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basilcat2.bsky.social

@basilcat2.bsky.social
24 followers 44 following 25 posts

Retired but still busy, long suffering Man Utd fan, okapi lover.

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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Its not only the pay out but the peerage too with all its financial benefits and entitlements.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Someone should give him a peerage. You only get paid when you show up and you can't be the PM.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Two coastal options: Orford, Suffolk. Or Cley Next The Sea, Norfolk.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I’ve lost track of all the mad and bad things that Reform’s Makerfield candidate has said. From misogyny to absurd conspiracy theories and pro-Russia propaganda. What’s amazing is this is their top candidate. The guy they have chosen to fight the biggest by-election in living memory. This guy.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Turned on the Today programme for perhaps the first time this year. Instantly presented with three minutes of Chris Mason: glib, inane, uninformative, utterly banal. Turned it off again.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Govt departments generally work better when there is political stability at the top. One of the few things Cameron got right.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
All will be revealed tomorrow.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Hope you went inside the Bundestag building. Incredible.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Animals on money? Perish the thought that patriotic British people would ever countenance such a thing.
Old farthing with bird on it
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Massive humiliation for Farage, who tipped off the UK press that he was flying to Florida to have dinner with Trump... only for Trump to decide he had more interesting things to do when Nigel arrived.
But, rather than receiving a formal
invite to meet Trump, Farage was in
fact invited to Mar-a-Lago by a
member of the club, according to
multiple people briefed on the matter


They said Farage had hoped he would
be able to catch Trump for a
conversation as the US president was
scheduled to travel to Mar-a-Lago that
evening. However, Trump had a
change in his itinerary and decided to
stay instead in Doral, about an hour`s
drive away


The Reform leader's failure to secure
an audience with the US president
underscores a weakening of ties
between the two populist leaders who
famously formed a close friendship in
the vears before and after the 2016
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
The MOD took the findings of the 2016 Iraq Inquiry very seriously and rightly so. The top military will want to ensure there is no repeat of the Iraq debacle.
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The News Agents @thenewsagents.co.uk · 03/03/2026
“For all we know, we could be in the middle of Keir Starmer’s finest hour”. Starmer’s critics say he is imperiling the UK’s special relationship with the US... But is it Donald Trump who's doing the damage?
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
We are watching the steady erosion of an impartial civil service. The rot started when Johnson was in charge. Starmer has learnt nothing.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
just billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe throwing out some serious made-up numbers on TV
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
What is so worrying this second term is that no one around him is prepared to challenge in private or even gently correct him.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, couldn't agree more.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
He will be renaming the days of the week after his family next.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Someone needs to tell Farage and his Reform mates that the UK aid budget now amounts to diddly squat. Cuts by the Tories and now Labour who have diverted funds to the defence budget, with 20% of what's left being spent on accommodation for asylum seekers, doesn't leave a lot.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Farage at school by those who knew him best: www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
Andy Field, 61, an NHS doctor who said he
knew Farage well because they took the
same train to school, has similarly clear
memories.


"When I became a prefect, he [Farage] said,
Tll show you how to do it,' claimed Field,.
"He took me for a walk up to the lower
school playground, where all the children
from about nine years old to 12 would be.
And he singled out, completely at random, a
kid of Asian extraction, and just put him in
detention for no reason whatsoever. I was
flabbergasted, absolutely stunned. I was just
disgusted, really. No rhyme or reason, just
purely based on the colour of his skin.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Next time someone tells you that train drivers "just push buttons" show them this from the BBC
The driver "managed to contact the control
centre at Network Rail and get the train
diverted onto the slow line", Calder says.


"That was absolutely crucial because this
train was scheduled to be travelling through
Huntingdon station on the tracks with no
platform at 125mph."


"It didn't stop in the middle of nowhere,
which would have been very difficult."


Calder thinks this was handled in the "safest
possible way" thanks to the "incredible
professionalism from the driver and the
police". Train drivers are trained on how to
take appropriate action, he adds,
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
In "Legitimate Concerns" news. 41% of the 899 arrested for taking part in Farage Riots last year had been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence. For those arrested by one police force, this figure was 68%. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
Two in five arrested for last summer’s UK riots had been reported for domestic abuse
Police data indicates overlaps between public violent disorder and domestic violence and abuse
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
This
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Spot on. I am old enough to remember when the voting age went down to 18. Hell didn't freeze over then and it won't now. It might also shake up the political debate during elections which is long overdue.
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Larry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Give the public what they want! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
What happens when a political agenda takes over any semblance of journalistic standards Telegraph admits its story about private school family not being able to go on five holidays was complete nonsense and not remotely fact-checked Beyond embarrassing www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/the-t...
telegraph.co.uk
An apology
On May 25 we published an online article “We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays” which included stock photographs and not, as the art...
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
Johnson's old preparatory school closed in 2021 due to a steady fall in demand, accelerated by the pandemic. Just saying.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
I bet Truss is still a member.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
In amongst all the excitement I fear many have missed this outstanding bit of trolling by Friedrich Merz. The Chancellor gifted Trump a gilded framed copy of his grandfather’s German birth certificate... reminding Americans that Trump is both the child and grandchild of migrants.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Do some Tories seriously want him back as leader?
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
I can only think that Starmer and those around him have no direct or recent experience of care/nursing homes and the work of so many amazing care workers who are mostly from overseas. If they do have experience then they are utterly spineless and heartless too.
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
I am getting increasingly frustrated by Labour bigwigs speechifying about how the world has changed and we need to be bold and then... not being bold
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Rory Cellan-Jones @rorycj.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p... Has the US really sent Ukraine $350 billion for its war? In less than 5 minutes @timharford.ft.com calmly demolishes Trump’s big lie
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - More or Less: Behind the Stats, Defence Spending, Rare Earths and Trunk Truths
The numbers behind Ukraine’s rare earth worth and the UK’s defence spending ambitions
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
I think it was to force him to resign so they can all install their puppet.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Am really hoping that King Charles will pay a visit to Canada once they have their new leadership in place. Or William and Kate. Might just make Trump belt up about the place.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
❗❗❗ former leader of Reform UK in Wales has appeared in court accused of accepting bribes in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament that would benefit Russia, a court has heard www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Ex-Reform UK Wales leader accused of taking Russian bribes
The ex-MEP and former UKIP Wales leader made favourable statements about Russia for money, a court hears.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
former Tory chief whip Simon Hart on the party’s current leader
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
This is a replay of how the Trump administration handled the Afghanistan peace talks. Afghan government had no say and look how that ended.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
This was always the plan. Netanyahu just had to hang on until Trump was back at White House. Trump withdrew from UN Human Rights Council today and has already stopped US aid. Gazans will be forced out shortly on spurious safety grounds, then Kushner and his mates will move in.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Then he should release all his tax documents too.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
This was all carefully planned by Tories to ensure a rapid return to power.
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basilcat2.bsky.social @basilcat2.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Is this a parody?
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
If the right wing press and their Tory allies want to go after politicians' cvs, then why didn't they go after Iain Duncan Smith when he was the actual party leader?
The many fibs on IDS CV
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