iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

He added: “We will continue depriving Russia of the ability to continue this war”

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Andrew Cutting @andrewcutting.coe.int · 5h

“Swiss scientists warn of a rapid loss of ice in the Rhone glacier, caused by heatwaves and a dry winter. It’s the second largest deglaciation recorded in Switzerland”

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

Interesting: “Raise the Colours” are citing the European Convention on Human Rights in defence of their flag-raising campaign👇 🔗 www.bbc.com/news/article... via www.bbc.com The ECHR protects us all.

bbc.com

Raise the Colours' members in court for Birmingham injunction evidence

Birmingham City Council is seeking an injunction to stop the Raise The Colours group's activities.

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The Ukrainian Review @theukrainianreview.bsky.social · 5h

🇺🇦 Zelensky: In Kyiv, rescuers and all necessary services are working at the site of Russian “shahed” hitting a regular school. Children and teachers were in shelters during alarm. There was a fire on the third floor of the school, a wall was partially destroyed, windows and doors were damaged.

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Sadik Al-Hassan MP @sadikal-hassanmp.bsky.social · 5h

“If the British want to come back and if their Prime Minister is moving in that direction, that is very good news both for his country and for Europeans," Macron added at a news conference in Madrid. "Come back!” he added, standing alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

After dealing with multiple ongoing empty property cases alongside North Somerset Council, in March, I wrote an article about the 750 vacant properties we have in our community. This is a moral stain when so many families and people are homeless or in temporary accommodation.

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Among the proposals: •Bringing back prayers or national anthem at council meetings, •switching financial support for ‘events linked to other cultures’ towards ‘Christian/English events’, •ending spending on ‘damaging Net Zero and EDI programmes’ So, petty & pathetic culture war issues.

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The same happened in Feb 1971 in UK with decimalisation. But we “kept the Pound”. Transitioning to the Euro would be a different matter I think. Experts say to rejoin the UK would need to commit to joining the Eurozone at some point. Other experts deny this. Hard to identify fact from distortion!

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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 5h

The PP Madrid Community Mayor Ayuso, announces that Madrid will ask for emergency measures at court so that the Puerta del Sol campsite is evicted.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

No one expected the American Inquisition

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 5h

Great idea. Imagine: care leavers struggling to adjust to life without family support, youngsters struggling with mental health issues: You’re Getting No Benefits Help Till You Get A Job - and once you do you won’t need it as you’ll get paid.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

Seeing the ever-increasing number of exploitative AI emails I & every other author seem to get now from fake editors & fake book clubs, I wonder where all this all will end. Perhaps, eventually, at a society where we distrust *everything* that comes at us online & trust only the three dimensional?

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Alex M @thealexm.bsky.social · 6h

Just think, there were photos of stolen top secret files in boxes in the bathroom of Mar-a-lago, there were recordings of Trump asking a Governor to find more votes and yet he was not arrested in 4 years of a Democrat Government. He was then allowed to run for President again.

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“Russia conducted a massive combined drone and missile strike against Ukraine on the night of September 29/30, primarily targeting energy infrastructure in Kyiv City and marking the beginning of Russia's strike campaign aimed at degrading Ukraine’s energy security ahead of Winter 2026-2027”

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“Today Trump took credit for ending US engagement in Iraq, complaining it was ‘very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire’. Yet the USA is in its eighth month of a war on Iran that he began with the same cowboy mentality as Bush in 2003”

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“Saddam was out of reach until 9/11, when neocons saw al-Qaeda’s attack as an opportunity to “hit” Saddam Hussein, who was not even involved in the attack. The terrorists—15 from Saudi Arabia, 2 from United Arab Emirates, 1 from Lebanon, & 1 from Egypt—operated out of Afghanistan”

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~ In 2024, when Biden agreed to withdraw from Iraq, Iran appeared to be on the ropes, with its regime isolated from neighbouring countries and labouring under sanctions and increasing public unrest. Now, Trump’s regime and illegal war on Iran has strengthened Iran’s hand in the region ~

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Rob @navarthian.bsky.social · 23h

“After more than two decades, the deaths of more than 200,000 Iraqi civilians and 4,500 U.S. troops, the wounding of more than 30,000 U.S. military personnel, and a cost of more than $2.8 trillion, the last of US military forces in Iraq pulled out of Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq”

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

6 seats, or something, is hardly winning under FPTP! and all the recent discussions of tactical voting indicate they'll still do far better under any PR system. The question is are they too smug and arrogant to realise and take the MRP polling high numbers of seats at face value?

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

Paula Surridge @psurridge.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The interesting question is what Reform do. Electoral reform was in their 2024 manifesto before they topped polls and started winning under FPTP.

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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnham's speech marks perhaps the best opportunity to replace First Past the Post since 1918. I joined @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social & @lucyfisher.ft.com recently on "The Long View" to explore the history of electoral reform in Britain - & the lessons we might learn. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4 - The Long View, Electoral reform

Jonathan Freedland takes the long view of electoral reform.

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Joe Egerton @joeegg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As the Labour Conference winds down, our eyes turn to the Holborn & St Pancras byelection. Only the Almighty knows who will win and he does not post; but we can work out the impact of possible scenarios jegerton.substack.com/p/the-signif...

jegerton.substack.com

The significance of Holborn & St Pancras

We do not know who will win the Holborn and St Pancras byelection but the outcome has the potential to shape our politics for years to come.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As Joe points out, "The Conservative Party has become disastrously dependent on the votes of the over 60s." I'm sure they won't make that mistake going forward. Oh, hang on...

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

Joe Egerton @joeegg.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In the case of Holborn & St Pancras not only will it - as FT article says - tell us something about Labour v Green in the left block but Reform v Conservative as the fight for the London Mayoralty starts jegerton.substack.com/p/the-signif...

jegerton.substack.com

The significance of Holborn & St Pancras

We do not know who will win the Holborn and St Pancras byelection but the outcome has the potential to shape our politics for years to come.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Love this. Confess I had measles and mumps and rubella. Oh, and shingles. But that was because there wasn't a vaccine back in the day.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

ANOTHER ADD (for completeness) There were 3 years in the last 15 where inflation and earnings growth were below 2.5% so the triple lock kicked in, meaning the state pension grew by 2.5% when otherwise it would have increased by less

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

ADD @theifs.bsky.social have actually modelled what would have happened since 2010 if the new proposed system had been in place - as you can see, growth in the state pension would have been closer to growth in earnings over that time ifs.org.uk/articles/how...

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

...How would the Andy Burham proposal change this? It's complicated because the annual uprating formula would keep an arbitrary 2.5% floor. But probably the simplest way to think about it is that - over the longer term - growth in the state pension would be closer to growth in average earnings 5/5

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

...Put those together and the result is that over 15 years the triple lock has pushed up the state pension in cash terms by more than growth in average earnings and more than the increase in prices...4/5

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

...Second, think about how the state pension has grown relative to inflation. In 10 of the past 15 years it's gone up by more than inflation because of the triple lock...3/5

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...First think about how the state pension has grown relative to earnings. In 7 of the past 15 years it's gone up by more than earnings because of the triple lock...2/5

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Thinking about the impact of the triple lock on the state pension can be confusing as there's a number of interacting moving parts (earnings, inflation, 2.5%). 🤷‍♂️❓ But here's a visualisation that hopefully might help...1/5

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“When you open the fridge and find fifteen unopened blocks of cheddar, as many of them green and mouldy as fresh and yellow, then you know there’s a problem…”

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Says it all, does it not? The appalling tardiness, not to say rank incompetence, of the British criminal justice system.

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Reposted by Chris Rivers

🔴 We asked Tony Blair's think tank about charging businesses £500k for political access at party conferences and why one of its sponsor's logos disappeared after our reporting last week on TBI's alleged cash for access scheme This is what they said

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 16h

Never has a man been such an embodiment of wearing brown shoes.

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Brilliant Maps @brilliantmaps.bsky.social · 15h

This 2000 CIA Arctic Region map depicts the strategic geography of the Arctic Region at the beginning of the twenty-first century, emphasizing climate boundaries, sea ice extent, and the proximity of the world’s major Arctic powers. More Declassified 2000s CIA Maps: brilliantmaps.com/cia-maps-...

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Boost to Chancellor John Healey as UK economy grows faster than expected

Under Labour, GDP increased by 0.5% in Qtr 2 between April and June. It follows growth of 0.6% in Qtr 1 between Jan and March. The UK was the fastest growing economy among the G7 group of countries in the first half of the year. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

mirror.co.uk

Official data shows the economy grew by 0.5% in the second quarter of this year but experts predict a slowdown

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“ … and most British homes plugged into the network for their heat, while the power grid began to rely on gas power stations as coal was edged out by new climate laws. But as domestic gas reserves began to run out, the UK became more import-dependent”

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“Since the boom years of North Sea oil and gas turned to decline two decades ago, the U.K. has sleepwalked into dependence on energy sources over which it has no control. The early days of North Sea energy saw successive governments bet big on gas….

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