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vrichards50.bsky.social

@vrichards50.bsky.social
309 followers 154 following 388 posts
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Reposted by @vrichards50.bsky.social
Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 14h
I'm sorry if this is obvious but the Tory proposal to exempt family homes completely from IHT will lead to 1] pensioners buying the biggest houses they possibly can 2] pensioners refusing to downsize which can only be bad news for younger families trying to buy family homes
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The Conservative party Shadow Culture Secretary to speak at conference tomorrow about how to "defend press freedom", whilst her own party bans journalists whose coverage they don't like
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
if true this is bonkers for a party supposedly committed to defending free speech
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It is true, and it is bonkers. My rejection email below
Dear Josiah,

Thank you for your application to attend the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.

I regret to inform you that approval has not been granted by the Conservative Party, and as such, your application has been unsuccessful. A refund will be issued [text cut off at right edge]

If you wish to appeal this decision, please provide additional evidence or context as grounds for reconsideration. please direct your appeal in the first instance to [cut off]

This will allow for a thorough review before a final determination is made.

Should the decision be upheld following your appeal, any further questions regarding this outcome can be directed to the Police National Accreditation Team at [cut off]
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've been a member of the lobby for well over a decade. Not a single one of my lobby colleagues has said a word about the Conservatives banning me from their conferences, without any explanation. Contrast with the US where even Fox News stood in solidarity when Trump banned news outlets he disliked
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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vrichards50.bsky.social @vrichards50.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
All the damage done by Cambridge Analytica during the Brexit referendum should now be addressed
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Suella Braverman was the first MP to be sworn in on a copy of the Dhammapada! That's hardly paying lip service to the supremacy of Anglicanism in the UK, is it.
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Luxury retailers want taxpayers to fund a 20% tax break for foreign tourists. They paid consultancy Cebr to claim this will raise £2.6bn for the UK. That convinced Sadiq Khan and Kemi Badenoch. But it's false: a free lunch. Four basic errors mask a £600m loss. Thread:
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The techbros don't want you to see this trailer. Pass it on.
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that this (very good) podcast by two trans women talking about superhero comics is called eX-Men.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Recalling childhood moment when I discovered Manchester also had a club called “City” that played in blue and weren’t much good, just like Birmingham City.
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It takes a loading error to produce such candour.
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David Wilcock @davidtwilcock.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
BREAKING: Daniel Thomas, aka Danny Tommo, has been arrested by Hampshire police over boat slashing incident in the Channel.
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Duchess Gemma 🐠🕷️🇪🇺 @gemmagould.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, shared a YouTube livestream of the boat from the Channel." fucks sake BBC not once do you mention 1. he had a knife 2. he slashed the boat with said knife 3. he committed criminal acts live on camera do fucking better
bbc.co.uk
Dozens of migrants taken to Dover after more than 30 hours at sea
Protesters had earlier gathered in Gosport after an initial report that the small boat would be brought further west.
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Samantha Asumadu @samanthaasumadu.substack.com · 22/09/2026
'New analysis on UK media: British media is not delivering the news to its readers. They are delivering an agenda. The seven days after Channel 4 filmed James Orr are a damning indictment of the British press. Orr is a Cambridge associate professor.' via @newscord.org
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Jay Rayner @jayrayner1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
On the BBC News Katya Adler has just described Germany, where the far right AFD keep winning elections, as entering 'uncharted political territory'. Hmmm. Where Germany is concerned I think that territory is pretty well charted.
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Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
BREAKING: TV pool will not be providing coverage of presidential events until further notice b/c of CNN's ban, pool chair and FOX News Washington Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton said. It's effectively a boycott by the fellow members — ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The RNLI rescued Luftwaffe pilots in WW2 because the organisation is there to 'save life at sea' - it's something to be immensely proud of. But as I've said many times before Farage and Co don't seem to have pride in Britain and its institutions beyond flags and crap Enoch Powell said 60 years ago.
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Bridget Phillipson on the BBC about Jim Ratcliffe's latest complaints about the UK: "You'll forgive me if I do take with a pinch of salt what someone who is a tax tax exile has to say about our country."
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 19/09/2026
NEW: On social media and in tabloids, photos from Don Jr. and Bettina Trump’s Bahamas wedding were tightly curated. But sometimes, what — or, who — isn’t pictured is just as important as what is. Let’s go on an investigative, visual tour.
propublica.org
“Our Dear Friend Umar”: How We Uncovered That a Russian Oligarch Bankrolled Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding
On social media and in tabloids, photos from Don Jr. and Bettina Trump’s Bahamas wedding were tightly curated. But sometimes, what — or, who — isn’t pictured is just as important as what is. Let’s go ...
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 19/09/2026
as.ft.com/r/f257abde-7... Morning all
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
So much of the right these days have a massive patriotism problem. This guy: - is a tax exile (left long before this govt) - hates his own country while complaining he doesn’t get big enough subsidies from it - laments the manufacturing hit from a Brexit he supported www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 18/09/2026
Good FT piece about men using GLP-1s and I *love* this quote in particular www.ft.com/content/65f4...
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Dr Nafeez Ahmed @nafeez.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
EXCLUSIVE: Epstein didn’t just prey on children. He helped bankroll and embed a worldview of race science, climate “culling” and eugenics inside Silicon Valley’s elite AI networks. Tonight we publish the final part of my @bylinetimes.bsky.social investigation bylinetimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
bylinetimes.com
How Epstein Channelled Race Science and 'Climate Culling' Into Silicon Valley’s AI Elite
The Epstein files expose how racial hierarchy, genetic “optimisation” and even climate-driven population culling circulated inside Big Tech circles
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 18/09/2026
FT Exclusive: A crypto billionaire who made a record-breaking £36mn donation to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK financed a defamation case against an artist who claimed to have been the victim of an antisemitic harassment campaign. ft.trib.al/aCoH4p5
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James Felton @jimmfelton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
[yelling like a rescue worker approaching the wreckage of the Titanic] are there any prime ministers out there who can tell me whether my concerns about this are legitimate? Are there any prime ministers out there alive?
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 17/09/2026
Reform UK’s mega-donor backed a friend’s libel claim. Now he controls her home ft.trib.al/fqyHjuC
ft.trib.al
Reform UK’s mega-donor backed a friend’s libel claim. Now he controls her home
Crypto billionaire Ben Delo loaned more than £300,000 to former academic Nina Power
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Eddie Burfi @eddieburfi.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Just look at the glee on Nigel Farage’s face as he watches a Piddington resident cry about the overt racism she, her Caribbean heritage husband, and their two children have felt in the village during the referendum. Time and again he’s showing us exactly who he is.
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Gavin Esler @gavinesler.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
From France - On immigration. Worth a look.’
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paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
'In April, the Guardian revealed Farage received a £5m gift from Harborne. When the Guardian went to Reform for comment, the party asked for more time to respond – and used the time to brief the Telegraph, which ran fawning interviews with Farage and Harborne.' www.theguardian.com/media/2026/s...
theguardian.com
‘Significant unease’ at the Telegraph over Reform using outlet for ‘spoiler’ tactics
Recent instances of Nigel Farage’s party trying to gain sympathetic coverage lead to debate over reporting practices
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Should have guessed that the thing that would eventually kill off the right's interest in grammar schools would be non-white kids doing too well in the 11+.
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Reform has received a pledge of a million pounds of month - up to £36 million if sustained - from Ben Delo, a party donor. Delo had his 2022 conviction for breaching money laundering laws in the USA overturned by President Trump www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
telegraph.co.uk
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Lifeboat museum forced to close after abuse from thugs www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Poole Old Lifeboat Museum shuts after protesters target volunteers
The museum in Poole says it will remain closed until until the anti-migrant protests stop.
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John O'Connell @jdpoc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
So ... how many Tory MPs who voted for Kemi Badenoch as Tory leader did so as a result of 'public support' in polls which now turn out to have been faked? And how complicit is she in rigging the Leadership Contest?
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MadGreek 🧿 @madgreek2024.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The world has gone mad! Folks getting arrested under the UK Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said "I oppose genocide" 🇬🇧 That is fucked up! The majority of those arrested have been pension aged women, often with disabilities. Do these folks look like terrorists? Shame on you England. #Free 🇵🇸
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JointheDots @joiningupthedots.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
When roots of corruption are ignored, lazy policing kicks in and authorities wait for a neat media sting to hand them evidence instead of doing the hard work of investigating complex corruption. That’s the steep price of being right too early and democracy is the price we pay. #Brexit
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Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Who do Reform put up on their latest internal crisis? Jaymey McIvor, an ex-Tory councillor who left the party when accused of sending an unsolicited image of his ‘private parts’ & is now a Reform councillor. #BBC #PoliticsLive
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)
You cannot conduct a fair match when one side is playing with a ball and the other with bombs and, if democracy is to survive, it must be conducted according to definite and recognised rule. One of them is that no political party should resort to any weapon other than reason and argument. The introduction of private armies, as I see it, strikes at the root of democracy. I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld. … Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force. It is no argument to reply that at this or that demonstration no force is intended. It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future.
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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Kevin Maguire: "If you're an elderly vicar or a grandmother.. with a sign protesting against genocide.. & you're supporting Palestine Action, you're arrested.. who's more threatening, an elderly vicar/grandmother with a sign or a load of masked men.. wreaking havoc?"
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Paul Harper @paulharper.mu.social · 06/09/2026
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Half-expecting government to announce VAT cut on balaclavas to help with cost of living.
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Just Stop Oil planned to block a road, they got 21 years. Far Right masked thugs actually blocked roads. Not one arrest, nothing.
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Adil Ray @adilray.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Ban the Burqa!
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Carol Hedges @riotgrandma.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
🙄🇬🇧🙄🇬🇧🙄🇬🇧🙄🇬🇧 It is against the members‘code of conduct to use the official portcullis headed notepaper for political campaigning. Please report to Standards. All deets below.⬇️ Cc @josiahmortimer.bsky.social @peterjukes.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social
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Anti-Reform @antireform.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
"Just a reminder That Reform banned dozens of journalists from attending their conference" via St Helens Resistance ... but not out-and-out racist, fascist, violent criminals like
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Gerry Bolton @gerryb.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The party that claims it protects women
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