Fionna O’Leary
fascinatorfuns.bsky.social
Fionna O’Leary
@fascinatorfuns.bsky.social
Retired Lawyer, cook, Europhile, books, music, good conversations, gardens, walking. Bird site refugee 🇬🇧 🇮🇪
“The swoop in Mountmellick, a community of around 5,000 people mainly known for its Georgian architecture and Quaker lacework, yielded 182kg of cocaine and 4kg of cannabis, which were discovered at a commercial premises.”
February 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
No ‘Five-Eyes’

Four-Eyes and a swivel eyed loon. Putin’s puppet.

With Trump’s right hand man Musk no doubt under investigation by the Four-Eyes as a national security risk.

Can’t pass intelligence to them any more. But how do they retrieve the records of intelligence already passed?
There could hardly be a more insane headline than this - the whole of the US's foreign intelligence service being offered redundancy. This is going to end very badly, for America & (despite the CIA's bad press) many other countries whose security benefits from intelligence sharing.
‘CIA offers buyouts to entire workforce to align with Trump priorities, sources say’ www.reuters.com/world/us/cia...
February 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
“We’re the country no-one wants to supply any more. ‘Why do we bother?’ I’m hearing it more and more. Too much trouble. Too much cost.”
Fewer products available.
British consumers will pay far more.
Every single inspection was delayed last year.
Hours
10+ hours. Even longer
Time is money
Cost
Did you see the BBC's shocking Countryfile report on how post-Brexit food and plant checks at our border are driving up prices for everyday Brits? 👇
February 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
St Mary’s Paddington
🚨BREAKING NEWS: The government has today announced the biggest ever investment in the new St Mary’s hospital project - £50m over three years.

This news is a massive vote of confidence in the long-running campaign for a new St Mary’s.

1/4 🧵
February 5, 2025 at 12:58 PM
And that is why Russia refused its landing requests.

Likely hoped it would crash into the sea destroying the evidence
⚡️ Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in December struck by Russian Pantsir missile, source tells Reuters.

An Azerbaijani official source told Reuters that the Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of a Pantsir missile extracted from the plane.
Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in December struck by Russian Pantsir missile, source tells Reuters
The Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in Kazakhstan in December after diverting from the Russian airspace was struck by a Russian Pantsir air defense missile, an undisclosed Azerbaijani source told Re...
kyivindependent.com
February 5, 2025 at 12:58 PM
“As a Canadian living abroad, whenever my accent is mistaken for American (all the time), the response to my correction is usually an apology and recognition from the other person that they might have caused offence.”
Opinion: Internationally, we Canadians are known to be nice and polite but the threat of a costly trade war has made many feel uncharacteristically angry www.ft.com/content/e424...
February 5, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Weighing just short of 30 tonnes, the enormous pile of rubbish had appeared on Elaine Hutchings’ doorstep in Lichfield overnight. “The road was carnage,” she says. The smell of mildew was nauseating. Granted, Hutchings is only 5ft (1.52 metres) tall – but the heap loomed over her.
February 5, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Narrator: It isn’t going to be “ambitious”.
Narrator: It isn’t going to be “ambitious”.
Starmer wants ‘ambitious’ Brexit reset deal to be agreed in three months

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
February 5, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
Launch party!
@waterstones Leamington Spa.
10th April 7pm

I would LOVE to see you there.
www.waterstones.com/events/the-b...
The Best of Everything Launch Party with Kit de Waal | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Events at Waterstones get you closer to the books and authors you admire most. Find information and tickets about The Best of Everything Launch Party with Kit de Waal today.
www.waterstones.com
February 5, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
Ultimately it matters not if your constitution is written or unwritten or codified or uncodified…

…once those in power do not recognise political or legal rules higher than their own personal or partisan advantage it is constitutional ‘game over’.

Constitutions need constitutionalism, most of all.
February 5, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
If you think the NHS report into the failings in Valdo Calocane's treatment is somehow a unique or rare case, I have news for you 👇
🚨 INVESTIGATION: Britain's mental health system is broken. Patients & innocent members of the public are paying the price.

Today we reveal how dangerous mentally ill people are being routinely left in the community. Some will kill themselves or others: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/e0ff...
233 killings: innocent victims of the collapse in mental health care
Paranoid and violent patients are able to stay in the community because of a shortage of psychiatric hospital beds, leading to hundreds of tragedies
www.thetimes.co.uk
February 5, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
Sorry but wtf is this language of a US "takeover" of Gaza. I've never heard "Takeover" used to mean invasion, colonisation, occupation imperialism or otherwise. It's euphemism normalised in the service of genocide. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...
February 5, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
Possible exposures:

- Anyone who attended the Best Western Voyageur Place Hotel, located at 17565 Yonge Street, between 2 p.m. on Friday and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
- Anyone who visited the Magna Centre, located at 800 Mulock Drive, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Officials warn of possible measles exposure at 2 locations in Newmarket
York Region Public Health is warning the public about a possible exposure to a confirmed case of measles in Newmarket last week.
www.cp24.com
February 5, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
...the negotiations of the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. (2/2)
February 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
I have granted the following urgent question in the @houseofcommons.parliament.uk today.

From Nigel Farage MP to ask David Lammy MP, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make a statement on... (1/2)
The House of Commons sits from 11.30am today.

The #OrderPaper is published each sitting day and lists the business of the House.
February 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
February 5, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
Having flashbacks to when Boris Johnson said this about the war-torn Libyan city of Sirte

“There’s a group of UK business people who have got a brilliant vision to turn it into the next Dubai. The only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away.”

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Libyans say Boris Johnson 'doesn't know what he's talking about' after 'cruel and unacceptable' joke
Politician calls remarks ‘cruel and unacceptable’ amid calls for Foreign Secretary to be sacked
www.independent.co.uk
February 5, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
There could hardly be a more insane headline than this - the whole of the US's foreign intelligence service being offered redundancy. This is going to end very badly, for America & (despite the CIA's bad press) many other countries whose security benefits from intelligence sharing.
February 5, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
"But my caaaaaar..." wankers strike again.

I walk the dogs through this cemetery. I've seen people driving on the pathways. I've shouted at someone trying to do so.

Imagine driving over a grave to save 10 mins travel time.

Pricks.
Graves damaged by 'appalling' drivers using Bristol cemetery as shortcut
Drivers are using the cemetery regularly to avoid traffic jams.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 5, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
Did you see the BBC's shocking Countryfile report on how post-Brexit food and plant checks at our border are driving up prices for everyday Brits? 👇
February 5, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
2/ Senator @markwarner.bsky.social, Vice Chair of Senate Intelligence Committee very persuasively shows how Trump-Bove purge make us much less safe.

Look at the extraordinary FBI leaders we have just lost⬇️

Crime fighters against fentanyl, trafficking, terrorism, espionage, healthcare fraud more
February 4, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
1/ ❗Really chilling.

Thanks to Sen. Mark Warner, for releasing Memo from acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove to FBI leadership ordering the purge.

-Memo is a clear abuse of power and weaponization of DOJ
-Memo bolsters FBI lawsuits filed today. VERY clear the list is for retaliatory purposes
February 4, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
🚨BREAKING NEWS: The government has today announced the biggest ever investment in the new St Mary’s hospital project - £50m over three years.

This news is a massive vote of confidence in the long-running campaign for a new St Mary’s.

1/4 🧵
February 5, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
⚡️ Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in December struck by Russian Pantsir missile, source tells Reuters.

An Azerbaijani official source told Reuters that the Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of a Pantsir missile extracted from the plane.
Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in December struck by Russian Pantsir missile, source tells Reuters
The Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in Kazakhstan in December after diverting from the Russian airspace was struck by a Russian Pantsir air defense missile, an undisclosed Azerbaijani source told Re...
kyivindependent.com
February 5, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Fionna O’Leary
When will Govt learn you can’t out-Reform Reform - you end up simply legitimising their toxic narrative. To see off populists, Labour needs to invest in public services & local communities, making a real difference to people’s lives - levy a wealth tax & use it to improve people’s lives *now*
Group of Labour MPs urge No 10 to be tougher on migration to fend off Reform
Exclusive: Pressure group set up by MPs from seats where Reform came second amid concern about party’s rise
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2025 at 10:28 AM