Colin Baines
@colinbaines15.bsky.social
Re-Cumbrianing (formerly immigrant in Vienna) podcasts, politics, educator, science, neurodiversity
🚨🚨I was lucky enough to pin down the brilliant Frank Ledwidge to talk about the resignation of John Healy and the mess that our armed forces are in. @frankledwidge.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
EMERGENCY EPISODE: the resignation of John Healey
Podcast Episode · Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · 11 June · 42min
podcasts.apple.com
I knew that @snellarthur.bsky.social would explain the context of John Healey’s resignation (with a perfectly chosen guest in @frankledwidge.bsky.social). How refreshing to be INFORMED, rather than merely treated to speculation about what it means for Keir Starmer.
Arthur Snell@snellarthur.bsky.social · 5mo ago🚨🚨I was lucky enough to pin down the brilliant Frank Ledwidge to talk about the resignation of John Healy and the mess that our armed forces are in. @frankledwidge.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
really enjoyed having a geeky US Midterms discussion with @sturdyalex.bsky.social
Quiet Riot@quietriotpod.bsky.social · 6mo agoTrump is giving Republicans every possible edge, but his popularity is going down all the time. There comes a point when opposition is so big, no amount of cheating can overcome it. Like in Hungary. So turnout is vital. Early organising. Ground game. He cannot rig his way out of a tidal wave. 🌊 ✊🏽
In case you missed it earlier, I've been talking to the @ohgodwhatnow.bsky.social podcast about my new book on the Blair governments and the crisis in Higher Education... Take a listen! megaphone.link/NSR1340804685
The Universities’ Doom Spiral – Can Britain avert disaster? by Oh God, What Now?
megaphone.link
I'll be launching my book on the Blair governments in London on Monday 9 March! Between 6.30pm and 8pm. We'll be at the Gilded Acorn bookshop between LSE and the Hunterian... Come along! Booking details below: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/new-labour...
New Labour, New Britain: How the Blair Government Reshaped the Country
Join Glen O'Hara at the Gilded Acorn, where he will be discussing his new book: New Labour, New Britain!
eventbrite.co.uk
As you see the reports out of Texas SD-9, keep in mind: This was the cash discrepancy. Money speaks -- but it's not as loud as it used to be.
Superb guest and conversation on this episode of BTL. Bravo, @snellarthur.bsky.social! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
The Post Western World and the Trump Regime
Podcast Episode · Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · 27/01/2026 · 51m
podcasts.apple.com
Arthur Snell@snellarthur.bsky.social · 9mo agoMy great pleasure to speak to @samirpuri.bsky.social of @chathamhouse.org about how the world is moving on from Trump. open.spotify.com/episode/6zWO...
I have just listened to this. It was my first time listening to a Behind the Lines podcast with @snellarthur.bsky.social , and after listening I feel approximately 95% better informed than I was before. Highly recommended.
Alex Andreou@sturdyalex.bsky.social · 9mo agoSuperb guest and conversation on this episode of BTL. Bravo, @snellarthur.bsky.social! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
🎄 Merry Christmas, dear supporters, gorgeous friends, and precious listeners. Check your apps first thing, for a cracker 2025 Review, with @mrjamesob.bsky.social. We'd never abandon you without company, on what can be a pretty stressful day. 🎁 ☃️ We love you lots! A, N, K & other A x
By this time tonight I was meant to have made my bread sauce, cranberry sauce and begun the gingerbread stuffing, and yet I find myself, tasks still undone, on my sofa, with drink and cake to hand, happily gazing at my Christmas-Grotto-garden. Rather thrilled with my new light-up deer, I must say.
You could argue that the roast potatoes are the most important element to get right at Christmas. Perfect Roast Potatoes create perfect happiness. Which is why they are, indeed, #RecipeOfTheDay! www.nigella.com/recipes/perf...
Perfect Roast Potatoes
Needs must and all that, so I have always been an open anti-perfectionist, but in truth (and I’m sorry to repeat what I’ve said before) it is impossible to cook roast potatoes without needing them to ...
nigella.com
The UK Trade and Business Commission’s new report sets out how the UK and the EU could implement a Youth Experience Scheme. “The report is likely to give weight to the arguments of Britain’s negotiators in talks over the deal,” writes Arj Singh. Read: https://bit.ly/48tqyTY
This is a significant report on UK-EU youth experience / mobility as the first to be released from either side on how the scheme outlined in May's common understanding could actually work in practice. I'm pleased to have been involved as an adviser.
Best for Britain@bestforbritain.org · 11mo agoThe UK Trade and Business Commission’s new report sets out how the UK and the EU could implement a Youth Experience Scheme. “The report is likely to give weight to the arguments of Britain’s negotiators in talks over the deal,” writes Arj Singh. Read: https://bit.ly/48tqyTY
🆕 SPOILER ALERT - Unpicking the Budget 📈 The good stuff The less good stuff The economic rationale The political consequences Balance, humour, @pimlicat.bsky.social , @sturdyalex.bsky.social & top economist Vicky Pryce. 🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/05mP... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Unpicking the most-leaked Budget in history, with Vicky Pryce
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 26/11/2025 · 1h 18m
podcasts.apple.com
Sorry, everyone. I think we've gone and done a thoughtful, balanced episode on #Budget2026, that is more about the economics and the politics, rather than the gossippy nonsense that gets hacks excited. #NotSorry
Quiet Riot@quietriotpod.bsky.social · 11mo ago🆕 SPOILER ALERT - Unpicking the Budget 📈 The good stuff The less good stuff The economic rationale The political consequences Balance, humour, @pimlicat.bsky.social , @sturdyalex.bsky.social & top economist Vicky Pryce. 🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/05mP... 🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
You may have seen some headlines about welfare spending going up to £406.2bn by 2030/31. That is correct, it is the OBR figure. Here is what you may not have seen. Of the £406.2bn A) £195.4bn goes to pensioners B) £13.9bn goes on child benefit. Facts matter.
On Truss & Kwarteng in ‘22. Allister Heath, Telegraph: “the best budget I have ever heard a British chancellor deliver". Alex Brummer, Mail: “a genuine Tory package elbowing to one side the Treasury's fiscal conservatism". These men will now be paid actual money for their analysis of today’s budget.
www.theguardian.com/football/202... That’s only 0.8 Trussecs (Or 3.5 Scaramuccis) @sturdyalex.bsky.social 😉
Ange Postecoglou sacked by Nottingham Forest after 40 days as head coach
Nottingham Forest sacked Ange Postecoglou after 3-0 a defeat by Chelsea made it eight winless matches since he succeeded Nuno Espírito Santo
theguardian.com
NEW: We are joined by Luke Tryl to talk about everything from: 🔵📉 Tory Party Demise 🏆 Trump’s ache for a NobelP 🇪🇺🇬🇧 reducing reliance on 🇺🇸 Plus Wokey Dokey is BACK. @pimlicat.bsky.social @sturdyalex.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/6ZMU... podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
The Art of The Kneel
Quiet Riot · Episode
open.spotify.com
The scale of the backlog arises because the Sunak government, while clearing the 2022 backlog, stops processing asylum claims of those who arrive in 2023-24, despite having no real world prospect of removing 99% of those it is accommodating, in limbo. No plan except to leave it to after the election
Great thread (h/t @columnist.bsky.social)
Matthew Kirschenbaum@mkirschenbaum.bsky.social · last yr.Instead of regurgitating the bromide that LLMs are just "autocomplete on steroids" (even by people who know better), maybe we can actually engage in some public education. The problem with genAI is better expressed through a classic computer science concept, known as SYMBOL GROUNDING. 🧵
@quietriotpod.bsky.social wonder how far this translates across to reform/tory playbook- for me it’s the nhs versus US health insurance that is a bulwark against a ‘fear’ of empathy
Rev. Benjamin Cremer@brcremer.bsky.social · last yr.One of the most successful deceptions of our time was getting so many Americans to fear diversity more than racism, equality more than misogyny, democracy more than fascism, immigrants more than authoritarians, the poor more than corrupt billionaires, and empathy more than cruelty.
