Mark McGeoghegan
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markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social
Mark McGeoghegan
@markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social
@uofglasgow.bsky.social PhD studying political contention of self-determination groups | 📊 Quant PoliSci | 🗳️ Scots politics & elections | Associate Member @ccc-research.bsky.social | ✍🏻 @heraldscotland.bsky.social | Some 📊 @uofgpolicy.bsky.social‬
Pinned
New Scottish Parliament poll tracker, incorporating yesterday's @moreincommonuk.bsky.social polling. Thanks to 12 marginal holds and 3 marginal gains, the SNP match their 2021 result.

Seats (+/- 2021):

SNP: 64 (-)
Lab: 18 (-4)
Ref: 16 (+16)
LD: 11 (+7)
Con: 10 (-21)
Grn: 10 (+2)
Alba: 0 (-)

1/4
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
DOGE didn't achieve its stated objective, nor its actual objectives.

It has, however, according to The Lancet, set the stage to kill more people by 2030 than the Nazis did in the Holocaust, through USAID cuts alone.

"Bye bye"? We've barely begun to register its impact.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.

It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
Two new polls show learning about Trump's policies moves public opinion toward Democrats
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/two-new-po...
Two new polls show learning about Trump's policies moves public opinion toward Democrats
Your weekly political data roundup for November 13, 2025
www.gelliottmorris.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:36 PM
DOGE didn't achieve its stated objective, nor its actual objectives.

It has, however, according to The Lancet, set the stage to kill more people by 2030 than the Nazis did in the Holocaust, through USAID cuts alone.

"Bye bye"? We've barely begun to register its impact.
Bye bye, “DOGE”.

It no longer exists as a “centralized entity”, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/dog...
November 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
"There has been some talk recently that we aren’t and shouldn’t be a creedal nation.... I reject this position as passionately as I can."

Gordon Wood responds to JD Vance without mentioning him by name

gift link
Opinion | Why America Is a ‘Creedal Nation’
The distinguished historian says the U.S. isn’t like other nations and never has been. There is no American ethnicity to back up the state.
www.wsj.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
1) Start the worst European war since 1945 and commit every imaginable war crime
2) Decide how you want to be rewarded for your aggression
3) Leak the list of your desiderata to the US press
4) Wait for the US president to enforce your wish list on your victim.
Russian policy 2025
November 23, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Current me: yeah but we lost to NZ and likely couldn't beat England.

Past me: YOU LITERALLY REMEMBER WHEN SCOTLAND COULDN'T SCORE TRIES AGAINST ANYONE
Scotland 56-0 Tonga: Gregor Townsend's eight-try side predictably sweep aside visitors
Scotland 56-0 Tonga: Gregor Townsend's eight-try side predictably sweep aside visitors
www.bbc.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
More seriously, Glasman needs to stop being given oxygen by journalists more interested in palace intrigue than serious ideas, because he hasn't got any left.

Coverage of our politics is becoming more and more like Kremlinology every week.
Technocracy: managed

Gender: wokeified

Identities: recognised

Average wages: down >£11k a year in real terms since 2008

Public services: decimated

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my working class is desecrated
What is this word salad?
Tag yourself
November 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Technocracy: managed

Gender: wokeified

Identities: recognised

Average wages: down >£11k a year in real terms since 2008

Public services: decimated

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my working class is desecrated
What is this word salad?
Tag yourself
November 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM
With all due respect to VLs, this is the most VL behaviour I've ever witnessed.
Uefa orders Scotland fans to remove celebration videos from X
European football's governing body claimed clips of fans cheering Scotland's World Cup qualification in front of TV screens breached copyright.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
Labour are in quite the predicament ahead of the Holyrood elections, but they'll find it's all been of their own making, from blowing their own feet off with WFA cuts to an industrial strategy that's botching the 'just transition'.

My latest for @heraldscotland.bsky.social:
Labour faces uphill battle as Scots snub Sarwar ahead of Holyrood vote
Few Scots would now consider voting Labour in the upcoming Holyrood elections as Anas Sarwar’s hopes of becoming First Minister continue to fade,…
www.heraldscotland.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:12 PM
If we're serious about this, there are many, many more UK politicians guilty of taking Russian bribes. Mostly in the Conservative Party.
Reform UK’s former Wales leader jailed for taking bribes for pro-Russia speeches
Police say Nathan Gill received at least £40,000 while he was an MEP from Oleg Voloshyn, an alleged Russian asset
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
"bad boy of Maga"

He's a fucking neo-nazi! What is this framing!?
Why Republicans can’t ignore Nick Fuentes, the new bad boy of Maga

The antisemitic far-right provocateur has grown into a voice for angry young white nationalists who feel betrayed by Trump
Why Republicans can’t ignore Nick Fuentes, the new bad boy of Maga
Why Republicans can’t ignore Nick Fuentes, the new bad boy of Maga
www.thetimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Jumper weather 🐾
November 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
As this article points out, the unemployment rate in Cowdenbeath is double the national average. But house prices in Dunfermline have increased faster than anywhere in the country in the past 2 years, indicating a growing population and economy.

Both will be hit by disorganised deindustrialisation.
November 21, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
On the announced closure of Exxon's Mossmorran facility.
November 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Ukrainian officials are right to call this a capitulation. There's no world in which this deal is acceptable.

It's up to the Ukrainians to decide what's best for their country. But under no circumstances should other European states validate this by e.g. accepting Russia back into the G7/8.
🚨🚨This is no "peace" plan, it is a recipe for further suffering and #Russian imperialist expansion in the #west. It is difficult to appreciate just how much damage the #trump administration has done to #Ukraine and its war efforts. It is disgusting beyond words. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Ukraine banned from Nato, Russia readmitted to the G8 and territory ceded: what’s in Trump’s draft plan
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects to discuss the plan – which was reportedly drafted by Russian and US officials – with Trump
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
🚨🚨This is no "peace" plan, it is a recipe for further suffering and #Russian imperialist expansion in the #west. It is difficult to appreciate just how much damage the #trump administration has done to #Ukraine and its war efforts. It is disgusting beyond words. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Ukraine banned from Nato, Russia readmitted to the G8 and territory ceded: what’s in Trump’s draft plan
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects to discuss the plan – which was reportedly drafted by Russian and US officials – with Trump
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Labour are in quite the predicament ahead of the Holyrood elections, but they'll find it's all been of their own making, from blowing their own feet off with WFA cuts to an industrial strategy that's botching the 'just transition'.

My latest for @heraldscotland.bsky.social:
Labour faces uphill battle as Scots snub Sarwar ahead of Holyrood vote
Few Scots would now consider voting Labour in the upcoming Holyrood elections as Anas Sarwar’s hopes of becoming First Minister continue to fade,…
www.heraldscotland.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
New blog!

For our series by @regfedst.bsky.social, Onyedikachi Madueke writes that Nigeria is drifting towards federal autocracy as power concentrates across every tier of government.

Read more: edin.ac/4oTR92h
November 21, 2025 at 12:08 PM
This is a great column in an annoyingly "god I could be such a better writer than I am" way.

More importantly, it hits the nail on the head re things like otherwise sane people staying on X and continuing to poison their minds, in a way lots of us have tried to articulate but haven't done this well
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself

it is also free to read

youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
I would be pretty embarrassed/ashamed to be associated with a company (and company) this stupid. But I guess the payday is worth it to some people
November 20, 2025 at 5:23 PM
COVID inquiry findings are incredibly damning.

"They had no choice by then [to implement lockdown in March], but it was through their own acts and omissions that they had no choice."

If lockdown had been implemented a week later, the death toll of the first wave could have been reduced by 48%.
November 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan
"JPMorgan filed suspicious activity reports covering $4.3 million in transactions by Mr. Epstein from 2002 to 2016. But it waited until after Mr. Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and subsequent death to file reports that described some $1.3 billion in transactions as suspicious."
Wyden Presses for Investigation Into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:07 PM