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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 6m

My cold is particularly bad today and Bart has sensed weakness.

Bart interrupts his busy schedule of trying to knock the coffee out of my hand to stare soulfully at me.

Reposted by Edward

Daniel @deargodwhatnow.bsky.social · 10h

Might be an unpopular opinion here but I do believe in parliamentary democracy, and you shouldn't functionally ensure state bodies have no accountability to it

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 16h

🧵🚨

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...

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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

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 16h

Move fast and break things (the social contract and increasingly it seems actual contracts)

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Reposted by Edward

Chris Kendall 👊🇪🇺🧶 @ottocr.at · 16h

Sometimes you learn things at work the hard way. For example, when referring to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front by its well known acronym, apparently you should spell it out rather than say it as if it’s a word.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 17h

Though in the case of Richmond it was less an alliance and more a deliberate move by the Lib Dems to keep the Greens in their orbit by conceding them some safe seats in return for them not splitting the vote in marginal wards.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 17h

Is that "real estate activities" or "construction" that actually saw negative productivity growth?

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 17h

I don't think we helped, but fundamentally the election of Netanyahu in 2009 was the election of a government with no interest in going to the table and I don't see any feasible international pressure that would have made the Israeli public change their mind after that point.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 17h

Yes, because it turned out the ground the Israelis were willing to give was very little and the negotiating position of the Palestinians was even weaker than it looked. They could not have got better than a very crap deal. But that is still far better than what they've had since 2009.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 17h

He did, but not going to the table has been tested since and it led to the disappearance of the table.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 19h

Contrition would probably help (as would expelling Truss) but I think the core problem is that the theory of change is "Trust me bro".

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 19h

I'm not sure that lack of contrition is a problem in of itself - I wasn't there, but my understanding is that Thatcher didn't spend much time apologising for the 3-day week. Badenoch could get away with it if it her plans weren't just to do the same but harder and less coherently.

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Reposted by Edward

Matthew Willis (Naval Air History) @navalairhistory.com · 1d

My bonfire brings all the boys to Tara
Damn right, it's higher than yours,
Druids - it's higher than yours
Hey Laeghaire, I escaped your snares

~St Patrick

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Reposted by Edward

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 22h

I really don't know what to do about a situation where a plurality of the group that (rightly!) takes up most government spending thinks that it is unrepresented in politics.

Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 22h

Hollow laughter

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Reposted by Edward

Will Cooling @willcooling.bsky.social · 22h

People point to the Tories broader record in government but them leaning on Ofcom to leave GB News alone despite its repeated regulatory breaches & its star presenter being a political rival of theirs may actually be the thing that dooms them

Naturally, Labour are refusing to correct this mistake

Ben Fenton @benfenton.bsky.social · 22h

If a news organisation is making -200% margin after five years, it is not a commercial operation and should be assumed to have a different purpose.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

The channel lost £33 million to communicate its content to a large audience
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/g...

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Reposted by Edward

Ben Fenton @benfenton.bsky.social · 22h

If a news organisation is making -200% margin after five years, it is not a commercial operation and should be assumed to have a different purpose.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

The channel lost £33 million to communicate its content to a large audience
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/g...

GB News suffers huge loss despite doubling revenue and growing audience

The TV channel, whose well-known presenters include Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, fell to a pre-tax loss of £33.4m in the year to 31 May, 2024

www.business-live.co.uk

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 22h

Bold of you to assume that nobody else in those pictures is an advocate for incest.

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