David Osland
@davidosland.bsky.social
8.6K followers 260 following 450 posts
Forty-year veteran of British leftwing politics. Not the opinions of any publication for which I write.
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davidosland.bsky.social
On the centenary of Thatcher's birth, don't forget that she called Osama bin Laden a freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela a terrorist, General Pinochet a friend. And Jimmy Savile 'Sir'.
davidosland.bsky.social
On the centenary of Thatcher's birth, there have been predictable calls for a memorial to her memory. But Britain's 2300 food banks serve that purpose already.
davidosland.bsky.social
I'm sure BBC investigative documentary strand Panorama is even now working on an incisive exposé of Reform's financial links to Russia and it's just that they haven't announced it publicly yet
davidosland.bsky.social
Britain now has 1970s levels racism without 1970s levels of secure well-paid jobs, social housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions and affordable rail fares
davidosland.bsky.social
Nigel Farage insists that he was 'stunned' to learn that one of Reform's leaders was on the Kremlin payroll
davidosland.bsky.social
As Toby Young points out, Black people are over-represented in advertising. He somehow forgot to mention they are over-represented in poverty, unemployment and homelessness statistics too.
davidosland.bsky.social
Abolition of stamp duty would be worth £80,000 to the average person whose girlfriend buys him a £900,000 second home in Clacton
davidosland.bsky.social
The Nobel Peace Prize has been denied to the man who ended the war between Azerbaijan and Albania. That's just cruel.
davidosland.bsky.social
Kemi Badenoch's leader's speech quoted Martin Luther King. MLK was a socialist, of course.
davidosland.bsky.social
Scrapping stamp duty will cost £11.6bn a year. But it won't house a single one of Britain's 240,000 homeless.
davidosland.bsky.social
Don't forget that 41 Tory MPs in the last government took Russian donations. That might account for media reticence to report on the Nathan Gill case.
davidosland.bsky.social
Robert Jenrick owns two £2m homes in London and a £1.1m manor house in Herefordshire. He's shocked by the poor housing conditions in Handsworth, apparently.
davidosland.bsky.social
Since 1980, the ECHR has heard just 29 UK immigrant deportation case, and the UK won 16 of them. Quitting will make no material difference to immigration, just weaken protections for absolutely everybody in this country. But Farage and the Tories know that.
davidosland.bsky.social
Reform-led Kent county council is set to increase council tax next year. It's almost as if the 'wasteful local authority spending' Farage keeps banging on about isn't really a thing.
davidosland.bsky.social
As Kemi Badenoch rightly points out, America and Australia are not in the European Convention on Human Rights. I should just add here that El Salvador is not in the African Union, either.
davidosland.bsky.social
The leader of the Conservative Party helpfully pointed out on television this morning that the US, Australia and Canada are not in the European Convention on Human Rights. I guess the clue is in the name, Kemi.
davidosland.bsky.social
At least 860 UK healthcare workers died of covid-19 and the British Medical Association says the true number is likely to be higher. Yet Michelle Mone unashamedly defends her cynical profiteering.
davidosland.bsky.social
Delighted to announce I have won the franchise to be official cocaine dealer to the 2025 Conservative conference
davidosland.bsky.social
We now have a woman Archbishop of Canterbury. One day it may even be possible to have a woman leader of the Labour Party.
davidosland.bsky.social
The highest electricity prices in the world, the highest train fares in Europe and rivers full of sewage. It's almost as if privatisation was fundamentally flawed.
davidosland.bsky.social
If Michelle Mone gets to keep the superyacht, the private jet and the seat in the House of Lords, at least give the 'benefit scroungers' narrative a break for a couple of weeks
davidosland.bsky.social
Shoplift from Tesco and get sent to jail. Rip off the NHS for £122m and get politely asked to pay the money back.
davidosland.bsky.social
PPE Medpro will almost certainly go into administration and Mone will repay almost none of the £122m she stole from the NHS. But she'll keep the superyacht and the private jet she scammed from the public purse.
davidosland.bsky.social
Michelle Mone must now repay the £122m she stole from the NHS. But she remains an unelected lawmaker for life.
davidosland.bsky.social
If Sunak had been prime minister in world war two, Michelle Mone would have had the contract to supply Spitfires