David Higham
@oldtrotter.bsky.social
Former economist and civil servant. Former (age related) national cycling champion. Still a music fan. Sewn up member of the Zipper Club.
Well we all wondered if the opposition parties would recapture the agenda while Burnham was on holiday and it does look like Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives will manage to do that for a crucial third day
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 5h agoFormer neo-Nazi activist withdraws... But Badenoch now offers him advisor role. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
I can think of a better solution...
Laura Laker@lauralaker.bsky.social · yesterday“It’s perverse that people who want to walk and cycle are penalised because the motor traffic is too polluting". National Highways closes cycling and walking routes beside heavily polluted roads lauralaker.substack.com/p/national-h...
Appears to be confusing the Battle of Britain with the Battle of the Atlantic and who knows what either have got to do with small boats on the Channel 🤷
Just thinking how Johnson spoke like a newspaper column — colourful, bantering bullshit — whereas Badenoch speaks like the worst kind of comment section: querulous, chippy, pedantic (I'm just talking tone here, not content)
From the number of senior Fifa figures turning on Infantino it's clear they're hoping to save Fifa by sacrificing its leader. But how can Fifa ever claim credibility again after 1. Blatter-era corruption. 2. Blatter's successor trying to sell the World Cup. 3. Trump/Balogun.
“Since attacking Iran…Trump’s immediate demands have shrunk from a sprawling list of concessions involving Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, ballistic missile production and support for proxy militias to just one: that Iran allow…Hormuz to return to its prewar state.” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Donald Trump trapped between escalation and an Iran deal on Tehran’s terms
US president faces few good options to exit a war he once said would end swiftly with the Islamic republic’s surrender
giftarticle.ft.com
I recall we had a period of time where the response of Starmer and Cooper to concerns about these groups was ‘I like flags’
Oxford Clarion@oxfordclarion.bsky.social · yesterdayLeaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.
"At key moments after 2010, ‘spend-to-save’ initiatives were described to us by a senior official as ‘completely non-negotiable’. The Treasury bias against ‘spend-to-save’ is so pervasive that we heard numerous examples of where departments and agencies self-select against well-evidenced proposals"
This is Reform's criticism of providing free travel for 11 to 16 year olds in GM. These people only know the politics of division and grievance.
Leaders of flag-raising group Raise the Colours Oxfordshire placed trackers on highway workers’ cars to find out their home addresses, the High Court has heard. RTC then attempted to intimidate the highway staff into no longer removing flags by repeating their addresses to them.
You are also, fundamentally, just *not* the Conservative Party any more. You're just a new party wearing its clothes. Yes, the tory party evolves over time but...evolution not revolution, and all that.
Chairman Moët@chairmanmoet.bsky.social · yesterdayyou can't build a big enough coalition if Gavin Barwell is too radical for you but an ex-Neo Nazi who broke into a police station isn't
She's a perfect example of why people need to study history because no one who knows anything about Dunkirk would dream of writing something so insulting and wrong.
Roland Smith@rolandmcs.bsky.social · yesterdayThe war. It always comes back to the war. That happened long before they were born.
If I could be granted one wish that would change the world for the better… Find a dog to adopt. That’s it. Simple as that. There are millions out there waiting ❤️
One for you @mike1phelps.bsky.social
Colm Murphy@colmpm.bsky.social · yesterdayIt's nice to see P&P promoting my article as we approach the anniversary of the 1976 IMF Crisis, when unilateral protectionism was furiously debated within the bowels of the British state. It's open access and free to read via the link below.
What a despicable little man he is. Ironic that he should refer to someone as a convicted fraudster.
This looks like a great event for Stoke-on-Trent & The Potteries. I wish I could attend.
The Staffordshire Signal@news.www.thestaffordshiresignal.co.uk.ap.brid.gy · yesterdayRunning for 3 days this August a brand new FREE film festival is coming to the Potteries that aims to celebrate the area’s working class history and culture via the medium of cinema.
What I love about Bluesky is what I loved about old Twitter: if I want to find out about something (however recondite) there will be someone here (often with a PhD in it) and the time and patience to share their knowledge. /1
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should. www.ft.com/content/ea8c... Companies linked to top health official and husband received £2bn in public contracts
ft.com
Publicity drawing for Forton services on the M6 near Lancaster, 1963.
On Berlin public transport there are announcements asking you not to play music/video out loud. And people don’t. Could we have that in London please - just re-establish the norm!
Liddle's ex-colleagues find it easy to defend his mainstream journalism as a lark But a conscious effort to ignore what his Millwall-Monkey stuff revealed."Even the Jews were allowed to smoke at Auschwitz" was reported. His "niggermeat, not wogmeat" comments + most virulent sexist threads were not
Oh shut up and fuck off - the British famously lost that battle too and had the advantage of being across a sea for the next few years
This is a measured and damning thread from Sunder - you just have to continue reading past the first post which is obviously too much for some people.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 2d ago66 seems a young age for Rod Liddle to die. Talented comic writer, insightful about football.obvs took much pleasure in transgressing political correctness But just lied when caught being much more indefensibly racist+ sexist online in his Millwallmonkey persona www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...
Paul on point as usual. I’ve seen this over and over since I got online in 1991. A conferencing platform/blog site/social medium turns away from trying to serve its users and decides to get a different user base instead and then, presto hey, the goose bleeds out.
Paul Bernal@paulbernal.bsky.social · 2d agoThe new CEO of Bluesky wants to change Bluesky from being a leftist bubble. The thing is, there’s nothing wrong with being a leftist bubble: the idea that everything has to be all-encompassing and suitable for everyone is a trap. 🧵 1/4