Author | Lightnews

jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 9h

HS1 has a substantial bridge over it just south of Ebbsfleet station - the development of the area has yet to catch up, 20 plus years later maps.app.goo.gl/w9U2xfifX2Zy...

maps.app.goo.gl

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 11h

Very few countries have this - Spain has it on longer distance trains - it is a hangover from the ETA days

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 11h

LCR went bust in 2009. Government nationalised it and then sold off a concession in 2010. Government ownership provides no leverage though I agree. Eurostar sat on its laurels for 30 years and needs competition on routes and prices. Providing Virgin with an opportunity will hopefully achieve that.

jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 12h

HS1 was supposed to be built with private money. However, the LCR consortium couldn't raise the funds and had to be baled out by government, with the promise that Railtrack would buy section 1 to fund section 2. That didn't happen as RT had its own issues. I was working on CTRL at the time.

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 23h

I hope the person arrested because he was the wrong colour, in the wrong place at the wrong time sues the ass off British Transport Police

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 1d

Wilders may have lost vote share but unfortunately that reduced vote was more than made up by other far right parties who, in total, got more votes than Wilders did last time. Anyone who thinks this is the end of the far right in the Netherlands, or anywhere else, is deluded

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 1d

a monkey in a pirate hat is playing drums in a band .

ALT: a monkey in a pirate hat is playing drums in a band .

media.tenor.com

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 1d

Starmer wrote that immigration had done "incalculable damage" to the country - barely a cigarette paper between them 🤷🏽‍♂️

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PoliticsGirl @politicsgirl.bsky.social · 2d

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

Cool optics bro

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 2d

Thorough piece on Farage’s close colleague and friend Nathan Gill and the Kremlin cash he took

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Reform UK, the Russian spy and rolls of Kremlin cash: the inside story of Nathan Gill

How did a former Mormon bishop end up pleading guilty to taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia in the European parliament?

www.theguardian.com

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 2d

I expect some of that is due to the exodus of those in financial services post Brexit. However, a reduction in top income levels is not necessarily a bad thing if lower incomes rise and it starts to reduce income inequality

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 3d

The US remains the most popular destination among educated young adults worldwide, but its lead over #2 has narrowed from 20pts to 9pts, while the UK has plummeted from a consistent #2 ranking to #7, again with a steep fall after 2016.

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Naomi O'Leary @naomiohreally.bsky.social · 2d

The Dutch radical right maintained its vote share this election. One election pledge was to deport the “children and grandchildren” of migrants.
No amount of integration will ever be enough for some, because their policies are just a thin veil for bigotry
My piece
www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Geert Wilders didn’t lose the Dutch election - he had already won

Dutch politics has been transformed by 20 years of hateful speech about foreigners

www.irishtimes.com

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 3d

Another big factor for the UK is its slide down the income rankings.

Would-be migrants want to join a dynamic economy with the promise of high and rising wages.

The UK used to fit that bill, but Britain’s top salaries are now well down the list.

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 3d

You Gov committed a criminal offence by releasing Brexit referendum exit poll results before the polls closed, allowing hedge funders and Farage to short the £. This was reported by Bloomberg in 2018 and the reports are still online. No action was ever taken. That may answer the question...

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 3d

It's not tone deafness, he knows exactly what he is doing...

jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 3d

Hugo Boss still dressing Nazis then?

jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 4d

Performative bollocks from Reed. The kind of stuff he used to do at Lambeth Council

jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 5d

I am sure earlier on the week I saw Commons Speaker saying MPs should consider leaving Twitter? If so he needs to practice what he preaches...

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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 5d

Wow - those are quite phenomenal headlines given the details of the story.

Ahh look, he’s just a ‘nerdy’ guy. No harm done.

You need to scroll down to paragraph 13 of the Sky piece to find the full story!

🧵
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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 6d

Netanyahu would never have got a permanent ceasefire past his cabinet. Very likely this was always the plan...

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 6d

Bound to happen - Netanyahu would have not got a permanent ceasefire past his cabinet

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 7d

As a London resident of 25 years, that assessment is "bollocks". Matthew Lynn writes for right wing Telegraph and very right wing Spectator, his latest article being praise of Milei in Argentina. London under Khan has dropping crime rate, air quality improving, new rail line, all despite Brexit etc

jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 7d

Add Nigel Farage and Reform in the UK to that list. The former leader of the party in Wales (and former MEP) Nathan Gill has been convicted of taking bribes from Kremlin connections.

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jonnyb69.bsky.social @jonnyb69.bsky.social · 8d

The biggest change to the White House since it was burned down in 1814...

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