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Annoné Butler

@bookishwgc.bsky.social
1.3K followers 2.1K following 1.1K posts

Retired Government lawyer; reader of books; Opera aficionado; fair weather gardener; still practising Tai Chi Ch’uan. Toujours Européen.

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Reposted by Annoné Butler
Alan Stedman @alanjstedman.bsky.social · 15h
If anything screams, 'we are the party that doesn't care' this is it This nihilist approach to our environment stinks and in the true sense of nihilism suggests the Tory party has lost its way on beliefs and values...but I think we probably knew that already 🫤 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tories to pledge to scrap Environment Agency and Natural England
Shadow chancellor will also promise to scrap affordable homes regulations as part of strategy to refocus on growth
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 14h
The pitch here seems to be, ‘we’ll build the houses and infrastructure we failed to build during the 14 years we were in government, but we’ll do it in the most damaging and lowest quality way possible’. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tories to pledge to scrap Environment Agency and Natural England
Shadow chancellor will also promise to scrap affordable homes regulations as part of strategy to refocus on growth
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 14h
England's water infrastructure at breaking point. Large part of water network installed 130-150 years ago. Thames Water infrastructure has average age of 79 years; industry average 56 yrs. 40% of TW assets are 100+ yrs old. Must end privatisation, remove profit motive.
standard.co.uk
MP says London water network is 'at breaking point' with two incidents in a week
London MP Paul Kohler said the two incidents highlighted the poor state of the region's water infrastructure
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Another political economy tour de force from @nixonsimon.bsky.social. Long read, but well worth taking the time.
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Cassia Rowland @cassiarowland.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Plans for judge-only trials have been axed. This is positive: these would have put justice at risk for small time savings. But contrary to reporting, the government is still proposing to substantially restrict jury trials — by around a third! Here’s how and why it matters 🧵
Screenshot from BBC News website, showing a headline reading ‘Burnham scraps controversial plans to curb jury trials’
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Goldstein (still not a pseudonym) @goldstein.latinsky.app · 03/10/2026
How many local models do you run?

Pope Leo XIV
@Pontif... 17h
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In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack th Show more
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Spectro
@Spectromachina
X.com
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Pope, would you please shut the fuck up about matters you do not understand? You're not an Ai influencer, no one elected you, and you have absolutely no weight in this debate and you're being used as a mouthpiece to sway public opinion. how many local models do you run?
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Nick Garland @npjgarland.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
As the disappointingly agnostic son of a C of E vicar, I’m not sure anything could ever make me feel more Christian than the double-header of this absolute madness and the racist right’s attempted co-option of the Anglican Church
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Terrific by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social, looking back at Labour conference and the challenge it poses for Kemi Badenoch at hers:
ft.com
Burnham’s wake-up call to the right
Those who oppose big-state socialism have never been more in need of a strong Conservative Party and rarely further from having one
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They should come on Bluesky and get most of the FT for free
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Dinah Rose KC @dinahrose.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's one thing to plant trees - but how can we keep them alive in these days of drought?
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A very good start. The unions should make clear that there should be no retrospection - any changes to settlement should only apply to new arrivals. inews.co.uk/news/politic...
inews.co.uk
How migration reforms could be watered down - as Mahmood plans talks on concessions
The Home Secretary is weighing up how to soften indefinite leave to remain changes
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is what consistently leaves this country stuck & broken in the most basic ways
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
ICYMI: This morning on Radio 4's Today programme, Andy Burnham confirmed joining the EU customs union, single market membership and full rejoining are all on the table, and said "we could go all the way" (after the next election)
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Reform UK's Suella Braverman promises ‘consequences’ if pupils don’t sing Christian hymns. That would be policed. So what happens to atheists, agnostics, non-believers and other religious denominations. Will they be persecuted, imprisoned? Reform UK getting desperate and bizarre.
humanists.uk
Reform UK Braverman promises 'consequences' if pupils don't sing hymns
Reform UK has said schools will face ‘consequences’ if they fail to make pupils regularly sing hymns and the national anthem under a Reform government. The party’s education spokesperson, Suella Brave...
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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Well, this is depressing for a Monday morning.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Good piece this. I winced at the two people in the piece, both hoping for prices that are miles and miles above what their flat is worth:
ft.com
How London became the property market’s black sheep
Capital’s once-relentless property boom has gone into reverse
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Anti-Reform @antireform.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Most civil servants work in Justice, Home Office, DWP, HMRC & Defence. Cut 224,000 jobs and you cut: prisons, borders, benefits, pensions, tax collection, the armed forces. Then the specialists who keep rivers clean, stop cyber attacks and contain animal disease ..." via Reform Are Not Your Friends
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Good thing that this couldn’t have been predicted almost a year ago <runs bitter victory lap> and the government didn’t just blithely carry on doing the same thing. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/718...
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If only we'd had someone like Chis Philp in government for fourteen years, including being Minister for Immigration...
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Nick B 🔶 @aviarm.com · 27/09/2026
Difficult to know where to start with this, but the logic seems to be that we can't let these essential immigrants feel secure and welcome in this country in case they get better paid jobs....
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Even the GB News presenter is thrown by his guest's suggestion that all asylum seekers be castrated. This is what happens when the narrative marches ever rightwards. It drifts out of everyone's control and requires individuals involved to suddenly realise 'no wait, f***, that's mad'.
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Philippe Auclair @philippeauclair.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Point of view of French immigrant: she absolutely, totally, blindly hates us, and every single thing she does which affects us and our families is marked with the seal of gratuitous cruelty, imposed for no other reason that she wants people to feel pain and "remember their place" as a result.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Mahmood's rationale remains the same. Fewer (legal, working) migrants => less racism Nothing to do with integration. No evidence. I'd add this *doesn't* show she hates immigrants (FTAOD don't think she does). It shows her contempt/distrust/fear of ordinary Brits.
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Simon Cox @simonfrcox.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Home Secretary here, claiming she wants immigrants to integrate while telling them they’ll never be sure what the time frames are to be allowed to integrate. What would be so bad about saying “we will only apply longer timeframes to people who migrate after we introduce them”?
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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"I have nothing against cyclists. I just don’t think it’s OK for some to decide rules are for other people. And I find it baffling that so many cyclists who purport to be law-abiding want to make that argument." Now recorded for posterity in the New Statesman www.newstatesman.com/politics/fut...
newstatesman.com
A lesson in empathy from arguing with cyclists on the internet
The logic seems to be that because some drivers don’t care about their safety, they shouldn’t care about anyone else’s
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Natasha Walter @natashawalter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It’s much much harder now to be an anti racist than it is to be a racist. That’s one of the things I learned from talking to Rachel Marsh, who has been doxxed and abused for standing up to the far right. www.thenerve.news/p/rachel-mar...
thenerve.news
‘I see what’s happening to Rachel; it scares me’: the woman who dared to face down Piddington’s anti-migrant storm
Natasha Walter talks to Rachel Marsh, the resident of the newly ‘independent’ Oxfordshire village whose anti-racist BBC interview led to abuse, doxxing and death threats
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paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I highly recommend that you watch the latest edition of the @newscientist.com The World, The Universe And, Us podcast which is dedicated to El Niño. It's sobering stuff. youtu.be/KxNHlkNuqG0?...
youtu.be
This El Niño Is About To Cause a Global Catastrophe
YouTube video by The World, The Universe And Us
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 25/09/2026
This is incredibly alarming. We cannot go on like this. We need more advocacy for climate action, not just from the environmental movement, but from the political centre.
Screenshot of a Guardian article titled “Huge El Niño projected to cause more than 450,000 deaths by February.” The article, by environment editor Damian Carrington and dated 23 September 2026, says climate scientists estimate that additional heat from a projected strong El Niño could cause more than 450,000 deaths by February, on top of existing climate-crisis-related deaths. It mentions impacts across Indonesia, India, Nigeria and the US, as well as additional deaths from droughts, wildfires and flooding.
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John Hodson @mgcroadster.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If this doesn't draw you in, nothing will... #FilmSky #TheFog
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Paul Marshall @pmarsha11.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A report, published by The Reform linked Think Tank, The Centre for a Better Britain calls for the abolishing of the state pension and £75bn worth of sweeping tax cuts that benefit the wealthy.
theguardian.com
Thinktank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension
‘Radical’ report likely to influence party’s platform also proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains taxes
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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Can anyone explain to me why this article doesn't mention anywhere that small boat crossings are down 42% from last year? That doesn't mean it's not an issue 781 people arrived in one day. But it seems like the sort of context a reputable news source might mention www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
No 'switch' to stop small boats, Lucy Powell tells BBC
Labour's deputy leader was speaking to BBC local radio ahead of the party's annual conference
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Labour, and the country, need a Callaghan moment. Bracing column by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social:
ft.com
You want honesty, Andy? Britain is out of easy options
The prime minister must tell voters that Labour’s manifesto has been superseded by world events, both economic and military
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Miranda Green @greenmirandahere.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
did you see this from Gill Plimmer ? mindblowing www.ft.com/content/e90b...
ft.com
Blow for drought-hit England as opening of new reservoir delayed by 5 years
Concern over water supplies likely to grow as cost of Havant Thicket project more than doubles
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Jonathan Jones @sirjjkc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Quite right too
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Roland Butter @rolandbutter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So "friend of Danny Tommo" Shabana Mahmood is back to blaming the migrants for being migrants, and the coastguard and RNLI for "not doing their jobs"... Apparently we need an "urgent inquiry" as to why they're not being stopped. Sigh... Won't Burnham rid us of this dreadful Home Sec?
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not a dicky bird about thugs trying to sink a dinghy with a rescue worker on board or their claims to be "forming an army". Two boats of people seeking safety land and bingo bango they're the ones portrayed as the issue. Labour is complict in the rise of the far right. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Home Secretary hits out at 'unacceptable' migrant landings in Kent
Usually brought ashore by Border Security Command or the RNLI, these are the first uncontrolled landings since 2025.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 23/09/2026
I think once black clad men are interfering with rescues at sea, we are past "legitimate concerns". Once they're attacking boats, and risking the lives of everyone on board, it's just thuggery. The Home Secretary's statement is on the side of criminals. There's no other way to read it.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
With big thanks to @doctorofmusic.bsky.social, here's my discussion today with Lord Jackson about North Sea oil and gas. Tape your jaw to your face before watching. Really.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The difference between the performance of immigrants in England and Western Europe is staggering. (20 pts equals a year of learning.) I looked at this in detail in the post - it can't be explained away by language or relative advantage of different immigrant communities. There is a policy factor.
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The complete and total collapse of state function in the face of far right extremists. It is frankly ludicrous that Daniel Thomas continues to be at large given the series of crimes committed which he has literally filmed.
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Emma Yeomans @yeomans.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Worrying scenes in the Channel today, for all interested in asylum policy and maritime tactics. A small boat from Normandy spent more than 30 hours at sea. Those on board now on their 2nd rescue vessel as Border Force forced to play cat and mouse with far-right activists who have their own boat.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is so so dark
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Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Wey hey!! Two cheers. Hurrah! I’m almost, but not, quite, mildly excited that something might not be ruled out in a few years time. Way to go, Andy. Bold, bravely ambivalent, solidly ambiguous, resolutely vague leadership, at last. 🙄🙄🙄 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham does not rule out Brexit reversal being in next Labour manifesto
PM says immediate focus is on rebuilding bridges with EU as he prepares for first meeting with Ursula von der Leyen
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Really good piece this:
ft.com
London’s schools are running out of children
Councils want more powers to repurpose buildings and fend off academies
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Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Unsurprisngly good piece from @stephenkb.bsky.social on the Ed Davey's leadership panic. But his opening par is a dream. www.ft.com/content/f309...
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Adrian Littlejohn @yorksfella59.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Two words should be enough... Jamal Khashoggi 😢
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Nick Candy and Holly Valance. Britain’s most expensive house. A £265m sale. Usual consequence: £32m of stamp duty. But five small flats were included in the sale. By an extraordinary happy accident, that cut the tax by £18.5m. The curious sale of Nick Candy’s mansion A 🧵:
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Thérèse @tiggertherese.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The entire planet and its future is being crowded out by techbros and fraudsters.
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Unofficial BBCNews (UK) Bot @bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos to mothball three major chemical sites in Hull
bbc.co.uk
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos to mothball three major chemical sites in Hull
The wholesale price of natural gas has almost doubled in the UK and Europe since July.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I'm on the board of a charity than runs trips to Auschwitz for schoolchildren and it is amazing how some people behave there. Posing for selfies, eating snacks... mindblowing.
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