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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 7d

It’s obviously woeful, as is her condescending tone.

But, I do wish we no longer placed any emphasis on %s of the 2016 referendum vote (especially when describing constituencies in England - I’d make an exception for Northern Ireland as a whole).

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 8d

The near consensus view was that Keir Starmer's conference speech was his best yet. I heard something different. I think it was born of a profound weakness- and in its own way set up his own future failure.

My latest

goodallandgoodluck.substack.com/p/keir-starm... open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

Keir Starmer: the new Joe Biden?

The consensus view was that Keir Starmer's speech was his best yet. I think it was born of deep frailty.

open.substack.com

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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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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 9d

He has a history of telling the party what it wants to hear. (He does the same with eg Trump; all a sign that he may be more ‘political’ (and/or less principled) than many believe).

I will be watching to see if this approach is repeated in other forums.

But it wouldn’t surprise me if it isn’t. 3/3

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 9d

It was a speech *to the Labour conference*, at a time when the party is increasingly unhappy with his leadership, and their position in the polls.

It was the speech he needed to give to quieten the dissent, and secure his position.

So… he gave it. 2/3

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 9d

I’ve now read a lot of commentary on Starmer’s speech, and it’s mainly positive. I tend to agree with that positive assessment, and welcome the long-overdue critique of Reform.

But, in the rush to find and enjoy the positives, one aspect seems to have been overlooked. 1/3

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 17d

Off on a bit of a tangent to the main thread (which is great), this tendency is, I think, the spark for the cancel culture/free speech obsession from the right.

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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17d

🧵 The left in most countries comprises factions arguing that progressive party X must be more left, more centre, or split the difference. The often poor result is then bent into validating the thesis, amplify in-fighting. In fact, data points to in-fighting as the most influential voter turn-off. 1/

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 17d

This lavishing a state visit on the President thing - how’s it going, one week on?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 17d

Trump to the UN: "I have to say, I look at London where you have a terrible mayor -- terrible terrible mayor -- and it's been so changed, so changed. Now they want to go to Sharia Law ... both their immigration and their suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe."

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 28d

Like this… bsky.app/profile/blad...

BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 28d

Governor of Utah, "I was praying that it was an immigrant."

The USA is a hellhole, to smear immigrants like this on stage in front of the whole country when they had nothing to do with it.

This is disgusting.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 28d

What’s most depressing and divisive is that it feels like there is always a lot riding on the ethnicity, and political beliefs, of those doing ‘bad things’.

Statistics don’t make a difference.

The ‘bad things’ are just a pretext for condemning others.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 28d

Note to self: Do not confuse Calvin and Tyler Robinson again.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 29d

Yes - but I don’t think I could face a ‘Khan v Farage’ election.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 29d

Burnham is, for me, much the best candidate (but given all the obstacles perhaps not a good bet!). It’s probably just by virtue of distance from this Govt, which says a lot.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 29d

He needs to become an MP first. So there’s a long road ahead.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 29d

I looked at some odds. The betting goes Streeting (3/1); Cooper and Burnham (6/1); Lammy and Mahmood (15/2); Jones (10/1); Reeves and Phillipson (20/1). No Rayner to be seen…

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · 29d

It feels very far-fetched, but I can't see (m)any better candidates if Starmer doesn't reach the next GE (given how the reset has gone, it looks increasingly possible that he will not).

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · Sep 11

There is something about a man whose job was to ignore moral scruples and endeavour to maintain a close relationship with a controversial, volatile, criminal acting outside societal norms, being sacked from that job for… you know the rest.

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · Sep 10

Last few hours. lol.

Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · Sep 10

My main observation from the last few hours of monitoring US social media is that Democrats are universally denouncing political violence and calling for calm while MAGA are escalating language and openly lusting for retribution against broad categories of people they identity as their enemies.

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · Sep 9

NEW: The law is supposed to protect unaccompanied migrant children from being summarily whisked out of the country by ICE in the dead of night.

But that didn't seem to matter on Labor Day weekend, when the Trump administration tried to do just that.

My latest: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

The Judicial Learning Curve by Anna Bower on Lawfare
"District Court judges watch each other struggle with the Trump administration--and adapt."

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · Sep 10

That's quite a big if.

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Lee Savage @leesavage.bsky.social · Sep 10

Politicians need to be pushed on this. Ask them, what they expect to happen if they manage to stop all the boats? Protesters go home happy? No. You could get immigration down to zero and they still wond be satisfied
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What is the endgame in this toxic immigration debate: is it friends and neighbours thrown out of the country? | Jonthan Liew

The notion of remigration was abstract, but the right is dragging it towards respectability. If the goal is homogeneous whiteness, they should say it, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew

www.theguardian.com

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · Sep 10

It looks like we can look forward to ever more outlandish fantasy, from government and opposition alike… and an ever growing list of unworkable solutions and unsolved problems. 4/4

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · Sep 10

But incumbent parties (with Trump inevitably showing the path forward) are learning, and adapting to the new world.

They too can peddle fantasy politics.

And… they have an array of tools to deploy to distort, and hide, reality. 3/4

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Phil Syrpis @syrpis.bsky.social · Sep 10

One consequence is that things have become difficult for incumbent parties. They tend to find it harder to escape the constraints imposed by reality than do those who have the luxury of opposition. 2/4

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