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Norrie MacQueen

@norriemacqueen.bsky.social
173 followers 152 following 289 posts

(More or less) retired IR academic and author: UN, peace operations, Lusophone Africa. Old left (in all senses). Citizens Advice volunteer employment adviser.

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Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The flag of the British Batallion with the names of the places they fought in Spain against Franco: Madrid, Brunete, Quinto, Belchite, Gandesa, Pàndols... It was embroidered by women in Barcelona in 1938. Now held by the Marx Memorial Library in London.
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Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Beer brewed in 2019 to mark the unveiling of the "Blockade-Runners to Spain" monument, Glasgow to honour the British seafarers who died breaking the naval blockades to supply the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. (spanishsky.dk/unveiling-bl...) Image kindly sent to me by Tom N.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Britain is just looking on as a handful of tax hating billionaires buy our political future.
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Citizens Advice Scotland @citizensadvicescot.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A big milestone for our Help to Claim project. It recently saw its 100,000th case of supporting people to get the financial help they need. Kieran, who works on the project, explained in this article in The Herald and Third Force News.👇 tfn.scot/opinion/here...
tfn.scot
Here’s 100,000 reasons why charities like ours need to exist - TFN
Kieran Bruce on an essential service
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Excellent piece.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Nigel defeats the Establishment. Meet the Establishment:
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
It's the image of a "winsome" Farage that does it. Provokes a uniquely umpleasant physical reaction.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It won't, obviously. But then he knows that.
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Billy Kay @billykayscot.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
If you also follow me on X please ignore anything published there. I was hacked 24 hours ago and so far X has done nothing about it.
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Jonathan Freedland @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
On the Keminaissance that isn't: the bad strategy and poor judgement of the Conservative leader. Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
A ‘Keminaissance’ for the Tories is wishful thinking – Badenoch’s Reform-lite summer will only end one way | Jonathan Freedland
Hiring a convicted antisemite as an adviser; rabble rousing at a time of violent unrest. She is still in a race to the bottom and making too many mistakes, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Not all mutually exclusive. But the fact that she just being left where she is might point to 3.
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Scott Brown @scottawbrown.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The chairs of @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social @mybisa.bsky.social @uaces.bsky.social have written to the University of Dundee in support of the Politics and IR team, as we currently face the threat of redundancy. We are extremely grateful for the support. www.psa.ac.uk/news/joint-l...
psa.ac.uk
Joint Letter on Proposed Changes at the University of Dundee - Political Studies Association
The PSA, BISA and UACES have written to leaders at the University of Dundee in support of Politics and International Relations colleagues facing redundancy to ask them to value the excellence in teach...
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The Greens are being a bit coy about running in the Farage theatre piece in Clacton. If they do, they’re probably finished as a serious electoral entity. They need, for once, to read the room.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Looks like “the People versus the Establishment” has dwindled to “Nigel versus Count Binface”. Not quite so resonant, but certainly more entertaining.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
This is a very good point. Re-election is supposed to confer immunity from any further scrutiny. Very Trump.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
A very endorsable thread.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Don't like to talk down Scotland, but it obviously lacks ambition when it comes to embezzling your employer. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Senior CIA official accused of stealing $40m in gold bars from agency
David Rush’s trial for allegedly taking 303 gold bars and $2m in foreign currency from agency was pushed to next week
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Oh ...
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The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 20/03/2026
The Green MPs and Peers have written to Keir Starmer to urge for an end to the UK's involvement in the US and Israel's illegal war. Under international law, the UK is obliged to have no involvement in illegal military action, including the use of UK bases and UK-made weapons.
Image of letter sent to Prime Minister Keir Starmer by the Green MPs and Peers.

Letter begins:

Dear Prime Minister, 

We are writing as Green Party MPs and Peers to express our alarm at the UK’s involvement in the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran. 

Already well over 1,000 civilians have been killed, including a reported 168 children killed by a missile now widely believed to be from the United States (Guardian, 2026). UNICEF has reported that the Israeli military's assault on Lebanon is killing or injuring the equivalent of one classroom of children every day (Reuters, 2026).

In addition to the grave humanitarian impacts, the longer this illegal, unnecessary war continues, the greater the global economic fallout – to which the UK is particularly exposed because it remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels. 

Read the rest of the letter on the Green Party website at: https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/03/20/green-mps-and-peers-demand-end-to-uk-involvement-in-illegal-us-israel-war/Second page of letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer from the Green MPs and Peers.

Read the full letter on the Green Party website at: https://greenparty.org.uk/2026/03/20/green-mps-and-peers-demand-end-to-uk-involvement-in-illegal-us-israel-war/
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
António Lobo Antunes’s exhilarating novels forced Portugal to confront its darkest moments
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Been listening to the excellent @natashadevon.bsky.social on @lbc.co.uk this evening mediating the different factional voices poised to take over post-Ayatollah Iran. Makes Trump’s ‘not-Iraq’ quick-and-easy regime change idea seem utterly reckless.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Pure sectarianism! Muslim voters opt for a party led by a Jewish man with a moral compass rather than one with no ethical sense of direction or one full of Islamophobes.
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Antonio Costa Pinto @acostapinto.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
cbn.globo.com
'Houve rejeição da extrema-direita até pelo eleitorado de direita', analisa cientista político sobre eleição em Portugal
O cientista político, António Costa Pinto, em entrevista ao Jornal da CBN, faz uma análise da vitória expressiva do candidato da esquerda, António José Seguro, e sobre os principais desafios do novo p...
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Citizens Advice Scotland @citizensadvicescot.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Stephanie Mander, our Social Justice Policy Manager, gave evidence to the UK Parliament this week, saying that the energy market is broken. In this clip she says the onus should be on decisionmakers to fix it.👂👇🏼
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David Clark @david-k-clark.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Adding to Starmer’s woes and questions about his judgement, the entire basis for his decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation has just collapsed. The proscription order should be rescinded at once and the Government should apologise for abusing anti-terror laws.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Very well put
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Has the BBC now decided that Mandelson is the go-to-guy on US relations - and not a serially disgraced chancer? #BBCWATO
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Citizens Advice Scotland @citizensadvicescot.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
📢Urgent support is needed for those facing impossible choices. Ahead of today’s #ScottishBudget, our Policy Manager stressed the reality of debt on Reporting Scotland. Measures like a social tariff could transform lives. Everyone deserves freedom from debt—what do you want to see in the budget?
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John Swinney @johnswinney.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
It was a great privilege to meet President Catherine Connolly this morning and to discuss the deep connections and shared values of Ireland and Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
🍿🍿🍿 parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...
parliamentlive.tv
Parliamentlive.tv
Culture, Media and Sport Committee
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Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Memorial to the Jewish volunteers of the International Brigades. It plays with Star of David and the 3-point of the IB. Around 20% (about 7,000) of Brigaders were Jewish. Fossar de la Pedrera, the mass grave of the victims of the Franco regime in Barcelona, Montjüic cemetery
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RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 16/09/2025
President Michael D Higgins said some of the EU's strongest members are "deciding to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human, manmade, really atrocious infliction on people" in Gaza
rte.ie
EU members 'deciding to stay silent' on Gaza - President
President Michael D Higgins said some of the EU's strongest members are "deciding to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human, manmade, really atrocious infliction on people".
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Huge if true!!
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Perth asylum hotel this morning, No pasarán!
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
So, you mean 80% of graduates have benefited financially from it? And, whisper it quietly, but *UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SALARY*
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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Does Starmer have a strategic foreign policy or is his government's backing of Ukraine, arms to Israel, seeking trade anywhere irrespective of human rights, Reform rhetoric on migration just an immoral mess? My blog open.substack.com/pub/kirstyhu...
open.substack.com
Does Starmer have a Foreign Policy: progressive realism or immoral floundering?
Does the UK have a clear or strategic foreign policy? Or is it best described as  muddling through,  ‘progressive realism’ or, most realistically, immoral floundering?
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Bewildering. 1. For the past week the Starmer has been calling for de-escalation. 2. Yesterday the US escalates - big time. 3. Today Starmer ‘supports’ this. 4. This evening the UK insists at the UN that there must be de-escalation. Is this what passes for a coherent foreign policy?
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The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
EXC: Labour have been branded 'deeply authoritarian' after reports emerged that the UK Government is set to proscribe Palestine Action 👇
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Gaza: Open letter to EU heads of state www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/gaza-...
doctorswithoutborders.org
Gaza: Open letter to EU heads of state
MSF International President Dr. Christos Christou and Secretary General Christopher Lockyear demand action to end the suffering in Gaza.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Very good thread
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Great initiative (and good to see that two of my favourite historical crime novelists - @stephmerritt.bsky.social and Andrew Taylor have signed). www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
theguardian.com
Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’
Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Very good background on the UK's paradigm shift on Israel-Gaza from @patrickwintour.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Lammy’s rebuke of Israel marks turning point after weeks of growing frustration
Shift in rhetoric follows tense meeting with Israel’s foreign minister and growing global alarm over Gaza Humanitarian Foundation plan
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Rafael Behr @rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
This is Nick Clegg-post-tuition-fees level bad approval ratings. This is a cold, airless, lonely place in the nation's affections from which leaders do not often come back.
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Oh my God! I'm older than the Pope!
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Norrie MacQueen @norriemacqueen.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
A luta continua! Sempre!
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