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Pete Marchetto

@petemarchetto.bsky.social

2.6K followers 3.1K following 24K posts

Boomer postpatriot Englishman, freelance writer in expat recovery (from China), of the social-democratic centre now deemed 'far left', Green Party member. Free sample ebook of short stories at: https://petemarchetto290688881.wordpress.com/ 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇬🇪 🇪🇺 🏳️‍🌈

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · Nov 22

Free sampler ebook, (with details of how to pay me at the end if you feel like it): 'Love Sideways', 3 unromantic romances.
petemarchetto290688881.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Pete Marchetto

Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 2h

Greta Thunberg: “Israeli soldiers hit, kicked, starved, and tortured me”

• They placed a flag next to me, and anytime the flag touched me, they kicked me
• Whenever I raised my head to look at Ben-Gvir, I was kicked
• She was filmed while stripped naked

Aftonbladet: tinyurl.com/a33vxatc

25 790 1.4K

Reposted by Pete Marchetto

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 2d

My colleagues & I have taken a huge gamble to set up @thenerve.news We’re trying to build a new independent publication from the ground up. Social media is our only distribution for now.

Sharing this article in your networks would make a huge difference. Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 3d

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 1h

I suspect better. McDonnell engaged better than Corbyn and was more difficult to undermine.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 1h

Lest he block me (as he probably will).

Des violons de l'automne
‪@rogerday.bsky.social‬
The people that surrounded Corbyn were children, steeped in Labour politics and back room procedures, mostly from the 70s

Nearly all of them Hamas apologists as you say

None of them could deliver policy so they became professional protesters

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 1h

One does have to wonder about the intellect of one's fellows in the electorate, and not without some anxiety...

Des violons de l'automne @rogerday.bsky.social · 4h

The people that surrounded Corbyn were children, steeped in Labour politics and back room procedures, mostly from the 70s

Nearly all of them Hamas apologists as you say

None of them could deliver policy so they became professional protesters

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 1h

So, in summary, you're fine with a person on the left who supports a despot on the condition that they give someone else on the left a hard time?

Well... I hate to disappoint you, but I sincerely doubt Polanski is an Assadist, (happy for you to prove me wrong), and the Greens are in tight with YP.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 1h

They're drawing people in from somewhere who aren't interested in the Greens. I don't get that, but they're doing it.

And if they're doing it, so long as the two parties unite in an electoral pact, I honestly don't mind. Cast the net as widely as possible, bring as many in as we can.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 1h

Translation: We will continue to take our lead from the White House, but let's not make it too obvious, eh?

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

You've already said yourself it's not impossible, just more costly, so this is descending into one of those 'Yeah but no but yeah but' debates.

It is not incoherent. End.

Nice chat.

Goodbye.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

On all that we're agreed. Nonetheless, a coup could change the narrative. I'm not pinning all my hopes on it, (I'm a Green Party member so have, to all intents and purposes, given up), but I wouldn't rule out a coup and that it may prove useful at least in the short term.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

I'm not sure whether you're arguing in bad faith or have absolutely no idea what's going on in the world right now.

Either way, you're wasting my time with your Vicky Pollarding 'Yeah but no but yeah but...'

We're done here.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

It's an open debate. There's a difference between that and 'incoherent'.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

The membership is left of the leadership, as is the PLP. I just want Starmer gone so we can see what emerges from it. You may well be right and that it can't do anything being hobbled from within, but if it DOES work and goes far enough, it could be a short-term solution to the '29 Farage issue.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

And bingo. The government conducted an enquiry and then rigged it to say the cheapest option was the only viable option.

It isn't the only viable option.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

Two Years in NATO, Finland is Searching for a Plan B

Just two years after joining NATO and forging an alliance with the United States, Finland finds itself compelled to consider alternative plans to ensure its security.

www.rusi.org

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

I was arguing with your 'completely incoherent' comment, which I took to be an assertion that you can't have one without the other.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

The problem is we have too many useful allies still sitting on Labour's back benches and, indeed, in the membership. While they're there, we can at least hope. If they jump ship then yes, there's no hope for the party at all.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

You need to read the news more.

And then read what I said in that context.

That way you won't waste your time responding to comments in an incoherent fashion and, more importantly, waste other people's, including mine.

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

No, he proposed different forms of transmission to avoid pylons.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

It's a challenge, but not an impossible goal. Farage's projects do have a useful habit of rising up rapidly before entering a rapid decline.

Our best bet is a change of direction in the Labour Party with a social democratic coup. My analysis was assuming that doesn't happen.

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

... gaining traction in the long term, the immediate needs of the '29 election may mean our best bet is a social democratic coup within the Labour Party to swing it around.

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

... better word and through which, perhaps, I betray my own bias) have the Greens, and soon YP, the two of which will probably function to all intents and purposes as a uniparty.

However, I've not given up on Labour entirely. Though it would be an unstable leadership, and though I can't see it...

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

It is, now, a useless vehicle for the left. Even if they were to regain control, it would only be to enter into a civil war.

The LibDems now seem to have taken on the traditional rôle of the Labour right without really shifting ground in order to do so, while the more ambitious (for want of a...

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

I am, on balance, in favour of the bill, but recognise entirely that this is an issue that has heartfelt and sincere advocacy on both sides of the divide.

Consequently, while I can't agree with you, I can't argue with you, only understand your position and respect it.

Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 4h

... the nation's direction, or the neoliberals who have to at least nod to the racist card to maintain the 'Yeah, it's bust, but it's not our fault' myth that maintains it.