Tessera
Folgen

Sam Corke

@corkes.bsky.social

Archaeologist. Snails, seeds and soils. I also take pictures.

50 Posts119 Follower229 Folgt
Sinan Kose@thesinankose.bsky.social · 2w ago

3 months until his first relaunch, 6 months until the press decides he needs to go, 10 months until Labour's looking for someone to replace him and realises they have no one.

flyingrodent@flyingrodent.bsky.social · last mo.

I mean, it does look like America has demanded an explicit figure in military spending - most of it, I’d assume, from US arms companies - with threats of what will happen if we don’t pony up, doesn’t it. If it isn’t that, then it’s weird how much it looks like it.

Steven Swinford • @Steven_S... 3m Breaking: There are HUGE gaps in the funding for the defence investment plan which will be left for Andy Burnham to resolve, the small print of the document reveals Here's one that stands out. Starmer has found £10.3billion over four years, predominantly by reallocating budgets from other departments But that is not enough. The document states explicitly that a further £4.7billion will have to be found in the next Budget - which will be Burnham's first - to finance the plan Given the state of the public finances, these are big tax rises or cuts that Burnham will have to make Then added to that there is a commitment to finding £10.7billion of efficiencies between 2026/27 and 2029/30. These efficiencies are vague, to say the least - a new defence operating model, cutting civil service workforce costs by 10%, automation, greater use of Al, efficiencies in acquisition So there are two points that flow from thic. + 1) A huge chunk of the Defence Investn Plan is simply unfunded. Money will have to be found by Burnham, whether through tax
Linotype Pilgrim@symbo1ics.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I think we are going to need to talk more securing the public (esp. kids') access to grounded facts, given that our govts & big tech: – replaced web search with generated fiction – block kids from talking to other people online – are replacing teachers with 'ai' – are shredding &defunding libraries

Cab Davidson@gnomeicide.bsky.social · last mo.

Starmer having won a landslide on 33.7% of a 59% turnout isn't the defence you think it is Starmer lads. It's a deep criticism of a broken electoral system that Starmer has failed to address. A loveless landslide should not even be possible.

flyingrodent@flyingrodent.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Here’s what this government extremism tsar considers to be extreme, by the way. Ask yourself: how exactly did almost every post for ensuring equality or tackling extremism come to be filled with absolutely roaring wingnut cranks? Did that happen by accident, are they still there due to an oversight.

TERROR VISION THE government's "independent" reviewer of terrorism legislation has used a speech at a right-wing think-tank whose funders include arms firms and energy companies to call for new counter-subversion laws to limit political dissent... including anti-war protests and "extreme" environmentalism. In a speech last week at the Policy Exchange think-tank, Jonathan Hall KC expressed concern that such dissent could be exploited by foreign agents to cause "long-term damage to the national security of the UK" , such as a "loss of trust in a government trying to raise defence spending Hall is meant to be an independent voice to help make anti-terror laws "fair, necessary and proportionate". . But his counter-subversion call extends far beyond existing laws, identifying areas where he belleves bad foreign actors could cultivate domestic dissent in the UK. These range from "contentious foreign policy issues such as Gaza", "extreme" environmentalism he hiding? inoss reasoning - and what is 'Old Sparky' and, er, "Scottish independence", to presenting "masculinity" as "toxic" questioning "the very definition of woman" and trying to make "white people... ashamed and non-white people aggrieved". He admitted that previous MI5-led counter-subversion had been dropped because it was linked to McCarthyism and "unjustified infiltrations of domestic protest groups" by undercover cops, but argued that "allowing judges to decide" on how new laws are applied would prevent abuses. Policy Exchange has a history of promoting anti-protest laws; and its backers include companies potentially facing just the sort of protests Hall links to "subversion" - arms firms Northrop Grumman and Boeing, or energy firms Southern Gas Networks, Octopus Energy and Drax. His call for tougher laws on national security to "save democracy from itself" gives a green light for more authoritarian measures by government - and authoritarian measures by government-and security forces and suggests a watchdog stra…
Robert Saunders@robertsaunders.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This episode of "Today" desperately needs a historian of policing, to explain why things like anti-racism training were introduced in the first place. This wasn't some departure from a world in which the police treated everyone the same. It was an attempt to bring that world fractionally closer.

Will Davies@will-davies.bsky.social · 2mo ago

It would take about 30 seconds to remind news audiences of the basic facts of the Stephen Lawrence case

Gregk Foley@gregk.co.uk · 2mo ago

If you suggest police officers shouldn’t kick people in the head, you’ll get the chief of the Met condemning you on national television. If you say the police are institutionally racist against whites and suggest people should riot, you’ll get invited onto a BBC couch to expand upon your theories.

Gareth Dennis@garethdennis.uk · 3mo ago

Given these changes permanently castrate the long term potential of the high speed lines emanating out of London, that's essentially nothing saved to destroy the future of Britain's railways. And these people are in charge of creating GBR.

Gareth Dennis@garethdennis.uk · 3mo ago

No. By my calculations this £2.5bn HS2 saving* from reducing speeds** is less than the cost of holding up the project and doing the reset in the first place. It's certainly less than the cost of the design changes at Euston. How embarrassing for everyone involved.

Mic Wright@brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The fact that a neo-Nazi teenager who attempted to behead a Kurdish barber in Bristol last year has just been sentenced to almost 20 years in prison isn’t *national* news is enormously telling. It’s really not just a South West story, is it?

Dave Andress@davidandress.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Baking-in the bigotry from Day 1. "Rights" are becoming a dirty word in UK politics. First, they take them away from some outsiders. Then, they take them away from a small minority of the population. Then a larger minority sees them go. And before you know it, it's "Rights, what bloody rights?"

Lee Hurley@hleehurley.com · 3mo ago

"Wes Streeting, however, could take the party by the scruff of the neck. He is, by a country mile, the most able candidate – a pragmatic Health Secretary, tough on the unions and honest about his mistakes, such as working for trans rights charity Stonewall." Tom Harris, former Labour Minister

Stefan Mohamed@stefmowords.bsky.social · 3mo ago

pure, uncut, liquid Sir Keir to write an article about "breaking with the status quo once and for all" on Friday, then announcing new roles for Harriet Harman and Gordon Brown on Saturday

Guardian piece by Keir Starmer from Friday 8th May saying he will break with the status quo once and for allGuardian article from 9th May saying Keir Starmer has invited Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman back to government