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Russ Jones

@russincheshire.bsky.social

63K followers 430 following 1.8K posts

Author: "Baby's Breath" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Tories: The End of an Error"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Byline Columnist. Idiot. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Babys-Breath-Gripping-Psychological-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0FK5MYF31/ https://books2read.com/u/bPO6Ql

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 9d

Sound up! The audiobook of Baby's Breath is now available on Audible (£0.99 if you're a member)

Also on other platforms - Apple and so on (no idea what they charge, it's an occult mystery).

www.amazon.co.uk/Babys-Breath...

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Reposted by Russ Jones

Patius Fatius Felinus @patthefatcat1.bsky.social · 15h

On holiday Russ…just finished “End of an Error”
Just as good, just as scratching, just as funny & just as sad as the previous 2.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 16h

Tories: The End of an Error is available now, ideally from Byline Books, which is better for everybody

subscribe.bylinetimes.com/product/tori...

Tories: The End of an Error – Byline Times Shop

Tories: The End of Error is the final – please God, let it be final – volume in the satirical trilogy that has catalogued every fib and fatuity of fourteen years of Tory rule. Russell Jones offers us ...

subscribe.bylinetimes.com

Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 16h

"It was just a Freudian slip, Mrs Badenoch"

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 16h

Same. 260,000 followers, and I left without any regrets.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 16h

Oh, the research. Writing fiction is a joy.

Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 16h

Treasure it, they're like hen's teeth

Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 18h

I've got dozens of 1 star reviews from people I am absolutely certain never read a word - they attribute the books with content that doesn't exist. But I guess it's just an unavoidable consequence of writing about politics.

Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 18h

Google Drive is your backup friend. Except when you have an idea while at the supermarket, and open the manuscript to make a quick note, then pop your phone back in your pocket, where the movement of your thigh replaces the entire book with nsjdndjfbddjfidhsjxufn... and then saves it.

Twice.

a young boy is laughing with his mouth open in a striped shirt .

Alt: Screaming wildly

media.tenor.com

Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 18h

At least this one has a happy ending, and it's Christmas soon

subscribe.bylinetimes.com/product/tori...

Tories: The End of an Error – Byline Times Shop

subscribe.bylinetimes.com

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 18h

But there's also that other book - the early draft with that LOVELY bit you really liked, which has a great joke and a beautifully poetic metaphor, but which you brutally killed with your editorial hat on, because it didn't work in context and messed with the pacing.

That book haunts me.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 19h

That's because I'm now writing fiction, instead of spending my days researching the Tories.

Reposted by Russ Jones

THE NERVE @thenerve.news · 19h

🔗 Read the full piece

www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

Stewart Lee: The thugs have taken my flag. So I’ve taken theirs

What do you do with a lot of cheap banners hanging from motorway bridges once you’ve torn them down?

www.thenerve.news

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 19h

Mind you, I still had some dark hairs left then. Writing has aged me horribly.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 19h

3 years ago today, I signed 3000 copies of my first book.

I'd been a bored software guy for 32 years, and never dreamed something like this would happen.

I owe so much to @johnmitchinson.bsky.social for taking a chance on me, and to all my followers for turning The Week In Tory into a phenomenon.

Me with a few hundred copies of The Decade In Tory

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Reposted by Russ Jones

Democracy Action Network @democracyactionnet.bsky.social · 1d

Breaking: Disturbing scenes out of Portland, 2025 — authorities warn the situation could escalate.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

largely just talks to his base, on the mistaken assumption it'll achieve anything.

But I suspect you and I have fundamentally different views on what's important about practical politics. You're not persuading me. I'm probably not persuading you. So let's leave it.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

That's not ever going to win power. And if you don't have power, you can't implement a damn thing to improve the lives of people in desperate need.

It's important to look outside of the base. Polanski understands that, and goes to Reform strongholds to talk to them. Corbyn doesn't, and

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not talking about what Green members or Corbyn backers want. That's the issue here - the idea that appeasing a small group automatically means you'll reach a wider group. You won't. 66% of voters hold very negative votes of Corbyn.

If all you want is to please the 17% who like him, fine. But

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not talking about all party polling. That's not what any of this discussion has been about. It's been about whether Corbyn would be an asset to the Greens. I say he wouldn't - his negatives far outweigh his positives, and Polanski is doing REALLY well without him.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not better than that. But if he comes to me with the argument that everybody with negative views of Corbyn only thinks that way because they're under the mind-drug of the MSM, I'm going to take the piss. Cos it's a stupid, insulting theory that assumes stupidity in all voters except him.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

I've never said he's my enemy. I've said he's unpopular, outside of a small, slightly fanatical group, who seem to think public opinion is the result of bad press (to which they alone are immune), and that Corbyn, a 76-year-old who split his policy-free party of 2, is still the future of the left.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

"The press and other vested interests" tell you to like Farage, too.

Do you?

What makes you so very, very able to resist press propaganda, when the rest of us are so weak, enfeebled and susceptible?

Or is it the case that people made their own decisions about Corbyn, but you don't see it?

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not saying this to diss Corbyn, or undermine the left. I'm from the left. I think Polanski is terrific. I think Starmer is catastrophic.

But I want the left to win some power. And I don't think the guy 66% of people think is toxic is the answer to that. I don't see how he helps.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 1d

How?

YouGov found 66% of British voters view Corbyn somewhere between "bad" and "absolutely awful". Only 17% had a positive view of him.

I don't see how adding that to the mix helps Polanski, who is doing a brilliant job of articulating the left's position and winning hearts and minds.

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 2d

I'm no fan of Starmer, but that's not what this discussion has been about. It's been about whether it's sensible for Polanski to align himself with Corbyn. I see absolutely no up-side for the progressive left. Corbyn has his fans, but he's poison to most voters. Polanski is popular.

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