Scandifriend
@scandifriend.bsky.social
Wigan-based diminutive middle-aged would-be punk elfin. Obsessed with all things Scandi, chess, politics, music, languages, cooking, and doing the washing up https://worldlyscandifriend.wordpress.com/
Reposted by Scandifriend
It is, once again, *not austerity* to tax and spend. It is prudent management of a country that has a chronic public sector underinvestment problem in urgent need to correction.
November 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
It is, once again, *not austerity* to tax and spend. It is prudent management of a country that has a chronic public sector underinvestment problem in urgent need to correction.
Reposted by Scandifriend
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Solange Opens Free Digital Library Of Rare Black Books
Solange has launched a digital library archive of Black and brown authors where readers can borrow books at no cost.
peopleofcolorintech.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Oh seriously. Lol. The Ukrainian army cut by *a half*?
New: I can confirm hasty US-Russia proposal being pushed to Ukrainians via Dmitriev-Witkoff to Umerov. It would amount to Ukraine’s capitulation, with people familiar saying it’s Kremlin’s maximalist demands.
-Ukraine army cut 1/2
-Give up certain weapons
-Give up Donbas
-Zelensky displeased
More tk
-Ukraine army cut 1/2
-Give up certain weapons
-Give up Donbas
-Zelensky displeased
More tk
November 19, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Oh seriously. Lol. The Ukrainian army cut by *a half*?
Reposted by Scandifriend
I hate how every nation is living down to its stereotype because I’m trained to look for complexity in things, yet the USA is run by a caricature of crony capitalism that Soviet propaganda would consider too unsubtle, Russia is run by a Bond villain, the UK is speedrunning Children of Men, etc.
November 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I hate how every nation is living down to its stereotype because I’m trained to look for complexity in things, yet the USA is run by a caricature of crony capitalism that Soviet propaganda would consider too unsubtle, Russia is run by a Bond villain, the UK is speedrunning Children of Men, etc.
Disgusting men
Trump has been secretly working with Putin to create a stitch-up peace deal which they will try to force on Ukraine.
As for Europe: “We don’t really care,” a senior official told Politico.
As for Europe: “We don’t really care,” a senior official told Politico.
November 19, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Disgusting men
Reposted by Scandifriend
"These our are flags"
November 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"These our are flags"
Reposted by Scandifriend
Russia is blowing up railways inside NATO now — just 97 kilometers from an EU capital, Warsaw in Poland.
Gangsters only yield to overwhelming force.
Our response is long overdue.
Gangsters only yield to overwhelming force.
Our response is long overdue.
November 19, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Russia is blowing up railways inside NATO now — just 97 kilometers from an EU capital, Warsaw in Poland.
Gangsters only yield to overwhelming force.
Our response is long overdue.
Gangsters only yield to overwhelming force.
Our response is long overdue.
Reposted by Scandifriend
“I'll tell you what happens with impossible promises You start with far- fetched resolutions They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government”
The Labour government does not want to rule out deporting somebody once here as a refugee 16-19 years with a British-born 15 year old child
November 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM
“I'll tell you what happens with impossible promises You start with far- fetched resolutions They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government”
Gordon Bennett. It just gets worse and worse
The i Paper is reporting that once the changes are brought in, the 20 year route will be applied to refugees who are already here.
I can't over emphasise the level of terror this will cause to our refugee population, and the lack of detail and timescale will make it very difficult to calm nerves.
I can't over emphasise the level of terror this will cause to our refugee population, and the lack of detail and timescale will make it very difficult to calm nerves.
November 19, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Gordon Bennett. It just gets worse and worse
Reposted by Scandifriend
Something I found interesting about Mahmood’s speech and question responses yesterday was that she genuinely seemed to believe the country was on the brink of proper civil unrest over migration. Many references to a broken social contract, justifiable anger on the streets of her constituency etc.
November 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Something I found interesting about Mahmood’s speech and question responses yesterday was that she genuinely seemed to believe the country was on the brink of proper civil unrest over migration. Many references to a broken social contract, justifiable anger on the streets of her constituency etc.
Reposted by Scandifriend
Nobody who should fuck off actually fucks off anymore. We're stuck with all these fucking people.
November 18, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Nobody who should fuck off actually fucks off anymore. We're stuck with all these fucking people.
Reposted by Scandifriend
The misconceived notion that the way to deal with the backlog of asylum claims is to duplicate the system so as to have exit assessments too.
In essence: addressing the problem of a queue by forming another queue, just as long.
Daft, as well as cruelly unsettling.
In essence: addressing the problem of a queue by forming another queue, just as long.
Daft, as well as cruelly unsettling.
November 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
The misconceived notion that the way to deal with the backlog of asylum claims is to duplicate the system so as to have exit assessments too.
In essence: addressing the problem of a queue by forming another queue, just as long.
Daft, as well as cruelly unsettling.
In essence: addressing the problem of a queue by forming another queue, just as long.
Daft, as well as cruelly unsettling.
Reposted by Scandifriend
Listening to Steve Reed explain on the radio today that he can't say what Mahmood's plan means for kids of people who give birth after they've been granted asylum because that's a hypothetical Q govt can't be expected to answer right now made me think these reforms are going to unravel quite fast
November 18, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Listening to Steve Reed explain on the radio today that he can't say what Mahmood's plan means for kids of people who give birth after they've been granted asylum because that's a hypothetical Q govt can't be expected to answer right now made me think these reforms are going to unravel quite fast
I seem to have spent much of my 51 and a half years relentlessly ranting about UK politicians and then re-appraising them, but it does kind of worry me that part of that is realising that Theresa 'Citizens of Nowhere' May is the least unserious of the UK PMs since 2016 (if not 2010)
November 18, 2025 at 10:08 AM
I seem to have spent much of my 51 and a half years relentlessly ranting about UK politicians and then re-appraising them, but it does kind of worry me that part of that is realising that Theresa 'Citizens of Nowhere' May is the least unserious of the UK PMs since 2016 (if not 2010)
Lord Dubs hitting the nail on the head. And refugees would be expected to live in this purgatory for at least twenty years
November 18, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Lord Dubs hitting the nail on the head. And refugees would be expected to live in this purgatory for at least twenty years
Reposted by Scandifriend
The basic problem with the temporary refugee status policy - especially one lasting up to 20 years - is it leads to very few removals (based on Denmark's experience) but does significantly worsen integration.
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
The basic problem with the temporary refugee status policy - especially one lasting up to 20 years - is it leads to very few removals (based on Denmark's experience) but does significantly worsen integration.
Reposted by Scandifriend
Coverage of the refugee proposals demonstrates why we have such a broken political system. Endless focus on left-wing anger and right-wing support. Basically nothing on whether the reforms will work. They will not, which is why we'll still be here having the same debate in three years.
November 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Coverage of the refugee proposals demonstrates why we have such a broken political system. Endless focus on left-wing anger and right-wing support. Basically nothing on whether the reforms will work. They will not, which is why we'll still be here having the same debate in three years.
And of course, ironically, it is that line of continuity with Johnson and Sunak. If Labour rely on Tory and Reform votes to get these dire measures over the line they really are Blue Labour and therefore not part of a red bloc any more. It's difficult to know what they are other than chaosmongers
My greatest disappointment with Starmer is the continuation of this same old game. Half-arsed policy with focus on electoral dynamics over effectiveness. Underlying situation gets worse. Then you complain the border is out of control, when in fact it is your policymaking which has failed.
November 18, 2025 at 9:13 AM
And of course, ironically, it is that line of continuity with Johnson and Sunak. If Labour rely on Tory and Reform votes to get these dire measures over the line they really are Blue Labour and therefore not part of a red bloc any more. It's difficult to know what they are other than chaosmongers
Reposted by Scandifriend
“This was a cynical strategic manoeuvre to avoid losing voters to the far right, but it seems, based on polling, that all they have done is prime their own voters to join the far right rather than stay with the Social Democrats.”
Another potential Denmark example for Labour to follow!
Another potential Denmark example for Labour to follow!
November 18, 2025 at 8:15 AM
“This was a cynical strategic manoeuvre to avoid losing voters to the far right, but it seems, based on polling, that all they have done is prime their own voters to join the far right rather than stay with the Social Democrats.”
Another potential Denmark example for Labour to follow!
Another potential Denmark example for Labour to follow!
What if there has been a lasting civil war in a country you fled nearly twenty years ago, there's a ceasefire nearly twenty years into your life with much debate about whether the ceasefire is sustainable, and you've got to go back because you've missed the twenty-year criteria here. Really? Really?
I am still struggling to get my head round Mahmood's proposals. You can come here as a baby as part of a refugee family, grow up here, go to school, start uni or a job, and you can get kicked out at 19 having lived virtually your whole life here if another country declared safe. Really? Really?
November 18, 2025 at 8:28 AM
What if there has been a lasting civil war in a country you fled nearly twenty years ago, there's a ceasefire nearly twenty years into your life with much debate about whether the ceasefire is sustainable, and you've got to go back because you've missed the twenty-year criteria here. Really? Really?
I am still struggling to get my head round Mahmood's proposals. You can come here as a baby as part of a refugee family, grow up here, go to school, start uni or a job, and you can get kicked out at 19 having lived virtually your whole life here if another country declared safe. Really? Really?
November 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
I am still struggling to get my head round Mahmood's proposals. You can come here as a baby as part of a refugee family, grow up here, go to school, start uni or a job, and you can get kicked out at 19 having lived virtually your whole life here if another country declared safe. Really? Really?
Reposted by Scandifriend
Once the turmoil of mid-2010s UK politics showed that a career path to leading Labour or the Conservative Party could be smoothed through embracing populist themes over Brexit and migration, structural incentives within the political system reinforced willingness to ignore policy realities
November 17, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Once the turmoil of mid-2010s UK politics showed that a career path to leading Labour or the Conservative Party could be smoothed through embracing populist themes over Brexit and migration, structural incentives within the political system reinforced willingness to ignore policy realities
Reposted by Scandifriend
There are many factors at play in how the discourse of UK political governments became detached from (geo)political reality, but a key aspect is in how both Labour and Conservatives came to assert supposed Brexit benefits that much of the rest of the country knows are pure fantasy
November 17, 2025 at 6:06 PM
There are many factors at play in how the discourse of UK political governments became detached from (geo)political reality, but a key aspect is in how both Labour and Conservatives came to assert supposed Brexit benefits that much of the rest of the country knows are pure fantasy
Reposted by Scandifriend
Two explosions targeted a railway line that connects Poland and Ukraine. Prime Minister Tusk is calling these attacks “an unprecedented act of sabotage aimed at the security of the Polish state and its citizens.”
www.reuters.com/world/explos...
www.reuters.com/world/explos...
Polish PM says railway track blast was 'unprecedented act of sabotage'
An explosion that damaged a Polish railway track on a route to Ukraine was an "unprecedented act of sabotage", Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday, and he vowed to catch those responsible for an incident he said could have ended in tragedy.
www.reuters.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Two explosions targeted a railway line that connects Poland and Ukraine. Prime Minister Tusk is calling these attacks “an unprecedented act of sabotage aimed at the security of the Polish state and its citizens.”
www.reuters.com/world/explos...
www.reuters.com/world/explos...
Blackmailing hatemongering shit-stirring bullies. I want nothing to do with this govt and they don't represent me now
Asked how happy Keir Starmer is that Tommy Robinson is now backing his asylum plans, his spokesman replies that "the public can tell that the pace and scale of illegal immigration is out of control..."
"We must restore order... or we will lose public consent for giving refuge at all".
"We must restore order... or we will lose public consent for giving refuge at all".
November 17, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Blackmailing hatemongering shit-stirring bullies. I want nothing to do with this govt and they don't represent me now