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lesleycol.bsky.social

@lesleycol.bsky.social
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"163 articles were published on Jason Arday in the week after he resigned – compared to 13 articles by the same media outlets on James Orr in the week after the broadcast of the undercover filming he was featured in." ✍️ @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/09/17/t...
bylinetimes.com
The Two Professors and a ‘War On Ideas’
The different stories of the Cambridge academics Jason Arday and James Orr reveal the wider cultural and ideological forces around hierarchies and structural power – and who gets to belong in our inst...
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John Crace @mrjohncrace.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
With Kemi’s new shadow chancellor, the Tories must hope for a bout of public amnesia
Andrew Griffith is keen on clearing red tape. Good job he wasn’t part of a Treasury team that abolished the Office for Tax Simplification
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
But they seemed like such nice, patriotic, community-minded chaps. (Except the ones currently facing murder, child abuse & assault charges, obviously.)
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The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I regret to inform you that we have reached the “Broadmoor is a holiday camp” stage of right-wing discourse.
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Armando Iannucci @aiannucci.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Farage in The Telegraph: ‘If voters think I’m a crook, they can get rid of me.’ It’s not how the law works but, even so, I’m assuming if Farage is serious he’ll allow the voters of Clacton to look at all his finances, speak to all his donors, and put himself up for rigorous questioning?
Front page headline in Telegraph : Farage quoted as saying ‘If voters think I’m a crook they can get rid of me.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Why exactly would a Thailand-based economic migrant secretly give Nigel Farage £5 million as a 'reward' for delivering Brexit? I won't get to ask either of them this question but every single journalist & broadcaster granted access could...
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
There’s something rotten in the state of the BBC’s political reporting. And unless it’s fixed soon, they will bring the catastrophe of Trump to the UK.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
I do wonder whether Christopher Harborne (aka Chakrit Sakunkrit) is the only person to have secretly gifted an eye-wateringly enormous sum of money to Nigel Farage shortly before he changed his mind about running for office…
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Channel 4 News can reveal how the estate owned by the King offered the land at market value to Wigan Council - despite knowing it was heavily contaminated. 📩Read our latest newsletter:
channel4news.substack.com
How the Duchy of Lancaster offered to sell toxic dump land to council
Channel 4 News can reveal how the estate owned by the King offered the land at market value to Wigan Council - despite knowing it was heavily contaminated.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
BREAKING: No 10 has published a letter from ex-Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald to show Keir Starmer did not mislead Parliament “The evidence I have reviewed leads me to conclude that appropriate processes were followed in both the appointment and withdrawal of the former HMA Washington”
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
The bravest man Nigel Farage has ever met…
Trump’s maddest post yet.
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Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
This is an actual post. This is not funny. This is beyond desperate. This is a deeply unwell man who doesn’t belong anywhere near the levers of power. Every member of his cabinet and Congress is complicit in not demanding his removal now.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
I feel much more anger towards the British pundits & politicians who failed to understand the depravity & derangement of Donald Trump than I do the ones who failed to understand the idiocy of Brexit. But it doesn’t really matter because they’re exactly the same bloody people.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Matthew Goodwin’s publisher, presumably.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
One story among many. For it is a simple fact that businesses in the UK face higher barriers to trade than their counterparts in all of our neighbours. This is a political decision to favour independence over integration made and denied by successive governments including this one.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Did any Tories condemn Simon Dudley’s disgusting comments about Grenfell?
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
This is an extraordinary front page for a British newspaper to run. Donald Trump’s delinquency, derangement & imperilling of international security is somehow a stick with which to beat our own Prime Minister, who has negotiated the current horror show rather well. It is actually sickening.
Daily Mail front page attacking Keir Starmer for Donald Trump’s disgusting behaviour…
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Impressive so far. A refusal to be bullied into an illegal war by a mad US President should unite the nation. But Brexit Britain is, of course, not a normal nation.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Do read the full document linked here. These ghouls are increasingly Trumpian in their contempt for the truth…
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John Crace @mrjohncrace.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Depressingly predictable. Though still shocking
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Oh.
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Marina Purkiss @marina-purkiss.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Israel has pushed ground forces into multiple areas of southern Lebanon They've displaced huge numbers of civilians... Yet it barely registers. Russia did the same in Ukraine and the world responded with sanctions, outrage and coordinated pressure The double standards are UNFORGIVABLE.
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
🔴Reform UK Promised ‘17 Billion in New Healthcare Spending’ but None of It Is for the NHS New analysis reveals Nigel Farage’s healthcare plans involve funnelling public money and tax cuts towards private healthcare companies bylinetimes.com/2026/03/30/r...
bylinetimes.com
Reform UK Promised ‘17 Billion in New Healthcare Spending’ but None of It Is for the NHS
New analysis reveals Nigel Farage's healthcare plans involve funnelling public money and tax cuts towards private healthcare companies
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Figures.
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Bridget Phillipson MP @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
This week 200 Best Start Family Hubs will open in areas that the Tories left without family services. But we’re not just plugging the gaps they left behind, Labour will open 1,000 hubs to build on the proud legacy of Sure Start and back families. www.lbc.co.uk/article/fami...
lbc.co.uk
Families to get free advice and support as 200 ‘Best Start’ hubs open across England | LBC
The Government is launching more than 200 hubs offering free advice, childcare support and early help services, with plans to expand to 1,000 sites by 2028.
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Bridget Phillipson MP @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Reform UK said I was 'bullying' when I pointed out their colleague was jailed for beating up his former partner. Now, they're trying to sneak him back into their party. So I'll say it again: James McMurdock was jailed for beating up his former partner. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Screenshot of a Times article covering McMurdock’s past.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Be fair. He’s doing an impression of the Strait of Hormuz.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
We laugh at how unutterably pathetic he is (me as much as anyone) but if you think Trump won’t sacrifice countless American soldiers’ lives to postpone the public humiliation of his epic failure in Iran, then you really haven’t been paying attention…
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
From Tory HQ to the Daily Mail to Tufton Street, the myriad creeps & cretins who created the ecosystem in which this could happen still claim to be patriotic. And Boris Johnson fluffers still dominate all three places.
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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 24/03/2026
We tracked down the superyacht owned by the world’s sixth richest man. Larry Ellison won’t like what we did to it 🛥️🏴‍☠️
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
🟨 Print Edition — Farage’s Staggering Side Hustles Nigel Farage has spent more than 1,113 hours – or 140 working days – on his various other jobs since being elected to Parliament in July 2024. subscribe.bylinetimes.com/edition/8…
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
Farage’s Staggering Side Hustles – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition
Nigel Farage has spent more than 1,113 hours – or 140 working days – on his various other jobs since being elected to Parliament in July 2024.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I may be misremembering but I think Andrew Neil was extremely rude to people on Twitter who explained exactly what GBeebies would quickly become…
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Nick Timothy is an uncannily perfect encapsulation of the crapification of public life in the UK: a bigoted failure blithely oozing from one disaster to the next while being rewarded at every turn by the far right media/political ecosystem. A golf club boor with the intellect of a burst balloon.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
If you think Benjamin Netanyahu wouldn’t prioritise naked self-interest over the security of the entire world, you really haven’t been paying attention.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
If only there had been some sort of clue that Trump is a grotesque idiot…
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Well we're seeing what happens when governments only hire yes people from the US. No surprise Reform and Farage wouldn't want to be challenged on anything. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform UK government would replace top civil servants with those ‘more like to implement party’s priorities’
Exclusive: Senior party figures conclude outsiders or existing senior staff deemed more suitable should take over from current permanent secretaries
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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
What a surprise, said no one ever.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
The world’s wrongest man, Daniel Hannan, contending that Trump’s utter unfitness for office only emerged *yesterday*… Because it’s the only way the irredeemable idiot can cling on to the delusion that he’s not an irredeemable idiot.
A tweet by Daniel Hannan.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
At this stage, the Mail using an affectionate nickname in a headline on this story feels a bit like their infamous ‘Hurrah for the Blackshirts!’ front page. Plus ça change…
The Daily Mail warmly describes ‘The Donald’ in a story about his invitation to Putin to sit on the Gaza ‘peace’ board.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Imagine how much coverage this story would have received in normal times…
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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 18/01/2026
Deeply weird and menacing scenes in Minneapolis. ICE agents sat in masks and balaclavas in unmarked, often blacked out cars, watching local residents. They themselves being observed by a network of locals, trying to deter them from mounting raids. Profoundly abnormal.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
There was, of course, absolutely nothing to stop these Tories resigning when their own Party was literally in the middle of doing all the things they now claim to be so unhappy about. (Come on Higgins!)
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
We've spent ten years being proved right about all the things the loudest, biggest voices in the UK media insisted, often obnoxiously, we were wrong about. The real kicker is that there's no consolation whatsoever in being correct. Brexit, Putin, Johnson, Truss, Trump, Twitter, Netanyahu etc etc...
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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 11/01/2026
Israel is forcing Doctors Without Borders & dozens of other humanitarian groups to end their work in Gaza. Countless innocent people rely on these services amid the ongoing crisis there. This is yet another cruel, inhumane step from the extremist Israeli government.
nytimes.com
Israel Tells Doctors Without Borders to End Its Work in Gaza
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
South Carolina has reported 99 new measles cases in the past 3 days. Meanwhile RFK Jr. is “building a case” to argue that the U.S. shouldn’t lose its measles elimination status. But we’ve lost it and hell of a lot more. He only cares about optics. Reality need not apply.
apnews.com
South Carolina measles outbreak grows by nearly 100, spreads to North Carolina and Ohio
State health officials in South Carolina have confirmed 99 new cases of measles since Tuesday. The state health department says the post-holiday surge had been expected, given travel and family gather...
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/01/2026
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
🔴Boris Johnson’s Radon Gas Filled Prison Deal to Cost Taxpayers £100 Million The full costs of the botched agreement to lease an unusable prison filled with poisonous gas from the Duchy of Cornwall, revealed for the first time bylinetimes.com/2026/01/07/b...
bylinetimes.com
Boris Johnson's Radon Gas Filled Prison Deal to Cost Taxpayers £100 Million
The full costs of the botched agreement to lease an unusable prison filled with poisonous gas from the Duchy of Cornwall, revealed for the first time
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Forward Blue @forwardblue.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
The Department of Justice is acting like Donald Trump’s personal attorney and law firm. This is abhorrent.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Jeffrey Epstein & David Walliams leading all the bulletins but Kemi Badenoch knows that only men from ‘different cultures’ pose a threat to women.
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
The report also says that Mr. Epstein had asked Ms. Farmer to take pictures of young girls at swimming pools and threatened to “burn her house down” if she told anyone about the photos. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...
nytimes.com
Epstein Files Include 1996 Child Porn Complaint That F.B.I. Ignored
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