Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026We need to take back control... From our own treasury Only then will our elected parliament have true sovereignty 000
Reposted by PickyClive Lewis MP @labourlewis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026For too long "Treasury Brain" has prevented governments from pursuing truly transformative agendas. No 10 North is a welcome first step on a path that could lead to a new culture in government. One that could allow us to rebuild democracy, public ownership and resilience in our public services. 1222
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Maybe we just need to make it legal for women to carry then 001
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Well... Obviously? The whole line is that the fascists aren't serious about the "problem", whereas the govt. demonstrably is? Their (naïve) idea is that they can convince the public that they agree that immigration is a problem but - like them - they're "not racist" like the masked thugs 020
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Would highly recommend Mike Okay, fantastic British "travel vlogger" in the closest sense, and he started in Nagaland youtu.be/cH47Od6Hk3s?...youtu.beTracking Down a Missing Plane in the JungleYouTube video by Mike Okay 110
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Demand for radical ideas is what drives the far right, not a lack of a strong centre-right institution, imo. If your argument is that the Tories aren't sufficiently radical due to the points you've listed, I can see where you're coming from. But at that point they're not really centre-right? 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Point taken - but what I'm saying is Stephen's assertion that "the only thing that kills this on the right is if the right kicks it out" will not fly with the public at all. The last Tory govt. ruined the party's representation so badly that any attempt to "kick it out" will be roundly ignored 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Hence trying to promote decent centre-right politicians as bulwarks of democracy just will not work whatsoever. Historically this might have worked but the context is on its head. We have a truly fractured and plural politics for the first time now, it's untrodden soil. 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I take your point in good faith, don't want to come off rude (I saw your work on cronyism years ago - great stuff and huge respect for it!) I just think this very 2026 problem is simpler. The "good Tories" cannot defend democracy when they've pissed off their electorate this badly with their policy 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026What seems to be the crux of this meandering, nuance-eschewing classic social media argument is "where are the good centre-right figures to argue against the ethno-nationalists and defend democracy?" All I'm trying to say is they've been roundly rejected by the public - in 2026, they're irrelevant. 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your point (I've just read most of that article) - but the Tory party *as an institution* has failed to hold off the far right because of the *ideas* it had, and how badly they went for the public. It was still just as institutionalised as it is now, is it not? 200
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Opposition to the far right from the centre-right is helpful - it evidently works on the other side of the spectrum (see: McSweeney). But it's stopped working not because the good lads on the right aren't there anymore. It's because their shit ideas ruined the country, so people stopped listening. 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026And this, too, is a backwards way of interpreting things. The gatekeeping isn't failing because the gatekeepers are spineless - they always have been. It's just that only post-austerity have they had to start bending their backs since the public rejected their useless Conservative ideas. 200
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026"Unfortunately I had to bomb the school to keep my job in the cabinet and get my free school meals policy through. Otherwise the mad ones would have got in and not given the dead kids a free breakfast" 041
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I think what the detractors fail to see here is that Rees-Mogg may quickly become a useful idiot to the left, too. The banal evil of the once centrist Conservative careerist may well prove to be even worse in the modern era than the structural evil of the traditionalist British wannabe aristocrat. 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This take is just fine because Rees-Mogg might be a rare exception of a Conservative who once sat far to the right of the overton window, and may see it move far to his own right without actually having moved himself. He doesn't have to believe mad conspiracies because he's an old school bigot. 110
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Besides, most Tories have shown they care far more about their careers than their ideas. "That conspiracy theory some voters believe now they no longer like anything the centre has to offer? Yeah turns out I believe it too (definitely)" No decent person would do this, and many Conservatives have. 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Trying to reverse engineer a political spectrum does not work. The public want radical policy. Status quo "decent" centrists don't answer the questions being asked of the public. You can't shoehorn them into public life without consent. 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026This analysis and discourse is all backwards anyhow. Politicians only gain a platform when their ideas fit the environment. "Decent" Conservatives still exist, but there's no institutional backing for them because their ideas are now completely useless and have been discarded by the public. 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Plenty of "decent centre-right politicians" have left the Tories over the last decade on principle. Most of them however did not since fundamentally their adherence is to retaining power, as the right always craves. If your politics evidently lies beyond that line, you're of no value to democracy. 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Has anyone ever done a study on whether autistic people are better at using reaction GIFs? 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Has humanity ever seen so many GDP projections around a piece of technology? Around anything at all for that matter? Maybe I'm wrong but this strikes me as a weak way to advertise your product. It's all getting very abstract... 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 09/09/2026No-one says that criticism of the Saudi government makes you an islamophobe Governments cannot claim to represent an entire ethnic, religious or cultural group 030
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Front of the top deck on the new superloop service in Havering feeling like the Top G 101
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Oh I know, I was just surprised that people hadn't tried every projection possible that made any sense at all at this point But the story is more than the IN have adopted this one 210
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 05/09/2026This is incredibly based and Iove it Thanks for the info! 020
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 05/09/2026I didn't realise this was something that could be invented at this point, what's the deal? 220
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Summer Palace is pretty cool, I wouldn't recommend the olympic park though, it's quite boring Also are you going to Badaling or Mutianyu for the great wall? I went to Mutianyu on the advice it wouldn't be as busy and that did seem to work, was pretty phenomenal 020
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Had my 27th in there back when it used to be my local Sad to have seen it slowly decay into a bland state of affairs every time I revisit with my mates still in the area :( 010
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Wow fair, that's never really been my impression of challenging toxic masculinity tbh but I guess it depends on the person and what they're actually doing 040
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Possibly, I mostly believe that the pushback needs to come from people around them to avoid them adapting an Us Vs Them mentality To them I'm just some woke pussy stranger getting in their way. If their mates are telling them to stop they might take it personally 120
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Tbh my experience has been that the harasser is too self-righteous or unaware of what you're doing to learn anything, whether they're harassing a specific woman or anyone nearby Intervening just needs to diffuse a situation to help the harassed and make sure it doesn't get any worse 140
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Idk if you were at Crystal Palace on Sunday night but that was a spiritual experience, my soul has healed this week 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 12/08/2026All you need is sunnies and a dream. Eclipse glasses, colandars, homemade "eclipse projectors"? Utter woke nonsense. 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 08/08/2026Obsession was so good it made me finally decide to publish my ramblings. substack.com/@counterpick...substack.comSympathy for the insecure, ire for the cowardDiscourse around Obsession has been refreshingly forward thinking, but there's a lesson many seem to be missing 010
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Nerds (particularly academics) can fall into the trap of not thinking their reactions/judgement can be clouded by ego because "they're just being objective" Very easy for them to get on their high horse thinking it's just a regular old horse 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 23/07/2026People quite universally interpreting this as "the most *significant* thing that has ever happened *for humankind*" is interesting But from my perspective, I'd probably say when I was conceived 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 23/07/2026For all the talk of Orwellian shit these days, the dull reality that news orgs just want anyone with a platform to loudly spew BS so they can get an easy clickbait headline tops it all for me Its worsening as the attention economy grows, and it genuinely, tangibly makes people more gullible 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Unis should be incentivised to run degree courses that teach skills. Increasingly employers don't want the skillsets of graduates, so why not offer HE that gives them the skillsets they want while also retaining the intellectual and cultural value of attending university? 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Bigger problem is that the privatisation of HE has made unis pivot to extracting value from students rather than nurturing them. Imo the valuable part of many student's experiences aren't the content of their degree, it's the cultural capital and life skills learned from their environment at uni. 140
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 09/06/2026"Can't trust anything these days, except the things I read" 010
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 03/06/2026The Workington man won't see any hypocrisy or backsliding in the party line as they're only subject to the media ecosystem where that isn't happening. Simultaneously, viewers of MSM are convinced that Reform have been held accountable and embarrassed, minimising the impact of the vitriol spread 000
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 03/06/2026The media ecosystem as is can't really hold people accountable anymore. Farage makes a sensationalist short video for social media, sends a crony to downplay/undermine his words in some MSM interview to quell the institutional backlash, which the audience for his social media content entirely miss 100
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Such a tragic backsliding for a country that has led the charge on LGBT rights in the past... Good on you for speaking your mind Sarah 080
Reposted by PickySarah Owen MP @sarahowen.org.uk · 01/06/2026This is a miserable start to Pride month. All indicators show that the EHRC’s new code of practice will contribute to the erosion of LGBT rights in the UK. Ministers and the EHRC must show how they will protect trans people and those who don’t conform to gender stereotypes. 2111324
Picky @counterpicky.bsky.social · 01/06/2026We really do collectively need to just stop giving a shit about what people think just because they have a profile. On anything. My friend, you do not know this person. Their opinion doesn't matter to you. Do not give them the attention currency they desire when they say this pointless bullshit 000
