Tom Dalry
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tomedinburgh.bsky.social
Tom Dalry
@tomedinburgh.bsky.social
230 followers 660 following 93 posts
Following politics, languages, social science
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Reposted by Tom Dalry
ballotbox.scot
Come for the chart of shifting party support, stay for the fury at the fact we're going to have one of the most consequential Scottish (and definitely most consequential Welsh) elections since devolution, yet the Westminster media can't stop speculating about PM Farage in 2029 long enough to care.
Even allowing for my disregards, there have been notably few polls this quarter relative to the same period in the last parliament. We had 8 polls then, and nowhere near that many now. Where’s the Norstat? Where’s the Savanta? Where’s the non-SCOOP YouGov? Completely missing in action. There’s a clear reason for this: it costs money to run a poll. Whilst there’s money to be had doing Westminster polling, or it’s easy just to attach it to other polls you’re being paid for, absolutely bloody nobody in the UK-level media gives a enough of toss about what’s going on at Holyrood – or the Senedd Cymru – to pay for polling. I don’t want to belabour the point here, but just for English folk reading this, this is such a good albeit very niche example of why Scots have such a chip on our shoulders. Oh don’t worry, this election is only going to determine our income tax rates over the next five years. It’s only going to shape the NHS that’s relied upon by five and a half million people. It’s only going to have responsibility for a nation’s education system, for its roads, for its police, for loads and loads of basic, every day essentials. It’ll only cross responsibility for £70 billion of public expenditure at some point this term but that’s chump change, eh? Of course that’s not as important as all your breathless whataboutery concerning a potential Farage premiership come 2029! Don’t bother your pretty little heads trying to figure out what’s going on up here for a much more imminent election, which will set the playing field for 57 (and in Wales, another 32) of the seats up for grabs come 2029! Westminster is, of course, the font of all political power in these isles and it’s the only place worth paying attention to! Why, our silly little Parliament is practically a children’s plaything, no? You can all just traipse up here for two weeks at the end of April and start of May and give us your bold pronouncements informed by what you could glean from Wikipedia on your train journey up. I’m sure we can all look forward to such phenomenally astute analysis as this (still uncorrected) piece from the literal Political Editor of the BBC, who appears to think that it’s somehow more embarrassing (and to be clear, it is still very embarrassing) to go through three First Ministers in a year than three Prime Ministers in three months. And why wouldn’t he assume that – after all, Scottish politics is so unserious, it must be our level that had the most embarrassing circumstances. Liz Truss? Never heard of her. Sorry. Looks like I belaboured the point. I just naively assumed that a media ecosystem which is uniformly editorially supportive of the continued existence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland might do a tiny bit sodding better when it comes to bits of it that aren’t England. I mean it’s not like there’s been any real evidence of such attempts at any point in my lifetime, come to think of it, but still, it’s not unreasonable to expect is it?
December 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
naomialderman.bsky.social
Happy to let you know that in the northern hemisphere we’ve now done the darkest two weeks in the year. All the other 50 weeks will be lighter than this.
December 28, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Yes, CECOT is a concentration camp in the guise of a prison. The Venezuelans were the first people to *ever* be released from CECOT since Bukele opened the prison in January 2023. Seriously. The first.
eladn.bsky.social Elad Nehorai @eladn.bsky.social · 10d
These are concentration camps. No other way to describe them. Truly horrific, and none of it surprising in the least.
akivamcohen.bsky.social AkivaMCohen @akivamcohen.bsky.social · 10d
30 minutes. Some deportees described sexual assault. Detainee describes the guard sexually assaulting most detainees. Lights left on all day. Prisoners not given clean water.

Now the DHS tour. Nobody spoke to the detainees. Noem's video was in a different area of the prison.
December 23, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
andywightman.scot
The Scottish Four Seasons by @islaratcliff.bsky.social now available on TIDAL to stream at high fidelity. Do listen 2 this stunning trad interpretation of Vivaldi s famous work. Support independent musicians by buying album together with poems & track notes islaratcliff.bandcamp.com/album/the-sc...
The Scottish Four Seasons, by Isla Ratcliff
14 track album
islaratcliff.bandcamp.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
peterarnott.bsky.social
Available on I player for a month if you've not seen it.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Nae Pasaran
Forty years after their peaceful act of solidarity, Scottish factory workers discover the incredible impact of their action.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
dhochlaf.bsky.social
Love that the party of organised labour has decided the big contributors to society are high earners and entrepreneurs, a bold new frontier for democratic socialism
jonkingh.bsky.social Jonathan Kingham @jonkingh.bsky.social · 26d
This is so disgusting.
December 7, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
jenwilliamsft.bsky.social
As a journalist you’re always looking for ways to sum up the now, but the story is really often more incremental. This is from a Derbyshire county council paper. I was, inevitably, looking for “library to close” or “doge identified £Xm”, but the starting point is at least as important
December 4, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
wilsonmcleod.bsky.social
The Scottish Languages Act 2025 comes into effect today - but its significance will only become clear over time. It's a complex, incrementalist measure and much depends on how it's implemented. My analysis here
bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/06/20/t...
November 30, 2025 at 3:25 PM
tomedinburgh.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Gaelic and Scots now recognised as official languages
The milestone is one of a number of new measures taking effect on St Andrew's Day from the Scottish Languages Act.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
liamthorp.bsky.social
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
kowethas.bsky.social
#Cornish has won Part III of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages after many years of campaigning by our community, including Kowethas an Yeth and the other language organisations, Cornwall Council, activists, and YOU: teachers, learners, speakers and supporters together. 💛
cornwallcouncil.bsky.social Cornwall Council @cornwallcouncil.bsky.social · Nov 27
#VIDEO: After years of hard work, the #Cornish language will be given Part Three status, meaning it will be recognised and protected at the same level as #Welsh, #Scottish and #Irish Gaelic!
November 27, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
rutgerbregman.com
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
tomedinburgh.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?
Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
russellengland.bsky.social
"Record numbers of overseas-trained doctors are quitting the UK, leaving the NHS at risk of huge gaps in its workforce, with hostility towards migrants blamed for the exodus"

Slow clap to the anti-immigrant rhetoric
Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures last year that imperils NHS
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:31 AM
tomedinburgh.bsky.social
I find this disgusting.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Some migrants to face 20-year wait for settled status
Shabana Mahmood says becoming part of the UK is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
lewgmiller.bsky.social
I have a wonderful fiancee from abroad who has done nothing but contribute to this country and fantastic friends and colleagues who have paid tax and made their lives here. I am absolutely disgusted by this. The damage to my view of Labour is irreparable. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Some migrants to face 20-year wait for settled status
Shabana Mahmood says becoming part of the UK is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
robfordmancs.bsky.social
From @philipjcowley.bsky.social - thanks to a happy coincidence we have a much more rigorous than usual understanding of the impact of Keir Starmer's "Island of Strangers" speech. As Cowley puts it "It is not obvious this was the intended outcome"
November 20, 2025 at 1:27 PM
tomedinburgh.bsky.social
Who’s doing the World Cup anthem then?
November 18, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
leaskyd.bsky.social
Kieran Tierney and Scotland strike late to reach first World Cup in 28 years

www.thetimes.com/article/1b67...
Kieran Tierney and Scotland strike late to reach first World Cup in 28 years
Scotland 4 Denmark 2: On unforgettable night at Hampden Park, Scott McTominay scores wonder goal, Kieran Tierney strikes from outside box to make it 3-2 before Kenny McLean scores from halfway
www.thetimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
ewangibbs.bsky.social
Imagine looking at Scandinavian models of social democracy from Britain and picking out cruel immigration policies as the big source of inspiration.
November 17, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Imagine escaping the literal Nazis, making it to America, living three quarters of a century there making your life, and then this:
November 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
tonyvaughanmp.bsky.social
The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.

The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum system in UK ‘out of control’ and dividing country, home secretary says
Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
praxiscast.bsky.social
At some point, for the love of God, will someone ANYONE at long last take the council funding crisis seriously?!?

Because THIS is what will break down a society, not some poor soul escaping incredible dangers, arriving on our shores.
November 15, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
gelliottmorris.com
Today is one of those days when I should have taken my own advice. Flooded with rage tweets on the other platform. Garbage way to communicate that only brings out the worst in people. All dunks, no conversation. Complete waste of time trying to engage there www.gelliottmorris.com/p/you-should...
You should quit social media for good
Platforms optimized for engagement warp our politics, erode attention, and harm our wellbeing. Here’s how I minimize time on the (anti‑)social web.
www.gelliottmorris.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Tom Dalry
lewisgoodall.com
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.

New piece from me.

open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM