their public statement, HOPE not hate can exclusively reveal that Kent Police were tipped off about the Patriot Platform mobilisation – and seemingly did not act on the information.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 08/09/2026
@ stephenkb.bsky.social hitting the nail on the head of course. "the Labour Party has now produced two governments whose response to acts of thuggery and intimidation is to reiterate that perhaps the thugs have a point" - as.ft.com/r/97d33f08-a...
as.ft.com
Labour’s muddled migration policy won’t stop thuggery
A government that can’t distinguish between ‘legitimate concerns’ and open racism is only making things worse
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Typically sharp analysis of the Times front page from Mic Wright, in context of broader media coverage of the new blackshirts expressing #legitimateconcerns and the AfD's election win in Saxony. Concludes with a vital warning from history that our political establishment seems determined to ignore.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Splashed on the front page, based on claims from a single anonymous "Home Office official," reported at length, unsupported by any evidence. This is shockingly irresponsible journalism and no doubt will be laundered by the Today programme before we've all had breakfast.
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This is worth watching in full - it's superb, brave journalism. My main takeaway was... how old-school Tory it all is. The long lunches at Mayfair clubs, oysters and champagne, Boris Johnson's 'pollster' and his Telegraph front pages. The idea that these people are insurgents is risible.
youtube.com
My Year Undercover in Reform UK
YouTube video by Verbatim Investigations
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Andrew Purcell @andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I gave up posting on X years ago, rarely check it, and now mostly get fed football. Much has been written about how it's overrun with Nazis and amplifies right wing voices, less on how it's saturated with slop like this: an obvious lie, written by AI. "That's not X: that's Y" Tell me more, Claude.
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Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Me, just before I’m not about to get away with it:
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It would also be interesting to learn if he thinks Reform member Nadhim Zahawi should be allowed to run for Parliament again given he came to the UK as a refugee.
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I don’t think there’s really even a colorable argument that this isn’t mass murder. theintercept.com/2026/09/02/m...
theintercept.com
The U.S. Has Killed 227 Civilians in Boat Strikes During “A Year of Murders”
“The boat strikes are, perhaps, the most stark testament to the lawlessness of the Trump administration.”
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Foxglove Legal @foxglovelegal.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Foxglove is supporting the case of Abrham Meareg against Meta following the murder of his father after he was doxxed in a Facebook post promoted by Meta's algorithm. For four years, Meta has fought tooth and nail to avoid responsibility. Read more here: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
What could Meta’s US settlement mean around the world – and what now for other claims against firm?
Other governments could seek similar concessions, while separate legal action is pending in places ranging from Kenya to the Netherlands
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