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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Precedents are meaningless and can just as easily be unset in British democracy, hard to take away that 1975 and 2016 were good things. No previous successful electoral reform in this country was subject to a referendum, I can't find any evidence of them being in manifestos either for that matter.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Well this matter may or may not be a conviction position for Burnham but it certianly doesn't seem to be for much of the rest of this lot who are now furiously caveating and backpedalling with nonsense like this. FoM is a good thing, make the case for it for goodness sakes, it's not tricky.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I don't see a place for referendums in our democracy. They are a relatively modern introduction, only been used where a ruling party/coalition cannot resolve an internal debate. The net result is always a messy bad tempered argument that does nothing but increase division.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

So 2016 reversed 1975, both are now 'spent' and we can go back to not tossing every question a main party is having an internal argument over out to a public that doesn't have anywhere near the required spare time to come to an informed opinion on such a complex matter?

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

It would be better to just deal with the infestation of plants put in the BBC by the Tories than let them succeed in their sabotage. One of the many things that should've been top of starmers to do list when he got into power.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The greens will need to get a grip on this if they don't want longer term harm from it but I think the bigger problem for them is it'll hinder their ability to reobtain those labour waverers should the reality of Burnham not match the hope.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The background of wider polling shows a significant number of labour defectors had already returned. When the by election was announced plenty were sceptical of Polanski's chances and thought he might be better off not standing.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

There's a lot of other factors here, Burnham does not draw the intense dislike that starmer does, is still verbally positioning himself far less toxicly on socially liberal matters and hasn't actually had to do anything substantial yet that might break that.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

In the wake of 2019 survation found 30% still hadn't heard anything about labour having accusations of anti-Semitism. High profile for the politically attentive is very different to high profile for the average voter.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Constituency polls are notoriously tricky to do, frequently miles out and should always be taken with a huge mountain of salt. None of that means this sub group aren't and won't hurt the greens but I think it's more of a longer term drag matter.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I'm not sure it did? I think there's a tendency to overestimate how much people pay attention to this stuff due to the usual bubble affect. Would love to see some salience polling on it but surprised if it was more than a few % difference on the final vote

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Couple of boxes going cheap in the clearance section. They are weird, not a fan.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

More 'but my van'. Bradford's is a class c and doesn't affect cars.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

oh, before I'd focused fully on the picture in my feed I'd assumed it was a photo of a cyber truck.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Or Portugal at the last euros, or the world cup before that. He's been a drag on their national team for a long while. He's not done either, trying to look conciliatory by asking for his suspension for the irrelevant November games just to be available again after.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Haha 2) to the distress of many Portuguese fans who'd just got their hopes up.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

expelleth whilst... doing some photocopying? I may be missing something here...

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

a) 80+? She's hilariously useless but also they don't seem to care? b) badenoch regardless. Think Farage's current baggage will hang around for a while yet. c) I think low (<<20%), not sure dynamics tip to a Tory/reform win at the moment

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I suspect greater stability of a proportional voting system is really a necessary prerequisite for any of this and would help with that.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Euro also not actually mandatory for any member and we're far from eligible regardless. The framing of this matter always as if it's a day 1 thing, they aren't, both have criteria to be met, in the case of the euro that includes debt 60% GDP. That's a long way off even with best efforts...

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'd figure framing any questions as 'should we do <thing> but <caveats>?' is going to poll lower regardless of what the contents of <caveats> is. curious that no one ever asks 'Do you want to stay out but continue to sacrifice 4% GDP?'

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Wonder how much simply caveating a question with a 'but' is doing this more than the content of that question. Also see agree/disagree framing bias.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Yea it is entirely so. Still I don't find the above logic works for me but horses for courses etc.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Some people do actually use mondopoint which is just length in cm!

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I find the opposite, surely you want the hand with more precision on the wheel than the gear stick?

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Eh? Describing -12% as tiny seems a wee bit of an exaggeration. Also if it's anything with a head you're often getting the same amount on the continent as they'll fill liquid to the 500 line and the total volume of the glass is much the same.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Oh for an edit, no idea what gig is doing there 🤷‍♂️

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

No previous successful electoral reform in this country has been put to a referendum. In most if not all cases the reform wasn't even in any manifestos!

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The problem of the referendum was existing in the first place. Like all the previous and subsequent referenda it happened primarily because the gig government of the day couldn't agree and kicked what they saw as a contentious issue out to the public.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Are they? Or is that just a truism of the politically interested. What % of people have actually contacted their MP? Is the ability of a limited number of people with the time and inclination to bombard their MPs with their pet issues even a particularly democratic thing?

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I gather the retention rate of staff seems pretty bad. Also most of the course materials have significant gen AI, learners use AI in their submissions which are then marked using AI. Slop all the way down!

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Didn't we have one of those about 25 years ago? Could just use that.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

But you can't pay to go through an LTN in your car (well except any camera based filters which I guess if you're rich enough you'll pay for £100 a go) you have to go the long way around while the great unwashed can still go through on foot or by bike.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Actually late 2005 for petrol.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Via hung parliament? Though I suspect some form of voting system reform to PR will and probably needs to come first as a result of that. That would also help stablise UK position on membership by reducing chances of a majority in parliament actually wanting to leave.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Several are serving fairly lengthy jail terms, both for doing disruption (eg the ones that scaled QE2 bridge at Dartford) and also just for planning it (i.e. conspiracy to...) all under the draconian laws from the late Tory years that labour have left on the books.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Wow. This has vastly exceeded expectations about how bad the security is.

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Reposted by James Bambury

Samantha Asumadu @samanthaasumadu.substack.com · 22/09/2026

'New analysis on UK media: British media is not delivering the news to its readers. They are delivering an agenda. The seven days after Channel 4 filmed James Orr are a damning indictment of the British press. Orr is a Cambridge associate professor.' via @newscord.org

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Abject lack of seriousness and leadership from any party on fiscal matters for far too long sadly.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

When it comes to heavy vehicles though, the newer EV buses here are far nicer to generally be somewhat near than even the previous generation of 'clean' buses that are in the fleet.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Mixed bag for non exhuast emissions and depends how they're driven as well. Brake dust should be down due to slowing via regen. Weight is a bit of an issue but a larger problem there is general car bloat and lack of incentives otherwise i.e. weigth based charges.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

And store up maintenance costs that are now far more expensive because a smaller amount wasn't spent earlier. The problem with 'simply maths' is that simplistic outlook completely fails to account for the far more complex and knock on economic effects of running stuff on a shoe string.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Tories implemented real terms cuts of up to 40% on many departments. How'd that go for them? All they did was pile costs onto things like the NHS and local authorities and cost themselves revenue and lost growth from third order economic damage through public services not functioning properly.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Our infrastructure is crumbling from procrastinated maintenance and our public services range just about ok to obviously barely functioning, what exactly are you proposing to cut? What would be the consequential medium and longer term costs of those cuts?

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The top one has been tried and just resulted in increased debt and stagnant growth. The problem with slashing spending is it results in the inverse of 'stitch in time' in a lot of areas.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Not sure what they were doing voting in green councillors standing on a fairly unambiguous 'we will do low traffic neighbourhoods' as part of their platform then?

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Press regulation with actual teeth is needed. Corrections should have to be made with equal prominence in print and should be on front page/top of recommends online until a matching number of views is obtained.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Such a weird take. Presumably the example of lentil has been turned into a lie in the headline because they think their target audience will click to be outranged as they think lentils are too woke or something. They will of course always do this because it has no penalty.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Yea, in part a getting tarred with the same brush problem. The other element is that 'cyclist almost killed me' gets a wildly disproportionate press coverage (also legislator coverage, see hansard) but 'driver almost/actually did kill me' is an everyday occurrence unworthy of further mention.

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James Bambury @jbambury.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

and the local MP is now getting involved, describing it as a 'large number' - was maybe 200.

Letter from Karin Smyth MP to Ed Plowden, chair of Bristol Council Transport Committee

Dear Cllr Plowden
I am writing to you again about Bristol City Council's proposals for the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood following the Southville residents meeting that took place on 2 September at St Francis Church on North Street.
Since I last wrote to you, I understand that a draft map with revised proposals for the Southville section of the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood (SBLN) was inadvertently published by the Council on their website. This draft map was widely circulated and publicised despite the Council taking the page down.
I am informed that at the 2 September residents meeting a large number of Southville residents expressed their strong objections to the draft plans. While I appreciate that the Council officers present at the meeting were unable to offer substantive comment on plans that are not yet final, you will understand that the fact that the plans were mistakenly published has caused a great deal of anxiety and frustration for residents.
From the outset of this process, I have repeatedly called on Bristol City Council to listen to residents and to bring the community with them. Regrettably, this incident appears to have only further eroded trust between the Council and people in Southville.
Will Bristol City Council offer an apology to residents for the error that led to the premature publication of these plans, can you confirm that the reason for this error will be investigated so that something like this will not happen again, and will the Council now take this opportunity to rethink its plans to impose modal filters in Southville in the face of strong local opposition as I called on them to do in May?

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