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Graham Martin

@graham-martin.bsky.social
191 followers 372 following 204 posts

Formerly in Yorkshire, now living in Orkney. Lapsed activist, still talking politics. Pro-unions and strikes. Trans Lives Matter. Against all Imperialisms, not just the West. Too many interests to list. Neurodivergent. Christian, but not like that...

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Graham Martin
Nadia Whittome MP @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
When blackshirts are marching through the streets of Dover and Portsmouth, the focus shouldn’t be on the disruption they cause, but on their fascist ideology and deliberate intimidation of migrants and people of colour. [1/2]
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Joel @snufkinlib.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
God have mercy, an old friend of mine was one of Orr’s students who had quit his PhD and can only speak about it now
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
As someone who is rather jaded and burnt out by British politics, I am curious to know how people have arrived at the idea that the Electoral Commission is going to do anything substantive about the latest Reform revelations? That's literally not how Britain works, right?
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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Sidebar to all this (and noting the FT’s long profile of Orr yesterday) is that it looks terrible for Cambridge University, which already looks terrible after the sad and awful Arday affair (with criticism coming both from the left and the right).
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James Butler @piercepenniless.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Time for Cambridge to clean up its divinity faculty too, I think, in which Orr has cuckooed his weird autonomous ideological 'proto-college'. God is sweeping his threshing floor!
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Alas, there only more Till families, not fewer.
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Robert Dallas Gray @robertdallasgray.com · 17/08/2026
if you ever wonder how someone came to take a turn to transphobia, ‘they were a horrible person in the first place’ has a lot of explanatory power
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Corinne Fowler @corinnefowler.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
#JasonArday phoned me a few days ago to talk to someone who knows what media abuse feels like. His untimely death shows why we need part 2 of the Leveson enquiry into media conduct
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I have done the maths, and if everything goes according to plan, it will be 7th September when Andy Burnham marks his "Liz Truss" day and 8th September when Truss retakes her place at the bottom of the league table.
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
This is one of the dumbest and saddest things I've ever seen. We should not think of universities in this way, and if we do that'll destroy everything that is both useful and good about them. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Find out which university degrees could earn you most across your lifetime
New data suggests which university degrees have the highest and lowest financial returns over a lifetime.
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Melissa Stewart @lissajostewart.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
New Yorkers think they’re so much cooler than everyone else with their Zohran Mamdani and their leftist congressional candidates and their championship trophy and they are correct
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It’s less than a week since my radio was telling me that Britain needed to abandon net zero and drill baby drill because the Tories won a by election in Aberdeen Now it’s so hot the kids can’t sleep
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Elaine Burke @elaineburke.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Yep, same guy. Mere days apart.
Screenshot of a Futurism headline accompanied by a photo of Keir Starmer:

Prime Minister of the UK Vows to Unleash AI Tutors on 450,000 Poor Children
Look how much your government cares for you, kids.
By Frank Landymore
Published Jun 12, 2026 3:10 PM EDTScreenshot of a headline from TheJournal.ie, accompanied by an image of Keir Starmer:

Keir Starmer announces forthcoming ban on social media for under-16s
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Starmer said that it is hoped the regulation will pass by Christmas and come into effect early next year.
8.39am, 15 Jun 2026
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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Erm, the suffragettes were not peaceful protestors, Jesus
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
This morning scrolling Bluesky, there is nothing at all in my feed about Putin’s barbaric attack on the Ukraine’s holiest site, the UNESCO protected Lavra so I’m posting this here.
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Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The many takes flying around about John Healey and national security spending miss a fundamental point. In Finland, where people have a strong social safety net and a real sense of shared national purpose, around 80% say they would be prepared to defend their country. In the UK, it's closer to 30%.
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Casey S. Pumpkins 🎃 @caseyexplosion.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Wes Streeting should be held accountable for the deaths of children he caused by removing their medical treatment on ideological grounds, despite warnings from experts. His resignation is not enough, he should be prosecuted for the deaths he's responsible for.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
The infuriating thing is that he repeated this to every major broadcaster and NOT ONE journalist/anchor challenged his claim that Reform is some "start-up party that didn't exist three years ago", rather than the latest in a long line of rebrands of Farage's very well-funded, decades-old project.
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Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
”Nige did take five million quid, And Nige would take five million more, Just a greedy man who talks us down, And riles up hate to screw the poor!” Excellent parody of The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)‘ from @marshfamilysongs.bsky.social
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Palma Polyak @palmapolyak.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
After 12 years, the EU flag is back on Hungary’s Parliament building — the new Speaker’s very first decision. A happy Schuman Day indeed.
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Roman Sheremeta @rshereme.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This is what Victory Day looked like for Ukrainians in 1945. Instead of the fascists and Hitler, our grandparents got the Soviets and Stalin. And today, Ukrainians are facing their direct descendants: the rashists and Putin.
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Dr Ian McCormick @wokestudies.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Is everything better in Europe or in the United States?
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
For what is a [hu]man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16 v26 (KJV*) [* Yes, soul is more reliably translated life, but I don't think it changes my point if you want to go NRSV]
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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · 18/03/2026
Why do electricity prices rise with gas prices – even when much of our power i.e . wind & solar - is cheaper? Prof Richard Murphy explains why it’s not a bug, but how the system is designed. It needs to change to avoid higher bills
eastangliabylines.co.uk
Why UK electricity pricing makes no economic sense
Electricity prices rise with gas, even when cheaper power dominates, exposing flaws in how the system operates
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Top U.S. military commanders have reportedly told their troops that Trump's War on Iran will "cause Armageddon and mark Jesus' return to earth." It's yet another example of the dangerous relationship Trump has cultivated with Christian nationalists. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XsORP-VuRI
youtube.com
Why Trump Is Partnering With Christian Nationalists | Robert Reich
Donald Trump keeps comparing himself to Jesus.Whether he actually has a messiah complex or is just conning his supporter
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Has anyone considered that the reason so many different explanations are being given re US-Iran is that confusion is the aim? That it's flooding the zone so people who care about reasons despair whilst people who just want to scream USA USA focus on the diabolical firework show?
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
I've read people saying Trump is drawn to extreme violence, and here he is, basically verifying it for us.
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Margo Gontar @margogontar.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
The fact this is happening on the day Russia is allowed back to Paralympics proudly with their flag and anthem and all and phrases about giving them ‘second chance’ feels surreal and honestly disgusting
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
He’s right, you know. Wait…
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldIrump
X.com
The United States has spent EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS fighting and policing in the Middle East. Thousands of our Great Soldiers have died or been badly wounded. Millions of people have died on the other side. GOING INTO THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE WORST DECISION EVER MADE.....
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Worth watching the whole clip, but purely in propaganda terms it seems to me, admittedly just an amateur observer when it comes to war fighting, that it may be useful to send the message to the 91+ million Iranian civilians that we are not trying to kill them.
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Sir Basil @sirbasil.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Is it just me or is there something utterly grotesque about the British right wing press relishing this war....as though this is all just a huge compter game where the men, woman and child civilians who are blown into several pieces are of only periphery consequence?
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
So Russia will supply Iran with intelligence on how to bomb US assets in the region, and supply the US with the fuel to respond? War for war's sake, I guess.
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Alistair Barrie @alistairbarrie.com · 06/03/2026
Pretty difficult to refute a single thing in this perfect assessment of where the f**k we are, from @iandunt.bsky.social:
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 06/03/2026
Nothing they talk about more in "left behind communities" than reinstalling the Shah.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Hot Take: Kemi Badenoch wants Keir Starmer to sign us up to Trump's war so she can blame him personally for the body bags that come back, for any and all equipment failures, and for failing to 'win'. She's furious that he hasn't made a mistake.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
People who read the Left Behind books growing up (and didn't deconstruct) are now running the biggest military in the world. You may never have heard of John Nelson Derby, but his heresy is killing hundreds of thousands, long after his death.
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Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Since we released this it’s been, strangely, still relevant. Perhaps because of the lack of strategy from the US and Israel.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Starmer insists he is rejecting both the Left and the Right. And in the words of a former Prime Minister, we know what happens to those who insist on standing in the middle of the road: they get run down.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
This is a nice summary of the kind of vacuum of thinking we are dealing with. There is no plan for democracy, just a different form of oppressive violence.
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damniel spookradski @self.agency · 02/03/2026
FACT CHECK: Horseshit
reuters.com
Pentagon tells Congress no sign that Iran was going to attack US first, sources say
Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff on Sunday that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first, two people f...
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
I am reminded of the statement "You can tell a lot about someone by what they think of Dubai". In a world where Dubai has been normalised, it's great to realise a lot of people aren't buying the plastic, sterile Human Rights black hole. There a heck of a lot of good people out there.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Kind of incredible. I was just sitting down to write about how Starmer should be given credit for keeping us out of this mess when he does this. Unutterably foolish and obsequious. Why in God's name should we have anything to do with this shortsighted madness.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 02/03/2026
WW1 "Remember Belgium" recruitment poster edited to show Dubai in flames in the background, with an influencer posing in the midde ground.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
What my life needs is someone to do "This Week In Epstein" like the old @russincheshire.bsky.social This Week In Brexit. Because frankly, just having a weekly touch-base to see if I missed anything or have any wires crossed is super useful, except for my poor mental health.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Ouch. Go Leo.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
When in Norway, Have a break, Have a Quick Lunch! (Product is nigh-identical, but produced by a Mondalez subsidiary and, crucially, not Nestle).
Graham is smiling at the camera and holding the wrapper for a Norwegian chocolate wafer bar called a Kvikk Lunsj, which is pronounced Quick Lunch. It looks and tastes exactly like a Kit Kat and is produced by a subsidiary of Modalez, not Nestle.
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Graham Martin @graham-martin.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Just dropping by whilst in Arctic Norway to say that all bread should come in wrappers with pictures this fun:
Two bread wrappers side by side. The left one says Nord-Norgebrød and has artwork showing an orca, birds, boats, homes and people skiing in the background. The famous globe at the North Cape is at the top of the picture. The right one says Svalbardbrød and has artwork showing a polar bear, dog sled team, and other features in a snowy scene.
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