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Mark Burton

@markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy
166 followers 7 following 3.5K posts

Scholar-activist. Marxist #degrowth advocate. Various topics on the pancrisis. Anti-imperialist. I also grow unusual edibles, do a bit of crafting in wood […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ mstdn.social/@markhburton, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2026
It was unlikely that the Greens would win in Starmer's old seat but look at the swing. Low turnout and most of Feinstein's vote will have gone to Polanski. But it's not a masacre. Holborn and St Pancras byelection loss will disappoint Greens – but there may […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Green vote share.
 From 7.2% in 2024 to  32.8 in 2026.
All other parties lower.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/09/2026
Women counter demonstrate against the fascist mob in Portsmouth. One placard reads "I don't need racists to protect me". "I don't need racists to protect me".
Women counter demonstrate against the fascist mob in Portsmouth. One placard reads 
"I don't need racists to protect me".
"I don't need racists to protect me".
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026
Not only Africa but Australia and South America revealed as much bigger than often assumed. UN to vote on adopting new world map that shows Africa’s true scale | Africa | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/…
World map on the Equal Area projection.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/09/2026
Limiting Overshoot - Navigating exceedance of 1.5°C and pathways towards return | UNEP - UN Environment Programme www.unep.org/resources/limiting-ove… #ClimateCrisis #overshoot #ClimateEmergency
For both images: This is an illustrative depiction of temperature overshoot and the actions and challenges associated
with limiting its magnitude, duration and consequences. The visual features in the top panel are indicative and do not
represent precise warming magnitudes, rates or probabilities. The black dashed line represents an overshoot pathway
adapted from an SSP2-4.5 pathway based on IPCC (2021), while the light grey dashed line represents a high-overshoot
pathway adapted from Reisinger et al. (2025). The horizontal line marks the 1.5°C global warming level, relative to
1850–1900. The light grey trajectories in the background are illustrative and are informed by visual interpolation across
an ensemble of SSP scenarios and tipping-point peaks, depicting a world that may become increasingly challenging
depending on the actions we take. The red dots are an illustrative representation of actions in mitigation and
adaptation to limit overshoot. (See Conclusion for full description)
For both images: This is an illustrative depiction of temperature overshoot and the actions and challenges associated
with limiting its magnitude, duration and consequences. The visual features in the top panel are indicative and do not
represent precise warming magnitudes, rates or probabilities. The black dashed line represents an overshoot pathway
adapted from an SSP2-4.5 pathway based on IPCC (2021), while the light grey dashed line represents a high-overshoot
pathway adapted from Reisinger et al. (2025). The horizontal line marks the 1.5°C global warming level, relative to
1850–1900. The light grey trajectories in the background are illustrative and are informed by visual interpolation across
an ensemble of SSP scenarios and tipping-point peaks, depicting a world that may become increasingly challenging
depending on the actions we take. The red dots are an illustrative representation of actions in mitigation and
adaptation to limit overshoot. (See Conclusion for full description)
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026
Correct framing from the Morning Star. morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nep…
Screenshot from the Morning Star online 

"Climate Crisis / 27 August 2026
More than 1,300 missing in Nepal and Tibet after catastrophic floods"
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026
Just arrived, the result of a rabbit hole I went down recently. Harich 'Communism without Growth' (1975 Ge, 2034 Sp) Not available in English ttbomk, but I can read this translation. Really interesting engagement with the Meadows Limits to Growth report, from […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Wolfgang Harich
¿Comunismo sin Crecimiento?
First published in German, 1975; Versolibros 2023
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026
Persianas alicantinas (Spanish wooden window blinds) now installed in time for this week's heat wave. They should also help reduce heat loss in cold winter nights. If you want advice on where to get and tips, DM me.
9 large windows and doors of a ground floor extension, protected from sun by persianas alicantinas (Alicante blinds). They are made from horizontal wooden slats, joined with metal links and operated manually with a cord.
Picture also shows Akebia Quinta and grape vine, as well as air source heat pump.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/08/2026
Irregular boat arrivals 2021-2026 Italy: 478.600 Balkans: 340.600. Greece: 259.800 Spain: 234.760 UK in same period a little more than 200,000 so far as I can see. Source for EU data: Frontex via mailchi.mp/f2b749e11555/poltica-par…
Graph irregular boat arrivals via English channel, UK.
Via https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3r0v952ny3o
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/07/2026
Dunwich Heath and Minsmere where the wildfire has destroyed so much. These are photos from last summer. #wildfire
Heather and other heathland vegetation, Dunwich Heat.View from Dunwich Heath over part of Minsmere with Sizewell nuclear plant on the horizon.  Sign says 'Park here to admire the view.  Maximum stay 1 hour'.  Irony?Evening at Minsmere RSPB bird reserve, with lines of water birds resting and travelling.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/07/2026
Enormous volume of overnight stays in Air BnB in worst EU regions. Article has interactive map. #HousingCrisis But you never use Air BnB do you? España bate su récord de reservas de pisos turísticos: el mapa de cómo Airbnb coloniza Europa, región a región […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Air BnB overnight stays in the top European regions.
Full details in the article.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/07/2026
Clearing out some old Marxism Today and New Socialist magazines from the 1980s. I used to read them avidly, especially MT. Now I'm struck by how weak a lot of the content is.
Covers from Marxism Today and New Socialist, both 1985.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026
Most birds are having a long siesta. The young magpies are cooling off in the bird bath and artificial stream, then letting the heat evaporate the water: they know their physics Our feet are in bowls of water.
Size 10 (44) feet in a washing up bowl on the grass.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026
Under the big sycamore: 34.8°C 52% humidity 12:53 p.m.
34.8°C
52% humidity
12:53 p.m.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026
Under the apple tree in our Manchester garden. 29.2°C 78% humidity, now 82% (was only 55% yesterday). 10:46 a.m.
29.2°C
78% humidity
10:46 a.m.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2026
Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. #PalestineAction #Gaza
Juxtaposed news items in RSS feed: UK Court upholds ban on human rights group Palestine Action while Israeli army kills another three year old in Gaza
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/06/2026
We have something of a problem with clothes moths. Have had to do a lot of darning! So for this thin merino pullover I tried something a little different. I've never done embroidery before.
Dark blue Willem pullover with green and red berries embroidered in silk.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/06/2026
The UK was the third biggest spender on nuclear weapons last year. It increased 17% to US$12.6 Bn, that's $23,978 / minute. For Starmer's posturing. But the warmongers always want more. Premeditated: 2025 global nuclear weapons spending - ICAN […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
COUNTRY SPENDING ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN 2025
COUNTRIES
 ANNUAL TOTAL
 CHANGE FROM
PREVIOUS YEAR	
$69.2 billion
The United States
 22%
$131,659 / minute
$13.5 billion
China
 7%
$25,744 / minute
$12.6 billion
The United Kingdom
 17%
$23,978 / minute
$9.5 billion	
Russia
 6%
$18,166 / minute
$7.7 billion	
France
 8%
$14,727 / minute
$2.8 billion	
India
 12%
$5,387 / minute
$1.5 billion	
Pakistan
 18%
$2,838 / minute	
Israel
 $1.2 billion
 2%
$2,323 / minute	
North Korea
 $656 million
 4%
$1,248 /minute
$118.8 billion
2025 Total
 19%
$226,069 per minute	
According to the Nuclear Ban Monitor, nearly half of the world’s nuclear warheads are deployed on submarines,
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/05/2026
WTF
Slogan on a van:
"AI POWERED VERTICAL GREEN WALLS"
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/05/2026
Seen at Chorlton Arts Festival. I didn't know Connolly prefigured "We are realists, we demand the impossible".
Embroidery:
"For our demands most moderate are.
We only want the earth"
James Connolly
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2026
Greater Manchester election analysis. The ‘unfathomable’ fall of Labour’s Greater Manchester manchestermill.co.uk/the-unfathomab…
Electoral map for the city of Manchester: it shows the 1/3 seats elected this year in contrast to those in 2022 - article shows the overall councillor composition.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/05/2026
Current non-fiction reading. Well I like a challenge. Shaikh's achievement is very impressive.
Book covers:
Marxist Monetary Theory by Costas Lapavitsas

Capitalism: competition,  conflict, crises by Anwar Shaikh
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/04/2026
"Leeds is the biggest city in Europe without a mass transit system. It had trams, once: doubledeckers that ran through city centre streets and up leafy tracks, [shut down] in 1959." Once you could go from Leeds city centre to Manchester city centre by tram […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026
BBC2 this evening "Britain's Biggest Warship" Or "Building Consent for Blowing Money on Arms". #warmongering
Screenshot from Freeview app: BBC2 programme about an aircraft carrier.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/04/2026
I didn't know there was (still) a UK "Social Democratic Party", kind of Reform Ltd lite or blue labour heavy. But they are fielding a candidate here. Completely off the wall:
SDP from a paper called "Energy Abundance"
For the first part of the ten-year plan, Central Energy will construct 40GW of new natural gas generation and 20GW of coal generation at a capital cost of £60bn. The government shall finance this by repealing the Climate Change Act of 2008 and redirecting funds currently earmarked for “net zero” investments.

For the second part of the ten-year plan, Central Energy will construct 40GW of new nuclear generation at a cost range of £100-140bn. The government shall finance this by issuing a tranche of 30-year bonds.

From same report:
First, anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions at current levels are not an existential threat to life on Earth. It cannot be doubted that, logically, greenhouse gas concentrations have a causal role in relation to the Earth’s surface temperature. However, emissions at their current levels would need to continue for tens of thousands of years before any such existential threat were to emerge.

This is because, in geological terms, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are approaching their lowest ever since macroscopic life as we know it emerged circa 500 million years ago.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2026
And later on, a three page review of #degrowth books by Saito, Parrique and the UK writers Heron, Millburn and Russell.
Pages from Red Pepper magazine. Review of Saito, Parrique and Heron/Milburn/Russell.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2026
Games for Degrowth by Carolyn Kagan and Mark Burton, Steady Stage Manchester. 2 page spread in Red Pepper magazine. #games #BoardGames #conscientisation #degrowth
Games for Degrowth by Carolyn Kagan and Mark Burton, Steady Stage Manchester.
2 page spread in Red Pepper magazine.Front cover, Red Pepper magazine: #248 Spring 2026.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2026
Faced with the reduced supply of urea, the capitalist market has a solution. The pun Oro - Orina Is lost in translation: Gold - Urine. The cartoon is of a pawnbroker's that previously bought gold items, with a queue of people waiting to sell their piss. Not so […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
A queue of people at a shop that previously bought gold items and now buys urine.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/03/2026
The apricot that I grew from a stone is flowering for the first time. A bit beyond it's comfort zone here in Manchester but here's hoping. Not many insects about, but some big bombs so. So hand pollinated with a paintbrush. #ExperimentalGardening #gardening
Fan trained apricot growing against a W facing wall.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/03/2026
Are Churches being turned into mosques? The Reform (sic) UK claim is debunked in The Big Issue. They claim that 41 have become mosques in recent years. There are 38500 churches in UK, 16000 CofE. Since 1968 only 2 have become sites for other superstitions, both […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Are Churches being turned into mosques?
Reform UK claim debunked in The Big Issue.
They claim that 41 have become mosques in recent years.
There are 38500 churches in UK, 16000 CofE. Since 1968 only 2 have become sites for other superstitions, both to gurdwaras. 1 in Peckham became a mosque, but only after >10 years closed.
It's "almost impossible" for a church to become a mosque.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/03/2026
I feel a little old. Fifty years of punk!
The cover of the current Big Issue.
Happy Birthday, Punk
50 years celebration.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/02/2026
Gorton and Denton - a rough vote analysis. Green vote gain (10,200) was 2,000 short of Lib/Left reductions Reform vote gain (5400) 3250 more than Tory reduction. Suggests broadly that Greens got the Lib/Left votes and Reform the Tory ones, but some Labour went […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
	        2024	2026	Difference
Green	4810	14980	10170
Reform	5142	10578	5436
Tory         2888	706	        -2182
Labour	18555	9364	-9191
Lib Dem	1399	653	        -746
Workers’ 3766	-3766
Party
			
Lab+Lib Dem losses+ WP previous			-12211
Lib/Left losses – Green gain			-2041
Reform gain – Tory loss			3254
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/02/2026
UK parliament descending into anti-immigrationbhate in just 7 years. How rightwing rhetoric has risen sharply in the UK parliament – an exclusive visual analysis | Politics | The Guardian […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Graph of positive Vs negative statements on immigration in UK parliament showing decline from all time positive peak in 20018.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/02/2026
Oh look, here's the BBC yet again giving a platform to the fascists and xenophobes, stockbroker's party.
BBC programme tonight
"Reform: Ready to Rule?"
Kuennsberg
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/01/2026
"Under the banner of democracy, freedom and human rights, the United States has thereby extended its domination over large swathes of the world, presenting itself as a benevolent benefactor rather than a domineering despot. It has, in this way, perfected the use […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Book cover.
Who paid the pipers of Western Marxism
Gabriel Rockill
Monthly Review Press
2025
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/01/2026
Oh dear, the new Observer can't manage responsiveness, i.e. the ability of a web page to adjust to the user's screen. Not possible to fix it at the reader end. A pity, I wanted to skim it. observer.co.uk/news/national/articl…
Part of an Observer article cropped left and right.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/01/2026
5
Cartoon
"You don't look like a feminist"
"WATCH OUT, we disguise ourselves as HUMAN BEINGS"
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/01/2026
4
Photo of a young Johnathan Porrit and sign:
"SIZEWELL
twinned with
CHERNOBYL"
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/01/2026
3
"Maggie's reign is over.
(Bigger letters)
Thatcher resigns"
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/01/2026
2
Royal family c. 1980, naked on the balcony, waving to the crowd.
Steve Bell cartoon.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/01/2026
Series of yellowing clippings that were on our wall 1
Cartoon. Someone returning a porcupine to the library. "Porcupines have spines, therefore they are books".
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/01/2026
As I've noted before, the hit to US capital, from Venezuela gaining control of its oil, long preceded the Chávez-Maduro years. Graph shows share of Venezuelan GDP going to USA shareholders from late 1950s to mid 80s. Then slow increase til Chavez govt at turn of […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Declining share of Venezuelan GDP going to USA shareholders from late 1950s to mid 80s.then slow increase til Chavez govt at turn of century. Then increase under Maduro.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/12/2025
"The aspiration for Jewish safety is legitimate and deeply important – especially after centuries of anti-Semitism, culminating in the horrors of the Holocaust. "... "But affirming Jewish safety does not require silence when Palestinian Christian and Muslim […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Church and Mosque, Ramallah – iconic image of Palestinian convivencia.
Photo I took in 2013.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/12/2025
Here's a new irritation, on several sites. An intrusive prompt to scroll to the next article, obscuring what you are reading. MEN at least lets you close it. Not all do. Funnily enough, I can navigate menus, and go to the toilet too, all by myself.
Manchester Evening News online article partly obscured by a black semicircle prompt to scroll to the next article.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/12/2025
"Drunk raccoon found passed out on liquor store floor after breaking in"
Trump appearing to doze.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/11/2025
Top investments by a supposed 'climate leaders' investment fund (approx 27% of the total). All silicon valley villains busy building data centres. Talk about greenwash.
Listing of companies, in order Microsoft, Alphabet, NVIDIA, Meta Amazon....
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/11/2025
Attacks in #Gaza since the ceasefire. Red blobs = Israel Death Force Yellow blobs = inter-palestinian attacks map by Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) via www.eldiario.es/internacional/mapa-…
Map of Gaza showing IDF attacks since ceasefire.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/11/2025
The day to remember all the millions of victims of militarism and war, and to recommit to #peace and against #warmongering. #RemembranceDay www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-po…
The White Poppy 
For Peace and Remembrance.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/11/2025
Chancellor of the Exchequer Reeves with not one but 2 imperial flags and the lectern slogan, "Strong Foundations | Secure Future", neither of which can be claimed in any sense, either as the present reality or as the result of whatever 'tough choices' she will […] [Original post on mstdn.social]
Chancellor of the Exchequer Reeves with not one but 2 imperial flags and the lectern slogan, "Strong Foundations| Secure Future"
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2025
Bloody hell BBC, this might be of interest to some people in N Ireland but you have regional and sports channels for Roman circuses like this. Get off BBC2!!! #HateFootball #OpiumOfThePeople
"Northern Ireland Vs Germany" the ugly game.
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Mark Burton @markhburton.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2025
Spoiler: of the existing parties (i.e. not including Your proto-Party), the #GreenParty wins by a league. Which political parties support public ownership? | We Own It weownit.org.uk/why-public-ownership… #PublicOwnership
We own it scorecard, party X sector. Green party and YP get all ticks.
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