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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 1h

Sure. But media allows polls to lead debate, rather than doing the harder work of scrutinising these politicians and their policies. I want to hear about Farage’s Russian and far right US links, his corruption and the unworkability of his ugly policy ideas. Not just be told that polls say he’ll win.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2h

Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.

SHOCK POLL:
NIGEL FARAGE WILL BE PM TOMORROW
IN an amazing poll conducted
by The Pointless Polling Company, it was revealed that voters' intentions
may well change over the next three and a half years and at present it's 100 percent impossible to guess what the next government might look like.
However, 99 percent of journalists
agree that it would be much more fun if we had an election tomorrow and everybody resigned and everything was chaos and Farage had a go at being PM, just for the hell of it, because it was so much fun when
Brexit happened and then the government kept falling every five minutes and we could write endless pieces about (cont. p94)

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 12h

So refreshing to see someone challenge the smug, nasty Reform narrative

Anita R @venividiverily.bsky.social · 12h

I could watch Zack Polanski utterly wreck Zia Yusuf ALL DAY LONG.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 12h

Fucking loathsome.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 12h

Why isn’t that in the article, ffs?
The man is toxic. A constant threat to our wellbeing. He does real harm every day and we cannot have him in power. Media *must* start scrutinising him properly. Not let him promote his hideous agenda, unchecked, with people having no real clue what he’s up to.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 12h

What the hell does Farage thinks he’s doing, going off to America *again* to maliciously slag off British teachers at some private Christian college, while offering to peddle their courses over here?
What a repulsive, grubby little traitor.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Nigel Farage accuses teachers of ‘poisoning our kids’ on race issues

Exclusive: Reform UK leader’s remarks at event for private US college criticised as ‘grossly irresponsible’ by NEU leader

www.theguardian.com

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Sarah Smith #r4today says Trump gave no details about (didn’t know or care) what happens next with the Gaza/Israel peace deal but she can confirm that Trump will be “furious” on Friday if he isn’t awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wow.
Priorities.
Inspirational.

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Toby Earle 🇺🇦 @tobyontv.bsky.social · 1d

if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Yes. After Trump, it seemed unthinkable that he would ever have power again… and yet, here we are.
Do you think that has been driven more by a cult of personality than a slavish loyalty to party? Because I cannot see how anyone from this woeful bunch of Tories could command that kind of following.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

"15 years ago, Polish workers came here to find opportunity. Now Poland is growing twice as fast as we are," says Kemi Badenoch.

Any ideas what may have happened in the interim?

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Really? You think *this* Tory party can win the next general election from here?

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Completely agree. Slightly more moderate but deeply complicit Tories wringing their hands now can do one. It’s too late. You’ve all done too much harm and even in opposition, you’re useless.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

One very very lonely Tory voice on the letters page of The Times.
Sorry, Robert. It’s too late. Your party has gone completely nuts. Driven mad by 14 years of failure, Farage and your monumentally stupid Brexit.
You can ask them to put the petrol can down but they’re mesmerised by the fire.

Leaving the ECHR could split Union Sir, In his article "Leaving the ECHR won't fix illegal migration" (Oct 6; letters, Oct 7), David Gauke makes the point that the Conservatives' decision to support complete withdrawal from the European convention of human rights is, at best, wholly unnecessary and at worst will make international co-operation on migration control and deportation much more difficult.
He is right to do so. It is time for Tories to stop heading for the exit every time there is perceived tension caused by so-called foreign institutions that my party actually helped to create in the first place.
To claim that ECHR withdrawal will not affect the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement is naive. Not only will it risk undermining trust in policing and criminal justice cross-border co-operation, it will trigger a breach of article 2 of the Windsor framework and a climate of instability that can only assist advocates of a border poll that could lead to the break-up of the Union. For the Conservative Party to advocate such a move is a betrayal of Conservative principles.
Sir Robert Buckland KC
Former lord chancellor and justice secretary; former chair, Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy, a petro-state with no income tax for citizens, to bribe them for the lack of democratic voice or free speech

It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Funnily enough, nothing says “I am a total dickhead” like doing all that, either.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

The last line is quite the finish.
Standing ovation for Hutton.
And a very healthy dose of utter scorn for the repulsive Jenrick.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

It is worrying. But stuff has to still work. And it won’t. I know that means more, very real damage that will take time to fix… but no one’s patience will extend to the chaos Farage would unleash… or the promises he’d have to break to avoid that.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

We all hoped the Windrush scandal would be shame enough. But no. The Tory party plumbs new depths with its vile rhetoric. Nothing good comes from their prejudice. But our communities prove them wrong every day.
Important response to Jenrick from @sathnam.bsky.social

www.thetimes.com/article/3af4...

I sang Jerusalem with Robert Jenrick at school - he's wrong about race
• NEW
The Conservative MP has complained that, visiting Handsworth in Birmingham, he didn't see'another white face. You can't judge whether someone is integrated by skin colour, argues fellow Wulfrunian Sathnam
Sanghera

I hoped that the outrage about this scandal across the political spectrum demonstrated we were finally moving away from such thinking.
But Jenrick's remarks show that we are, in 2025, in an even worse place.
The comments are a symptom of a new cult of ethno-nationalism, imported from the USA and supercharged by bad actors on social media. Suddenly, a great many people - including, bizarrely, Suella Braverman - are keen on the racist idea that you simply can't be English and non-white.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Yes. But doing it a second time around should have alarm bells ringing at deafening levels, now we all know what a resource-haemorrhaging shitshow Brexit is.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

I’m not so sure.
The Tories will not be in power ever again at this rate.
And if Reform try to do it, the outcry from business and the inevitable economic, legal, practical and political carnage would upend their govt in weeks.
These are unworkable populist tantrums and our media needs to say so.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 3d

Jenrick has gone from forgettable nobody to frothing-BNP-styled dickhead. Why does this corrupt little man get to strut around the media blowing his racist dog-whistle?
He should be shamed and shunned out of political existence. We all despise the Tory party for a reason. He’s one of those reasons.

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 3d

If you can't see how this will end, then you're not paying attention (not least to what's going on on the other side of the Atlantic).

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 3d

Hey thank you.
Problem is, I don’t miss X.
That place is toxic.
Why not come here instead?

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 4d

The Tories are the toxic mess that Reform grew from. And they still are. Their angry uselessness just feeds the monster they created. And they don’t have the wit or the integrity to realise the harm they do to the country by being so cluelessly shit.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Don’t despair, Tories: look upon Reform and see your rightful and fitting legacy | Nesrine Malik

If Kemi Badenoch wonders why her party conference looks and feels like a sideshow, perhaps she should reflect on the Conservatives’ 14 years in power, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4d

*gasp*

“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.

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