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Running Dog

@runningdog.bsky.social

700 followers 230 following 2K posts

In the early days of our movement, it was mandatory that all members smoke cigarettes and refrain from speaking, but we realized those traditions were stupid. He/him/his/bark

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · Jul 17

Journalists: anonymous abuse of politicians has toxified the public sphere, its an existential threat to our democracy 🥺
Also journalists: somebody’s called this MP a knobhead and I won’t say who 🤠

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · Jul 17

Thank god the Adults are Back in Charge

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 10h

We either swim or fly.

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 10h

Sorry, I’m doing a poor job of explaining myself. Basically MPs saying “I’m doing x because of y” anonymously, in a (freely available if you know about it) publication that markets itself as for insiders, in a way that they wouldn’t do for the mass media, is unhealthy & I think potentially dangerous

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 10h

Conspiracy theory was the wrong term tbf. Something like shenanigans would be more appropriate

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 10h

I’m referring to the trend for MPs giving anonymous statements to lobby journalists that make sense in narrow political terms but look bad & suspicious to the public, who can also read the quote.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 11h

Mm, “openly communicated” isn’t quite right for MPs briefing to Politico et al. There’s a large netherworld where something is basically undisputed in the Westminster trade press but becomes a conspiracy theory if it’s plainly stated outside the bubble.

Pawel Swidlicki @pswidlicki.bsky.social · 11h

Maybe openly communicating that you see it as a matter of domestic political voter management is part of the problem

POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 16h

Labour MPs reckon that if the ceasefire holds it will be harder for opponents to mobilize against them over the Israel-Palestine issue in the next election. There are concerns though about whether the fragile agreement will hold. More in London Playbook PM.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 11h

Lads what the fuck are you talking about. Is Big Meat lining up to write a cheque for socialism

the eco doesn't stand for ecology, it stands for economic. In other words, it's a tax-the-rich party, it's a socialist, it wears socialism on its sleeve, and it says, we will stop rip-off Britain. That's one of his phrases now.
He's made a very good fist of saying, all of you, you're getting ripped off, right?
So there is a world in which he even appeals to kind of reform voters because what they care about most is being left behind, is being priced out, is the cost of living, all the rest of it. But they probably don't care about the ideologies of a green party that says no money from X, no money from Y.
So I think that's going to be the next thing for Polanski now, decide where are your green ideals now? Is it more important to just go left, get the money and enlarge?

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 11h

On the News Agents, Emily explains that the Green Party doesn’t take donations from road builders, intensive farmers or meat producers, and wonders aloud if they’ll have to get past that now that they’re polling well, in order to be taken seriously. Uk journalism really is incredible

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 14h

“Is this fash dork…actually kind of sexy?” - me for GQ for some reason

GQ @gqmagazine.bsky.social · 1d

Is hard-right streamer Nick Fuentes winning over women on the left? Writer Katherine Dee investigates www.gq.com/story/nick-f...

Is Nick Fuentes Winning Over Women on the Left?

There are the Tumblr “Nickstorians” and sincere fanfics. But are young, liberal, possibly irony-poisoned women fetishizing or even falling for the hard-right streamer with the “groyper” following? Wri...

www.gq.com

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 21h

“Uh I’m sorry when I said the magic beans would grow a stalk up to a giant’s treasure in the clouds, I actually misspoke. But it’s even better! They’re an invitation to an event at the world’s most magical chocolate factory. Anyway no refunds.”

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

Idk really what it means to have rightwing religious US orgs paying to frame the UK debate on free speech. Possibly as little as the usual commentators adding “and of course especially Christians” to whatever they were going to say anyway.

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

“Its lawyers are eager to point to supporters it has recruited from different political and religious areas — like Claire Fox” 🤔

Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 1d

The right-wing campaign group that helped topple Roe v Wade in the US is now working to roll back abortion laws in the UK, with the help of Nigel Farage.

Its first step? Trying to create a debate around "free speech"
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

Simon Kuper in the FT!

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

[getting marched to the reeducation camp at gunpoint for insufficient flag-liking] did you hear though, he’s finally dared to mention the failure of Brexit

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

DW lads we’re all going to die on a burning planet but perhaps [checks notes] Keir Starmer will build a utopia of values
archive.ph/1ByM3

Mainstream politicians like Starmer need to present their own version of utopia. It's unlikely to be economic. Even before the UK's debt crisis, British governments hadn't managed to grow real wages in nearly 20 years and hadn't found a use for most of the economy outside the southeast for much longer.
But leaders can credibly promise voters better lives - something that probably appeals more than economic growth. Working from home is wildly popular. A four-day workweek looks feasible. Restrictions on cars have improved cities. The new multifunctional weight-loss drugs could prove the biggest medical innovation since antibiotics.
Left-liberal politicians can also offer their supporters a values utopia - that is, a society that honours their beliefs. Starmer has begun trying this: after initially aping the far-right Reform party's attack on legal migrants, he has belatedly condemned it as racist. He has also finally dared to mention the failure of Brexit.

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Reposted by Running Dog

Atrios @eschatonblog.com · 3d

Would like to hear from some of the people who genuinely fell for this shit (i think most platformed people knew it was bullshit and didn't care, but others). Anyone a bit mad?

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 6d

One of the earlier and most-viewed examples was an animation of Al Shifa Hospital, published in October 2023.

The “underground command room” was recycled from a 2022 IDF animation of an UNRWA school in Tel Al-Hawa; the street above was built from prefab @kb-3d.bsky.social storefronts

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 3d

Sometimes this stuff really does come down to “my dad could beat up your dad”

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 3d

Weird interview. Lewis is audibly excited at the idea Kinnock thought Eric Heffer was going to physically attack him and that he would counterpunch with the force of moderate moral righteousness

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

“I warn you” was a banger. Short, punchy, mostly still relevant today. But the hacks only want to talk about a speech about a group that hasn’t existed for more than 20 years. 🤷

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

On the News Agents, Lewis sits down with Neil Kinnock to swoon over the Militant speech and the incredible transformative power of rhetoric. Idk man I suppose I’d just ask why none of his other speeches worked in that case. Is it because he fell in the sea

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

On the FT podcast, the team agree that Badenoch is back back back after a barnstorming Real Tory speech. George notes that the plan to deport one hundred and fifty thousand people was “flaky” because it didn’t give specifics. “It was crammed with policy”, Miranda purrs. Lads, WTF

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

On the NS podcast, Andy recounts a years-old anecdote of a friend spotting Tony Blair “pounding a treadmill” in a Dubai hotel gym, then coming back 3 hours later to find him still at it. Is the MFer a cyborg

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

Yeah it’s prerecorded. Blaming junior producers seems like an incredible cop-out

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

And it’s maybe a bit more insidious but no more impactful or distorting than the Today hosts coming in hot & mad every morning because they’ve been obliged to speed-read all the newspapers before sunrise.

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

It’s the wrong place to make a good broad point with the wrong emphasis. Older journalists & producers seem just as likely if not more so to be afflicted with Twitter Brain. How else would we explain Question Time
bsky.app/profile/mich...

Michael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 4d

This obviously could and should have been caught several times over before broadcast, but I think Mulville is talking about the very thin end of a bigger issue here - how certain political talking points end up in the minds of people in the mainstream media.

Michael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 4d

NEW: A false claim about Euan Blair found its way into Have I Got News For You.

It was from an X post seen almost 3m times - and it was wrong.

Production chief blames a "digital native" culture.

A very online media class drinking in social media = danger:

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 4d

Anyway it’s wild how people are prepared to believe in shenanigans about Euan Blair, last seen posting £60m losses on £58m revenue from his award-winning “convince young people to work for Facebook” startup idea

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