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solomonhughes.bsky.social

@solomonhughes.bsky.social
593 followers 404 following 729 posts
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Reposted by @solomonhughes.bsky.social
flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 5h
Put it this way: if the Greens, Kneecap and Gary Lineker are prompting enraged all-channels screaming fury but e.g. an army seizing, depopulating and ethnically cleansing southern Lebanon of its racially undesirable populace doesn’t make anyone blink, then I am going to conclude - bullshit
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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 11h
It is bizarre that we are arresting OAPs for holding anodyne placards while people like Berger fulminate about non-existent demands and fictional party policies. A sincere and modest expression of belief is criminalised while brazen lying and hyperbolic emoting are indulged.
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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 11h
The core of this worldview isn't rooted in partisanship or foreign policy positions but about who has the right to political expression. Purity tests must only be applied against out-groups, not the in-group, and any attempt to shift the border will be resisted furiously.
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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 11h
Nowadays, the media (and media-friendly politicians) are the main conductors of such tests. The growing limitation on free speech is coming from two directions: repressive laws on protest and a media ecosystem that has taken on the role of the thought police.
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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 11h
That is a genuine purity test: a demand that you toe the line or be deemed beyond the pale. It's also important as a key example of a shift over time. Political purity tests were originally about drawing factional lines between or within parties that the media merely reported on.
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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 11h
None of the claims made here are true, but that's beside the point. What matters is the suggestion that certain people should not be subject to purity tests, while others should. For example, raise Palestine and you will be asked if you think Israel has the right to exist.
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
My 10p is that the "Zionism is Racism" motion isn't right because (a) a 2-state solution is at least a possibility, which would be a "Zionist" solution and ...
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 03/10/2026
A studio promising “art so epic it will raise the birthrate” gifted a huge bronze Prometheus to Musk’s Starbase.
motherjones.com
Elon's fans erect 50-foot statue outside his company town
A studio promising "art so epic it will raise the birthrate" gifted a huge bronze Prometheus to Musk's Starbase.
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
(1)RIP Frances Stonor Saunders, who died (too young) in August. She helped me with this Aug 2007 story : Prime Minister Gordon Brown thought her book exposing Cold War CIA "fronts" was a guidebook, not a warning, and we should have similar secretly-govt-backed "fronts" in the War on Terror....
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Similarly, the conference "Young Labour " disco , a fun event with the Sugarbabes with DJ sets from Emily Thornberry + Culture Sec Lisa Nandy was funded by TikTok. They pay for access, Nandy is in charge of u16 ban/regulation of TikTok
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A small example of how Labour Conference works- the "Transport Reception " with the Secretary of State isnt held by Transport Unions, its funded by Amey , a privatiser "named and shamed" for breaking minimum wage laws this year. The "shame" doesn't stop Ministers doing their gigs.
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Majority of Labour Friends of Israel's (LFI) leadership board are NOT Labour Party members. The pro -Israel lobby group told the Electoral Commission they make sure they are not Majority-Labour led: If they were, LFI would have to reveal their donors morningstaronline.co.uk/article/frie...
morningstaronline.co.uk
Friends of Israel are not necessarily friends of Labour
IT IS a “core principle” of Labour Friends of Israel that “support for Israel is a Labour value,” according to the lobby group’s former director Michael Rubin. But, despite its name, being a member of...
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
(1)The Labour Centrist strategy imo is this: can't beat Burnham in public, so keep quiet , keep Cabinet jobs, absorb Burnham good vibes. Win cutting the triple lock, win disability benefit cuts, slowly start putting pressure against social spending , regulation in name of "growth" "fiscal" etc...
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Richard Brooks @rbrooks45.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Quick plug for my book Post Mortem based on latest 5 star reviews on a certain website - - “Really important book” - “An absorbing read” - “Arrived in immaculate condition” www.private-eye.co.uk/books/post-m...
private-eye.co.uk
Private Eye Books | Post Mortem
The first forensic account of how the Post Office, the British government and a global IT company ruined the lives of thousands of innocent people. Private Eye tells the story of the political, instit...
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Representative Becca Balint @balint.house.gov · 30/09/2026
I encourage you to open this article to read these stories for yourself. It’s a disgrace that this is happening with our taxpayer dollars in our name.
cnn.com
Inside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges | CNN Politics
Migrant children as young as 2 are showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to try make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is a dreadful argument from Burnham. Empirically false - almost 6m people were granted settled status; about 4m are currently resident. More importantly panders to racism/xenophobia, and directly contradicts argument made in his speech about migrant contributions.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🔴 We asked Tony Blair's think tank about charging businesses £500k for political access at party conferences and why one of its sponsor's logos disappeared after our reporting last week on TBI's alleged cash for access scheme This is what they said
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Burnham coming on to The Farm's "All Together Now" so just checked my memory that he is following Corbyn here. which takes you back to the mad times when Labour Right MP's said having music made the Labour Leader "Like Trump" and the BBC said "is it a cult " ? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
bbc.co.uk
Concerts for Corbyn: personality cult or good cause?
Momentum says its "Concerts for Corbyn" have inspired support in the Labour leader, but opponents say they're a sign of a growing personality cult.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
If this isn’t normal, then what would we say has happened there
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
When was the last time the Conservative Party or the Lib Dems were led by men who dedicated most of their time to telling the public their own party was rammed full of hateful morons, self-indulgent idiots and repugnant treasonous scum
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Is it normal in liberal democracies, for political parties to be led by bleak cynics who openly despise almost everyone in them and work to destroy their hopes? Could we be a bit honest about what happened there, now that everything is so lovely and awesome.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Is it not pretty odd that they ever had a leadership class that openly hated the party and most of the people in it? Is it not doubly odd that nobody said this was a problem at the time, and that they either remained silent or cheered wildly for it.
The New Statesman *
@NewSt...• 1h
"It's fantastic to have a leader who likes
Labour!"
Emily Thornberry thinks it's time to be unapologetic.
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Recent fuel theft case - key evidence here is an electric siphon / syphon as well as a white van and "quantity of petrol " discover.swns.com/2026/03/fuel...
discover.swns.com
Fuel thieves arrested carrying "syphoning" equipment amid petrol price rises - Discover SWNS
A pair of suspected fuel thieves have been arrested after they were driving a van carrying "sophisticated syphoning" equipment.
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You can see quite quickly in real time how the Centrist Labour + Media want to manipulate Burnham: quickly 'end triple lock to fund National Care Service/reduce privatisation, create new public utilities and consider EU renegotiation" is reduced to END TRIPLE LOCK RENEGOTIATE EU FULL STOP
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Burnham says the National Grid and Water were public once. Some of it may be again.There will be a National Care Service in the future. And PR later.The danger is, if Burnham doesn't break out the cage Starmer made and Healey wants,Burnham he will be like the White Queen talking to Alice about Jam
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
(1)Andy Burnham, Ed Miliband et al are talking like the Soft Left have won control of the Labour Party, but acting like Team Starmer's plan still largely holds, so they are vocally left wing, but are only acting through good-but-limited tweaks , with key Labour Right people in charge...
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
(1)Miliband at @mainstreamlabour.bsky.social fringe open that protesters changed Labour on Palestine and says as a general principle re his Govt "you need to support us and you need to pressure us " and so "the movement matters". He is asking for grassroots pressure as a counterbalance .....
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
(1)Invasion of the Pod People : Burnham is trying to shift Labour leftwards against "shareholders never lose/public never win' , but the party conference is still set up to hear corporates first, with lobbyists/sponsors "pods" in prime position- and half his Cabinet back these corporates over him..
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"In order to deliver the PM's promise to save social care we need a permanent class of indentured migrant workers without labour rights".
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
(1)Really good interview by @siennarodgers.bsky.social with Neal Lawson, with detail on New Labour, lobbying and this on Morgan McSweeney, who sat in Lawson's office many times (and this admission) www.politicshome.com/news/article...
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
(1)"Why aren't people building guillotine?" - a not-at-all-radical person asked me, after the latest billionaire excesses. Mostly I think because those same billionaires fund two very successful lines of defence. The first are the increasingly vicious "blame migrants not millionaires" parties...
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djstimms.bsky.social @djstimms.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
One of the most important stories I've worked on - give it a read.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.
theintercept.com
DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.
In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🔴 BREAKING: BP, Uber, Amazon and more paying Tony Blair's think tank $25,000 for “networking” opportunities with politicians and policy makers at party conferences Experts say "looks and smells like cash for access" Full story on Democracy for Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
democracyforsale.substack.com
BREAKING: Tony Blair Institute’s $25,000 corporate network “smells like cash for access”
Exclusive documents show Tony Blair's think tank offers corporate members such as BP and Uber "networking" at party conferences and "a stronger voice" in policy debates.
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Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
the future tech bros are dreaming of
4 panel comic

Panel 1:
Purple Guy panicking in a room full of flames. He screams “Oh God! I’m going to die!”

Panel 2:
Purple Guy is now on the phone (still surrounded by flames). He yells “Fire Service!! My house is burning down”

Panel 3:
Purple Guy (still burning to death) is now hollering “My address? Shit I don’t know! Lemme check my phone”

Panel 4:
Close up on Purple Guy’s phone screen. It reads: Emergency call detected. Pay £45.50 to view address.
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I for one am massively reassured that the guy who said he wasn’t going to increase student fees also says we aren’t all going to die
theguardian.com
Nick Clegg plays down fears ‘godlike’ AI could exterminate humanity
Former deputy PM now involved in tech industry says many within sector are ‘winding themselves up into a lather’
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Guardian's "polling" showing possible Burnham Victory (really another attempt to push Labour to blandness) includes his need to appeal to Quiet Bat People
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Tom Watson joining Palantir is not the firm's only route into Labour : A lobbying company with a member of staff on Labour's National Executive also represents Palantir : In current @privateeyenews.bsky.social
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
George Osborne, British Museum Chair and Palantir's Peter Thiel are both investors in the same Defence Tech company. By coincidence, Peter Thiel was given a VIP tour of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum before even the King or PM - Osborne-Thiel links in current @privateeyenews.bsky.social
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Seems pretty weird to me how all these Labour MPs and the lobby hacks all appear to have known that the government’s key goal in office would be scything benefit cuts, and yet the public weren’t informed of this until *after* the general election. Perhaps everyone just forgot to mention it
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Who decides what “the public mood” is? Not the public, it seems
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Strange that the Starmer government was completely fucked up by their failure to push through benefit cuts, since they are so very popular with the public
Beth Rigby • @BethRigby
X.com
Food for thought from @robertshrimsley:
Seems to me PM cannot duck welfare reform - because of the public finances, but also because of the political pressure from Reform and Tories who are more in step with public mood.
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The point of this for me is that we have endless pundits writing about Ed Sheeran who have to not know un un-know what happened to who, from the basic inversion ('Sheeran is being cancelled' when actually Macklemore was, literally, cancelled) to not even really knowing who Sheeran or Macklemore are
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
(1)Ed Sheeran has a whole series of new "Friends" in the media who dont really know anything about Ed Sheeran- 'he just writes soppy pop songs so dont make him political' . Sheeran is to me quite bland, pop, , but for 20 years has done collaborations with more 'credible' , 'rootsy' etc artists..
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
(1) In my personal experience, "Counter Disinformation " run by the security services very soon becomes "Disinformation" - the Forces think they are fighting an "Info War" so must 'fight back with the same weapons': Its Propaganda v Counter Propaganda, not Propaganda v Truth ....
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This is the 2020 ISC Report on Russian "Disinformation" : "Hack and Leak" is obviously serious, but the product is true, rather than "disinformation". Direct funding is also serious, but an issue for the Police/Electoral Commission not "disinformation".The rest is much less dangerous than Elon Musk
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
(1)This is UK Govt "anti Russian Disinformation" : Russian "disinformation" is leaking real UK-US trade documents about sacrificing the NHS to US Pharma and exposing the "Integrity Initiative" , a UK Govt backed smear campaign against the left (again, real docs) ... www.gov.uk/government/n...
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
(1)A sign Burnham's "counter Russian disinformation" plan is bad -the "2019 general election interference " was a leak/hack of US-UK trade talks showing parts of the NHS would be sacrificed to get US trade. But these documents were real, not fake.:Wes Streeting recently agreed a version of the deal!
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
(1)Burnham's "Russian Disinformation " push looks like instead of confronting far right arguments directly he will try brand the far right as "Russian Influence " Its a cowardly strategy that failed eg re Trump. Better to address far right propaganda straight on than this bad plan...
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solomonhughes.bsky.social @solomonhughes.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Gangs + Pseudo Gangs: govt-sponsored irregular units—often composed of former insurgents or indigenous personnel—that mimic or operate as enemy rebel groups for counter-insurgency + intelligence-gathering purposes. Concept developed by British officer Frank Kitson during Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya
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