iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Yeah, I'm beginning to think that if these proposals land particularly well then Burnham might go for it. It would be opportunistic, and might backfire (think May 2017) but then again it might work.

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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 13h

Most TV is just this now.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 11h

Imagine spending ~25 years of your life or committed to doing something. You finally get a referendum on it and win it. You then spend 5 years in bitter struggles to get your plan over the line Then 5 years later, after everyone has seen it was bad, they start undoing it and you have nothing to say

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 13h

If these are the options, I don't know why anyone would pick "joining the EU customs union". It assumes burdens without most of the benefits. SM is better but still means we have to be rules-taker. Let's just go all the way back in.

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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 13h

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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Emily✨ @emilyoram.bsky.social · 14h

Liquid Bluesky

National Trust• @nationaltrust.org.uk
Nobody has ever regretted a scone after a long walk.

Except someone with ceoliac disease

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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 13h

Meanwhile Farage has written an article for the Daily Mail in response to Burnham's speech. It's about pensions. Brexit not mentioned.

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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 16h

Remarkable that the Telegraph is not screaming this morning about Burnham's pledge of a closer/rejoining EU relationship because Brexit has failed.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 13h

This is great. This is also the minimum economic growth we need to sustain basically indefinitely to keep funding public services at their present level.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 14h

To be fair, Labour politicians in opposition hardly did much different - see e.g., all of those pro-WASPI petitions they signed. Also if you spent 2015 talking about a "Bedroom tax" then you're not in a position to criticise if the Tories call this a "pensioner tax".

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James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Do we seriously have to do Maoist newspeak every single time an 80 year old posts his idiotic ideas on the internet. It has been AI since before I was even born. Can literally anyone have a shred of dignity.

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

All this 'well you've forgotten to ask the EU, you won't get your previous deal you know' commentary is so boring and theatrically dispassionate. Everyone knows that.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

These people aren’t going to defend Brexit, because they know that everyone knows that what we’ve gotten has been a dog’s breakfast. They’ll try some wibble about how they could have done better, but that’ll be it.

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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Interesting in that respect that, so far, Farage (and so far as I've seen the same is true of other leading Brexiters) hasn't responded to what Burnham said about Brexit at all - all the focus is on the pension triple lock. That would have been/ was very different even a couple of years ago.

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Michael @michaeljsc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Polanski’s “tax the rich” is the same as Badenoch’s “cut benefits”, a one-size-fits-all funding source that appeals to their prejudice but would never generate anything like the money they claim, and prevents them ever having to engage with serious politics

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James Chapman @jamesmchapman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Today, at last, a serving British PM levelled with the electorate by stating the unarguable truth about the decision the UK took in 2016. “Brexit has done more harm than good.” All to play for now. Nothing should be off the table.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I feel Burnham is doing about the minimum on Brexit that I can accept. The commitment is to look at options and then have one in the manifesto. That’s not what I wanted but it’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

OK, so this could have been worse, and some of it looks good from Burnham I'm not a convinced pro-PR person but it might offer something. Speaking outright for the Union is good. Speaking about the options for better relations with the EU sounds like putting it off a bit, but at least it's movement

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

As a matter of logic you cannot be “hard working” if you rely on the state pension. I hope ministers will keep (start?) explaining that the state pension isn’t paid out of an investment fund but by the contributions of those currently working.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I don't think PR is the cure-all that many on here reckon it is, but if I was a fan of PR I wouldn't be impressed by the idea of a commission on the topic after the next election, which is classic long-grass territory. We'll see what's actually announced. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Andy Burnham expected to say he will push ahead with electoral reform plans

Exclusive: Labour conference speech will kick off process that could replace current system with proportional representation

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JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Such an important point by @stephenkb.bsky.social - how can Andy Burnham sell a National Care Service when most people already think one exists and there is no simple way to access them to explain otherwise? Maybe the PM's social media abilities are more important than they at first appear.

ft.com

What ‘Choosin’ Texas’ tells us about Burnham’s social care obstacles

Convincing the British public to pay higher taxes for something they wrongly assume the state provides will not be easy

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It will never not be wild to me that the Russians attacked Keir Starmer's home, successfully spread falsehoods about Starmer's love life, and this didn't changed British politics and British political elite behaviour *at all*.

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"we need to foist some CSR thing you, the impoverished end consumer, not us, the multinational."

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

These sound like non-trivial problems.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'd never actually seen this communique before, where the Soviet Union heavily implied it might ally with Germany against the UK and France.

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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

OTD in 1939 USSR and Nazis issued a communique saying that unless France and UK accepted Hitlers terms, they would be responsible for continuing the war

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Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Mmmhmmmm bsky.app/profile/pete...

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's 1992, you're just starting secondary school, John Major is prime minister. The NHS is threatened by "creeping privatisation". news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/...

news.bbc.co.uk

BBC News | Your NHS | The size and role of private medicine

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UK 🇬🇧 🤝 🇺🇦 □ @ukbastard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Putin is testing NATO on Norway’s remote Arctic islands Russia’s rising hybrid activity on Svalbard is sparking fears that Moscow could spark an incident that tests NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause. www.politico.eu/article/russ...

politico.eu

Putin is testing NATO on Norway’s remote Arctic islands

Russia’s rising hybrid activity on Svalbard is sparking fears that Moscow could spark an incident that tests NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

On top of this: why is Labour even doing this? What plans does it have for these newly-nationalised railway service providers? The answers appear to be "nationalised = good per se" and "none".

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's interesting that there has been a steady drum-beat of this - the biggest nationalisation in decades - and the reaction of left-wingers is a very loud "meh". www.theguardian.com/business/202...

theguardian.com

Avanti West Coast to be renationalised in March

Rail operator linking London to Birmingham, the north-west and Glasgow had highest number of cancellations across network

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Pawel Swidlicki @pswidlicki.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Still, at least all the people urging drastic reductions in migration will congratulate the government for enacting their policy preferences, acknowledge this inevitable trade-off and not make opportunistic attacks on the government for having lost control of the public finances.

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Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦 @perevaa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Third Army Corps liberated Nove, Ridkodub and Katerynivka and restored control over Karpivka and Novomykhailivka in the third season of “Vivaldi.” Russia lost 2,000 troops; over 250 were captured, and Ukraine retook 51 km² – 176 km² since the offensive began.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So we're at the point where Burnham is making major announcements about the next manifesto. So he can also announce something on the EU? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

‘Rip the plaster off’: Andy Burnham sets out vision for universal free social care

PM says he will put proposals for NHS-style service funded by everybody into Labour’s next general election manifesto

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Has it occured to him that someone saying "school wasn't for me" went to a crap school? Or wasn't taught to read properly at primary?

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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

OTD in 1938 Hitler gave a speech demanding the Sudetenland be handed to Germany. He said his countrymen were being mistreated and needed protection. Also promised it was his last territorial demand. He was lying. Imagine that happening today.

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FOARP @foarp.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Right. This is the same rhetoric. We can't take the risk of assuming that he doesn't mean it.

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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The most effort for Central & Eastern Europe was done by… Central & Eastern European nations. And yes, this was also thanks to the European Union effort to help build INSTITUTIONS there. Nobody stopped Russia to do the same as Poland did. And nobody stops Serbia to do what Croatia did.

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Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"It's all the West's fault" has been the Russian political elite's indispensable get out of jail free card for 30 years. It allows them to acknowledge that things have gone wrong while taking zero responsibility.

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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The school notebook of the 14-year-old boy killed by Russia in Kyiv today. The Russian strike killed him in the middle of the day, in his own room. His desk still had the notebook with unfinished homework.

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Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Coincidentally came up on my Facebook memories this morning

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Reece Dinsdale @reecedinsdale.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Not the ‘only option’, Peter. The day we begin the process of rejoining makes every day a day closer to the goal. Until we get finally get there, then yes, closer alignment is a good thing. And all good things have to begin somewhere. Hope you’re well, my friend.

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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 25/09/2026

FFS. Really important infrastructure projects shouldn't be subject to the whims of whoever happens to be in Downing Street. HS2 is a clusterfuck because twats just keep changing their minds. We should commit to big, important projects and see them through, not faff about every time we get a new PM.

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David Herdson @davidherdson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Absolutely. In UK process, politically and by constitutional convention, Rejoin needs a referendum. That's Stay Out's veto moment. If it loses the vote, the political dynamics change vastly. In reality, Rejoin would change opposition policy, not the other way round.

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Steve Rosenberg @bbcstever.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Today one Russian newspaper doubts that Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit in Miami and predicts “an even tougher and bloodier phase of the Ukraine conflict this winter.” Its headline: “Ahead Russia has not peace, but war.” #ReadingRussia

youtu.be

"Ahead, Russia has not peace, but war": today's Russian newspapers

YouTube video by Steve Rosenberg

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Zach Elsbury @zachelsbury.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026

It's almost like they don't want Brexit to be properly addressed so they can remain perpetually annoyed

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David Herdson @davidherdson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Member of the EU is a Good Thing. Co-operation is a Good Thing. Free Trade is a Good Thing. Free Movement is a Good Thing. Educational opportunities is a Good Thing. Burden-sharing in security matters is a Good Thing. Ease of travel is a Good Thing. It's not bloody hard.

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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This some advanced tankie "thought". Russia has a UNSC seat & world's largest amounts of land, gas, oil and NUKES. Russia also has no agency over our own actions and so cannot be held accountable and therefore must be excused and appeased.

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