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Duncan Gill

@duncangill.bsky.social
613 followers 871 following 2.1K posts

SNP activist, when I get out of a comfy chair. Coffee, Packers, Dons, Guns N Roses… the important things in life

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Reposted by Duncan Gill
Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 16h
Today, 8 years ago, my friend, Saudi Journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered.
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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hope your day was better than Darwin’s, on this day 165 years ago
I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody &everything.

Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861
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Polly Pallister-Wilkins @pollypw.bsky.social · 16h
This is just academic fraud. They’re not an adequate replacement for polling because it’s just made up bollocks.
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Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Eh I think it’s a pretty accurate mirror for how much of society thinks about violence and SA against women
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Keynote Speaker at the Annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in March, folks.
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 18h
Putin ordered Russian troops to disregard the rules of war, Zelenskyy tells the FT. ​Ukrainian intelligence intercepted information indicating that in September, Putin ordered the Russian military to intensify strikes on civilian infrastructure. Since then,
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 19h
Remember how that guy said: it’s all about creating a permission structure for cuts? He didn’t mean “get it past you, the public”, he meant “convince Labour MPs to vote for it”.
EXCL: Ministers are working up sweeping plans for welfare changes including scrapping key disability benefit for under-25s & replacing it with multibillion pound package of support to get into work.
Whitehall sources said changes under debate were much bigger than previously thought, as Andy Burnham's government hopes to persuade more people on benefits back into work.
But the move could be fraught with political danger after last year's dramatic welfare rebellion by Labour MPs. Ministers have spent | weeks trying to persuade them the plans are about reform not cuts & feel confident opposition has waned.
By @rowenamason @patrickjbutlerRobert Peston Y
@Peston
X.com
Sometimes I miss important nuances of new policies, in the political mayhem. Here is one such. When I heard Andy Burnham say the triple lock would not be reformed until 2030, l assumed it would be a battle for the next general election campaign. But in fact the government has committed to legislate for the change in this parliament (see attached Downing Street statement). That will cause an almighty parliamentary row, which the UK's creditors will be watching - but should counteract the charge that Burnham has no fiscal backbone, because in theory the cost savings will be guaranteed long before the huge costs of his social care ambitions are being incurred
The current Triple Lock will be maintained throughout this Parliament, increasing the State Pension by over £2,000. From April 2030, the adjusted Triple Lock will mean the State Pension continues to rise by 2.5% or inflation - whichever is higher - and by even more if that is required to maintain its value relative to earnings. This will ensure the living standards of pensioners keep up with the rest of the population. For example, if the value of the State Pension is around a third
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Pete Apps @peteapps.bsky.social · 22h
Some thoughts on the Grenfell criminal process here. This week’s news is an important milestone in the process. But that’s all it is: the end of the process remains a very long way off: peteapps.substack.com/p/grenfell-p...
peteapps.substack.com
Grenfell police investigation moves forward; supported housing reform; shared ownership buybacks and more
It’s round-up week once more and this time we start with a major milestone in the police investigation into the Grenfell fire
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The Good Klan lawsuit (as distinct from wrongful death) names Palantir and Clearview as co-conspirators. legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...
280. At least two private corporations also agreed to and in fact participated in the
conspiracy: Palantir Technologies Inc., the Delaware corporation that designed, built, 
configured, and maintained the targeting application by which the operation’s agents were
directed to the neighborhoods they invaded, and Clearview AI, Inc., the Delaware
corporation whose facial recognition search engine the operation used to identify the
people who observed, filmed, and protested the operation.
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World Bollard Association™️ @worldbollardassoc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It takes years of training to perfect this manoeuvre. #WorldBollardAssociation
An NYPD police car balances its rear wheel in a black bollard leaving the car stranded in the air.
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Anonymous @opdeatheaters.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Norway’s parliament is probing $13.6M in funding to Terje Rød-Larsen’s institute after serious oversight failures. Rød-Larsen, Mona Juul and former PM Thorbjørn Jagland face separate corruption investigations over Epstein ties. #OpDeathEaters www.yacnews.com/storting-que...
yacnews.com
Storting questions Støre and 10 ministers over 130.6 million kroner paid to Rød-Larsen-led think tank
Norway's foreign ministry paid 130.6 million kroner to the think tank Terje Rød-Larsen led. Auditors found audited accounts missing for 2007 to 2012. In 2019 the ministry received a complaint linking ...
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Rosamundi @rosamundi.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I had no idea this was an option.
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Angus Main @angusmain.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The AI industry continues to be trapped in an endless panicky improv game, where they have to think up new uses for the humorously pointless object they’ve been given.
Whose line is it anyway. Stiles and mocherie play an improv game with a big white foam object
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
“It’s hard to admit this from a modern perspective, but historical fascism’s lust for violence didn’t make it repulsive but extremely attractive to a lot of German voters. And we are seeing similar things with the AfD today, where fantasies of violent retribution seem to be integral to campaign events on market squares…If the AfD is voted into power, one of the most highly advanced economies in the world could experience something similar to what happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Just had to check
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've been a member of the lobby for well over a decade. Not a single one of my lobby colleagues has said a word about the Conservatives banning me from their conferences, without any explanation. Contrast with the US where even Fox News stood in solidarity when Trump banned news outlets he disliked
bylinetimes.com
Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives Block Byline Times From Conference After Condemning Reform for Journalist Ban
The ban comes just weeks after the Conservative leader called Reform's barring of critical journalists from their conference an "authoritarian" attack on the free press
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Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is what genocide looks like in the early decades of the 21st century www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
New Google Maps images reveal massive scale of devastation in Gaza
Satellite imagery shows further destruction of homes, businesses and places of worship since fragile ceasefire
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Seriously, unless you're going to call me a "scientist" for helping my son with his class volcano project and call me a "physician" because I applied a band-aid successfully, please please PLEASE stop calling any random crank who shits out a book about the past a "historian"
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"A big petro-state did it and ran away"
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LuxJude352 @luxjude352.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Menacing 92 year olds in the middle of the night, whose side do these people think they’re on? #Fascism #Crowborough
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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Somehow not everyone is aware of fact alluded to below. So one more time: John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett were all on GWBush 2000 'Florida Recount' team. (Which made GWB first prez in 112 yrs to 'win' after losing popular vote. Now they 'impartially' rule on our future.)
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Democrats Organizing For America @democratsofa.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Nothing will change until THIS changes. And *that* change can only come from within each of us.
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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“I'm not worried the Democrats will lose the midterms. I'm worried they'll win and use their normal ploy of installing a rotating villain to torpedo the vote as soon as something good and productive is about to happen.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=zswl...
youtube.com
Trump Created a CRISIS that Half the Country Doesn't Know About! (feat. Sarah Kendzior)
YouTube video by The Mark Thompson Show
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NPicts @northernpicts.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Super pleased to see this out (and open access!). Moluag was clearly an important figure in Pictland, here we got to help the team who made such important discoveries at Moluag's monastery get the word on the street about the importance of Lismore and the new findings! tinyurl.com/5cb9vf3p
tinyurl.com
A major monastic centre? Rethinking Lismore’s place in the ecclesiastical landscapes of early medieval Britain | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
A major monastic centre? Rethinking Lismore’s place in the ecclesiastical landscapes of early medieval Britain - Volume 100 Issue 413
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𝔐𝔞𝔤𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔰 🧲 @magnets.eurosky.social · 01/10/2026
the proclaimers think that guy was cancelled for speaking "too much truth" or whatever
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Making myself feel marginally better about bad global economic news by using it to sneer at early election chatterers:
ft.com
Global bond sell-off deepens as 10-year Treasury yield hits highest since 2002
Sovereign debt costs around world return to multiyear highs
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 01/10/2026
As the famous Al Capone saying goes, "you eventually get the mafia by focussing on their failure to make the monthly NICs payments to HMRC Cumbernauld".
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Steve Bullock @guitarmoog.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We now go live to the UAE:
static.klipy.com
Hacker T Dog: We're Just Normal, Innocent Men
ALT: Hacker T Dog: We're Just Normal, Innocent Men
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North Ages @northages.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Scottish journalist George Buist, who brought the Norrie’s Law Hoard to public attention, died #OTD in 1860. Found near Largo, Fife, in 1819, much of the Pictish silver was illegally sold and the rest kept secret for 20 years until Buist investigated. 📸National Museums Scotland
The Norrie’s Law Hoard spread out for display.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Manchester City cheated Premier League rules, the Commission found. Did it also cheat HMRC? We've examined the decision and leaked Mancini documents. We think City likely failed to pay £12m in tax. There should be a criminal investigation. Thread:
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 01/10/2026
The chairman of Manchester City was granted diplomatic immunity in 2020. The investigation into the club began in December 2018. www.ft.com/content/1256...
ft.com
Manchester City chair shielded by diplomatic immunity
Khaldoon al-Mubarak was granted immunity six years ago, protecting him from potential legal proceedings in the UK
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Duncan Gill @duncangill.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A rangers jersey? How shocking. I am shocked.
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WillieMillersMoustache @williemillersm1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
These numbers are far worse than indy. 43 to 35% against. No manifesto commitment. No election wins. No "generation" has passed. And yet special Norf Andy, his kestrel and the anglo democraphiles are all whooping and cheering. While denying the celtic nations their right to self determination.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is a dreadful argument from Burnham. Empirically false - almost 6m people were granted settled status; about 4m are currently resident. More importantly panders to racism/xenophobia, and directly contradicts argument made in his speech about migrant contributions.
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Chris Rivers @chrisrivers50.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Says it all, does it not? The appalling tardiness, not to say rank incompetence, of the British criminal justice system.
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The exact number will likely never be known But multiple studies have converged around a similar figure: around 700,000 people died as a result of Musk “putting USAID through the wood chipper” (his words), of whom 500,000 were kids Picture 500,000 tiny coffins in a row: that’s MAGA/MAHA’s impact😢
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Richard Haviland @rfhaviland.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A true force for evil
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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 30/09/2026
BREAKING NEWS: “Do geese see God” is a palindrome
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🔴 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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Duncan Gill @duncangill.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hiya @snp.org and @johnswinney.bsky.social , still happy using X?
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Michael Bell @mbellcoop.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Holy fuck. I'm the first to call her awful and want her to be sacked, but this is just pure bigotry. Racism and islamophobia.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s also really clear to me this week that the people telling us that AI will transform work…haven’t seen a lot of jobs where people work.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Still laughing at how much this is like that Chris Rock bit, about people who want credit for doing things other people just *do*. “I take care of my kids!”. You’re *supposed to* take care of your kids! What do you want, a cookie? “I ain’t never been to jail”. You’re not supposed to go to jail etc
The New Statesman *
@NewSt...• 1h
"It's fantastic to have a leader who likes
Labour!"
Emily Thornberry thinks it's time to be unapologetic.
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Stephanie Allen @socalstephanie.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“The decision was announced a week after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the U.S. had declined to invite its members to observe November’s congressional midterm elections, a sharp break from past practice.”
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Naomi Fowler @naomifowler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Overspending is not only "driven by an ageing population with increasingly complex care needs, rising inflationary pressures& growing children’s social care demand...pushing many councils to the brink of bankruptcy" Financialisation, private equity & pure extraction keep getting left out of equation
theguardian.com
Sixteen English councils spend more than 80% of core funding on social care
Councils collectively spent record 71.9% of core spending on adult and children’s care last year, analysis shows
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Paul Cochrane @mrdissent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Man City v Rangers
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
its worth asking why posts like this — a purported leftist warning others not to trust elected left-wing politicians — consistently do so well on the site where racist Trump ally Elon Musk controls the algorithm that chooses what posts people see
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026
Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all
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