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Reposted by Georgia Banjo

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

First-rate investigation into the Far Right mouthpiece who calls himself Tommy Robinson and how he managed to capture so many Americans with his made-up stories about Britain - from The Economist’s @georgiabanjo.bsky.social Worth a listen.

podcasts.apple.com

The Weekend Intelligence: Shire folk

Podcast Episode · The Intelligence from The Economist · 12 September · 49min

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Amazingly, nowhere in this article is the obvious answer: Israel has committed countless war crimes

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

My piece this week on Jason Arday www.economist.com/britain/2026...

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Reposted by Georgia Banjo

Owen Winter @owenwntr.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

My chart in this week's Economist on the Jason Arday scandal and the pipeline from blog to broadsheet to Beeb (anatomy of a shitstorm). In @georgiabanjo.bsky.social's excellent piece: www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Chart showing the number of articles about Jason Arday by date. Nathan Cofnas's blog was published on 21st July and subsequently picked up by The Telegraph, then the Daily Mail, then the Times, before being covered by The Guardian and BBC News shortly before Arday's resignation.

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

I agree. Also much harder to do when we're outside the EU

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Yes, I agree it's definitely been a barrier to the more nuanced conversations we definitely need. At the moment it's either a faint hope that we can still be a bridge between the us and the EU, empty rhetoric on AI sovereignty or full-on rejoin, sometimes all in the same speech

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Whatever you think of him he was a senior exec at one of the world's biggest tech companies. I personally find it interesting how much he is pushing this

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Maybe! Was definitely overkill when J.D. called the graffiti display at Canterbury cathedral "ugly"

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

No problem Ed, I appreciate that. Enjoy your evening

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

To be clear: he said this because he thinks Britain is far too dependent on a country that doesn't care about us. Whatever you think about Clegg, I think he is worth listening to on tech sovereignty. The world has changed and our political elite is still far too fixated on the special relationship

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I'm a millennial, I get why you feel angry with Nick Clegg! I do think however that we should listen to what he says about America. We need a new approach to the US, but we also can't just dismiss what they think about us (in both cases because we are so dependent on them)

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I thought you might find the context helpful. We have more in common than that which divides us

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

We're a helpful cautionary tale for Vance and co. Our woke liberal elite have allowed our country to be overrun by foreign invaders. The same would be happening in America if it wasn't for Trump. Or so the narrative goes. Don't think it's really about us.

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Because we are completely beholden to their technology. His point is that that needs to change

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Because he was trying to make the point that if there ever was a special relationship, it's now dead. You may already believe that, but many of our political class don't. And that in order to develop more tech sovereignty we need a closer relationship with Europe. Do you disagree with that?

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Me or Nick Clegg? I'm not from California, in fact only been there once. Whatever you think of him, his point was that we should stop being so dependent on those who really don't care about us

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

He's saying a lot of things. Your choice if you want to listen to it or not!

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

His broader point was that we need to stop being so dependent on a country that doesn't care about the UK and thinks we're irrelevant. Would you disagree with that?

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Nick Clegg not mincing his words at an IPPR event tonight on Britain's place in the world. Says all the Silicon Valley bros tell him Europe is "dead". Also that hardly anyone in America cares about us, apart from when they send their kids to LSE, play golf in Scotland and enjoy our period dramas.

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Yes, it's still a fairly fringe view: even Tommy Robinson thinks that you can be non-white and English. So 15% is quite a lot!

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

It was a real pleasure to be one of the judges for the ABSW awards this year. Some brilliant entries; well done to everyone shortlisted!

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I'm currently on my way to Tommy Robinson's latest rally. He's a convicted criminal, too extreme even for Nigel Farage & liked by only 14% of Brits. Yet last September he got 150,000 people onto the streets. He's helped shift the Overton window on immigration. How? I try to explain in this article 👇

economist.com

How Tommy Robinson gained extraordinary influence

The far-right influencer’s world is closer than you might think

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Thanks for engaging with me thoughtfully on this. There is evidence throughout the report, but you're right that it fails to bring it together and test as an explanatory hypothesis. Partly that's because it's an interim report, but I agree that the claim in the conclusion goes further

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

The report acknowledges this, look at pp24-25. They are very nuanced about prevalence and resist simple narratives of overdiagnosis. Tiktok is mentioned twice. If you read the whole thing, I think you'll find that it's far more open-minded than you think.

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Reposted by Georgia Banjo

Zach Dickson @zachdickson.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Thrilled that my paper (w/@sarahobolt.bsky.social,@catherinedevries.bsky.social,@simonecremaschi.bsky.social) was accepted at the American Political Science Review! We find that declining public services fuel support for the populist right — and show why the right benefits more than other parties 🧵

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Maybe! But I also think it's more holistic than that: how does society need to change to really support people's mental health? Good food, green spaces, more connection, all of that stuff

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

What are the debunked myths in your opinion? I totally get that Weasely is polarising, but I think the interim report was very thoughtful. It's very clear that they recognise distress is rising especially for young people. It also recognises that those getting diagnosed are experiencing impairment.

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Hopefully the review will come up with sensible ways to tackle these problems carefully, without overcorrecting. None of this is easy! You can read my original article here:

economist.com

Britain’s mental-health crisis is a tale of unintended consequences

Rising awareness appears to be hurting the people with the most serious conditions

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

None of this is to say that distress or that problems classified as "mild" are easy. They are not. It's great that people can talk about their feelings more. But if we really want to help people who are suffering, we also need to talk more about what's actually working (and what isn't) 5/6

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

There are other unintended consequences. Britain has the highest rates of severe mental illness in Europe. When the public think that "mental illness" includes life experiences like stress and grief, that means less attention is paid to conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 4/6

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Businesses take advantage. Try taking an ADHD test online. I did and deliberately scored zero, but was still told that I may be experiencing "low-level signs of ADHD or another difficulty". If you want help at work or school you can wait 10yrs or pay ££££ for a diagnosis. It's a two-tier system 3/6

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

The point isn't that distress isn't real. It's that medicalising milder problems often doesn't help people or society. Diagnosis becomes a way to ration basic support. Govts can pass structural problems off as medical ones: why tackle poverty when running awareness campaigns is basically free? 2/6

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I first wrote about this in 2023 in a cover story for The Economist. I interviewed Simon Wessely, who became the co-chair of this review. The article cost me two friends and a therapist. Wes Streeting (who commissioned this report) agreed with me, but back then it was still taboo 1/6

thetimes.com

Children ‘incentivised’ to get ADHD and autism diagnoses, say experts

A report into overdiagnosis and the increase in demand for mental health services has suggested that common childhood behaviours are being medicalised

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Yes, and boosted by American billionaires who like to use Broken Britain as a warning for America

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Embarrassing for Yougov and disappointing for Christians. Many really believed that a huge surge of young people were coming back to church. Where do they go from here?

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I'm torn over cases like this. Society failed her, she should never have experienced such horrors. As human beings, we should do far more to care for those who suffer. But at what point does enough become enough? For how long do we ignore a person's sustained wish to die? There are no easy answers

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

This is a heartbreaking story from Spain. This young woman was gang raped and later tried to kill herself by jumping from a building. She became paraplegic and now lives in constant pain. After years of appeals, including from her father and Christian Lawyers, she is scheduled to die tomorrow.

m.youtube.com

Noelia Castillo, la joven parapléjica de Barcelona, anuncia que recibirá la eutanasia | EL PAÍS

YouTube video by EL PAÍS

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Sarah Mullally is being enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral this morning. She's the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in 1,400 years. She's walking into an institution that is increasingly irrelevant, scandal-hit, and divided over whether a gay-friendly woman should lead it at all. My long read:

economist.com

The battle for the soul of the Church of England

Can the first female Archbishop of Canterbury stop the institution from tearing itself apart?

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Georgia Banjo @georgiabanjo.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The Church of England crowns kings, runs a quarter of English primary schools and it's bishops sit in parliament. It also has fewer than 1m weekly worshippers, and is deeply divided. Something has to give. In my long read for 1843 I write about what could come next

economist.com

The battle for the soul of the Church of England

Can the first female Archbishop of Canterbury stop the institution from tearing itself apart?

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