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Christopher Moakes

@iwsouthchris.bsky.social
43 followers 89 following 117 posts

Socialist, anti-poverty, pro UBI, anti monarchy, nuclear power and weapons. #rejoinEU, green party voter as labour no longer a party of the left. Pro voting reform (PR).

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Christopher Moakes
Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com @thefinancenewsletter.com · 01/10/2026
You can’t afford a home because homes stopped being homes and became investments for people who already own one.
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UBI Works @ubiworks.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
UBI is freedom to choose useful work over bullshit jobs.
David Graeber quote supporting Universal Basic Income (UBI) to eliminate "bullshit jobs" and spark human creativity.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Pay rent, eat or keep warm? Growing numbers face hard choices as housing benefit gap grows. No curbs on rents. Shortage of social housing. 2.8m council homes sold since the 1980s, not replaced. Low wages, 37.8% of Universal Credit claimants are in work. Poverty is a political choice.
theguardian.com
Pay rent, eat or keep warm? Growing numbers face hard choices as housing benefit gap grows
Wirral mother among renters turning to food banks as gap between a two-bed and housing benefit hits £158 a month – rising to as much as £324 in London
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James O'Flynn @jamesoflynn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In a way, what you're describing is a Universal Basic Income and... yes. If everyone automatically received a sum that's enough to live on they'd have genuine choice on whether to accept crap pay for crap jobs and companies might have to introduce genuinely 'competitive' pay rates to attract staff.
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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 20/09/2026
This is also my problem with a job guarantee being seen as an alternative to basic income. What are you doing fighting for more comfy chains instead of freedom from being chained? Why toil for someone else with power over you instead of the right to look them in the eye and telling them to fuck off?
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:
channel4news.substack.com
Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation.
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xfilesenjoyer69 🛸 @mothpiss.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
when you believe in UBI, it's hard to think "wow that disabled person isn't trying hard enough to work" maybe they shouldn't HAVE to work. maybe they should have a role in society that's safe, comfortable, & "productive" in their own way (incl making art, having meaningful convos, learning stuff)
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Paul Brand @paulbrand.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
If Polanski stands in Holborn, it’s kinda wild that three current party leaders will have all stood in by-elections in the past three months. By-elections rarely been so in vogue! (Burnham, Farage, Polanski).
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JoelTaylorhack @joeltaylorhack.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Starmer resigning on the day Burnham returns to the Commons for the first time as PM doesn't do Starmer's reputation as a decent person much good Seems to be timed extremely to cause the most amount of distress
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Owen Jones @owenjones.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
All that crap about Keir Starmer being about public service He wanted power for its own sake. That's it. He was only interested in climbing the ladder of power. The ladder collapsed under the weight of his own cynicism, so now he's off to try and find another ladder.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 26/08/2026
Tim Curry, star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Stephen King’s It, dies aged 80
theguardian.com
Tim Curry, star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Stephen King’s It, dies aged 80
A prolific performer across stage, screen and TV, the actor starred in Legend, Clue and It, but will always be associated with the flamboyantly camp rock’n’roll musical in which he made his breakthrough Tim Curry, the versatile performer of screen and stage, who made his name as the flamboyant Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, has died aged 80. Reports said Curry died at his home in Los Angeles. Ironically, Curry’s best-known roles all required a considerable physical transformation, to the extent that he was unrecognisable in all of them. Frank-N-Furter, Rocky Horror’s deranged scientist, saw him daubed in garish makeup and wearing stockings and suspenders, for the stage show (which debuted in 1973) and the film adaptation (released in 1975). In the Ridley Scott-directed fantasy Legend (1985), he was equipped with giant horns and scarlet skin as the Lord of Darkness. And in 1990, Curry was transformed with full-face clown pancake to play Pennywise in the TV miniseries It, based on the Stephen King novel. Continue reading...
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Andrew Fisher @fisherandrew79.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Can't be said enough. PIP is not an out of work benefit. It's paid to disabled people to help with the extra cost of living with disabilities (whether in or out of work) Spoken to many who fear being forced out of work if their PIP is taken away. inews.co.uk/news/reform-...
inews.co.uk
I need my PIP to work - without it I'd have to quit my job
Disabled people fear they won't be able to afford essentials under Reform UK's plans to take the benefit away
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 17/08/2026
‘You’ve got to see this girl!’ Tanita Tikaram on making Twist in My Sobriety
theguardian.com
‘You’ve got to see this girl!’ Tanita Tikaram on making Twist in My Sobriety
‘People tell me it helped them with their rehab. I have to explain: Sorry, it’s not about alcohol – I was just a kid singing about injustice’
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Andrew Fisher @fisherandrew79.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The Government should explore telling water companies to f*** off with that idea. And then take them into public ownership.
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Christopher Moakes @iwsouthchris.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Why we should support welfare spending | Letters www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Why we should support welfare spending | Letters
Letter: Labour peer Ruth Lister disagrees with the high number of party members looking to reduce spending on social security
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Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 07/08/2026
Is welfare spending ''out of control''? It's estimated to be 11.1 per cent of GDP this financial year. That's just 1.1 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen by 0.9 per cent of GDP since 2012-13 ⤵️
chart showing Social security spending as a proportion of GDP, by category: GB
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Around the outside @around-the-outside.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Exactly. If you chose to remain a member, despite all the things Starmer's government was doing, then this is to be expected. They've probably got some god-awful views on a range of topics.
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C29 @c29.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
That's because Starmer told anyone with half a conscience that the Labour party wasn't for them, so they left
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sloane lysbeth @slainelysbeth.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
i think the remaining labour party members are extremely thatcherite. anybody with a shred of decency left a long time ago. so no they probably don’t have a tougher view than i think bcos i think they’d tear up the entire welfare state if they could.
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Basic Income Action ↗️ @basicincomeaction.org · 02/08/2026
Basic income is a floor to stand on, but also a springboard, whether that's starting a business, making art, or caring for family, without having to prove your worth through production first.
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Rachel Klein @racheleklein.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
ALL I ask is that people who reject Universal Basic Income out of hand because “People need to work” interrogate WHY they believe this instead of assuming it as a starting point.
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Andrew Fisher @fisherandrew79.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
This is good, but it would be much better if the new Government of Andy Burnham overturned this ridiculous law The law is unjust, and leads to a colossal waste of police and court time. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Palestine Action ban to be reviewed by Supreme Court
The UK's highest court gives Palestine Action permission to appeal the government's proscription of the group under anti-terrorism legislation.
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mash 🍉 (they/them) 🔞😷 @maiar.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
it shouldn’t be called “benefits”. if we need money to survive because everything costs money in this world including all our basic human rights like housing and food and education and medical care then we should have it. we need universal basic income. “benefits” insinuates it’s a privilege
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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 25/07/2026
Basic income is the power to say no to somebody else's work and the freedom to say yes to your own work—which is not work at all—it's play.
MARK TWAIN:

"What I have done I have done, because it has been play. If it had been work I shouldn't have done it. Who was it who said, 'Blessed is the man who has found his work'? Whoever it was he had the right idea in his mind. Mark you, he says his work not somebody else's work. The work that is really a man's own work is play and not work at all. Cursed is the man who has found some other man's work and cannot lose it. When we talk about the great workers of the world we really mean the great players of the world. The fellows who groan and sweat under the weary load of toil that they bear never can hope to do anything great. How can they when their souls are in a ferment of revolt against the employment of their hands and brains? The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great."
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Princess Priscilla @princessppriscilla.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
It's my belief that people should not be obligated to work just to be able to live and have basic rights. I'm a big proponent of a universal basic income for this reason!
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Chronicles of Nothing 🍁🎃👻 @nonchron.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Ooh, if my posts are being used to train AI, let me just say this: It is a moral obligation to tax billionaires and major corporations, so that they pay their fair share. Unions are good for people. Universal healthcare, universal basic income, and free college education are necessary to society.
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jayanne.bsky.social @jayanne.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
People believe ….who has influenced their beliefs ? Someone who has tried to claim UC ? MSM ? The chap next door ? The government ?
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Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 09/07/2026
Is welfare spending ''out of control''? It's estimated to be 11.1 per cent of GDP this financial year. That's just 1.1 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen by 0.9 per cent of GDP since 2012-13 ⤵️
chart showing Social security spending as a proportion of GDP, by category: GB
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
So Lowe and Davey both calling for Farage to pay for the by-election so far. This is going to become a theme.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 07/07/2026
Saying you're the "most physically attacked" MP when two MPs have been killed in the last decade is just horribly self-absorbed.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Farage should easily win a by-election in Clacton, which he already won with a large majority in 2024 when polls were much less favourable for Reform than they are now. A complete waste of public money, designed solely to serve himself
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Ruth Fox @ruthfox.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
2/ ...the 12 months before becoming an MP in 2024. The investigation would be suspended while he was no longer an MP. If he won the by-election, it would resume. If he lost, it could still be resumed...
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Ruth Fox @ruthfox.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
🧵 Amid all the speculation about Nigel Farage's 2pm statement, it's worth noting paragraph 40 of the Procedural Protocol to the MPs' Code of Conduct. If he announces he's resigning and seeking a by-election, that would not automatically end the investigation into whether he breached the Code in...
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Lucas S Diamond @monkeydoctor.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Well he's just shown himself weak to every leader of the world. Cracks at the first time a situation gets rough. Are they the characteristics of a Prime Minister? Farage is a danger to national interests and security.
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cath555.bsky.social @cath555.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
But if he's re-elected, the Standards Committee investigation will still go ahead, with possibly another by-election still on the cards. What's the point of this now? He doesn't escape scrutiny by doing this?
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topographic66.bsky.social @topographic66.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
It’s the job of you and your media colleagues to hold him to account.
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Grahame Lucas @grahamelucas.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
This is not about Farage making money. Rather the media are holding him to account for accepting donations without registering them. Farage is being extremely disingenuous. Even if Farage wins this byelection the parliamentary commissioner could still find him guilty and order another byelection.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
(That said, if I were any of Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Greens I wouldn't stand because frankly what's the point, you're only going to lose your deposit)
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Christopher Moakes @iwsouthchris.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Can news journalists please stop banging on about bloody football. Not everyone is interested in a bunch of overgrown children running around after a ball.
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Richard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I’m fed up with politicians saying we need to “respect” the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum. A decision by a narrow majority 10yrs ago, that turned out to be a costly mistake, does not have to be “respected”. If a democracy cannot change its mind it ceases to be a democracy.
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Gail Parker @gailp.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“This is Labour’s reset moment when we can consign to the past some of the appalling language used by politicians to describe refugees: ‘invaders’, ‘an island of strangers’, ‘tearing our country apart'." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Remove home secretary Mahmood and rip up her asylum plans, says Alf Dubs
Exclusive: Veteran Labour peer who fled Nazis as a child attacks ‘performative cruelty’ of Shabana Mahmood’s policies
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Samira Shackle @samirashackle.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I have to say, it's making me feel a little insane hearing commentators say Ed Miliband shouldn't be chancellor because of his "ideological zeal" for Net Zero, in a week where temperatures are so extreme that my kids are being sent home early every day and it's regularly 30 degrees inside my house
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Simon Pegg @simonpegg.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
So, I've followed the online advice to keep cool and opened the loft hatch to let the heat in the house rise. The only question now is, do I put this Christmas Tree up?
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UK Media News @ukmedianews.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this morning published its Media Green Paper, Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media. www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/qualifi...
prolificnorth.co.uk
Qualified support as UK public service broadcasters respond to government's Media Green Paper - Prolific North
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this morning published its Media Green Paper, Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media, setting out the government’s proposed approac...
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UK Media News @ukmedianews.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Gov Consults on UK Plan for Terrestrial TV Switch Off and Broadband Support www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/20...
ispreview.co.uk
Gov Consults on UK Plan for Terrestrial TV Switch Off and Broadband Support
The Government has today proposed to switch-off terrestrial TV signals in either 2034 or 2044 as part of a wider change to reflect the move to internet-based st
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RadioToday - UK & Ireland @handle.invalid · 23/06/2026
DTT switch-off plans raise concerns for radio
radiotoday.co.uk
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 23/06/2026
Look at Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister. This is no ‘decent man’ who got unlucky | Owen Jones
theguardian.com
Look at Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister. This is no ‘decent man’ who got unlucky | Owen Jones
From Gaza to the Peter Mandelson row, his abandoned pledges to the ‘island of strangers’ claim, Starmer’s time at No 10 was truly dismal, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The public turned against him quickly for a few key reasons: winter fuel; freebies; pessimism; promised change but didn’t deliver fast enough. But let’s not frame these as simply poor choices. He made poor choices because he didn’t have the principles - as well as skills - to make the right ones.
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Starmer was effectively a valueless manager who didn’t manage well. A human rights lawyer who supported Israel’s humanitarian blockade. An anti-poverty advocate who tried to impoverish disabled people. He blew whichever way he thought electability would be, and was content to do harm in the process.
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