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Paul Barbour - personal account

@paulbarbour.bsky.social
285 followers 379 following 913 posts

🇺🇦🇬🇧🇪🇺 p Personal views only. Father, husband, Europhile, internationalist. Avowed YIMBY. Climate change is real.

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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A man’s body lies in the courtyard of a building struck by a Russian glide bomb in Kharkiv... At least 3 people have now been confirmed killed by russian attack and 39 others injured. Russian terrorism is constant and staggeringly cruel. It must be stopped.
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Brilliant from Janan Ganesh at the FT as always. "This was a fiscal transfer from the retired to the retired" - spot on.
ft.com
At least Burnham doesn’t pretend to care about growth
Unlike his predecessors, Britain’s prime minister is a fairly honest stagnation-ist
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Martin Robbins @mjrobbins.com · 20/09/2026
Obviously going to regret this when Claude starts a nuclear war on Monday.
martinrobbins.substack.com
The AI Apocalypse is Extremely Boring Now
Elites are obsessed with the end of the world. Most people have bigger problems.
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The only way to clean up this mess in a way that is fair to all parties + cleans up UK politics, is to ban all (all) donations to political parties and have them funded from taxpayers instead. That includes dodgy crypo types and trade unions.
bbc.com
Political donors could face tougher residency rules
It comes after Reform received donations totalling £72m from two British crypto-billionaires who have both recently lived abroad.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
UK shooting itself in the foot again. The point of tax policy is to raise revenue, not to punish wealthy or successful people, which (case in point here) actually leads to revenue reduction.
giftarticle.ft.com
Billionaire trader Chris Rokos to leave UK for Greece
Hedge fund manager’s earnings have made him one of Britain’s biggest individual taxpayers
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
War criminals crying about another war criminal's death. Classic. (This is russian embassy in Serbia on Twitter)
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I love NIMBYWatch but reading it really does make me sad that there are so many people who's obsession is to make housing expensive and make sure everyone stays at home (if they have a home) because the transport system is so sh*t. capx.co/category/pol...
capx.co
Nimby Watch Archives
Explore CapX coverage of Nimby Watch, featuring news, opinion, and in-depth analysis from leading voices in politics, business, and policy.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
If you would like to help Ukrainian soldiers survive, this is always an excellent place to donate. savelife.in.ua/en/
savelife.in.ua
Come Back Alive Foundation - Charity Organization
One of the top charity organizations who help the Ukraine Army since 2014. Donate via the website - 100% of proceeds go directly to Ukraine Army.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 19/07/2026
I'm worried that Andy Burnham isn't serious (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/is-andy-bu...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
I'm worried that Andy Burnham isn't serious
What if the idea of Andy Burnham is better than... Andy Burnham?
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
NYC Mayor plans to build 200k new affordable homes and preserve another 200k over next decade. In UK any Mayor announcing similar would be blocked immediately by NIMBYs (who don't like homes, like homelessness + like keeping their own house prices high). Will Mamdani face the same blockers in NYC?
nyc.gov
Mayor Mamdani Releases “Block by Block: The Housing Plan for A New Era”
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Europe shows whose side they are on really in the Russia-Ukraine war (and driving climate change to boot). Bravo Europe, Bravo!
ft.com
EU buys record amount of gas from Russia’s flagship plant
Europe purchased almost all the LNG produced by the Yamal facility in the first half of 2026 ahead of import ban
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
It was a very difficult night for the people of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Russia attacked Ukraine with 74 missiles, nearly half of them ballistic, and almost 500 drones. ❗️Russia's attack killed 13 people in Kyiv. More than 90 others were injured. Photo: Radio Liberty
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Ruth Deyermond @ruthdeyermond.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Like so much Kremlin rhetoric for the last 15 years or so, this is a fascinating combination of self-pitying, paranoid conspiratorialism (it's all a giant plot against us!) and desperate attempts to show what a very great great power Russia is. 🧵
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
UNITED24 Media @united24media.com · 18/06/2026
⚡ Zelenskyy: "We do not want this war and never have. (...) But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too."
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Ian Bremmer: the world needs the strait of hormuz reopened. should have happened months ago, but today’s outcome is the best option available. 

having said that, iran war has been a disaster. no agreement on nukes, ballistic missiles, support for proxies…and one of the world’s most brutal regimes remains in place…and is getting paid off. 

biggest foreign policy failure of trump administration by a long margin.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Kyiv right now 💔 Russia is a fucking cancer.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 15/06/2026
Russia is a monsterous country that persecutes Christians in Russia and Ukraine. Any so called “believer” who supports Russia doesn’t follow REAL Jesus
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Ukrainians who no longer have a roof over their head cos we spent money on bombs and bullets should take note.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Joni Askola @joniaskola.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Good reminder about what a huge liar Jeffrey Sachs is
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Michael McFaul @mcfaulmike.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Ukraine isn't subjugated. Its government still stands. Its military is stronger than before. NATO expanded with Finland & Sweden joining. And Russia has paid an enormous price in casualties & economic strain. After four years, Putin is further from his goals—not closer.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
UNITED24 @u24.gov.ua · 14/05/2026
Drones and missiles aimed at civilians aren’t efforts at peaceful resolution.
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
V interesting article.The left may not want the UK to be beholden to the international bond markets but it is. Politicians need to work with the world as it is not as they wish it to be. Even the *prospect* of a more left wing government is pushing up UK borrowing costs = less money for schools etc
ft.com
Who do gilt investors want to lead Britain?
Andy Burnham seen as biggest risk to UK government bonds
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 13/05/2026
News Analysis: By rejecting calls to step aside, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain risks repeating the mistakes of President Joe Biden.
nyti.ms
As Starmer Rejects Calls to Resign, Some Make Comparisons to President Biden
In Britain, some argue that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, by rejecting calls to step aside, risks repeating the mistakes of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 29/04/2026
This is a bizarre article that seems to forget how supply and demand works. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'Affordability, not shortage, causes London housing crisis'
A think tank argues that price inflation, not supply is at the heart of London's housing crisis.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Chris Curtis MP @chriscurtis94.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Infuriating response from Natural England, showing just how broken our regulators and regulations have become. Until we fix this, we can't fix Britain. naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2026/05/03/h...
naturalengland.blog.gov.uk
Hinkley Point C – Clarification of Natural England’s Role and Position
Recent reporting on Hinkley Point C contains a number of inaccuracies regarding Natural England’s role, legal duties, and position on fish protection measures. Natural England is firmly committed to e...
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 04/05/2026
New YIMBY Pod! - We reflect on Britain's AI strategy, following Liz Kendall's speech last week. - And I speak to @hannahkeenan.bsky.social, who patiently explains why I was talking absolute total nonsense on the pod a few weeks ago. www.abundancepod.com/p/an-expert-...
abundancepod.com
An expert debunks James's bad opinion
Plus what is Britain's AI strategy?
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I am glad someone recognizes the gravity of the climate change situation and the need for energy security. Enough with the NIMBYs inventing spurious reasons to like renewable as a theory but not in practice.
thelondoneconomic.com
Ed Miliband ignores NIMBYs to green-light Britain's biggest solar farm
Ed Miliband has ignored the objections of NIMBYs by giving the green-light to the construction of Britain's biggest solar farm.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 23/04/2026
NEW: The Green Party is STILL bad at being green (FREE TO READ) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/the-green-...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
The Green Party is STILL bad at being green
We need 'industrial-scale' solar if we want to reach Net Zero.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Ukraine Rally DC @ukrainerallydc.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Join us at Independence Ave and New Jersey by Longworth House Office building until 5 pm today Tuesday. The Ukraine Action Summit is visiting offices. Call your members of Congress and tell them to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. #CrimeaIsUkraine 🇺🇸🇺🇦
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
NIMBYs really are ridiculous and selfish people.
capx.co
READ MORE
If they’ll block this, what exactly counts as acceptable development?
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 13/04/2026
New YIMBY Pod in which @mjrobbins.com and I get EXTREMELY MAD about the West Yorkshire Tram delay, following @noahvickers.bsky.social reporting. Plus we speak to @andrewgreenway.bsky.social about his phenomenal essay on the Civil Service "permanence crisis". www.abundancepod.com/p/im-mad-as-...
abundancepod.com
I'm mad as hell about a tram
Plus why to fix the civil service, we need to build something new
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Noah Vickers @noahvickers.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
My West Yorkshire Mass Transit exclusive is discussed on YIMBY Pod 👇 Read the full feature piece in the latest edition of @thehousemag.bsky.social or on @politicshome.bsky.social tomorrow morning 🗞️
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 13/04/2026
Illiberalism is not Inevitable www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable
If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
A great result. Respect to Orban (deep breath) for conceding the election gracefully. He clearly wasn't paying attention when Vance and Putin were giving advice.
bbc.com
Hungary election: Viktor Orbán ousted after 16 years in power as opposition heads for landslide - follow live
The long-serving prime minister concedes defeat to Péter Magyar, who has promised closer EU ties and an anti-corruption drive.
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Interesting / horrifying FT article. Green party want people to remain homeless and want to block efforts to make the electric grid renewables based. Coalition with the Tories possible perhaps?
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 10/04/2026
interesting read on the track record of the Greens in office as.ft.com/r/ae3bcbc8-f...
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Given the critical need to transition to clean (cheap) power, projects like this should be granted automatic approval. All parties at the local level (Cons/Labour/LD/Greens/Reform) - continue to block such developments - they should be ashamed of doing so.
bbc.com
Government approves UK's largest solar farm in Lincolnshire
The Springwell solar farm in North Kesteven would cover an area the size of 1,700 football pitches.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” These are the words of the president of the United States, today. The president speaks genocide. And so we too must speak. Not only about crimes, but about their legal punishment. snyder.substack.com/p/the-presid...
snyder.substack.com
The president speaks genocide
The words, the law, the future
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Vance said he wants to help Orban “as much as I can” ahead of Hungary’s parliamentary elections on Sunday. The irony klaxon exploded when he then accused Brussels of trying to interfere in the vote, describing it as “one of the worst examples of foreign election interference.”
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
A 29-year-old woman who was wounded in the Russian strike on Kharkiv on April 3 has died in hospital‼️ Bloody murderers have been bombing Kharkiv almost nonstop for two days. Bastards.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Another reminder: the prevailing assumption is that if Ukr agreed to give up Donbas, Ru would immediately stop the war. Ru has promised no such thing. It's very likely Ru would respond by praising the concession as a first step and putting forth more demands to "remove the root causes of the war"
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 30/03/2026
This week's pod is an absolute must listen for transport nerds:
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 16/03/2026
NEW YIMBY POD! - I explain why Reform has a point about one, very specific thing - @mjrobbins.com tells the story of a playground that has banned children - And @laurelboxall.bsky.social makes the case for changing copyright laws to allow for data mining! www.abundancepod.com/p/reform-has...
abundancepod.com
Reform has a point (about this one, very specific thing)
Plus Martin's local playground woes, and we unwisely wade into the AI/copyright forever war.
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Reposted by Paul Barbour - personal account
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
The latest step, and a major one, in the Trump administration’s consistent efforts to keep the Russian army in the field against Ukraine. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Removes Sanctions on Russia to Help Oil Flow Amid Iran Conflict
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
It’s almost like Putin and Netanyahu control our foreign policy.
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 13/03/2026
Can this be a solution?
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 09/03/2026
Some after work listening!
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Neil Lewis @neil-lewis.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?
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Paul Barbour - personal account @paulbarbour.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
At least Sanchez is consistent. While I agree every conflict is different, DJT does seem to have taken a page from the Putin playbook (invade first then ask Qs later).
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