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Ian Stevens

@ianstev91.bsky.social
293 followers 804 following 880 posts

Former teacher and lawyer, Liberal, pro-Europe.🇪🇺

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Reposted by Ian Stevens
Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Holborn and St Pancras byelection: Polanski is an utter failure and it's time for him to go iandunt.substack.com/p/holborn-an...
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Today I think I might finally unlock economic growth by doing the same things that haven't worked for 18 years.
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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I still haven't seen a single person be able to defend or explain why you'd vote against this amendment or why it was unacceptable. It's the smoking gun as to exactly what the Zionism is Racism motion aims to achieve.
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Unlock Democracy @unlockdemocracy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A year ago this week, Andy Burnham told a Labour Conference event that ‘PR is an idea whose time has come.’ Now, as Prime Minister, he has kickstarted the process to deliver it. A huge moment for everyone who believes in fair votes! Time is running out on First Past the Post.
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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If you had told me 25 years ago that a Labour government would be trying to find ways to deport people who are living here legally under ILTR, I wouldn't have believed you. It's utterly shocking.
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Lethargy in place of strategy. New post on my fortnightly Brexit & Brexitism Blog looking at the urgent lessons from the Reform mega-donations, Piddington, and the growth of the far right; reset inertia; and the real lessons from Canada & Carney: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/leth...
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 22/09/2026
What are we becoming?
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Lots of talk of growth ahead of the Budget, as if it were a baroque puzzle. Our problem is basic. It's that we no longer support the things which facilitate growth: Europe, immigration, higher education, tax simplification, policy stability. These are all choices and could stop making them anytime.
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This week's post: Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns' mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/raci... The encouragement of violence against opponents by senior Reform politicians suggests they have the potential to become a fascist party. Perhaps we should call Reform proto-fascists.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns'.
During the 2010 election campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was questioned by a member of the public about immigration. Shortly afterwa...
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 18/09/2026
What on earth is happening?
  This had become the new normal. RNLI crew members had been forced to take their permits off their cars after their tyres have been repeatedly slashed. Most of them have been pilloried at the school gates or turned away from local pubs. One man who worked in search and rescue had been beaten unconscious and hospitalised, recognised for TV interviews he had done.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Imagine still advocating that Canada should be grovelling to Trump. The supposed supporters of sovereignty can't recognise a real bully when they see one.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Technology has created our modern world but politicians still think it was them. Now the tech bros actively want to change government mostly to empower themselves and the politicians are still in denial.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Ben Delo who has just given Reform £36m is the same Ben Delo who US prosecutors said was the leader of a ‘criminal enterprise’ But hey ho, it’s fine for him- and any other crypto bro - to buy British democracy lock stock and barrel democracyforsale.substack.com/p/reforms-4m...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Reform's £4m donor "thumbed his nose at the law", US prosecutors said
Ben Delo has called his US conviction a "non-crime". Prosecutors said the Farage-backing crypto billionaire was a “leader of a criminal enterprise”.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Can't say how much I agree with every word of this - and all the more powerful, perhaps, because it comes from (gulp) a Conservative!
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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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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
How has nobody sent me this before? 👏
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Legitimate concerns” latest. The entire nation should be ashamed of how far we’ve fallen. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Group entered hotel of Pakistan cricketers mistaken for migrants
Protesters congregated at a Portsmouth hotel after false rumours that a coach of migrants had arrived.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Worth a look for anyone who thinks the Conservatives and Reform won't do a deal after the next election even if the arithmetic adds up. (source: lordashcroftpolls.com/2026/09/shou...)
Graph showing two thirds of Tory voters would rather see a Con/Ref coalition after the next election.
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Adam @adamcobb.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This bit from @stephenkb.bsky.social’s column today feels very relevant here
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 04/09/2026
Nigel Farage is very lucky that he didn't know what was being discussed at the lunch where he was discussing it
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Mahmood's proposals would force medium-skilled & care workers to leave the UK & would deter high skill workers from coming in future. This would widen the deficit/fiscal home. Would be deliberate economic and political self-harm for Burnham/Healey to proceed with them. inews.co.uk/news/politic...
inews.co.uk
Mahmood's 'hardline' immigration reforms hit by growing rebellion
More Labour MPs to publicly oppose Home Secretary's changes to indefinite leave to remain
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Politicians all love growth, but hate the things that create it: being in the EU, immigration, higher education and London.
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Brexit Britain is still a tinderbox. New post starting the 11th year of my Brexit & Brexitism Blog with analysis of a long, hot summer of Brexit stasis & dishonesty & the reasons for it, Clacton, the Arday case & the culture war: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/08/brex...
Image of beginning of the latest post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"If Labour’s strategy is essentially to do what Starmer did, but with better comms and more social-media dopamine, it will get the same result as he did." @chakrabortty.bsky.social
theguardian.com
Does Nigel Farage know what people really think of him? I do – and he won’t like it | Aditya Chakrabortty
An anti-Farage army of voters is there to be galvanised, as exclusive data shows. But getting them out will be tricky, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The depressing thing about the US isn't Trump really. He's just a grotesque. It's the complete failure of all the things liberals believe in: Congress, the judiciary, the press, voters themselves, all persistently unwilling or unable to stop him. It's the failure of an entire society.
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Remember how Brexit was supposed to bring the "regulatory agility" for rapid medicine authorisation and make the UK a "world-leading" medicines regulator? Well, that turned out to be yet another illusion. Good new @ukandeu.bsky.social analysis here: ukandeu.ac.uk/the-uk-us-me...
ukandeu.ac.uk
The UK-US medicines deal and the hidden costs of Brexit - UK in a changing Europe
Vilija Vėlyvytė argues that the UK-US medicines deal which will see the NHS pay more for new medicines is an unexpected cost of Brexit.
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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The higher education participation rate for UK born Bangladeshi women went from around 2% (not a typo) in 1983 to nearly 67% in 2025 This must be one of the most dramatic, fast social changes in recent British history, and one that is barely noted or understood
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Really good piece on the nostalgic thinking which pervades contemporary British politics
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
What happens if a UK government removes benefits from EU citizens in breach of the withdrawal agreement? My analysis of the likely EU response to Reform Party policy, if ever enacted - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2026/08/what...
eulawanalysis.blogspot.com
What happens if a UK government removes benefits from EU citizens in breach of the withdrawal agreement?
Professor Steve Peers , Law School, Royal Holloway University of London   Photo credit : Martin Robson , via Wikimedia Commons  ...
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Simon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Something shifted between the Makerfield and Clacton by-elections. The pro-European cause in Britain got binned. My latest nixons.substack.com/p/washington...
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Yes this wouldn’t have happened with the British public voting for Brexit etc etc but the Swedes are behaving appallingly in a number of cases and deserve to be called out. New case is deporting a 74 year old with dementia in a care home. They should be embarrassed.
theguardian.com
Post-Brexit rights for British citizens are being undermined in Sweden
Apparent high level of removal orders suggests Sweden is rejecting ‘reasonable grounds’ for failing to apply to stay
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Someone in Labour needs to be clear. Freedom of movement was always a good thing. The objections to it were always both false and xenophobic.
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the3million @the3million.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Monique Hawkins, acting chief executive of the3million, said stripping people of rights... would affect “whole families” as people faced a “cliff-edge loss of their rights” without any of the “proportionality assessment” required under the withdrawal agreement. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Home Office ‘error’ leaves Italian man’s wife with no right to stay in UK
Man is told he should not have been granted settled status so he can no longer sponsor Brazilian wife to remain
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Stephen McGann @stephenmcgann.uk · 09/08/2026
LATEST: UK confident of regaining single market access by promising everyone in European Parliament free access to National Trust properties, 10% off at M&S and one free photograph with a palace guard.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
One would hope that by now the UK government and media would know better than to give air time to cakeist nonsense with regard to EU relations, but evidently not... www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Burnham ‘handed post-Brexit plan that could see Britain rejoin EU single market’
The proposal would reportedly see Britain promise to extend the protection of Britain’s Armed Forces and nuclear deterrent across Europe, in exchange for access to the EU’s free-trade zone
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
It's striking (and alarming) how this kind of stuff has so quickly spread from the most extreme fringes of politics, and barely mentioned outside those fringes to being, if not mainstream, then at least within the ambit of mainstream discussion.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The worst two word phrase in politics is ‘legitimate concerns’.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The arguments trotted out against leaving fossil fuels in the ground are strikingly similar to the arguments trotted out against ending the slave trade, 230 years ago. 1. If we stop trading slaves / extracting fossil fuels, Britain’s economy will collapse 🧵
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Reform's latest proposals display many features of pro-Brexit arguments, including bogus but technical-sounding claims (here, UNCLOS, cf 'CTA', 'WTO terms', 'GATT 24'), and assumptions aboutt what other countries/ EU will/ should/ must do. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 1/2
bbc.co.uk
France hits out at Reform UK plan to return migrants using Royal Navy
It comes after the party said it would override French objections to return migrants to France.
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Between the 1970s and 1990s the UK state made a strategic bet to expand Higher Ed. They poured in untold billions of your money. Now it's been handed over to private creditors to burn in a furnace. Then they just laugh at you: at all the taxes you've ever paid or will ever pay. True story. (2/2)
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
*Government: we need a sense of place and stronger regional policy to bring us together! *Also government: it's okay to shut this local uni campus in an area of high deprivation! *Thick-as-mince country. No joined-up thinking anywhere. 🇬🇧 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
University of Essex's Southend campus shuts and staff say goodbye
The university says the closure is due to financial pressures, leading to 400 staff redundancies.
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the3million @the3million.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Monique Hawkins, acting chief executive of the3million, said the impact of the Home Office’s retrospective review was devastating for many. "People applied to the EU settlement scheme in good faith...by building their lives in the UK and putting down roots." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
EU citizens in UK get letters telling them post-Brexit residency rights were given ‘in error’
After years of building lives in UK, potentially hundreds of thousands of EU citizens are being told they have no right to remain
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
If you see someone online ignorantly claiming that entry into Ceuta entails entry into mainland Spain/the Schengen area, here's the text proving otherwise. (Plus almost everyone who entered Ceuta returned within a day)
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
There's always been some dishonesty in politics across the political spectrum, but the current level of dishonesty from RW people talking about migration is unprecedented
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Burnham: "Social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare." It's a very good line.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
We can but hope!
politicshome.com
Burnham should take the first steps towards electoral reform in his first 100 days
As Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister, he does so in a Parliament produced by the most unrepresentative general election result on record.
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
The Burnham chapter begins. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog assessing Burnham and Burnhamism, plus Farage’s fortunes, and the rancid reactions to the alleged murder of Ann Widdecombe. Long, last post of the summer: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-...
Image of the opening paragraphs of the latest blogpost
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
It's funny how no-one ever asks where the money is coming from when you announce a cut in immigration.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 20/07/2026
Britain: obsessed with social class, terrible at judging it. www.economist.com/britain/2026...
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