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Tom Griffin

@tcgriffin.bsky.social

690 followers 2.7K following 130 posts

Author of State-Private Networks and Intelligence Theory (Routledge 2022). Writing on intelligence history on substack. https://intelligencehistory.substack.com

Videos

Political science 30%

Sociology 27%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by David R. Miller, Tom Griffin

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13h

Trump announces another strike "just off the Coast of Venezuela" that killed 6 people

Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 16h

Read this sorry story about how an academic was axed from conference panels because he was deemed too interesting.

He was told no one on the panel was expected to air difficult opinions in front of MPs that could damage the oil and gas sector

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Academic axed from Labour conference panel for criticising energy policy

Sustainability expert was told panellists discussing North Sea oil and gas were meant to ‘agree entirely’ with each other

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Thomas I-G @thomasig.bsky.social · 1d

Lol, actually wild stuff to say on today of all days when it's pretty good news all round.

The Guardian live page update from today:

Referring to the post from Steve Witkoff this morning (see 9.53am), Badenoch said:

■ I was not born yesterday. I think it is actually very sad that the government is having to beg people to send tweets to say something nice about Jonathan Powell.

The American ambassador to Israel has actually criticised the government, saying they are delusional for saying that they have anything to do with this peace deal.

I think that that is quite tragic, the way that the UK's reputation is falling under this Labour government.

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Philip Stephens @philipstephens.bsky.social · 2d

Times/S Times campaign against Jonathan Powell accuses him of “caring about one audience above others: Starmer himself”. Clearly it’s a heinous crime for PM’s national security adviser to prioritise giving advice to, well, the PM..

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Reposted by Tom Griffin, Aurélien Mondon, James Connelly

Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: The National Union of Journalists describe the Conservative Party's banning of Byline Times journalists from covering their conference as a threat to media freedom which "undermines the Conservative Party leader’s repeated pledge to fight for free speech"

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Conservatives Accused of ‘Trumpian’ Tactics After Barring Second Byline Times Journalist From Conference

The National Union of Journalists described the bans as a threat to media freedom which "undermines the Conservative Party leader’s repeated pledge to fight for free speech"

bylinetimes.com

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Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Brendan Nyhan, Andrew Scott , and 10 more Anne Applebaum, Brendan Nyhan, Andrew Scott, Colin Murray, Jonathan Wolff, Andrew Curry, Tom Griffin, Victor Pickard, Henry Jones, Sam Kamin, Gerry Hassan, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 6d

"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."

- Jack Posobiec at Trump's roundtable on antifa

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Patrick Dunleavy, Edgar Morgenroth , and 1 more Will Jennings, Patrick Dunleavy, Edgar Morgenroth, Tom Griffin

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 7d

The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy, a petro-state with no income tax for citizens, to bribe them for the lack of democratic voice or free speech

It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers

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Reposted by Paul Davies, Tom Griffin

Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 7d

I don't want to get all Chesterton's Fence here, but if you don't understand that a "microscopic snail" is an indicator species that's protected for the health of the entire ecosystem, you probably shouldn't be forming "good relationships" with developers
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer

Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Tom Griffin, Christina Pagel

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 7d

This is one of the issues London Labour insiders raised with me in this piece on Labour & London – Labour is taking the votes of the capital for granted, and is about to impose major local government austerity on councils who were hard hit first time round.

www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-l...

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 7d

Is any journalist at Conservative conference going to ask Robert Jenrick where he got his new "Let's take our country back," slogan from?

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Reposted by Holger Nehring, Tom Griffin, Judith Freedman

Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 7d

Some of London’s poorest areas could see their share of the children’s services funding formula halved under Labour’s plans to reform local government grants.

By me, for Politics Home: www.politicshome.com/news/article...

London Councils Face Losing Half Their Share Of Children's Services Funding

Some of London’s poorest areas could see their share of funding for children’s services halved under Labour’s plans to reform local government gran...

www.politicshome.com

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 7d

% of of all GCSEs awarded at Grade 9 (the top grade) in 2025.

London 7.6%
Herefordshire 2.6%

Could do with virtually any metric you like btw. This was the top one on Google.

analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/GCSE/Co...

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Tom Griffin

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 7d

The Sun corrects Katie Lam's numerous errors and lies about foreign nationals claiming benefits.

archive.ph/vQ7Tn

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Andrew Scott, Tom Griffin

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 8d

If you can't see how this will end, then you're not paying attention (not least to what's going on on the other side of the Atlantic).

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 8d

C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself. It is not clear what is behind the move by Michael Ellis, a Trump loyalist. A legal ethics specialist said it could raise conflict-of-interest issues.

C.I.A. Deputy Director Has Replaced Agency’s Top Legal Official With Himself

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Tom Griffin

SpinningHugo @spinninghugo.bsky.social · 8d

What on earth has happened to the Tories? This wouldn't have been acceptable in 1965 let alone 2025.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Robert Jenrick complained of ‘not seeing another white face’ in part of Birmingham

Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on short visit

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Axel Bruns, Tom Griffin

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 8d

We wanted to understand Democratic Socialists of America. So we talked to two old guys who voted for Trump. (Yes, this is literally the article.)

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Tom Griffin

Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 8d

🚨🚨 "The ECHR is not some foreign imposition that curtails our sovereignty. It was born of British leadership after the horrors of the Second World War, drafted with heavy British influence, and championed by Winston Churchill himself". Great stuff by Sir Robert Buckland KC:

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Mark Pack @markpackuk.bsky.social · 8d

One reason Labour leaves me confused: buff.ly/c7m4CGZ

But note too that, broadly speaking, Labour is united on economic issues and divided on cultural issues. While Reform - and the right overall all the more so - is divided on economic issues while united on cultural issues. Which makes the enthusiasm of some Labour strategists to make politics about cultural issues… puzzling.

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Reposted by Tom Griffin, Simon Usherwood

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8d

Today will see a flurry of speculative claims about the GFA & ECHR. Most significantly that rights weren't important/were late editions/didn't mean the whole ECHR in NI law. I'm begging journalists to push back. Civil Servants were planning for Labour's Rights Agenda for NI from the 1997 election:

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Andrew Cutting @andrewcutting.coe.int · 8d

Interesting: Leaving the #ECHR would be a grave mistake, writes former UK Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland KC👇

🔗 conservativehome.com/2025/10/05/r... via @conservativehome.bsky.social

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Reposted by Alison Phipps, Tom Griffin, Molly Scott Cato

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 9d

Politico: Kent County Council controlled by Reform UK, 'is likely to raise council tax rates next year after its cost-cutting “DOLGE” program struggled to find savings, the FT reports. Council Cabinet member Diane Morton said local services were already “down to the bare bones”'

Exactly as warned.

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Tim Bale , and 5 more Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Tim Bale, Jonathan Wolff, Chris Hanretty, Kelly Smith, Philip Cowley, Tom Griffin

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 9d

*gasp*

“Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren’t,” said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent.

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 10d

In another demonstration of Hegseth-style opsec, Hegseth has detailed discussions of deployment of special forces unit on Signal, and screen shots of the signal messages are leaked to media. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

White House official inadvertently reveals plans to send elite army unit to Portland

Anthony Salisbury displayed chat about deployment of 82nd airborne division on cellphone while in Minnesota

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Marc Goergen, Tom Griffin

Cat Neilan @catneilan.bsky.social · 10d

Exclusive: Nigel Farage has not updated his register since May, despite continuing to present his GB News show, record Cameo videos and being a verified X user

Qus are now being asked about the non-registration of his shareholding in GB parent co All Perspectives

observer.co.uk/news/politic...

‘Nine-jobs Nigel’ Farage denies not declaring extra earni...

Roles outside Parliament make Reform leader the highest-earning MP, but register of interests has not been updated since end of May

observer.co.uk

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Reposted by Anupam Chander, Peter Thorne, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 12 more Anupam Chander, Peter Thorne, Rosemary A. Joyce, Charles West, Alan Richardson, Tom Griffin, Bessma Momani, Kate Starbird, Anthony Burke, Greg Linden, Jack Stilgoe, Federica Genovese, Simon Lester, Aviel Roshwald, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 10d

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

Defend Democracy @defenddemocracy.bsky.social · 10d

President Macron: “Europeans, let's wake up!

We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.”

defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...

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Reposted by Tom Griffin, Margot C. Finn, Simon Usherwood

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 10d

Support for staying in the ECHR has been rising (probably a Farage effect of solidifying the majority who oppose him, maybe Trump osmosis effect). Media and political opinion on the right believes there is a strong public desire to quit. Badenoch has now committed the Conservatives to quitting.

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Reposted by Tom Griffin

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 10d

“To be honest, I think things are worse now than in 1979,” he says. “Clearly, there was a lot more racial violence then than there is now, but it’s coming back. What’s worse now is that the rhetoric of the extreme far right is not too dissimilar from the rhetoric across the political spectrum.”

Nick Lowles, the fighter of hate who hid from the sun

As a child in the National Front’s heyday, fear made HOPE not Hate’s CEO try to conceal his origins. Now he says tensions are worse than they were in 1979

www.thenewworld.co.uk

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Reposted by Alex Callinicos, Tom Griffin

LOWρUF🐸 🇵🇦🇬🇱🇨🇦🇲🇽 @lowrhoufo.bsky.social · 11d

Very funny things

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Tom Griffin

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 11d

An interesting point raised elsewhere: these boats that the United States is striking don't appear to have the fuel capacity/storage capacity to even reach American shores.

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