@underleaf.bsky.social
Now rural ex Londoner trying to keep a broad perspective after (too) many years. Proudly still radical.
R4 this morning. Juxtaposition: Laurel & Hardy then Trump & Zelensky. Just saying ☺️
December 28, 2025 at 9:29 AM
R4 this morning. Juxtaposition: Laurel & Hardy then Trump & Zelensky. Just saying ☺️
Because it's overwhelemed by a combination of religious claptrap and commercial cashing-in. Enjoy! 🤣
Why is TV on Christmas Day so terrible?
December 25, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Because it's overwhelemed by a combination of religious claptrap and commercial cashing-in. Enjoy! 🤣
I'd advise against - this podcast has become overwhelmed with advertising and the content is not worth the subscription.
Happy Xmas especially to dedicated viewers/listeners of @therestpolitics.bsky.social who even today are demanding an episode!! More on 2025 ups and downs, personal and cultural highlights, books, films, TV shows etc. enjoy wherever you get your podcasts. As you can see from the pics it is a mix!1/2
December 25, 2025 at 1:30 PM
I'd advise against - this podcast has become overwhelmed with advertising and the content is not worth the subscription.
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Wishing you all the best of the season from all of us. Thanks for all your support in 2025, why not join us in 2026? KeepourNHSpublic.com
December 25, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Wishing you all the best of the season from all of us. Thanks for all your support in 2025, why not join us in 2026? KeepourNHSpublic.com
Another failure by @octopus.energy customer services. Our request to reduce payments because they'd built up a lovely fat bank balance for themselves got no reply. If we run into deficit at an inappropriate time we can afford to make top-up payments. But they're hanging on to our money.
December 25, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Another failure by @octopus.energy customer services. Our request to reduce payments because they'd built up a lovely fat bank balance for themselves got no reply. If we run into deficit at an inappropriate time we can afford to make top-up payments. But they're hanging on to our money.
"I grew up in a family that for a period of time, through no fault of our own, relied on the benefits system." - Andrew Snowden MP. Wonderful to have a Conservative MP recognising that benefits don't deserve blame. But what sort of civil servants do we have to make such a cock-up?
Labour admits 60% of parents wrongly targeted in HMRC child benefit fraud crackdown
Exclusive: Scale of government’s anti-fraud fiasco is four times higher than previously admitted
www.theguardian.com
December 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
"I grew up in a family that for a period of time, through no fault of our own, relied on the benefits system." - Andrew Snowden MP. Wonderful to have a Conservative MP recognising that benefits don't deserve blame. But what sort of civil servants do we have to make such a cock-up?
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🎉 Absolutely delighted to welcome Jamie Driscoll to the Green Party.
👏🏼 He has a track record of demonstrating his commitment towards our communities alongside empowering them.
💚 Join us: join.greenparty.org.uk
👏🏼 He has a track record of demonstrating his commitment towards our communities alongside empowering them.
💚 Join us: join.greenparty.org.uk
British politics is a mess. Food, energy, housing are all too expensive. Major parties are all flogging the dead horse of trickle down. So I’m joining the Green Party. Britain needs an economy that works for workers, for small businesses, and future generations. @greenparty.org.uk
December 17, 2025 at 10:12 AM
🎉 Absolutely delighted to welcome Jamie Driscoll to the Green Party.
👏🏼 He has a track record of demonstrating his commitment towards our communities alongside empowering them.
💚 Join us: join.greenparty.org.uk
👏🏼 He has a track record of demonstrating his commitment towards our communities alongside empowering them.
💚 Join us: join.greenparty.org.uk
New contract very much needed - we can't transfer hospital services into the community via GPs unless funding is also transferred (or better still boosted) for them to be able to take them on.
Two-thirds of the population - 40million people had appointments in General practice in October
28,000 GPs (Full-time equivalent) 🏴Population 57million
‘Your GP, here for you’
We all need a new contract to ‘Bring back the Family Doctor’
Read here 👇🏻
dauk.org/our-call-for...
28,000 GPs (Full-time equivalent) 🏴Population 57million
‘Your GP, here for you’
We all need a new contract to ‘Bring back the Family Doctor’
Read here 👇🏻
dauk.org/our-call-for...
December 17, 2025 at 12:44 PM
New contract very much needed - we can't transfer hospital services into the community via GPs unless funding is also transferred (or better still boosted) for them to be able to take them on.
Reposted
🎅 Keir Starmer: "We know what the Leader of the Opposition wants for Christmas.
"Her list to Santa is this:
Dear Santa, please freeze the minimum wage.
Please push hundreds of thousands of kids back into poverty and scrap maternity leave."
"Merry Christmas from the Tories."
"Her list to Santa is this:
Dear Santa, please freeze the minimum wage.
Please push hundreds of thousands of kids back into poverty and scrap maternity leave."
"Merry Christmas from the Tories."
December 17, 2025 at 12:27 PM
🎅 Keir Starmer: "We know what the Leader of the Opposition wants for Christmas.
"Her list to Santa is this:
Dear Santa, please freeze the minimum wage.
Please push hundreds of thousands of kids back into poverty and scrap maternity leave."
"Merry Christmas from the Tories."
"Her list to Santa is this:
Dear Santa, please freeze the minimum wage.
Please push hundreds of thousands of kids back into poverty and scrap maternity leave."
"Merry Christmas from the Tories."
Wunderbar!! What about milking creepy Lebedev now?! For the same cause.
UK will transfer £2.5bn of Abramovich cash to Ukraine fund, Starmer says
Prime minister says oligarch must commit funds from sale of London football club or face court action
www.theguardian.com
December 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Wunderbar!! What about milking creepy Lebedev now?! For the same cause.
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"You see all those billionaires. I want you to pretend they don't exist."
"It's those people over there with the wrong color skin you need to blame."
"It's those people over there with the wrong color skin you need to blame."
December 11, 2025 at 6:05 PM
"You see all those billionaires. I want you to pretend they don't exist."
"It's those people over there with the wrong color skin you need to blame."
"It's those people over there with the wrong color skin you need to blame."
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"Migrants who came to the UK on skilled work visas in 2022-23 will make a net contribution of £47bn to the public finances over their lifetime, according to new estimates from the government’s Migration Advisory Committee."
Not surprising, but some observations (1/n)
www.ft.com/content/10da...
Not surprising, but some observations (1/n)
www.ft.com/content/10da...
December 11, 2025 at 6:09 PM
"Migrants who came to the UK on skilled work visas in 2022-23 will make a net contribution of £47bn to the public finances over their lifetime, according to new estimates from the government’s Migration Advisory Committee."
Not surprising, but some observations (1/n)
www.ft.com/content/10da...
Not surprising, but some observations (1/n)
www.ft.com/content/10da...
'The UK-based Free Speech Union, led by Toby Young, also declined to comment, saying it had a policy of not commenting on free speech issues in other countries.' Michael Young turns in his grave - again!
‘Censorship pure and simple’: critics hit out at Trump plan to vet visitors’ social media
Some warn proposal will decimate US tourism industry as free speech advocates say it will lead to people self-censoring
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:11 PM
'The UK-based Free Speech Union, led by Toby Young, also declined to comment, saying it had a policy of not commenting on free speech issues in other countries.' Michael Young turns in his grave - again!
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Really scary new data on A&Es
“Private hospitals rely on the same overstretched staff...
The answer isn’t outsourcing; it’s investing in NHS staff, services, capacity”
Wes Streeting needs to listen to @keepournhspublic.bsky.social
#OnlytheNHS can solve this
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
“Private hospitals rely on the same overstretched staff...
The answer isn’t outsourcing; it’s investing in NHS staff, services, capacity”
Wes Streeting needs to listen to @keepournhspublic.bsky.social
#OnlytheNHS can solve this
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Numbers leaving A&E without treatment triples in six years
Soaring demand has led to ‘shocking’ rise in untreated patients leaving NHS emergency departments in England, data shows
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Really scary new data on A&Es
“Private hospitals rely on the same overstretched staff...
The answer isn’t outsourcing; it’s investing in NHS staff, services, capacity”
Wes Streeting needs to listen to @keepournhspublic.bsky.social
#OnlytheNHS can solve this
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
“Private hospitals rely on the same overstretched staff...
The answer isn’t outsourcing; it’s investing in NHS staff, services, capacity”
Wes Streeting needs to listen to @keepournhspublic.bsky.social
#OnlytheNHS can solve this
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Presumably these people will face the courts when King Trump's reign collapses.
An exhaustive and utterly damning assesment. "In sum, there is simply no plausible argument that the reported killing of two survivors clinging to the burning wreckage of their stricken vessel could be anything other than an extrajudicial killing." www.justsecurity.org/125948/illeg...
Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder
An expert backgrounder on the reported Hegseth "no quarter" order to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.
www.justsecurity.org
December 1, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Presumably these people will face the courts when King Trump's reign collapses.
And Trump's forced UK Pharma to invest 30bn in the US - what for? 'Research & Manufacturing'. Meanwhile he's wiping out YS scientific research acroos the bosard
Absolutely sickening
The government has agreed to let Trump force the NHS to pay 25% more for medicines
"The move will cost taxpayers in Britain about £3bn"
Terrible news for patients
www.ft.com/content/02e4...
The government has agreed to let Trump force the NHS to pay 25% more for medicines
"The move will cost taxpayers in Britain about £3bn"
Terrible news for patients
www.ft.com/content/02e4...
NHS medicines budget to increase by 25% in push to avoid Trump tariffs
UK government will make it easier for drugs to be approved for use in order to secure carve-out from import levies
www.ft.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
And Trump's forced UK Pharma to invest 30bn in the US - what for? 'Research & Manufacturing'. Meanwhile he's wiping out YS scientific research acroos the bosard
Reposted
The use of facial recognition is a regulatory wild west. If the government does not take urgent action to protect the public by restricting its use, they will erode trust and enable authoritarian infrastructure to be built that is clearly open to abuse.
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Police use facial recognition to track children as young as 12
Campaigners question the inclusion of hundreds of under-18s on the watchlists that police forces use in street surveillance operations
www.thetimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The use of facial recognition is a regulatory wild west. If the government does not take urgent action to protect the public by restricting its use, they will erode trust and enable authoritarian infrastructure to be built that is clearly open to abuse.
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Pretty good value then. I've just had 6 physio sessions on a stiff shoulder - nearly £300.
£150 for a year per patient
November 30, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Pretty good value then. I've just had 6 physio sessions on a stiff shoulder - nearly £300.
Reposted
£150 for a year per patient
November 30, 2025 at 9:49 AM
£150 for a year per patient
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For context the 'Middle England' referred to here is the 0.5% of households living in homes worth more than £2 million
November 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
For context the 'Middle England' referred to here is the 0.5% of households living in homes worth more than £2 million
Reposted
BNO News: ‘6 years ago today: A man in Wuhan, China starts feeling ill, becoming the first confirmed case of COVID-19’
November 30, 2025 at 11:05 PM
BNO News: ‘6 years ago today: A man in Wuhan, China starts feeling ill, becoming the first confirmed case of COVID-19’
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All the coverage of Reeves ‘lying’ debagged in a single sentence.
I’m quite enjoying the 180 turn on a six pence from “you’ve wrecked the economy and created a black hole” to “there was no black hole and this is even worse”.
November 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
All the coverage of Reeves ‘lying’ debagged in a single sentence.
😂😂😂 what a pillock!
This is who I feel sorry for - the 20 year old who will only be allowed to save £12,000 a year tax free before he has to start putting his money into shares.
November 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM
😂😂😂 what a pillock!
Reposted
This is who I feel sorry for - the 20 year old who will only be allowed to save £12,000 a year tax free before he has to start putting his money into shares.
November 29, 2025 at 7:47 PM
This is who I feel sorry for - the 20 year old who will only be allowed to save £12,000 a year tax free before he has to start putting his money into shares.