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Simon

@simonsapper.bsky.social
102 followers 140 following 180 posts

Husband, father, brother, trade unionist, broadcaster, writer, Brentford-till-I-die and lover of loud shirts. Low Pay Commissioner. Views my own. Reposts out of interest not endorsement. He/him. www.makes-you-think.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Wow, just wow. Best speach from a Labour leader I think I’ve heard.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Hilarious and true! Fine words from #brendanoconnor www.independent.ie/comment/opin...
independent.ie
Brendan O’Connor: Get ready for an emergency – just don’t cause one in the process
There was a bit of an emergency in a few houses around Ireland during the week as we realised we are not emergency-ready.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
share.google/mY5U9jm3TKMO...
share.google
For Freshers and Their Parents/Carers Everywhere - Makes You Think
Heading off to uni is a bittersweet experience - for everyone CONTINUE READING
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John Earls @johnearls.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If @simonsapper.bsky.social is looking for me I went that way *points in opposite direction*
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is awful news - #Papyrus shone a light into a very dark place too many find themselves in. Let’s hope that someone else is able to pick up this heavy but vital mantle. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Papyrus suicide prevention charity in administration
The 3 Dads Walking, who raised £1.5m for Papyrus, say it is "very difficult to accept" its closure.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
38d.gs/jpcf
38d.gs
An open letter in support of the volunteers and staff at the RNLI
This is a disgrace. Brave RNLI volunteers being called scum for risking their lives to save others at sea is just plain wrong. So I've signed an open letter of thanks for the RNLI letting them know th...
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Wise words and sound analysis - beesotted.com/ten-things-w...
beesotted.com
Ten Things We Learned From Leeds United 1 Brentford 1 | Beesotted
A point at Elland Road. Unbeaten. A great first half. A slightly squeaky-bum second. And, perhaps most importantly, a growing sense that Brentford are no longer
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
A brief note for Nadhim Zahawi.
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laborheritage.bsky.social @laborheritage.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
💬 "Football's history is not just about matches and trophies. It is also a history of industrialization, labor, capitalism, and community." — @simonsapper.bsky.social on The Labor Heritage Power Hour 🎧 Listen live: bit.ly/3P0fK8w or on WPFW 89.3 FM in #WashingtonDC #FWC26 #WorldCup #LaborHistory
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laborheritage.bsky.social @laborheritage.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
⚽ Right now on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: British labor broadcaster @simonsapper.bsky.social explains why #soccer became "the people's game"—and how class conflict shaped modern football. 🎧 Listen live at bit.ly/3P0fK8w or on WPFW 89.3 FM in #WashingtonDC #FWC26 #WorldCup #LaborHistory
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
New episode out now bit.ly/4xpBXyB
bit.ly
25 Surge pricing and dynamic wages - a warning
Organising For A Change - the podcast for union builders · Episode
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Sounds all too plausible to me - concerted government/industrial/societal action needed. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Heatwaves are becoming the norm. This is what Britain will look like in the year 2052 | Bill McGuire
People sleep outside because their houses are too hot to inhabit, water is scarce and supermarkets are for the wealthy, says climate academic Bill McGuire
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
www.makes-you-think.com/2026/05/22/k...
makes-you-think.com
Kitchen capers - Makes You Think
It's a recipe for disaster when too many covers are booked in for dinner. More like no orders than last orders, unless you like nachos, that is.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Wise words…… share.google/4iJ3agZvMwHh...
share.google
Breaking the Rules for Defence
Rearmament, economic growth, and the case for a British Autonomy Bond
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Enviando saludos a la buena gente de #Ushuaia que nos cuidó tan bien cuando la visitamos - ¡vivir en el ojo de una tormenta mediática nunca es cómodo!
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Today of all days, well worth a listen. Thanks gents. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
Is Starmer the Next Joe Biden? Rory and Alastair React to Local Elections
Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 8 May · 1hr
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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Keep Britain Kind
Keep Britain Tidy logo which is a black figure with pointy limbs and a round head with a Union Jack on their chest, who is dropping a Reform UK Party logo into a mesh waste bin

Text: 7 May 2026
#BinFarage
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...
podcasts.apple.com
24 Union cultures and union building feat. Becky Wright
Podcast Episode · Organising For A Change - the podcast for union builders · 3 May · 33min
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/en...
megaphone.org.uk
End long hours culture in film & TV
Long hours are dangerous. Fatigue leads to accidents, harms mental and physical health, and puts lives at risk on set.  Enough is enough.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
About time too….. www.theguardian.com/football/202...
theguardian.com
Marie-Louise Eta, Union Berlin’s ‘Football Goddess’, breaks new ground in Bundesliga
Union’s interim head coach has been given a hospital pass and, despite a vastly improved performance, her team went down to Wolfsburg
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
New episode out now - listen at open.spotify.com/episode/5X89...
open.spotify.com
23 Building social change feat. Jane Holgate, John Page
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Shoplifting rife, police overwhelmed, an angry public … the trail leads back to one person: Theresa May | Dal Babu
I have seen up-close the fallout of the disastrous policing decisions May made as home secretary. We need to urgently restore the force to what it once was, says former chief superintendent Dal Babu
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Seems wrong to me www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Waitrose employee sacked after stopping shoplifter from taking Easter eggs
Walker Smith, 54, who worked for retailer for 17 years, says he grabbed bag from thief before they escaped
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Thames Water's creditors want to set a new low for privatised water by asking Ofwat to sign off on a deal which allows them to break the rules. Ofwat are poised to agree. We can't let them. Email your MP now: weownit.org.uk/act-now/the-...
weownit.org.uk
The Thames Water creditors are closing in on a deal - urge your MP to stop them
An action to write to MPs urging them to reject the Thames Water creditors' attempts to takeover the utility, signing off on pollution till 2030
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Have you seen this? Reform UK has just pledged to rip up legal protections for workers and renters. I'm really worried about it. I've signed a petition to stop the steal. Can you add your name too? www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/st...
megaphone.org.uk
Stop the steal: protect workers’ and renters’ rights!
Reform UK has just pledged to rip up legal protections for workers and renters. Sign this petition to stop the steal.
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Reform-run Notts CC barred Nottinghamshire Live journalists from having contact with its cllrs & officers last year until being forced to back down Now the authority has tried to stop a reporter from sitting on the press bench during a council meeting, wrongly claiming there were no seats available
holdthefrontpage.co.uk
Editor hits out at fresh Reform UK 'shenanigans' - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage
Reporter wrongly told there were no press seats available
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Worthy of serious consideration…. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Why axe so many juries? My plan would solve the courts crisis without harming justice | Alan Moses
The backlog in England and Wales is serious but there are other ways to address it. There are many retired judges and calling them into action could be key, says former lord justice of appeal Alan Mos...
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Thames Water's creditors are trying their luck. Their latest proposal is another brazen attempt to dodge regulations. I've just emailed my MP asking them to reject the proposal, and bring Thames Water into Special Administration. Email your MP now: weownit.org.uk/act-now/emai...
weownit.org.uk
Email your MP - the Thames Water creditors' latest deal must be rejected
The Thames Water creditors' latest proposal still asks for regulatory leniency. Email your MP to get them to urge Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds to resist the deal
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Great story www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Friendships, fishing and community clean-ups: the unseen kindness of life on the Bibby Stockholm barge
Bibby Boys photo exhibition documents experiences of the men who lived on the former asylum seeker vessel in Dorset and the local community that rallied around them
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Thoughtful and challenging piece from Andrew Noakes at #FutureStatecraft. Deserves a wide audience. www.futurestatecraft.org/p/the-strate...
futurestatecraft.org
The Strategic Gap in British Foreign Policy
We cannot build our place in the new order while pretending the old one still exists.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Well, well, well www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Bailiffs board Ryanair plane after airline refuses to pay delayed flight compensation
Austrian officials took action after airline ignored court order to pay €890 to unnamed women
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 05/03/2026
Measles is a highly infectious disease. It can make children seriously unwell, especially young infants and those with weakened immune systems. The best way to protect your family is by ensuring you and your children are up to date with your MMRV jabs.
nhs.uk
MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine
Find out about the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, including who should have it, when it's given and possible side effects.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
#DirtyBusiness exposed the human cost of profit before public health. Our water system won’t be fixed with tinkering. It needs public ownership. I’ve asked my MP to attend the MP drop-in on 17th March & hear that message directly from sewage campaigners: actionnetwork.org/letters/ask-...
actionnetwork.org
Ask your MP to meet with ‘Dirty Business’ activists!
#DirtyBusiness exposed the human cost of profit before public health. Our water system won’t be fixed with tinkering. It needs public ownership. I’ve asked my MP to attend the MP drop-in on 17th March...
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
South Africa’s president calls Trump’s policy to offer refuge to white Afrikaners ‘racist’
US president is ‘truly uninformed’ for spreading claims of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa tells New York Times
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Spencer’s victory speech an object lesson in grace while Reform’s man rages | John Crace
Matt Goodwin claimed cheating in Gorton and Denton, Angeliki Stogia fled, Keir was tin-eared and Kemi brought the comedy
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Minnie Rahman @minnierahman.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
This from @adilray.bsky.social made me cry ❤️
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
No more Dirty Business ! The public, MPs and Environmental Groups have said NO to 14 years of illegal Thames Water sewage pollution. Email Ofwat now, so that they can't ignore us @weownit.org.uk weownit.org.uk/act-now/emai...
weownit.org.uk
Email Ofwat - the public have said NO to illegal sewage until 2040
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
theguardian.com
Dirty Business review – if this doesn’t incite righteous anger over our filthy water then nothing will
Based on the true story of amateur sleuths appalled at the dumping of sewage in our rivers, this drama starring David Thewlis is a blast of controlled fury – and could become the next Mr Bates vs the ...
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We Own It @weownit.org.uk · 23/02/2026
"Consider this fact: England...is pretty much the only country in the world whose entire water industry is fully privatised". Spot on from Graham Hiscott in he Daily Mirror. Watch Channel 4's 'Dirty Business' tonight. It's brilliant, and you'll be outraged. vist.ly/4sib8
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Ministers must end ‘barking mad’ restraints on civil service pay, union leader warns
Exclusive: Prospect boss Mike Clancy cites problems retaining technical and digital experts
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Yes! Morally right, politically savvy and economically viable. Message to HM Government: Just do it! observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...
observer.co.uk
The Observer view: Save our students | The Observer
Exorbitant loans are bad for graduates and for universities. The debt trap must be fixed
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Oh great. The World at One has begun its coverage of Jim Ratcliffe's remarks with two "vox pops" - one for, and one against. Just such an awful, cop-out model of reporting.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
So he’s not sorry he said it, only that we were offended. Say sorry like you mean it Jim. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
theguardian.com
Jim Ratcliffe sorry his ‘choice of language offended some people’ after saying UK colonised by immigrants – politics live
Manchester United owner responds to criticism by saying: ‘It is critical that we maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK’
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John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
After a trial over the last few years, Ireland has launched a permanent scheme giving a basic income of €325 a week for artists. 2,000 will be eligible, and successful recipients will be chosen at random from applicants, who must be "professional artists" (definition tbc).
bbc.co.uk
Ireland announces scheme to provide basic income for artists
The Basic Income for Artists (BIA) project is believed to be the first permanent one of its kind in the world.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Great to hear @andyburnham.bsky.social put the case for a political reset and redefined priorities this morning.
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Such a shame Ashwin Prasad CEO #TescoUK didn’t stay for Q&A at the @resolutionfoundation.org #UnsungBritain this morning. There was much to discuss!
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 03/02/2026
A real pleasure to meet George Clarke and hear about his experiences growing up on a council estate. We both know the positive impact social housing can have on families’ lives. That’s why I’m determined to continue delivering more council homes as we build a fairer London for everyone.
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Rick B @rickburgess.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Exclusive: Reform UK just broke electoral law in Gorton and Denton manchestermill.co.uk/exclusive-re...
manchestermill.co.uk
Exclusive: Reform UK just broke electoral law in Gorton and Denton
People across the constituency thought they were getting a letter from a concerned pensioner, they didn’t know she was working for Reform
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Why don’t #men do #bookgroups? A wry look - the truth will surprise you! www.makes-you-think.com/2026/01/16/i...
makes-you-think.com
If men did bookclubs..... - Makes You Think
There are good reasons why men don't do book groups....but they're not what you think
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Simon @simonsapper.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Excellent news but does it have to take soooo long? #rail #northernpowerhouse www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Labour revives Northern Powerhouse Rail project with pledge of £45bn funds
Plan will start with TransPennine upgrade with new line connecting Liverpool and Manchester in second phase
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