Author | Lightnews

Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 11h

Good point. There are exceptions.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 11h

That would be terrible. Politicians need different qualities than journalists and comedians.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 12h

Interesting point. At school, it was always emphasised that the lack of constitutional safeguards was a big reason for Weimar's failure. The US Constitution is full of safeguards, and it could not prevent the rise of fascism.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 13h

NATO is not dead. While Trump was a huge blow to NATO it is still an invaluable tool for its other members as deterrence against Russia.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 13h

Modern Tech companies are to Trump what IBM was to the Nazis.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 21h

Why is Apple, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Blackstone, Google, OpenAI, Amazon and others financing the destruction of the WH and desecration of the grounds, something that is infuriating to huge chunk of the American population? Do you hate your customers that much?

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 14h

I am still suspicious about some of Polanski’s fantasy views on NATO and I don’t think Greens in local government have a good track record.

But I will celebrate when the Greens give Labour a big bloody nose at the next local elections.

Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 1d

Mehdi Hasan, "Is rejoining the EU a Green Party aim"

Zack Polanski, "Yes it is"

And just like that, the Green Party have leapfrogged the LibDems

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 14h

I learned “Never forget. Never again.” at school, our most important lesson.

But it always came with a disclaimer.

If our closest allies are building concentration camps for migrants or the world’s largest economy builds concentration camps for whole ethnicities we look away and we forget.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

48h is not bad given that Labour first had to run a focus group on how to respond to racist Tory policies.

Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 1d

This is a good response. Why did it take 48 hours? What kindal of Micky Mouse operation are they running in there?

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: Labour condemn Tory plan to strip people of indefinite leave to remain:

“It’s utterly grotesque that Tories want to deport people with the lawful right to be here to achieve ‘cultural coherence’.

“This policy would mean tearing families apart and ripping out our neighbours from communities."

Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

I wonder when they start selling tactical gear and other ICE merchandise.

Reposted by Timo Betcke

András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 2d

Just to repeat, Katie Lam is advocating for ethnic cleansing and Robert Peston just nods it along

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

So Peston failed to ask

"No British government has ever revoked permanent status retrospectively. has it"

"Has ANY government done this since Idi Amin?"

"So you want to deport most nurses who aren't citizens, simply because they don't earn enough money. Do you think that is fair play?"

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

Her fault. She would have been fine had she mixed it up with human sewage like water companies do.

Ros Taylor @rostaylor.bsky.social · 1d

I feel Thames Water should have been asked to comment.

Woman fined £150 for pouring coffee down drain www.bbc.com/news/article...

Kew woman fined £150 for pouring coffee down drain in Richmond

Burcu Yesilyurt says the fine is "disproportionate" while Richmond Council say it is in line with its policies.

www.bbc.com

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

I am just waiting for Kemi Badenoch's ICE to come and snatch me off the street for ever claiming child benefit when I was allowed to do so.

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Reposted by Timo Betcke

Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 1d

A mother with settled status whose child is disabled. The father is British by birth. They have received DLA for the child. A Tory government would deport her?

I'd really like any Conservative who has ever talked about the "party of the family" to explain why this is the right thing to do.

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 1d

A policy this expansive would certainly mean mass stripping of permanent residence status from people with ILR (including pensioners and parents of British children) on a scale far beyond anything any democracy has ever done before. There is no public support for such an extreme policy.

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 1d

Via @sundersays.bsky.social the Conservatives' draft legislation - absolutely clear that it applies to (and is intended to apply to) legal permanent residents claiming state pension (on the basis of their contributions) or child benefit for British kids.

publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbi...

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

And I hope it stays that way. But we are already seeing the weakening of ILR, with Labour aiming to extend the waiting time for ILR to 10 years, an international outlier and just short of abolishing it altogether, harming any sector (such as universities) that needs overseas professional workers.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

The university sector will already be hammered by Labour's proposal to extend the wait time for ILR to 10 years. No scientist will want to come here just to have to pay extortionate visa and NHS surcharges while having an unsafe status for at least a decade.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

Your comment lays bare the outright racism driving those who push for these policies. They think about nurses and care workers from the Philippines or Nigeria. They do not think about the university professor from Germany. Yet, we are all equally migrants in this country.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

I committed the grave crime when I was younger to claim child benefit for our son when I was eligible to do so. Just waiting for Katie Lam to extend these proposals to people with settled status so that she can send Kemi's British ICE to my house and arrest me for doing what was legal at the time.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

Realistically I don’t think that the fascists would get through such an extreme policy. But then that’s what I also thought about Brexit.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

Given that Katie Lam does not want to distinguish between settled status and ILR under those rules I would be deported if she gets her way.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

Right now I am more worried about Labour than about the disgusting Tory racists. Labour’s plan to increase the wait time for ILR to 10 years will kill off the university sector completely. No scientist in their right mind will want to come to the UK anymore.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 1d

This policy is nothing but disgusting racism. 10 years ago it would have been a scandal to interview racists with such despicable policies on television. Now they are promoted across media without being called out for what they are.

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 1d

Here Lam explicitly sets out her proposal - which is official Conservative Party policy - to deport long-standing legal permanent residents who have *ever* claimed any benefit, including the state pension or child benefit (even if the child is British), or who earn less than £39K.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 2d

To put a British spin on this. This is the piece of shit that is adored by the leadership of both Tories and Reform.

Jay @pescado70.bsky.social · 2d

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 2d

Maybe the UK could learn that there are countries in which corrupt politicians actually have to fear the law.

🌍Global News📝 @global-news-2024.bsky.social · 2d

🤖 Ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy holds hands with wife as he prepares to enter prison
Key points:
• Nicolas Sarkozy pictured leaving his home as he prepares to enter prison. The former French...
#Prison #Sarkozy #Prison
Source: Sky News | What are your thoughts?

Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 2d

Just a reminder that the @royalsociety.org refuses to act against an outright Nazi in their ranks who promotes the far right movements in the UK that deter scientists from coming.

I would find Royal Society interventions more credible had they found the will to remove Elon Musk as FRS.

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Timo Betcke @timobetcke.me · 2d

EU membership allowed the UK to have dysfunctional governance because the Single Market propped up the country. Now outside the EU it becomes glaringly obvious how nonfunctional the British state really is.

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