Paddy Blewer
@padsky.bsky.social
British / Irish "liberal cosmopolitan" comms guy with a post soviet, MENA, energy, cap markets and geopolitics background. Like sport and food too. I’m not Claude Rains but I am a cynical idealist from South London. https://about.me/paddy.blewer
Living Daylights massively underrated. Dalton is a harsh Bond, Maryam Dabo was hot, the nod to Smersh was great and there's an excellent supporting cast. SAS on the rock a little on the nose? Great sound track. Also no director has a big wheel in Vienna accidentally.
December 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Living Daylights massively underrated. Dalton is a harsh Bond, Maryam Dabo was hot, the nod to Smersh was great and there's an excellent supporting cast. SAS on the rock a little on the nose? Great sound track. Also no director has a big wheel in Vienna accidentally.
Reminds me of a line I'm Blackadder 4. "Don't worry, captain Darling & I are behind you.... about 35 miles "1
Pete Hegseth stands behind our troops and behind Admiral Mitch Bradley - juuuuuuuust far enough behind to make sure they go to jail instead of him for the illegal strike that Pete Hegseth ordered.
Here for the tough man talk, gone for the tough many consequences. Profiles in cowardice.
Here for the tough man talk, gone for the tough many consequences. Profiles in cowardice.
Ladies and gentlemen: let’s all watch the chest-beating lethality macho warfighter dude trying to scurry away at the first sign of trouble.
December 2, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reminds me of a line I'm Blackadder 4. "Don't worry, captain Darling & I are behind you.... about 35 miles "1
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
Let me be clear. In the context of war, killing helpless former combatants who’re trying not to drown by clinging to pieces of their wrecked ship is a WAR CRIME. Outside the context of war, it is MURDER. There are a lot of very complex hard-to-judge military ethics cases, but this ain’t one of them.
why do we have rules if no one reads them !
Alt: GIF shows a scene from the TV show The Big Bang where the character Sheldon tosses a large stack of papers in the air and says, angrily, as the pages fall everywhere, “Why do we have rules if no one reads them?!”
media.tenor.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Let me be clear. In the context of war, killing helpless former combatants who’re trying not to drown by clinging to pieces of their wrecked ship is a WAR CRIME. Outside the context of war, it is MURDER. There are a lot of very complex hard-to-judge military ethics cases, but this ain’t one of them.
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
NEW: "The American people can accept honest mistakes. They can accept fog-of-war judgment calls. What we as a nation should not accept is moral drift at the top of the chain of command." From @markhertling.bsky.social
www.thebulwark.com/p/pete-hegse...
www.thebulwark.com/p/pete-hegse...
Pete Hegseth, Moral Failure, and the Erosion of Military Legitimacy
Congress needs to find out if any laws were broken and who is responsible.
www.thebulwark.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:51 PM
NEW: "The American people can accept honest mistakes. They can accept fog-of-war judgment calls. What we as a nation should not accept is moral drift at the top of the chain of command." From @markhertling.bsky.social
www.thebulwark.com/p/pete-hegse...
www.thebulwark.com/p/pete-hegse...
Why I won’t forgive Corbyn and those who enabled him
That's not to say the experiment did not have serious costs. A serious Labour Party could have won the 2016 referendum for Remain. It might also have peeled Tory MPs away from no-deal Brexitism after 2017.
November 30, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Why I won’t forgive Corbyn and those who enabled him
I'm a little more honest here compared to the hell site. Whilst I will still use the same gifs, I think we all of us - those of us that worked the post soviet circuit - have to look into our souls and ask ourselves whether the work we did was the right thing to do (1)
November 29, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I'm a little more honest here compared to the hell site. Whilst I will still use the same gifs, I think we all of us - those of us that worked the post soviet circuit - have to look into our souls and ask ourselves whether the work we did was the right thing to do (1)
November 27, 2025 at 3:28 PM
November 26, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Lots of well known #PR, #comms shops run by very well networked leaders. Lots of lawyers. A hell of a lot of bankers. Perhaps some journos could have been more critical. Footballers and football fans. London was where the blood of the oligarchic chaos of the 90s and early 2000s was washed off.
"We are freezing known Russian assets" says Rachel Reeves
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
"But let me be clear, I don't actually mean the member for Clacton"
November 26, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
It's not going away
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 AM
It's not going away
Listening to post close pods, #cricket journos / ex pros of my vintage+ have compared this england attack to the great windies horsemen. You can see the batters' reaction "oh christ this is hard". Not sure there's a Macko, Curtley or Bish - but they were good #ashes #AUSvENG
November 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
November 21, 2025 at 9:18 AM
November 21, 2025 at 9:12 AM
November 21, 2025 at 8:32 AM
An idle thought but could this have legs? Revolving base: Cork, Brittany, Cornwall, pays basques. Rugby, gastronomy, cycling and the ocean. Maybe a development/ u20 comp? #Rugby
Biarritz / bayone / st jean de luz also appropriate. Atlantic Rugby Cup. Maybe invite Con & Penzance. Early September. A grand week away
November 17, 2025 at 8:55 PM
An idle thought but could this have legs? Revolving base: Cork, Brittany, Cornwall, pays basques. Rugby, gastronomy, cycling and the ocean. Maybe a development/ u20 comp? #Rugby
As someone who has worked in autocracies, #comey judgement is interesting. security/ intelligence side follow orders from the boss, because to demur invites a 1 way trip to Vorkuta. But in the US the judiciary remains independent and can shine a light on "following orders" (1)
November 17, 2025 at 8:35 PM
As someone who has worked in autocracies, #comey judgement is interesting. security/ intelligence side follow orders from the boss, because to demur invites a 1 way trip to Vorkuta. But in the US the judiciary remains independent and can shine a light on "following orders" (1)
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
Inconvenient facts for malign (often foreign) influencers who try to portray my home city as a lethal no go zone.
After more than half a century living here, I’ve never felt safer
And kudos to Fraser Nelson for his work on this
After more than half a century living here, I’ve never felt safer
And kudos to Fraser Nelson for his work on this
November 16, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Inconvenient facts for malign (often foreign) influencers who try to portray my home city as a lethal no go zone.
After more than half a century living here, I’ve never felt safer
And kudos to Fraser Nelson for his work on this
After more than half a century living here, I’ve never felt safer
And kudos to Fraser Nelson for his work on this
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
Went to a posh Park Lane lunch yesterday where Kim Darroch, ex-UK ambassador to US, said diplomat colleagues loved postings to #london. Only people in US who who deride it are MAGA types who think it's all knife crime & Sharia law. "All of us know that this is ridiculous," he said. #truelondon
November 14, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Went to a posh Park Lane lunch yesterday where Kim Darroch, ex-UK ambassador to US, said diplomat colleagues loved postings to #london. Only people in US who who deride it are MAGA types who think it's all knife crime & Sharia law. "All of us know that this is ridiculous," he said. #truelondon
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
A 15-year-old is a child. An adult man cannot have sex with her, he can only rape her.
This is not OK. This never was OK. Wanting to fuck children is not OK.
The fact that we are having this discussion in America speaks volumes about where we are as a society
This is not OK. This never was OK. Wanting to fuck children is not OK.
The fact that we are having this discussion in America speaks volumes about where we are as a society
November 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM
A 15-year-old is a child. An adult man cannot have sex with her, he can only rape her.
This is not OK. This never was OK. Wanting to fuck children is not OK.
The fact that we are having this discussion in America speaks volumes about where we are as a society
This is not OK. This never was OK. Wanting to fuck children is not OK.
The fact that we are having this discussion in America speaks volumes about where we are as a society
Reposted by Paddy Blewer
If you're having to distinguish between a pedophile and a hebephile and think that's a win, you're really just losing
November 13, 2025 at 6:49 PM
If you're having to distinguish between a pedophile and a hebephile and think that's a win, you're really just losing