Pete Marchetto
@petemarchetto.bsky.social
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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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
petemarchetto290688881.wordpress.com
Skim-reading this I missed the colon, and it read sooooo much better. 😞
'Weak' and 'decaying': Donald Trump gives withering verdict on European allies
'Weak' and 'decaying': Donald Trump gives withering verdict on European allies
Donald Trump's bruising assessment of Europe as "weak" and "decaying" is a bitter blow to nations already reeling from the release of his national security strategy.
news.sky.com
December 9, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Skim-reading this I missed the colon, and it read sooooo much better. 😞
Another question is how long the citizenry will tolerate it.
December 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Another question is how long the citizenry will tolerate it.
I would only recommend people watch this to the end if they don't mind being a guinea pig, willing to report back to me what they make of it and what they think the point is. I would ask under the post, but replies are muted.
I can’t emphasize enough how much you need to watch this until the end
December 9, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I would only recommend people watch this to the end if they don't mind being a guinea pig, willing to report back to me what they make of it and what they think the point is. I would ask under the post, but replies are muted.
😯 No, surely not!
Okay, now we've had what we all know confirmed, the real questions are these.
i), What will Ofcom do about it?
ii), Why the [naughty word beginning with 'f'] hasn't it done something already?
www.thenational.scot/news/2478417...
Okay, now we've had what we all know confirmed, the real questions are these.
i), What will Ofcom do about it?
ii), Why the [naughty word beginning with 'f'] hasn't it done something already?
www.thenational.scot/news/2478417...
GB News is an 'anti-Muslim hate channel', two-year study into output concludes
GB News “accounted for almost 50 per cent of all mentions of Muslims or Islam on UK news channels” in a two-year period, a study has found ...
www.thenational.scot
December 9, 2025 at 5:40 PM
😯 No, surely not!
Okay, now we've had what we all know confirmed, the real questions are these.
i), What will Ofcom do about it?
ii), Why the [naughty word beginning with 'f'] hasn't it done something already?
www.thenational.scot/news/2478417...
Okay, now we've had what we all know confirmed, the real questions are these.
i), What will Ofcom do about it?
ii), Why the [naughty word beginning with 'f'] hasn't it done something already?
www.thenational.scot/news/2478417...
The Christmas lights are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
Zakharova is worried that Europe doesn't have enough money for electricity to light up Christmas decorations in the streets.
"It’s truly a descent into darkness for the EU, in every sense of the word," she says.
Friends from Europe, what would you say to Zakharova?
"It’s truly a descent into darkness for the EU, in every sense of the word," she says.
Friends from Europe, what would you say to Zakharova?
December 9, 2025 at 2:24 PM
The Christmas lights are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
Interesting.
I signed the letter calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti. Overnight, I've received some 2,000 attack emails, identical text but different purported senders and subject headers. Still coming through now. Other signatories also getting it. Definitely an op.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
More than 200 leading cultural figures call for release of jailed Palestinian leader
Group including Margaret Atwood, Ian McKellen and Richard Branson sign open letter to free Marwan Barghouti
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Interesting.
I'd like to see the EU join forces with other nations and blocs in a unified agreement on responses to social media infractions on a one-out-all-out basis unifying the temporary blocking of platforms.
Brazil did it once, and while it disturbed Musk, there was precious little pushback. It's what...
Brazil did it once, and while it disturbed Musk, there was precious little pushback. It's what...
The European Commission does not fine individuals; it fines companies that breach the Digital Service Act. youtube.com/shorts/4_50S...
European Commission reply to X
YouTube video by European Commission
youtube.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I'd like to see the EU join forces with other nations and blocs in a unified agreement on responses to social media infractions on a one-out-all-out basis unifying the temporary blocking of platforms.
Brazil did it once, and while it disturbed Musk, there was precious little pushback. It's what...
Brazil did it once, and while it disturbed Musk, there was precious little pushback. It's what...
Reposted by Pete Marchetto
If you receive legal threats from Nigel Farage for your reporting of Reform, please get in touch.
We have employed a defamation lawyer specifically for this purpose and would love to help (and we do so on non-commercial terms). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
We have employed a defamation lawyer specifically for this purpose and would love to help (and we do so on non-commercial terms). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reform’s ‘Trumpian’ legal threats hint at more aggressive approach to media
Ultimatums sent to publications appear to intensify as Nigel Farage’s party rises in polls
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:29 AM
If you receive legal threats from Nigel Farage for your reporting of Reform, please get in touch.
We have employed a defamation lawyer specifically for this purpose and would love to help (and we do so on non-commercial terms). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
We have employed a defamation lawyer specifically for this purpose and would love to help (and we do so on non-commercial terms). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
'We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.'
- Milan Kundera
- Milan Kundera
December 8, 2025 at 11:25 PM
'We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.'
- Milan Kundera
- Milan Kundera
Interesting.
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 8, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Interesting.
Moving from NATO to a security structure based upon European needs is something you, as an MP, really ought to know is now commonly debated. Take a look at the latest National Security Strategy out of the US. Is Labour's plan...
(2/2) From Zack Polanski patronising hard-working social care workers who this Government are supporting with a first-ever Fair Pay Agreement, to waffling about NATO reform at a time when Putin is trying to weaken the alliance, and blocking the clean and green energy infrastructure we need.
December 8, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Moving from NATO to a security structure based upon European needs is something you, as an MP, really ought to know is now commonly debated. Take a look at the latest National Security Strategy out of the US. Is Labour's plan...
I'm not The Canary's greatest fan, but between rhetorical flourishes, this is a good takedown of Starmer's recent attacks on @zackpolanski.bsky.social Polanski and the Greens (E&W).
The issue Starmer faces is that he's the leader of THE ostensible party of the...
www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...
The issue Starmer faces is that he's the leader of THE ostensible party of the...
www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...
Polanski responds to Starmer saying 'the Greens are nuts'
The 'gloves are off', apparently, as Keir Starmer attacks Zack Polanski and others in a desperate bid to cling on to his failing premiership
www.thecanary.co
December 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I'm not The Canary's greatest fan, but between rhetorical flourishes, this is a good takedown of Starmer's recent attacks on @zackpolanski.bsky.social Polanski and the Greens (E&W).
The issue Starmer faces is that he's the leader of THE ostensible party of the...
www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...
The issue Starmer faces is that he's the leader of THE ostensible party of the...
www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025...
Oops.
Ian Cooper is being probed by the party over racist social media posts
Nigel Farage says "it doesn’t look very good" for the Reform Leader of Staffordshire County Council
Ian Cooper is being probed by the party over racist social media posts
leftfootforward.org
December 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Oops.
This, writ large, typifies Farage. If you watch him, most notably in the Commons, whenever someone chucks something at him he laughs. It doesn't matter what it is, that's his response.
What's interesting is when, in an interview or other situation, it's thrown at him a second time, and then a...
What's interesting is when, in an interview or other situation, it's thrown at him a second time, and then a...
Farage Biographer Says Reform Leader Has 'Totally Lost It' Over Racism Allegations
"He's really, really rattled in a way we've not seen before," according to Michael Crick. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage...
"He's really, really rattled in a way we've not seen before," according to Michael Crick. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/farage...
Farage Biographer Says Reform Leader Has 'Totally Lost It' Over Racism Allegations
"He's really, really rattled in a way we've not seen before," according to Michael Crick.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
This, writ large, typifies Farage. If you watch him, most notably in the Commons, whenever someone chucks something at him he laughs. It doesn't matter what it is, that's his response.
What's interesting is when, in an interview or other situation, it's thrown at him a second time, and then a...
What's interesting is when, in an interview or other situation, it's thrown at him a second time, and then a...
Trouble is, Trump will be chuffed by this. He just doesn't get... well, anything much.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
New US security strategy aligns with Russia's vision, Moscow says
The Kremlin welcomes the starkly worded document, which does not cast Russia as a threat to the US.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Trouble is, Trump will be chuffed by this. He just doesn't get... well, anything much.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Love this. One of those things that'll set me off giggling every time I think about it.
December 7, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Love this. One of those things that'll set me off giggling every time I think about it.
I genuinely do not understand why Streeting keeps being mentioned. He has a 528 (if memory serves) majority. Go to a betting shop and it's odds-on he loses his seat in '29. I don't think a party losing a sitting PM at an election has ever been accomplished before, and I can't see Labour wanting...
Polls of Labour members suggest Angela Rayner is most likely to be PM if Starmer goes www.independent.co.uk/voices/keir-...
December 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I genuinely do not understand why Streeting keeps being mentioned. He has a 528 (if memory serves) majority. Go to a betting shop and it's odds-on he loses his seat in '29. I don't think a party losing a sitting PM at an election has ever been accomplished before, and I can't see Labour wanting...
Oops...
December 7, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Oops...
Really interesting conversation between Aaron Bastani and Michael Walker here.
Just as I feel more warmly towards Sultana after this morning's Kuenssberg, so I feel more warmly towards Bastani after this. I still wish. To. God he'd stop referencing China, a...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWa...
Just as I feel more warmly towards Sultana after this morning's Kuenssberg, so I feel more warmly towards Bastani after this. I still wish. To. God he'd stop referencing China, a...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWa...
DEBATE: Marxism VS Social Democracy
YouTube video by Novara Media
www.youtube.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Really interesting conversation between Aaron Bastani and Michael Walker here.
Just as I feel more warmly towards Sultana after this morning's Kuenssberg, so I feel more warmly towards Bastani after this. I still wish. To. God he'd stop referencing China, a...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWa...
Just as I feel more warmly towards Sultana after this morning's Kuenssberg, so I feel more warmly towards Bastani after this. I still wish. To. God he'd stop referencing China, a...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWa...
The interview with @zarahsultana.bsky.social Sultana this morning on Kuenssberg went markedly better than I'd anticipated. I'd lost considerable faith in Sultana in recent months, and some of her political ideas were starting to sound, frankly, batshit. However, she...
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - Do Young People Have a Raw Deal from Politicians?
Laura Kuenssberg talks to those making the news, inside and outside politics. Her guests are Pat McFadden, Helen Whately and Zarah Sultana.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The interview with @zarahsultana.bsky.social Sultana this morning on Kuenssberg went markedly better than I'd anticipated. I'd lost considerable faith in Sultana in recent months, and some of her political ideas were starting to sound, frankly, batshit. However, she...
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Wow!
Okay, I thought last week was a one-off, but it appears that the Kuenssberg team has decided the discomfort of having two people obviously antagonistic towards one another sat face-to-face in silence while Kuenssberg burbles on proved so uncomfortable for everyone that now it's a feature.
Okay, I thought last week was a one-off, but it appears that the Kuenssberg team has decided the discomfort of having two people obviously antagonistic towards one another sat face-to-face in silence while Kuenssberg burbles on proved so uncomfortable for everyone that now it's a feature.
December 7, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Wow!
Okay, I thought last week was a one-off, but it appears that the Kuenssberg team has decided the discomfort of having two people obviously antagonistic towards one another sat face-to-face in silence while Kuenssberg burbles on proved so uncomfortable for everyone that now it's a feature.
Okay, I thought last week was a one-off, but it appears that the Kuenssberg team has decided the discomfort of having two people obviously antagonistic towards one another sat face-to-face in silence while Kuenssberg burbles on proved so uncomfortable for everyone that now it's a feature.
When you're too stupid to understand the law of gravity, or too corrupt to obey it.
December 7, 2025 at 12:30 AM
When you're too stupid to understand the law of gravity, or too corrupt to obey it.