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Reposted by Thomas Penny

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 12h

NEW

What the Chinese spying case witness statements reveal

The Crown Prosecution Service appears to have made at least one serious error, while the government's position now makes sense

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/what-the-c...

Yesterday this blog sought to make sense of the decision to drop the Chinese Spying prosecutions on the information then available, and averred that both the positions of the government and the Crown Prosecution Service did not make sense.

Now the government has published three witness statements, the picture now changes. The government’s position now makes sense, and the CPS looks as if it made at least one serious mistake and possibly another.

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 1d

"We're just at the start. We're going to go into other cities that we're not talking about purposely. We're getting ready to go in."

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 1d

Bad news for the mob...

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP @drrosena.bsky.social · 1d

It is fantastic news that Lavender Hill Police Station will remain open for local residents to use when they need an officer.

Huge credit must go to my friend @marshadecordova.bsky.social for her relentless campaign to save the Station.

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Fionna O’Leary @fascinatorfun.bsky.social · 1d

“Costs are not spiralling. Projected total welfare payments, at around 11 per cent of national income a year, are lower than when David Cameron was prime minister even though there are more pensioners.”

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 1d

A much needed corrective by @chrisgiles.ft.com to the "welfare is out of control" narrative, drawing on research by my colleague @benbgeiger.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/ee67...

No need for a moral panic about the welfare system

It’s far from perfect, but the UK’s spending is broadly controlled and employment is high

www.ft.com

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 1d

File with "The Free Speech Union doesn't really care about free speech".

Anand Menon @anandmenon.bsky.social · 1d

I'm assuming Nigel Farage will get very exercised by this kind of de-banking www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Pro-Palestine activist couple have UK bank account closed without explanation

John Nicholson and Norma Turner’s joint retirement savings account was shut by Yorkshire Building Society

www.theguardian.com

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 1d

What do you think when you see this hand sign? Live long and prosper? Well this is a headstone in the Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt maybe 400 years old. It’s the sign of the kohanim priestly blessing, which Leonard Nimoy is said to have remembered from his childhood, and which he adopted for Spock.

A pair of hands both showing the characteristic four fingered V used in Star Trek.

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FCNL @fcnl.bsky.social · 1d

“Trump is killing civilians because he ‘suspects’ that they’re smuggling drugs."

"Experts that I talk to say this is illegal. Former government lawyers, experts on the laws of war, they say it’s outright murder.”

The Intercept @theintercept.com · 1d

“Every single part of this, every single justification for it is just transparently false and ridiculous and an insult to our intelligence.”

License to Kill: Trump’s Extrajudicial Executions

Akela Lacy, Radley Balko, and Nick Turse on the administration’s rhetoric and rationale to justify extrajudicial killings abroad — and possibly at home.

interc.pt

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David, Host of The Cold War @coldwarhost.bsky.social · 2d

Murder. This is called murder.

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Coates is Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 1d

It’s the 111th anniversary today of the birth of Harry Rée, who was a teacher and conscientious objector when the Second World War broke out, and by the time it ended, when he was 31, had invented ‘blackmail sabotage’ and got a DSO, an OBE, a Croix de Guerre, and a Medaille de la Resistance

b/w photo of a man in socks and sandals, jacket, short and jumper, in front of a wall with a bike leaning on it, and with a pipe in his mouth. If you wanted one image to sum up the word ‘nonchalant’, this would be it

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 1d

What do you mean? Half the cast in the Muppet version have someone's hand up their bottom.

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Tristan Cork @tristancorkpost.bsky.social · 1d

The number of ‘entire homes’ in Bristol that are on Airbnb instead of being rented out to long term tenants or otherwise lived in has now passed 2,000 for the first time.
Full story here:

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

Number of homes 'lost to Airbnb' in Bristol now above 2,000

One Airbnb company has 169 different properties they are letting out

www.bristolpost.co.uk

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Reposted by Thomas Penny

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

🔥🔥🔥

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 2d

"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish."
- Jimmy Kimmel September 16

This callous and self-centred performance makes it all the more clear that Kimmel was right.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump at the Charlie Kirk memorial event: "They fired sniper rifles at ICE agents, and me. But I made a turn at a good time. I made a turn at a good time. Charlie couldn't believe it, actually."

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Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 2d

“I think politicians are ignoring prices and bills and hoping we’ll forget about them and find something else to complain about…”

My report on how the flighty Westminster bubble forgot about the cost-of-living crisis, which certainly isn't over:

Energy bills rise while Westminster talks immigration

Why have our politicians forgotten about the cost-of-living crisis?

www.newstatesman.com

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 2d

Are you working with these guys?
I met them last year and they're wonderful.
mathicw.soton.ac.uk/project-2/

Maths In Children's Worlds | Numbers in Everyday Life (NiEL)

mathicw.soton.ac.uk

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The Policy Institute @policyatkings.bsky.social · 2d

We’re pleased to partnering with former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty on Number Nation, a new initiative to conduct the UK’s largest ever study into attitudes to everyday numbers – in partnership with the Richmond Project, Purposeful Ventures and Public First

🧵⬇️

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 2d

Please take half an hour to watch this moving and important film.
youtu.be/jlTnKYTxWOY?...

The Farmers of Kherson - Documentary

YouTube video by Caolan Robertson

youtu.be

Reposted by Thomas Penny

Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 2d

Yesterday, the premiere of a documentary called The Farmers of Kherson by Caolan Robertson took place in the UK

This is a powerful story about Ukrainians, about the farmer Oleksandr Hordiienko and his colleagues who demine, cultivate and harvest their land despite Russian attacks, drone safaris

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Dan Snow @thehistoryguy.bsky.social · 2d

I am once again begging you to boycott Tesla

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 3d

Musk is funding the legal battle of UK Far Right activist Tommy Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon - as he faces charges brought by counterterrorism police.

Tommy Robinson claims Elon Musk is funding his legal battle — The Times and The Sunday Times

Tommy Robinson has claimed Elon Musk was paying his legal costs as he went on trial for refusing to comply with a request made by counterterrorism police as he tried to leave Britain last year. Robins...

apple.news

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Luke Taylor MP @luketaylorld.bsky.social · 2d

50% of children's hospices say they may reduce or stop providing care altogether if new funding doesn't arrive in the next 6 months.

It's an outrageous situation - and the whole hospice sector needs our care.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I are today calling on Wes Streeting to rescue the sector.

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 2d

On the plus side, he's going to finally reopen the bird and baby.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Plans to reopen Tolkien and Lewis pub in Oxford approved

Planning permission and listed building consent is granted to restore The Eagle and Child in Oxford.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Stuart Masters @stuartkmasters.bsky.social · 2d

Christian Nationalism is looking at Jesus' three temptations and thinking he made the wrong choices.

William Youngblood

The image includes the following quotation in white on a red background:

Christian Nationalism is looking at Jesus' three temptations and thinking he made the wrong choices.

William Youngblood

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Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · 2d

You're right about C and O, but he's said that in plenty of other places and it wasn't the central theme today.
Clearly a lot of the 2015 Tory coalition were "intensely relaxed" about austerity.
There's a limit to what you can put in an 800 word column!

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National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 2d

🌳We need to plant more trees and woodland to tackle climate change and support habitat creation.

To do this, our tree production sector need the right support.

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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 2d

It's not a challenging graduate labour market. It's a challenging labour market for ALL young people. And it's WORSE for non graduates.

Data source: @jburnmurdoch.ft.com

bsky.app/profile/gile...

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2d

'A “challenging” graduate labour market in the UK could further erode trust in the higher education sector, with the “bad times” showing little sign of ending.'

All the more reason to have a serious, nationwide discussion of what universities do and what they are for.

Faith in universities ‘at new low’ as graduate jobs dry up

Challenging economic conditions may have led to bump in student recruitment numbers this year but experts fear long-term damage after institutions pegged futures to employability agenda

www.timeshighereducation.com

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