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suerubenstein.bsky.social

@suerubenstein.bsky.social
132 followers 457 following 155 posts

OD and leadership. Chair Refugee,Asylum, Migration Policy Project. Feminist.Mum.Dog owner. Cook

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Chief Rabbi speaks for Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and their apologists in this country. Ed Miliband speaks for me and many other British Jews.
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
rnli.org/support-us/g...
rnli.org
Donate to the RNLI and help save lives at sea
Your donations really make a difference. We depend on your generosity to educate people to stay safe and prevent tragedies on and offshore. Donate here.
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The new Prime Minister is writing a "10-year plan" for the UK. The arts & culture MUST be part of it. I've signed @campaignforthearts.org's petition urging @andyburnham.bsky.social to revitalise the arts – to revitalise the whole nation 🌱 Join me: www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10-year-plan/
campaignforthearts.org
Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts
Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Just finished Madeleine Thien’s “The Book of Records”. Absolutely brilliant work. A fantastic novelist who is really worth your time (though I think this one, in which she writes genre for the first time time, will be more divisive among her fans!)
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The Future Governance Forum (FGF) @futuregovforum.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
How could Andy Burnham do immigration differently? FGF’s @bethgardiner-smith.bsky.social sets out how Burnham can improve things in a @politicshome.bsky.social article, read Beth’s ideas for transforming the state to renew the nation 🔽 @siennarodgers.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
politicshome.com
How Andy Burnham could do immigration differently
Andy Burnham arrived in Downing Street with a promise to do politics differently.
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David Oliver @mancunianmedic.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I don't think that is an "easy answer" - it it too simplistic there are bigger questions - 1 e..g social care is currently based on eligibility criteria with high thresholds and so heavily rationed and limited to people with high levels of need. Very different from universal NHS
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I have no expertise in social care funding but I have joined battle with the system on behalf of someone I love & I despair at a press corps determined to suffocate the debate by making option generation & appraisal politically impossible. Yes you Times journalists with your ‘death tax’ headlines
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Victoria Derbyshire @vicderbyshire.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I wrote this 👇 open.substack.com/pub/vicderby...
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I have a modest proposal for a new tax. It involves a deck of cards and a monkey throwing darts. Here are the rules:
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Chris Kendall @ottocr.at · 07/07/2026
If you read one thing today, this week, this year, read this. ht @samueljohnson.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy thegrimhistorian.substack.com/p/has-americ...
thegrimhistorian.substack.com
Has America Crossed the Asshole Threshold?
Civilizations can carry a surprising number of parasites and live. But there’s a line — Rome crossed it, the Gilded Age toed it, and for the first time in history, we can measure it.
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Sarah Owen MP @sarahowen.org.uk · 01/07/2026
Ben Cullen, a leading figure of the "Raise the Colours" campaign, will stand trial for three separate charges regarding a total of 78 indecent images of children. I have only seen this covered in local newspapers, so far. Grim as it is, it needs wider coverage www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/2624087...
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Caitlin Moran @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Am racking my brain to think of ways we can all keep the pressure and heat on this story. Meta & Mark Zuckerberg - one of the richest men in the world - are putting unfathomable legal and financial pressure on whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams. Pretty sure most people are on her side - not their's
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Luke Piper @lukepiper.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I've met many people who can't afford to get ILR now nevermind on the other side of these proposals. I don't think many know - especially the all knowing 'comments' section of the Times - that it costs close to £3500 per person to get ILR.
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I thoroughly recommend supporting Our Second Home — an outstanding organisation doing pioneering work to support young refugees in the UK. More donations = more camp places for vulnerable young people. Every £ donated this week will be DOUBLED by PostcodeSociety. donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
donate.biggive.org
Our Second Home - the UK's refugee youth movement – Big Give
OSH supports young people with refugee backgrounds to build communities, become leaders, and flourish into adulthood in the place they …
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Christabel Cooper @christabelcoops.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Extraordinary credit to Sadiq Khan for pushing through this deeply controversial policy. This is what can happen when politicians are prepared to stick to their principles.
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Alan Rusbridger @arusbridger.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
When is a riot not a riot? When is the grandson of Jewish emigres who fled Hitler someone to be “extremely wary” of? When @GBNEWS is involved. app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/73892/...
app.prospectmagazine.co.uk
The GB News obsession with immigration even extends to antisemitic tropes, and no one is stopping it
One presenter invited her followers to be wary of the grandchild of Jewish émigrés
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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Of course one should think about addressing the root causes of broader unrest in the UK but right now the government needs a very different plan to deal with the pogroms and the race-war crew. You don't stop that lot by regenerating the high street
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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
If I were Andy Burnham, watching Starmer's hopelessly impotent response to the national emergency caused by fascist agitators at home and abroad, I would see both an opportunity and a necessity to do things very differently
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This is no more about the details of immigration policy than the progroms my great great grandparents fled were about Jews committing crimes. It's straightforward racist violence and it needs the strongest possible response.
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Everyone on X and elsewhere who called for a violent response should be charged with incitement. Everyone involved in the pogrom should be locked up with exemplary sentences. Govt should make it clear that will be the response in future anywhere else. Enough.
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Enjoyed writing this for @iandunt.bsky.social excellent substack. Labour does have a genuinely inspiring vision and impressive track record. It's called net zero and if the government talked about it more it might start to improve its fortunes. iandunt.substack.com/p/guest-post...
iandunt.substack.com
Guest Post: Labour's Net Zero triumph
In the face of frenzied right-wing attacks, this government has successfully executed one of the most ambitious climate change projects in the world. It's time to give credit where it's due.
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Antidote to general misery. Thousands of people of all ages are currently walking through my local woods in support of North London Hospice. A man (in his later years) resplendent in full superman costume shepherding the walkers & almost tearful with pride. £90K raised. Let’s just be this country.
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Na'amod @naamoduk.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Over 1,000 Jews in the UK have called on our institutions to name Israeli apartheid for what it is and take a stand against its injustices. Join them and add your name to the open letter. forms.gle/JDHQorh6Ypg5...
Alt text:
A yellow poster with black text reads, “Over 1,000 Jews in the UK are speaking up against Israeli apartheid. Join us and sign the open letter.” A small black Na'amod logo appears in the top right corner.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 02/04/2026
Israel’s death penalty law marks a new phase in its dehumanisation of Palestinians | Yuli Novak
theguardian.com
Israel’s death penalty law marks a new phase in its dehumanisation of Palestinians | Yuli Novak
A government that openly embraces violence against Palestinians has now enshrined into law a policy of lethal force, says B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak
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Janine Gibson @janinegibson.ft.com · 21/02/2026
This felt urgent and it is as powerful and galvanising as maddening and incredible. How did we get here? Why has big tech turned against women by author and campaigner Laura Bates as.ft.com/r/9a009af2-d...
as.ft.com
How tech turned against women
[FREE TO READ] As AI-generated sexualised images proliferate and app-facilitated abuse spreads, we are sleepwalking into a new age of gender inequality. It is time to regulate properly
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
What a remarkable woman! A study in integrity and moral clarity and … I want to say courage but it feels like perhaps words like ‘brave/courageous’ just piles pressure onto survivors of abuse. Anyway she is exactly right.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Why isn't this a major news story?
Churchwarden linked to
foreign-born billionaire is
behind £200k Reform gift
The man whose firm made the donations will
not discuss where the money came from, nor
his ties to wealthy Farage allies who may not
hold citizenship


Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall Editor
Saturday January 31 2026, 8.00pm, The Sunday Times


Share


A churchwarden from Potters Bar who works
for the family of a highly secretive,
Kazakhstan-born billionaire can be revealed as
the man behind £200,000 of donations to
Reform UK.,


John Richard Simpson is a 59-year-old
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Colin Yeo @colinyeo.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
If civil servants and ministers spent as much time using the powers they already have rather than dreaming up new ones then they wouldn't be in the mess they are in today. Discuss.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
New post just out: "Power to the People" Today we have a guest post from @jamestplunkett.bsky.social on how Labour can counter the "Britain is Broken" narrative by investing in civic life and giving people more control over their community. (Free to read) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...
open.substack.com
Power to the People
How Labour can restore civic life and counter the "Britain is broken" narrative
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
I think it's very important that Rupert Lowe's "Million Nonce March" gets widespread media coverage. Critical to amplify diverse voices.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
As reported by @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
theguardian.com
Former minister says government should quit X over child sexual abuse imagery – UK politics live
Louise Haigh says use of Elon Musk’s social media platform ‘unconscionable’ amid proliferation of abuse imagery
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
I notice that this thoughtfully argued, nuanced piece has generated snarky SM posts extracting single sentences. I thought the whole article was really worth reading. www.ft.com/content/96aa...
ft.com
Liberalism can win back the working class. Here’s how
Nobel-winning economist Daron Acemoglu on Zohran Mamdani’s rise, the problem with cultural politics — and the case for pro-worker AI
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Tony Vaughan KC MP @tonyvaughanmp.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
I believe the majority of my constituents in #Folkestone #Hythe & #RomneyMarsh agree we should grant asylum to those fleeing war and persecution – provided the system is fair and managed. I spoke to one constituent, Janice, this week, who thinks that... 1/2 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
‘It’s wrong’: the Labour MP speaking out against the party’s asylum policy
As a well-informed MP on the frontline of the debate, Tony Vaughan’s views are particularly unwelcome to government
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Prof Naomi Fulop @profnaomifulop.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
My Dad escaped the Nazis in 1939 on the Kindertransport. He went to night school then University, trained as a physicist. Married my mum, brought up 3 kids, all work in public sector. Under these proposed rules, he would have been deported. 100% 'performatively cruel' @stellacreasy.bsky.social
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Stella Creasy MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2
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Dr Dion Georgiou 🇨🇾❤️🇬🇾 @drdiongeorgiou.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
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Dr Farbod @emergencybod.medsky.social · 15/11/2025
I came to this country as a child refugee. No English, no certainty, no idea what my life could become. Britain gave me refuge. Not on a timer, not with conditions attached, but with a chance to grow roots. A thread 🧵 1/8 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
This, this, this. If journalists don’t scrutinize this and explain it properly now then they have failed on their duty and will bear a share of the blame if such policies are enacted (most of the public oppose them and don’t I think realise what is being proposed yet).
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Sofie Jenkinson @sofiejenkinson.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
As I was speaking on panels at Labour conference last week I began to describe the Britain I know exists and love. In the end I gave it a name: Mr Blobby Patriotism And I’ve written about it for @renewaljournal.bsky.social here bsky.app/profile/rene...
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Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Meanwhile, in 'ya don't f*king say' land, Reform discover that governing ain't quite so easy... ' "Everyone thought we'd come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren't," said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent. '
Reform poised to raise Kent council tax as Musk-inspired attack on costs falters

ANNA GROSS - KENT


Kent's local authority will probably raise council tax rates next year as Reform UK struggles to find big savings under an Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting drive.

Kent was one of 10 councils that Nigel Farage's rightwing populist party seized in a swath of local election victories in May. He vowed to save "a lot of money" by abolishing "wasteful" spending.

But Diane Morton, Reform's cabinet member for adult social care on Kent county council, told the Financial Times that services were already "down to the bare bones". an

"We've got more demand than ever before and it's growing," she said, stress-ing she did not believe access to those services should be limited. "We just want more money." As with many local

authorities in England, the bulk of Kent's budget went on adult and chil-dren's social care, as well as on children with special educational needs, which together accounted for about 50 per cent of its £2.5bn annual expenditure.

All councils have a legal duty to bal-ance their books and will set next year's budgets in February or March. Ahead of that, most councils in England are expected to increase council tax by 5 per cent, the maximum allowed.

"I think it's going to be 5 per cent," Morton said of where Kent would land on tax rises, adding that every 1 per cent increase equated to an extra £10mn.

Council leader Linden Kemkaran, a former BBC journalist, said Kent was a test bed for the party's national policies and the "shop window through which everybody is going to see what a Reform government might look like". She

declined to say whether council tax would be raised but other Reform coun-cillors said they wanted to avoid hitting the full 5 per cent.

Reform's experience highlights some of the obstacles it may face in national government if it won the next general election and pursued its pledge to slash taxes and spending. "Everyone thought we'd come …
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Both my grandfathers fought in the war and my grandmothers served too. Their parents would all have been deported under Reform's policies.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
It's not about "considering them". They are in gov't. It's about finding the best way of engaging them and changing their mind.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Many of us worked our butts off to change minds and shift policy within Labour, knowing that when the shift finally came, hecklers would still heckle "too late". Moral superiority resides in the object-ing, not the object-ion. But I will still take modest real victories over grand fictional ones.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
“Labour must grab the microphone from Reform UK and stand up for true British values” @lucympowell.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Labour must grab the microphone from Reform UK and stand up for true British values | Lucy Powell
If elected deputy Labour leader, I would take the fight to Nigel Farage and show him for what he really is, says Labour MP Lucy Powell
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
I wrote something about feeling like a guest in a country that is my home. bestforbritain.substack.com/p/my-place-o...
bestforbritain.substack.com
My place or yours? - Flags and the far right from someone who looks different to you
By Alex Andreou
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suerubenstein.bsky.social @suerubenstein.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Leadership!
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Naomi Smith @pimlicat.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
“Awareness, solidarity, and practical investment are key to countering misinformation and building communities that are fair and safe for everyone.” Bravo Ayesha. This is a full myth bust on asylum hotels 👇 open.substack.com/pub/bestforb...
open.substack.com
What’s really happening with asylum seeker hotels?
By Ayesha Chaudhry
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
We all need to be having these conversations.
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