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Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 19m

Genuinely surprised by "the Witkoff was pushed to release that complimentary tweet" narrative that's going on over at X, including by particular journalists.
Once upon a time, all "sides" would be celebrating U.Ks involvement...

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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 1h

In other shocking news, Reform UK's tax-cut promises now just "an aspiration". ~AA

Screengrab from the Guardian's live political rolling feed:

Richard Tice confirms Reform abandoning firm commitment to most of £90bn tax cuts in 2024 manifesto
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, has confirmed that the party has dropped its commitment to most of the £90bn tax cuts it was promising in its election manifesto last year.

In a significant change of tack, the party is now saying that it will not implement tax cuts until it has cut government spending first.

Tice and Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, still believe that colossal cuts in public spending are achievable, and that these could be used to fund big tax cuts. But they have abandoned the bravado of the 2024 Reform manifesto, which implied rebalancing the economy in that way was relatively straightforward.

At their party conferences Labour and the Conservatives both claimed that Reform’s irresponsible economic policies would crash the economy just like Liz Truss’s mini-budget, and it is now clear that this line of attack seems to have had an impact.

In its manifesto, Reform proposed tax cuts worth £90bn, alongside spending commitments worth £50bn. The key tax cut would have been lifting the tax-free personal allowance to £20,000.

Today Tice told Times Radio that this was no longer a commitment, but just an “aspiration”. He said Reform remained committed to getting rid of net zero environmental levies, but he went on: “All the other details [in the manifesto] go because we’re in a different time.”

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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 5h

Oops. ~AA

Ambassador Mike Huckabee
@GovMikeHuckabee
I assure you she’s delusional. She can thank
@realDonaldTrump
anytime just to set the record straight.
Quote
Sky News
@SkyNews
·
Oct 12
'We've played a key role behind the scenes in shaping this'

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says the UK government has been involved in diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

https://trib.al/GMH8aBc #TrevorPhillips

📺 Sky 501 and YouTube
1:40 PM · Oct 12, 2025
·
2.2M
Views

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff

@SEPeaceMissions
I would like to acknowledge the vital role of the United Kingdom in assisting and coordinating efforts that have led us to this historic day in Israel. In particular, I want to recognize the incredible input and tireless efforts of National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell.
6:53 AM · Oct 13, 2025
·
657.1K
Views

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Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 7h

These are excellent ideas but as you say, no quick fixes.
Definitely think there should be more awareness about this - public health campaign? Need "neutral" well known figures to front this.
Plus need conversations to start in schools/education.

Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 7h

Very true but what can be done about it?
People simply do not believe what they read/see anymore. They question facts and doubt what experts say.
Aided by politicians questioning what "truth" is and X/media amplifying this.

Struggling to think how this can be turned around...

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 7h

I bang on about this a lot: I think the combination of a global pandemic, underregulated internet/SM, collapse/corruption of trustworthy media, plus now unregulated genAI, is a wildly toxic environment for radicalisation & mental health. We see the results of that in our politics & lives every day

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 21h

Everyone knows at least one person (normally, but not exclusively, a guy) whose gone properly mental due to net rabbit holes.

We see public figures regularly go mad and destroy themselves.

And we have, at a policy level, just decided to put our fingers in our ears and go nahnahnah

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 21h

Last night I heard of another friend of a friend who has been lost to a rabbit hole of online propaganda. We need to start treating this as a serious public health concern.

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe there's something in this Nigel Farage and Nathan Gill Russian bribes story....

Lots of stories about Nathan Gill and Russian bribes.

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 1d

I find it weird how people can acknowledge that UK politics is volatile to an unprecedented degree and yet talk very confidently about the shape of an election in 2029. Reform is depicted as a permanent and unstoppable force and Labour as utterly doomed. Doesn't add up to me

James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 1d

It's almost exactly four years since Tim Shipman's notorious "Boris Johnson squats like a giant toad" tweet.

Seems like important context given how we often talk as though the next election – four years away – is a done deal.

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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 1d

It's almost exactly four years since Tim Shipman's notorious "Boris Johnson squats like a giant toad" tweet.

Seems like important context given how we often talk as though the next election – four years away – is a done deal.

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 1d

This is it. I didn’t find it at all difficult to leave Twitter in the end: it stopped being fun and became boring and depressing. Whenever I opened it I’d see things that were obnoxious or upsetting. It was a relief not to do that.

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 1d

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

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Andrew Harrison @nndroid.bsky.social · 1d

The BBC just can’t stop wasting licence fee payers’ money.

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Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · 2d

Most people seem to have missed who retweeted this picture of Farage in Gill’s office a few days after Gill began receiving his first bribes from Oleh Voloshyn (Oleg Voloshin). None other than…

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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2d

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it is still shaping policy. So were we all wrong to leave?

Was the left wrong to leave X for BlueSky?

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it's still shaping policy

www.newstatesman.com

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Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 2d

You're all missed over at X..

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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 2d

Oh look - Farage.

In the US - again. This time slagging off UK teachers. Next thing you know he’ll be there having a go at our vicars, doctors and nurses.

This man seriously, seriously dislikes Britain, doesn’t he?

This feels like a guaranteed entry into next week’s issue of Bearly Newsworthy.

Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage accuses teachers of
'poisoning our kids' on race issues
Exclusive: Reform UK leader's remarks at event for private US college criticised as 'grossly irresponsible' by NEU leader

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 2d

People keep telling me the UK is so over and they're going to move to Dubai and, like, fine. Go on then. Would you like directions to the airport?

Janine Gibson @janinegibson.ft.com · 2d

You definitely shouldn't move to Dubai, writes V&A director Tristram Hunt on.ft.com/46MfW1t

Don’t move to Dubai — this is still the place to be

[FREE TO READ] Better to buy the dip and celebrate the UK as an enduring cultural behemoth

on.ft.com

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

Came to the UK in 2015, got married to a British citizen, got permanent status in 2025. One eg of why Farage's policy of revoking the status of those told this is their permanent home will fail with most people (including migration sceptics) on the people involved
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

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Patrick - Here for the craic 👍🏼 @patrickopatrick.bsky.social · 3d

Hate crime in England and Wales rises for first time in 3 years and while MSM amplify Farage & Reform anti migrant hate and demonise Palestinian Peace Marches, sympathising with right wing thugs “anger protests” it’ll get worse..

Hate crimes against Muslims rose 19% and fell 18% against Jews 🤷🏼‍♂️

Race and religious hate crime rises in England and Wales, figures suggest

The number of police-recorded race and religious hate crimes have increased in the year to March.

www.bbc.com

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 3d

Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.

SHOCK POLL:
NIGEL FARAGE WILL BE PM TOMORROW
IN an amazing poll conducted
by The Pointless Polling Company, it was revealed that voters' intentions
may well change over the next three and a half years and at present it's 100 percent impossible to guess what the next government might look like.
However, 99 percent of journalists
agree that it would be much more fun if we had an election tomorrow and everybody resigned and everything was chaos and Farage had a go at being PM, just for the hell of it, because it was so much fun when
Brexit happened and then the government kept falling every five minutes and we could write endless pieces about (cont. p94)

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Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 3d

There are others - Darren Jones, Angela Raynor for example.
The minister they put up on #bbcqt was not one of them though....

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Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 3d

Have we all forgotten Boris Johnson and how well his abundance of "charisma" worked for the country....

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 4d

Twelve Jobs Nigel has earned over £1 million in additional income since the general election.

To understand the scale of it, since the July 2024 election he's earned roughly £100k more as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion than Starmer gets as PM.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Nigel Farage earns over £1m from 12 'second jobs' - check how much your MP earns

The Reform UK leader's most lucrative second jobs include hosting on GB News, serving as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion and recording videos for Cameo

www.mirror.co.uk

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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 3d

My kid's Clacton nursery has cut hot lunches for toddlers to save money, and sent round leaflets to parents advising us on preparing packed lunches for around 90p per day.

They have no waiting list for places because there's so few jobs here worth doing once you've covered childcare.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 4d

Twelve Jobs Nigel has earned over £1 million in additional income since the general election.

To understand the scale of it, since the July 2024 election he's earned roughly £100k more as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion than Starmer gets as PM.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Nigel Farage earns over £1m from 12 'second jobs' - check how much your MP earns

The Reform UK leader's most lucrative second jobs include hosting on GB News, serving as a brand ambassador for Direct Bullion and recording videos for Cameo

www.mirror.co.uk

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Sue @suescishaw.bsky.social · 3d

A sad reflection on how social media with instant clips & sound bites have changed political comms and consequently media interviewing.
*A lot* easier for Opposition parties to be free to say what they like.
But any slip up from Govt ministers is immediately amplified....

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 3d

I do wonder if Labour might look at the sorts of people dominating the discourse and dominating the content wars and maybe, just maybe, rethink the sorts of grey figures they routinely put up for interviews, instructed at that to be as cautious as possible. Things have changed. Their comms hasn’t.

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