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kestrus.bsky.social

@kestrus.bsky.social
96 followers 124 following 898 posts

Lapsed physicist, amateur photographer, humanist. 🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇦🇬🇧 "Meaning is not something out there waiting to be discovered, but something that we create in our own lives.' - Stephen fry.

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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 17h
For non-soccer fans: this scandal is basically a microcosm of what is going on everywhere re: the ultra-wealthy doing whatever they want because they can. Man City cheated like hell. But here is the prime minister implying they’re just too valuable to the UK to hold to account. It sucks
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham admits to ‘concern’ if Manchester City lose their owners after guilty verdicts
The primer minister said: ‘City have been a huge partner in building modern Manchester,’ while the Independent Football Regulator said it is monitoring the case
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รℓσαɳε ℓყรɓεƭɦ @sloanelysbeth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
there are no men competing in women’s sports. transgender women are a separate and distinct physiological category and your refusal to acknowledge that is science denialism. i will not humour science denial — there you go. that’s the correct answer politicians should be giving. not so hard, right?
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
You can see from the photo that boat's tipped too far right
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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
...Assumption #4 has been driving me batshit, yet no one seems to realize it: if you're worried trans ppl might potentially harm your Dem candidate's chances, then YOUR CANDIDATE MADE A BAD DECISION! so why not join us in trying to get them to reverse position? juliaserano.medium.com/on-democrats...
screenshot from linked-to essay that reads:
Assumption #4: The elephant in the room that no one is talking about
There is a striking disconnect between Talarico, Turek, et al. — who have clearly made a political calculation that abandoning trans rights will help them more than it will hurt them in this election — and the many cisgender liberals I’ve encountered online who are absolutely freaking out over the possibility that trans people’s critiques and protests will ultimately tank said candidates.
Both of these things cannot simultaneously be true!
If you think your favorite candidate enacted the correct political strategy, then there is no reason to berate trans people for protesting it, as those protests should already be baked into your candidate’s calculations. So why are you berating trans people then? (Unless, of course, you enjoy berating trans people just for the sake of it.)
Alternatively, if you think trans people *are* capable of tanking your favorite candidate via our criticisms and protests, doesn’t that imply that your candidate (and their consultants and strategists) totally fucked up in their political calculations here? And if they did fuck up, shouldn’t you be reaching out and complaining to *them* (rather than berating trans people), in the hope that they might reverse their bad decision?
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Elly "Enormity" Bangs @ellybangs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
PIPE THIS INTO A MEGAPHONE
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The Original Cry-Wanker™ @andyking.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Now imagine if our Gov decided to create £895 billion today and embarked on a massive house building scheme. Bought up power companies & nationalised them. Introduced UBI. Controlled food prices and gave everyone & allotment & trained people to grow veg. Rounded up a few billionaires & executed them
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Chris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Truly wild to have lived through moral panics about teenagers wearing hoodies and Muslim women wearing the head dress to now experience 'but is a large group of organised far right activists in balaclavas really that scary'
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Lauren Starkey @laurenhstarkey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Men will send me emails like this and then go rampaging on the streets of Dover and Portsmouth claiming they want to keep refugees out in order to “PROTECT OUR WOMEN!” Not a single one of the young male refugees I’ve worked with has ever spoken to me with such violent misogyny.
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
In yet more 'why isn't the rest of the world trying to decarbonise' news: www.businessgreen.com/news-analysi...
businessgreen.com
Global Briefing: China's CO2 emissions fall despite coal generation rebound
Falling oil consumption cuts China's Q2 carbon emissions, US and UK to chart 'Pink Corridor' for nuclear-powered shipping, and Spain pushes for oil and gas tax to fund climate adaptation
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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
EDF energy which profits from 5 million energy customers across the UK is Électricité de France, wholly owned by the French state. That’s right it’s okay for a state to own an energy company here just not the UK one
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MMTAction @mmt-action.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Healey quit defence because the Treasury claimed it was "unwilling" to commit resources. Now he's chancellor and still can't commit them. The constraint was never money. It's always been politics dressed up as fiscal prudence. #MMT #Economics #UKPolitics #UKEconomics
theguardian.com
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/28/john-healey-uk-defence-spending-target-budget?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sef_studio-mmtaction
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Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 27/08/2026
The Green Party are standing up for their right to make trans people feel safe and welcome, so we're defending them in court Get involved 👇 goodlaw.social/yndo
goodlaw.social
Help the Greens protect trans members | Good Law Project
The Greens took action to protect trans people. Now the party is facing legal action – so we’re defending them in court
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
in a world of JK Rowlings be a Dolly Parton
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Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
“The term 'feeding frenzy' originates in animal behaviour and is defined as 'a total loss of control triggered when an intensely competitive predator group is overwhelmed by an abundance of prey'. Actually, I cannot think of a more complete explanation of what happened.”
podcasts.apple.com
A tragedy, in black & white
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 20 August · 54min
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Anyone that mentions DEI in a UK context (rather than EDI) is either ignorant or willfully spreading misinformation.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
What you're saying when you say "DEI" when universities say "EDI" (as happens here) and vice versa. And why it actually matters. The great majority of UK (esp. British) universities use "EDI" while US universities use "DEI". Is that "just" semantic, or does it matter? A thread. 🧵1/8
ft.com
How Jason Arday’s appointment became a reckoning for Cambridge
Resignation of Black professor forces university to examine its approach to diversity, equality and inclusion
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Dr Emma Salisbury @salisbot.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"Biological women" implies the existence of chemical women, radiological women, nuclear women, and explosive women. All are WMD - women of mass destruction.
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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
When I was a kid we were taught that emissions were warming up the atmosphere, increasing the probability of things like wild fires, even in chilly old Britain. We drew pictures. We wrote to MPs. This was my neighbourhood yesterday My anger at the deniers, obstructionists & shills knows no bounds
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Govt planning c. 100 new data centres by early 2030s, mostly in already water stressed areas. They have no legal obligation to disclose how much water they use. Meanwhile Govt launches £75m publicity campaign to urge us to reduce water use & privatised water companies waste 19% thro leaks. Madness
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 31/07/2026
In fifteen years, the UK has deleted coal power from their power system, halved fossil gas use, replaced most of that with wind and solar, and the country has not suffered the hellish blackout apocalypse conservatives and media outlets promised would happen. ember-energy.org/data/electri...
Stacked area chart showing UK electricity generation (terawatt‑hours) from 2000–2025, highlighting a steep fall in coal, declining gas and nuclear, and steady growth in wind, solar and other renewables over time.
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 29/07/2026
Super interesting discussion (and paper) based on a huge dataset showing that peacetime rearmament is almost never financed by cuts in social spending cepr.org/multimedia/g...
cepr.org
Guns and Butter
Europe's NATO members have pledged 3.5% of GDP to rearmament. The political argument is already about which social programmes will be sacrificed to pay for this, when the government chooses guns inste...
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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
An infographic on macroeconomics
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I've been saying something similar for ages. The concentration of funding on services then digital and then AI innovation has taken money away from R&D into physical products that have more real world impact. (Green tech, transport, materials, etc) Where is the abundant energy and flying cars?.
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
😢 another legend lost www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
bbc.co.uk
Kevin Keegan: Liverpool legend and former Newcastle United and England manager dies aged 75
Former England captain and manager Kevin Keegan dies at the age of 75, seven weeks after he revealed he had been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
So Andy Burnham has repeatedly committed to sticking to Labour's 2024 manifesto, yet we're now told that his first major announcement will be breaking its commitment not to drill for new oil and gas in the North Sea.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
It's a cliche that leaders keep promising change that never happens - but there's a case that the opposite is true. We've had one huge, structural change after another: austerity, Brexit, massive changes to immigration... What we've lacked is honesty about the costs & trade-offs of those changes.
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Scott Forbes🇨🇦 @theecologyprof.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
For anyone who thinks increasing oil & gas production is the path to energy independence, you're dead wrong. While we continue to rely on fossil fuels, we're held hostage to global pricing. The real path to energy security is local production of renewables and grid-scale storage. #EnergyTransition
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
New drilling isn't just a catastrophic signal of us stepping back from our climate commitments, it also runs against the geological reality of an almost depleted resource. Our focus should be on cheap, clean fuel for the future - not propping up oil and gas. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Burnham to Back North Sea Oil and Take Control of Thames Water
Within days of taking office incoming prime minister Andy Burnham is preparing to announce new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea as well as taking public control of Thames Water.
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
@neunion.bsky.social what are you doing about this? In Sept your members will be *forced* to harm trans children. In many cases that harm is going to be very significant & very stressful, & many teachers could be forced to carry high levels of guilt & stress. Especially when (& I mean “when”)… 1/3
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John C @badsocialism.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Thing about British Steel being nationalised is there is no argument around nationalising it that doesn't also apply to the universities except "steel is boy coded :) and teaching is girl coded :("
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Esheru @esherukweku.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Remember Starmer ignored the findings of the Forde Report, because he was hoping antisemitism was a huge problem in the Labour Party. It was nowhere near the levels of anti black and anti Muslim hatred. So he and Blairite colleagues ignored the findings. THAT’S what I will remember him for.
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Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
We aren’t a serious country.
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I still keep getting astounded by these numbers. The worlds richest 56,000 people have three times as much wealth as the poorest 50% - 4 billion people -combined. In the UK even being a millionaire only gets you into the top 1%, there are a few dozen people who are really wealthy.
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Alasdair Beckett-King @misterabk.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The great thing about Britain is you're free to think whatever you want to think and say whatever J. K. Rowling's lawyers permit you to say.
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Angela @snowcherie.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I can't believe, in the middle of another heatwave, the Government is seriously considering letting a new gas field go ahead. Ed Miliband must block this plan. Agree? Join me and add your name to this new petition against the Jackdaw gas field: 38d.gs/fhc5
38d.gs
Block the Jackdaw Gas Field
I can't believe, in the middle of another heatwave, the Government is seriously considering letting a new gas field go ahead. Ed Miliband must block this plan. Agree? Join me and add your name to this...
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Julia Serano @juliaserano.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
I see ppl discussing gender-critical "gamete trutherism" today, so I will re-up this essay thoroughly debunking it:
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River @riverofdiversity.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
bsky.app/profile/suns...
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Can Burnham say that war crimes, let alone genocide, has occurred in Gaza? Being clear on this is the most basic first step. Without this, Labour hasn't even started its journey to rectifying for years of complicity and participation in this genocide.
Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali said "If you asked Andy Burnham whether Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, he'd say yes. But when it comes to Gaza, he hides behind the international courts because admitting that the British government knows war crimes are being committed would trigger a legal duty to immediately halt arms sales."
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Interesting episode, key points for me - how abolishing bodies like the national audit office have enabled corruption (in broadest sense) and wealth inequality. - how reasons for being in gov have shifted between self enrichment and service also interesting.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Again: how was a guy with no observable political skills and no allies, whom nobody liked or wanted, able to not only seize unquestioned control of the opposition but shitehouse his way to power with no plans for how to govern the country? Is that normal, does that happen in other democracies.
Times Radio @ TimesRadio
X.com
Keir Starmer's Former Director of Comms
James Lyons criticises his old boss saying that his proudest moment in Downing Street should have been "something he did once inside No 10" and not "walking through the door"
"We had no plan for government."
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
This article from yesterday needs to be regarded, not as a mea culpa by McSweeney, but as a calculated attempt to reframe Starmerism as a series of errors rather than the deliberately malicious authoritarian attack on people’s lives, freedoms, free speech and anything left of Mussolini that it is.
THE i PAPER
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Tuchel vs No 10!
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Summer holidays face six-hour passport delays at Dover
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SOCIETY
For better or worse off
My friend's wedding cost me over £5k
- we haven't spoken since
King Arthur
Fery keeps British hopes alive
Labour failed to prepare for power before winning landslide, admits
McSweeney
» Keir Starmer's closest adviser explains that the party did not properly prepare to govern the UK-offering frank insights from inside No 10 about why the new administration ran aground
» PM's ex chief of staff Morgan McSweeney says Labour 'didn't prepare enough to enable them to deliver on their promises. reform the British state and show real, rapid change for voters
» The new Government was immediately too negative, he adds
» He accepts personal responsibility amid general Labour issue
»'Optimistic McSweeney welcomes Burnham and 'No 10 North'
Generation clash
Our son is neurodivergent - and my boomer parents think he just needs discipline
Gizzi Erskine
Monogamy is back in vogue. I'm not sharing
Inside story of The Office
Fringe stars on making ofa classic
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THE 11 BEST CLASSIC NOVELS TO READ THIS SUMMER P12 | E116M ANDERSON SEALS MAN CITY MOVE PS6| TV GUIDE P26
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Jess Shand Smith @jdshandsmith.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
A clever, witty and charming trans person did the maths on this: bsky.app/profile/jdsh...
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
This must be remembered: ALL Labour’s transphobic measures, from harming/killing children by withdrawing healthcare & introducing state-sponsored conversion therapy to an attempted national toilet ban worse than anything from Trump/MAGA were imposed without a single vote in parliament.
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Dr Ellie Chowns MP @elliechowns.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Utterly ridiculous that the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan published today reveals more funding will be spent on the nuclear programme than every other bit of kit and technology for the armed forces. We cannot keep sinking huge sums into weapons which must never be used.
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
People who've managed to do absolutely zilch (or *worse*) on climate and ageing population now giving us finger-wagging lectures on "the price of inaction" when it comes to defence
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Great to see this post from Zack. We need to seriously rethink defence and security. it's one area where the GP could bring real change, but it's not an area they've paid a lot of attention to in the past.
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
A great summary of how money and government interact. I'd recommend reading the whole thing, but main message is: "Bond markets undoubtedly exercise political influence today. But that influence is not a law of economics. It is the result of institutional choices. Those choices can be changed."
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Jeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
10) Merge, or recast, both the Treasury and the Business and Trade Department. The UK Treasury is almost unique among major European finance ministries in its domination of economic policymaking, subordinating industrial vision to short-term accounting. That has to change.
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kestrus.bsky.social @kestrus.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Great write up on why our current national debt levels are not unusual, and we have had much higher levels of borrowing in the past. I particularly like this chart, you can see how a short peak of high levels of borrowing post ww2 lead ino the period of recovery (do t dismiss Keynes!).
Chart showing UK govt debt as % of GDP over last 300 years. We are currently below average, even after COVID.
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