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Andie Hallihan

@hooli.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.3K following 3.2K posts

Builds new factories and improves older ones. Engineering & psychology. Star sailing, greyhounds rescuing & reading. We need to reduce inequality and build a better society. Good homes, food, healthcare and education work well for everyone!

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Reposted by Andie Hallihan
Sailing Steve @sailingsteve.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Good advice!! Make noise. It's long. Read it!
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Kemi Badenoch condemned Reform's ban on critical journalists covering their conference as "authoritarian", saying her own party would never do the same as "we believe in free speech. We believe in a free press." Now the Conservatives have banned Byline Times from their conference
bylinetimes.com
Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives Ban 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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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 28/09/2026
A new YouGov poll commissioned by Best for Britain found that restoring EU membership is the most popular option for the UK’s relationship with Europe in 628 of GB’s 632 constituencies. The polling suggests that full membership itself is becoming a mainstream preference across the country.
leftfootforward.org
Brexit’s last strongholds? Only Reform and Restore constituencies reject rejoining the EU
The polling suggests that full membership itself is becoming a mainstream preference across the country.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham edges Labour closer to finally, maybe, being sane about Brexit. Over 10 years, £Billions of cost, thousands of business failures, mountains of red tape, wasted resources and lost opportunities later…. our govt may, at last, cautiously, start to be honest about the Brexit moronathon. Yay.
The Independent front page headline: 

Burnham edges Labour closer to rejoining EU
After Ed Miliband tells party conference Britain's future is at the heart of Europe, ministers say it is 'not if but how' prime minister will include Brexit reversal in next election manifestoThere is growing optimism that a way back into the EU could be put to voters at the next election after the prime minister and senior ministers made it clear they believe Brexit has been a failure at this year's party conference.
When The Independent asked Mr Burnham about whether Rejoin would be in Labour's next election manifesto on his recent trip to the UN in New York, he refused to rule it out - having said a year ago when he was
Manchester mayor that he believes the
UK should rejoin the EU.

Andy Burnham has already warned about the 'drift and division' in the decade since Brexit (Getty)
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thinktank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension. Means-testing even though people have paid for it. Proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains tax; cut corporation tax. Enrich the wealthiest. No means-testing. Chaos and cruelty inevitable.
theguardian.com
Thinktank linked to Reform UK calls for abolition of state pension
‘Radical’ report likely to influence party’s platform also proposes abolishing inheritance and capital gains taxes
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 22/09/2026
London’s most expensive house, the Reform UK Treasurer, Holly Valance, one of Labour’s biggest donors, a £265m sale, and a curious loophole we’ve uncovered that could slash the taxes earned from elite London properties. London Centric x Dan Neidle collab. www.londoncentric.media/p/londons-mo...
londoncentric.media
London’s most expensive house, Reform UK’s treasurer, and a massively reduced tax bill
A £265m mansion in the heart of the Chelsea • Sold by billionaire Nick Candy and his ex-wife Holly Valance • Bought by a Labour-donating hedge fund boss • Why was the tax bill so small?
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 19/09/2026
🤔 Nigel Farage leads a political party. He’s a sitting MP. And he now hosts his own weekly primetime show on GB News. 🚨Broadcasters are required to present news in an impartial manner, without political bias. 👇 Add your name to demand that Ofcom takes immediate action.
bestforbritain.org
Farage on GB News: Demand that Ofcom takes immediate action - Best for Britain
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Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026
The RNLI is the closest you will ever get to actual Batman. When rescue is visibly, viscerally, obviously impossible; when the water is a smothering, thundering black wall and the wind is screaming straight from Hell; when you are absolutely going to die: someone’s hand pulls you out and you don’t.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 12/09/2026
I absolutely LOVE this. Christian Bale spent roughly 17 years fighting to make this happen. This week, his foster-care village opened in Palmdale, California: 12 homes built specifically to help keep siblings together when they enter foster care.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's that time of year again: annual elections of Council Members for the magnificent National Trust. Should you wish to vote for the Nomination Committee's recommended candidates, they are on page 18 of your booklet. 'Restore' and 'Reclaim' are again in the fray. Votes are due in by 30 October.
The front of Osterley House, a red brick National Trust property in Hounslow. Their are 6 pillars at the top of the steps at the entrance, and green lawns to the fore.
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A picture of post-Brexit Britain. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog on a fortnight of ugly political scenes, why a government-led counter-narrative on asylum is needed, and why these domestic political events are a national security issue: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-pi...
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 11/09/2026
🚨 NEW BLOGPOST 🚨 The last week has seen multiple incidents of masked mobs trying to subvert the power of the state. Their actions have been illegal and unpleasant. But the treatment has been weak. The police haven't dealt with it, and neither has govt. open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
open.substack.com
Stop the Louts
The tools exist. The will, so far, doesn't.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
‘Israel’s Shrill Attack on Ed Miliband Exposes Its Weakness’ Alexandra Hall Hall, a former UK diplomat who worked on the Middle East Peace Process in the Foreign Office, argues that Israel's extreme… bylinetimes.com/2026/09/09/israels-…
bylinetimes.com
‘Israel’s Shrill Attack on Ed Miliband Exposes Its Weakness’
Alexandra Hall Hall, a former UK diplomat who worked on the Middle East Peace Process in the Foreign Office, argues that Israel's extreme response to the UK shows it is now losing the argument
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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Important piece from a great rabbi, Rabbi Jeremy Gordon Do give it read if you want a more balanced understanding of our community - the JLC and BoD do not speak for us all rabbionanarrowbridge.blogspot.com/2026/09/an-o...
rabbionanarrowbridge.blogspot.com
An Open Letter on Settler Violence and British Sanctions
I’ve witnessed and experienced settler violence first-hand. On a 2024 visit to the West Bank, a group of rabbis, including myself and Rabbi ...
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
“We’re here to stop people flooding into your town.“ No irony or contradiction here. Except. Well done Jennings. apple.news/AaR9knMa7T5y...
apple.news
Opinion | Ben Jennings on the far-right disturbances in Dover and Portsmouth – cartoon — The Guardian
Black-clad men in balaclavas disrupted traffic and fought with police over the weekend
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Come on Passenger! When you’re ready …. 🤪🎶
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Content warning: Multiple men violently assault a female protester at Reform's conference at the Birmingham NEC, to the visible delight of Nigel Farage.
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Duncan Jones @manmademoon.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
To me, the most eye-opening bit of this recent Reform scandal is that these knobheads literally say that the reason they need foreign money is because British people won’t support them.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Apparently it’s because this popped up behind Tice on a timer while he was speaking. So, now they are checking for other protests.
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Will Cooling @willcooling.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Fun fact - Reform railing against the investigators being a foreign funded group compounds this problem because it confirms that the money they "recieved" was from outside the UK
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Stop Funding Hate @stopfundinghate.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This dangerous, extreme, inflammatory rhetoric is what Ikea are supporting by advertising on Talk. Take action: www.facebook.com/IKEAUK/
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THE NERVE @thenerve.news · 31/08/2026
📢 It’s the Nerve’s inaugural mention in the Guardian! 💪🎉 …In this great interview by Zoe Williams with Nerve columnist and ‘greatest living stand up’ (copyright: the Telegraph) Stewart Lee 1/ www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
‘I was miserable for a lot of this century’: Stewart Lee on divorce, his adoption and the twisted children’s poem that explains his life
After a rocky few decades, the standup is nearing 60 – and finding contentment at last. But what does his grotesque retelling of The Owl and the Pussy-cat tell us about his inability to connect with p...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This is good. Especially good to have Scottish and English systems placed in dialogue with each other. Interest free loans won't appeal to everyone, but pragmatically have significant advantages over the current atrocious and unsustainable system.
wonkhe.com
England and Scotland's funding experiments have both failed
Craig Mahoney argues it's time for a conversation about what higher education is worth, who benefits from it, and who should pay
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Iceland is not in the EU, but it is a member of the Schengen area. It’s also a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and is part of the Single Market, meaning it enjoys freedom of movement with the EU. Good to know that doesn’t impact their independence. Maybe we should try it, Nige.
Nigel Farage 
@Nigel_Farage
Congratulations to Iceland on voting to keep their independence.
09:40 • 30/08/2026 •
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
A year ago I wrote one of my most popular posts: "the financial crisis theory of everything". It looks at how the 2008 crash led to Trump, the rise of the radical right, Brexit, the war in Ukraine etc... I've taken off the paywall so it's now free to read. samf.substack.com/p/the-financ...
samf.substack.com
The financial crisis theory of everything
Last month there was a fascinating poll from More in Common asking people to pick the main reason Britain is “on the wrong track”.
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The first forensic account of how the Post Office, the British government and a global IT company ruined the lives of thousands of innocent people. Post Mortem by Richard Brooks ➡️ www.private-eye.co.uk/books/post-m...
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Bopeep-Burton 💙🐓🏝🐈🏡🏖 🦋🇺🇦🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈🇫🇷🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️🌎 @bopeep-burton.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
We are commissioning discussion papers for our new international policy programme, ‘Humanity, Climate & Nature’, inviting creative thinking on interconnected challenges relating to climate change, biodiversity loss, sustainability, development and wellbeing. Learn more: bit.ly/4hH2qlA
A colour block social media card promoting a call for discussion papers on humanity, climate & nature
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
My summer reads.
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Rupert Lowe: 'It is a fact that by 2063, white British people will be a minority on current trends. I don't think anyone disputes that.' It is massively disputed and is not remotely a fact, coming as it does from the Matt Goodwin school of demographic analysis (i.e. it's total rubbish).
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
There now follows a party election broadcast by the Count Binface Party, And if I do say so myself, it's a banger. #VoteBinface #Clacton
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 19/07/2023
Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface
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God @thegodshow.com · 21/07/2026
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ændra. @aendra.com · 07/07/2026
I really question whether I'll still live in the UK a year from now.
In one case, a trans intersex woman described using the male toilets during a work party as she was not out to her employer, “which was in accordance with the gender I was presenting as, the gender I was assigned at birth, and EHRC guidance”. However, security staff believed she should be using the female toilet as they presumed she was a trans man and ordered her to leave the event altogether.  

In another case, a tall, flat chested cis woman with short hair described being surrounded by a group of women in a toilet at Victoria station, who threatened to call the police and told her “don’t you know you’re not allowed in here anymore” in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.  

“Before the ruling any challenges had been gentle, like ‘oh by the way this is the ladies’,” she was quoted as saying, “and people were embarrassed or apologetic when I said ‘it’s okay I’m a girl’, but now it’s aggressive and horrible.”
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Trump has gained an illicit fortune. But I have every confidence in the man. He will lose this fortune like he has lost all the fortunes he was given beforehand. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump’s $2bn bonanza heralds the rise of political grifters across the west
With voters embracing leaders who brazenly monetise public office, experts say an ethical code is breaking down
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Turkish activists have hung a huge banner on Istanbul's Haliç Bridge saying “Hide your children—Trump is coming” ahead of his attendance at the NATO summit in Ankara Tuesday.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
A Times investigation reveals Farage and his partner own *at least* five homes across Surrey, Kent and Essex, all but one bought with cash since 2000. In 2017 he said he was “skint”.
thetimes.com
Nigel Farage’s £4m property portfolio — and the transparency question
From ‘skint’ in 2017, the Reform UK leader now owns five mortgage-free homes with his partner Laure Ferrari. Only two have been declared to parliament
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
In Irkutsk Russians are now queuing for eight hours to get their fuel ration. Putin did actually bring back the Soviet Union.
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Sky News @news.sky.com · 25/06/2026
Hospital probe into why 40 people accessed file of boy attacked by crocodile
news.sky.com
Hospital probe into why 40 people accessed file of boy attacked by crocodile
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) is looking into why around 40 people accessed the medical files of a three-year-old boy taken to hospital after a crocodile attack at a Cambridgeshire zoo.
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Harlow’s Musings @harlowsmusings.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
The Trump team is ripping 900 critical ocean sensors out of the water this month. The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) cost $368M to build. Designed to run 25 years. They're killing it at year 10. This is Project 2025 playing out in real time and these sensors are the latest casualty.
nytimes.com
Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System
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Generation Rent @generationrent.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
The government is redesigning the tenancy deposit system - we have a chance to change the rules so landlords give renters our money back quicker when we move. Sign the petition you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/gi...
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Moving is stressful enough without fighting for your own deposit back. We need to stop landlords making fake damage claims and holding our cash hostage. I've backed the 38 Degrees petition to fix the broken renting rules. Add yours too: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/gi...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Stop landlords holding our deposits hostage!
Too many renters are losing out to fake damage claims and dodgy deposit schemes. Let's force landlords to hand our money back quickly and fairly. Add your name to the petition today:
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
No Equality Act. All new family rights in the Employment Rights Act scrapped. But, a “Women and Motherhood Protection Act” From a party of misogynists with links to MAGA christofascists and anti-abortionists. Just call it the Gilead Act and be done with it. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/ref...
thelondoneconomic.com
Reform branded 'shameless' with announcement of 'Women and Motherhood Protection Act'
Reform have been accused of using "shameless" distraction tactics by announcing a 'Women and Motherhood Protection Act.'
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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
meme image of Monty Python and the Brexit Deal
5 stages of the Black Knight from the film and corresponding state of the UK. 
1. Fully intact Black Knight with UK flag on chest (they all have this)
2. One arm missing, some blood spurting. Norway flag +SM (single market) -CU (customs union)
3. Both arms gone, more blood. Türkiye flag. -SM +CU (not EU CU)
4. Down to the last leg, blood pools around him. Canada flag -SM -CU + deal
5. Just a torso on the ground surrounded by blood. Australia flag No deal / WTO
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John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Tomorrow's @the-independent.com front page. To subscribe to the Daily Edition independent.co.uk/subscribe
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
And even fewer constituencies holding Brexit Referendum Street Parties. Brexit failed a long time ago.
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WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Congratulations to Elon on becoming the world’s first trillionaire from London 🔥
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Us vs Them. Reform vs Anyone-Not-Here-For-Enough-Generations-Yet. Sapolosky’s “Behave” describes the biases and framing of “Us” versus “Them”. And Farage just incites the division. We need more Us & Us. Show “Thems” as individuals. Train heroes. Narwhal heroes. Sports heroes. Us. Us. Us.
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Last weekend, my first go in the Three Rivers Race in Norfolk in the UK. A 10m mast going under low bridges 6 times. The Star is not designed for mast lowering, so some reengineering done. 50 miles. 24 hour limit. 120+ entrants. 110+ starters. 50+ finishers. Awesome race. Thank you Organisers. ❤️❤️❤️
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Andie Hallihan @hooli.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The bizarre combination of both grotesque and solvable. Dear Government. Get on with solving it.
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