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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 16h

Very solid choice in my opinion. And I suspect she won't end up 'gifting' her prize to Trump which is nice.

Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Can anyone from Northern Ireland explain Jamie Bryson to me? He seems to pop up everywhere and effectively be the unofficial leader of unionism

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The pièce de résistance is this self-updating mega-list of all the explainer videos I've written for TLDR News. It may look (relatively) sleek, but rest assured it is powered behind the scenes by a very janky Google Sheet.

Screenshot of 'Explainer Video Mega-list' in the Substack article linked in previous post

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In an attempt to maintain some kind of portfolio of my writing/video work, I recently published this 'Things I've Done' repository on my Substack. It's largely for my own benefit, but it is here for public consumption if anyone wants to take a look! 1/2 rorytaylor.substack.com/p/things-ive...

rorytaylor.substack.com

Things I’ve Done

An ongoing digital archive of my professional output

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Interesting update to this: Liechtenstein's parliament has narrowly voted to decriminalise abortion, opting not to put it to a referendum. The prince will still veto but I guess the calculation is that it will be less contentious to veto a narrow parliamentary vote than to veto a decisive public one

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The ongoing abortion debate is obviously a women's rights issue, but could soon spiral into a broader battle over Liechtenstein's entire political setup Give it a watch if you're interested: Why Europe’s Most Powerful Monarchy Is Heading for a Constitutional Crisis www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8qv...

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Something I cut from the script for space was that Liechtenstein has lagged behind the rest of Europe when it comes to women's rights: 1984: Last European country to grant women right to vote 2025: Appointed its first female PM 2026: Prince changed succession rules to scrap male-only primogeniture

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Today's video on Liechtenstein now has more views than the country has people 🇱🇮 It's about how Europe's 'last true' monarchy may be heading for crisis as a popular push to decriminalise abortion looks set to be vetoed by the microstate's powerful hereditary prince... www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8qv...

youtube.com

Why Europe’s Most Powerful Monarchy Is Heading for a Constitutional Crisis

YouTube video by TLDR News EU

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Was greeted at Gatwick by an LBC digital billboard saying "STARMER RESIGNS", so that's fun

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Heading to the airport to fly home. Can't wait to land back in Keir Starmer's Britain and catch up on the news later.

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Reposted by Rory Taylor

Joshi Herrmann @joshih.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I’ve been writing about Andy Burnham in Manchester for a while. We’ve had a few run-ins but I think he has qualities that people don’t appreciate and weaknesses that spell trouble. I wrote this for @manchestermill.bsky.social I hope it’s insightful and fair. manchestermill.co.uk/stop-looking...

manchestermill.co.uk

Stop looking for Burnhamism - in six years, I’ve never found it

Watching the mayor up close in Manchester, I’ve seen his unusual gifts and glaring weaknesses. Would he make a good prime minister?

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Trump's eagerness to wield American air power abroad is not a new phenomenon, but rather a modern iteration of something that runs much deeper into history. New Substack post by me on Trump, Iran, and A History of Bombing. open.substack.com/pub/rorytayl...

open.substack.com

A History of Bombing, revisited

Reading Sven Lindqvist in the age of Trump

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reading

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Over the weekend I wrote some words about the local elections and the emergence of 'Rainbow Britain'. It's the first of some hopefully semi-regular posts on my Substack, which you can subscribe to for free 🙏 open.substack.com/pub/rorytayl...

open.substack.com

No Overall Control

Welcome to Rainbow Britain

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Equator is fast becoming a regular read for me, and this conversation about Mali and the Sahel juntas was particularly interesting

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Oh I guess this might actually happen now

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Reposted by Rory Taylor

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

BEIRUT (AP) - Israeli strikes hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut Wednesday afternoon without warning, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. @apnews.com

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Not to be too much of a doomer but I feel like we are really not mentally (or practically) prepared for what's coming

Tweet:
Italy's Defence Minister on the consequences of the Iran war for Italy:

"I am forced to know things about what could happen in the coming week, and the effects it will have on the economy and our daily lives, that no longer allow me to sleep."

[@repubblica]

Politico headline:
Brussels says Europeans should consider traveling less to avoid energy shortages

EU Commission letter reflects growing fears that the Iran war is sparking an all-out global economic crisis.

Tweet:
South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung says he is losing sleep over the global energy crisis, warning the situation is worse than expected and calling for a rapid shift to renewable energy

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Similarly, why can't we have our own traditional election night dish

From the Wikipedia article 'Stegt flæsk':
The dish is especially popular at certain times of the year. Since the 2000s a tradition has emerged of eating stegt flæsk on election nights as a pun on the derogatory term valgflæsk (election pork) used to describe the lofty promises politicians make during their campaigns.[8] Stegt flæsk can also be served with apple compote.[9]

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Why is migration policy Denmark's main political export and not Højskolen, a TV show that puts all 12 party leaders together for a 24 hour Big Brother-esque experience in a boarding school

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

🇫🇷 Incredible acapella Marseillaise after Macron's nuclear speech at Île Longue. Almost makes you want to join the French Foreign Legion.

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

If you were trying to create the ideal conditions for summer riots, I'm not sure you could do much better than this

Guardian headline: Middle East crisis pushes up oil prices - and could drive inflation rises too

Tweet by @Met4CastUK:
Significant warmth developing across Europe in the coming days with temperatures >10°C above average for the time of year.

With the prospect of a strong El Niño developing by summer, it's plausible summer could be a scorcher.

BBC headline: UK unemployment rate hits near five-year high as wage growth slows

Tweet by @OpiniumResearch:

Latest Opinium @ObserverUK poll

Keir Starmer's approval rating has fallen to -49, his lowest since becoming Prime Minister.

Down 5 points this week.

Lower than any rating recorded by May, Johnson or Sunak.

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Not too far off in the end bsky.app/profile/rory...

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

A straight fight between Labour and Reform (for second place)

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

The year is 2029: Prime Minister Ed Miliband and President Gavin Newsom re-establish UK-US diplomatic relations, ending a two year freeze sparked by former President Trump's unilateral recognition of the Falkland Islands as Argentinian.

Ed Miliband shaking hands with Gavin Newsom

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Reposted by Rory Taylor

Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Cuts to overseas aid by the UK are set to go further and faster than those made by the Trump administration in the US, as Sir Keir Starmer’s government wrestles with funding pressures www.ft.com/content/ad52...

ft.com

UK overseas aid cuts to outstrip those of Trump administration

Spending will drop 27% this year from 2024 levels to help fund higher defence budget

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Imagine winning this majority and then being brought down by a Peter Mandelson scandal in the year of our lord 2026

Diagram showing massive Labour majority in House of Commons after 2024 UK general election

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Agreed - I guess I'm predicting the same order of parties as Caerphilly but closer numbers!

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

My prediction for Gorton and Denton is basically that it's a repeat of Caerphilly, but with the Greens instead of Plaid

2025 Caerphilly by-election results:
1st, Plaid Cymru (47.4%) (+19)
2nd, Reform (36%) (+34.2)
3rd, Labour (11%) (-34.9)

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Normally I wouldn't think Davos was worth paying much attention to, but this year has it all: Macron and his aviator shades. Bart de Wever quoting Gramsci. Mark Carney declaring a new world order. Great stuff.

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

I mean, it's had quite the start hasn't it?

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

(I accidentally quote retweeted this on Twitter thinking I was on the Bluesky app before making a hasty retreat, so apologies for the janky screenshot)

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Anti-Americanism becoming a major theme of next year's French presidential election (for both left and right) would make things very interesting

Tweet by @APHClarkson:
Meanwhile you're seeing a growing number of Right-wing French pundits with links to the French military openly, almost enthusiastically, discussing what France and Europe would need to do in a military confrontation with America

There is an underlying strain of anti-Americanism within Europe's Left as well as Right that it won't take much to bring to the surface, even among those close to RN or other Far Right parties.

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Terrible few decades to be an authoritarian with a moustache

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Feels like it's now only a matter of time before the US tries this with Cuba. And then Greenland?

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Feel free to add me on Goodreads because I'm always open to recommendations (and I currently only have a tragic total of 2 friends there) www.goodreads.com/user/show/12...

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday was also an unexpected favourite. A fascinating look into the long lost world of pre-WW1 Europe, and a harrowing memoir covering the final days of Austria-Hungary, the continent's descent into nationalism, fascism and two apocalyptic wars

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Bookended 2025 nicely with Adam Shatz' The Rebel's Clinic & @hofrench.bsky.social The Second Emancipation, on Fanon & Nkrumah, great but tragic & complex men. Really enjoyed French's use of Nkrumah as central character in wider intertwined stories of decolonisation, Black liberation & world conflict

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

My Goodreads 'Year in Books' for 2025. Thirteen in total but my favourite was Nathan Thrall's A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. An incredible, but heartbreaking and infuriating, account of real life in the occupied West Bank. Highly highly recommend, it's a Pulitzer Prize winner for a reason.

Goodreads collage of book covers:
- The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon (Adam Shatz)
- A Day in the Life of Abed Salama (Nathan Thrall)
- The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism and Global Blackness at High Tide (Howard W French)
- White Nights (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
- Pereira Mantains: A Testimony (Antonio Tabucchi)
- Guards! Guards! (Terry Pratchett)
- Clear (Carys Davies)
- The Question of Palestine (Edward Said)
- The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European (Stefan Zweig)
- Fictions (Jorge Luis Borges)
- I Saw Ramallah (Mourid Barghouti)
- Wind, Sand and Stars (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
- The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (Yukio Mishima)

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Looking forward to a Starmer mañanera in which he reacts to an AI-generated version of himself singing Frank Sinatra and monologues for three hours

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Is this the beginning of Starmer's AMLO arc

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Rory Taylor @rorytaylor.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Danish local elections tomorrow. I wonder if the UK media/political class will continue waxing lyrical about the 'Danish model' as a silver bullet for Labour after the Danish SocDems inevitably do poorly...

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