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Penny Stuart

@lostindisco.bsky.social
4.3K followers 394 following 2.4K posts

Centre left politics junkie, polite but quietly furious. RTs are not endorsements. Same handles on 🐘 and X.

PostsRepliesMedia
Penny Stuart @lostindisco.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202... “The conference centre is a safari park attraction where we get to see the remnants of the Tory party in a protected habitat.”
theguardian.com
No queues, empty seats and the worst speech ever heard: welcome to the Tory conference | John Crace
Birmingham event is like a safari park attraction where we get to see the remnants of a party in a protected habitat
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 05/10/2026
Ukraine war latest: Kharkiv devastated by Russian glide bombs, children among victims • Children among dozens injured as Russian glide bombs hit Kharkiv, 5 dead; • New automatic gun turrets successfully down first Russian jet-powered drones, Air Force says;
kyivindependent.com
Ukraine war latest: Kharkiv devastated by Russian glide bombs, children among victims
Key developments on Oct. 5: * Children among dozens injured as Russian glide bombs hit Kharkiv, 5 dead * New automatic gun turrets successfully down first Russian jet-powered drones, Air Force says...
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Looks like there’s an mRNA vaccine against pneumonic plague. Eat your heart out, RFK Jr. advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Novel Bivalent mRNA‐LNP Vaccine for Highly Effective Protection against Pneumonic Plague
The study investigates mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccines targeting Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. Combined F1+LcrV mRNA vaccination elicited robust immune responses and protected mice....
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Sarah Owen MP @sarahowen.org.uk · 05/10/2026
It is deeply irresponsible for any politician, let alone a senior Conservative, to peddle the same far-right nonsense about Luton that we see from the likes of Yaxley Lennon and Reform.
theguardian.com
Tory shadow minister claims Luton has ‘no-go zones’ where ‘white people won’t go’
Blake Stephenson tells fringe meeting at Tory conference that the town is ‘a very dangerous place’ with ‘ghettoes’
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This war is also a drone war. War of drones. In this video, Ukrainian ground robots with net launchers are shooting down Russian FPV drones that tried to attack them during logistics missions on the frontlines.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
As long as the Tories are threatening to leave the ECHR, they aren’t a serious party. Consider it the ultimate red flag. Any party who’d take this entirely unnecessary and ruinous risk with our rights and our country’s security and wellbeing should never get its hands on power. (Letter, Times)
Value of the
ECHR
Sir, In dangerous times, serious countries do not retreat into splendid isolation. They build alliances, multiply their influence and strengthen institutions. Key among those is the 46-member Council of Europe, at its heart the European Convention on Human Rights.As former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation we have seen at close quarters that the ECHR is not just a human rights instrument. It is a national security asset. Terrorist networks, hostile states, organised crime gangs and people smugglers do not respect borders. Tackling them requires arrangements for the closest possible co-operation with our neighbours, including through joint investigations and police access to European passenger, fingerprint, DNA and vehicle data.These arrangements expressly depend on internationally agreed human rights standards, applied by a supranational court. We detect no political willingness to excuse the UK from compliance with standards to which the rest of Europe already subscribes. As authoritarian powers grow more aggressive and democratic institutions face mounting pressure, Britain should not be abandoning one of its greatest postwar achievements.
The question is not whether we can afford to remain within the ECHR. It is whether, in an increasingly perilous world, we can afford not to.
Lord Carlile of Berriew, Lord Anderson of Ipswich, Sir Max Hill
Independent reviewers of terrorism legislation, 2001-18
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Penny Stuart @lostindisco.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Andrew does Andrew . About time he accepted that he’s not untouchableanymore
bbc.co.uk
Andrew takes legal action on search warrants during his arrest
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released under investigation in February.
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Davenant 📸 @marcdavenant.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
In the end all art, music, literature, photography comes down to two things - making human connections and the emotions which go with that. The people who promote AI don’t understand without that human element what they produce is meaningless and worthless in equal measure and always will be.
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Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 05/10/2026
At last. But the problem for the NAO is that Whitehall simply does not learn. Capita’s utter failure to to deliver a basic online service has been rewarded by them being awarded another contract to run an even more critical service www.theregister.com/public-secto...
theregister.com
Capita handed vital role in next pandemic despite civil service pension failures
Initial £31M deal comes with scope to scale sharply during a major outbreak
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MAKS 26 👀🇺🇦 @maks23.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
🇺🇦❗️ SBU and National Police have detained a Russian agent who was collecting intelligence to adjust enemy strikes on Kyiv and Poltava region in September He tracked potential “targets” for 4 days in order to direct Geran-5 type jet drones and ballistic missiles at the capital.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
As a Jew I think what the Greens have done is appalling. As a political commentator I think Andy Burnham is a lucky man.
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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Here we go again. You do have to wonder why we have any regulations at all.
Andrew Griffith, her shadow chancellor, will on Monday promise
"the most ambitious deregulation project in a generation", vowing to cut the cost of housebuilding, scrap environmental bodies and back plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport.
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Penny Stuart @lostindisco.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Much as hate doing it, but you’ve got to thank the haunted hatstand for putting this pitiful Putin apologist in his place
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
From the Home Secretary whose own policies have helped bolster human trafficking and who ended the family reunification route which actually helped women and children avoid these irregular routes. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Nearly all women arriving on small boats have been raped, says Shabana Mahmood
Home secretary warns people traffickers will exploit asylum seekers because they decide who comes to the UK
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Pete Miles @petermiles.eurosky.social · 04/10/2026
Heseltine's solution to filling in the devolution gaps... "He should legislate at once to convert the counties into mayoral unitaries, with the first mayors to be elected in 2027." 2/3
Burnham's "every postcode" demands a comprehensive national policy. He has mayors in

I bear the scars of meetings with councillors whose world I was about to end

the metropolitan areas. He should legislate at once to convert the counties into mayoral unitaries, with the first mayors to be elected in 2027. He will have to confront the argument that counties do not always reflect economic reality. The best should not be allowed to be the enemy of the good. The project should be tackled with urgency.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A cynical person might ask, of course, why are "young men of fighting age" wearing hijabs? 🧐
Main on Sunday front page: 

"As one of Kemi's top female frontbenchers calls them 'instruments of suppression...
UK HANDS OUT 1,000 HIJABS TO CHANNEL MIGRANTS"
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A statement from the head of the @boell.de Foundation, the political foundation behind the German Green Party. 👇
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 04/10/2026
all this conference chat is reminding me of the list I wrote a few years ago of all the stupid things that happened to me at conference: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/19-anecdot...
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
All those still on X, helping make sure this shit keeps on going.
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Penny Stuart @lostindisco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“British consumers pay approximately £700m per year to Apple and Google, a full £232m more than the companies paid in UK corporation tax last year combined.”https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/04/app-tax-google-apple-smartphone-duopoly-cma
theguardian.com
Own a mobile phone? Then you’re paying the ‘app tax’. It’s a racket and it’s time the UK faced Apple and Google down | Chi Onwurah
A deep-seated duopoly allows the tech giants to exploit the public and developers. But the regulator has powers to stop this abuse – it should use them, says Labour MP Chi Onwurah
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Kippy WooOooOoo 🎃👻🧛‍♂️💀👽😈 @tygerwhocame2t.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It never fails! #TheTraitors #CelebrityTraitors youtu.be/OuSzG_DzVNo?...
youtu.be
Traitors: A Very Confident Mistake | SNL UK
YouTube video by Saturday Night Live UK
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social in the Guardian on the many different Zionist approaches & arguments and what its essential core meaning is, ahead the "Zionism is racism" motion being debated by the Green Party. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
To this day, that’s essentially what it means to be a Zionist – that you believe in a Jewish national home in some portion of historic Palestine. There are rightwing Zionists who think it should be in all of that land; there are leftwing Zionists who think it should be broadly within the much smaller boundaries that existed before the 1967 war and alongside a Palestinian state. But both groups are Zionists. The racist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is a Zionist, but so are many of the Jewish and Israeli anti-occupation activists who volunteer to act as a “protective presence”, putting their own bodies between settler extremists and Palestinian villagers in the West Bank. To brand everyone under that one umbrella as a racist shows a deep ignorance of what the word Zionism means and the sheer range of people who identify with it.
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Russia is committing war crimes against culture and language.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The thing that gets me about these lurid anti-Zionist statements, like the one the Greens just passed, is that it is *so fucking easy* to criticise the Israeli government without engaging in that type of language.
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Chris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Andy Burnham being chased by a Labour red rose feels like the sort of thing his nightmares contain
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WarTranslated (Dmitri) @wartranslated.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Ukraine's USF say their "Crimean Switch Off" operation has knocked out 456 power facilities in occupied territories and Russia over three months, including 44 in the past 10 days, across Crimea, occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions.
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It's hard to see how the Green party's motion today will avoid an investigation by the EHRC, given Labour was previously found in breach.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Green party leadership have released this joint statement, co-signed by the leader, by deputy leaders who supported + opposed the motion, and by the group of MPs who opposed it bsky.app/profile/elli...
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Joe Adalian @tvmojoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It’s just a matter of time before they throw the cast of SNL UK in jail because they continue to absolutely kill it with the cold opens. This is brutal, in the best possible way. If only SNL could skewer our would-be king like this… youtu.be/3DVIESl8OFE?...
youtu.be
Charles and D.I.A.N.A. | SNL UK
YouTube video by Saturday Night Live UK
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Meanwhile in Ukraine @meanwhileua.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A Sunday drive in Kyiv became a target. A Russian jet-powered drone struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge while civilian cars were crossing it. They were not on a battlefield. They were simply driving through their own city. This is Russian terror against civilians, turning ordinary life into a target.
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UK in a Changing Europe @ukandeu.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
🌍 "It is important that [Burnham] considers not just the economic impacts of Brexit so far, but also the type of institution which the EU is evolving into." ✍️ Joël Reland on how growing EU protectionism could increase the costs of Brexit for the UK. ow.ly/NR7F50ZTVZx
ow.ly
'Made in Europe' casts a shadow over Burnham's EU gambit - UK in a changing Europe
Joël Reland argues that the EU’s increasingly protectionist regulatory model is likely to increase the economic costs of non-membership for the UK,...
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Pascal @pascallth.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Our current answer to this terror wave - that Ukraine might receive more air defence missiles in eight to ten business weeks - is woefully inadequate We need to use our air force to shoot down these missiles and bombs, at least in the western part of Ukraine
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Russia is working on bio-weapons in Siberia.
themoscowtimes.com
Nearly 200 People Under Observation After Irkutsk Lab Worker Dies From Plague - The Moscow Times
Health authorities in Siberia’s Irkutsk region have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague, according to media reports and a statement by a regio...
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It is remarkable how badly the Russians treat their troops.
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Why you can’t trust Grok - or any other LLM which basically tells you what you want to hear and amplifies online echo chambers
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Penny Stuart @lostindisco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
#strictly, Cash may be an amazing performer, but why does he have to put his professional partner in a headlock every time he claps? #notagoodlook
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This is a great explanation. The proposal is to move from a Triple Lock to an Adjusted Triple Lock.
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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This is what happens when you start excusing things under the banner of “legitimate concerns”
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Putting off tough fiscal choices... UK, France, others... unsure about AI, everyone... the age of tentative leaders bsky.app/profile/step...
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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Check the date
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 02/10/2026
"Imagine heavy drones flying 15 to 20 kilometers deep into enemy rear positions and then deploying unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles), essentially robots, that drive even deeper into the rear," writes Kateryna Lisunova, Ukrainian journalist, in her op-ed.
kyivindependent.com
Washington should pay attention to Ukraine's new robotic counteroffensive
Imagine heavy drones flying 15 to 20 kilometers (approximately 9.3 to 12.4 miles) deep into enemy rear positions and then deploying unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles), essent...
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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 02/10/2026
⚡️Russian billionaires 'volunteer' to fund state budget after closed-door meeting with Putin, Reuters reports. Wealthy Russians have contributed a total of 471 billion rubles (over $5.6 billion) to the state budget in 2026, according to Reuters. The payments are listed as "voluntary receipts."
kyivindependent.com
Russian billionaires 'volunteer' to fund state budget after closed-door meeting with Putin, Reuters reports
Wealthy Russians have already contributed a total of 471 billion rubles (over $5.6 billion) to the state budget in 2026, according to Reuters. The payments are listed as "voluntary receipts" in budget...
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Bill Browder @billbrowder.bsky.social : Putin can't walk it back from any of this stuff, but I can guarantee you that if one day he were to drop dead of a stroke or something like that, anybody else could walk back from it immediately.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Badenoch's view of Thatcher & Thatcherism are formed by her virew of Britain as a contrast to her experience of Nigeria in the 1980s & 1990s, which shape her conservative politics being forged in the post-Thatcher era
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John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The View from Westminster newsletter comes from Millie Cooke tonight. Free sign-up here www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 02/10/2026
Electric cars just had their best month ever in the UK Nearly 100,000 new BEVs sold, +36% year-on-year (Data from SMMT, which continues to lobby for weaker EV targets)
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The ability to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into a loss-making TV channel, bent on wrenching British politics sharply to the right, is yet another of the ways in which extreme wealth is trying to remake UK democracy. It needs to be part of any serious conversation about political funding.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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MAKS 26 👀🇺🇦 @maks23.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🇨🇭🇺🇦 The Swiss government has decided to support eight additional reconstruction projects in Ukraine implemented by Swiss firms in the energy, public transport and water sectors. The financing amounts to CHF 135 million.
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Looks like appearance of Restore on the ballot may have cost Reform two council wards yesterday - one here lost to Labour, the other a narrow Labour hold in Blackpool where Restore vote would have put Reform over the top
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