iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 4h

Story #7 in the Guardian. Clearly not that important.

Reposted by James Austin

Russia has bombed a school basically every single day this week, so for those people who say "if this was happening in Ukraine, it would be on the front pages every day", how many times have you seen that on the front page of even one of your national newspapers this week? Zero.

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Imogen Shaw @imogenshaw.bsky.social · 14h

Baffling to see The Times claim that Burnham “did not mention energy” in his conference speech. Energy was referenced no fewer than 10 times, alongside a major announcement of £4bn for Great British Grid to cut connection delays and bring bills down. Britain's energy challenge was front & centre.

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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 17h

NEW: An organisation pushing the Green party to equate Zionism with racism has encouraged people to join the party specifically to support that agenda, and has links to activists who say that pro-Israel “infiltrators” must be rooted out of the UK. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Group encouraging people to join Green party to back ‘Zionism is racism’ agenda

Exclusive: Greens for Palestine group has links to activists who say pro-Israel ‘infiltrators’ must be rooted out of UK

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Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 17h

NEW: How does Burnham’s conference speech land with voters when they see it it? In short, very well it seems. A thread on some new video testing of the PM’s speech among voters by @persuasionuk.bsky.social Top line findings and some caveats below! 🧵👇

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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 16h

"The party has also said it would look closer at whether parents' earnings and savings should be factored into welfare payments for their children" So according to the Tories, it's wrong to means-test benefits for boomers... but totally fine to do so for their adult children children.

bbc.co.uk

Conservatives pledge 'tough love' benefit rules for under-25s

The party says it would bring in new work requirements for young people claiming Universal Credit.

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Owen Winter @owenwntr.bsky.social · 16h

Greens slip into fifth place in our poll tracker, while Reform are only two points off third place. Two parties that dominated discourse in 2025 on their way down

Chart showing polls since 2024. Latest average:

Labour 27
Reform 22
Con 20
Lib Dem 11
Green 10

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 18h

As always the right miss the importance of a functioning state and services to enabling growth and the private sector. A nation with crumbling infrastructure and a sick, ill educated population isnt an attractive proposition for investment

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JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 19h

Janan Ganesh writes a lot of nonsense a lot of the time, but the idea a National Care Service is anti-growth is bollocks for the ages. Freeing up NHS beds and staff to accelerate treatment times, and family members to work and generate wealth, is about as pro-growth as you can get.

ft.com

At least Burnham doesn’t pretend to care about growth

Unlike his predecessors, Britain’s prime minister is a fairly honest stagnation-ist

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 18h

We're repeatedly told that asylum seekers pose a threat to the good people of our country... Reading about the threatening and violent treatment of elderly and open minded locals in Crowborough I get the impression that the real threat comes from closer to home. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

On Facebook and other platforms, people
who are known to support the asylum
seekers have been threatened with acid
attacks, petrol bombs and rape. The dossier.
which has been seen by the Guardian, also
claims that several local businesses have
been threatened by far-right agitators, along
with a church where some asylum seekers
worship. One man was punched in the throat
after he held up a "Love Thy Neighbour"
sign, while an elderly couple were falsely
accused of supporting sex offenders. In yet
another case, a 92-year-old church volunteer
was reportedly woken at 3am for two nights
in a row by a man standing outside her
home, shining a torch through her window
and shouting abuse

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Britain Elects @britainelects.com · 20h

On rejoining the EU Support: 55% Oppose: 34% ... but on the conditions of single currency and Schengen membership Support: 35% Oppose: 43% via YouGov, Jun 2026 britainelects.substack.com/p/is-rejoin-...

britainelects.substack.com

Is Rejoin happening anytime soon?

Ten years on from the EU referendum

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 19h

so the state fucked around for 32 years after a fucked up 18-year old did a terrible thing and then tortured her for hours but was unable to kill her.

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Alf Dubs @alfdubs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm so very sad to hear of the death of Esther Ranzen who played an important role in reuniting me with Nicky Winton - the man who saved my life. It's so desperately sad that she couldn't choose assisted dying as was her wish.

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 20h

Simple solution: just don't do it. The US desire to find 'clean' ways of killing people is ultimately to try and absolve themselves of what they're doing: killing people. There is no clean and morally pure way of taking a life - and particularly not of someone whose entirely within your power

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Steven Seggie @stevenhseggie.bsky.social · 20h

The death penalty is barbaric and has no place in civilized society.

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Micah @rincewind.run · 30/09/2026

1. selling AI is profitable - when someone pays anthropic for claude to do something, anthropic makes money 2. people will stop paying anthropic for claude to do stuff if claude stops being top of the line 3. keeping claude top of the line means spending a ton of money developing the next version

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I can't help but feel the answers here rather undercut the claim they want a single state with equal rights for all those living there. Its not equal rights if one group gets the seize the land, and have a 'justice and reperations process' over the other.

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Kate Osborne MP @kateosbornemp.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My full speech at the Labour for Trans Rights rally at Conference. This is an incredibly difficult time for trans & non-binary people, facing a relentless attack on their rights & dignity. I want everyone in our community to know that I’ll never stop standing alongside you & fighting for equality.

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Anyone have a idea what sort of lead you'd need to cross the tipping point where the gerrymandering works against the GOP?

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is good - and I think what I liked the most about Burnham's speech. Its not the policy (and much as lot of that is targeted at me) it was the empathy, compassion and belief politics can make things better. Feels a long time coming.

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Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I wrote for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on the sheer significance of Andy Burnham putting compassion for others, empathy and care at the forefront of his political offering www.thenewworld.co.uk/zoe-grunewal...

thenewworld.co.uk

The right says empathy is suicidal - but Andy Burnham thinks it might save us

The prime minister’s emotional conference speech laid down a challenge to populists who say compassion makes us weak

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Its going to be a fun few years of this stuff. Burnham is probably the most cross-aisle reaching PM weve had... and Kemi the most oppositional LOTO. So this pattern is going to repeat

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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm kinda fully over that "the British conquered the world for spices and don't use any of them" joke because for one, you cannot recycle material for 5 straight generations and get a laugh worth a damn but also because in order to make it you have to agree with Tommy Robinson about who is British

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Daniel Sugarman @danielsugarman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As part of the "Zionism is Racism" motion which the Green party will be voting on at conference, there is a specific section which says that members of the Green Party who are members of 'Zionist Synagogues' should be kicked out. Efforts to amend this language were rejected at a "party workshop".

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a rare photo of sean connery signed by roger moore @steamedhamms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

i know a lot of people have been long invested in the idea that andy burnham is a bit crap at politics, and with the caveat I know polling this far out isn’t the whole thing, but taken together with his electoral record is there a chance he’s maybe alright at it

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

So, the big speech. My takeaway broadly that of others here: it wasnt a classic. It had too much cliche. Pulled a few punches *But* It was probably the most refreshing and significant speech for... over a decade? A proper political arguement, with faith in the power of politics for positive change

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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

More evidence of UK economy’s strong first half to the year, despite the very real impact of the Iran war: - ONS have revised up growth (and gdp/capita growth) in Q2 to 0.5% - confirms the UK as the fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2026 (given growth of 0.6% in Q1)

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The morning after. The fact is we are now in a national argument. Gone are the years of Labour just conceding contested ground; winning power but losing the argument; governing for party over country. If the centre-left loses it will now be after a proper fight.

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A bit like net migration figures being lower, the fact that UK economic growth has been higher than expected cuts against the narrative but can’t be ignored forever. Maybe (probably) I was wrong and Labour did have a theory of growth after all.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 29/09/2026

"By embracing electoral reform, tackling the triple lock, and reopening the question of Brexit, Andy Burnham has embraced Labour’s new core vote – younger, economically insecure, liberal Brits, instead of holding on to an imagined voter of a bygone era."

thenewworld.co.uk

Vigour, passion, purpose: Why Andy Burnham’s bold speech will be talked about for many years to come

On social care, PR, Brexit, water, housing and more, the PM signalled seismic change and a willingness to tackle the toughest issues

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I can only assume Zack Polanski is a performance art project at this point. Remember when he was pretending to be the voice of young people?

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Michael @michaeljsc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Polanski’s “tax the rich” is the same as Badenoch’s “cut benefits”, a one-size-fits-all funding source that appeals to their prejudice but would never generate anything like the money they claim, and prevents them ever having to engage with serious politics

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 29/09/2026

It will be funny if the Greens and Reform fall back under the weight of their own incompetencies, combined with tactical herding when the election comes, and so three years of "oooh, fragmentation" becomes "And it turns out it was all a dream".

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Mark Wallace @wallaceme.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Most striking of all is that this is explicitly a very *pro-politics* speech, a direct rebuttal to the anti-politics that is so widespread. And rightly so: politics can change things, it is an admirable thing to choose to engage in and a duty for us all to step forward and pursue.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Bonnie Blue, the Vengaboys, Ms Frizzle...your profit margins took a hell of a beating.

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Megabus CEO just dropped his toast

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Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This theme around control - the loss of accountability and agency in the face of spiralling cost - is still easily the most powerful thread of Burnhamism among target voters. Comes up across so many issue areas. Delivery is another thing ofc, but it’s powerful territory.

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Kaz Self 🏳️‍⚧️ @kazself.com · 29/09/2026

Labour members, councillors, MP’s and TU reps saying quite clearly - we see you, we support you and #TransRightsAreHumanRights 🏳️‍⚧️ I have female Bristol councillor colleagues there who are sending me images 😍 Two of my faves, Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner in attendance!

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Rally is as packed as anything I've been to at Conferance - with a huge range of excellent, passionate speakers. The fight back against the EHRC guidance and to rebuild trans rights starts here.

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Labour for Trans Rights @labour4transrights.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We’re so excited to announce this year’s Labour for Trans Rights Rally 🏳️‍⚧️🌹 If you’re at Labour Conference, join us to say loud and clear that the labour movement stands with the trans community 👇

Trans Solidarity Rally

Tuesday 29th September 11.30am-1pm, Room 3A Liverpool ACC

Nadia Whittome (Chair)
Dame Emily Thornberry
Dawn Butler
Alex Sobel
Lorraine Beavers
Yuan Yang
Kate Osborne
Liv Bailey
Emily Darlington
Rachel Taylor
Steve Race
Euan Stainbank
Andrea Egan
Joanne Thomas
Dave Calfe
Amy Tamblyn
Barbara Plant
Maria Exall
Jess Barnard
Cat Arnold

Proudly supported by Unite, Unison, GMB, CWU and ASLEF.

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Okay, this one I support *if* they include the M5

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Burnham is clearly a excellent communicator but I'll be honest - I think launching yourself headfirst into two of the most vexed political issues and comms channels is a *choice*

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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The BBC news summary this morning went seamlessly from "critics warn PM scrapping triple lock would be electoral suicide" to "critics ask if PM has nerve to make tough decisions" and I don't think it's a particularly pro Burnham stance to suggest he might not be the entire problem here.

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Paul Mainwood @paulmainwood.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Reminder that both the "mass vaccination = mass death" nutcases, and the "ongoing deadly pandemic" lot are proven wrong every day. Actuaries - whose jobs depend on getting death rates right regularly publish age-standardised mortality rates. Post-pandemic, back to a steady year-on-year improvement.

Chart showing standardaised mortality rates for England and Wales. After a steady improvement 2016-2019, and then a bunch of pandemic-driven bumps 2020-2022, the lines start improving again 2023-2026 which is shaping up to the best ever.

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is excellent from @stephenkb.bsky.social on one of my biggest concerns: the slow erosion of our shared reality as media fragments and people operate entirely seperate bubbles. We see the consequences of this in the States. A framented polity that can't agree on first principles is ungovernable

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 28/09/2026

Remember, Jenrick is not stupid. He's a trained lawyer, he knows the difference between police and court bail. He's just a turd.

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