Vaughan Roberts
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vaughanroberts.bsky.social
Vaughan Roberts
@vaughanroberts.bsky.social

Writer and speaker; priest and canon emeritus, spouse, father and grandfather. Interested in sport, culture, religion and how organisations function.

Vaughan Edward Roberts is a Church of England clergyman. Since 1998, he has been the rector of St Ebbe's, Oxford. In 2009, he became Director of the Proclamation Trust.

Source: Wikipedia
Art 21%
Political science 18%
NEW

A close look at Trump's $1 billion claim against the BBC

The litigation letter is weak, but his underlying practical position is not weak

By me:
emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-lo... (Substack)

(Non-Substack link to follow.)
A close look at Trump's $1 billion claim against the BBC
The litigation letter is weak, but his underlying practical position is not weak
emptycity.substack.com
Should Gibb be sacked? yes, obviously. He's an abomination of basic journalistic standards. His GB News channel spreads conspiracy theory & disinformation. His Jewish Chronicle newspaper spreads invented stories. He is plainly trying to undermine the BBC so it's as bad as everything else he touches.

Gosh, what next...?⬇️
Putin's biggest fear has been exposed.

As a Russian dissident who spent 10 years in his prisons, I can tell you it's not sanctions or missiles. It's the rising legitimacy of the Russian opposition.

🧵 And that legitimacy just got a major boost.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Putin's biggest fear has been exposed.

As a Russian dissident who spent 10 years in his prisons, I can tell you it's not sanctions or missiles. It's the rising legitimacy of the Russian opposition.

🧵 And that legitimacy just got a major boost.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Day conference in London (13 Nov) The Common Good in Organisations- enabling ways of organizing to prevent harm and better serve the common good. Speakers @jo-berry.bsky.social (Building bridges for Peace founder) & Stephen Cherry (author of ‘Unforgiveable?’) Details eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-common...
REV. BLACK (who was shot in the head with a pepper ball): “If this is what they’re doing to pastors, journalists, teachers, mothers, and the elderly gathered to sing and pray outside ICE facilities… what might they be doing to our neighbors who are behind those walls?”
Farage: epic grifter

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

It’s about time the media focus switched, from scapegoating people seeking asylum to examining the Tory government’s reckless disregard for basic governmental functions & its pernicious, structural afterlife.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Home Office 'squandered billions' on asylum accommodation, MPs say
www.bbc.co.uk
The reform party nativity scene.

No unmarried mothers. No Middle Eastern people. No refugees. No people seeking emergency accommodation.

And not a wise fvcking man in sight…
I know this is obvious. And I know we all know this.
But if the President can raise taxes because an advert annoyed him, without even consulting Congress, then the US constitution is simply not functioning as intended.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

The Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Most Revd Hosam Naoum, has praised the resilience of #Palestinians and has entreated Christians to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem”, in a discussion following a service at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, in #NYC, on Sunday
Pray for us, Archbishop in Jerusalem tells New York congregation
Resilience, or samud in Arabic, is ‘a quiet, active and strong will to stay to the last’, he says
www.churchtimes.co.uk

👏👏👏👇
The priorities of Trump are very different from the priorities of Jesus.

Follow Jesus. Not Trump.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

The priorities of Trump are very different from the priorities of Jesus.

Follow Jesus. Not Trump.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Farcical
Wrongly-released migrant 'tried to return to prison 4 or 5 times', witness says.
“Kebatu was outside the prison for “about an hour and a half" before finally leaving. ‘They [the officers] sent him away, saying, 'Go, you've been released, you go.'’ news.sky.com/story/witnes...
Wrongly-released migrant 'tried to return to prison 4 or 5 times', witness says
The driver says Kebatu returned to the prison 'four or five times' and was eventually sent away in a 'stressed' and 'upset' state.
news.sky.com
That's racism. Plain and simple.

No other word for it.

It's shocking beyond belief that this sort of thing is somehow acceptable.
Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin, “It drives me mad seeing adverts full of black people, full of Asian people, full of anything other than white"

Followed by that time Sarah Pochin said, "My kids say: mum, you're such a moron" 👀

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Best on-the-ground analysis you'll read all day.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ unit yet to carry out any council audits on.ft.com/4np57aT
Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ unit yet to carry out any council audits
Party promised six months ago that a specialist team would tackle wasteful spending in local government
on.ft.com

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

This is really worth watching. About time Niall Ferguson’s self-affirming TV series was updated & there’s no one better than @davidolusoga.bsky.social (whatever you think of his treatment of Sir Stephen Fry) to do it.

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Grateful to Sojourners for covering ICE's assault on this pastor

sojo.net/articles/int...
The Chicago Pastor Who Confronted ICE in a Viral Photo
Rev. David Black found himself in the middle of a spectacle, but he wants to be clear: This story isn't about him.
sojo.net

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

🔴The Real Energy Scandal The Media Won’t Tell You About

Fossil fuel interests are colluding with billionaire-owned media companies to block the UK’s transition towards a cheaper and greener future, argues @donnachadhmc.bsky.social

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/22/t...
The Real Energy Scandal The Media Won't Tell You About
Fossil fuel interests are colluding with billionaire-owned media companies to block the UK's transition towards a cheaper and greener future, argues Donnachadh McCarthy
bylinetimes.com
Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America
Sadly, there's a lot to be said for Marina Hyde's analysis here. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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

Ouch!

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Brexit isn’t a sacred covenant. It can be judged, reimagined, undone.

History shows that what is declared irreversible is often temporary.

The monarchy was abolished under Charles I, restored under Charles II. Perhaps 🇬🇧 return to EU will come under Charles III
thecatholicherald.com/article/brex...
Brexit and the myth of irreversibility
Catholic teaching insists politics must serve the common good, while history shows that even the deepest ruptures can be reversed
thecatholicherald.com
The war zone in Portland is out of control.
“‘To deliver humanitarian aid,” I said when asked why I’d joined the flotilla. The officer slammed his fist on the desk: “I don’t understand it.”’

@naoisedolan.bsky.social on the imprisonment of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, from the blog: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...
Naoise Dolan | ‘You’re here now’
Just after 5 a.m. on Wednesday, 8 October, Israeli forces had illegally boarded us in international waters, at roughly...
www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Vaughan S. Roberts

Nick Maynard's trips to #Gaza have made him an eyewitness to catastrophe, he tells Rebecca Paveley
‘What I’ve witnessed in Gaza is unspeakably wrong, unspeakably evil’ — an interview with British surgeon Nick Maynard
His trips to Gaza have made him an eyewitness to catastrophe, he tells Rebecca Paveley
www.churchtimes.co.uk
ew post: Populism and Economic Prosperity
mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/10/popu...
We would expect populist governments to damage the economy, and the evidence suggests that they do so in a big way. But we know from Brexit that the media typically nullifies the impact of this evidence on voters.
Populism and Economic Prosperity
Mainstream political parties normally claim that populist parties, if they ever got to power, would damage the economy. We have clear evid...
mainlymacro.blogspot.com