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Joseph Erber

@joseph-t-erber.bsky.social
116 followers 267 following 123 posts

Londoner now living in Brighton. Musician. Crazy cat man. Politics geek. erbalremedies.substack.com/?utm_cam…

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Joseph Erber
Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
What's another u-turn between friends? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Keir Starmer to stay on as MP but unlikely to want cabinet role
Spokesperson says departing PM will serve out remainder of his term representing Holborn and St Pancras
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 28/07/2026
Westminster Voting Intention: LAB: 26% (+1) RFM: 24% (-2) CON: 21% (+2) GRN: 10% (+2) LDM: 10% (=) SNP: 3% (=) RES: 2% (+1) Via @survation.bsky.social, 25-27 Jul. Changes w/ 22-24 Jul.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
A PM who looks like he wants to do the job, and is ready for the challenges. Best of luck Andy Burnham, we have a chance here for something better.
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Mirror Politics @politics.mirror.co.uk · 22/06/2026
It was the hope that killed him.
mirror.co.uk
Keir Starmer was elected on a wave of hope – then crushed by public expectation
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Shit, that was v emotional! Even though the call for him to go was so resounding by the party, the human side is easily forgotten. KS is a decent man who tried to do the best by his country. He got Labour back in the game, a mixture of poor choices and a feral public/media didn’t help.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
What's ended up being a longer-than-expected reflection on the locals & where Labour stands in all this (leadership contest ins and outs thankfully omitted). Links to @fisherandrew79.bsky.social's solid writing on Croydon's de facto bankruptcy notices erbalremedies.substack.com/p/local-elec...
erbalremedies.substack.com
Local Elections 2026 postmortem
What do the results say about all the major parties, and what's next?
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
But he was SO FUNNY on Have I Got News For You.
Boris Johnson's lack of
leadership blamed for
23,000 Covid deaths


A scathing report by inquiry chair Baroness Hallett
also criticises the Department of Health, led by
the current Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald
and the then minister Matt Hancock
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Luke McGee @lukemcgee.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
The moderate left needs to challenge this kind of nonsense. NATO is a diminished alliance that is finding its feet at a critical moment – pushing back against an actual imperialist power.
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
"For the government it’s quite mad to keep using X. It’s active participation in its own destruction and against its own interests. I cannot fathom the logic of doing it. It would be like a Reform government communicating entirely through the Guardian comments section." 👏 @samfr.bsky.social
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Interesting that the Lib Dems have quietly changed their official colours from golden yellow to bold orange - they've had signage with this colour for a few years now so that's the way they were going. But I wonder, is it an embrace of 'orange book liberalism' (surely that's out of fashion)?
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Please sign to help music studios. ukmusic.yourmovement.org/p/studio-bus...
ukmusic.yourmovement.org
Studio Business Rates
There are c. 500 recording studios in the UK. Like Grassroots Music Venues, recording studios are really struggling. Like venues, they require huge investment in a physical premises and are facing inc...
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Tafaner66 @tafaner.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Downtown in tourist-crazy Sóller ('SOL-ya') where the tram squeezes between the cafe tables - close enough that you could reach out and deftly grab someone's empanada. If you were that way inclined.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Just voted for Bridget Phillipson in the Lab dep leader contest. Whilst I have issues with the drift at the top of gov, she is her own woman and simply comes across better and has been the lightening rod for some of the most notable achievements like Sure Start v2 & breakfast clubs..
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
In an attempt to show Gary Neville how wrong he was to suggest that middle aged white men are putting flags up to make a point, some middle aged white men have put flags up outside his hotel to make a point.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Badenoch can promise a cut to stamp duty, but it doesn't really do anything about the affordability of the homes themselves to many..We all hate paying stamp duty but for all the attacks on state spending by Labour (and indeed Reform's golf club Corbynomics) where is the money coming from?
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
This is a huge story. Don't let him get away with it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Nigel Farage uses private company to pay less tax on GB News earnings
Exclusive: Reform leader’s use of personal services firm is a practice criticised across the political spectrum
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Thoughts I typed out yesterday about Zack Polanski's impressive leadership victory.
erbalremedies.substack.com
Thoughts on Zack Polanski's storming victory.
And what it means for Labour, the new left party, and the landscape of English politics.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
New Substack post, please take a look and subscribe - all free for the time being 👇
erbalremedies.substack.com
Cultural Snobbery and Double Standards?
Musings on Rayner, second homes, and culture
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Hi followers! I have just started a Substack, revisiting an urge to write and explore ideas, particularly around politics and music. It's free for now so please feel free to visit, subscribe and get involved in the comments!
open.substack.com
Flag wars
A product of Brittle Britain
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Tom Baldwin @tombaldwin66.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
The question should be whether they are decent landlords or not. Renting out a property does not amount to a conflict of interest anymore than owning a house, a car, or a bike. Perhaps some now expect MPs to renounce all worldly goods, like monks?
theguardian.com
Four Labour cabinet ministers earn rental income, analysis finds
Housing campaigners say government look like hypocrites, with Rachel Reeves among those renting out properties
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
I mean..it is the natural reaction if you’ve lost the whip. But I’m sorry, those two, just like McSweeney (who is way too RW), do not believe in building a wide enough voting coalition, it’s the unthinking politics of marches and speeches vs the long slog of legislation. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Zarah Sultana says she is quitting Labour to start party with Jeremy Corbyn
Former Labour leader Corbyn has not yet confirmed his involvement to the BBC.
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Labour4PR 🌹🗳️ @labour4pr.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
🚀 Public support for electoral reform is the highest it's been since records began 💥 60% now want to change to a fair, proportional voting system... including a majority of supporters of every party 🌹 Chair of @appgfairelections.bsky.social, Labour MP @alexsobel.co.uk, welcomes the news 🧵 1/3
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 18/06/2025
British decline in one story. Any state which finds itself incapable of managing a project as basic as rolling out a 20th century tech between its biggest cities needs to ask itself some profound questions about what hope it has of managing the technologies of the 21st.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
As the government didn't make a 'broad shoulders' arguments and purely a technocratic 'there's no money' - this has become an unnecessary PR disaster, from a government that HAS to succeed (as a committed, active Labour member).
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
RIP Sly Stone. Another legend (I use the word seriously) who shaped music history, gone.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Sometimes BBC..you can seriously do one.. They did *not* win
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Wonderful news. The doom-loop narrative that some of the media would have loved did not play out. Well done @scottishlabour.bsky.social ✊🏼
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
First fundraiser in a what feels like a while. Popped up to Croydon to see old Labour friends and help raise funds for 2026. So good to meet the wonderful @dawnbutlerbrent.bsky.social - one of the party’s best MP’s! Thanks to Wes Streeting for making it down too.
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Bodega Cats @bodegacats.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Jonathan Hinder is basically saying we should only cater to one portion of the potential labour voting audience (white, socially conservative and from The North). Also let it be known that he was educated at Oxford yet he’s talking down the values of a university education.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
www.theguardian.com/business/202... Face it - sliced bread is industrially produced food, a sort of edible, thicker blotting paper. It has its place in the old fry-up (amongst tastier food) but is it a surprise that many people buy better, tangibly enjoyable bread, less often?
theguardian.com
Crumbs! How Britain fell out of love with the sliced loaf
Packaged bread, once a household staple, is in ‘inexorable decline’ because of rising costs and competition from other options
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Trump has shaken chess board in the air but I'm not sure leaving with the vague notion of making 'new alliances' will cut it with the UK public, who firmly support NATO. Green Party Deputy Leader Zack Polanski Says UK Must Leave NATO Because of Trump – Byline Times bylinetimes.com/2025/05/08/g...
bylinetimes.com
Green Party Deputy Leader Zack Polanski Says UK Must Leave NATO Because of Trump
The frontrunner to become the next leader of the Green Party of England and Wales tells Byline Times the UK must now form new alliances for "peace" instead
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
If one reads about Churchill objectively, or takes a listen to @originstorypodcast.bsky.social's episodes from '23, you'll know the history of the war leader is complex. It does make Starmer's sentiments look rather facile, & Mr. Dunt exposes the flaws and fallacies of 1-dimensional hero worship.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Haigh was v unfairly dismissed, which isn't to say her replacement, Heidi Alexander isn't a very good fit for the job (she's brilliant). But the culture that led to her resignation is lamentable, and we can be sure the unthinking philistine hand of McSweeney probably had something to do with this.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
If you're looking for podcast recommendations, this 1st ep is really great. @rostaylor.bsky.social has real intellectual curiosity and passion, and finds really interesting interviewees (incl Malcom Rifkind - a real gentleman. compare and contrast with today's Tories!) morejamtomorrow.com -
morejamtomorrow.com
Episode 1: Channel Tunnel How did the Channel Tunnel get built? And why has it not quite lived up to its promise? You can support More Jam Tomorrow at https://ko-fi.com/morejamtomorrow     Show notes...
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
I have a grudging respect for Zack's decision to stand. The Greens should be cutting through when my own party is being so timid in certain ways. Albeit Zack is a gob on a stick, terminally online, a former critic of Corbyn's antisemitism and europhobia, now the ultimate Novara bro.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
This is very 'Chapman Baxter' in @aiannucci.bsky.social /Chris Morris' Day Today mixed with their 'Vanessa Feltz' 'I'm Marvin Gaye SHOT by my own Father' in Brass eye. Again their work eerily predicts the future.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
As essentially a supporter of the winter fuel cut (it's a benefit for the most well-off demographic, those less well off can apply for pension credit etc) has it not become a bit like ULEZ did for that ridic moment - 'I'm not affected by it but I'm against the principle of it'- the politics of vibes
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Kemi Badenoch is barely worth speaking about as the Tories slide into irrelevance but it is notable that she has the energy of someone that doesn’t want to be liked or ‘isn’t in the job to make friends’, but in the end has no redeeming qualities or any humanity. Cold but utterly ineffective.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Really good intervention from @louisehaighmp.bsky.social on #newsnight - not attacking, just helpful. Economic policy has backfired and taken the space of the good the government is doing on workers rights, breakfast clubs etc
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
🚨 Thursday’s elections prove it: First Past the Post is broken. 5 parties, chaotic results, millions left unrepresented. We need Proportional Representation — NOW. ✍️ Sign the petition: actionnetwork.org/petitions/20...
actionnetwork.org
📢 No More First Past the Post Elections!
Thursday’s election results confirm what so many of us already know: the current voting system is broken. With 5 parties polling strongly, First Past the Post is delivering chaos and turning election...
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Luke Tryl @luketryl.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
This is why mooting 'ditching net-zero' as the solution to Labour's woes is so silly. It's a policy that is popular with their core voters, critical to progressive voters they need to woo back, and Reform voters are sceptical but it's way down their priority list.
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Britain Elects @britainelects.com · 02/05/2025
Barnard Castle (Durham) council election result: LAB: 31.0% REF: 29.6% CON: 28.6% GRN: 6.6% LDEM: 4.3% Labour GAIN from Conservative. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
newstatesman.com
Live Results: 2025 English local elections
Full coverage of the first major contests since Labour’s victory.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Lessons for Labour: - Do continue controls on immigration, only minority want untrammelled movement - Read polls on attitudes to Europe, we're not frozen in 2016 tinyurl.com/4s9n5amm - Economically left policies are popular among REFUK voters, be bolder, but still keep that lid on identity politics
tinyurl.com
Poll: voters expect trade to be government’s top priority at UK-EU Summit in May
Change Minds → Change Politics
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
I supported winter fuel cut as the benefit seemed to be a bribe for most well-off age grp, but in real terms policy has backfired, whether it's because Pension Credit messaging failed, or simply the axe fell on too many ppl (I'm not expert enough to know), anyway the controversy festered all summer.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
I rarely agree with Richard Burgon, but he's got a point about policies that are pushing voters to reform. Targeting the worse-off conversely pushes economically left (but more socially right) voters to a right-of-tories party like reform that can promise (as populists do) all your problems solved
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Reposted by Joseph Erber
Donald Tusk @donald-tusk.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
The EU wasn’t formed to screw anyone. Quite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that. 🇪🇺🇺🇸
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Tragic, gone too soon. Thoughts are with the family.
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Joseph Erber @joseph-t-erber.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
@mrjamesob.bsky.social @lbc.co.uk Big time fan of the show and your books, but sorry, Jeremy Corbyn just as bad as Farage regarding wish for 'peace'. He has twisted the line on Nato aggression repeatedly. Don't feel you have to give him any undue credit.
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Labour4PR 🌹🗳️ @labour4pr.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
🚨 Nigel Farage says First Past the Post is becoming his "friend" ❌ No party should be able get a majority in Parliament with 30% of the vote 💣 Why risk it with First Past the Post?
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