Paul Braterman #FBPE #FactsMatter #Vote4Democracy
@paulbraterman.bsky.social
Former chem prof (Texas, Scotland), erratic blogger, interested in defending science, truth, and what remains of democracy, https://paulbraterman.wordpress.com/ 🚫 Election conspiracy, merchandise, money requests, porn. No FB if only posts are starter packs
Today’s prize euphemism:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/w...
Trump Family’s Business Ties to Saudi Arabia Raise Ethics Worries
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Today’s prize euphemism:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/w...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/w...
Not only that, but he is going to do his best to make sure he doesn't accidentally dismember any more. Isn't that good enough for you?
So you mistakenly dismembered a journalist?
MBS claims the murder of Khashoggi was "a huge mistake and we're our doing our best that this doesn't happen again."
November 18, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Not only that, but he is going to do his best to make sure he doesn't accidentally dismember any more. Isn't that good enough for you?
Reposted by Paul Braterman #FBPE #FactsMatter #Vote4Democracy
Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2
November 17, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2
Refugee Council response to UK Govt’s proposed changes (please don’t call them “reforms”): www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/press-office... Will help no one, will make it more difficult for incomers to contribute, and will require an expensive bureaucratic apparatus that (mercifully) does not as yet exist
Refugee Council responds to Home Offices Restoring Order and Control policy paper - Refugee Council
Refugee Council responds to Home Office's Restoring Order and Control policy paper
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk
November 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Refugee Council response to UK Govt’s proposed changes (please don’t call them “reforms”): www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/press-office... Will help no one, will make it more difficult for incomers to contribute, and will require an expensive bureaucratic apparatus that (mercifully) does not as yet exist
More right wing rubbish from “Labour”: theconversation.com/the-uk-gover... The only people who can replace the present leadership are the backbenchers. Time for them to do their duty
The UK government’s risky rollback of financial regulation threatens long-term growth
Some rules are there for a very good reason.
theconversation.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:15 PM
More right wing rubbish from “Labour”: theconversation.com/the-uk-gover... The only people who can replace the present leadership are the backbenchers. Time for them to do their duty
From Mark Elliott, Professor of Public Law, Cambridge publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/11/17/t... tl;dr Labour’s proposed new procedures for handling asylum claims involve granting officials discretionary powers incompatible with the rule of law. And then it gets worse
The legal and constitutional implications of the asylum white paper: Some initial thoughts
Proposals for radical reform of the UK’s asylum system raise a number of legal and constitutional issues, with respect both to the European Convention on Human Rights and the domestic principle of …
publiclawforeveryone.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:42 PM
From Mark Elliott, Professor of Public Law, Cambridge publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/11/17/t... tl;dr Labour’s proposed new procedures for handling asylum claims involve granting officials discretionary powers incompatible with the rule of law. And then it gets worse
And let's also stop pretending that he's competent
Let’s revisit the ‘Starmer is a fundamentally decent man’ cliche’
November 17, 2025 at 10:21 PM
And let's also stop pretending that he's competent
And Mahmood is a barrister specialising in professional indemnity law. So she can't pretend she doesn't know what she's doing
I haven't got much to add to the general horror at Labour's migration plans, but the bizarre focus on ebikes as assets seems to serve - intentionally perhaps - to increase the stigmatisation of ebike riders (read: delivery drivers) still further and undermine migrants' everyday mobilities.
November 17, 2025 at 10:18 PM
And Mahmood is a barrister specialising in professional indemnity law. So she can't pretend she doesn't know what she's doing
Reposted by Paul Braterman #FBPE #FactsMatter #Vote4Democracy
Asked about Tommy Robinson supporting her asylum plans Shabana Mahmood replies that "Tommy Robinson doesn't even think I'm actually English, so he will certainly not be supporting anything I've got to say."
But he is supporting what she's got to say. That was the point of the question
But he is supporting what she's got to say. That was the point of the question
November 17, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Asked about Tommy Robinson supporting her asylum plans Shabana Mahmood replies that "Tommy Robinson doesn't even think I'm actually English, so he will certainly not be supporting anything I've got to say."
But he is supporting what she's got to say. That was the point of the question
But he is supporting what she's got to say. That was the point of the question
Why are we even surprised at Trump defending Tucker Carlson’s interview of Nick Fuentes, when Trump had Fuentes to dinner himself, together with Kanye West: www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/u...
Trump’s Latest Dinner Guest: Nick Fuentes, White Supremacist (Published 2022)
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Why are we even surprised at Trump defending Tucker Carlson’s interview of Nick Fuentes, when Trump had Fuentes to dinner himself, together with Kanye West: www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/u...
And maybe it is time for them to write, as I have, to their MP if Labour, saying they can no longer tolerate the present leadership and its deluded belief that it can disarm Reform by stealing their clothes
Labour loyalists, this might be a time to say ‘yes, maybe this is a step too far’ rather than shouting at us for being worried about it.
November 17, 2025 at 5:38 PM
And maybe it is time for them to write, as I have, to their MP if Labour, saying they can no longer tolerate the present leadership and its deluded belief that it can disarm Reform by stealing their clothes
Reposted by Paul Braterman #FBPE #FactsMatter #Vote4Democracy
In 2023 @tom-clark.bsky.social got me to write a chapter for his book on UK poverty about how immigration limbo, which Labour wants more of, makes people destitute. It was the most distressing piece I've ever worked on. We sent a copy to every MP. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/6081...
Destitute by design: trapped in the immigration system
Migration policy is not only failing people forced to arrive in Britain by
boats. In an extract from a new edited volume, Daniel Trilling reports on t...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 8:36 AM
In 2023 @tom-clark.bsky.social got me to write a chapter for his book on UK poverty about how immigration limbo, which Labour wants more of, makes people destitute. It was the most distressing piece I've ever worked on. We sent a copy to every MP. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/6081...
This is huge. If the military leadership is beginning to question Trump, that is surely the beginning of the end: aaronparnas.substack.com/p/news-growi...
November 16, 2025 at 9:24 PM
This is huge. If the military leadership is beginning to question Trump, that is surely the beginning of the end: aaronparnas.substack.com/p/news-growi...
I have written to my Labour MP as follows. UK friends might like to do similar
Are you and your colleagues going to put up with this? Describing refugees as a major threat (red meat to Reform), cruel, arbitrary, expensive and unworkable. I think your collective duty is plain, and waiting 1/2
Are you and your colleagues going to put up with this? Describing refugees as a major threat (red meat to Reform), cruel, arbitrary, expensive and unworkable. I think your collective duty is plain, and waiting 1/2
Mahmood’s new asylum plan: when home is ‘safe’, we’ll send you back | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I have written to my Labour MP as follows. UK friends might like to do similar
Are you and your colleagues going to put up with this? Describing refugees as a major threat (red meat to Reform), cruel, arbitrary, expensive and unworkable. I think your collective duty is plain, and waiting 1/2
Are you and your colleagues going to put up with this? Describing refugees as a major threat (red meat to Reform), cruel, arbitrary, expensive and unworkable. I think your collective duty is plain, and waiting 1/2
If you really want to convince people that refugees are intrinsically damaging to the country, this is the way to go: observer.co.uk/news/nationa... The duty of Labour backbenchers is now clear. When are they going to do it? After Reform comes out top in next yr's local elections, it'll be too late
Mahmood’s new asylum plan: when home is ‘safe’, we’ll send you back | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 6:20 PM
If you really want to convince people that refugees are intrinsically damaging to the country, this is the way to go: observer.co.uk/news/nationa... The duty of Labour backbenchers is now clear. When are they going to do it? After Reform comes out top in next yr's local elections, it'll be too late
My UK friends with Labour MPs, start writing
Someone in Labour needs to start telling the truth to the leadership. Soon. This can't go on - it's not just nasty, it's unsustainable.
November 16, 2025 at 6:05 PM
My UK friends with Labour MPs, start writing
This just in from Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign (why I am on their mailing list I had no idea). He says the race for the Ohio governorship is razor-thin. Believe him, and act accordingly. If in doubt, check out his Wikipedia entry before he cleans it up again: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_R...
November 16, 2025 at 5:02 PM
This just in from Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign (why I am on their mailing list I had no idea). He says the race for the Ohio governorship is razor-thin. Believe him, and act accordingly. If in doubt, check out his Wikipedia entry before he cleans it up again: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_R...
www.thebulwark.com/p/this-may-b...
“They’re trying to make the loss of life invisible,” Atul Gawande told me this week, “they’re trying to deny the reality, and the first task is making the invisible visible.”
Infectious disease modeling estimates 600,000 people have died already so far,
“They’re trying to make the loss of life invisible,” Atul Gawande told me this week, “they’re trying to deny the reality, and the first task is making the invisible visible.”
Infectious disease modeling estimates 600,000 people have died already so far,
This May Be the Cruelest, Most Senseless Thing Trump Has Done
A conversation with Atul Gawande about the human toll of the dismantling of foreign aid.
www.thebulwark.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:27 PM
www.thebulwark.com/p/this-may-b...
“They’re trying to make the loss of life invisible,” Atul Gawande told me this week, “they’re trying to deny the reality, and the first task is making the invisible visible.”
Infectious disease modeling estimates 600,000 people have died already so far,
“They’re trying to make the loss of life invisible,” Atul Gawande told me this week, “they’re trying to deny the reality, and the first task is making the invisible visible.”
Infectious disease modeling estimates 600,000 people have died already so far,
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... Labour MPs, you are being asked to support absurdity, cruelty, and electoral stupidity, and you know what you have to do
No 10 tells Labour MPs it expects support for tough new asylum policies
Some backbenchers already opposing planned immigration crackdown seen as ‘economically and culturally illiterate’
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:42 PM
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... Labour MPs, you are being asked to support absurdity, cruelty, and electoral stupidity, and you know what you have to do
They must know by now what they need to do. But will they do it?
The strangest thing about Starmerism is that the Parliamentary Labour Party is still distinctly soft left, as is the membership. It lacks either an ideology or a constituency... other than seemingly a few political strategists.
November 15, 2025 at 11:15 PM
They must know by now what they need to do. But will they do it?
What upsets me more than anything else is the incompetence. Throwing away your principles and alienating your supporters to fight on ground of your opponents' choosing, and giving them ammunition by legitimising their imaginary concerns
One last thing. All those Labour supporters posting pretty infographics about all the achievements, this new proposed policy on refugees is the kind of thing that means those infographics don't make any difference to the polls. One piece of vicious xenophobia drowns it all out.
November 15, 2025 at 11:11 PM
What upsets me more than anything else is the incompetence. Throwing away your principles and alienating your supporters to fight on ground of your opponents' choosing, and giving them ammunition by legitimising their imaginary concerns
I find this incomprehensible. Not only fighting on ground of your opponents' choosing, but handing them ammunition
What is truly pathetic about Labour is that this is all they have got. They have failed so spectacularly already, despite a whacking great majority, to even attempt to govern positively that all they have is punching down on marginalised groups and saying "oh but Reform will be worse".
November 15, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I find this incomprehensible. Not only fighting on ground of your opponents' choosing, but handing them ammunition
Without asylum seekers we wouldn't have had commercial scale production of penicillin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_C...
November 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Without asylum seekers we wouldn't have had commercial scale production of penicillin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_C...
Christian leaders displaying Christianity! (NB do not confuse Michael Woolf, the arrested faith leader, with Michael Wolff, the journalist) www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
November 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Christian leaders displaying Christianity! (NB do not confuse Michael Woolf, the arrested faith leader, with Michael Wolff, the journalist) www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
The Judge Advocates General were among the very first people that Trump got rid of
Retired major general alarmed 'big time' as military lawyers miss critical briefing
www.rawstory.com/trump-venezu...
www.rawstory.com/trump-venezu...
Retired major general alarmed 'big time' as military lawyers miss critical briefing
Retired Maj. Gen. James “Spider" Marks said he is highly concerned about the absence of military lawyers who were scheduled to attend a briefing with lawmakers about continuing U.S. strikes on Venezue...
www.rawstory.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:09 PM
The Judge Advocates General were among the very first people that Trump got rid of