@sironpayne.bsky.social
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Cockburn on the LRB podcast here, observing that the upshot of the War on Terror is that almost every independent state between Libya and Afghanistan has either been brought to heel, or smashed into an ungovernable mess that can’t defend itself. And that this was the entire point.
December 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Cockburn on the LRB podcast here, observing that the upshot of the War on Terror is that almost every independent state between Libya and Afghanistan has either been brought to heel, or smashed into an ungovernable mess that can’t defend itself. And that this was the entire point.
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(1)When pundits talk about "competence" , its mostly to avoid talking about politics : Starmer, once lauded by pundits for "competence" makes this clear : He isn't just stiff , awkward and weird because pundits judged badly , its because his politics are stiff, awkward and weird
December 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM
(1)When pundits talk about "competence" , its mostly to avoid talking about politics : Starmer, once lauded by pundits for "competence" makes this clear : He isn't just stiff , awkward and weird because pundits judged badly , its because his politics are stiff, awkward and weird
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If you have a group it's acceptable to torture and extrajudicially murder, the state will be interested in putting all of its enemies into that group.
🧵 I've been trying to articulate this for some time. Definitions matter. Each small precedent leads to the next and snowballs. This started with naming cartels terrorist orgs. Then drug runners "terrorists." reason.com/2025/12/26/j...
Justice Department says filming immigration raids is 'domestic terrorism'
A leaked Justice Department memo directs federal prosecutors to press “domestic terrorism” charges against individuals who record immigration operations.
reason.com
December 27, 2025 at 7:41 PM
If you have a group it's acceptable to torture and extrajudicially murder, the state will be interested in putting all of its enemies into that group.
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(1)Morgan McSweeney founded the Center For Countering Digital Hate (CCDH),an AstroTurf org which he used for a fake attack on left wing website The Canary. Now Trump is deporting CCDH boss Imran Ahmed, because they criticised Elon Musk,will McSweeney & Starmer stand up for their ally against Trump?
December 27, 2025 at 9:54 AM
(1)Morgan McSweeney founded the Center For Countering Digital Hate (CCDH),an AstroTurf org which he used for a fake attack on left wing website The Canary. Now Trump is deporting CCDH boss Imran Ahmed, because they criticised Elon Musk,will McSweeney & Starmer stand up for their ally against Trump?
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Sure, why not bomb Nigeria? Why not just make a big planet-sized bomb with an America-shaped hole cut out of it then drop that thing, and settle this whole problem once and for all.
December 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Sure, why not bomb Nigeria? Why not just make a big planet-sized bomb with an America-shaped hole cut out of it then drop that thing, and settle this whole problem once and for all.
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your dead AI mother loves you so much ❤️
November 15, 2025 at 12:50 AM
your dead AI mother loves you so much ❤️
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Merry Christmas, everyone!
Cardiff couple invited man in for Christmas, he stayed for 45 years
An arrangement Rob and Dianne Parsons thought would last a few days ended up changing their lives.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 25, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Merry Christmas, everyone!
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Here's me for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social arguing that the only way to forestall a Reform government is to make a more decisive break with neoliberalism than Starmer is ever going to, or most of the parliamentary 'soft left' still seem capable of imagining.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Why is Keir Starmer so unpopular?
Britain needs a leader willing to break with the legacy of Thatcherism
www.newstatesman.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Here's me for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social arguing that the only way to forestall a Reform government is to make a more decisive break with neoliberalism than Starmer is ever going to, or most of the parliamentary 'soft left' still seem capable of imagining.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
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Completely unnecessary investigation done in order to shut up others . . . #FreeSpeech #DissentisNotIillegal
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/a...
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/a...
No charges over Bob Vylan’s ‘death to IDF’ Glastonbury set, police say
Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, was interviewed by police over the incident
www.standard.co.uk
December 23, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Completely unnecessary investigation done in order to shut up others . . . #FreeSpeech #DissentisNotIillegal
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/a...
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/a...
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That Heidi Bachram is a proper freak and the CAA should be forced to close and an investigation done into it.
Goodness me, these judicial comments are astonishingly damming of the Campaign Against Antisemitism. news.sky.com/story/regina...
Reginald D Hunter: Summons against comic by Campaign Against Antisemitism quashed for seeking to have him 'cancelled'
The judge said the CAA "misled" him over comments Hunter made to Heidi Bachram on X, and failed to inform him of a previous compliance probe.
news.sky.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:47 PM
That Heidi Bachram is a proper freak and the CAA should be forced to close and an investigation done into it.
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The dirty secret here is, of course, that the best social mobility plan is a social equality plan
Starmer lacks ‘coherent’ social mobility plan, says advisory body chair
Starmer lacks ‘coherent’ social mobility plan, says advisory body chair
Exclusive: Warning from head of Social Mobility Commission comes after UK report found ‘entrenched disadvantages’
Keir Starmer has no “coherent” strategy to tackle entrenched inequalities harming the life chances of millions of people, the government’s social mobility commissioner has said.
A major official report warned last week that young adults in Britain’s former industrial heartlands were being left behind as a result of failed or abandoned promises by successive governments. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
The dirty secret here is, of course, that the best social mobility plan is a social equality plan
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See for instance: this bullshit.
December 22, 2025 at 12:47 PM
See for instance: this bullshit.
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Cool how there have been fifteen million profiles of McSweeney from all the best-connected hacks in the business, and it takes Steve Reed blurting it out to learn that he maybe thinks the NHS was a mistake.
One interesting nugget in this piece could explain the (otherwise baffling) appearance of Ramsay MacDonald in a 2024 Labour Party Election Broadcast
December 18, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Cool how there have been fifteen million profiles of McSweeney from all the best-connected hacks in the business, and it takes Steve Reed blurting it out to learn that he maybe thinks the NHS was a mistake.
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Much like the crypto con artists before them, the AI CEOs are realising they need to hook themselves firmly onto the infinite money hose that is state finance in order to remain a going concern.
But you'll need a deeply connected moral vacuum as your front man, and hey presto:
But you'll need a deeply connected moral vacuum as your front man, and hey presto:
“Which of these malicious idiots is offering an assload of free money in exchange for the contacts in my phone and the ability to place drivel in British newspapers at will”, more like
December 17, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Much like the crypto con artists before them, the AI CEOs are realising they need to hook themselves firmly onto the infinite money hose that is state finance in order to remain a going concern.
But you'll need a deeply connected moral vacuum as your front man, and hey presto:
But you'll need a deeply connected moral vacuum as your front man, and hey presto:
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The vibes are not improving, are they
December 15, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The vibes are not improving, are they
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It's become normal now for high-level political figures to argue that an entire generation was brainwashed through fake videos into mass anti-Israel political mobilization by TikTok. Complete conspiracy thinking, rooted in zero evidence, based on nothing
Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
December 3, 2025 at 4:29 AM
It's become normal now for high-level political figures to argue that an entire generation was brainwashed through fake videos into mass anti-Israel political mobilization by TikTok. Complete conspiracy thinking, rooted in zero evidence, based on nothing
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Striking, how uninterested our permanent austerity discourse is in all of this stuff
Here is a list of reasons why some of my hearings and trials this year have been delayed and kicked off into the long grass, stuck in our record court backlog. Serious allegations which will now be tried *years* after the event. 🧵👇
December 2, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Striking, how uninterested our permanent austerity discourse is in all of this stuff
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You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 PM
You have to keep giving money to avoid collapse and if there’s collapse you have to give more money. It’s called the free market.
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Again: it wasn't the Russians that made them do this. This is pure, 100% uncut western capitalism.
“Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act.”
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
November 23, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Again: it wasn't the Russians that made them do this. This is pure, 100% uncut western capitalism.
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We should rest assured that on Mark Zuckerberg's watch, nobody, and I mean nobody, will do sex trafficking eighteen times.
November 23, 2025 at 4:57 PM
We should rest assured that on Mark Zuckerberg's watch, nobody, and I mean nobody, will do sex trafficking eighteen times.
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Yes, if you ignore your MPs they might e.g. hork up an absolutely ludicrous “whistleblowing” scandal by very obviously lying with a complicit BBC, then sue the party and accept an extremely dubious six figure payout, somehow while avoiding a police investigation and prison for fraud.
November 22, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Yes, if you ignore your MPs they might e.g. hork up an absolutely ludicrous “whistleblowing” scandal by very obviously lying with a complicit BBC, then sue the party and accept an extremely dubious six figure payout, somehow while avoiding a police investigation and prison for fraud.
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The immigration system is for securing territory & controlling the labour market.
The far right have convinced themselves it's for forced diversity & Great Replacement.
Liberals have convinced themselves it's about openness & prosperity.
Both think it's an expression of national moral character.
The far right have convinced themselves it's for forced diversity & Great Replacement.
Liberals have convinced themselves it's about openness & prosperity.
Both think it's an expression of national moral character.
November 15, 2025 at 8:40 AM
The immigration system is for securing territory & controlling the labour market.
The far right have convinced themselves it's for forced diversity & Great Replacement.
Liberals have convinced themselves it's about openness & prosperity.
Both think it's an expression of national moral character.
The far right have convinced themselves it's for forced diversity & Great Replacement.
Liberals have convinced themselves it's about openness & prosperity.
Both think it's an expression of national moral character.
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This is just stupid.
60 London Underground staff some who have worked on tube for years could face deportation under tightened visa rules bit.ly/3XpfRuZ
Dozens of TfL staff to lose right to remain in visa rule change
‘Rail travel assistants’ were removed from a list of ‘shortage occupation’ exceptions in July, but the London mayor’s office condemns the move
bit.ly
November 8, 2025 at 10:33 PM
This is just stupid.
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Important to remember that even in the Heath days we now nostalgise post-Thatcher the Tories have always been wicked vandals en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_A...
Black Arrow - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Important to remember that even in the Heath days we now nostalgise post-Thatcher the Tories have always been wicked vandals en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_A...