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Bill Hall

@artboy.bsky.social
3.5K followers 983 following 2K posts

Artist, art teacher (semi-retired!) and, printmaker. Interests: Art, design, architecture, music, gardening, Latin & ballroom dancing, and politics.

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Reposted by Bill Hall
Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 1h
Amble (Northumberland) Council By-Election Result: 🌹 LAB: 38.8% (+0.4) ➡️ RFM: 33.5% (-10.9) 🌳 CON: 21.0% (+3.8) ◼️ RES: 6.7% (New) Labour GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2025.
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Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 1h
Hirst (Northumberland) Council By-Election Result: 🌹 LAB: 50.1% (+7.0) ➡️ RFM: 30.0% (-20.0) ◼️ RES: 10.3% (New) 🌳 CON: 4.1% (-2.8) 🔶 LDM: 3.9% (New) 🙋 Ind: 1.6% (New) Labour GAIN from Reform UK. Changes w/ 2025.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 1h
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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Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 8h
Excellent news. The good thing is that Palantir isn’t unique and there are many options, all of which will save the taxpayer money. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Andy Burnham searches for UK alternative to Palantir
Prime minister’s ‘Buy British’ push triggers hunt to find replacement for controversial US tech group awarded health service and defence contracts
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 4h
"It is hard enough to be a carer for your own loved ones. The tenderness I dispensed to my mother, came from a battery she had charged with five decades of love. Being able to muster the energy and patience it takes to care for a complete stranger... Well, it's magical. It's a sort of superpower."
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Decided to repost this daily to underline what people - in that case a kid - mean when they say 'let them drown'.
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Tim White @twmcltd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The air raid warning was lifted in Kyiv about 20 minutes ago. But not before Russia had hit another school during study hours. Here we see the consequences on vul. Vidradnomu in Solomianskyi district. Kids were in the shelter, no injuries are reported. #RussiaIsATerroristState
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Tim White @twmcltd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is Tim, back with you for the 1,681st time with a daily thread, covering all the big news about Ukraine, in one handy thread. Fact checked and analysed, and never missed a day, from someone who stood on Maidan in 2013-14. Day 1681 - let's go!
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 15h
Imagine four of the most frighteningly irresponsible people in America deciding how AI will be put to use in the most frighteningly irresponsible way. Well, no need to imagine it — because it's happening now. Some thoughts... robertreich.substack.com/p/autowar
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Dan Miller @dan--miller.bsky.social · 15h
Not even The Onion could make this up: Before deciding whether to intervene in Venezuela, Trump reportedly spent hours consulting an AI chatbot about how Venezuelans would react to his plan to invade the country and overthrow Maduro.
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Essence of RBG 🦋 @rbgprevails.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Every horrendous villain movie come to life!
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Peter Smith @redpeter99.bsky.social · 18h
I'll remember Esther Rantzen for an interview printed in a magazine I read in the dentist's. She was talking about grief and loneliness after the death of her husband. Her comment that she had plenty of people to do something with but now had no-one to do nothing with struck me as really profound.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
South West Water pleaded guilty to sewage dumping, fined £8m, a decade after the events. Yet govt introduced more deregulation. England's water industry controlled by organisations with criminal convictions. None has licence revoked. No exec prosecuted. Customers fleeced.
bbc.co.uk
South West Water fined almost £8m for sewage spills
South West Water previously entered guilty pleas to pollution offences spanning six years.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17h
Trump and Ronny Jackson have a chuckle about the botched execution in Tennessee: "The medication didn't exactly work. He [Jackson] would answer it better than anybody. How does that happen? It shouldn't be very difficult."
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“A pattern has been established since Trump entered the White House for his second term that indicates a strategy to cripple how the US operates to such a degree that whoever comes next will find it impossible to repair.”
chadbourn.substack.com
Scorched Earth
How Trump plans to break America so it can’t be repaired
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 20h
No wonder Tom voted for Brexit, he thinks Britain is 3,500 miles west of Europe.
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Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 22h
Westminster Voting Intention: LAB: 27% (+3) RFM: 23% (=) CON: 17% (-2) GRN: 12% (-1) LDM: 9% (-3) SNP: 3% (+1) Via @findoutnow.bsky.social, 30 Sep. Changes w/ 23 Sep.
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Ariel J. Blocker @drugdesigns.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
Ukraine persists with Russian oil refinery strikes in defiance of Trump
US president blames attacks for driving up fuel prices before midterms, though analysts say his Iran war is main cause
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Ian Duhig @ianduhig.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Woman walks into a Hull hairdresser and asks for a perm. Certainly, he replies: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' #NationalPoetryDay
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Mark Lawson @marklawsonkernow.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There is a solution to the current cost of living crises – the removal of Trump, Netanyahu and Putin. Three elderly men clinging to power and greed, making millions and millions of lives far worse and blowing up the world economy. If the CIA, so loved by conspiracy theorists were any good…
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 01/10/2026
Ugh. Something else nobody asked for. Most folks just want their passports as quickly as possible, at a reasonable cost, and without Trump’s image soiling it for the next 10 years.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 01/10/2026
French President Emmanuel Macron: "If the British want to come back and if the Prime Minister is moving in that direction, I think that is very good news, both for his country and for the Europeans." ♥️
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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"The brutal truth is that leaving the EU was the biggest act of economic and geopolitical self-harm in our country’s history. Rejoining is the only viable path to long-term prosperity and security. Anything less will fail to undo the severe damage that’s been done"
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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sadiq Khan: "Our party must immediately start making the case for rejoining the EU, so we can fight and win a general election with EU membership effectively on the ballot paper in 2029." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Burnham is right that ‘hope comes from honesty’. That’s why Labour must make the case for rejoining the EU | Sadiq Khan
Brexit was a disastrous act of national self-harm. Britain needs EU membership to bring growth and security in an increasingly volatile world, says London mayor Sadiq Khan
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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Great to chat through the options on @lbc.co.uk with @benkentish.bsky.social
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Mark E Thomas FB99% FBPE @mrmarkethomas.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Poor Sir Simon. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 'remarkable national recovery' he refers to is a myth. The 1980s was when our national decline started. I wonder where he gets his information? 99-percent.org/back-to-the-...
A post suggesting that the 1980s saw a national recovery from the previous period -- entirely inconsistent with the facts.
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Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This quote (thank you Bettina) is the essence of why I so admired Burnham’s speech. No one is denying it’s going to be incredibly hard to deliver on his agenda, but the UK will never tackle its problems effectively, if it’s not able to discuss them honestly - on the EU and much else besides.
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Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: Burnham - Straight From The Heart Join the gang as they discuss: 🌹The big speech 💬 Fave parts of other speeches 🇪🇺The EU love in ☑️ Dare we dream of PR now? 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q... 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/2QVs...
podcasts.apple.com
Burnham: Straight fom the heart
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 1 October · 1hr 2min
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“It's a bold strategy. It forces opponents to make a similarly big offer or they look irrelevant. An offer which I don't think they have the ideological hinterland or intellectual capacity to make. They will end up getting into massive trouble, if they try to match Burnham's policy size and scope.”
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Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW: How does Burnham’s conference speech land with voters when they see it it? In short, very well it seems. A thread on some new video testing of the PM’s speech among voters by @persuasionuk.bsky.social Top line findings and some caveats below! 🧵👇
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Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
First finding: all clips we tested raised Burnham’s NET favorables by a lot, essentially doubling them. But the public control/ownership themes in particular really smashed it. This is, once again, Burnham’s best performing bit imo. See it consistently in qual and quant.
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Gavin Esler @gavinesler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I do wonder what some politicians are scared of ….
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Ariel J. Blocker @drugdesigns.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
MI5 China alert will send chill through UK’s cash-strapped universities
Institutions have for years turned to China for funding opportunities but national security concerns are mounting
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Will it actually make any difference if Democrats take control of Congress after the midterms? Historian and expert on authoritarianism Timothy Snyder shares his thoughts.
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Latest US update, covering health, science and immigration youtu.be/CizHKNOvaMM
youtu.be
Spotlight on health, science and immigration: 3 weeks in the US
YouTube video by Professor Christina Pagel
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Andy Burnham has broken the taboo on prime ministers being open to the UK rejoining the EU. It's a really important moment for our country. The inescapable truth is that the UK cannot achieve decent growth and fund the public services the public demands without EU alignment.
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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Sausages every where.
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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I know this sounds like a lefty saying "tax things, all the time," but nothing like AI has happened before. The societal change will be extreme, and we have to plan. And a single datacentre releases equivalent CO2 of 17000 flights to the USA, on a planet already boiling.
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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just tax the compute. Datacentre? Cool. Fund your own power generation and water reservoirs, and then pay tax for every computational act your datacentre does. And we'll use the tax income to offset societal and job damage. Overnight, AI becomes something AI giants are desperate to restrict.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 30/09/2026
At this point I would honestly prefer that the UK authorities said nothing on this than they kept dribbling out cryptic clues like it's a murder mystery evening. "What if I told you one of them rang 999 himself?" "We've bailed them, but it's still Iran, what might that mean?" Not. Helpful.
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 30/09/2026
⚡️ Russia strikes Ukrainian power pylon with steel-cutting drone for 1st time, Zelensky's adviser says. The warhead was designed to destroy high-voltage pylons and steel bridges and contains a 40-kilogram main charge and four additional destructive modules, Serhii Beskrestnov said.
kyivindependent.com
Russia strikes Ukrainian power pylon with steel-cutting drone for 1st time, Zelensky's adviser says
The warhead was designed to destroy high-voltage pylons and steel bridges and contains a 40-kilogram main charge and four additional destructive modules, Serhii Beskrestnov said.
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 30/09/2026
As Russia deploys increasing numbers of jet-powered Shahed drones against Ukraine, European defense companies are racing to develop new systems that can intercept them at scale. But can Europe keep up with Russia’s rapidly changing drone technology?
youtube.com
Is Europe prepared for a drone war with Russia?
YouTube video by Kyiv Independent
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Richest 1% of Britons owns more wealth than the bottom 70% of the population combined. 50 richest families hold more wealth than the poorest half of the population combined. The concentration of wealth in fewer hands has not provided the necessary economic stimulus. Need redistribution.
leftfootforward.org
This is how the Chancellor can increase the personal allowance and lift millions out of hardship
Sustained economic growth can’t be achieved without a major boost to the purchasing power of the bottom 50% of the population
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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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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
(FT) - Diesel prices will not return to normal for more than a year, according to US oil and gas executives surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. @financialtimes.com $CRAK www.ft.com/content/0d74...
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flopiflo.bsky.social @flopiflo.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
bsky.app/profile/us.t...
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The i Paper @theipaper.com · 30/09/2026
EXCLUSIVE | Sadiq Khan has warned that foreign actors are using social media to spread “lies” about London and sow “division and discord”. Read more: trib.al/GJiCh08
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 30/09/2026
The Trump administration will end U.S. global health funding to Zimbabwe, including support for efforts to fight HIV and other infectious diseases, after the government in Harare rejected D.C.’s attempts to strike an “America First” foreign aid agreement.
washingtonpost.com
U.S. ends health aid to Zimbabwe after ‘America First’ deal is spurned
The African nation refused to make an agreement with the Trump administration, which has sought to slash foreign assistance and impose new terms on recipients.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🇺🇸 US TRAVEL ASSOCIATION: “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation. It’s mind-boggling.” The Trump effect. 🤷🏼 www.semafor.com/article/09/2...
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
President Macron, "Welcome back" "If, indeed, the British want to return, and if the Prime Minister is moving in that direction, I think that is very good news both for his country and for Europeans."
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