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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks Tim!

Reposted by Jon Henley

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

Double kudos to @jonhenley.bsky.social and the @theguardian.com for:

a) taking the trouble to report on a set of continental European elections where the far-right didn't sweep all before it!

b) calling the far-right the far-right, not 🤮 'the hard-right'!

Portugal’s far-right Chega falls well short of expectations in local elections

Party hoped to take 30 municipalities but secured three after share of vote halved from parliamentary elections

www.theguardian.com

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

👍

Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

It is. Great to have that long view.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

I've blocked at least a dozen of Gyles' aliases. It's like playing whack-a-mole (as I fear I have probably said already). Seriously strange behaviour.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

"Issues" doesn't begin to do justice to what this guy has...

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 1d

Hi again Gyles, bye again Gyles

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 2d

Not your fault! There's so much of this fake slop around ...

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 2d

winstonchurchill.org/resources/qu...

Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston Churchill

These fake quotes make for good storytelling, but popular myth has falsely attributed them to Winston Churchill.

winstonchurchill.org

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 2d

How did you stumble across that, may I ask? Amazing it's still finding new readers more than 20 years on!

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 2d

This piece resurfaces every few years and people are always fascinated by it. In three decades of journalism I don't think I've written anything that's had remotely the same kind of afterlife.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 3d

Never realised that, but it's quite true. Quite interesting, too.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 4d

Simply the cost, no?

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 4d

For the removal of all doubt

David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 5d

Between 2019 and 2024 in real terms EU exports grew by 11%.

UK exports also grew. By 0.89%.

That's the total. Goods exports were lower in real terms in 2024 than in 2014.

Centre for European Reform @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social · 5d

@antonspisak.bsky.social of the @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social, a think-tank, observes that, after Brexit took effect at the end of 2020, Britain’s goods exports have grown less than those of any other economy in the G7 club of rich countries.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 4d

Terrific, uplifting read! Sad to learn of the demise of Dick's Tea Bar, tho. I misspent a great many evenings there during a season about ahem four and a half decades ago

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Reposted by Jon Henley

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 6d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 6d

He's a very good writer (unlike LLMs...)

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 6d

Ditto! So miss early Twitter.

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Reposted by Jon Henley

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 9d

This detailed demolition of @gullyfoyleuk.bsky.social's "75 Brexit Benefits" by @alanbeattie.bsky.social deserves wider circulation.

Intellectual garbage disposal is a valuable public service!

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 9d

OK, let's take this seriously. I had an odd half an hour and via Apple Books had a quick look at the three claims I knew most about - two re the post-Brexit bilateral preferential trade agreements replicated from the EU versions and one about cheaper bananas. All are wrong or wildly implausible. 1/n

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 10d

👇

Jeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 10d

Worth nuancing (valid) worries about Babis-led Czechia joining Hungary & Slovakia in trio of EU spoiler states + democratic backsliders.

1/ Czech institutions strong
2/ Babis's ANO has backed off some prior pro-🇷🇺🇨🇳 positions
3/ ANO not all-mighty; will form minority govt or lead fractious coalition

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 10d

BREAKING: Populist Czech billionaire Andrej Babis has won a parliamentary election, marking a political comeback.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 15d

On many issues, of course, modern far right and far left parties increasingly share the same policies. But Stačilo is built around the old Communist party, calls itself "left wing" (and "patriotic"), and is referred to as far or extreme left by Czech political scientists.

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 15d

Thread of the day, no notes

Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 16d

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 16d

The idea that anyone pays James Delingpole to write anything is frankly beyond me

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 17d

And a very fine phase it is ! But at least you've managed to keep the earring :)

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Jon Henley @jonhenley.bsky.social · 17d

Cute!

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