@westerneuropean
@westerneuropean.bsky.social
830 followers 1.9K following 430 posts
Retired university administrator. Interests include: Climate change, Brexit, UK Economy, Politics, Education, History and Music. Based in Devon, UK
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Reposted by @westerneuropean
goodclimate.bsky.social
Gibraltar suspends applications for residence after treaty news prompted flood of requests from Brits.

www.chronicle.gi/new-residenc...
Reposted by @westerneuropean
chrisgrey.bsky.social
Simon Calder's reporting on the travel impact of Brexit has been good, but the strangely-worded final line of this ("under the Brexit deal, Boris Johnson’s government negotiated for UK passport holders to become third-country nationals") suggests that, even now, Brexit isn't really understood.
Reposted by @westerneuropean
gregsargent.bsky.social
Stephen Miller just said that Chicago ICE raid was one of the most successful law enforcement operations ever. I asked Pritzker to respond.

"If this was Pinochet’s Chile, if this was Argentina under authoritarian rule, maybe you’d call it successful," he said. 2/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...
Reposted by @westerneuropean
Reposted by @westerneuropean
theukrainianweek.bsky.social
Russian drone (497) & missile (32) strikes wounded at least 22 people in #Ukraine️, including Kyiv overnight, damaged homes & caused blackouts. Russia killed a child, Makar Dorosh, aged 7, in Zaporizhzhia.
Russian attacks killed 6, injured 45 civilians over past day. #StopRussia
Reposted by @westerneuropean
dpcarrington.bsky.social
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has 15-year business record of supporting ‘net stupid zero’ initiatives

- Firms led by Tice since 2011 have shown commitment to saving energy and cutting CO2 emissions

Story by @damiengayle.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Richard Tice has 15-year record of supporting ‘net stupid zero’ initiatives
Firms led by deputy Reform UK leader since 2011 have shown commitment to saving energy and cutting CO2 emissions
www.theguardian.com
westerneuropean.bsky.social
The UK food industry says domestic policies, not global pressures, are forcing grocery bills higher, as food inflation in the country outstrips that of other wealthy economies.
The annual rate of price rises in the UK was 5.1 per cent in August, higher than in Germany, France and the US.
‘Vicious cycle’: the UK’s struggle with soaring food prices
Living wage rises and planning system woes are driving price increases, say producers
www.ft.com
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mayfaircynic.bsky.social
Marco Rubio supported Maria Corina Machado's nomination.
Reposted by @westerneuropean
michaelsderby.bsky.social
Conservative tech lord Thiel said tighter financial regulations “were a sign that a singular world government has begun to emerge that could be taken over by an Antichrist figure who could then use it to exert control over people.” Via WashPost
Inside billionaire Peter Thiel’s private lectures: Warnings of ‘the Antichrist’ and U.S. destruction
In leaked recordings of private lectures by tech billionaire Peter Thiel he argued that “the Antichrist” is likely to take the form of a critic of technology.
www.washingtonpost.com
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dpcarrington.bsky.social
‘Little lungs are paying’: why the #Dieselgate scandal is still running hot

- Car makers accused of cheating air pollution rules have largely avoided punishment for a decade but a historic trial brought by 1.8 million UK motorists is about to begin

Story by me
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘Little lungs are paying’: why the Dieselgate scandal is still running hot
Carmakers accused of cheating air pollution rules have faced little punishment but trial brought by 1.8m UK motorists is about to begin
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by @westerneuropean
slowbikeiain.bsky.social
In 2024 across the whole of the UK just one pedestrian was killed by a cyclist.
peterwalker99.bsky.social
One day - *one day* - a UK newspaper will do a similar count of motor vehicles speeding inside a 20mph zone.
 In 60 minutes I saw 172 cyclists run these lights – it’s a matter of time before they kill someone

The offenders included Lime bike riders, school children and a woman in high-heeled boots
Reposted by @westerneuropean
drjoepajak.bsky.social
COVID, what’s changed?
Latest ENGLAND data source @ukhsa.bsky.social

3,049 Cases
7 days to 1 Oct 2025
+19.0%

87 Deaths
7 days to 26 Sep 2025
+3.6%

2,077 Hospital admissions
7 days to 30 Sep 2025
+9.7%

Virus tests positivity
7 days to 26 Sep 2025
+2.2%
ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-...
COVID, what’s changed?
Latest ENGLAND data source @ukhsa.bsky.social

3,049 Cases 
7 days to 1 Oct 2025
+19.0%

87 Deaths
7 days to 26 Sep 2025
+3.6%

2,077 Hospital admissions
7 days to 30 Sep 2025
+9.7%

Virus tests positivity
7 days to 26 Sep 2025
+2.2%
https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-viruses/covid-19
Reposted by @westerneuropean
chrischirp.bsky.social
🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

1/11
UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation
Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.
www.ucl.ac.uk
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guyshrubsole.bsky.social
"Make ownership of large landholdings public"

Great report from the @digitalcommons.bsky.social with key recommendation that HM Land Registry should make the ownership of landholdings above a certain area threshold publicly available:

digitalcommons.coop/content/file...
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tom-clark.bsky.social
The whole framing here is about “Trump bombast” making the difference rather than, say: Israeli public opinion souring on its govt; various US constituencies turning against war; the extraordinary diplomatic isolation of Israel

All these things at best half nodded at

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by @westerneuropean
drstevetaylor.bsky.social
Why does the NHS keep costing more?
1950 life expectancy was 69yrs it’s now 83yrs

14 more years of experience, living, grandchildren
14yrs of more costs £3600/person/year

5.6million people over 70yrs £20bn/pa

It costs to keep people alive with prevention, treatments, medicine
Reposted by @westerneuropean
eberlmat.bsky.social
Wild to see the Nobel Prize go to someone promoting democratic rights and a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy, instead of someone who deploys the military against his own citizens and incited a violent insurrection to stop the peaceful transition of power after a democratic election
Trump fails in bid for Nobel Peace Prize as surprise winner announced
The news will come as a bitter blow to the US President after he secured a ‘historic’ peace deal between Hamas and Israel
www.independent.co.uk