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Jon S

@jonpsadler.bsky.social
234 followers 453 following 262 posts

Retired academic, fascinated by wildlife, the natural world, numbers & music. An advocate of opensci & open source (R, Python, QGIS). Cyclist n+1. Has n+1 guitars and way too many ukuleles. A recent orphan (RIP) dad. Missing Europe. My views.

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Reposted by Jon S
Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 18h
UK households paid extra £13961 on bills since 2021 amid soaring inflation Has your net income risen by the same? Income tax personal allowance frozen since 2021. Poorest 20% pay higher proportion of income in direct/indirect taxes than the richest 20%. Hitting the less well-off is normalized.
theguardian.com
UK households have paid extra £13,961 on bills since 2021 amid soaring inflation, TUC says
Trades Union Congress urges chancellor to tackle rising additional living costs in this month’s budget
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Company behind Scotland’s biggest data centre proposal is owned by the treasurer of the UK Conservative party via British Virgin Islands. It could receive £23m public subsidy. BVI facilitates opacity and tax avoidance. Successive UK govts have defended the use of tax havens by wealthy elites.
theferret.scot
The Tory treasurer, an offshore company and Scotland’s biggest data centre plan
Scotland may be set to host one of the world’s most powerful data centres. The Conservative Party’s money man stands to benefit.
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Hats off to the Eye (as ever), for flagging the Conservative hypocrisy over our conference ban
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Jon S @jonpsadler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Seems the Tories have found their magic money tree again to fund their bungs to the wealthy. We await the press taking them to task over their maths….not.
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Jon S @jonpsadler.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
@octopus.energy We await an octopus engineer to EV charge circuit modified by one of your engineers on 23/9/2026. After his visit our Ohme charger failed & requires replacing. It is a legal requirement of anyone working on domestic electrics to sign off and test any modifications to the circuit.
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Jon S @jonpsadler.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I am now retired from the UoB where I researched and taught for 34 yrs. A strange feeling.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Reform-linked thinktank ‘to call for big tax cuts for the rich’; accompanied by deregulation of the City, weaken the authority of the courts. That would be the return on donations by the super-rich. Cost borne by the old, sick, disabled, unfortunate; cuts to public services.
theguardian.com
Reform-linked thinktank ‘to call for big tax cuts for the rich’
Centre for a Better Britain will urge abolishing inheritance tax and phasing out capital gains tax, report says
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Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
NEW EPISODE: The Big Bung Theory! Reform U.K. is awash with cash so we talk all things spending rules, changes to donation law, and what it all means for our democracy. 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q... 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/34B3...
podcasts.apple.com
The Big Bung Theory
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 17 September · 53min
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Remember: There is nothing natural or inevitable about extreme inequality; it’s the result of an economic system that values wealth and power over human dignity and justice. It doesn't have to be this way.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Do you want to hazard a guess at what this “jaw-dropping” list of freebies included? What luxuries asylum seekers might be being given “for free” in Thetford? Xboxes? Plasma TVs? iPhones? Ferraris? Let's take a look👀 🧵 1/22
Express headline: The jaw-dropping list of everything asylum seekers in Thetford were 'given for free'.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
“This film is where the beginning of Nolan’s career meets the apex. A 'Memento' for The Ages, in which our hero keeps recovering fragments of lost memories, sharing his confusion with the audience, as he discovers that his role in the epic may not be as heroic as he - or we - first thought.”
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Jon S @jonpsadler.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Privatisation of water & energy has failed its customers & the country. The fact that these parasites can walk away passing on their debt to customers tells you all you need to know about the Tories who created the mess and the greed of the companies. Insufficient safeguards and clauses. Appalling.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
🟡 MAGAZINE: A Letter to the Old Country on America’s 250th Birthday: We’re a Mess, But Still Worth Fighting For The United States is a country that has always faced itself eventually – for Republican campaigner Rick Wilson, it’s what keeps him going in the dark… Read the full story below.
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
A Letter to the Old Country on America’s 250th Birthday: We're a Mess, But Still Worth Fighting For – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition
The United States is a country that has always faced itself eventually – for Republican campaigner Rick Wilson, it’s what keeps him going in the dark moments living through Trump’s America
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Heatwaves are killing thousands in this country. Fossil fuels are an economic dead end. Approving new oil and gas drilling would be environmentally disastrous and economically illiterate.
Jackdaw gas field would create only 17 full time jobs, green campaigners say
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
In summary: He's panicked accountability is coming 11/3/26.
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Buck Frexit @beany.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Really weird, I could have sworn Trump made a big point about how foreign countries meddling in politics/elections was a terrible thing just 24 hours ago….
theguardian.com
Trump administration to grant $12m to groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young
Exclusive: Controversial grants are part of package criticised as misuse of public money to influence European politics
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Scott Robeson @indianaclimate.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
We think 2026 has been unusually hot. #climate
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GrumpyGirdle 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿〓〓🇪🇺🇫🇷🇺🇦🇵🇸🐈‍⬛🐾📚🌊☮️ @grumpygirdle.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Shop local
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
“We need to talk about how ludicrous it is to speak of defence in terms of % of GDP. If the UK economy were to massively expand, you wouldn’t suddenly need billions more to protect it. And if it shrank, you couldn’t defend it for less. The expression of a budget as a % of GDP is utterly arbitrary.”
podcasts.apple.com
Sunday School: A Bin-Bin Situation
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 12 July · 1hr 2min
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ScouseLakes @scouselakes.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Channel 4 News: “Police have asked the public not to speculate. However, Nigel Farage has done just that, which is why we will not be showing his words.”
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 11/07/2026
UK inflation is not distributed equally ft.trib.al/P2B3IHA | opinion
ft.trib.al
UK inflation is not distributed equally
The poorest pay the most in an energy shock
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
An important paper about protecting science from political interference. Europe needs to defend its science against the kind of attacks unfurling in the US. By Martin McKee, Christina Pagel & Tiago Correia in the European Journal of Public Health: academic.oup.com/eurpub/artic...
academic.oup.com
Europe must learn from America’s assault on science
In June 2026, several prominent diabetes researchers, including Steven Kahn, editor-in-chief of Diabetes Care, were removed by police from the annual meeti
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
A reminder that Brazil banned Twitter for failing to stop the spreading of disinformation. There is nothing stopping the British government from doing the same.
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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 11/06/2026
Should X be banned? Yes. And it should have happened in January when non-consensual sexual imagery proliferated on the site. The government’s inaction on what is becoming increasingly a vehicle for violence and hate is appalling. Much more needs to be done. And quickly.
bearlypolitics.co.uk
Republication: Is Banning X Really Censorship - or Long-Delayed Accountability?
Why governments should no longer be willing to ignore a platform architected for harm.
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Jon S @jonpsadler.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Never trust a Tory (or Reform for that matter): www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/labours-doom...
birminghamdispatch.co.uk
Labour’s doomed deal with Reform
Both parties tried to get into bed with the Tories — and were swiftly kicked out
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
It's hard to convey just how monstrous the privatisation of children's care homes has become. Highly vulnerable children have been turned into cash machines, with devastating impacts on their wellbeing. Please sit down before reading this week's column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Horrific, unregulated, and very profitable. The companies making cash from England’s children in care | George Monbiot
Councils are sending vulnerable kids to homes ran by money-grabbing cowboys and private-equity vultures, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Foreign money funding Reform UK. Another 7m from two overseas British crypto billionaires - £4m from Hong Kong-based billionaire, £3m from Thailand. Tax exiles shaping UK politics. Modern equivalent of representation without taxation. What have they been promised? Must ban political donations.
bbc.co.uk
Crypto billionaires help Reform cement fundraising lead
The party received £7m from two overseas British crypto billionaires earlier this year, figures show
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
The right in this country have totally lost it, a complete and utter collapse of any kind of cordon sanitaire with the far right in favour of gutter racism. It's been slow, but the grinding move from "anti-white racism is real" from far right agitprop to Times leader is complete.
Sky News: Henry Nowak's murder has highlighted tbe debate on whether the police are anti-whiteTelegraph: Anti-white racism is real, and there')) be more Henry Nowaks until it is crushddHenry Nowak and the corrosive effect of DeI on policingSpectator: why can we rage against George Floyd's death but not Henry Nowak's?
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 30/05/2026
I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline. “Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming. Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”
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chiller @chiller.eurosky.social · 27/05/2026
Just your regular reminder that our "decent state pension" is less than half of what the ONS tells us it costs to live in this country; we're at the very bottom of the G7 & bumbling at the bottom of Europe, where we have the 5th highest cost of living. It's a disaster.
In short, a decent state pension remains vital because the
other leg of retirement provision -private pensions-is
simply not pulling its weight at the moment. This is
especially true for women, who are most at risk of having
only modest private pension income to top up their state
pension.
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Ken Bardsley @kenbar.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
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Michael @therightarticle.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
dorseteye.com
Reform UK Unmasked: Haemorraging Councillors Since May Elections and the Lords Prayer - Dorset Eye
The rapid churn of councillors leaving or being suspended by Reform UK since the May 2026 local elections is becoming an increasingly serious problem for the party’s claims of professionalism, discipl...
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
👇👇
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
134 years ago this cartoon was drawn, and in 134 years the problem has only gotten worse.
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Jo 🕊️💚 @i-do-despair.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
This is amazing news.
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
1. Number of stories about Trump buying and selling hundreds of millions of dollars in stocks in the first three months of 2026: CBS: 0 CNN: 0 Fox News: 0 NPR: 0 PBS: 0 Politico: 0 Semafor: 0 Business Insider: 0
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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
The bond market is being treated by the media as if it has a veto over any Labour move to the left. The media are, then, complicit in the whole conspiracy to make sure democracy cannot deliver what people want and need so that the wealthy might gain. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Why the Bond Market Looms So Large Over British Politics
The cost of long-term UK government borrowing has touched the highest in almost three decades as speculation swirls over the future of Prime Minister Keir Starmer following his party’s heavy losses in...
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chiller @chiller.eurosky.social · 13/05/2026
Guess we won't be seeing this on the 6pm BBC news.
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Another Angry Voice @anotherangryvoice.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
This is an extraordinary allegation, and the guy making it (Ben Habib) has openly goaded Farage and Harborne to sue him if it's not true.
open.substack.com
Farage, Johnson, and Harborne accused of rigging the 2019 general election
Former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib has made extraordinary allegations that Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, & the overseas meddler Christopher Harborne made a monetary deal to rig the 2019 general election
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Michael @therightarticle.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
The 0.29% Panic: Brexit, Small Boats and Britain’s Manufactured Crisis
dorseteye.com
The 0.29% Panic: Brexit, Small Boats and Britain’s Manufactured Crisis - Dorset Eye
The Brexit Outcome They Kept Quiet From Us More than 200,000 people arriving in small boats over eight years sounds politically explosive when presented as a headline figure. But in demographic terms, it is important to understand the scale in context. The UK population is now estimated at around 69 million people. That means 200,000 […]
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Brexit Bin 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 @brexitbin.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
All together now! ... "But Nige did take five million quid, and Nige would take five million more!" 💥💥💥 #RefUKkers
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
NEW ANALYSIS: What's going on in Spain? Spain's wholesale electricity price in early 2026: €44/MWh. Italy: €127. Germany: €96. UK: €103. Wind+solar now deliver 44% of generation. Gas sets the price in just 9% of hours, down from 55% in 2022. Full analysis: janrosenow.substack.com/p/spain-just...
janrosenow.substack.com
Spain just became one of Europe's cheapest power markets. Here is how.
How wind and solar quietly pushed gas off the margin, and the wholesale price followed.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Morning, Sunderland. Meet one of your new councillors. "In now deleted posts, Gibbins ranted on social media that he ‘carnt [sic] believe amount of Nigerians in town’ and they ‘should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes’." What happened to Reform's " metro.co.uk/2026/05/09/r...
metro.co.uk
Reform councillor said 'Nigerians should be melted down to fill in pot holes'
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Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
🗳️ Sunday School: Worst Past The Post 🐸 If you’ve had enough of media treating this week as a coronation of Farage as PM then @pimlicat.bsky.social & @sturdyalex.bsky.social’s is the election analysis you’ve been waiting for. 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/37TE... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
podcasts.apple.com
Sunday School: Worst Past The Post
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 10 May · 1hr 7min
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Jon @jonw67.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This, from @adambienkov.bsky.social in @bylinetimes.bsky.social, completely nails so much of what's gone wrong for Labour. Just add in too many examples of terrible policy misjudgements, and you get Thursday's debacle. All despite them doing so many good things, and Starmer being a decent man.
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Jon S @jonpsadler.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Well a predictably depressing outcome. As Curtis says, the Brexit brigade are doubling down on their folly. Looks like we’ll be following the US into the pit in the coming years.
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
The Environment Agency failed to prosecute any water company for a serious pollution incident occurring in the last five years, choosing a divisive alternative punishment instead, writes Alex Thomson. ✉️Read our latest newsletter:
channel4news.substack.com
Exclusive: How polluting water companies are escaping prosecution
The Environment Agency failed to prosecute any water company for a serious pollution incident occurring in the last five years, choosing a divisive alternative punishment instead, writes Alex Thomson.
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Richard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Just heard self-centred hypocrite Nigel Farage on BBC News say that no British politician has been physically attacked more than him. An insult to the memory of Jo Cox and David Amess, both murdered.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Vote Reform. Or we will house *dangerous migrant centres* in your village. And if you vote Green, it will be even worse for you. It's beyond disturbing. The chill wind of threat, thuggery and menace of a kind never before seen in Britain.
Today we announce a new policy:


In order to deport all illegal migrants in
Britain, Reform will need to detain tens of
thousands at a time.


Migrants will not be able to leave these
detention centres, and each will be held
there a couple of weeks before being
deported.


So here's our promise:


A Reform government will not put any
migrant detention facilities in any
constituency with a Reform MP.


Nor will we put them where Reform
controls the council.


And of the remaining areas, we will
prioritise Green controlled parliamentary
constituencies and Green controlled
councils to locate the detention centres.


Put simply, if you vote in a Reform
council or Reform MP, we guarantee yPut simply, if you vote in a Reform
council or Reform MP, we guarantee you
won't have a detention centre near you


If you vote Green, there's a good chance
you will,


This is an important exercise in
democratic consent, not just for our
mass deportation policy, but for where
the detention centres are placed


Given @ZackPolanski openly advocates
for open borders, I look forward to their
warm embrace of this policy
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