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markjames.bsky.social

@markjames.bsky.social
116 followers 371 following 43 posts
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Reposted by @markjames.bsky.social
Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I was on the telly.
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Melissa Ryan @melissaryan.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I left X because it wasn't Twitter anymore. It was a platform for Nazi white supremacists run by a nazi white supremacist.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
The idea that this would be a "catastophic burden" on the economy is a real zombie fact. Even on the worst case (and wrong) scenarios dreamt up by anti-migration think-tanks it is not close to "catastrophic".
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Apart from once again proving himself a dead eyed socipath, Jenrick is forcing Reform down a cul-de-sac. "How about war crimes" is not winning 35% of the vote.
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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Only a small minority of people are active, angry, violent racists. Quite a large majority of people are empathetic, concerned, and tolerant. But we have managed to organise our media/political environment so that only the angry racists are heard.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 11/10/2026
Ofcom rules are clear: broadcasters cannot use politicians as newsreaders, interviewers or reporters in any news programmes. So why is Farage allowed to have his own show on GB News? Add your name to demand that Ofcom takes immediate action.
bestforbritain.org
Farage on GB News: Demand that Ofcom takes immediate action - Best for Britain
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
‘Culturally British by my standards’ is one of the most chilling phrases uttered in British politics. Entirely unsurprising to me who it’s from.
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
NEW: Kemi Badenoch’s flagship party conference policy document, The Right Way, overestimated the cost of net zero by nearly £500bn, seemingly after someone accidentally double-counted figures on a spreadsheet. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet error
Exclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I never watch the speeches anymore, I only read them and what's funny about Badenoch's speech is when you're reading it the lack of a throughline is even more clear. Conference, our tax code is too long... [a few paragraphs later'] ...we are going to add more complexity to it
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
No doubt all the people who printed, posted or broadcast this now disproved story respect their readers/viewers/listeners/followers enough to correct the record asap… www.theguardian.com/news/2026/oc...
theguardian.com
‘I reside in Monaco’: billionaire said to have quit UK over potential wealth tax had already left
TaxWatch contradicts claims about David Reuben’s departure and questions stories of super-rich exodus
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Had some encouraging messages from senior Labour people on this post...
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A key point which few have noticed yet... Tory voters have already shifted a lot. Polling shows they back Burnham's pledge to consider closer relations. And a third back joining again. This is a major problem for Badenoch's supposed "recapture the centre" strategy.
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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
What Braverman says here is 100% false. Mauritius was a poor, plantation economy when the British took over from France in 1810, and they kept it that way until 1968. The economic miracle that turned it into a diverse, upper-middle income economy came after independence. bsky.app/profile/jord...
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Zoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I wrote for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on the sheer significance of Andy Burnham putting compassion for others, empathy and care at the forefront of his political offering www.thenewworld.co.uk/zoe-grunewal...
thenewworld.co.uk
The right says empathy is suicidal - but Andy Burnham thinks it might save us
The prime minister’s emotional conference speech laid down a challenge to populists who say compassion makes us weak
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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
For the sin of choosing castigation and humiliation over meaningful accountability and progress For the sin of being hateful over being loving For the sin of refusing to see the humanity in those we may disagree with For the sin self-righteousness over empathy
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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
In the spirit of YK, I ask for forgiveness for us all for the sin of being cruel to others For the sin of taking pleasure in the suffering of others For the sin of choosing dehumanisation over humanisation For the sin of being cold hearted For the sin of preferring conflict over resolution
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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Given it’s Yom Kippur at sunset, I feel compelled to say: The world has became a very unforgiving and cruel place because of social media People who have not been truly evil, or cruel, or villains keep finding themselves subjected to mediaeval mobs - sometimes with horrible consequences
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 09/08/2026
Most X accounts posting about Belfast and Southampton unrest were based outside UK
theguardian.com
Most X accounts posting about Belfast and Southampton unrest were based outside UK
Exclusive: Analysis shows 55% of accounts were located overseas – and seven of 12 most-read posts came from US More than half the accounts that posted on Elon Musk’s X about the rioting in Belfast and the civil disorder in Southampton in June were based outside the UK, an analysis by the Guardian can reveal. Of the 8,672 accounts whose combined posts about the events exceeded 1,000 views, just 45.3% were shown as from the UK, according to the social media platform’s own location function. Continue reading...
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markjames.bsky.social @markjames.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Just because corporate media has stopped talking about the people thrown in concentration camps doesn't mean their struggle is over. They're dying, carrying out hunger strikes, begging you to fight for them. Fighting fascism is fighting so many battles at once. They deserve our solidarity.
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Athena Kugblenu @athenakugblenu.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
America's Health secretary is such a weirdo
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Don't forget what Reform promised the crypto industry after Farage took the cash: Farage....took an undisclosed £5mn personal gift from a crypto billionaire in 2024, months before pledging to slash tax and regulation on the digital assets industry if he becomes PM www.ft.com/content/6a56...
ft.com
Farage accused of ‘conflict of interest’ over £5mn gift from crypto investor
Rival parties highlight how Reform UK has proposed cutting tax and regulation on the digital assets industry
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Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Reform UK are having one of the worst election campaigns ever. They are a laughing stock: not even at line one, page one of the Big Book of Real Life. Will be interesting to see if it makes a difference. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Three Reform candidates quit in one Welsh constituency
It is unclear who is standing for Reform in the constituency for the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
So it turns out the real scandal of the Gorton and Denton by-election was the willingness of media organisations to collude in Nigel Farage's attempt to undermine the result of a free and fair election www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/how-the-bb...
adambienkov.co.uk
How the BBC and Daily Mail Spread Reform's ‘Family Voting’ Lies
The real scandal of the Gorton and Denton by-election was the willingness of media organisations to collude in Nigel Farage's attempt to undermine the result of a free and fair election
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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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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
NEW The US guided missile attack on a school in Minab in Iran looks like a war crime By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
What appears to have happened is that the United States, which fired the guided missile, did not have readily available information that the school was not part of the compound and had not been so since 2016. This fact could be shown by open-source, public-domain information. 

But it appears the US military did not have or use up-to-date information. It relied on out-of-date information instead, and so killed over 100 children during their day at school.


Schools are specifically protected from attacks under international law, as ably set out in this important article by former UK prime minister Gordon Brown. And the US secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth have both denied that the school was deliberately targeted (though little weight can perhaps be placed on official government denials of any war crime).

Even if the school was not deliberately targeted as a school, there is still a requirement under international law for an attacker to do what they can to make sure they know what they are attacking. As Professor Janina Dill of the University of Oxford explains, an attacker has to do everything feasible to verify the status of a targeted object. And here it is significant that the weapon of choice was a guided missile: this was a pre-selected target. 

The US government and military accept there is a potential problem here, despite the immediate attempts by President Trump to falsely blame the Iranians themselves.
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Richard Tice: - engaged in highly aggressive tax avoidance to avoid nearly £600,000 of tax - did so at a time when the taxpayer was already paying his salary as an MEP Nothing patriotic about this party of grifters www.thetimes.com/article/6f55...
thetimes.com
Reform’s Richard Tice avoided nearly £600,000 in tax
The deputy leader’s property company paid nothing in corporation tax on multimillion-pound profits for most of 2018-21
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Dr. William Horne @wihorne.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
I just can’t stop thinking abt federal agents raiding the cells of incarcerated children to confiscate their drawings & letters. This is Nazi shit.
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Daily Herald #FBPE #NAFO 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇱 @dailyherald.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
🚨 BREAKING: Nigel Farage has announced that Robert Jenrick will be Reform UK's Shadow Chancellor
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Another triumph for Goodwin's campaign. No doubt he'll continue to pretend he cares about anti-semitism. www.thejc.com/news/uk/matt...
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Giving Braverman the education brief is quite a choice for Reform. I was on an education commission with her once before she went completely mad and she knew absolutely nothing at all.
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
NEW: Reform UK’s flagship council, Kent, has been accused of telling a “blatant lie” after its claim of nearly £40m in savings on net zero were found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform-run Kent council accused of fabricating £40m net zero savings
Disclosures show figures cited by authority’s leader rested on unfunded ideas listed briefly in budget papers
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Cornish Skipper #FBPE #RejoinEU 🇪🇺🔶🌹💚💙 @cornishskipper.wsocial.eu · 08/02/2026
REFUK in Kent has spent hundreds of thousands of tax payers money on advisors and on parking spaces for themselves £150k & £600k respectively. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform councillors criticised after voting to spend £150,000 on political advisers
Plan was put forward by 19-year-old leader of Warwickshire council George Finch who also lobbied to remove Pride flag
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
...they told her no, didn't they
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
We are Christopher Isherwood, listening on the wireless to warnings that Berliners will die unless they stop the rhetoric about the secret police.
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Danielle Froom 🏳️‍🌈 @danifroom.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Sesame Street is now offering tips for parents on post-trauma comfort because the federal government is physically and mentally abusing our country's children.
Sesame Street Instagram:
Big Bird snuggling a smaller bird.
Offering comfort in Scary Times:
After a violent event, children of different ages will have different needs. These age based strategies can help them feel safer and more secure.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 25/01/2026
Western countries are hitting refugees twice: they are making it harder to claim asylum *and* they are cutting aid to troubled regions. I went to Sudan, the world's worst humanitarian situation, where the UN refugee agency has had to cut half its staff. Please have a read: as.ft.com/r/df593f1e-e...
as.ft.com
Adapt, shrink or die: the global crisis in humanitarian aid
[FREE TO READ] On the road in Sudan with the UN’s outgoing High Commissioner for Refugees
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Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
… including payments for promoting gold, presenting on GB News and from his friend George Cottrell, within 28 days. Reform UK leader apologised for what he described as administrative errors by his team.
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 12/01/2026
Nadhim Zahawi MP: In Farage’s Britain, it would be legal to discriminate against me on the grounds of race conservativehome.com/2015/03/23/n...
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
NEW Death in Minnesota The significance of the reaction to the killing of Renee Nicole Good By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
But the response of supporters of President Trump and of his administration has been neither of these. Instead, they have rushed to trash the reputation of the woman, depicting her as a “domestic terrorist” who somehow deserved to be summarily executed by an ICE agent who was acting in “self-defense”.

There are also claims that the ICE agents in the footage were injured in the incident but are making “full recoveries”—claims that can be refuted by watching the video. An alternative—and official—false narrative is being created by which the ICE agents did nothing wrong, and everything right, in killing Good.

This dishonest construct is one means by which the federal government wants to evade taking responsibility for what seems to have been an extra-judicial murder of a US citizen. Another means to this end is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is not cooperating with local police for any investigation. 

By spreading falsehoods and hampering any independent investigation by Minnesota police, the federal government is seeking immunity for the violence its agents are inflicting on people in America. These tactics are part of a broader strategy to ensure that those with federal executive power can do exactly what they want, without any remedy to those affected: government outside the law.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
A quick look at Reform run councils should disabuse them of the notion they'll "get things done".
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
And here's Boris in 2016 quoted by the BBC
Mr Johnson said Brexit gave the UK opportunities
to boost trade with economically "bounding"
Commonwealth countries, with Australia, New
Zealand and Malaysia "stepping up and
volunteering to do these deals". EU economies, by
contrast, had been "mired in low growth".
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
This is literally what the Telegraph campaigned for.
Farmers' anger grows as
Australian beeffloods
into Britain


Meat imports surge 80pc as free-
trade deal sparks criticism over
impact on local producers
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Shaun Lintern @shaunlintern.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
"If we continue to reduce registered nurse availability to patients in the current context of financial pressure, it’s extremely likely more people will die" says lead researcher @alisonleary1.bsky.social
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Steve Brooks @stevebrooks.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
This is the paper that now wants us to elect Reform.
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Still no public apology from @telegraph.co.uk for having published a lie they then had to delete. But one bit of progress - they’ve emailed in advance with their latest nonsense…
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
That broken man, who hates himself and by proxy the world, is the perfect conduit for the corruption of the government by a group of wealthy, unscrupulous people who recognize his vulnerabilities and are desperate to further enrich and empower themselves and are taking every advantage.
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