Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
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twopenneth.bsky.social
Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
@twopenneth.bsky.social
"Beware of false knowledge, it is more dangerous than ignorance": GBS
“I am so well acquainted with despair, I know not how to hope.”
Retired engineering manager. Garden designer, BSc Eng. Left of centre. Art dabbler. Cats👍🏼
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Staggering that 24% of voters in this advanced country continue to believe in a bunch of entitled bigots with unworkable policies, whose very ideas put us in the abject chaos we are in. Truly God awful idiots, and I make no apology for saying that.
YouGov Reform 24% (Reform + Cons 42% on the right) fits genereal pattern: Reform 2026 < Reform 2025.

Westminster Voting Intention:
REF: 24% (-3)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (=)
GRN: 17% (+1)
LDM: 13% (-1)
SNP: 3% (=)
OTH: 4% (+2)

Via @YouGov, On 15-16th February,
Changes w/ 8-9 February.
February 17, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
"Having helped drive the country into the ditch, Braverman now pops up beside Nigel Farage to announce a rescue mission. The pitch is familiar: blame migrants, sneer at institutions, promise fixes that fit on a placard. Same wreckage, new costume."
westenglandbylines.co.uk/politics/sue...
Suella Braverman: “Britain is broken; Reform will fix it”
Suella Braverman’s move to Reform UK has reignited debate over claims Britain is in decline and whether populists offer credible solutions
westenglandbylines.co.uk
February 17, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Brits would decisively support rejoining the European Union if a new referendum were held, according to the latest polling from YouGov, with clear majorities emerging across all age groups – especially among younger voters

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/bri...
Brits would overwhelmingly back Rejoin in new referendum
Brits would decisively support rejoining the European Union if a new referendum were held, YouGov polling has found.
www.thelondoneconomic.com
February 17, 2026 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
This person does not understand the idea of a counterfactual. It's not true that the '4%' imagines a Britain that 'avoided every global shock, and followed a perfectly smooth pre-2016 trend forever.' It judges that on average, in all scenarios, shock or no shock, we'd eventually be 4% poorer.
February 17, 2026 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Labour shut down an idiotic Tory project that wasted £110 million trying to create "frictionless borders" after Brexit.

(Like trying to figure out how to drive faster when you refuse to disengage the handbrake.)

A reminder that Brexit wrecks everything it encounters.

archive.ph/2026.02.17-0...
February 17, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
🔴‘Keir Starmer’s Government Is Ignoring Growing Demands to Come Clean on Russian Interference in Our Democracy

A long-promised bill to clean up the funding of British politics and protect against foreign interference has failed to deliver, argues Sergei Cristo

bylinetimes.com/2026/02/17/k...
'Keir Starmer's Government Is Ignoring Growing Demands to Come Clean on Russian Interference in Our Democracy
A long-promised bill to clean up the funding of British politics and protect against foreign interference has failed to deliver, argues Sergei Cristo
bylinetimes.com
February 17, 2026 at 10:16 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
It says a lot abiut the intellectual heft of Farage fans that 13% of them want to reverse his only policy achievement.
Should the U.K. join the EU? A clear difference between people who want to move society forward, and those who wish to drag us backwards.
February 17, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
In case you missed it ...
Canada is now closer to the EU than Britain, and Canada is head of the queue when it comes to contracts for non-EU members. Proof again that Starmer's non-reset has merely solidified our place in the wilderness.
#RejoinEU 🇬🇧🇪🇺
PM Carney: Canada is now the first non-European country to be granted a membership in SAFE. This is a gamechanger program that means Canada can rearm our Canadian Armed Forces members more effectively and scale up our defence industries with more contracts overseas.
February 16, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Looking at this and it shows Hannan's complete ignorance of a coinage that ceased to be in general use a year before he was born in ... Peru... and 7 years before he came to the UK.

Most of those coins ceased
production in 1966/67 so SIXTY years ago.... although collectors versions were made 1970
February 16, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Reform is soft on Russia. And it's stuff like this which explains why 👇🏻
February 16, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
RIP to Robert Duvall, inarguably one of the greatest actors in the history of film. Damn this is sad. 😢🙏
February 16, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
😬Not the best look for Reform’s Gorton & Denton candidate Matt Goodwin

White supremacist far right activist says

“you've appeared on our podcasts, had dinner with us, had us write for your Substack, and sought our advice on how to write your social media posts”

Tad awkward😬
February 16, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Can anyone read this in any other way than that Epstein was using cryptocurrency to fund Bannon's antics with Farage, Johnson, Salvini and Le Pen?
From Epstein's conversations with Bannon, it's pretty clear that he wasn't just advising him on crypto funding for his far-right European 'movement' but also providing it. No doubt laundered through this spurious 'film' - Epstein had advised 'journalism/media' was the perfect cover
February 16, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Great response!

“It’s very hard to believe these accusations. I come from a country [Estonia] that is number two in the Press Freedom Index – so hearing criticism regarding press freedom from a country like the United States, which is 57th on this list, is interesting."
Free speech, eh? Top EU diplomat humiliates US over 'low press freedom ranking'
Though the US delegation took a slightly more measured approach than usual, one senior EU figure managed to land a flawl
www.thelondoneconomic.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Both JD Vance’s speech from last year and Marco Rubio’s speech at this year’s Munich Security Conference make one thing clear: the time when we could rely on the US has passed. We need closer ties with the EU.
Why Marco Rubio’s ‘reassuring’ speech to Europe was nothing of the kind | Nathalie Tocci
After JD Vance’s frontal attack in Munich last year, the secretary of state’s tone seemed almost soothing. That’s just a
www.theguardian.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Asked back in 2019 about reports of his work with Steve Bannon, Boris Johnson described them as “the biggest load of codswallop I have ever heard.”

His spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment following the publication of Bannon's messages to Epstein confirming the relationship
Bannon, Epstein, Farage and Johnson and the Plot to 'Topple' Theresa May
The far-right former Trump adviser told Jeffrey Epstein that "we are overthrowing May right now" as he worked with Boris Johnson to remove the then Conservative Prime Minister from office
bylinetimes.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Blimey. Looks like Matt Goodwin, who seems to think the Handmaid's Tale is an instruction manual, is in the pay of an Orban think tank, funded by Russian oil money.
Orbán’s pay cheques: Reform candidate fuelled by profits from Russian oil
The Reform candidate at this month’s byelection claims he wants to put Britain first, but is he still on the payroll of Viktor Orbán’s far-right propaganda unit?
goodlaw.social
February 16, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
They are very weird people, and it will be their downfall.

Performative religious nationalism might work in America, but most British people - including most Christians - think it's weird.
Charlie Downes (Restore Britain, campaign director): "More than anything, it is Christian faith. Ancestry and it is Christian faith"

Alex Phillips: "So if you are not a Christian, you can't be British?"

CD: "Well. You are certainly less British if you are not a believer in Christian principles".
February 16, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
'Concerns were recently raised by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLIF), a voluntary group of solicitors, about references to “Palestine” '

What Israel wants it gets

The genocidal state now sets policy in the British Museum

Despicable

www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
British Museum removes word ‘Palestine’ from some displays
Museum revises labelling on maps and panels, saying term used inaccurately and no longer historically neutral
www.theguardian.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
“Russia’s economy hasn’t collapsed. It has entered the “death zone” — surviving by consuming its own future. Growth at 1%. Budget deficit rising. Military sector expands while civilian industry shrinks.
Interest payments > education + healthcare. No climber survives this altitude forever.”
Russia’s economy has entered the death zone
Alexandra Prokopenko wonders how much longer it can go on metabolising its own muscle tissue
www.economist.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Reform's candidate Matthew Goodwin challenged for calling it "insane" to prosecute a man for "start the slaughter. Violence & murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head to MPs’ houses & Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE’
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
February 16, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
NEW from @tbij.bsky.social:
The government has rejected calls by its OWN independent Migration Advisory Committee for visa reforms to protect migrant farm workers from exploitation

Labour seems wedded to a model of immigration based on creating a subclass of exploited worker.
It's sick.
February 16, 2026 at 8:43 AM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Europe Is Now in Position to Replace U.S. Intelligence Support
open.substack.com/pub/shankarn...
Europe Is Now in Position to Replace U.S. Intelligence Support
Within months, if required
open.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
🟨 Print Edition — Nazir Afzal: ‘Class Discrimination Isn’t a Complex Mystery – It’s a Structural Issue Quietly Enforced, Politely Denied, Endlessly Deferred’

The Chancellor of Manchester University has co-authored a new report, ‘Class Ceiling’…
Nazir Afzal: ‘Class Discrimination Isn’t a Complex Mystery – It’s a Structural Issue Quietly Enforced, Politely Denied, Endlessly Deferred’  – Byline Times Digital / Print Edition
The Chancellor of Manchester University has co-authored a new report, ‘Class Ceiling’, examining working-class participation in the creative industries across Greater Manchester. He spoke to Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes about how opportunities for people from poorer backgrounds has declined since the 1960s, and why his work prosecuting the grooming gangs perpetrators as the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West informed his insights on class
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
February 15, 2026 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇳 #FBPE
Cost of Privatisation

Royal Mail letters sit undelivered 'for weeks', parcels prioritised

RM doesn't meet letter delivery targets. Urgent letters missed. Fines passed to customers

Profiteering:
Price Now: Ist class stamp £1.70; 2nd class 87p.
When privatised in 2013: 1st class 60p; 2nd class 50p.
Royal Mail staff tell BBC letters sit undelivered as firm prioritises parcels
Staff and customers tell the BBC prioritising parcels can mean missed NHS appointments and late payment fines.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 7:34 AM