iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by @markpownall.bsky.social

Mark Thompson @markreckons.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Why on earth does this BBC piece on Burnham telling an interviewer the UK security services confirmed Russian interference in the Brexit referendum require a response from a pro Brexit pressure group? It's literally our Prime Minister telling us about election security. It's nothing to do with them.

The prime minister told The Rest is Politics podcast that upon arriving in No 10, he had asked about possible Russian interference in the 2016 vote, adding: "I've had the clear answer that, yes, there was."

"I think we've been too much on the back foot on that actually and we haven't informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas," he added.

Burnham did not provide further details about the type or extent of Moscow's activity during the Brexit referendum.

Britain Unbound, a pro-Brexit campaign group, said Burnham's comments were "another crude attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the decision that the British people made in 2016".

It said that foreign interference in UK elections was "obviously unacceptable" but added: "There is no good reason to believe that Russian intervention influenced the outcome of the referendum in 2016.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Massively underrated IMO because of their ChiniChap poptastic success. Were good musicians who could write great poppy rock (eh Fox on the run). Influence on punk and Britpop. Look as if they would be huge fun live. Time for a reappraisal of the kind Slade have had.

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Ada Loves Lace @adaloveslace.eurosky.social · 08/10/2026

Save 'You and Yours' and scrap 'Moral Maze'. #bbcWATO #wato #bbcPM

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Tell me you never used to go to Kings Cross 31 years ago without telling me etc.

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Let me help. The motion goes way beyond criticising Israel (it seeks to replace Israel) and an amendment to protect Jewish members was voted down. You would not know this from Polanski's evasive statement

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Some familiar members of the cast in the sequel.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Yes. There were sections i understood only for long enough to move on to the next par. I took comfort that I found it difficult because biology *is* complex/difficult. That's almost the point: it's all a bit more complicated than the story they teach in schools/undergrad classes.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The Cybermen, God they were scary. The voices, the way they moved. [Shivers]

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

No. Autocorrect for some reason. I agree antisemitism better.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

We condemn anti-Semitism because it is incompatible with our values and urge [whatever the Green equivalent of Labours NEC is] to take disciplinary action against members who make anti-Semitic statements.' That would be a start.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Yes. Something like 'We believe this policy is misguided because it is clearly open to the accusation that it is anti-Semitic [or something stronger]. We will campaign to reverse it at our next conference.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Really weak. No criticism of the motion, no mention of anti-Semitism.

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Reposted by @markpownall.bsky.social

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It's quite hard for Americans to understand that our instinct with anything other than genuinely tragic stories is to take the piss.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Kinda. Although it makes the reactionary stuff on immigration and trans rights feel worse somehow. Maybe that's just me.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Preach. Horrible bit of (not) elegant variation.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Et tu John Simpson? AfD are 'right-wing anti immigrant's party, while Die Linke are 'far left', followed by interview where Katya Adler rehashed AfD justification for not being called far right. Worrying that 2 such usually good journalists would do this.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Absolutely this. The social of liberalism of circa 1967 Labour is as important as the Atlee government.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Tom Watson once described listening to The Clash the night before a select committee hearing where he was going to question Rupert Murdoch. Well, he's definitely Working for the Clampdown now. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's great. Enjoy. Ambitious and extensive review of modern thinking on genetics beyond (way beyond) the Central Dogma.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

There's a Strummer lyric for every occasion.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A limited number of good tunes, yeah. But Pretty Vacant, especially the first 20 seconds or so, is an utter utter banger.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Thatcher surely the most deeply despised. Truss/Johnson maybe more widely.

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Will Cooling @willcooling.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Fundamentally the reshuffle has proven a disaster because it made clear that Burnham cared more about factionalism & platitudes about devolution than basic competence

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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The ability of the richest & most powerful men in the world to position themselves against "the elite" - a category that excludes the world's richest man, its biggest media magnates, the UK's richest party & the biggest donors in UK history - may be the most effective lie in modern political history

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Because he's a Catholic social conservative?

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Big part of Thomas Paine's worldview IIRC.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Funding young would-be musicians to fuck about at Art School for a year or 2 has been an efficient investment for the UK economy with an enormous soft power return too. Beatles, Stones, Roxy, Clash etc. etc

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The consequences of the Norman invasion in terms of land ownership is a fundamental part of continuing inequality in England. This, at least, has been a bad thing.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Such lazy journalism. So much easier (and maybe safer tbh) than challenging balaclava beliefs.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#Economics Blue sky, hasn't the Laffer curve been widely debunked? #R4Today

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

There is an editorial drive to 'make the news' with shouty RW extremists, rather than expert analysis of issues/policy. Question Time the exemplar here.

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Reposted by @markpownall.bsky.social

Charles Fourier @charlesfourier.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Bill Bryson’s words seem appropriate to post right now

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Spitsbergen is the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, no?

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 08/09/2026

Once again, another policing issue appears to boil down to "What do you expect us to do, our jobs?"

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

You would also hope that special branch/MI5 would get a bollocking for their failure here. But I don't hold out any hope that Mahmood or Burnham have the bottle.

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Reposted by @markpownall.bsky.social

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I want the Prime Minister to look into a TV camera and say the RNLI are heroes, that we do not change policy by street violence in this country, and that he expects any criminal action to face the full force of the law. That's it. That's all he has to do.

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Reposted by @markpownall.bsky.social

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 05/09/2026

There's an argument for calling them masked thugs, because that is factually true. There's an argument for calling them pathetic cosplaying loser incels, also true, and laughing at them damages their tough-guy self image and hurts recruitment. There is no argument for calling them protesters.

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Reposted by @markpownall.bsky.social

Andy Lewis @andylewis.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Were I the prime minister, right now the chief constable and police & crime commissioner for Kent would be in my office having a meeting strictly without tea or biscuits, and this evening I’d be doing a broadcast reassuring the nation that fascist mobs will not be tolerated on our streets.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Maybe, just maybe, there's some overthinking of a graphic designer's work here. But I'm here for it.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

His memoir, 'Give the Anarchist a Cigarette' is a hugely entertaining read, romping through the end of the hippy counterculture and the beginnings of punk.

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markpownall.bsky.social @markpownall.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I remember writing about this scandal in, I think, 1984. Might have been the first half of 85. Paul Brown of The Guardian wrote several stories. Disgusting delay and cynical prevarication by successive governments. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Nuclear bomb test veterans were victims of one of ‘greatest scandals in Britain’, says ex-defence minister

Exclusive: Tobias Ellwood says he gave MPs inaccurate information in 2018 provided by his department, the MoD

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The Verge @theverge.com · 02/09/2026

As a new Harry Potter trailer makes the rounds, it bears repeating that there’s no way to watch this show without supporting J.K. Rowling’s bigotry and the structural violence she’s inflicting on the trans community.

theverge.com

There is no ethical consumption of HBO’s Harry Potter series

You can’t without supporting Rowling’s transphobic bigotry.

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