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cynic65.bsky.social
@cynic65.bsky.social
170 followers 320 following 52 posts
Professional cynic & europhile into good food & even better wine, Socialism, Humanism, MMT & Liverpool FC. Alter ego of Mike Cawood
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Reposted
iandunt.bsky.social
Antonia Romeo is the wrong choice for Cabinet secretary. A government which was serious about improving its performance would not select her.

iandunt.substack.com/p/how-one-hi...
February 13, 2026 at 12:32 PM
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snellarthur.bsky.social
A fair amount of nonsense has been written and said about the "security vetting" process for Mandelson's appointment. I wrote about what "Developed Vetting" really involves and why it's perfectly possible that it found nothing useful about Mandelson.

arthursnell.substack.com/p/the-vettin...
The Vetting Myth
Understanding the realities of Mandelson's pre-appointment checks
arthursnell.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:29 PM
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phillipspobrien.bsky.social
Just sent out my free weekend update. The big, tragic, story of the week is that Trump was a direct accomplice in helping Russia commit arguably its largest war crime so far--a double mass attack on Ukrainian civilian life. Trump provided cover for Russian murder. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
Weekend Update #171: The Week Trump Helped Putin Commit Two War Crimes
Negotiating Over Ukraine, Europe Must Be There; US Sanctions Again, Really?
open.substack.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:02 AM
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edwinhayward.com
A one-term Labour government is the absolute worst possible outcome of the 2024 GE.

Not long enough to fix anything. Long enough to whitewash away all Tory sins.

I wrote about it at length in 2023. If you take the time to read the article you'll understand my position.

medium.com/@edwinhaywar...
How Labour can avoid a one-term disaster: a Brexit and PR roadmap
Britain is at a crossroads. The next general election may determine the fate of the country for decades to come. But Labour face a daunting…
medium.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:28 AM
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specialscot.bsky.social
"Chaps, we're all in this together".
February 6, 2026 at 8:45 PM
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mrjamesob.bsky.social
Paging @iaindale.bsky.social x
January 28, 2026 at 5:22 PM
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mickeykuhns.bsky.social
A message from Greenland…
January 26, 2026 at 3:07 AM
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implausibleblog.bsky.social
Shocking! The clearest view of ICE murdering the man in Minnesota

ICE push his friend down
He goes to help them
ICE spray him
ICE pull them apart
ICE jump him
You can see ICE pull out a gun
ICE shoot him multiple times

Witness who filmed it repeatedly shouting,

"What the f*ck did you just do"
January 24, 2026 at 7:19 PM
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phillipspobrien.bsky.social
Just released my free weekend update. This week answered an important riddle. How was the US to be paid from seized Russian assets? why the new "Board of Peace" is the perfect vehicle. Completely unaccountable and unsanctionable, it is a corrupt ruler’s dream. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
Weekend Update #169: A Corruption Riddle Solved
Zelensky's Speech In Davos; Ukrainian Plans To Waste The Russian Military
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:04 AM
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vivamjm.bsky.social
Once again, a thread for the Brexit ignorant 

1/ All countries start with their own market standards, regulated & customs territory. If an outsider wants to sell on it you must prove you meet its standards & pay a tariff at its border
December 7, 2024 at 6:05 PM
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adambienkov.bsky.social
How Morgan McSweeney's '0% strategy' failed to win over Reform voters while haemorrhaging Labour's own support base to the Greens

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/morgan-mcs...
Morgan McSweeney’s 0% Strategy
The plot to block Andy Burnham's return to Westminster tells you everything you need to know about how Keir Starmer's Government got itself into this mess
www.adambienkov.co.uk
January 24, 2026 at 8:41 AM
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lukemcgee.bsky.social
“With the 10 year anniversary coming up, there are real opportunities to point out all the failures of Brexit and pin a lot of it on Farage.”

open.substack.com/pub/lukemcge...
How Labour should handle the looming debate on Brexit
Labour cannot afford their own version of the Tory madness that paralysed politics
open.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:56 AM
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snellarthur.bsky.social
It was my sombre duty back in 2010 to honour Danish and British war dead as part of my daily job in Helmand. It feels emblematic of a flawed relationship.
arthursnell.substack.com/p/an-especia...
An Especially Flawed Relationship
There have been valid questions about the Transatlantic Relationship for years.
arthursnell.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:36 PM
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georgemonbiot.bsky.social
1. This short thread is about the issue that dominates almost every aspect of politics, and causes or exacerbates most of our problems: the extreme wealth of a small number of people. Here’s the amazing thing: almost the entire political class aligns with the ultra-rich against the rest. 🧵1/10
January 23, 2026 at 11:30 AM
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guitarmoog.bsky.social
Lessons from this farrago:
1. He rules by whim. Be ready for anything, however absurd
2. Things said yesterday are irrelevant today
3. Favours will not be repaid. Sucking-up gets you sweet FA
4. ”Friends” & ”allies” = meaningless terms*
5. A strong United front works
6. Hurt the markets, hurt him**
davekeating.substack.com Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 23d
What we saw from the leaders as they came into this 🇪🇺#EUCO summit is that everyone has their own interpretation of what happened over the past 24 hours.

The Meloni camp thinks it was calm negotiation that saved the day. The Macron camp think it was Europe showing its teeth.
EU holds crisis summit to reevaluate transatlantic relations
YouTube video by Dave Keating
youtu.be
January 22, 2026 at 8:20 PM
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iandunt.bsky.social
Dear Christ
espiers.bsky.social Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 22d
This is so stupid and crazy it wouldn’t have passed muster in the Veep writer’s room. Also demonstrates that they’d be insane to share any real intel with Patel.
January 23, 2026 at 1:43 PM
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dailyherald.bsky.social
🚨 Now trending 🚨

A video from 6 years ago is resurfacing where Nigel Farage was accused, during his time as an MEP, of failing to declare over £500k in financial support.

x.com/i/status/201...
x.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:44 PM
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onestpress.onestnetwork.com
Sky News: Danish PM Mette Freideriksen’s note in the visitors book when she visited UK today
Visit of the Prime Minister of Denmark 22nd Jawary 2026 We'll get by with a little help from our friends
January 23, 2026 at 4:59 AM
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thebulwark.com
"We have seen empires fall and civilizations crumble. But we’ve almost never seen a people renounce their leadership of the world—all at once, in full public view. That is what has happened in the 365 days since January 20, 2025."
This Is the End
Putinism abroad always morphs into Putinism at home. And we chose this path. Why? Because something-something the price of eggs.
lnk.thebulwark.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:00 AM
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tobyontv.bsky.social
not only is this an appalling take which attacks Starmer for the actions of a lunatic and not the lunatic, but also strays well beyond ‘unbiased’ reporting
January 20, 2026 at 9:36 AM
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gabrielzucman.bsky.social
We hear it all the time:

Since the turn of the 2010s, thanks to the rise of tech, the US has pulled ahead economically.

This idea is everywhere from Washington to Davos—and it's paralyzing Europe

But it's simply not true!

Let's look at what's really happening, with charts🧵
January 20, 2026 at 8:59 PM
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phillipspobrien.bsky.social
If Europeans do not grasp today that they need new united structures to provide for their defense and security (both economic and military), they never will.
January 20, 2026 at 3:04 PM
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iandunt.bsky.social
Adelaide and the crisis of free speech iandunt.substack.com/p/adelaide-a...
January 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM
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snellarthur.bsky.social
So many good lines in this, but I particularly enjoyed "Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls."
thecritic.co.uk/francis-urqu...
Francis Urquhart or Baldrick? | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well…
thecritic.co.uk
January 16, 2026 at 2:58 PM
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13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
“It seems unlikely not to have occurred to [Farage] that the reason he is so popular… is that so many people have had enough not just of people like Zahawi, but in this case, people who literally are Zahawi”

Here’s to hoping their piss-taking opportunism does for them both.

(Times sketch)
Extract: Farage's one-man band adds a disgraced banjo Tom Peck Political Sketch the sketch writers keep saying we're a one-man band," " said Nigel Farage, 48 hours after some idiot sketch writer in The Times had called Reform UK a one-man band. The sketch writers clearly needed to be taught a lesson but what happened next was surely overkill, when out on to the stage and back into the political big time strode Nadhim Zahawi. How would we describe Reform UK now? What part of the one-man band is the party's newest defector? Is there even such a thing as a discredited mouth organ? A disgraced banjo? There was no time to think about that. First there was a pre-roll video of Zahawi, a stirring montage biography of the kind you used to see on the X Factor judges' houses episode, immediately before a painter and decorator from Croydon murders a Michael Buble cover next to Simon Cowell's swimming pool. "l've gone from councillor to chancellor of the exchequer," Zahawi said, looking beyond the camera and into the middle distance, where a brighter future may theoretically lie. Zahawi is extremely proud of his time as chancellor of the exchequer, which lasted exactly two months and was mainly spent paying his own tax bills to HMRC. "Westminster watchers", , as Zahawi called us, may recall the very first thing he did as chancellor, which was to get hold of a piece of HM Treasury notepaper and use it to write a letter to Boris Johnson, who had appointed him fully 48 hours before, to tell him to resign. "Britain is drinking in the last chance saloon," said Zahawi, over soft string music, "and it really does need Nigel Farage as prime minister." In the questions at the end, someone had the temerity to bring up a social media post, written by Zahawi in 2015, in which he had said of his new best mate: "I would be frightened to live in a country run by you." Zahawi let out a little smile. "If I thought this man next to me had an issue, in any way, with people from my background, I wouldn't be sitting next to him," he said, and then he reached over and placed a loving hand on Nigel's elbow. Smiles can say a lot. This one specifically seemed to be saying, "Come on, guys, if you actually believe a word I say, we're not going to get very far, are we?" Which was just as well, because no one does. As the press conference wore on, Farage did not seem his usual ebullient self. Smiles were forced. Brows were creased. Farage is as canny as they come. It seems unlikely not to have occurred to him that the reason he is so popular, the one reason that towers above all others, is that so many people have had enough not just of people like Zahawi, but in this case, people who literally are Zahawi. Zahawi seemed to think people would be "shocked" to see him defecting to Reform. People were shocked, but not quite for the reasons he thinks. That Zahawi decided to ask Farage out is no surprise at all. What is more surprising is that Farage said yes. The Tory stampede to Reform is now very much in full swing. At some point, Farage will surely have to say no to someone. He must have a limit. It's a remarkable thing to say, but at the moment Farage can't seem to find the bar.
January 13, 2026 at 7:22 AM