David Beckett
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iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
David Beckett
@iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
590 followers 250 following 140 posts
Tetraplegic, vegan, Fabian, a man who refuses to let what he can't do stop what he can do

Labour Councillor, proud to represent the Brinkburn and Faverdale ward in Darlington
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iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
A very good and compelling argument for legislative scrutiny of the monarchy, the institution to which all Members (our representatives) swear an oath of allegiance

There is a typo (film flam) in the penultimate paragraph which you may want to correct
August 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Just had the interesting experience of going through the process of verifying my age for @bsky.app, following an emailed link to do a facial scan, which estimated my age

I’m not sure how mature-looking teenagers will fare or how the program deals with people in their 20s or 30s with youthful faces🧐
August 16, 2025 at 7:11 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
The fact that Putin thinks the meeting with Trump was “very useful” and a way to discuss ending the “Ukrainian crisis“ shows how the discussion was on Putin’s terms and will have emboldened the Russian war criminal - Trump was naive to be manipulated by the dictator www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...
August 16, 2025 at 6:53 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Your analysis of Trump’s response to the demonstration in LA and a need to scapegoat is very similar to this exchange in The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard @mrjamesob.bsky.social
June 9, 2025 at 10:34 AM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Maybe they will follow up with a ban on tartan paint and left handed pencils
May 21, 2025 at 12:08 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
I hope the exit polls are accurate and Mr Dan is duly elected as the next president of Romania
Romanian election exit polls suggest surprise win for pro-western candidate Nicusor Dan Exit polls from the Romanian presidential election suggest pro-Western centrist Nicusor Dan is on course for a surprise win over hard-right populist George Simion
May 18, 2025 at 7:04 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
The opinions of Nick Ferrari on this morning’s #LauraK about how the government seeking to use a pragmatic approach to improve the lives of UK citizens and the British economy is typical of a historical revisionism about the question put to the public in 2016 1/4
May 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
The latest blog post by @barristersecret.bsky.social to debunk the absurd claims by some right wing commentators about EDI policies and the membership of the Inns of Court is beautifully written with a blend of humour and statistical analysis

thesecretbarrister.com/2025/05/18/n...
May 18, 2025 at 5:55 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom”
– Donald Trump
April 3, 2025 at 8:40 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
He would probably deny writing it, just as he did when asked about calling Zelenskyy a dictator
March 26, 2025 at 9:32 AM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
This aged badly
March 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Listening to @mrjamesob.bsky.social has just made me look through Catch-22 again and marvel at the brilliance of Joseph Heller’s writing
March 20, 2025 at 10:21 AM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
This is excellent by @iandunt.bsky.social, a a wonderful reaction to what we all witnessed in the Oval Office, what it shows about the character and personality of those involved, and what the UK and Europe must do now
iandunt.substack.com/p/some-dispa...
What we saw yesterday was the single most appalling diplomatic spectacle of our lifetime. I constantly have to check my sentences now for hyperbole, but what else competes? What could ever come close? It was like a fairy tale in reverse. A monstrous grotesque, motivated entirely by greed, power and self-pity, trying to humiliate a man who has risked everything for the survival of his country. To watch Donald Trump or JD Vance is to come face to face with the human potential for viciousness and mendacity. They are the filth of this goddamn world. There's no point going into what happened. You'll have seen it already. But I would like to say this and to have it written down somewhere: Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a hero. There's no-one I look up to more. From the beginning of this war, he has conducted himself with grace, restraint, pragmatism, bravery and singular moral clarity. He did not run. He did not hide. Instead, he formulated a plan to defend his country. He has spent years asking world leaders for what he needs to defeat the enemy. Most of the time, those requests were met. Sometimes they were not. And when they weren't, he did not sulk. He tried something else. Despite the pressure and the anguish, he was rational, level-headed and imaginative. He understood that the best way to protect his country was to deliver an accomplished public relations exercise. He did this with a degree of genius we have not seen since perhaps Nelson Mandela. He spoke softly, but rationally, practically but inspiringly. He showed the world what Ukraine is, what lay inside its heart.
March 1, 2025 at 11:20 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
The answer to the president's question is "yes, Mr President, you did you call President Zelenskyy a dictator. You wrote it on your own social media platform about a week ago"
February 28, 2025 at 10:21 AM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
When the BBC's Chris Mason asked Donald Trump if he still thought Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator", Trump replied: "Did I say that? I can't believe I would say that"

It’s that easy for him to ignore observable facts and documents of his own words, including those he posted himself
February 27, 2025 at 7:40 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Cause and effect?
February 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
"Alleged" is doing some unnecessarily heavy lifting here - it's a shame a publication like The New Statesman can't call things what they are because a Nazi salute is a Nazi salute, whoever does it
February 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
I didn’t see the original post, so don’t know if I have blocked the author (which is unlikely because I don’t think I’ve blocked anyone on here), so did you block them or did they block you?

I don’t know why I can’t see the post to which you are referring
February 18, 2025 at 12:23 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."
– Maya Angelou
Elon Musk giving what appears to be a Nazi gesture News Analysis Trump officials attack a German consensus on Nazis and speech Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk have challenged decades-long the approaches to political extremism that were designed to prevent another Hitler.
February 16, 2025 at 11:31 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
I never thought I'd see the day when the Pope delivered a theological slap down to the Vice President of the United States, but these are strange times
www.vatican.va/content/fran...
6. Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception. [3]
February 11, 2025 at 4:15 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
For the second year, I’ve successfully completed #dryjanuary and raised money for @alcoholchangeuk.bsky.social
February 1, 2025 at 10:37 AM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Source: www.naval-technology.com/news/renamin...
The process to change the name of Boat 7 from HMS Agincourt to HMS Achilles began more than a year ago, meaning its pre-dates the change of UK government from Conservative to Labour in July 2024. This would mean it began in the final months of the premiership of Rishi Sunak, who served as prime minister from October 2022 to July 2024. The name Achilles has been born by six ships previously, having earned six battle honours including Trafalgar, as well as River Plate and Okinawa in World War II. An earlier HMS Achilles was laid down 120 years ago this year, in 1905. “The name was proposed by the Royal Navy Ships Names and Badging committee and approved by His Majesty the King,” a Royal Navy spokesperson told Naval Technology.
January 28, 2025 at 10:08 AM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
Following a process that become under the government in which you served, the ship now has a name that the Royal Navy has used with distinction for over 200 years

Also, someone who has used a pseudonym to flog a get rich-quick-scheme online shouldn't get particularly excited about this name change
January 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
There is an excellent analysis by @davidallengreen.bsky.social of why the legal action by Prince Harry and Lord Watson against News Group Newspapers ended so suffenly; it wasn’t for the reasons so many people immediately suspected

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
The evidence of the text of the apology and the circumstances of how this case came to an end therefore do not point to Prince Harry and Tom Watson being finally defeated by any costs risks. It instead points to the case ending because NGN accepted liability. Accordingly, it seems that it was not the financial might of NGN that defeated the claimants, but the readiness of the defendant to admit to unlawful activity rather than suffer a full trial (which, on limitation, the defendant actually had a fair chance of winning). The case came to an end because the claimants had pressed on despite the most formidable costs threats. The man-trap set against the prince and Watson failed—and NGN was caught in another litigation trap instead.
January 24, 2025 at 4:22 PM
iamdavidbeckett.bsky.social
This is a fine way to spoil a cup of tea and obliterate any flavour from the tea leaves
Kemi Badenoch drinks her tea with evaporated milk and four sugars, and also loves Haribo Tangfantastics
January 10, 2025 at 9:26 AM