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Philip Brereton

@philipbrereton.bsky.social
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Reposted by Philip Brereton
Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you feel like donating to the RNLI, here’s a link. I just have. Their minimum donation is £2: I think it might be nice for them to receive a lot of donations this week, even if they’re mostly very modest. Just so they know a lot of people out here appreciate their work. rnli.org/support-us/g...
rnli.org
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
My thoughts on Boris Johnson’s handling of the pandemic last night on @news.sky.com
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 20/10/2025
Delicious smackdown of Tory MP by our @pimlicat.bsky.social. "It's fantasy economics to suggest anything other than leaving the single market has detrimentally impacted our economy... It is finally the political discourse catching up with economic reality." Plus that little barb at the end... 💅🏽~AA
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
🔴 KPMG being paid £8million to encourage English hospitals to adopt Palantir tech But government refusing to give us info about KPMG deal Labour MP and campaigners have decried secrecy and called on gov't to "ditch this dirty company” New on DfS: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/uk-governm...
democracyforsale.substack.com
UK government withholding details of Palantir contract
KPMG is being paid £8 million to promote Peter Thiel’s tech in NHS hospitals – but we’re being forced to fight for information about this public contract.
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Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 13/05/2025
“I woke up with a sense of dread…” A moving, deeply personal account from an EU citizen in Cambridge on how Labour’s new rhetoric is shaking people’s sense of belonging. Don’t miss this powerful open letter. @eastangliabylines.co.uk @cambsforeurope.bsky.social
eastangliabylines.co.uk
Letter: We are not strangers
Letter to the editor
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
• 2,000 men made to sit on a beach in shirt & shorts as 2 atomic bombs were detonated just nine miles away • hundreds of men ordered to walk, march & crawl through fallout in order to see how much of it stuck on their uniforms • a decades long cover-up by successive governments #NukedBloodScandal
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Isaac Rowlett @isaacrowlett.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Did you know the “weekend” and working only 8 hours per day used to be considered a radical, liberal idea? 139 years ago today, in Bay View, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 7 workers (including a 13 yo) lost their lives to advance this revolutionary idea. A 🧵
Black and white etching-style triptych showing 8 hours for work on the left, 8 hours for rest in the middle, and 8 hours for “what we will” on the right
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21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
University Management 101 1 Send mass emails that begin “We're listening to you...” 2 Hire £500k consultant to tell you same thing staff told you 6 months ago 3 Brand any activity as a “visionary transformation” or a "reimagining" 4 Smile & nod during listening sessions, ignore all feedback
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Make Votes Matter @makevotesmatter.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
The new Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough won 28% of the vote, on 33% turnout. There was no option to pick a second preference. Like in the West of England, the winning candidate was elected by less than 10% of the electorate. This is not sustainable. FPTP must go.
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Alan Stedman @alanjstedman.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Well said Jon It's not as if this place is not full of those sentiments. Why are Labour completely deaf to the political reality that pandering to the right is losing swathes of votes in the centre?
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David Swanson @davidswanson.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
"Clearly this is a sandwich that inspires devotion in those who regularly encounter it—and powerful yearning in those separated from it." @swordsjew.bsky.social on this week's notable sandwich, the muffuletta
buttondown.com
Notable Sandwiches #124: The Muffuletta
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where David and I play host at the strange, overladen table that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable Sandwiches,...
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Chris Havergal @chrishavergal.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Who will be the next @cambridgeuni.bsky.social chancellor - and does it matter? Lord Browne, Gina Miller and Wyn Evans @21group.bsky.social in the running so far www.timeshighereducation.com/news/does-it...
timeshighereducation.com
Does it matter who the next Cambridge chancellor is?
After the furore of Oxford’s election, no obvious frontrunner has emerged to take the high-profile role at Cambridge. Some say the institution needs a politically engaged figurehead, others want someo...
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Alan Stedman @alanjstedman.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
This is the Britain that I know and love, seen here in the city I now live near, Liverpool Born and bred in S London and spending most of my career in the NHS I believe that immigration adds to our culture, our economy and our lives So, Reform can take a hike www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Liverpool welcomes 50 new British citizens on St George's Day
Mohamed Wurie says becoming a British citizen at a St George's Day ceremony in Liverpool
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Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health @fbmh-uom.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Kathleen Drew studied and became a researcher at @uniofmanchester.bsky.social. Her discovery is believed to have transformed seaweed production as we know it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Enjoy sushi? You may have Welsh seaweed to thank for it
Welsh seaweed saw a UK scientist worshipped in Japan after she revived a dying seafood industry.
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21 Group @21group.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Last person to run against university candidate for Chancellor of Cambridge University & win was Prince Albert in 1847 He introduced reforms like teaching of modern history & natural sciences Help me win, register for online voting by May 2 In person voting will break for establishment candidate
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
🧵DISMANTLING DEMOCRACY I've been keeping track of Trump actions - now up to 192. Here, I dig into 69 actions specifically targeted at undermining democracy, rule of law & suppressing dissent. It's been 12 weeks of assaults on democracy. based on christinapagel.substack.com/p/a-republic... 1/18
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 12/04/2025
Cambridge University accused of bullying ‘cover-up’ as internal survey revealed
theguardian.com
Cambridge University accused of bullying ‘cover-up’ as internal survey revealed
Only a quarter of staff are satisfied with how their department tackles bullying and harassment, FoI requests reveal Only a quarter of staff at Cambridge University are satisfied with how their department tackles bullying and harassment, according to an internal survey seen by the Observer. Cambridge undertook its staff culture survey in January 2024 and is now facing accusations from academics that it tried to cover up the “grim” results, which have been released through freedom of information (FoI) requests. Continue reading...
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
“Going backwards on Brexit” means what exactly? Nearly 10yrs on from an absurdly simplistic referendum, lumbered with a Brexit shitshow and Trump creating merry hell, we must improve our relationship(and trade)with the EU. Urgently. Not being honest about that is the most backward thing imaginable.
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PEIPolitical 🇨🇦 @peipolitical.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Kudos to Prime Minister Mark Carney 🇨🇦 for saying what so many World Leaders are thinking, but haven’t found the guts to say it yet. When are the rest of them going to grow a spine? #cdnpoli
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Next time Starmer and Reeves say there's too much regulation, remember this. This is what a deregulated economy looks like, and we all pay for it, with our health, our ecosystems and, eventually - when the massive clean-up / land abandonment bill can no longer be avoided - our wallets.
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Five years on and we’re still going round and round with whether Covid is airborne. There’s no scientific doubt. Denial broke us. healthydebate.ca/2025/03/topi...
healthydebate.ca
How denial of airborne COVID transmission broke the world - Healthy Debate
Five years later, the greatest basic science failure in generations caused the pandemic harms highlighted by people across the political spectrum, and broke our social cohesion.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 11/03/2025
Police admit arrest of anti-monarchy heckler in Oxford was unlawful
theguardian.com
Police admit arrest of anti-monarchy heckler in Oxford was unlawful
Symon Hill paid £2,500 by Thames Valley police over his arrest at proclamation of Charles III’s accession in 2022 Police have admitted acting unlawfully in arresting a trainee Baptist minister who called out “Who elected him?” at a local proclamation of…
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Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Reading about the insane numbers of books that ordinary working people used to read a hundred years ago feels like seeing pictures of the Pacific Ocean back when it teemed with whales. Hard to comprehend what we’ve lost.
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
French Senator Claude Malhuret: "Washington has become Nero’s court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a jester high on ketamine... We were at war with a dictator, we are now at war with a dictator backed by a traitor."
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
“We Finns know Russia. Russia shares a land border with 14 countries. Only one of them has constantly remained an independent democracy through the Second World War and the Cold War, and that's Finland” Elina Valtonen Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland
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Anna Jerzewska @annajerzewska.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Comic relief but also spot on! "By design it's a new world order" www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeUZ...
youtube.com
Jon Stewart on Trump’s Heel Turn on Zelenskyy In Favor of Putin’s New World Order | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 04/03/2025
Chamberlain appeased Hitler in 1938, when he didn't know for certain that there would be a larger war - and not three years later, when hundreds of thousands of people had already died
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 02/03/2025
I wrote this before the Oval Office performance, but really, there is nothing to add. It's all still true.
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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Polish PM Donald Tusk, speaking before his flight to London for the European Ukraine summit: “500 million Europeans are asking 300 million Americans to defend them against 140 million Russians. [...] Europe today lacks the belief that we are truly a global force.”
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Julien Hoez @julienhoez.eu · 02/03/2025
It’s unacceptable that 500 million Europeans have left themselves exposed and dependent on 340 million Americans to protect them from 140 million Russians, who have been unable to win against 40 million Ukrainians in a three-day war that has lasted for three years.
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 01/03/2025
I think what makes this moment feel so big and groundbreaking is that even those among us who have been talking about the need/danger of a Europe without the US for a long time, were usually in the mindset of a US disinterested in Europe. But not a US actively hostile to Europe& European interests.
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Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
At an event in Sweden a few weeks ago a speaker described the links between Europe and America as close in trade and between people but that the government works against us and the American people. Remember who we used to talk about like that ? Russia.
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Donald Tusk @donald-tusk.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.
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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
This is a bigger scandal than people realize. It really makes it look as though this entire meeting was a setup by Trump that was planned in advance. If you watch the video it is clear that they are deliberately and almost derangedly blindsiding Zelenskyy. Now we know who the audience was. Putin.
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Liz Cheney @lizcheney.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Generations of American patriots, from our revolution onward, have fought for the principles Zelenskyy is risking his life to defend. But today, Donald Trump and JD Vance attacked Zelenskyy and pressured him to surrender the freedom of his people to the KGB war criminal who invaded Ukraine.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Trump will have cordial phone chats and arrange friendly meetings with a murderous dictator but when he brings the president of an invaded and brutalised country into his office he bullies and mocks him. He’s not a president, he’s a gangster.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
I think this will go down in history as one of the most disgraceful moments ever in the Oval Office. Trump is shocking but Vance has somehow beaten him for disgraceful behaviour. Zelensky’s restraint was admirable, I don’t know how he didn’t just walk out.
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Jonathan Freedland @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
The full exchange between Trump, Zelenskiy and Vance is like nothing I've ever seen before. For that to happen at all is shocking. For it to happen in front of the cameras leaves every diplomatic norm in shreds. Starmer's meeting yesterday might as well have come from another century
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 26/02/2025
“You’re terminated because…?” Fired federal employees are telling their stories—no deep state, just career public servants tossed aside. DOGE’s mass firings aren’t about efficiency—they’re gutting expertise, wrecking lives, and calling it “reform.”
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Went to see the touring production of A Man For All Seasons. (Martin Shaw and Gary Wilmot both very good in their respective roles, the latter as the everyman/steward chorus.) And yes, this exchange hit home - perhaps best exchange about law in drama/film. youtu.be/PDBiLT3LASk?...
youtu.be
A Man for All Seasons - The Devil Speech
YouTube video by dniete97
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Alex Hall Hall @alexhh.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
100% correct. Outrageous, deluded presumption and conceit for No 10 to claim that UK can still act as some sort of “bridge” between US and Europe. This is also where rubber hits the road for UK. Decision time. Are we European - as values, geography and economics suggest, or forever American poodles?
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
There are now few pleasant ways out of this. American politicians need to find one of those ways.
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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Canadian MP Charlie Angus, "We will never kiss the ring of that gangster from Mar-a-lago, Donald Trump" Wish UK politicians were a bit more honest and blunt as well
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Been thinking about this speech a lot lately. One for all those happy to burn the rule of law because it's their side doing it this time. youtu.be/PDBiLT3LASk?...
youtu.be
A Man for All Seasons - The Devil Speech
YouTube video by dniete97
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
“The real “threat from within” comes from those fake British patriots loudly cheering on attacks on our own country by a hostile foreign power” @adambienkov.bsky.social 👏 www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-collab...
adambienkov.co.uk
The Collaborators
The real “threat from within” comes from those fake British patriots loudly cheering on attacks on our own country by a hostile foreign power
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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
It’s not politics as usual - and pretending that it is just makes us look weak and scared, with little agency and no self-conviction.
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
This is *exactly* what the UK government is failing to do. Please read this thread to understand the critical risks at the heart of our democracy.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Never forget that Trump was the culmination of 40 years of stagnant wages, widening inequality, corruption, dog-whistle politics, and economic gains for the rich. If we fail to address this, we should expect future Trumps as far as the eye can see.
youtube.com
The Big Picture: How We Got Into This Mess, And How We Get Out of It | Robert Reich
I’ve been in or around politics for over a half-century now. I’ve watched as corporations ransacked our system. In 1952, the corporate share of federal tax revenue was 32%. In 2020, it was down to 7%. Here’s how we break the corporate oligarchy and return power to the people. Watch More: What's the Real American Story? ►► https://youtu.be/vvCtwDAQta0 For more videos like these, be sure to subscribe. If you'd like to support our work, you can do so here: www.inequalitymedia.org/donate Follow Robert Reich: Facebook: facebook.com/RBReich Twitter: twitter.com/RBReich Instagram: instagram.com/rbreich/
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 11/02/2025
Bernie Sanders: "They will use the enormous media operations they own to deflect attention away from the impact of their policies while they entertain us to death."
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