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Phil

@philparsons.bsky.social
30 followers 45 following 419 posts
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
%raw(article_headline)https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/26598055.relief-road-elizabeth-line-southend-draft-strategy/?ref=li
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I really don’t come here much anymore. I kind of cured my Twitter addiction when I had no WiFi/4G in north Wales on holiday the other year, and now I have quick looks on Instagram, and that it. Podcasts on the other hand…
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I had to have an ECG at my doctors surgery (everything is fine) but the nurse got a razor out to shave my chest. She was hacking away at it. Now I’m moaning that it’s annoying and my wife is not very sympathetic
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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Donations apart… the immediate state of emergency; getting Parliament to sit 24 hours a day, 6 days a week; the threats to stuff the House of Lords, gut the Civil Service, and neuter the judiciary; and the policy of deporting immigrants en masse… ought to be ringing alarm bells.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Also my neck of the woods!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Ron Woodley getting his stupid comments in the Echo again. It's been a while. So a drugged up woman stole a car and crashed it. His suggestion is to lower the speed limit to 20. I don't think that would have stopped her somehow. www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2648525...
echo-news.co.uk
Car flipped in Southend crash highlights need for new measures, councillor says
A Southend councillor called for stronger enforcement after a crash left a woman in hospital.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Just spotted the one skinhead guy, holding a can of beer, wearing an England shirt this morning.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
It was lovely and sunny and warm when I walked out of Fenchurch Street station this morning. I decided to go for a bit of a wander - took a scenic route around the City. Was a bit late to work though. It’s Friday!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I walk past a cab firm on Hamlet Court Road every day. Today I saw a taxi from another firm drop off someone who works there. They obviously don’t get free travel to work.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I wasn’t up to anything with @dopaminedeficit.bsky.social! We haven’t even met 😂
Facebook notification saying “remember what you were up to with Vikki Greer”.
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
A leading 'Raise the Colours' flag activist, who claims to be fighting to "protect our women" from migrants, has pled guilty to assaulting a woman bylinetimes.com/2026/05/18/f...
bylinetimes.com
'Flag Man' Behind Nazi-Linked Anti-Migrant Protests Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Woman
Craig Kitts, who says he is fighting to 'protect our women and children' from migrants, admitted to assault by beating
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C🎃s! @algernonentity.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
i googled this image's text because i thought it was funny and google's ai result nearly killed me
google search "twenty eight eggs up your shitpipe"

AI result: That is definitely too many eggs.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
@dopaminedeficit.bsky.social there’s a Stena Line over there somewhere, so I’m sending a wave and a checks hug!
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Curse of Private Equity Modella Capital, owner of former WH Smith stores, charging stores £2.9m royalty fees to use fictitious ‘family’ brand. PE shifts profits, disguises returns, dodges taxes. Methods include: Royalty fees Management fees Intragroup interest payments Transfer pricing Opacity
theguardian.com
Revealed: owner of former WH Smith stores is charging fee to use fictitious ‘family’ brand
Exclusive: Documents show Modella Capital, which bought the chain last year, is so far owed £2.9m in royalty fees
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Just met a Reform UK voting couple who had no idea that it opposed: Recent rise in the minimum wage End of the two-child benefit cap Expansion of free school meals, free breakfast clubs Help with school uniforms Horrified that they would lose big from Reform How many others voted without knowing?
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"All of this was the entirely predictable result of McSweeney’s ‘Blue Labour’ strategy. Indeed this is the very outcome that Byline Times has long predicted in these pages." ✍🏼 @adambienkov.bsky.social subscribe.bylinetimes.com/edition/75/t...
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
The Myth of Morgan McSweeney – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition
The established press’ focus on supposedly ‘all powerful’ individual advisors often obscures the more important structural issues that come to define politics, writes Adam Bienkov
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Looks like Labour are still just about the biggest party on Southend Council (my ward thankfully didn't go further to the right) but after reorganisation in a couple years, we'll have the influence of many more Reform voters from the rest of Essex. www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2608971...
echo-news.co.uk
History made as Reform UK win Essex County Council elections from Conservatives
History been made in Essex as Reform UK has officially taken control of Essex County Council from the Conservatives.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
My daughter has been taking about doing her masters at Nottingham for over a year. She has applied (for September) but she waiting to hear back from them. She just messaged to say she been accepted at Manchester! When did she apply there?!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
People saying the tree was rotten and should have been taken down, but how many times has the council removed trees saying they're rotten for people to also complain about that? www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2606495...
echo-news.co.uk
Woman 'ten feet' from tree that crushed car during heavy winds in south Essex
A woman was just "ten feet away" from a tree fall which crushed a car on a residential road in Southend.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
I’m on the train and I keep getting BBC #ytfc notifications. What is going on?!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Pick up the nearest book, turn to p. 42, and post the second sentence: “When William Hague declared that he was ‘someone we have never heard of’, Banks promptly raised the donation to £1 million.”
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Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
If you've got an opinion you want on here - submit it to the form: forms.gle/1gNMupaNHQf8xeRE6
Yeah, yeah. I know. America is important. But I'm so fucking sick of it absolutely dominating the UK news cycle. I get it. You voted in a turd and now you're swimming in fascist shit. But we have our own rightwing wanklord problems that need more national coverage.

anon_opin GOLD from 9th October 2025
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
When Angela Rayner underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty, Richard Tice said it was "morally completely indefensible” and she should resign if she had “any moral decency”. Now we learn he set up four shell companies that let him avoid paying £100,000 he owed in tax and to then transfer the cash to Reform
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Wes Streeting supports welfare cuts to fund defence. He lets private equity make billions from outsourcing NHS, social care. Silence on corporate welfare spending. Since 2010 HMRC failed to collect £500bn in taxes. Capital gains and dividends taxed at lower rates than wages.
independent.co.uk
Labour warned against ‘ill-thought-out’ welfare cuts to boost defence budget
The suggestion has been branded ‘extremely concerning’
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
I stayed for drinks at work and was listening to a geeky podcast on the train, which has encouraged me to listen to A-Ha on Spotify 😬
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
So it's got to come from poor, vulnerable people rather than the rich, according to this Labour government. Shocking.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Keep a check on the Echo for when they're back and want to use the NHS, or want their state pension... www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2602084...
echo-news.co.uk
‘We don’t miss anything’ – family loving life after move from Basildon to Spain
‘We don’t miss anything’ were the words from a father who moved from Basildon to Majorca with his wife and two kids
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Cartoon by @deadder.bsky.social.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
This leaflet got put through our letterbox this morning
A red leaflet with white writing saying “what a Labour council has done for Southend”
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
What about conversations about the birds though?
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Military HeroCon @militaryherocon.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Our apologies! Maybe one day? 😃
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I’m really not!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
“Think she feels the same”. Sure.
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TensegrityFan🐝🍯 @tensegrityfan.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
When satire appears to no longer exist spectator.com/article/ai-d...
THE SPECTATOR

There is no doubt the book contains a few errors and typos - which I regret and are currently being corrected. It is one of the potential perils of deliberately choosing to publish a book outside the woke publishing industry.
For instance, I do, mistakenly, describe Boris Johnson as being 'in opposition' when he promised the British people, in 2019, that he would 'lower the overall number' of immigrants.
In reality, he was already prime minister.
Some of my historical quotations are also imperfect. For instance, in the book I write that the great Roman orator Cicero said: "The state should begin with those who are closest to us. As a 'world expert' on Cicero confirmed to the Times a few days ago, what Cicero said was:
"The supreme duty of the state is to protect its own citizens.
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 30/03/2026
New Brexit metaphor just dropped.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
British Steel on track to be fully nationalised within weeks. Since privatisation steel companies have received subsidies; govts didn't take equity stake. Water and energy are also vital. Need to be nationalised to promote investment, end profiteering, reduce business and household costs.
theguardian.com
British Steel on track to be fully nationalised within weeks
UK plans to take economic control from Chinese owner Jingye a year after stepping in to run plant, sources say
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Didn't the media make out Corbyn's defeat in 2019 was the worst ever, or something? Certainly they thought Starmer's in 2024 was amazing. Can't wait for the next one...
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Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
No, Morgan McSweeney didn't "win the 2024 election for Labour". Boris Johnson won it for them at his Christmas do, with Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak taking the assist. Actual Labour figures are lucky to make top 10.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I think we received a months worth of post yesterday, if anyone is wondering how privatisation (and being bought by a foreign billionaire) is going www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2596900...
echo-news.co.uk
Royal Mail's 'terrible' record in south Essex called out by frustrated MP
A Southend MP is set to publicly challenge Royal Mail in a bid to end their “terrible legacy” amid reports of missed hospital appointments
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
They say how big this trust is, but I don't remember these problems before they combined Southend, Basildon and Broomfield. www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2596599...
echo-news.co.uk
'Challenged': Mid and South Essex NHS Trust in new recovery programme
Mid and South Essex Trust is among five NHS trusts with “deep-rooted challenges” to be part of a recovery programme to tackle the “worst…
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Reading a book at the moment that talks about this (The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson). The economy will never grow when the rich are taking more and more from everyone else. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'We can't justify a £52 lunch': Middle-income families cut back on fun as prices rise
A household with an average gross income of £55,000 has cut spending on leisure activities by £40 a week, offical figures suggest.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Yes, we know. That's what austerity did to the NHS, and we're still not out of it. If it wasn't for lockdowns, it would have collapsed, not that anti-lockdown Reform-types care.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
"Train stations also become a travel set, with Southend Airport alongside Southend train station" Has the reporter been to Southend before? There is no "Southend train station" There are 10(?) railway stations in Southend, none of them called just Southend! www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2594874...
echo-news.co.uk
'Moment of pride' - Southend Monopoly to be unveiled as landmarks celebrated
Southend Monopoly has been unveiled today as the city is celebrated, with the Southend Pier and Southend Airport featuring
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Haven't heard that name for a while... www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2594639...
echo-news.co.uk
Live: Hollie Dance GBH 'revenge' crash trial enters third day
Live updates as the GBH trial of Hollie Dance, the mother of Archie Battersbee, her son Thomas Summers and family friend Rhys Bentley enters its…
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fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
To occupy my nephew for a few hours I asked him to solve a Rubik's cube that had been on the mantelpiece unsolved since 1992, my own childhood. He solved it in a minute, he's still bored, and I am now also resentful.
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
🔴 The Elections Watchdog Doesn’t Know Where Reform UK’s Crypto Donations Are Coming From The UK’s electoral watchdog tells @bylinetimes.bsky.social it wants tough new legal powers to prevent overseas donors from secretly bankrolling British political parties bylinetimes.com/2026/03/16/t...
bylinetimes.com
The Elections Watchdog Doesn’t Know Where Reform UK's Crypto Donations Are Coming From
The UK's electoral watchdog tells Byline Times it wants tough new legal powers to prevent overseas donors from secretly bankrolling British political parties
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Is Yeovil the new Ibiza? I think it's fair to say "no". www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/news-op...
somersetlive.co.uk
How Somerset town on the brink of gloom found hope again
Everything's coming up Yeovil, baby!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
I've just signed into BlueSky on my laptop and there was a notification that I've been missing out because I wasn't verified. What have I been missing out on?!
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
I’ve spent most of my morning viewing CCTV footage. A little treat to see me, busy at work, on the last day I had to check.
Photo of me caught on CCTV at the reception of my work.
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Phil @philparsons.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Just talking to my buddy in the Athens office on Teams.
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