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Dave Madden

@davemadden.bsky.social
562 followers 1.8K following 1.2K posts

Writer, editor, journalist, lecturer....all pretty much ex. Oh, and dad. Walking around Edinburgh most days. Opinions about books, politics, pubs, and, for my sins, MUFC, Hibs, and Scottish rugby. Typos my own.

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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 2h
I gave up when Brian Redhead finished.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 3h
‘Now we turn to the controversy that is what is it to be English?’ Nick Robinson says on radio 4 today before talking about Badenoch and Braverman Couldn’t turn the dial quick enough
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 20h
Yeah, I don't think these people can be called "journalists", ever pressgazette.co.uk/news/reform-...
pressgazette.co.uk
Reform hiring journalists to build national newsroom
At least 12 jobs on offer via new Reform content operation.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2h
Compare the coverage Badenoch is getting right now, when her party is in a poor third place, with how Ed Miliband's leadership was covered at a time when Labour were actually leading in the polls
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2h
They're polling eight points lower than their general election result, which was itself the worst in their entire history, their leader couldn't explain the big defense policy they opened conference with, none of their big new tax cuts are funded, and yet it's still covered as a triumph
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2h
When people say the Conservatives play politics on easy mode this is what it means
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 2h
See how much of the value of the US stock market (and therefore the pension funds of millions of Americans) is predicated on the AI tech bubble. When that pops….
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Architects' Journal @news.architectsjournal.co.uk · 07/10/2026
Edinburgh City Council has approved plans to partially demolish the city’s former Scottish Widows HQ and convert what remains into a hotel, despite concerns from the Twentieth Century Society and Historic Environment Scotland
architectsjournal.co.uk
Hotel proposal for Edinburgh’s Scottish Widows HQ approved despite heritage concerns
Hotel proposal for Edinburgh’s Scottish Widows HQ approved despite heritage concerns
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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 13h
Kemi who?
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 19h
Badenoch speech: The Tory leader is having an argument with herself and she's losing inews.co.uk/opinion/bade...
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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The Israeli government was determined not to allow Israeli citizens the time to grieve and process the atrocities of the 7th October. Instead, it immediately plunged them into a genocidal campaign against Palestinians, and a never ending war against the entire region.
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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The 7th Oct was the biggest single-day massacre in the modern history of Palestine/Israel. It was followed by the most lethal campaign in the history of the country. In the last three years, Israel inflicted a 7 Oct on Gaza every three weeks on average (in absolute terms; more in relative terms).
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
What's the mood like at Tory conference? Well it's 10:30 in the morning and the party chair is drinking on stage #CPC26
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 07/10/2026
as.ft.com/r/63034ed0-d... FT exclusive: HMRC opened probe into Man City’s tax affairs in 2018
as.ft.com
HMRC opened probe into Man City’s tax affairs in 2018
Investigation into whether English football club was underpaying tax began after its internal emails were leaked
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Trump's foreign policy is not isolationist. On the contrary, his ideologues want to build an international empire run by far-right political movements who serve American crypto, mineral and tech companies, many with links to the president. Read more here: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Empire of Grift
Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction.
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Archer’s resignation from the London mayoral race after it was revealed he lied in court was the thing that got Paul Foot up from his sickbed and contributing again, having first started chronicling Archer’s lies and misdemeanours in 1969. From the Private Eye archive. Issue 992, December 1999.
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Cockburn Association @thecockburn.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/hotel-p...
architectsjournal.co.uk
Hotel plan for Edinburgh’s Scottish Widows HQ approved despite heritage concerns
Edinburgh City Council has approved plans to partially demolish the city’s former Scottish Widows HQ and convert what remains into a hotel, despite concerns from the Twentieth Century Society and Hist...
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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Column on Greens, anti-Zionism and why the people who pathologically hate something are not the most reliable people to define it accurately www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Zack Polanski had the chance to show real leadership. He blew it | Rafael Behr
A toxic debate over anti-Zionism leaves the Green leader looking like a passenger in the movement that carried him to the top, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
When will the bad takes from people who intermittently discover NI's governance arrangements stop?? The Public Processions Act was enacted months before the GFA, to address this issue as a preliminary. The GFA wasn't meant to tackle this. Also NI Bill of Rights was never enacted as the GFA intended:
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The richest man owns X. The second richest man owns The Washington Post. The third and fifth richest men control Google. The sixth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. And the eighth richest man now owns both Paramount and Warner Bros. See the problem here?
bbc.com
Paramount takes over Warner Bros in $110bn Hollywood merger
The merger of two of Hollywood's biggest movie studios comes after months of legal disputes and concern over competition
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eolaí the artist @eolai.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
For anyone who is interested in prints of my Connemara paintings, they live in here in the Collection called "West of Ireland & Wild Atlantic Way": 4-liam-daly.pixels.com/collections/... #SpéirGhorm
4-liam-daly.pixels.com
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thanks again to @mrjamesob.bsky.social for highlighting Kemi Badenoch's banning of journalists she doesn't approve of, which very few other journalists in the country seem willing to mention for some reason inews.co.uk/opinion/bade...
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you. The prime directive of the Conservative Party is to get and hold power. The idea that it would risk throwing away the opportunity merely because it involved an albeit uncomfortable arrangement with another right-wing party is clearly for the birds.
bbc.co.uk
Kemi Badenoch: I'd rather have another election than do a deal with Reform UK
The Conservative Party leader also pledged to cut the cost of hiring 21 to 24 year olds.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 06/10/2026
Kemi is once again confronted by her arch-enemy, ANY DETAILS AT ALL. thecritic.co.uk/kane...
Unfortunately, like, I don’t know, the results of a charity fundraiser for the Kurds, the Tory claims for what they’re proposing grew a little in the telling. Newspapers everywhere were calling it a British “Iron Dome”, referring to Israel’s comprehensive – and expensive – system.

Nick Ferrari of LBC, a man who is to political weakness what Godzilla is to a Tokyo suburb, was doubtful that it would be possible to build a missile defence network that would defend the whole UK. “Well, because it’s mobile, it can,” Badenoch said, faltering slightly.

The LBC man closed in. “Is it moved by sea? By land? By air?”

“I do know that it would move,” the Conservative leader said. “I think certainly by sea.” She tried to explain. “It’s not one thing that’s sitting in one place.”

Ferrari wouldn’t let go. “How many units are there?” If the Daily Star’s barrister had been this good, Archer’s political career might have ended in 1987.

“How many units?” Badenoch repeated. “I can’t…” She resorted to
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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
My sister studied Zoology at Nottingham, but the music department was her real home where she was involved in many ensembles. It gave her an excellent grounding before she did postgrad performance at the Royal Northern. She's now principal bass with Royal Northern Sinfonia. Awful news. 1/
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I want this lying, sundowning grifter to continue speaking off-the-cuff, emptying his hollow soul into microphones in every swing state he can reach in the next month. I want him out there every day, revealing some fresh thread of malignant, fatuous idiocy. I think he's now a political plague.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Welcome to the serious fiscal responsibility party, where we believe that what the United Kingdom needs is its own version of the Iron Dome.
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Institute for Government @instituteforgovernment.org.uk · 06/10/2026
Andy Burnham should establish the National Care Service this parliament There is no reason to delay plans for potentially three years www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/andy...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Andy Burnham should establish the National Care Service this parliament | Institute for Government
There is no reason to delay plans for potentially three years.
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South-East London for Europe (Selfe) @selfe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The door is open, We must walk through, #RejoinEU #JoinEU
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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Presumably Archer's gravestone will read "Here lies Jeffrey Archer". In death as in life.
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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Poor lamb.
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Dale Vince @dalevince.com · 06/10/2026
The ‘Iran War’ - is barely 8 months old, but in that time our own homegrown green energy sources (the wind and the sun) have saved us nearly £6 billion. buff.ly/AK0bDXo
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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
or Zack, for that matter
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Zia Weise @ziaweise.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. Europe is starting to pay attention. Just out — my long read on European governments waking up to the threat of a possible collapse of the AMOC, the ocean currents that keep our continent's climate mild: www.politico.eu/article/clim...
politico.eu
A climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. Europe is starting to pay attention.
A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
#Keminaissance
Offered a choice between Burnham, Badenoch and Farage, voters chose Burnham over Badenoch by a 27-point margin, with Farage third on 15 per cent. More than three quarters of 2024 Labour voters preferred Burnham (compared to 65 per cent who preferred Starmer in June).
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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The door has - finally - been opened. The taboo has been smashed. EU membership is back on the table. It’s time to make it the closing paragraph of this new chapter in UK-EU relations. encompass-europe.com/comment/a-pi...
encompass-europe.com
A pivotal moment for UK-EU relations
When the sun rose on June 24, 2016, one thing was clear: the relationship between the UK and the EU had entered a new, arduous chapter. As Boris Johnson and Michael Gove blinked into the cameras,…
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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Where was Zach?
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This is just indefensible. I think Greens will discover as much soon, question is how quickly they can retreat, and how much damage will be done by the time they do.
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Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You might hate the Environment Agency and Natural England - but am not sure how good your evidence base is that there is a latent majority for poorer air quality, more pollution and (even more) destruction of nature #CPC2026 - and homes that are going to require big retrofits
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West Country Voices @westcountryvoices.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Badenoch would get rid of the Environment Agency. So very Trumpian. Free rein to polluters, despoilers, water-guzzlers et al. A data centre wil be built near you whether you like it or not...
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David Anderson @bricksilk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Letter printed in The Times today
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Niall Ó Conghaile @nialloconghaile.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Chris Grey has a post I missed last week on the Burnham speech to the Labour conference. This is vital reading. Firstly, the significance is this confirms the political failure of Brexit, albeit not what comes next A 🧵 chrisgreybrexitblog....
That, in turn, means that, quite apart from any other ways in which Brexit has failed, it has failed politically. On this blog, I have several times quoted David Frost’s criterion for the success or failure of Brexit because it is perhaps the only time a leading Brexiter has actually articulated any meaningful test. He said that “one piece of evidence of failure [of Brexit] would be if we are still debating this in five- or six-years’ time in the same way. I think [if] it is to succeed it needs to settle in the British polity.” That was in June 2022, and although technically that means there are still six to eighteen months to go, it has been obvious for a while that Brexit would fail this test. With Burnham’s announcement, that is not just obvious: it is certain.
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Dave Madden @davemadden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Honest Bob....
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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The Times
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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The more I hear about the problems of ticket holders for the British Museum’s Bayeux tapestry exhibition, the more reluctant I am to try again for tickets. Luckily there is a fall back: the BBC’s brilliant documentary on the tapestry and the logistics to bring it here www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Four - Mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry
Experts from archaeologists to astrophysicists offer new insights on the Bayeux Tapestry.
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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If only she were still leader.
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Did you weave Angela Rayner in? Sure did boss, real cool and relatable just like you asked for Great....wait what? #CPC26
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eolaí the artist @eolai.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A mixed media #painting. One of Dublin's most loved buildings. "Sunlight Chambers", as seen from along the edge of Grattan Bridge's Hippocamp lamps, I painted because few sights in Ireland can instantly convert me back into childhood than seeing its ceramic friezes close up. #SpéirGhorm #ArtYear
Portrait format in black ink and watercolour on paper. Starting from the left edge is a view along the top of the green metal rail of Grattan bridge showing half a dozen copper lamps, on their Hippocampus stands of metal painted green, almost directly in line so there is little to no space between them as they recede. Beyond them is a building, four stories, on a corner, with side of 2 windows width directly facing viewer, and a short angled side of one window width at the left corner edge behind lamp-posts. Lowest story is mostly stone, in pale blues and lilacs, with arches above the windows and a decorative blue medallion between the two arches facing viewer. Above arches and rest of building is yellow with wide figurative bands of blue above and below the 2nd story. Windows are made up of little black panes - narrow, twinned, and arched on 3rd story, topped with triangles on 2nd story. Window arches, triangles, and side supporting columns are blue. Signed bottom right in black ink, Liam Daly
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The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"Hope is in the air, because finally a prime minister has been honest about Brexit." Read The Observer view: bit.ly/3TlvLsh
bit.ly
Road to joy | The Observer
Andy Burnham’s speech on Brexit and Europe could be historic, offering a chance to make the positive case for EU membership that was missed in 2016
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Ben Potts @benjaminsteven.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Edinburgh was almost overwhelming this weekend, surely the most photogenic of UK cities.
A sunlit street.The spires of a gothic tower and the moon.A red fire escape and a tall thin building.A stone arch and street.
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