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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 12h

#WaterofLeith this morning

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 13h

Starmer reorganises his staff again - and to the right - as if there's some recipe in there for his calamitous loss of popularity
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Starmer accused of pushing out some of last progressive allies in No 10 shake-up

Exclusive: PM reorganising key parts of government to give chief secretary Darren Jones more Whitehall control

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d

Worried about rising bills and getting by? Keir Starmer has the answer: try chewing a flag! | Aditya Chakrabortty

The PM wants to talk about patriotism when the issue that is really affecting people is the cost of living. If he doesn’t wise up, that dissonance will sink him, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 4d

I’m at a Tory fringe event about young voters which has been shown a massive (5,000+) poll of voters aged 16-40 - and it’s (not unexpectedly) very bad news for the Conservatives.

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 5d

The government want more coercive powers for the state against protests, and the main opposition party wants more coercive powers for the state against migrants.

Our political-media culture continues in a loop where the response to every perceived problem is yet more coercive powers for the state.

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 5d

In power a few weeks and Mahmood already restricting right to protest - democracy needs defending not undermining.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Police to get broader powers to crack down on repeated protests

The move is not a ban on protests but "about restrictions and conditions", Shabana Mahmood tells the BBC.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

Angry John of Bradford @bd-angry.bsky.social · 8d

I hope you & hundreds more will be at
✊STRIKE!
this weekend in Bradford to see how our modern workers’ rights were born in #Bradford by #workingclass women.
Please share in solidarity!
bradford2025.co.uk/event/strike/

STRIKE | Bradford 2025

A spectacular light and sound show celebrating the women who made modern Bradford.

bradford2025.co.uk

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 8d

Keir Starmer’s speech to Labour conference has temporarily rescued his leadership. But does he have a vision and does it add up? Starmer seems better at alienating Labour’s core voting support than bringing it along with his government or inspiring hope.
open.substack.com/pub/kirstyhu...

Does Starmer Have a Vision - and Will it Rescue his Stumbling Leadership or the Crisis in UK Politics?

Starmer’s conference speech has not rescued his leadership, except briefly, albeit it set out a rather limited, blue Labour-ish ‘vision’ focused on a idealised version of a small subset of UK workers.

open.substack.com

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 9d

BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9...
Jane Goodall, chimpanzee expert and animal rights campaigner, dies age 91 - follow live - BBC News

Jane Goodall, chimpanzee expert and animal rights campaigner, dies age 91 - follow live

The primatologist was a

www.bbc.co.uk

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 9d

Great to be at early Germany unity day celebrations at Edinburgh city chambers @germancgedinburgh.bsky.social

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 10d

And says Snp want Britain to fail

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 10d

Yes...labour and reform second place in polls

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 10d

Lisa nandy holding a saltire i think.

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 10d

Cabinet in front row have been given england flags to hold..will they switch to scottish or Welsh ones half way through? Digs at regulation, at anti brexiteers as well as at farage
www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Nigel Farage ‘doesn’t like Britain’, says Starmer in keynote speech at Labour conference – UK politics live

Prime minister says Reform UK leader is ‘just offering grievance’ and would lead the UK down ‘the path of decline’

www.theguardian.com

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 10d

In Scotland, battered too by the SNP on current polls, Labour and Reform contending over second place

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

Gregk Foley @gregk.co.uk · 11d

This 'anonymous memo' has Glassman and Walney's fingerprints all over it and is laden with swivel-eyed conspiracism and paranoiac blade-sharpening. If this is what passes for political insight in the Labour Party, they are beyond saving.

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 10d

Promising a long, difficult, hard & right wing path ahead while bigging up the far right opposition seems an odd way to restore hope and dynamism, while sitting on a large majority and four years out from an election.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Starmer to say Britain 'at a fork in the road'

British people have a choice between renewal and decline, the PM is to tell the Labour Party conference.

www.bbc.com

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 11d

Amongst all the other objectionable proposals from Mahmood, asking migrants to pay taxes but have no right to benefits is unfair, divisive and wrong (and likewise on volunteering unless we're all to be told we must (oxymoron) volunteer.). Second class status.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mahmood demands migrants earn right to settlement in UK

New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

Chris Townsend @christownsend.bsky.social · 11d

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/09/29/t...

Two Golden Eagles ‘disappear’ in south Scotland – Police appeal for information

Press release from Police Scotland, 29 September 2025: APPEAL FOR MISSING GOLDEN EAGLE Detectives are appealing for information after a satellite-tagged golden eagle disappeared in the hills to the…

raptorpersecutionuk.org

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 11d

Polling expert John Curtice was asked at Labour conference whether the party is doing anything right

'No,' he said

John Curtice gives damning verdict as poll finds Keir Starmer 'least popular PM' ever

www.thenational.scot

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 11d

BREAKING: Labour Party members have backed a motion urging Keir Starmer to call Israel’s military attack on Gaza a genocide

An emergency motion had been submitted to today's conference in Liverpool

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Reposted by Kirsty Hughes

Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 11d

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 11d

Andy Burnham calls for rejoining EU. Quite right, most Brexit-accepting Labour politicians have been so weak on this.
www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Andy Burnham calls for UK to rejoin EU within his lifetime and rejects claim he is fiscally irresponsible – UK politics live

Mayor of Greater Manchester says he would have to be ‘wrenched’ out of city and says he wants UK to rejoin EU

www.theguardian.com

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 11d

Edinburgh early autumn: kingfisher on #waterofleith and seagull came for tea at the Botanics

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Kirsty Hughes @kirstyshughes.bsky.social · 14d

Utterly grotesque
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Washington backing plan for Tony Blair to head transitional Gaza authority

Reported proposal for international body to oversee Gaza for up to five years counters UN-backed plan for faster transition to Palestinian rule

www.theguardian.com

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