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Kate Martin

@ktmartin.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.9K following 4.7K posts

English and loving living in North Wales. 💚 Mountains, valleys, rivers and seas, even with more rain!

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Reposted by Kate Martin
Mark E Thomas FB99% FBPE @mrmarkethomas.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
(2/4) What the maths really shows is that ditching the triple lock will hurt the young far harder than the elderly, and will ensure that many of today's 20-year olds retire into poverty. 99-percent.org/condemning-y...
99-percent.org
Condemning Younger Generations to an Old Age of Poverty - 99%
Thirteen long years of increasingly far-right policies have left the UK visibly broken: we have a cost-of-living crisis; our NHS is on its knees and our schools are crumbling; and […]
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I would be very careful with this factoid because it is very dependent on generous defined benefit schemes which future generations of pensioners, beginning with late GenX to early millennials, will not have
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Kate Martin @ktmartin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
But reducing the rate of pension growth now reduces the level of state pension that future generations would've received? Will the private and workplace pensions they're expected to pay into, no matter how low their wages, pay as well as the loss in state pension growth? Intergenerational inequality
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
But the reason why pensioners are less likely to be in poverty is that the current generation of pensioners get most of their pension from defined benefit schemes. Millennials are from the generation that don't have those high quality private pensions so the triple lock is more important.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Manchester City cheated Premier League rules, the Commission found. Did it also cheat HMRC? We've examined the decision and leaked Mancini documents. We think City likely failed to pay £12m in tax. There should be a criminal investigation. Thread:
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is naive of Burnham. If ADUG's investments in Manchester were profitable, somebody else would have made them. And if they're not, it's reputation laundering. Luckily, there's no precedent for there being any corruption in urban regeneration. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Andy Burnham 'really concerned' if Man City owners sell up after rule breaches
The prime minister compares the allegations against Man City to the plight of his own club Everton.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 01/10/2026
The chairman of Manchester City was granted diplomatic immunity in 2020. The investigation into the club began in December 2018. www.ft.com/content/1256...
ft.com
Manchester City chair shielded by diplomatic immunity
Khaldoon al-Mubarak was granted immunity six years ago, protecting him from potential legal proceedings in the UK
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Sachin Nakrani @sachinnakrani.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There’s the headline quote and then there’s the stuff about Everton … unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, the prime minister of this country is trying to sway an investigation into culprits of widespread corporate fraud in their favour. Truly, a jaw-dropping, appalling intervention.
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Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 30/09/2026
Humanists UK mourns Dame Esther Rantzen (1940–2026) Esther was a great champion of human dignity. She approached her final years with the same fearless determination that defined her career of advocacy, using her own experience to shine a light on the suffering caused by our outdated laws.
Esther Rantzen smiling wearing a blue-and-red feathered fascinator and red coat, with headline text noting her years (1940–2026).
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Alf Dubs @alfdubs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm so very sad to hear of the death of Esther Ranzen who played an important role in reuniting me with Nicky Winton - the man who saved my life. It's so desperately sad that she couldn't choose assisted dying as was her wish.
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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Most TV is just this now.
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Philip Stephens @philipstephens.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Some thoughts on Andy Burnham's ambitions. Inside-Out col. philipstephens.substack.com/p/what-brita...
philipstephens.substack.com
What Britain’s Catholic Prime Minister could learn from St Augustine
Burnham cannot govern indefinitely on a platform of virtue deferred
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We know the options for the UK-EU relationship, FTA plus (towards Switzerland) or minus (TCA), or membership. Accept that, choose one, make the case for it. bsky.app/profile/davi...
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Treating the triple lock issue as one of pensioners vs non-pensioners is silly identity politics. The qn is: how do we best prepare for our retirements, & should we sacrifice some of this preparation to pay for social care insurance? I need convincing.
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If these are the arguments for keeping or scrapping the TL, then gawd help 'us, coz they're abysmal.
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Praise for Burnham's speech is OK; it was better than Healey's vacuous drivel. But it misses a key point about politics - that we over-rate words & under-rate power, interests, administration etc.
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Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 29/09/2026
The triple lock on the State Pension will be 'adjusted' from April 2030. What might that mean for the value of the State Pension? In this chart we show how the State Pension would have increased under various uprating measures, including the 'smoothed' triple lock announced by the PM today.
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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
AB’s exact words on Triple Lock important (though not super clearly drafted) He’s NOT proposing to break earnings link a la Thatcher If value vis-a-vis earnings is to be maintained he’s talking about some form of smoothed earnings link (Not sure how the 2.5% fits in)
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Temporary Bat @saredra.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is brilliant. The whole thing should never have happened, there is zero need for those guys to go have an intimidation march on Garvaghy, but it did and remarkably, solidarity is winning.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 29/09/2026
"More than 100 Jewish settlers went on the rampage in a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Monday night, torching buildings and cars, stoning Israeli security forces and preventing the return of a Palestinian family displaced by previous settler attacks." www.ft.com/content/4f56...
ft.com
More than 100 Israelis go on rampage in Palestinian town
Jewish settlers blocked roads, set tyres ablaze and prevented the return of a Palestinian family in latest surge of violence in occupied West Bank
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Buck Frexit @beany.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If anyone thinks you can’t remove the triple lock whilst being fine with charging our kids 6% interest on the colossal loans they need to take for a higher education we got for free, then frankly I don’t care much for your opinion. Either we’re all important or we live in an angry, divided society.
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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I know there is a hell of a lot going on right now. But not all of it is bad. Some is astonishingly good - like the results of this study from June. Cervical cancer is a terribly cruel thing. This might, at long last, be the beginning of the end of it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News headline "Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab"
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nohostages.bsky.social @nohostages.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's reasonable to ask "How can a social care cost £200k a year when support workers earn £13 an hour?" @mrjamesob.bsky.social I checked the audited accounts of three of the UK's largest non-profit learning-disability care providers. About 82% of their spending goes on staff. @lbc.co.uk #lbc 1/
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
GB News Hilary Fordwich: "What if we to say anybody seeking asylum needs to be castrated? .. if you did that, they would not be coming" Ben Leo: "that sounds bonkers.You can't pre-emptively castrate all asylum seekers" HF: "Why not? They are invading" ... Leo: "I think she was joking around"
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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This artwork was created over the past year by a local Birmingham artist collective who wanted to bring unty from discord by repurposing the divisive Nationalist flags into a massive Brummie Reunion Jack. Suffice it to say, the inspiration for Goldship's magnificent work has not taken it well.
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Stop Funding Hate @stopfundinghate.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“Advertisers like IKEA – who claim to care about the climate, and say they want to ‘change the narrative’ around refugees – need to put their money where their mouth is and stop funding this toxic channel.” www.thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sa...
thenewworld.co.uk
How toxic Talk become Britain's most investigated channel
Ofcom has 10 open investigations into News UK’s broadcasting arm and its diet of anti-immigrant bile and climate denial
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
One Labour MP who may be nervous about Andy Burnham calling an early election is the member for Makerfield. He narrowly held off reform in a by-election a few months ago and both of this week’s MRPs suggest he will face a tough fight again.
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Other MPs who might have questions for the anonymous sources briefing their excitement about an early election include the Chancellor (Lab 35-Ref 33 in YouGov MRP), the Health Secretary (Ref 40-Lab 31) & the DCLG Sec (Lab 34-Ref 31)
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 25/09/2026
This is incredibly alarming. We cannot go on like this. We need more advocacy for climate action, not just from the environmental movement, but from the political centre.
Screenshot of a Guardian article titled “Huge El Niño projected to cause more than 450,000 deaths by February.” The article, by environment editor Damian Carrington and dated 23 September 2026, says climate scientists estimate that additional heat from a projected strong El Niño could cause more than 450,000 deaths by February, on top of existing climate-crisis-related deaths. It mentions impacts across Indonesia, India, Nigeria and the US, as well as additional deaths from droughts, wildfires and flooding.
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🔴 Rupert Murdoch Flew Kemi Badenoch and Her Deputy to Mediterranean for Summer Trips Worth £12,000 The Conservative leader and Alex Burghart MP held “off-site meetings” with the billionaire media mogul in August bylinetimes.com/2026/09/25/r...
bylinetimes.com
Rupert Murdoch Flew Kemi Badenoch and Her Deputy to Mediterranean for Summer Trips Worth £12,000
The Conservative leader and Alex Burghart MP held "off-site meetings" with the billionaire media mogul in August
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JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You know this already but I'll say it anyway: this Mail headline was not designed to sell newspapers, it was designed for the broadcast news media and to get the BBC, Sky, LBC etc to run with yet another bad faith narrative on the small boats and immigration. As usual, the strategy was successful.
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Ash Oro @ashoro.co.uk · 25/09/2026
Why have we reached a stage where people call in to @natashadevon.bsky.social and say they want people to drown? Well headlines like this don’t help. Let’s forget that numbers are way down on years previous and just keep stoking fear and division. This is why the RNLI is under attack.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 24/09/2026
Every line of this article is just completely stunning
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I mean, we've apparently lifted the ban on right wing hooliganism so what's the point keeping the stable door bolted I guess
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
While waiting for Trump to enter the signing of the US-Denmark-Greenland agreement at the UN, they chose “Send in the Clowns” as the background music. Yes, it’s real.
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HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 23/09/2026
NEW: Despite the accusations against Andrew Tate of rape, human trafficking and assault, Stephen Lennon has not only continued to back him, but has attacked his accusers.
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
🔥This is how it’s done. Imagine if every anti-immigrant fearmongering liar was grilled like this. #ShowMeTheStats #GetYourPhoneOut 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (h/t @ukcameraman.bsky.social )
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Ash Oro @ashoro.co.uk · 22/09/2026
1/23 Sorry, this will be long... There is a lot of shouting about what happened in the Channel yesterday. So I want to go back to basic law. Not immigration policies or political rhetoric. At sea, the starting point is simple: Preservation of life comes first under all maritime conventions.
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Nick Davies @njdavies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Great to hear the PM say “We are going to be much prouder in standing up for our values and the rule of law” re foreign information warfare. I wonder if he or the Home Secretary might consider doing the same when it comes to masked vigilantes shutting down infrastructure and harassing the RNLI
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
For God's sake, this is craven. The Russians have been trying to obliterate US companies in Ukraine repeatedly and with some success. The US government says nothing at all.
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Fionna O’Leary @fascinatorfun.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Well. That looks systematic 😳 Standard Chartered, Citigroup and other international banks have handled billions of dollars from a Kremlin-backed fintech company that tricked its way into the global financial system with a vast document forgery operation. www.ft.com/content/3848...
ft.com
Kremlin-backed forgery scheme moved $6.9bn through global banks
FT finds thousands of Russian payments handled by Standard Chartered, Citigroup and other international groups in vast leak from inside fintech A7
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It's worth noting that the "Burnham bounce" - before the tough decisions kick in - has Labour at 23-30%. The "Keminaissance" has the Tories at 18-22%. The old social and cultural ties that anchored voters to the two-party system, even when things were rough, just don't exist anymore.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
lol
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Jay Rayner @jayrayner1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
On the BBC News Katya Adler has just described Germany, where the far right AFD keep winning elections, as entering 'uncharted political territory'. Hmmm. Where Germany is concerned I think that territory is pretty well charted.
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Mahmood should never been kept on in the job. The fact that she saw a future for herself at the Home Office under the change of leadership was an early indication that there was not going to be much of a change in tone or substance on asylum and immigration and race.
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Peter Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’m struck that there has been nothing from senior ministers here echoing the very stark public warnings from Macron and Tusk last week of an escalation in Russian hybrid attacks on European countries. And there will no parliamentary opportunity to quiz them on this for three weeks.
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Kit Bradshaw @kitbradshaw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
EXC: Sir Ed Davey condemns anti-migrant protests in Portsmouth and Dover, describing them as "thugs in black shirts and balaclavas". The Liberal Democrat leader tells ITV News Meridian the "intimidation" of RNLI volunteers in the South East is "disgraceful".
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Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Last week - when all the front pages headlines were about Farage and his £72m - Farage fronted his own GB News show ….to talk about Farage! He compared his critics to communists and then interviewed other guests - about himself! app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/75017/...
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk
Farage and the £130m even his detractors have missed
GB news has provided relentless positive PR for Nigel Farage while racking up tens of millions in financial losses. And now there is a new channel in the offing
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Dee Lomas @deelomas.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I bring worse news. That poor woman who lives in Piddington & who @vicderbyshire.bsky.social interviewed after that ridiculous election has had her address leaked to Tommy Robinson & the Pink Ladies & she’s been doxxed by both of them. Wtaf is going on. These people all need to be proscribed now.
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
So much of the right these days have a massive patriotism problem. This guy: - is a tax exile (left long before this govt) - hates his own country while complaining he doesn’t get big enough subsidies from it - laments the manufacturing hit from a Brexit he supported www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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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