Norrie MacQueen
@norriemacqueen.bsky.social
(More or less) retired IR academic and author: UN, peace operations, Lusophone Africa. Old left (in all senses). Citizens Advice volunteer employment adviser.
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
It was a great privilege to meet President Catherine Connolly this morning and to discuss the deep connections and shared values of Ireland and Scotland. 🏴🇮🇪
November 26, 2025 at 12:07 PM
It was a great privilege to meet President Catherine Connolly this morning and to discuss the deep connections and shared values of Ireland and Scotland. 🏴🇮🇪
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
Memorial to the Jewish volunteers of the International Brigades. It plays with Star of David and the 3-point of the IB. Around 20% (about 7,000) of Brigaders were Jewish. Fossar de la Pedrera, the mass grave of the victims of the Franco regime in Barcelona, Montjüic cemetery
November 9, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Memorial to the Jewish volunteers of the International Brigades. It plays with Star of David and the 3-point of the IB. Around 20% (about 7,000) of Brigaders were Jewish. Fossar de la Pedrera, the mass grave of the victims of the Franco regime in Barcelona, Montjüic cemetery
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
President Michael D Higgins said some of the EU's strongest members are "deciding to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human, manmade, really atrocious infliction on people" in Gaza
EU members 'deciding to stay silent' on Gaza - President
President Michael D Higgins said some of the EU's strongest members are "deciding to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human, manmade, really atrocious infliction on people".
www.rte.ie
September 16, 2025 at 12:03 PM
President Michael D Higgins said some of the EU's strongest members are "deciding to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human, manmade, really atrocious infliction on people" in Gaza
Huge if true!!
Dundee bus station toilets set to reopen after vandalism closure
Dundee bus station toilets set to reopen after vandalism closure
The facilities were shut indefinitely after measures put in place to tackle anti-social behaviour failed to work.
dlvr.it
August 25, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Huge if true!!
Perth asylum hotel this morning, No pasarán!
August 23, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Perth asylum hotel this morning, No pasarán!
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
So, you mean 80% of graduates have benefited financially from it?
And, whisper it quietly, but *UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SALARY*
And, whisper it quietly, but *UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SALARY*
August 16, 2025 at 8:34 PM
So, you mean 80% of graduates have benefited financially from it?
And, whisper it quietly, but *UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SALARY*
And, whisper it quietly, but *UNIVERSITY EDUCATION ISN’T JUST ABOUT SALARY*
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
Does Starmer have a strategic foreign policy or is his government's backing of Ukraine, arms to Israel, seeking trade anywhere irrespective of human rights, Reform rhetoric on migration just an immoral mess? My blog
open.substack.com/pub/kirstyhu...
open.substack.com/pub/kirstyhu...
Does Starmer have a Foreign Policy: progressive realism or immoral floundering?
Does the UK have a clear or strategic foreign policy? Or is it best described as muddling through, ‘progressive realism’ or, most realistically, immoral floundering?
open.substack.com
July 24, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Does Starmer have a strategic foreign policy or is his government's backing of Ukraine, arms to Israel, seeking trade anywhere irrespective of human rights, Reform rhetoric on migration just an immoral mess? My blog
open.substack.com/pub/kirstyhu...
open.substack.com/pub/kirstyhu...
Bewildering.
1. For the past week the Starmer has been calling for de-escalation.
2. Yesterday the US escalates - big time.
3. Today Starmer ‘supports’ this.
4. This evening the UK insists at the UN that there must be de-escalation.
Is this what passes for a coherent foreign policy?
1. For the past week the Starmer has been calling for de-escalation.
2. Yesterday the US escalates - big time.
3. Today Starmer ‘supports’ this.
4. This evening the UK insists at the UN that there must be de-escalation.
Is this what passes for a coherent foreign policy?
June 22, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Bewildering.
1. For the past week the Starmer has been calling for de-escalation.
2. Yesterday the US escalates - big time.
3. Today Starmer ‘supports’ this.
4. This evening the UK insists at the UN that there must be de-escalation.
Is this what passes for a coherent foreign policy?
1. For the past week the Starmer has been calling for de-escalation.
2. Yesterday the US escalates - big time.
3. Today Starmer ‘supports’ this.
4. This evening the UK insists at the UN that there must be de-escalation.
Is this what passes for a coherent foreign policy?
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
EXC: Labour have been branded 'deeply authoritarian' after reports emerged that the UK Government is set to proscribe Palestine Action 👇
June 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
EXC: Labour have been branded 'deeply authoritarian' after reports emerged that the UK Government is set to proscribe Palestine Action 👇
Gaza: Open letter to EU heads of state www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/gaza-...
Gaza: Open letter to EU heads of state
MSF International President Dr. Christos Christou and Secretary General Christopher Lockyear demand action to end the suffering in Gaza.
www.doctorswithoutborders.org
June 18, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Gaza: Open letter to EU heads of state www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/gaza-...
Very good thread
Over the last few days, we've been hearing from readers asking us to "stop giving Nigel Farage publicity" by covering news on his interventions in Hamilton, or reporting on Reform in general.
We won't be doing that. No-platforming Farage will only help Reform. Here's why 👇
We won't be doing that. No-platforming Farage will only help Reform. Here's why 👇
May 28, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Very good thread
Great initiative (and good to see that two of my favourite historical crime novelists - @stephmerritt.bsky.social and Andrew Taylor have signed).
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan among 380 writers and groups to call Gaza war ‘genocide’
Letter also signed by Hanif Kureishi and Russell T Davies urges ceasefire and unrestricted distribution of aid
www.theguardian.com
May 28, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Great initiative (and good to see that two of my favourite historical crime novelists - @stephmerritt.bsky.social and Andrew Taylor have signed).
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...
Very good background on the UK's paradigm shift on Israel-Gaza from @patrickwintour.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Lammy’s rebuke of Israel marks turning point after weeks of growing frustration
Shift in rhetoric follows tense meeting with Israel’s foreign minister and growing global alarm over Gaza Humanitarian Foundation plan
www.theguardian.com
May 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Very good background on the UK's paradigm shift on Israel-Gaza from @patrickwintour.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
This is Nick Clegg-post-tuition-fees level bad approval ratings. This is a cold, airless, lonely place in the nation's affections from which leaders do not often come back.
Keir Starmer's net favourability rating has dropped 12pts in a month to -46, his lowest level ever, including a 34pt drop among Labour voters
All Britons: -46 net rating (down 12 from 13-14 Apr)
By 2024 vote
Labour: -5 (down 34)
Lib Dem: -13 (down 12)
Conservative: -76 (up 1)
Reform: -94 (down 5)
All Britons: -46 net rating (down 12 from 13-14 Apr)
By 2024 vote
Labour: -5 (down 34)
Lib Dem: -13 (down 12)
Conservative: -76 (up 1)
Reform: -94 (down 5)
May 16, 2025 at 9:52 AM
This is Nick Clegg-post-tuition-fees level bad approval ratings. This is a cold, airless, lonely place in the nation's affections from which leaders do not often come back.
Oh my God! I'm older than the Pope!
May 9, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Oh my God! I'm older than the Pope!
A luta continua! Sempre!
April 25, 2025 at 8:22 AM
A luta continua! Sempre!
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
Another tragic loss in Gaza
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
‘If I die, I want a loud death’: Gaza photojournalist killed by Israeli airstrike
Fatima Hassouna, who had been documenting war in Gaza for 18 months and was subject of new documentary, killed along with 10 members of her family
www.theguardian.com
April 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Another tragic loss in Gaza
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
‘If I die, I want a loud death’: Gaza photojournalist killed by Israeli airstrike
April 18, 2025 at 7:09 PM
‘If I die, I want a loud death’: Gaza photojournalist killed by Israeli airstrike
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
The refusal of most western journalists to speak out about Israel targeting & murdering their colleagues in Gaza has been shameful.
Alex Crawford is one of the few mainstream UK journalists to have spoken out (clip from February last year)
Alex Crawford is one of the few mainstream UK journalists to have spoken out (clip from February last year)
March 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
The refusal of most western journalists to speak out about Israel targeting & murdering their colleagues in Gaza has been shameful.
Alex Crawford is one of the few mainstream UK journalists to have spoken out (clip from February last year)
Alex Crawford is one of the few mainstream UK journalists to have spoken out (clip from February last year)
Excellent piece. Clear-sighted and elegantly written as always from Behr.
On the character and substance of the emerging Maga-Kremlin entente. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A Trump-Putin pact is emerging – and Europe is its target | Rafael Behr
US betrayal of Ukraine is the rehearsal for a grander bargain with Moscow and an assault on continental solidarity, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Excellent piece. Clear-sighted and elegantly written as always from Behr.
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
Trudeau telling it like it is
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau:
"Today, the United States launched a trade war against Canada - their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they're talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin - a lying murderous dictator. Make that makes sense."
"Today, the United States launched a trade war against Canada - their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they're talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin - a lying murderous dictator. Make that makes sense."
March 4, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Trudeau telling it like it is
Reposted by Norrie MacQueen
