Gez Kirby
@gezkirby.bsky.social
Flaneur (retd.). Welsh Labour. Big fan of country walks, books, coffee, red wine. Lucky resident of both Caerphilly and Ceredigion counties.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
You can be assured that tendentious memo by Michael Prescott, and the co-ordinated combination of the Telegraph, Mail, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the White House means that the BBC hit job has been long in the planning, and has some insider help
November 10, 2025 at 11:10 AM
You can be assured that tendentious memo by Michael Prescott, and the co-ordinated combination of the Telegraph, Mail, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the White House means that the BBC hit job has been long in the planning, and has some insider help
Reposted by Gez Kirby
As a TV licence payer I would like to give the BBC my permission to say fuck off to Trump.
November 11, 2025 at 8:46 AM
As a TV licence payer I would like to give the BBC my permission to say fuck off to Trump.
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The "appropriate response" is to broadcast everything that Trump did and said on that appalling day for American democracy and then to tell this moron to sling his hook.
I might be wrong, but this stinks of Pharage involvement.
November 11, 2025 at 8:03 AM
The "appropriate response" is to broadcast everything that Trump did and said on that appalling day for American democracy and then to tell this moron to sling his hook.
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Important to be clear here that the proposed homes wouldn't mean demolishing the 18th century garden - it's just that they might possibly be visible from it. What appallingly selfish behaviour.
November 10, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Important to be clear here that the proposed homes wouldn't mean demolishing the 18th century garden - it's just that they might possibly be visible from it. What appallingly selfish behaviour.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
Reposted by Gez Kirby
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
Anybody who had a vision to bring American levels of political, cultural and social polarisation to Britain - whether their motive was clicks or cash, ideology, boredom or anything else - would make it their top strategic priority to abolish the BBC, or to damage and diminish it at the very least
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Anybody who had a vision to bring American levels of political, cultural and social polarisation to Britain - whether their motive was clicks or cash, ideology, boredom or anything else - would make it their top strategic priority to abolish the BBC, or to damage and diminish it at the very least
Reposted by Gez Kirby
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
Replacing the TV licence with a means-tested alternative may help disarm the right of one of its most effective weapons, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:32 PM
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
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but more srsly, big moment both for the UK govt (which needs to broker a face-saving solution fast: the BBC's money is our taxpayer money, the BBC is our national institution) & UK media. Knowing that Trump will sue or at least threaten to sue UK outlets potentially has a chilling effect on coverage
November 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
but more srsly, big moment both for the UK govt (which needs to broker a face-saving solution fast: the BBC's money is our taxpayer money, the BBC is our national institution) & UK media. Knowing that Trump will sue or at least threaten to sue UK outlets potentially has a chilling effect on coverage
Reposted by Gez Kirby
mainly boggling at the idea that any British media organisation has $1billion to be sued for (did Elon not tell him that we are but a simple land of hobbits, going about our hobbit business in the shires?)
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Donald Trump threatens to sue the BBC for $1billion
President Trump has set a deadline of 5pm EST (10pm in the UK) this Friday to 'comply' with his demands.
www.dailymail.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
mainly boggling at the idea that any British media organisation has $1billion to be sued for (did Elon not tell him that we are but a simple land of hobbits, going about our hobbit business in the shires?)
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
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Robbie Gibb should quite simply not be in that role. He makes no pretence of his own bias. While he has power the BBC will continue to rot.
November 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Robbie Gibb should quite simply not be in that role. He makes no pretence of his own bias. While he has power the BBC will continue to rot.
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In the interest of 'balance' at the BBC, can't we have a counter-coup to turf out Tory embed Robbie Gibb?
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 PM
In the interest of 'balance' at the BBC, can't we have a counter-coup to turf out Tory embed Robbie Gibb?
Reposted by Gez Kirby
What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC.
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
November 10, 2025 at 10:52 AM
What you’re witnessing is a populist assault on the BBC.
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
This is not an institutional scandal in any meaningful sense of the word. It is an attack on public service broadcasting.
iandunt.substack.com/p/extra-edit...
Reposted by Gez Kirby
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.
November 10, 2025 at 12:47 PM
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.
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Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
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Delighted to publish Colm and Patrick's eminently sensible pre-budget intervention:
Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it
Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.
It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...
renewal.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Delighted to publish Colm and Patrick's eminently sensible pre-budget intervention:
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It's what he would have wanted.
November 10, 2025 at 9:19 AM
It's what he would have wanted.
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The BBC needs maintenance work, not demolition, unless you want it replaced by a sinister clown show like Fox News, or forced to advertise to make it as shitty as everything else. If so, you don't understand what makes it unique, and quite possibly how to tie your own shoes.
November 10, 2025 at 9:33 AM
The BBC needs maintenance work, not demolition, unless you want it replaced by a sinister clown show like Fox News, or forced to advertise to make it as shitty as everything else. If so, you don't understand what makes it unique, and quite possibly how to tie your own shoes.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
UK newspaper editor calls Bill de Blasio fake interview blunder ‘humiliating’
A Times associate editor reportedly addressed situation in an email to staff, saying: ‘We should have been on our guard’
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The BBC will fuck things up from time to time. Lots of major news organisations do; just look at The Times having to memoryhole several fake news stories in a matter of weeks.
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
No one is calling for the abolition of The Times, however.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Gez Kirby
Meanwhile, in Reform's Lancashire CC, the councillor in charge of care homes, owns a private care home, and is closing council care homes. 👀
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Lancashire’s Reform-run council plans to close care homes and day centres
Questions about potential conflict of interest as council’s cabinet member for social care owns private care company
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Meanwhile, in Reform's Lancashire CC, the councillor in charge of care homes, owns a private care home, and is closing council care homes. 👀
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A resident’s son, a Reform party member, said any move would “kill” his mother. ~AA
#NeverThoughtTheLeopards
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Gez Kirby
My one #politics post of the day.
Starmer's refusal to clear out Tory appointments to the BBC Board and other public bodies from day one was at best deeply naive.
Again we come back to the mystery of what Labour were doing pre-2024 election as it definitely wasn't preparing for power.
Starmer's refusal to clear out Tory appointments to the BBC Board and other public bodies from day one was at best deeply naive.
Again we come back to the mystery of what Labour were doing pre-2024 election as it definitely wasn't preparing for power.
November 10, 2025 at 8:48 AM
My one #politics post of the day.
Starmer's refusal to clear out Tory appointments to the BBC Board and other public bodies from day one was at best deeply naive.
Again we come back to the mystery of what Labour were doing pre-2024 election as it definitely wasn't preparing for power.
Starmer's refusal to clear out Tory appointments to the BBC Board and other public bodies from day one was at best deeply naive.
Again we come back to the mystery of what Labour were doing pre-2024 election as it definitely wasn't preparing for power.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
This. Tesla is a mid-sized car company with a valuation build on hype and lies, an ageing range of models, facing tough competition from multiple places and with a CEO a large proportion of potential customers actively hate.
"with 1 trillion dollars, Elon Musk could-"
He doesn't have one trillion dollars. He's not going to have one trillion dollars. The company promising to give him one trillion dollars isn't worth one trillion dollars. It's not going to be worth one trillion dollars.
He doesn't have one trillion dollars. He's not going to have one trillion dollars. The company promising to give him one trillion dollars isn't worth one trillion dollars. It's not going to be worth one trillion dollars.
November 9, 2025 at 11:07 AM
This. Tesla is a mid-sized car company with a valuation build on hype and lies, an ageing range of models, facing tough competition from multiple places and with a CEO a large proportion of potential customers actively hate.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
Evergreen post.
November 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Evergreen post.
Reposted by Gez Kirby
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
Reposted by Gez Kirby
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.