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James Bottomley

@jamesbottomley.bsky.social
1.1K followers 671 following 9K posts

UK-based older project consultant guy with history in both public and private sectors. Enjoys chatting about politics, society, culture, etc. Spent time in many countries, including working in the US, so moderately familiar with other lands.

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Reposted by James Bottomley
Ghislaine Hull @ghizzybear.bsky.social · 2h
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 1h
For any passers-by, this is also the council who's Reform leader zooms in to council meetings from his Bentley whilst driving. It's a sky blue Benno worth approx. £100,000. Man of the people!
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 1h
I don't know why you're bothering to say that.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 2h
Luckily Bluesky isn't the Green Party and we're free here to continue to discuss and critique any and all aspects of it.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 2h
Surely it's always OK to debate and discuss a party's policies and policy making procedures, that's democracy and citizenship. My personal opinion is that the actual motion text is well considered, but ruined by the innacurate snappy title "ZIONISM IS RACISM". static1.squarespace.com/static/68aee...
static1.squarespace.com
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 3h
It's true they've been weakened by cuts, but they've also been pushed by special interests and government to dump nature concerns repeatedly in favour of corporate anti-environmental decisions and activities. It's particularly hard to shed a tear over the DoE who have been just dreadful many times.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 3h
The pollsters say that cutting inheritance tax is usually a net vote winner, lots of people who are nowhere near the threshold like to think they one day will be and also voters tend to wildly overestimate how many estates end up paying it - fewer than 1 in 20, but data shows people think it's 1/5.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 4h
The Farage channel. At night they'll show hardcore porn with ads for Tether.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 4h
Jesus, how many postal workers and plane passengers did this poison??
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 7h
He sounds like the right sort. Let's make him Chairman of the Party.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 8h
Israel has determinedly abolished any chance of a real two-state solution, using brutal methods. It isn't even a thing that exists any more as a prospect, but it's a convenient piece of theatrical pretence for the states that wish to support Israel come what may, buy their spy software, etc.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 9h
Sounds more like self interest than politics.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 9h
The author of the motion is a Palestinian activist, so it's not really 'student politics' as such, it's the use of the only platform where she had a solid chance of getting that approved by a big political force. It doesn't play well in the media and could have used more careful language though.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 11h
Something Linuxians normally accuse Windows of. 😏
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 11h
I'm a NIABY. Not in anyone's.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 12h
Not sure it was all that Liberal. Tory England is more accurate.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 12h
Must be why the markets are heading down.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 12h
I heard a similar story years ago from a then college student who worked part time in an upmarket hotel he used to stay at. He repeatedly touched her breasts in the restaurant, completely brazenly and openly. This was mid-90s.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 12h
I wonder what they saw in him? Perhaps he made loans to young royals down to their last few mill or something similar.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 13h
The only real surprise is that the Trumps aren't pushing a Tatecoin.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 13h
Extraordinary and appalling. New datacentres are also using gas to provide power, the massive one proposed at the ex-Microsoft offices at Earley will generate huge quantities of CO2.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 23h
The wording of the motion could have been better, it came over as extreme and not measured. Polanski ducked out, making himself look cowardly. The party is now large but has poor internal policy making and suffers from naivety.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 23h
They were so anxious to appear tough for the City and the bankers that they started believing their own crap and ran amok. They didn't seem to know how to be human.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 23h
Had a double take there for a minute. The Queen? Oh yes, Camilla took a break from the booze and the fags to say a few husky words for poor old Jeffrey.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I note that you don't counter with factual arguments.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Indeed, they are basically one party, the rump Tory Right plus a bunch of morons and nut jobs.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Indeed. Repeatedly being found out as a liar is no bar whatever to a glittering career in British politics - provided you are white and (hopefully) a posh private school accent.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
They're a joke party these days.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I might have admired his backbone a little more if he'd stayed around for the debate and the vote.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Brings to mind Craig Brown doing Mary Archer's 'diary' in the Eye: "As Director of Ethics at Addenbrookes Hospital Trust, I am used to coming down hard on incompetent liars.".
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Zionism is not and never has been a "Jewish tenet". It's a 19th century European political movement and nothing whatever to do with traditional Jewish belief. If you disagree, please indicate what source texts in Jewish tradition you are calling on to support your argument.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This'll be the same YouGov that had Reform back ahead last week!
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Reposted by James Bottomley
Lav @lavenderbean.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
What Zack being banned from Israel actually demonstrates is that the political project of Israel as pursued by the Netanyahu government has nothing to do with protecting the Jewish people, and everything to do with the reactionary irredentist fantasy of a greater Israel.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
More like irony foam than iron dome.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Amnesty have come out with some pretty absurd bollocks at times, so not sure this is one to take too much notice of.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
John Curtice has had a big effect on the betting market. leftfootforward.org/2026/10/poll...
leftfootforward.org
Polling guru John Curtice says it will be ‘substantial challenge’ for Greens to win Holborn and St Pancras amid Burnham bounce
Curtice said that Polanski’s favourability rating went down after he shared a post on X criticising the police’s response to the Golders Green incident
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Yes, the Naqba followed the war, but the war happened because Israel pushed ahead with forming a state where they had no right to and the Arab states were trying to defend Palestinians who would inevitably be pushed out as a result.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I think we all know that it wasn't just about buying land, let's put that to bed. Numerous Israeli villages and towns are built on stolen land, the original occupants driven out.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And lest we forget, Zionism didn't start in 1945, it was a late 19th century piece of European colonial mentality.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
No rational person would not see that the Jews of Europe suffered the worst persecution of modern times. The issue is what happened after that. Seizing someone else's country and pushing them out of it isn't a humane or reasonable response.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
More Jews live outside Israel than in it. It would appear that the allure of Likud's race state isn't as potent as they like to pretend.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Big things start with small steps, but let's not forget that Hamas is largely an Israeli invention, designed as it was to weaken the PLO and that Israel has routinely killed leaders in both Gaza and the West Bank who publicly supported more moderate 'live together' approaches.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Millions of Jews live in many countries without difficulty and even where they do face problems, generally states take their side and seek to protect them. It's largely untrue that Israel's PR line of a survival refuge is a desperate need. Indeed, arguably life in Israel is much more dangerous.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It actually calls for one state, permitting both Jews and Palestinians. Israel has abolished all pretence of a two state solution. A single state not run on race lines would be something progressive people ought to support. The current state is not that.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Doesn't mean those bumper profits shouldn't be taxed. A windfall tax is now a matter of urgency. The money can be used to survive vital services.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Of course, but the conclusion Zionists came to - grab someone else's country by working on the assumption that an ancient religious tradition had more weight than the locals right to live where they always had - was no better. It was also against centuries of Rabbinical thought.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Diesel price really biting now, here are school bus services collapsing. The UK government appears incapable of acting. Meanwhile, vast profits are being made by the oil majors. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Coach services could be cut due to record diesel prices, operators warn
Rising fuel costs are pushing hundreds of firms out of business, threatening school transport, firms say
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Why does it require a specific place? It never used to.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Rarely has a dead horse been flogged so much in vain.
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James Bottomley @jamesbottomley.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
They're going to deal with the climate crisis by... shutting out the messenger.
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