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Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 4h

No, it's not. It's all a lie. The blunt truth is across the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them.

Iain Mansfield @igmansfield.bsky.social · 4h

Outstanding piece by Stephen Daisley.

Ethnicity is no barrier to Britishness - it's culture and integration.

That means 'smaller cohorts and aggressive integration policies' - and tackling the institutions that 'have amplified grievance narratives and radical anti-Western ideologies'.

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Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 1d

Why most polls overstate support for political violence
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/most-polls...

Why most polls overstate support for political violence

Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

"Thatcher theatre" - pretty much sums up cul-de-sac into which the Conservative Party has driven itself in the decades since her defenestration. And now it too, risks becoming a museum piece, fit only for two or three glass display cases rather than a return to office.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 1d

If we decided every seat via an algorithm that gives each party a win % equal to their polling vote share we'd end up with a more representative Parliament than we would with our current electoral system.

If your democracy won't deliver democratic outcomes, it's broken.

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 1d

Somebody help me, my electoral system, he is very sick

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 1d

New YouGov Westminster poll:

RFM: 27% (-2)
LAB: 20% (-2)
CON: 17% (+1)
LDM: 17% (+2)
GRN: 12% (+1)
SNP: 4% (+1)

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 1d

where were u wen First Past The Post die

i was at house projecting Uniform National Swing model when phone ring

"First Past The Post is kil"

"yes"

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 1d

New YouGov Westminster poll:

RFM: 27% (-2)
LAB: 20% (-2)
CON: 17% (+1)
LDM: 17% (+2)
GRN: 12% (+1)
SNP: 4% (+1)

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 1d

"if a job shouldn't exist then it isn't really a job"

What are the criteria for determining whether a job "should" exist? What does Kemi even mean by that? Beyond the circular logic of "I want to cut it, therefore it shouldn't exist, so it isn't a real job, which is why I want to cut it".

LBC @lbc.co.uk · 1d

"So you're laying waste to people's jobs, but you don't know how many?"

Kemi Badenoch plans to get rid of 'quite a lot' of civil servants.

She doesn't have the exact figure, but she assures Nick that she's 'looked at it'.

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Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

Pushed repeatedly on why she doesn't know how many civil servants would lose their jobs under her plans, Kemi Badenoch finally goes with: "If a job shouldn't exist then it isn't really a job".

LBC @lbc.co.uk · 1d

"So you're laying waste to people's jobs, but you don't know how many?"

Kemi Badenoch plans to get rid of 'quite a lot' of civil servants.

She doesn't have the exact figure, but she assures Nick that she's 'looked at it'.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 1d

I think it only goes to 40 because that's the oldest anyone in the sample is.

Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan

Centre on Constitutional Change @ccc-research.bsky.social · 1d

New blog!

Making Sense of Turbulent Politics in Multi-Level Europe

@davidevampa.bsky.social shows how turbulence in European politics extends into Europe’s regions and devolved arenas, making volatility a multi-level, territorial, and consequential phenomenon

Read more: edin.ac/4n38rs4

Making Sense of Turbulent Politics in Multi-Level Europe

European politics is no longer defined by stability but by turbulence. Established parties are losing ground, new challengers are rising, and elections are becoming less predictable. Turbulence is not...

edin.ac

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

Reminds me of the efforts made to resist UK immigration enforcement in Glasgow, a few years ago.

They were more persistent than these ICE goons, but could never have overcome the community. They rely on intimidation driving inaction.

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 2d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

I mean, we spend *millions* every year training psychologists just to not hire them because the NHS, which pays for the training, can't afford to.

We're not exactly allocating resources efficiently.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

We have, for example, NHS Orkney's CEO sending out emails about needing to make cuts in order to be financially sustainable while that same health board is supposed to be taking on Western Isles psychology patients because the latter has *one* psychologist.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

That should come as no surprise given the development of age trends in voting over the past decade or so.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

There are health boards on the verge of special measures that are propping up the psychology services of other health boards that have all but eliminated those services.

There's nothing left to cut in the Scottish mental health budget but bone and marrow.

Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth.bsky.social · 3d

Scotland’s leading mental health organisations are demanding answers over what appears to be a multi-million-pound cut to direct mental health spending, quietly buried in the Scottish Government’s Autumn Budget Revision. @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2551697...

Charities demand answers from Scottish Government over secret £16m mental health cut

Groups including SAMH and the RCGPs say ministers need to explain a gap in mental health funding exposed by the Autumn Budget Revision.

www.heraldscotland.com

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Reposted by Mark McGeoghegan

Andrew Learmonth @andrewlearmonth.bsky.social · 3d

Scotland’s leading mental health organisations are demanding answers over what appears to be a multi-million-pound cut to direct mental health spending, quietly buried in the Scottish Government’s Autumn Budget Revision. @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2551697...

Charities demand answers from Scottish Government over secret £16m mental health cut

Groups including SAMH and the RCGPs say ministers need to explain a gap in mental health funding exposed by the Autumn Budget Revision.

www.heraldscotland.com

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

"But the polls..."

As much as I think polling, in the *right* and *responsible* hands, can be a useful aspect of democracy insofar as they help us understand public opinion, they should in no way dictate the weight we give to politicians and parties.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

This is a party with virtually the same number of MPs as Reform (4 v. 5).

The way the BBC is treating Reform, compared to the Lib Dems and the Greens, is a dereliction of their duty as a public broadcaster.

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2d

BBC accused of 'extraordinary' anti-Green bias after party say the Laura Kuenssberg Show scrapped a promised interview with @zackpolanski.bsky.social on Sunday.

Green sources say the show also refused to interview Polanski after he was elected as leader last month

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/06/b...

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

And, of course, it eventually applies to citizens who were born here but don't fulfil certain moral "standards" of whomever is in government.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

How long until the Overton window shifts enough that this becomes: you only get the benefits of the social contract if you were born here - even if you're naturalised, we'll just take away your citizenship.

It's not like we wouldn't have precedents for both at this point.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

When someone immigrates to the UK, especially immigrants who stay long enough to get ILR, they become part of our social contract.

This policy is an essentially nativist and racist one that dictates that you only get the benefits of the social contract if you were born here or become a national.

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 2d

Denying all benefits to non-UK nationals sounds simple but it would mean excluding people who might have lived and paid tax in the UK for many years. And - as the interview shows - it’s not very clear what they should do under the Tory plan.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tories say people denied benefits in UK can return to home countries

Mel Stride outlines plans to slash £47bn a year from public spending, including £23bn welfare cut

www.theguardian.com

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

It's about as on-brand as Murdo publicity grabs get tbf

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

Shocking thing for a fan of such a historically inclusive club to say.

'No more Buddhists or vegans at Rangers' says Conservative MSP

The former deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives has called for "no more Buddhists" as Rangers manager following the sacking of…

www.heraldscotland.com

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 2d

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 3d

The Tories come out against property rights...

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 3d

Mandatory Touching Grass Time as a central policy plank. Paid for by, oh I dunno, let's say a tax on social media companies that I'll inevitably back down from.

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 3d

Right, that's it. I'm founding a new populist party of the centre called Go Outside!

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 3d

The UK is “madly left, madly liberal, hyper-progressive”, Syed says. This is a deeply odd speech, seemingly from yet another person who spends a lot of time on X.

[I deleted earlier post which had the typo of saying, 'US' rather than 'UK'.]

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