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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · 1d

Superb reporting by @peterjukes.bsky.social in @bylinetimes.bsky.social on Farage, Putin & Nathan Gill.
The sort of reporting you’d want the BBC to do and should really be career-ending for Farage if @teamlabouruk.bsky.social or the Tories knew what they were doing!

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/04/t...

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bylinetimes.com

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · 1d

@peterjukes.bsky.social

Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · Aug 31

Are mainstream economists losing influence over policy making? "The ‘Appallingly Bad’ Dismal Science: Of the Increasing Irrelevance of (the Wrong Kind of) Economics"
www.gerhardschnyder.com/blog/2025/8/31/the-appallingly-bad-dismal-science-of-the-increasing-irrelevance-of-the-wrong-kind-of-economics

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · Jun 9

❓ Does the British state have what it takes for its industrial strategy? ❓

Merve Sancak and I doubt it. Importantly, it lacks the willingness to be 'anti-business' in the right way to be 'pro-business' in the long run...

Read our piece on Encompass Europe:
encompass-europe.com/comment/does...

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · May 13

"The UK is very good – much better than most European countries – at integrating migrants, because most Britons, and most migrants, want integration... The rhetoric and policy we saw yesterday will take us backward to a much uglier, and more dangerous, place."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There’s one slight issue with Labour’s immigration plans: they’re completely untethered from reality | Jonathan Portes

The government’s new policy will take us back to an uglier, more dangerous place – and it’s not even supported by the data, says professor of public policy Jonathan Portes

www.theguardian.com

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 13

This is interesting: UK Labour are not only digging their own electoral
grave by adding water to Reform’s mill, but also undermining centrist/progressive parties’ case against anti-immigration in other countries! 👏🏻 Well done Keir!

Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · May 13

Not that it is a surprise given the direction, but the only German party leader that I could find giving a statement on yesterday's immigration annoucements by Keir Starmer was Alice Weidel and the AfD celebrating the turn in migration policy.

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 13

😱

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Supertanskiii @supertanskiiii.bsky.social · May 13

That went well.

Alienated your voter base and MPs, Reform voters still hate you and The Mail still drags you because, unlike Reform, they don’t think you really *believe* in racist policy.

I mean, who saw that coming? *points at self*

You win by stopping this bullshit.

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 13

Spot on by @pmdfoster.bsky.social ! 👏 The most astonishing thing though is: It is so obvious and yet none in Labour seems to take notice/understand/act...beyond frustrating seeing the country slip into Reform's dirty grip...

Peter Foster @pmdfoster.bsky.social · May 12

Labour's immigration announcement today is a reflection of the paucity of honest debate by BOTH political parties over the last decade on this issue.

Labour has never made a counter-argument, or been honest about economic cost of immigration curbs, so it's stuck making Tory/Reform arguments 1/n

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Annette Dittert @annettedittert.bsky.social · May 13

All this while refusing to call out Brexit as one of the main factors for Britains low growth and the rise in immigration after “Brexit got done.”
Which allows Farage to evade his responsibility for the situation he now so happily exploits.
This all helps only Reform.

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · May 13

Keir Starmer immitates Reform in his divisive speech.

Accuses immigrants of causing “incalculable damage”, making the UK “an island of strangers”.

Rightly faces backlash from unions, employers, MPs.

Silence on class war, inequalities, profiteering, lack of public services, fuelling frustrations.

Despair at Starmer’s ‘divisive’ language as he clamps down on immigration

Backbench Labour MPs, unions and charities criticise the PM, who is urged to apologise for his ‘dangerous’ comments

www.independent.co.uk

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Brendan May @brendanmay.bsky.social · May 13

The Farage effect. Pretty stark. bsky.app/profile/adam...

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · May 12

Keir Starmer denies pushing anti-migrant policies in order to chase Reform, saying that "I'm doing this because it is right, because it is fair and because it is what I believe".

A reminder of what he said he believed when he was running for Labour leader.

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 11

Super interesting piece in the FT on MAGA’s appropriation of René Girard’s philosophy of mimetic desire and scapegoating! 🤯

Fascinating how one of the most anti-intellectual movements in recent times draws inspiration from a “deep-thinker”…

on.ft.com/3YGjRZh

How a little-known French literary critic became a bellwether for the US right

René Girard is best known for his theory of ‘mimetic desire’. Now Peter Thiel and the vice-president are among his fans

on.ft.com

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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · May 4

If true, depressing and stupid, negatively impacting on Labour's growth focus & screwing one of UK's few strategic advantages & success stories, when overseas students aren't even the focus of anti-immigration ire - which won't be deflected by this.

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · May 4

Lose to Reform so give Reform everything they want. Well, that's been a winning strategy so far. Once again we have a government hell bent on demonising migrants to pander to what is in fact a minority of voters. It doesn't work, and people suffer in the meantime.

observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour plots immigration blitz after Reform success at polls

No 10 and Home Office expected to ramp up curbs on foreign university students

observer.co.uk

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 4

This 100% 👇🏻 …

Martin Gelin @martingelin.bsky.social · May 3

Tom Baldwin: “Labour are not losing votes to Reform, they are losing votes to Libdems and the Greens. It's the Conservatives that are losing shitloads of voters to Reform.”
youtu.be/WvK0aQJNi9I?...

Reform make gains across the country in local elections and win by-election | Politics Hub special

YouTube video by Sky News

youtu.be

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · May 4

Frantically learning all the wrong lessons.
People who want Reform policies will vote Reform.
People who want Labour policies ... well, perhaps they'll just have to vote Green.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Labour targets international students claiming asylum after election losses to Reform

Exclusive: Ministers understood to be drafting white paper this month in move to reduce legal migration

www.theguardian.com

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

Hey British media,
It’s no surprise that if you give Farage the run of the place, he’ll start winning.
Time to do your actual jobs and start interrogating him on his Brexit shitshow, his funding, his Trumpiness, his idiotic manifesto, his real plans for the NHS… instead of drumrolling him into No.10

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 4

Yes Keir, we’ve noticed! 🙄🤦🏼‍♂️

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 3

I think that would be a dangerously simple explanation (which doesn’t explain what happened elsewhere and to be honest a Labour MP punching someone probably made Reform voters more not less likely to vote for them! 😝)

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 3

Very well put! Sums up my feelings perfectly! 👍🏻

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 3

How does this come as a shock to anyone? It was crystal clear that this would happen given the government’s policies! 🙄

Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 3

“[In 2024] Labour won more votes than all other parties combined [in Runcorn]. Yet less than a year later, Reform has captured the seat, overturning a majority of 14,700.”
By McSweeny/Starmers logic that’s bc in July 2024 Lab was more like Reform than it is now? 🤔
theconversation.com/reform-wins-...

Reform wins Runcorn byelection by just six votes – what the result means for Labour and the Tories

Nigel Farage is now claiming to be the official opposition after overturning Labour’s 14,700-majority.

theconversation.com

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 2

“Telling voters the Reform leader is right, but they shouldn’t vote for him, is no more likely to work for Labour than it has for the Tories”…Yepp seems blindingly obvious…and yet somehow Labour seems hellbent on trying and defy basic logic and experience!

Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · May 2

🔴Nigel Farage Is Killing the Conservatives and Starmer Must Change Course to Avoid the Same Fate

Telling voters the Reform leader is right, but they shouldn’t vote for him, is no more likely to work for Labour than it has for the Tories, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com/2025/05/02/l...

Nigel Farage Is Killing the Conservative Party and Starmer Must Change Course to Avoid the Same Fate

Telling voters that the Reform leader is right, but they shouldn't vote for him anyway, is no more likely to work for Labour than it has for the Conservatives, argues Adam Bienkov

bylinetimes.com

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Gerhard Schnyder @gerhardschnyder.bsky.social · May 2

Sadly Labour’s conclusion from this defeat will probably be “Oh look we need to be more like Reform to win” rather than “Oh people don’t like us trying to imitate Reform” - Hopefully they’ll start looking at polls to realise people are less bothered about foreigners, more about climate than Reform!

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · May 1

Nigel Farage still insisting that he has "never ever, ever suggested anything other than the NHS should be free".

Here's what he's said in the past behind closed doors

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · Apr 30

Under my glorious rule, anyone contributing to the Comment pages of the Telegraph would agree to have the headline tattooed to their forehead should circumstances demand it…

Trump has been proven right about pretty much everything, by Liz Truss

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