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Sonnet

@sonnet-lumiere.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.2K following 3.1K posts

Life's a niche - (and then you die). "Evil thrives in the shadow of dismissive mockery." ~ Robert De Niro. #ProportionalRepresentation #Leveson2

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Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives @darrencullen.bsky.social · 18h
The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards Jeremy Clarkson spending decades denying global warming only to sink his fortune into a farm just as global warming really starts to kick in
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 11h
Sarah Pochin raised "concerns" in parliament about the impact of second homes on rural communities. Two days later she purchased an £800,000 second home on Anglesey. Remarkable stuff. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform MP raises concerns about second homes – then buys one for £800,000
Sarah Pochin bought Anglesey property two days after writing to minister about impact of second homes on rural communities
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Irritated Llama @irritatedllama.bsky.social · 11h
Did the large hadron collider launch us into a parallel universe or something? He renamed the Dept of Defence the Dept of War (which should have been a dead giveaway) Invaded one country threatened most of his allies and started an ACTUAL war that's still ongoing. WTH is this fuckery?
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 11h
Thanks again to @mrjamesob.bsky.social for highlighting Kemi Badenoch's banning of journalists she doesn't approve of, which very few other journalists in the country seem willing to mention for some reason inews.co.uk/opinion/bade...
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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 11h
If your answer to Freedom of Movement is “but I don’t want to live abroad”, you’ve missed the point. You don’t have to use a freedom for it to be valuable. I may never live in Vienna. I still want the right to wake up one morning and decide that I will.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 11h
It's like watching Bart Simpson doing a classroom presentation in front of Mrs Krabappel after zero preparation.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 11h
If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you. The prime directive of the Conservative Party is to get and hold power. The idea that it would risk throwing away the opportunity merely because it involved an albeit uncomfortable arrangement with another right-wing party is clearly for the birds.
bbc.co.uk
Kemi Badenoch: I'd rather have another election than do a deal with Reform UK
The Conservative Party leader also pledged to cut the cost of hiring 21 to 24 year olds.
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Mike D London @mikedlondon.bsky.social · 19h
So the Tory plan to cut recorded pollution incidents, like sewage spills by water firms, is to scrap the agency doing the recording...
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 17h
Dame Angela Eagle MP, Labour's Environment Secretary, on Kemi Badenoch claiming water privatisation has been a "success": "Kemi Badenoch is living in an alternate reality. How anybody can look at the Tory record on water and call it a success is baffling."
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Anti-Reform @antireform.bsky.social · 19h
Reform UK want - lower minimum wage - no protection for workers on zero hour contracts - fewer rights for women and disabled people But - tax CUTS for the super-rich meme via UNISON
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South-East London for Europe (Selfe) @selfe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
As Badenoch embraces her inner Boris Johnson in an effort to out-brexit Farage, it's clear that the "party of business" isn't a serious party when it comes to the UK economy.
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Oliver @oliver48.bsky.social · 18h
via Meg Graham
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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 19h
If The Times’ political editor didn’t challenge Kemi Badenoch on her banning of @bylinetimes.bsky.social can the newspaper of record just make this simple correction?
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 19h
I've asked the Times if they pressed Badenoch on this in any way when she said this at their reception
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 19h
The utter shamelessness of Kemi Badenoch boasting at Conservative party conference about 'defending press freedom' and berating Reform for banning critical journalists from their conference, just days after banning Byline Times journalists from her own
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 21h
Voters loathed the Tory party when they booted them out in 2024.They really needed to shake off their disgrace with humility and better ideas. They haven’t. They’ve doubled down. More Brexit, more austerity, more anti-immigration ugliness, more tedious arrogance… and no good reason to vote for them.
Party seems to have learnt nothing from 2024 defeat
John Oxley

The Conservative Party is keen to show it is now ready to return to government, two and a half years after a
historic defeat.Their self-soothing explanation posits that defeat came from not being able to do what they wanted 

No such pivot is happening at the current conference. The Tories have come to Birmingham calling for a return to orthodoxy, with similar lines about cutting benefits and regulation. Even so, they seem trapped by the same contradictions
- pledging to cut benefits, but not the winter fuel payments and triple lock on pensions that go to their voters.
There is no "hug-a-hoodie" moment in Birmingham. The Conservative Party is not indicating that it has changed or seeking to broaden its appeal. It is doing the opposite: it is a party returning to its core, restating all the old ideas voters have rejected but louder.
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Posh Nigel @nigel-hewlett.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
+ No road safety + No environmental protections + No safe haven for the world's refugees + No safety net for the poor + No NHS? The rule of the thug is where they are heading (see also Reform UK).
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kaybell27.bsky.social @kaybell27.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The number of Tories who came out in support of ULEZ vandals rather than show concern for children with breathing problems due to air pollution, really highlights their own selfish interests.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"The war on children's safety" continues at Tory conference
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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We keep talking about Freedom of Movement as though it was something Britain generously gave to Europeans. It was something WE had too. 70 million British people had the freedom to live, work, study and retire across Europe. We didn’t stop immigration. We surrendered our own freedom.
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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Channel is still 21 miles wide. Paris is still two hours from London. Amsterdam is still an hour away by plane. Europe didn’t get further away after Brexit. Our rights did.
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Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Politicians keep offering young people a few years of European mobility as though turning 30 somehow ends your need for opportunity. Freedom of Movement was never a gap-year perk. It was a lifelong freedom to study, work, build a business, fall in love, raise a family or retire across Europe.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Apparently "Kemi" has "fresh solutions" uniquely tailored to Britain's current problems. <excitedly prepares to take notes> Cut taxes, reward the wealthiest, punish the poor and sick, alienate our allies, deregulate big business, and privatise any remaining state function. WAAAAAAIT A MINUTE!
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If a large asteroid was hurtling towards Earth, their response would be to call it a socialist rock, cut inheritance taxes ahead of extinction, lower benefits, blame France, deregulate rockets, and privatise all spaceports.
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DianaResists @dianaresists.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Trump is now recommending that Iran should “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego where we have major aviation and military installations and military families. WILL A SINGLE REPUBLICAN OBJECT TO THE PRESIDENT TELLING AN ENEMY TO BOMB OUR CITIES?
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Christine N HfE (no DMs) @christinevn-hfe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
There are no decent Tories left. Johnson’s govt got rid of them all. Bad Enochs blue rinse TRumpers are as right wing as Reform. Just as narrow minded and bigoted. 15 years of Russian /Koch Bros funded ownership has corrupted the party beyond recall. Damn you Bullingdon Club Eton Elite Cons.
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Sue Wilson MBE @suewilson91.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"Britain's place is in the European Union". Absolutely! www.eureporter.co/world/uk/202...
eureporter.co
Greens welcome 'new momentum' for UK re-joining the EU
The European Greens has welcomed what they call the “new momentum” for Britain to rejoin the EU. This comes amid media reports that UK PM Andy Burnham has said it is
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ajmpol #FBPE @ajmpolite.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“Brexit has done immense harm and absolutely no good”would have been nearer the mark. #Brexit #Burnham
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hornist24.bsky.social @hornist24.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
For a few shareholders, certainly. They care only for their bank balances, not the water quality and costs to mere "plebs." Badenoch is "thick as mince." A clueless Thatcher disciple, Badenoch is surrounded by talentless sycophants, still in the wake of Farage.
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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I’m not sure what her definition of success is, but it’s not most peoples.
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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Man who purchased a farm as a tax dodge now complaining as it’s hard work. What a hypocrite.
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Cory Tunts. @thecorytunts.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
What's that Nigel? You want to shag Andy? I don't know, I'm just asking questions.
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Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Yes, and the husband of Dido Harding, who lost all those billions, was the Tory ant-corruption Czar. You couldn’t make it up.
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Mark Thompson @markreckons.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
He literally set off a bomb in a UK street. If this had been the IRA Pierce would calling for them to be hung, drawn and quartered. This is domestic terrorism pure and simple. A bomb set off to terrorise with the aim of getting a government to change its policy. Literally a textbook definition.
Andrew Pierce

@andrewpierceexc

Follow

A retired engineer who destroyed @SadiqKhan ULEZ camera jailed for 15 years. A ridiculous sentence. No wonder our orisons are overcrowded

Readers added context they thought people might want to know

Kevin Rees was sentenced to 15 years for causing an explosion likely to endanger life after using a homemade bomb to destroy a ULEZ camera in a Sidcup residential street, damaging cars and property up to 100m away with shrapnel near a child's bedroom.

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/...

news.met.police.uk/news/man-jaile...

cps.gov.uk/national-news/...
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Badenoch, last month: Why is PM obsessed with Thatcher? SO WEIRD! I was not even born. He wants to take us back to the 70s. Badenoch, this week: I'm like Thatcher, a new Thatcher, possibly possessed by Thatcher, LOVE Thatcher, Thatcher was right, and I'll take us back to the 80s. Tory Conference:
Actual Thatcher outfits on display.Priti Patel displaying Thatcher merchandise.Limited edition Thatcher toby jug, £47.50Telegraph: "BADENOCH: I'LL TURN BRITAIN AROUND LIKE THATCHER"
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Can you imagine the derisory coverage and outright mockery if any other party with single-digit MPs decided to "declare a General Election" and go on a bus tour? Yet when this outlandish nonsense comes from Farage, it is treated as somehow brilliant. "Subscribe to continue..." No thanks. I'm good.
Farage to launch general election campaign with national tour
Reform leader to begin in Yorkshire next week where party sees ‘many Cabinet scalps to be had’ in Labour heartlands

Annabel Denham
Senior Political Commentator
Show biography
Annabel Denham
Published 26 September 2026 6:00am BST

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Nigel Farage campaigning in Southend-on-Sea for the local election in May
Nigel Farage campaigning in Southend-on-Sea for the local elections in May Credit: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph
Nigel Farage is to “fire the starting gun” on Reform UK’s general election campaign with a nationwide tour beginning next week, The Telegraph can reveal…
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Middle Age Riot @middleageriot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Republican Party went from Abraham Lincoln to Donald Trump. No wonder they don't believe in evolution.
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Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
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Oliver @oliver48.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
"Another desperate warning sign from the planet that the global climate is seriously off-kilter. No snow means no water downstream ... disaster for all forms of life nearby. Also, snow is HIGHLY reflective of light & heat so now the mountain absorbs much more heat than normal" via KJust The Facts
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
As long as the Tories are threatening to leave the ECHR, they aren’t a serious party. Consider it the ultimate red flag. Any party who’d take this entirely unnecessary and ruinous risk with our rights and our country’s security and wellbeing should never get its hands on power. (Letter, Times)
Value of the
ECHR
Sir, In dangerous times, serious countries do not retreat into splendid isolation. They build alliances, multiply their influence and strengthen institutions. Key among those is the 46-member Council of Europe, at its heart the European Convention on Human Rights.As former independent reviewers of terrorism legislation we have seen at close quarters that the ECHR is not just a human rights instrument. It is a national security asset. Terrorist networks, hostile states, organised crime gangs and people smugglers do not respect borders. Tackling them requires arrangements for the closest possible co-operation with our neighbours, including through joint investigations and police access to European passenger, fingerprint, DNA and vehicle data.These arrangements expressly depend on internationally agreed human rights standards, applied by a supranational court. We detect no political willingness to excuse the UK from compliance with standards to which the rest of Europe already subscribes. As authoritarian powers grow more aggressive and democratic institutions face mounting pressure, Britain should not be abandoning one of its greatest postwar achievements.
The question is not whether we can afford to remain within the ECHR. It is whether, in an increasingly perilous world, we can afford not to.
Lord Carlile of Berriew, Lord Anderson of Ipswich, Sir Max Hill
Independent reviewers of terrorism legislation, 2001-18
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Danny Fearns @dannyfearns.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Tory Party spent 15 yrs running down public services. They hollowed out every public service to the point of collapse, they profited enormously from the Covid pandemic, they went through Prime Ministers like a game of musical chairs. They're saying they will get it right next time.
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Irene Wise @irenejuliawise.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
15 years of arrogant lies, greed & corruption. 15 years and what did they bring us? Brexit. Used Covid to line their own pockets. £Billions lost from the public purse. Left a mess of starved & stripped services, closed police & fire stations. The state we’re in? Blame the Tories, not immigrants.
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Citizen Paul Templeman @paultempleman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“Privatisation was a success … I don’t think that Andy Burnham running the water companies is the answer to those problems,” says Badenoch, as South East Water adopts emergency measures.
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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Not one person born THIS CENTURY voted for Brexit.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Tories to hand free childcare to those earning more than £100,000, would cost £700m to the public purse. Previously, they pledged cuts to universal credit, housing benefit, support for the long term unemployed. Continuation of the Tory war on less well-off.
theguardian.com
Tories would expand free childcare to high earners, Badenoch says
Kemi Badenoch says those earning more than £100,000 should not be discouraged from working more
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Kevin Maguire @kevmag.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Conservative Party is “authoritarian” and attacking the “free press” by banning journalists from its conference when Kemi Badenoch called Reform precisely that for doing the same. bylinetimes.com/2026/09/30/k...
bylinetimes.com
Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives Block Byline Times From Conference After Condemning Reform for Journalist Ban
The ban comes just weeks after the Conservative leader called Reform's barring of critical journalists from their conference an "authoritarian" attack on the free press
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Paul Hindley 🏳️‍🌈🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇳 @paulhindley2210.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Raising inheritance tax is morally right. It is a direct attack on unearned wealth and privilege. Cutting inheritance tax, along with free childcare for high earners, shows that once again under the Tories, it’s tax cuts for the rich, draconian austerity for the poor. These bastards are shameless!
thetimes.com
Cutting inheritance tax is morally right, says Kemi Badenoch
The Tory leader rejects ‘double taxation’ but says she won’t promise a cut until showing how she would pay for it
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David @zero-4.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
So Badenoch doesn’t have the figures but is insistent that she’s completely right Her phenomenal arrogance blinds her to her overwhelming incompetence #bbclaurak
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European Movement in Scotland @euromovescotland.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Brexit free movement limitations continue to affect industries. Help us reverse Brexit by becoming a member today. euromovescotland.org.uk/join-us/ #Brexit #hospitality #freemovement #mobility #rejoin
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
So, Tories would cancel Erasmus and youth mobility, scrap the SPS deal that reduces red tape, lowers costs and eases backlogs for goods trade and renege on our new energy, defence and security arrangements… Ridiculous threat, ridiculous party, ridiculous people…
Tories would reverse steps to undo Brexit
Alex Burghart, the deputy leader, also says his party is wedded' to triple lock and electoral reform is doomed
Ben Riley-Smith - Political Editor

Photo of Burghart, arms folded, looking absurdly self important
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