Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 19/09/2026As Russian attacks across Europe increase, when exactly is NATO going to wake up to the threat? 021
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 08/08/2026They are plotting something... #InternationalCatDay 051
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 08/08/20261. e4?? c6!! and white is lost. #chesspunks 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 28/07/2026Not a bad accuracy score in that game. What do you reckon Kramnik? #chesspunks 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Got to love those games where you learn from your blunders but also get a win. My opponent resigned here, thinking their queen was lost. Can you spot their winning move (which I also missed in my calculations)? #chesspunks 140
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Andy Burnham has said he supports Proportional Representation, devolving power and rejoining the EU. If he follows through he'll be a great Liberal Democrat Prime Minister. 130
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Proud to make my maiden speech as a Councillor for Abbey Ward.youtu.beCouncil, 15 July 2026 6.00pmYouTube video by Merton Council 001
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Rule No. 17: "Bishops are better than knights in an endgame with pawns on both sides of the board." #chesspunks 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Me: "That was a great victory. Stockfish, show me how well I played." Stockfish: "You suck" #chesspunks 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 05/07/2026I beat the easiest bot on chess.com! Ok, not the greatest achievement in the world, except I played it blindfold. #chesspunks 120
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 03/07/2026One of my best games in a while I think - lichess.org/TnZpyHb1ubRf #chesspunks 010
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 13/06/2026How it started (2018) - How it's going (2026) 041
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 10/06/2026All the AI talk seems to suggest that, once an AI system becomes capable of producing a better version of itself, it will result in exponential growth in machine intelligence. I think a more likely scenario is that it rapidly approaches a limit based on the available quality of training data. 320
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 24/05/2026It seems to me we could avoid the whole Labour leadership contest if Keir Starmer could just manage a decent Northern accent. 151
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 14/05/2026Every British Prime Minister gets a statue in Westminster. I think they're going to need to open a new wing for them all soon. 010
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 10/05/2026How perverse is an electoral system which sees Labour's vote fall 28% but they end up with a seat more than last time? No wonder the country is losing faith in the political system when results bear little relevance to votes. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 10/05/2026One thing the LibDems and Reform agree on is that politics is broken. The difference is that the LibDems believe the solution is to give power back to the people, moving power from Westminster to local groups and politicians. Reform believe the answer is to give all the power to one strong Leader. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 14/04/2026It's not 2022 any more. Ukraine now has an army bigger than Britain, France and Germany combined. And their army is one of only two experienced in modern warfare. We need European alliance and we need Ukraine in it.youtube.comUkraine's role in European securityYouTube video by Anders Puck Nielsen 000
Reposted by Cllr Barry Smith 🔶🔶 South Wimbledon (Abbey Ward) LibDems 🔶 @libabbey.bsky.social · 10/04/2026All we need to update from four years ago is the election date. Vote for the team that's committed to serving South Wimbledon for the long-term. 021
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 10/04/2026There is an alternate reality where Ukraine surrendered to a Russian occupation then, when Orban lost the Hungarian election he invited Russian troops from Ukraine to occupy Hungary to overturn the result. Ukraine is the barrier keeping the Russians out of Europe. 010
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Ukraine is paying commercial companies on the basis of how many Russian drones they destroy. This has become, quite literally, a war of capitalism versus state managed economy. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 03/04/2026Another by-election - another victory for the LibDems over Reform. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 02/04/2026The Reform spokesman who said 'fires happen' has been fired.independent.co.ukReform sack housing spokesman over ‘deeply dehumanising’ Grenfell commentsSimon Dudley said ‘everyone dies’ and claimed ‘the pendulum has swung too far’ on building safety regulations 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 02/04/2026The USA is not about to leave NATO and abandon all these military bases. 100
Reposted by Cllr Barry Smith 🔶Wimbledon & Merton Lib Dems 🔶 @mertonlibdems.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Meet your ward team for Abbey! You can find out more about Klaar, Barry & John, and their priorities for the community, here: www.mertonlibdems.org.uk/abbey 053
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Right now there are only two countries which know how to fight modern warfare - Ukraine and Russia. If Russia wins this war, and conscripts Ukraine's forces, they will be the only country experienced in modern war and no European country would be ready to resist. Ukraine is Europe's war. 020
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 31/03/2026Interesting analysis from the New Statesman - the Green Party is not really much of a green party any more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTpW...youtube.comHow green are the Green party? | UK Politics | The New StatesmanYouTube video by The New Statesman 011
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Since the launch of Sora every day is April 1st on the internet. 010
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 20/03/2026A recent US study put the damage of Brexit at 6-8% of GDP. Even at the lower figure we could increase the NHS budget by 20%, double defence spending and still give everyone in the country a tax cut. Brexit has failed, time to rejoin. 03525
Reposted by Cllr Barry Smith 🔶Terry Weldon @terryweldon.bsky.social · 18/03/2026Local by-election results continue to show that the real fight is between Reform and Liberal Democrats. 011
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 09/03/2026One of the biggest factors holding back British productivity is a lack of capital available for investment, and Farage thinks he doing something good by freezing money in Bitcoin which produces nothing and does nothing. God help us if he ever runs the economy. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...independent.co.ukNigel Farage takes significant stake in Kwasi Kwarteng’s Bitcoin companyFarage’s investment in crypto company Stack, headed by executive chairman Kwasi Kwarteng, comes after Labour asked the Electoral Commission to investigate crypto donations to Reform UK 020
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 09/03/2026I've just seen Reform's local election leaflets. It's all immigration and net zero - stuff local authorities have no control over. I pity any area that elects people who have no interest in running local services to their Council. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 06/03/2026Just watched the Newsnight interview with Zack Polanski. Even when he's being pushed to talk about climate issues he isn't interested. He only wants to talk about his unworkable populist economics. It's clear the Green party is no longer a green party under his leadership. 111
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 27/02/2026We can't read too much into one by-election, but it is further evidence that Labour's electoral coalition has shattered. Parties don't win under FPTP by representing a narrow group, but Starmer has purged the left from Labour, and a significant proportion of Labour's vote has gone with it. 121
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 27/02/2026Frankly, British politics is in a very worrying place. Both sides are being seduced by populists who offer no real solutions, but just badly thought out ideas which will make things even worse. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 27/02/2026Zack Polanski (real name David Paulden) is just a Boris Johnson (real name Alexander de Pfeffel) of the left. He's a character invented by a man whose only goal is self advancement. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 25/02/2026A garden snail could cross the entire width of Ukraine from the Russian border near Luhansk to Slovakia in around 3 years. A pace Vladimir Putin can only watch with envy. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 22/02/2026It's been pointed out that Russia now cannot stop the war without crashing their economy. Less often mentioned is that the USA has pretty much the same problem with AI datacentre construction. 021
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 20/02/2026This stuff about A1-B1 lines indicating future Bitcoin pricing is such garbage. You can find patterns in any finite amount of random data but that pattern will not continue. Just get out of #Bitcoin - save your money and save the climate. 110
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 20/02/2026At a screening of 'Melania' the other day half the audience walked out. British Airways said they won't be showing the film again. 010
Reposted by Cllr Barry Smith 🔶Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 18/02/2026Fascinating - Reform lose to every other option, Lib Dems beat every other option, Greens beat every other option except Lib Dem 2117187
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 30/01/2026It's clear that the only home for One Nation Tories is now the LibDems. 193
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 25/01/2026The parallel between Hitler's rise in Germany and what is currently happening in the United States is undeniable. I'd advise reading these two books to understand how fascism takes over a society. It might be too late for America but we need to stop this in Europe. 000
Cllr Barry Smith 🔶 @barrysw19.bsky.social · 25/01/2026This guy in his 20s is doing better journalism on Ukraine and the Trump regime than the whole of Bloomberg. @caolanrob.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlMT...youtube.comThis week Europe changed forever YouTube video by Caolan Robertson 001