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Andrew Riley

@jontia.bsky.social
582 followers 200 following 2.3K posts
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Reposted by Andrew Riley
Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/?
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Luiza Jarovsky, PhD @luizajarovsky.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Norwegian humor is on another level. Here's how the Norwegian Consumer Council explained @doctorow.pluralistic.net's concept of 'enshittification':
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Stuart Hemingway @stu31.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The right wing media are worried. At last a leader who is more appealing than anything these media moguls can achieve.
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Art Gelling @artgelling.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Can we all share this? cleancitiescampaign.org/join-the-mov... @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social @transportaction.bsky.social @activetravelcaf.bsky.social @solveschoolrun.bsky.social @rtfoe.bsky.social @londoncycling.bsky.social @sustrans.bsky.social @willnorman.co.uk @carlafrancome.bsky.social
cleancitiescampaign.org
Join the movement against carspreading.
Cars keep getting bigger. Our streets don’t.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 24/09/2026
Never been to the opera before? Now’s your chance. We’re giving away 70,000 free tickets to the @metopera at the iconic Lincoln Center. Go to on.nyc.gov/opera to enter the lottery. There’s not a bad seat in the house.
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Andrew Riley @jontia.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Jeremy Hunt exemption strikes again to save rich people from paying tax. £13m of tax saved via taxes-are-only-for-little people setup of UK finances. open.substack.com/pub/londonce...
open.substack.com
London’s most expensive house, Reform UK’s treasurer, and a massively reduced tax bill
A £265m mansion in the heart of the Chelsea • Sold by billionaire Nick Candy and his ex-wife Holly Valance • Bought by a Labour-donating hedge fund boss • Why was the tax bill so small?
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Urban Truth Collective @urbantruth.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The WAR ON WALKING has taken many forms around the world. It’s often as simple as how we signal who space is and isn’t for. Once our eyes are opened to all the ways we’ve prioritized cars over people, we can’t unsee it. Frustrating photo contributed by @stadsplanering.bsky.social. #WarOnWalking
Background photo from North Macedonia, where “sidewalks are mostly used to park cars” as explained by photo contributor Carl-Henrik Barnekow. Text says “Don’t buy the lie that there’s a war on cars. They’ve been waging a war on walking for a century.” Via the Urban Truth Collective. #WarOnCars #UrbanTruth
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This should be the moment people finally realise that Farage has turned them into fascists. If you’re choosing this dangerous inhumanity over the rescue work of the RNLI, you’ve lost your minds to racism and hatred.
Reform UK
Follow
@reformparty_uk
Charities' actions in aiding and abetting the invasion of our country will be illegal under
Reform UK.

Photo of Farage on Gb news
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
'These small boats are *constantly* coming across. An invasion! Let's make an app to show the sheer scale of the problem, then Britain will wake up.' 'Oh... it turns out there aren't that many.' Never believe your own BS. And yet the Right do this a lot.
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Anne Roberts @anneroberts54.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Worth pointing out to those raising the "West Lothian Question" again is that no SNP MP voted as they have a policy of not voting on issues not applicable to Scotland.
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Matt Bors @mattbors.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It was exactly ten years ago today, on my 33rd birthday, that I posted this comic online.
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Andrew Riley @jontia.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Why is this not a solved problem? Half a dozen speed camera; fines, points, criminal charges, impound the cars and crush them. What happend to the war on the motorist? If only there actually was one.
bbc.co.uk
'Boy racers' accused of using a Berkshire village as a racetrack
Cookham residents want a stop to motorists speeding as police say they will target the area.
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Charles Fourier @charlesfourier.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Bill Bryson’s words seem appropriate to post right now
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Ewan Hoyle @ewanhoyle.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
ewanhoyle.substack.com/p/how-the-gr... I do think it would be mad if they didn't do another ranked preference poll right now.
ewanhoyle.substack.com
How the Green Party takes London (and other places too).
Polling suggests tactical voting is popular in the capital, but also that it's mostly going in the wrong direction.
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Anna Carey @annacarey.ca · 29/08/2026
People in other countries will stop having strong and detailed opinions about US politics when those politics stop having outsized influence in our countries. If you want us to shut up and mind our own business you have to *leave us alone* and stop making it our business.
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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧🇬🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Alternative headline: “Sainsbury’s to get free labour after David Sainsbury gave Andy Burnham £165,000 for his leadership campaign”
UK politics: Burnham announces plan for 10,000 work experience placements for young people - as it happened
Prime minister spoke to press while on visit to a Sainsbury's supermarket in London this morning
Taz Ali (now) and Martin Belam (earlier)

picture: Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham in sainsbury’s uniforms in a supermarket handling goods
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
One of the first "outrageous" claims I saw as Jason Arday's media hounding unfolded was that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days! Wow! What a thing to claim! And the newspapers all suggested there was no evidence he actually did it. Well, they clearly didn't look very hard 🙄 🧵 1/26
Photo after Jason's final marathon taken from his archived blog showing Jason surrounded by supporters in orange charity t-shirts
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Hemry, Local Bartender @bartenderhemry.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
indeed you could say that "wokeness" in the pundit imagination was an incredible financial and reputational gift to a set of mediocre intellectuals & writers who otherwise would have struggled to find anything to sell the public other than eg their musings about emily ratajkowski's breasts
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
A brief note for Nadhim Zahawi.
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Oh I do like to be beside the Clacton-on-Seaside.
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Andrew Riley @jontia.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Shocked face. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
E-scooters far more dangerous than motorbikes or cycles, analysis suggests
Study of accidents in England and Wales shows e-scooter riders three times more likely to suffer traumatic brain injury than bikers
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Simon Hepburn 🇺🇦/🇪🇺/🇬🇧/🐝 @shareyourstory.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I get that but it's the job of the inquiry to get to the facts and the reports I've read make a lot of sense. In terms of science, that's fairly settled now as well e.g. open.substack.com/pub/christin... but the media isn't ever happy with that!
open.substack.com
We are learning the wrong lesson from Covid school closures
A response to yesterday's News Agents podcast...
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Lights out and away we go! #Clacton
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Why not just fire her? Does she really have a power base in the PLP? Considering her awful stint at the Home Office, I'm really not clear what skills Mahmood is bringing to anything.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Funnily enough I don't remember Andrew ever expressing these concerns the last four times a Conservative MP became Prime Minister outside of a general election.
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Jeff @jeffm2018.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
This Zahawi? taxpolicy.org.uk/2023/01/24/c...
taxpolicy.org.uk
Worse than careless? The Zahawi cover-up.
Everyone is talking about the £3.7m tax which Nadhim Zahawi carelessly failed to pay. Perhaps not enough people are talking about the cover-up: all the times Mr Zahawi said his taxes were in order…
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Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
“If I drive drunk down the road, I can't then say: Tell you what, instead of appearing before a magistrate, I'll stand for councillor instead and let the people of Bermondsey decide if I am innocent. That's not how any of this f*****g works. You don't get to use popularity as a form of acquittal.”
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Andrew Riley @jontia.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I don't understand how the country can be taken seriously when people run their business into £1.5m of debt and then restart it under a new legal fiction. "The original company went into voluntary liquidation... taken over by a second company run by the pair." www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
‘I’m left with a year of nothing’: UK gap year students lose thousands of pounds as tour operator closes
GVI shut down without refunds for students booked on volunteer programmes with overseas conservation projects
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Patriotic Millionaires UK @patmillsuk.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
What does a wealth tax actually look like? We sent Brighty Buoy and his tiny balls to Wimbledon to chat to fans 🎾
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 08/07/2026
The teenage millionaire hacker from Tower Hamlets who took down TfL from his family’s flat - then was undone when he got hungry and bought a takeaway gift card. www.londoncentric.media/p/thalha-jub...
londoncentric.media
The teenage millionaire hacker from Tower Hamlets who took down TfL
Traced through his takeaway order • Began playing Roblox • Allegedly handled £200m in Crypto • Based in his family flat near Bow Road station • One of the county's leading hackers
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Russell England @russellengland.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
So, there is a precedent for vetoing an MP's resignation Viscount Chelsea (Henry Cadogan) applied for the Chiltern Hundreds in 1842 The Chancellor (Goulburn) refused because, get this, Cadogan wanted to resign to obstruct an investigation for bribery h/t @fascinatorfun.bsky.social and @gazhay.com
Screenshot from the linked article, with the following text highlighted

"The noble Lord had stated, that it was unusual to refuse the Chiltern Hundreds, except on account of mental incapacity, or where proceedings were pending for the expulsion of the applicants from their seats. In this case, however, the House had decided that compromises had been entered into, which had the effect of obstructing the investigation of bribery; "
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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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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23
Telegraph headiline:

"Heatwave hysterics wouldn't have lasted a day in 1976", overlaid with a bold “MONK DEBUNKED” stamp.
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Jacky @jacky3344.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Councils too have found outsourcing expensive & inefficient. See both adults' & childrens' residential care if you want to see the worst outcomes imaginable of Thatcher's deliberate error.
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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 13/06/2026
Harry Potter shops raided after London Centric investigation…. HMRC officials seize till receipts… ministers treating now central London gift shops as a tax enforcement issue…. www.londoncentric.media/p/harry-pott...
londoncentric.media
Harry Potter shops raided after London Centric investigation
Plus: Is London’s iPhone theft era really coming to an end? • A £9.5m mansion next to Henry VIII's childhood home • Go underground for your phone coverage
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Janina Matthewson @j9andif.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Yesssss www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/he...
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Liberal Democrats @libdems.org.uk · 30/05/2026
The new EHRC Code of Practice is not fit for purpose. It does not provide clear guidance or do enough to protect everyone from discrimination, and it is not compatible with longstanding British values. @EdDavey.LibDems.org.uk and @MarieCGoldman.bsky.social have written to Bridget Phillipson. ⬇️
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
I’m very fortunate never to have had to go to hospital for anything substantive for 52 years. But two aged (one now very ill) parents, and now lying on an emergency trolley hooked up to drips, makes you think. And I HAVE VIEWS. (1/several)
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Thangam Debbonaire @thangamdebbonaire.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Working through Tony Blair’s essay (on the TBI website) on the challenges facing UK/Labour, and the responses from Wes Streeting (Guardian) Keir Starmer (Substack) and Andy Burnham (Times), to produce a TLDR. Only one of these four mentions climate crisis and only in passing.
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Boring Manager Rob 🅅 @bourboninexile.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
The paper in question: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence
Despite rising concerns about sycophancy—excessive agreement or flattery from artificial intelligence (AI) systems—little is known about its prevalence or consequences. We show that sycophancy is wide...
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Andrew Riley @jontia.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... I just don't understand how such an incoherent piece gets published. Out of the three people, two are financially stable and working to avoid boredom. The expert view highlights state pension age rising, but they all receive state pension already?
bbc.co.uk
Over 70s working beyond retirement age over financial fears
People in their 70s say they cannot afford to quit their jobs, but others say work keeps them young.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
This isn’t change. This is chasing Reform voters - again - on a promise of continued scapegoating of immigrants. As with Brexit, it’s perpetuating a lie to the British people. And we all pay the price for that lie. In our economy, our social care, our NHS and our communities.
Photo of Burnham, Mahmood and a police chief 

Mr Burnham has been said to favour 'open borders' but is now expected to back Shabana Mahmood's crackdown (Getty)
Andy Burnham is backing Shabana Mahmood's stringent efforts to crack down on immigration, his allies say - in an effort to win votes from Reform UK supporters.Net migration lowest since Covid but half of Britons think it's rising
British Future said politicians "need to take responsibility" for the growing disconnect between the true migration figures and public perception of immigration
Holly Bancroft
Home Affairs Correspondent
7 hours ago - Thursday 21 May 2026

Net migration halves as fewer people come to UK for work and study
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
This would be a pointless and vindictive move which would shame those who propose it for the rest of their careers.
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Steve Chambers @planningtransport.co.uk · 18/05/2026
Electric-only pay per mile and fuel duty cut. What a policy turd.
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Things this Labour government have done that I like: 1. actually boosted NHS spending in a meaningful way that has genuinely helped with things like waiting times, 2. rail nationalisation, 3. made serious pushes on green energy, 4. been better than the Tories re relationship with unions. ...
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Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Now i have your attention (and brilliant ideas), here are five, immediate policies I would focus on. They're not exhaustive but I think they do three key things: acknowledge where things are broken, prioritise fairness, and take the fight to Reform. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Britain’s politics is broken — but not beyond repair
The next Labour leader will have a tough inheritance, but also a chance to apply some fixes
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The New World @thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
There is a battle in Britain to stop the future being built. And one Essex village encapsulates all that’s wrong about British NIMBYism ✏️ Lucy Reade
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Theydon Bois and the fight against the young
There is a battle in Britain to stop the future being built. And one Essex village encapsulates all that’s wrong about British NIMBYism
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Colin Elves @colinelves.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Quick question: how exactly did these “hero voters” “serve the party so well in 2024?” Only I seem to recall Labour underperformed their polling by 5 percent and only managed a “landslide” because the right wing vote split, so…
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