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Kathy O'Donnell

@kathyodonnell.bsky.social
1.5K followers 441 following 2.8K posts

Journalist, parent to two grown-ups, LGBT+ rights campaigner, former night editor of The Times, Scotland. Lives in France. [she/her]

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Kathy O'Donnell
Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 3h
🔴 We asked Tony Blair's think tank about charging businesses £500k for political access at party conferences and why one of its sponsor's logos disappeared after our reporting last week on TBI's alleged cash for access scheme This is what they said
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Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 3h
Sometimes, we say enough is enough. We are tired of the hate, the harm, the division and the misrepresentation. This is just one of 113k cis women who signed and spoke. If you feel the same, and know others who’d agree, please sign and share: notinourname.org.uk
Blonde haired women smiles. She says “I signed because it was a huge relief to find a group of women who feel the same way I do. Some women are uncomfortable with the negative stories we keep being told about trans people — I am one of them. 

I’m proud to call myself a NION woman”
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 3h
Here's the full story that the Tony Blair Institute doesn't want to answer questions about, on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com
Tony’s minor tantrum: how Blair’s institute responded to fresh “cash for access” questions
We asked TBI about allegations of £500,000 corporate memberships and a logo that vanished at Labour conference. They said they’re not talking to us anymore
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 7h
Or you could just get a library card and read it for free on pressreader.com
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 6h
It says everything about how little other news publications, their editors and owners care about scrutiny of politicians and freedom of expression that they don't boycott the Tory conference in solidarity.
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 9h
George is quite right on this. I discovered via FOI requests that just 5% of all woodland creation grants go to support natural regeneration of trees, and 95% to tree planting. I’ll continue to push DEFRA to fix this. www.theguardian.com/environment/... bsky.app/profile/geor...
theguardian.com
Government ‘failing to support natural regeneration of trees in England’
Campaigners say targets for woodland creation are unlikely to be met because 95% of grants are for planting
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 29/09/2026
I'm researching the previous owners of a pub from the late 1800s and have ended up reading about Lord Darnley, who "eschewed all romantic and intimate relationships, as he believe he was a teapot and it might damage his 'spout'"
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Drumcree Orangemen desecrate the memory of the dead Seven people - three men, one woman & three children - were killed by loyalist terrorists because of Drumcree in the 1990s. I covered the terrible events. Is this forgotten? What’s happening now mocks their loss. In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
heraldscotland.com
Shame on them: Drumcree Orangemen desecrate the memory of the dead
Our Writer at Large covered the Northern Ireland Troubles extensively. Here, he remembers the lives lost over Drumcree and says Loyalist protestors…
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As Andy Burnham decides to make pensioners poorer instead of taxing the mega-rich or rejoining the EU, a reminder of how the UK compares with the rest of Western Europe on pensions.
Luxembourg: £2436
Switzerland: £2400
Norway: £2164
Denmark: £1822
Holland: £1403
Italy: Men £1437, Women £1056
Belgium: £1401
Malta: £1400 - £1600
Spain: £1341
France: £1296
Germany: £1281
Sweden: £1226
Austria: £1121 (min)
Ireland: £1115 (min)
UK: £1045
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Damian Barr @damianbarr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is a story about finding treasure among trash, about being open to magic and the joy of the dump-it site. Wild story ! So proud to play a part. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'More will turn up' - Work by Scottish artists unearthed for homecoming exhibition
Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde were among the most celebrated figures in British art.
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"And we'll be releasing, compensating and apologising to all those we imprisoned for criticising us and protesting a genocide ..." is what was not said.
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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's remarkable to watch people on the left launch with gusto into a campaign to delegitimise and undermine trade unions, using lawfare and relentless media attacks, because they've been persuaded that hating trans people should be their top priority. The right must be rubbing their hands with glee.
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
NEW: Meet the real AI ‘rogue agent’: Lord Watson of Palantir. I am sick to the teeth of this current AI hype cycle & its perversion of language. The only thing going ‘rogue’ right now are AI boosters, a gullible & compliant press & a Labour Lord 1/ broligarchy.substack.com/p/meet-the-r...
broligarchy.substack.com
Meet the real AI “rogue agent”: Lord Tom Watson
A Labour leader is out of control. The world needs a containment strategy now
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Peggie season 2 ep1 recap:
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Dan O’Sullivan @osullyville.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Today I saw the new 4 hour documentary Musk, directed by Alex Gibney. There were too many times to count that a sold out theater burst out laughing at Elon Musk, something he said or did, even sometimes just how he looked. I believe that is his worst nightmare come to life.
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Here's Janice to tell you that something else she doesn't understand therefore isn't real and blah-blah-blah lost generation. Bored of trans, the queen of reactionary toss dressed up as concern is now on to ADHD.
Times columnist Janice Turner:
headline -  Is your ADHD diagnosis really helping you?
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Given the levels of sabotage across Europe, and the Delta alert here over US bases, the MOD’s refusal to respond to our queries on this look more concerning Key UK Nuclear Deterrent Link Destroyed Over Yorkshire – Byline Times bylinetimes.com/2026/09/08/k...
bylinetimes.com
Key UK Nuclear Deterrent Link Destroyed Over Yorkshire
The Ministry of Defence has refused to clarify whether the catastrophic mid-air failure of the Trident relay system was a weather accident or sabotage
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Next up: ‘Is your addiction to talking shit about complex scientific subjects you know nothing about helping you?’
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🔴 BREAKING: BP, Uber, Amazon and more paying Tony Blair's think tank $25,000 for “networking” opportunities with politicians and policy makers at party conferences Experts say "looks and smells like cash for access" Full story on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
democracyforsale.substack.com
BREAKING: Tony Blair Institute’s $25,000 corporate network “smells like cash for access”
Exclusive documents show Tony Blair's think tank offers corporate members such as BP and Uber "networking" at party conferences and "a stronger voice" in policy debates.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
“The fascist loves balance. He won’t admit he does. He’ll rage about the weakness of the liberal media and lying press. But balance is what lets his poison slip into the system so effectively.” ✍️ @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
‘Weren’t Those Black-Clad Lads on That Dover Train So Terribly Polite?’ – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition
The fascist loves balance. He won’t admit he does. He’ll rage about the weakness of the liberal media and lying press. But he loves balance.
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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
When we talk about dark money infesting our politics we generally think about Reform's Russian links, or the ADF pouring overseas cash into Christian anti-abortion and anti-LGBT lawfare. But here we see dark money in the heart of the Labour movement, quietly funding transphobia and exclusion.
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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The pair set up a limited company called "Adult Female Trade Unionists" a year ago in order to fundraise for this legal action among the "gender critical" community. A recent story uncovered that Ann-Dowling had failed to declare her directorship. But it turns out that was understandable.
wearequeeraf.com
Scottish Labour councillor failed to declare role in ‘gender critical’ group, breaching Council rules amid trade union legal action
A ‘gender critical’ Scottish Labour executive committee member and councillor failed to declare on her register of interests the company she set up to sue her trade union, in an apparent breach of the...
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
#TBT to this from 2012 in honour of Michael Gove starring as an invasion-battling leader in Sky's new show The Wargame. If you don't know what or who this comic is about... just count yourself lucky and scroll on, no worries.
[Opening scene is WESTMINSTER, LONDON. Over Downing Street a huge ALIEN SPACECRAFT hovers, silent, still, filling the whole sky a la Independence Day]. 

[Cut to INSIDE 10 DOWNING STREET. The (then) prime Minister DAVID CAMERON is looking out of his office window at the ship.]

VOICE FROM OFF-SCENE, BEHIND CAMERON:
Prime Minister…

CAMERON [addressing the person behind him, still keeping his eyes fixed ahead in dread at the spaceship]:
Yes?

[We see the speaker is MICHAEL GOVE, then Education Secretary]:

GOVE:
Let me do it.

CAMERON:
For God's sake, Michael, you're the Education Secretary! You've never flown a fighter plane in your life!

GOVE:
But I know I could do it, David. I could fly a fighter plane into the big space- ship...

...and shoot all the aliens.

CAMERON:
But you have no military training!

GOVE:
David

I haven't told you this, but...

I used to be a journalist. For The Times.

[Cameron reacts, turning to look at Gove with awe and respect, as if only now truly seeing him for the first time]. 

GOVE:
I wrote two articles about planes, David.

I've got strong opinions about aliens.

I know I can do this job.

[Cut to a title card panel]:

AND SO:

[Then cut again to Cameron on the roof of Number 10, watching a Michael Gove pilot a fighter jet up towards the spacecraft, and then completely miss it, careering towards Earth, as Cameron buries his face in his hands].

[Ends]
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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
How I feel right now about the British/ 🇬🇧English( whatever) political landscape is that some one wrapped in a Union Jack could whack me over the head with a flag pole & the BBC would shove a microphone in my face asking why I provoked the attacker & the Home Sec would invite the attacker for tea .
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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It cannot be overstated how essential the mainstreaming of anti-trans sentiment has been to the rise of the far right. The acceptance of hounding trans people in the media laid a path for everything else. There is no answer to the rise of the far right which does not include combatting transphobia.
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Why do so many people who should know better fall, again and again, for far-right provocations? Every 'debate' they want isn't a debate, it is the beginning of the re-normalisation of ideas that society has long known, through experience, as horrific.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
2027 is going to be very very bad.
theguardian.com
Huge El Niño projected to cause 450,000 deaths in next six months
New report predicts a heavy toll from Nigeria to the US – and comes on top of existing impacts of the climate crisis
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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This was 10 months ago , BBC's framing of far right thuggery as protest expressing legitimate concerns , it's complete disinterest in the hostile actors who finance these protests & corruption in Reform, their hounding of Prof Jason Arday & their shameful coverage of the genocide in Gaza continues 👉
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Guess how the BBC just framed the government promise to give statutory leave to workers who have suffered a bereavement? As extra bureaucracy and cost for corporations... What an utter disgrace the BBC has become. It's simply a tool of billionaire malice now
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Deeply worrying reveal of the ideas behind the tech bros funding and enabling fascism and their links to Epstein.
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Just found this gem in my old screenshots. Don't nibble mice, kids.
Daily Mail piece from June 2023 on the fall of Boris Johnson by Nadine Dorries: 'A tiger has been undone by nibbling mice'.
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I know *personally* the mothers of two trans kids who have died by suicide. What Rowling says here utterly disgusts me EVEN more than everything else she says disgusts me.
t7 Helen Joyce reposted
J.K. Rowling
@jk_rowling • Sep 20
O .
Every glib, arrogant, virtue-signalling celebrity who's broadcast the lie that kids will kill themselves if not allowed to transition deserves to have this read aloud to them non-stop through a megaphone for a year.
Kurt Mahlburg C
@k_mahlburg • Sep 19
A landmark Finnish study has found a sharp rise in psychiatric illness among adolescents following sex-alteration procedures.
The peer-reviewed study, published in Acta Paediatrica, tracked every young person under 23 who contacted Finland's gender clinics betwe...
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Lib Dems vote overwhelmingly to reject EHRC guidance. Hating trans people is not as popular as many politicians think.
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
What a vivid and inspirational tribute to @bonniegreer.bsky.social from my great friend and collaborator (and hers) @stephencolegrave.bsky.social Bonnie Greer: The Golden Thread – @bylinetimes.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/09/21/b...
bylinetimes.com
Bonnie Greer: The Golden Thread
Stephen Colegrave pays personal tribute to our much-loved Byline Times contributor, who died last week
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Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Turned down last week: 2 festivals with no budget for speakers 1 writing course with no budget for teachers 1 film project with no budget to option the book - plus they wanted me to write the screenplay. For free. Don't do it, kids. Don't work for free. Because to them, what's free is worthless.
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martinbarrow.bsky.social @martinbarrow.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Young people aren't snowflakes - mental distress is rising, says head of official review www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Young people are not snowflakes, head of mental health review says
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, Prof Peter Fonagy says being young is much harder now than it was.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Bloomberg reports that officials directly involved in an internal Pentagon investigation found that Peter Thiel’s Palantir Maven Smart System played a significant role in the February 28 U.S. strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran.
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

1
Wide shot of the BRITISH MUSEUM. There are suggestions of fascism around the streets - tanks, barricades, an Orwellian 'Big Brother'-style poster on a wall. A voice of a TOUR GUIDE emanates from the museum:

TOUR GUIDE:
So the Tapestry tells acrucial chapter of our nation's history...

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[Cut to interior of museum. A long Bayeaux-style TAPESTRY is on display, and the Tour Guide is speaking to a tour group]

TOUR GUIDE [smiling]:
How modern fascist Britain was created. 

3
TOUR GUIDE:
The Tapestry begins here with the 2008 Crash, then austerity, then the AI Crash...

4
TOUR GUIDE:
...and by the end of the room it's just full-on fash. 

5
CHILD IN TOUR GROUP [gesturing to the tapestry]:
What's this middle bit?

TOUR GUIDE:
This is the 2026 Battle of Legitimate Concerns 

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TOUR GUIDE:
[show a reporter standing next to the Dover protests]
Here's the media saying the government have got to do something about the legitimate concerns...

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CHILD:
...About the failure of capitalism?

TOUR GUIDE:
No about brown people on boats

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CHILD:
[pointing at boats crossing the sea on the tapestry]
Are these boats the mega-dinghies?

TOUR GUIDE:
Not all of them

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[we see one of the boats  is a giant yacht]
TOUR GUIDE:
That one's a superyacht,
carrying money from the American fascists to the British ones.

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TOUR GUIDE:
You see really it's as much a story of convergence as it is of conflict.

[An alarm sounds in the museum]
DING DING DING DING 

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TOUR GUIDE:
Ok, tour over everyone 

12
TOUR GUIDE:
It's time for the Two Minute Hate!

[They all leave the museum]

[ends]
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MadGreek 🧿 @madgreek2024.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"Signs of Fascism" originated in my town. (Sequim, WA) I filmed it. I remember getting a call, "hey your video got 5,000 views." By the end of the day it had 60K. Over 100K in a few days from just one platform. Then my DM blew up! Everyone wanted to replicate the signs. Nice to see the signs today.
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
‘AI isn’t going to kill us all but it’s very likely we become slaves to the machine and destroy our own humanity’ I talk to Prof Toby Walsh one of the most distinguished AI scientists in the world. He says that the AI bubble will burst and take our pensions with it. In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
heraldscotland.com
'If Scots led on AI, the world would be safer': AI scholar on 'Godlike intelligence'
Prof Toby Walsh shaped artificial intelligence from his lab at Edinburgh University. Today, he warns the technology has the ability to become…
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I have a VERY low level of trust in Labour MPs so it is refreshing to read this “are we the baddies” piece by @labourlewis.bsky.social about how Labour is setting up all the levers of oppression the extreme right needs when it’s “centrist” policies fail. bylinetimes.com/2025/09/29/t...
bylinetimes.com
The Integrity Gap: How We Built the Authoritarian Future We Fear
Labour MP Clive Lewis argues that the collapse of public trust in Government is the product of corporate power being wired into the architecture of the state
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Dr Keith Wilson 💭 @keithwilson.eu · 20/09/2026
Translation: Save your racism for foreigners only, particularly those who arrive on small boats because no safe routes are available. Racism against other Brits just isn’t cricket. 🏏
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Not In Our Name (NION) Women @nionwomen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
You don't have to be an activist or an expert on trans issues to know that exclusion doesn't speak for you. More than 110,000 women have already signed our letter because they want another voice to be heard: one of fairness, compassion and solidarity with the trans+ community. notinourname.org.uk
Two middle-aged women hug and smile. The quote says

“We need to join together to show that 'gender critical' anti-trans lobbyists do not speak for the majority."

#WhyWeSigned
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 19/09/2026
A new mega poll by YouGov reveals that an overwhelming majority of constituencies want to rejoin the EU. Only 4 constituencies were not sure. It’s time to put EU membership on the table. bestforbritain.org/uk-membership-mo…
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Billionaire Brexiteeer and Man United owner says he has lost confidence in the UK. Lives in Monaco to avoid UK taxes, owns several luxury properties. Demands state subsidies, including for building a Man U stadium. Why do billionaires resent people getting decent NHS, social care, public services?
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🟡 MAGAZINE Beyond Spectators: Following the American Money that Funded the Hate Against Jason Arday By @nafeez.bsky.social and Suha Kidwai Read below. ↓
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
Beyond Spectators: Following the American Money that Funded the Hate Against Jason Arday
How a well-connected think tank has helped bring culture wars to the UK. Nafeez Ahmed and Suha Kidwai report
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Great writing by Dani Garavelli about the cult of fascist dictator Mussolini in his hometown and resurgent fascism in Italy.
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I was going to write a long poem about the revolting racism and aggression in England - but it turned out to be very short “Let the children drown Can’t you see they’re brown” Remember how many times Farage was on QT - remember ITV putting him I’m a Celebrity - every little helps the brutality
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Kathy O'Donnell @kathyodonnell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Following an apathetic to almost non-existent turnout by members and associates, Scottish Labour has elected the transphobic Michael Marra to lead the party's charge into oblivion.
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