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Shane Thomas

@tokenbg.blacksky.app
512 followers 399 following 4K posts

South London

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Reposted by Shane Thomas
The Mill @manchestermill.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Our Monday briefing is here: - Multi-million pound flats we can't afford - Avanti West Toast - Eti-had a mare - Commotion in Chinatown - A big clap for Manchester Out now! manchestermill.co.uk/breaking-jou...
manchestermill.co.uk
Breaking: journalist can't afford £2m flat
But at least our campaign is going swimmingly
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Ian King @twoht.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
On the Republic of Ireland on last weekend. It absolutely beggars belief that players should be left in this sort of position by their national FA and a governing body confederation. unexpecteddelirium.substack.com/p/the-republ...
unexpecteddelirium.substack.com
The Republic of Ireland’s Players Were Badly Let Down, And They Likely Will Be Again
The Republic of Ireland team were put in an impossible position by both UEFA and the FAI, and they may have to go through it all again next weekend.
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 29/09/2026
Move over Simpsons, there's now a Succession clip for everything www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUHw...
youtube.com
Succession S4E7 - Shiv Confronts Mattson about Forged Indian Subscriber Numbers
YouTube video by Moron Productions
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
The Glasgow Bell @glasgowbell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Confused by Glasgow City Council's firing and rehiring scheme? Not to worry. We've pulled together an explainer that unpacks the chaotic events of the past few days www.glasgowbell.co.uk/glasgow-coun...
glasgowbell.co.uk
Firing, rehiring and conspiring: unpacking the chaos at Glasgow City Council
Plus, more vandalism at queer bookshop and Bell event tickets going fast
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The Post @liverpoolpost.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Your Monday edition is here, including: — Rotheram's plan to repurpose the North Docks — Burnham's Sun boycott confirmed — Cause of Bootle house fire revealed And today's big story: scores of demonstrators arrested for opposing Palestine Action ban. www.livpost.co.uk/fifty-arrest...
livpost.co.uk
Eighty arrests outside Labour conference over Palestine Action
A “shameful attack on freedom of speech,” say Amnesty International
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 29/09/2026
Screenshot of text: But we live in an angry, dysregulated and impatient society, and that patience with the League itself will not last for long. If this is the decision reached by the independent panel, then that needs to be clarified as soon as possible, and if there are to be sanctions, then they need to be decided upon and put in place as soon as possible too. The Premier League has long appeared bulletproof from the outside, but this is damaging the reputation of the
"brand" and they will be under even greater scrutiny now over what comes next.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Jarrod Kimber @jarrodkimber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
🎙️Pakistan had one of the best pace attacks in the history of the game Watch the rest of the episode on Good Areas on YouTube
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 27/09/2026
The Liberal Dems have voted to reject the EHRC Code of Practice - which recommends the segregation of Trans+ people from most single-sex spaces Read more in our newsletter 👉 www.wearequeeraf.com/understand-the…
Lib Dems approve motion to oppose the EHRC Code of Practice as Labour is set to face protest over exclusion of trans women at its women's conference.

The Liberal Democrats have voted to reject the EHRC Code of Practice, which recommends the segregation of Trans+ people from most single-sex spaces, as "discriminatory and unworkable". 
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Soraya Nadia McDonald @soraya.press · 27/09/2026
I'll be back to gab tomorrow, but I had to get the first Caturday Evening Post up, and that was after spending ... quite a bit of time today with Canva.  Cio Cio, as you can see, was very ready for her closeup.
soraya.press
Caturday Evening Post Vol. 1
Lincoln Center's got free opera and hot docs the tech broligarchs would prefer you didn't see
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Tony Evans @tonyevans92a.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A disturbing story from my past tonyevans92a.substack.com/p/death-on-a...
tonyevans92a.substack.com
Death On A September Sunday
An incident so graphic that it should have been unforgettable was somehow buried in my mind for almost four decades. An unexpected trigger brought everything back
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 27/09/2026
And I suspect Carpenter and Thompson will be instructed to stay as wide as possible to drag Mariona and Batlle away from the centre the pitch.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Ian King @twoht.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
An FA sub-committee have made a decision over a refereeing mistake in an FA Cup qualifier which could end up having far-reaching consequences. unexpecteddelirium.substack.com/p/the-fa-hav...
unexpecteddelirium.substack.com
The FA Have Just Opened a Can of Worms That They May Find Difficult to Close Again
A dodgy penalty decision in an FA Cup qualifier has led to an even dodgier decision by a Football Association sub-committee.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Tim Kail @workofwrestling.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#WWE 's ads aren't just annoying, they negatively impact our ability to escape into a world of pure imagination. In my latest article for The #WorkOfWrestling Substack, I examine the effect of this dynamic on our collective mind. #WrestleSky workofwrestling.substack.com/p/the-invasi...
workofwrestling.substack.com
The Corrupted Canvas: Why WWE’s Ad Invasion Is Not Normal
Tim Kail examines what WWE has lost under TKO
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Tony Evans @tonyevans92a.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Bit about City. I was very involved in this story when Uefa first charged the club and for a long time after. Not sure this will ever reach punishment, more certain a deal will be done and convinced stripping trophies does not work, as evidenced by Juve tonyevans92a.substack.com/p/crime-and-...
tonyevans92a.substack.com
Crime And Punishment: What Next For Manchester City?
Stripping trophies is unsatisfactory but will we ever get to a point where the club is actually sanctioned?
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 25/09/2026
This bit really put me in mind of Andor. So much of authoritarianism is tons of admin, carried out by lots of little helpers “just following orders”.
Screenshot of text: "We didn't know anyone was coming," he said.
I had travelled for over a day, been passed through half a dozen hands, and yet I had arrived unannounced.
As they led me inside, I could barely walk.
My leg dragged behind me, numb and stiff.
They unshackled me at the intake desk.
The officers here looked bored. Grumpy about a late-night task they had not expected.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Ian King @twoht.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The prime minister wants to end the ban on drinking on sight of the pitch at football matches, and it's a ban which doesn't make much sense, but can we be trusted with it? unexpecteddelirium.substack.com/p/to-booze-o...
unexpecteddelirium.substack.com
To Booze or Not to Booze: On a Matter of Trusting Football Supporters
Football supporters have done plenty to demonstrate that they can’t be trusted over the years, but how much of that has actually involved alcohol?
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 24/09/2026
Had made peace with her returning home after the WC. And if it’s been announced now as a way to counter the downbeat mood after another bad start to a season, it’s worked. Hugely relieved.
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 24/09/2026
Screenshot of text: The incident fits a broader pattern in the discourse around 'free speech' and 'cancel culture': whatever comes from the top down is freedom; whatever comes from the bottom up is bullying and censorship. When Macklemore is dropped at the behest of the billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft, it's an exercise of the freedom of businesses to 'demonstrate their values' by deciding whom to platform.
But when Ed Sheeran's fans decide not to buy tickets to his performances, or even demand refunds, it's bullying, mob behaviour. Since most people are not billionaires and do not own stadiums, they can exercise meaningful power only collectively. The collective exercise of power must therefore be demonised.Screenshot of text: This fundamentally anti-democratic orientation is implicit in the framing of Kuenssberg's question: singers should not be taking positions on 'difficult, complicated' political issues; they should know their place - i.e. to entertain us - and so should their fans.
Politics should be left to the experts, which presumably means the politicians who are facilitating a genocide and the journalists who provide them with ideological cover. By this logic, it isn't clear why ordinary people should be allowed to vote: is it really for the little people to take a position on a question as complicated as who should govern them and how?Screenshot of text: The powerful tend not to be explicitly opposed to democracy. Instead, the task is to manage things so that elections produce the right outcomes and don't change anything that matters. One of the main ways to do this is to make sure that the people hear and see only the right things, so that when they go to the polls they can be trusted to tick the right boxes and go back to sleep for another four or five years. And this in turn requires that the right people maintain control of the means of mental production. This goes well beyond Kraft, or what he decides to do with his stadium. Most British newspapers are owned by a handful of billionaires, yet nobody asks if it's right for billionaires to be taking positions on complicated political issues.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Barry Malone @barrymalone.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today in Proximities: - Fighting erupts in Ethiopia amid fears of all-out war - Female prisoners in Myanmar tortured and sexually abused: report - "Say our name," Naoero's President David Adeang tells UN As always, you can read in under two mins. www.proximities.news/p/ethiopia-m...
proximities.news
Ethiopia, Myanmar, Naoero
Today’s three stories you should now
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David Dennis Jr @daviddennisjr.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I wrote about the philosophical differences between Jay-Z and Kaepernick and why Jay just can’t seem to get it right here
andscape.com
Colin Kaepernick is the one battle Jay-Z can’t win - Andscape
Jay-Z started 2026 with a mission: He’s going on the offensive. He was no longer going to stay silent about the people who had insulted him over the past few years, nor was he going to sit down and ta...
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
V glad to see Sterling here. His Euros in 2021 was one of the great tournaments by any England player, and had a couple of those pens gone the other way, it'd be recognised as such and he'd probably be knighted* * - the honours system is vile and shouldn't exist in its current form
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 23/09/2026
Screenshot of text: It's a chance for Die Linke to find a hopeful, but more defiant and uncompromising mode to convince disaffected voters that it, too, can display some dynamism and break political impasses. Its agenda faces undeniably tougher opposition than the AfD's. If there is a secret to successful left populism in Europe, no one has yet found it. In Germany as elsewhere, capital has more powerful friends than asylum seekers, and no amount of clever welfarism or redistribution will replace the libidinal thrill that some people get from the thought of
'remigration'.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
Polly Smythe @pollysmythe.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Want to know how to save £18.5 million in stamp duty? Along with Dan Neidle, @londoncentric.media took a look at the curious sale of Nick Candy’s mansion – London’s most expensive house – to billionaire hedge fund boss and Labour Party donor Suneil Setiya www.londoncentric.media/p/londons-mo...
londoncentric.media
London’s most expensive house, Reform UK’s treasurer, and a massively reduced tax bill
A £265m mansion in the heart of the Chelsea • Sold by billionaire Nick Candy and his ex-wife Holly Valance • Bought by a Labour-donating hedge fund boss • Why was the tax bill so small?
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 22/09/2026
Have realised I can tell specifically what sewer this stuff comes from these days solely by the font.
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Reposted by Shane Thomas
The Conversationalist @conversationalist.org · 21/09/2026
"Our department looked like an actual battlefield, with blood everywhere, and IV lines, syringes, and used equipment scattered about." A Palestinian nurse recounts an average shift at Gaza’s largest hospital in November 2023.
conversationalist.org
24 Hours in the Emergency Room at Al-Shifa Hospital
A Palestinian nurse recounts an average shift at Gaza’s largest hospital in November 2023.
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 18/09/2026
‘In the UK – as elsewhere – the handful of data centres with on-site solar farms, small modular reactors or wind farms nearby are greatly outnumbered by those that still rely on fossil fuels.’ Martin Thom on data centres, from the blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Martin Thom | Human Melting
Planning regulations were modified last year, with AI data centres redefined as ‘nationally significant infrastructure...
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Nicki Washington, Ph.D. @drnickiw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
There are certain folks whose writing makes you pay attention and course correct, if necessary. Soraya's one of those voices. Paid subscriber.
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The Mill @manchestermill.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
We have two weeks to reach a huge new milestone: our first 5,000 paying members. We have around 450 to go. We’re currently running a discount of just £6.95 a month for your first two months, or, hugely: Just £69 for a whole year. manchestermill.co.uk/more-than-ne...
manchestermill.co.uk
More than news: Help us get to 5,000 Millers
Join our new campaign!
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tru @thetrudz.photo · 18/09/2026
🩵 Hi. I really could use some immediate support as I’m dealing with major income loss + ongoing health issues. A lot has changed for artists + finding other work has been tough thus far. tysm. • thetrudz.com/shop • patreon.com/thetrudz • cash.me/$thetrudz • paypal.me/thetrudz • venmo.com/u/thetrudz
Photography-themed and music-themed t-shirts. White one with film cameras on it. Black audiophile one with white text. And two white ones that mention vinyl, blue and pink text. Shirts and images of shirts by thetrudz.Vinyl collector-themed poster prints, music-themed stickers and my book, Insights: Film & Television (Reflections, Reviews & Resources) which is ten years (2013-2023) of indie writing on film, television, music and more. Includes essays and also film reviews. All work by thetrudz.
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QueerAF @wearequeeraf.com · 19/09/2026
A ‘gender critical’ Scottish Labour executive committee member and councillor failed to declare on her register of interests the company she set up to sue her trade union, in an apparent breach of the Scottish Councillors’ Code of Conduct www.wearequeeraf.com/scottish-lab...
wearequeeraf.com
Scottish Labour councillor failed to declare role in ‘gender critical’ group, breaching Council rules amid trade union legal action
A ‘gender critical’ Scottish Labour executive committee member and councillor failed to declare on her register of interests the company she set up to sue her trade union, in an apparent breach of the Scottish Councillors’ Code of Conduct
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 18/09/2026
‘A single day can’t contain all the feelings that a person, a family, a people, a fragmented country, might have.’ Niela Orr on 9/11, from the blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Niela Orr | Active Dying
In July 2021 my Uncle Bilal was dying of lymphoma. In the days before his death, our family gathered at his hospital bed...
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 21/09/2026
To that point, Sheeran is one of those musicians who is among the most popular in the world, but you’d do well to find people who would openly admit to being a big fan.
Screenshot of text: Sheeran is low-hanging fruit at this point. While he is a superstar by all accounts, he does not carry the same intense fandom as, say, Beyoncé or even West. There certainly are no Sheeran
"shooters" online defending him the way there are for Brown.
So while one may be heartened to know that a celebrity claiming to be apolitical should be held to a standard that requires saying something, I'm not sure if fans will maintain that energy for their favorites. The Chris Brown train has never stopped, and Kanye West's stardom took only a temporary hit before bouncing back.Screenshot of text: Far too often, fans excuse outrageous behavior from the stars they love, proving they are incapable of holding them accountable. So while people can take victory laps over making Sheeran feel the wrath of disappointment, would they take the same stance if they grew up loving him or were part of his hive?
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Ian King @twoht.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This weekend's match saw me off to Kent for the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round match between Tonbridge Angels and Ramsgate, which means a castle, a local(ish) derby, and a place where there's a bit of a community feel. unexpecteddelirium.substack.com/p/the-weeken...
unexpecteddelirium.substack.com
The Weekend Match: Tonbridge Angels 2-1 Ramsgate - Angels With Dirty Faces
There may be sixty miles between Tonbridge and Ramsgate, but they’re both in Kent and the local yoof are certainly treating this FA Cup match as a local derby.
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
The kind of finish I've seen so often from strikers like Bunny or Sam Kerr.
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Tribune @tribunemagazine.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Beneath the row over Reform donors there is a simple fact: our system is one in which politicians can be bought.
tribunemag.co.uk
Under Capitalism, Democracy is Always For Sale
Beneath the row over Reform donors there is a simple fact: our system is one in which politicians can be bought.
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 20/09/2026
Screenshot of text: What next? Demonise doctors and nurses for treating migrants? Attack the police and fire brigade for trying to deal with arson attacks at asylum-seeker accommodation? Oh, hang on, that's already happened.Screenshot of text: And in Parliament, politicians are still pandering to the far-right for fear of alienating a section of voters who are, most likely, already lost to the tsunami of misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
The type of people who will don a face covering and threaten a lifesaver and the sort of
individuals who will support this behaviour because of an abstract fear of the unknown.
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 18/09/2026
static.klipy.com
This Has All Happened Before and Will Happen Again
Alt: This Has All Happened Before and Will Happen Again
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Ruth Pearce @notrightruth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Check out the AMAZING trailer for this new, bafflingly optimistic documentary on trans life in the UK! Please donate if you can, and share regardless. Feat. me on a bit of the voiceover! Talking about trans liberalism in the 2010s, and the actual threat we pose.
crowdfunder.co.uk
TERF Island
Feature documentary TERF Island provides a much-needed loving anthology of trans lives in the UK.
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Lesley Ryder @lesleyryder.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The NWSL has received 8 complaints of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or retaliation in the last six months. More on what we know, and what we don’t, from me and @dianamoskovitz.bsky.social at Defector. defector.com/docs-nwsl-re...
defector.com
Docs: NWSL Received Eight Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Harassment, Or Retaliation Complaints This Year | Defector
The NWSL received eight complaints about either sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, or retaliation during the first half of this year, according to documents obtained by Defector Media. The reports ...
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brookcharity.bsky.social @brookcharity.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Dr Zara Haider reflects on making healthcare more accessible by connecting people 👉 www.brook.org.uk/blog/it-takes-a-vi…
brook.org.uk
Sexual Health & Wellbeing - Brook
Brook is the only national charity to offer both clinical sexual health services and education and wellbeing services, plus training & support for professionals.
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sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🔴NEW🔴 Hundreds of domestic abuse victims face arrest when calling for help. Data by Women in Prison shows extent of vulnerable women facing criminalisation for assaulting emergency workers, following @opendemocracy.net's groundbreaking investigation last year www.opendemocracy.net/domestic-abu...
opendemocracy.net
Hundreds of abuse victims arrested when calling for help, new data finds
openDemocracy’s reporting praised at parliamentary event on abuse victims arrested for assaulting emergency workers
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 16/09/2026
‘Everyone was looking south. I turned: both towers were on fire. Huge plumes of smoke filled my entire field of vision. The wail of emergency vehicles was constant.’ Inigo Thomas on 9/11, new on the blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Inigo Thomas | 9/15
On Saturday, 15 September 2001, a friend and I went to help the members of an Anglia TV documentary team collect their...
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 16/09/2026
Learning good lessons from these development tournaments is usually more useful than winning them. Apart from anything, the US may need to try and nail down penalties. Can be tough to win tournaments without being good at them.
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Alfred Soto @sotoalfred.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Carla Simón's Alcarràs was one of 2023's best; Romería is almost as good. I wish more directors showed interest in the intersection fo family, memory, and geography. It reminded me of Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2026/09/15/r...
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
‘Romería’ is a thoughtful tone poem
Whatever else about Romería its cinematographer Hélène Louvart photographs the Ria de Vigo as if the northwest corner of Spain were what F. Scott Fitzgerald called the “blue honey” of t…
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 15/09/2026
Romeria was the best I saw at LFF last year. Blue Heron may be the best I've seen this (and v frustrated that I missed The Furious).
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 14/09/2026
‘Miliband’s announcement of a change in the British government’s position, though it is only a beginning, is to be celebrated.’ @selmadabbagh.bsky.social on the UK's sanctions against illegal settlements in the West Bank, new on the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Selma Dabbagh | A First Step
On Tuesday, the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, made a statement to the House of Commons in which he announced an ‘...
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Ben Ehrenreich @benehrenreich.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I'm proud to have an excerpt of Hold Still in @jewishcurrents.bsky.social Check it out: jewishcurrents.org/hold-still
jewishcurrents.org
Hold Still
"Can a question be a story? Maybe that’s the wrong question to ask. Or the wrong way to ask it."
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 15/09/2026
Screenshot of text: The vast majority of people who supported VAR didn't do so out of some corinthian ideal that eliminating officiating mistakes would improve the game and make it more fair. They did so because they believed it would result in their team winning more football matches.Screenshot of text: The logic is fairly straightforward. The assumption that referees are biased against our team is pretty much as old as the game itself. There are stories of referees having to hide out in dressing rooms after matches to save them from a baying crowd which go all the way back to the 19th century.
It was assumed that the introduction of a video assistant would allow these miscarriages of justice to be corrected in real time, and that the world would eventually adjust to the fact that our team was, in fact, by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.Screenshot of text: Of course, what's happened is that we continued to see what we wanted to see when VAR was introduced. It turned out that this would be the case no matter how
many cameras were pointed at an incident and no matter how many full kit wankers there were sitting in front of a bank of television screens trying to make some sort of sense of what's just happened on the pitch.Screenshot of text: At this level, the game is essentially unmanageable nowadays. We want consistency when inconsistency goes against us, and we want common sense when the laws of the game are applied according to the letter of them. And this all ultimately fuels this feeling that has grown inside me over the last couple of years, which is that nobody actually enjoys football any more, with the bare minimum expectation being to win every single last game, and more than one or two consecutive failures to win a match resulting in howling demands for something, anything to change.
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The Mill @manchestermill.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Read @jackdulhanty.bsky.social's story of two generations of 'Rice Krispie makers' here:
manchestermill.co.uk
Goodbye to Trafford Park's Kellogg's factory
For sixty years, someone with the name ‘Dulhanty’ has worked at the Kellogg’s factory. Last week, that ended
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Shane Thomas @tokenbg.blacksky.app · 13/09/2026
@anushreenande.bsky.social Hey, weird question, but were you at the Palace game at the Emirates earlier today?
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