Fionna O’Leary
@fascinatorfun.bsky.social
30K followers 9K following 21K posts
Retired Lawyer, cook, Europhile, books, music, good conversations, gardens, walking. Bird site refugee 🇬🇧 🇮🇪
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fascinatorfun.bsky.social
Where could they be thinking of.

Trump REALLY wants the Nobel Peace prize.

He’ll notice

bsky.app/profile/mtb-...
mtb-gal.bsky.social
Additionally, they said of global trends, “…rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarization.” It was definitely pointed.
fascinatorfun.bsky.social
And this…laying the ground for Trump’s failure next year too

bsky.app/profile/caus...
causticcelt.bsky.social
Also very pointedly …… because of her ‘struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy’ The polar opposite of what Trump is trying to do. at home. This wording cannot be a coincidence. It is a swipe at Trump but he is too thick to get it.
fascinatorfun.bsky.social
'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

I doubt that was directed JUST at Maria Corina .
fascinatorfun.bsky.social
More what it says to Trump about his domestic conduct.
fascinatorfun.bsky.social
And the war-monging Kremlin saying it would support the Peace Prize going to Trump would be the final nail in the coffin.

www.reuters.com/world/europe...
www.reuters.com
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
iand777.bsky.social
The Fishing Wren
This bird is spending an increasing amount of time hunting for water shrimps & other aquatic invertebrates.
This feeding behaviour seems to be a feature of the autumn & winter months, despite the garden being full of spiders & Crane Flies at the moment.
Sound on.
#wrens #nature 🌿🦉
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
drjoepajak.bsky.social
COVID data source via @ukhsa.bsky.social

3,049 Cases
7 days up to 1 Oct 2025
🆙+19.0%

87 Deaths
7 days up to 26 Sep 2025
🆙+3.6%

2,077 Patients admitted to hospital
7 days up to 30 Sep 2025
🆙+9.7%

Virus tests positivity
7 days up to 26 Sep 2025
🆙+2.2%

ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-...
COVID-19 | UKHSA data dashboard
Overall summary of COVID-19 in circulation within the UK
ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
drjoepajak.bsky.social
Latest England COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy up.
COVID-19 positive tests up.
COVID-19 deaths up.
COVID-19 cases up.
Data source @ukhsa.bsky.social
Why?
Limited vaccine eligibility, waning immunity, lower priority by leaders, mixing in poorly ventilated, cramped spaces. Scant use of face coverings.
Latest England COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy up.
COVID-19 deaths up.
COVID-19 positive tests up.
COVID-19 cases up.
Data source @ukhsa.bsky.social
Why?
Limited vaccine eligibility, waning immunity, lower priority by leaders, mixing in poorly ventilated, cramped spaces. Scant use of face coverings.
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
rosieisaholt.bsky.social
MP defends government plans to restrict repeated protests.
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
fascinatorfun.bsky.social
Very pointedly the Norwegian Nobel committee awarded the prize to Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who has had to go into hiding, for “keeping the flame of democracy burning amidst a growing darkness”

Something Trump is decidedly NOT doing. Driving his country to civil war instead.
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
chrischirp.bsky.social
As long as the Govt supports the purpose of these bodies, these vulnerabilities are not existential. But the rise of authoritarian populism across democratic societies challenges that. 7/11
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
chrischirp.bsky.social
This is a vulnerability map for 8 key bodies: ONS, OBR, Food Standards Agency, MHRA, Met Office, UKRI, Natural England, & UKHSA.

ONS has the most independence. All but ONS have ministerially appointed leadership. 3 could be abolished with no oversight as they have no statutory basis.
6/11
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
chrischirp.bsky.social
We identified 6 core components of vulnerability:

Is a body established in law?

Who appoints its leadership?

Is a body directly accountable to parliament?

Who sets its priorities?

Who controls its funding?

Is it free to publish without ministerial say-so?

4/11
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
chrischirp.bsky.social
We studied 24 bodies in detail.

From the Office for National Statistics to the Met Office, from the Medicines & Healthcare Regulations Agency to Natural England, from the Food Standards Agency to UK Research & Innovation, these organisations meet a requirement for expertise and national need. 3/11
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
chrischirp.bsky.social
We found that the UK’s top scientific institutions, from the Met Office to the UK Health Security Agency, have inadequate institutional defences.

If an incoming government wanted to weaken the role of science and evidence in policy making, it could do so shockingly fast. 2/11
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
chrischirp.bsky.social
🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
wallace.bsky.social
The DOJ attorney arguing in favor of military occupation of Illinois is a Stanford FedSoc guy. Go figure

fedsoc.org/bio/eric-ham...
jonseidel.bsky.social
DOJ lawyer Eric Hamilton is now up. He says Chicago is seeing a "brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement. They are not protesters. They are the violent resistance to duly enacted immigration laws."
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
libdems.org.uk
Politics is in transit 🚚

If you’ve had enough of the divisive politics of Badenoch and Farage join the Liberal Democrats. Help us save our country, come and win with us.
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
radleybalko.bsky.social
Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.
BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC
President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday
www.mediaite.com
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
peterhowitt.bsky.social
"..Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity." (Yeats)
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
implausibleblog.bsky.social
I see Reform UK are on #BBCQT again tonight, would one of the other panelists kindly ask

Is it fiscally responsible for Nathan Gill to make anti EU, pro Russia statements in exchange for bribes

But for Nigel Farage to make anti EU, pro Russia statements, without bribes?
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
onestpress.onestnetwork.com
Putin offered his “condolences” to Azerbaijani leader for the downed AZAL plane, while blaming Ukraine.

He admitted that Russian air defense was involved, but claimed 2 missiles fired “did not hit the AZAL aircraft directly, but exploded a few meters away.”

Russia killed 38 passengers in Dec 2024.