Ian Banbery
LightNews LightNews
globalhipsters.bsky.social
Ian Banbery
@globalhipsters.bsky.social
230 followers 670 following 42 posts
Retired publisher, pro books, music - guitarist with Gohobo, art, EU, cycling - don’t let the buggers grind you down. 👍🐗 🇪🇺🇬🇧
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Ian Banbery
parodypm.bsky.social
Here I am pretending I drink beer, doing my 'man of the people' act to fool the gullible dimwits into thinking I give a shit about them
December 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
reecedinsdale.bsky.social
No poll required
badbreed.bsky.social David Tomlin @badbreed.bsky.social · 3d
BREAKING: New CNN Poll says Trump is the worst President in history...😅🤣😂👇🏾
December 27, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
aljazeera.com
With Christmas approaching, celebrations in Haifa were met with chaos after Israeli police stormed the Wadi al-Nisnas neighbourhood, arresting and beating Christians in the area.
December 24, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
chrischirp.bsky.social
Turns out to be a pretty average flu year that started a bit earlier.

NHS and Govt have a responsibility to communicate data responsibly and they failed this winter.
December 24, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
chrisgrey.bsky.social
Yet strangely enthusiastic about the unelected, unaccountable, anti-woke elites telling the British people what they should or should not think about immigration - day in, day out, obsessively.
December 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
globalhipsters.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Let me tell you the good things the government has done in 2025 – because it certainly won’t | Polly Toynbee
It’s all there: more apprenticeships, more rights for workers and renters – and most of all, a focus on children. What a shame Labour wavers about saying so, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
billcorbett.bsky.social
It’s great that 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi is coming right out swinging. Not having a second of this bullshit!

I think coddled hacks like Bari Weiss have no idea what to do with righteous fury like this except, if anything, somehow play victim. Let’s see!
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 8d
Again, from Michael Grynbaum, here is Sharyn Alfonsi's full email.

It must be read:
News Team, Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now-after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes "the government must agree to be interviewed," then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless. CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that "low point." By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones. We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of "Gold Standard" reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight. Sharyn
December 22, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
sherry2.bsky.social
Major bourbon maker shutters James B. Beam plant in 2026
Exports have been curtailed to major trading partners; Canada has been boycotting American spirits since March in retaliation for Trump’s ongoing trade war
US whiskey sales down more than 60% through October

share.google/M7fGx4LLVmV8...
Major Kentucky bourbon maker Jim Beam shuttering distillery for 2026
The move comes as Kentucky’s $9 billion bourbon industry is dealing with a glut of supply and slipping sales.
share.google
December 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
ladyalifonduepotts.bsky.social
Just a quick reminder of who Farage and Reform are. Voting for him/them is a turkey voting for Christmas and I think it's quite obvious how girls and women are valued from the company he keeps.🦃
#ReformUK #farage #misogyny
December 21, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
viviane49.bsky.social
Will Hutton has published a very positive article today. I’ve summarised his points here. But attach full article in second tweet.
2026 forecasts - Economists think GDP will rise to 1.5%. - S&P PMI composite output index for the services and manufacturing sectors, has expanded to 52 - PWC polled global execs the UK was seen as the second most attractive place to invest in the world - Tax takes near to 34.4% – but still in line with the other rich members of the OECD, and below most other European countries. - Adjusting for changes in the way the data is collected it seems likely that rather fewer people have been leaving the country. And a record number of Americans applied for British citizenship in 2025 - Revisions show the economy performed noticeably better in the last few years than had been thought. The latest estimate is that public debt is 94.5% of GDP. - Cost of government borrowing has edged down since the budget. - UK is not far behind the San Francisco Bay Area when it comes to the funds raised for seed and early stage companies. And there are some highly innovative businesses out there. One area to watch: quantum computing, where real signs of strength are emerging in Britain. - Energy prices are coming down. Interest rates may fall a little more. The pace of growth in wages is slowing. Inflation dropped to 3.2% in November and the OBR thinks the figure for 2026 will be down to 2.5%. - The green growth story is emerging. The regulator has given the go-ahead to investments of £90bn in gas and electricity networks by 2031. - Rolls-Royce has orders for three small nuclear reactors in Anglesey. - The giant Sizewell C reactor project is grinding into life. - Last week Nissan started production of its third generation electric vehicles in Sunderland 2026 forecasts - Economists think GDP will rise to 1.5%. - S&P PMI composite output index for the services and manufacturing sectors, has expanded to 52 - PWC polled global execs the UK was seen as the second most attractive place to invest in the world - Tax takes near to 34.4% – but still in line with the other rich members of the OECD, and below most other European countries. - Adjusting for changes in the way the data is collected it seems likely that rather fewer people have been leaving the country. And a record number of Americans applied for British citizenship in 2025 - Revisions show the economy performed noticeably better in the last few years than had been thought. The latest estimate is that public debt is 94.5% of GDP. - Cost of government borrowing has edged down since the budget. - UK is not far behind the San Francisco Bay Area when it comes to the funds raised for seed and early stage companies. And there are some highly innovative businesses out there. One area to watch: quantum computing, where real signs of strength are emerging in Britain. - Energy prices are coming down. Interest rates may fall a little more. The pace of growth in wages is slowing. Inflation dropped to 3.2% in November and the OBR thinks the figure for 2026 will be down to 2.5%. - The green growth story is emerging. The regulator has given the go-ahead to investments of £90bn in gas and electricity networks by 2031. - Rolls-Royce has orders for three small nuclear reactors in Anglesey. - The giant Sizewell C reactor project is grinding into life. - Last week Nissan started production of its third generation electric vehicles in Sunderland
December 21, 2025 at 8:08 PM
globalhipsters.bsky.social
c.org/F5Knbth4yF
Sign the Petition
Strip Michelle Mone of her peerage
c.org
December 21, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
bestforbritain.org
We don't often agree with Kemi Badenoch, but on this one, she is right.

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/reform-making-mess-kent-county-10711574
Reform are 'making a mess' of Kent County Council claims Tory leader
Mrs Badenoch said Reform at KCC are not united and claiming credit for savings that the Tories had already identified while still in office
www.kentlive.news
December 21, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
theguardian.com
There are reasons to be cheerful about UK plc in 2026. Here are four | Heather Stewart
There are reasons to be cheerful about UK plc in 2026. Here are four | Heather Stewart
From better prospects for consumer spending to tentative signs of improving productivity, the doom and gloom of 2025 could be behind us
www.theguardian.com
December 21, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
publichealthguy1.bsky.social
this is the greatest feeling, when the cord box proves its utility to a family member
new yorker cartoon by bernstein. watercolor of a middle aged white dad holding a cord up from the cord box in a heavenly light in triumph. title reads THE BEST DAY OF MY FATHER'S LIFE. caption reads “Did you say you needed a six-pin-to-eight-pin FireWire for a 2006 MacBook?"
December 20, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
ledbydonkeys.org
The story of Farage and Putin, told by British-Ukrainian soldier Shaun Pinner on a destroyed apartment block in Kyiv.
December 19, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
alanlester.bsky.social
Giles Coren (in The Times) is wrong on two counts. 1. You do have to be racist to vote Reform. Racist scapegoating is the essence of the party’s politics. You don’t vote for that if you’re antiracist. 2. Since Johnson & Badenoch led the party down the same path, other racists will vote Tory.
December 20, 2025 at 8:57 AM
globalhipsters.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Finally, Labour is finding its nerve and getting Britain’s bad Brexit deal undone | Polly Toynbee
Rejoining Erasmus should just be a first step – as the economic evidence piles up, the need for closer ties with Europe could not be clearer, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
oddthisday.bsky.social
Happy 79th anniversary to this diary entry from Evelyn Waugh, in which he drinks enough to make you wonder how he lived for a further 19 years:
Thursday 19 December 1946 I went to London by the early train. I have now reached an age when any disturbance of routine is disagreeable, and I sat misanthropic, smoking cigars, while the train lost more and more time until it halted for three-quarters of an hour in a snowstorm just outside the Paddington station. I had time to try on a suit which has taken six months to make and then went to luncheon at the Beefsteak where I talked to Harold Nicolson and Clive Bell and drank enough wine to fuddle me slightly. In that condition I went to Duckworth and signed sixteen copies of When the Going was Good for Christmas presents. Also to the travel agency who are sending me to Hollywood. At 5 o’clock there was the Beefsteak committee meeting. My candidates Maurice Bowra, Ran Antrim and Randolph Churchill all got in the latter after long discussion in which 1 Hugh Sherwood made a spirited defence and overbore two men who had come with the firm purpose of blackballing him. During the meeting I drank a lot of whisky and went rather drunk to a cocktail party given by John Murray’ where I got very drunk. Rose Macaulay attempted a serious conversation in which I did not shine. I spent most of the time with Hermione Ranfurly jeering at people who were introduced to me and ended by bearing off a diminutive man called Gibbings to White’s for champagne cocktails. From then my memory is vague but I went to bed early I think at the Hyde Park Hotel.
December 19, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
charlesfourier.bsky.social
Nigel Farage is a thoroughly unpleasant human being and always has been.
December 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
neverevertory.bsky.social
With Labour, interest rates have been cut six times.

#Labour
WITH LABOUR, INTEREST RATES ARE COMING DOWN
December 19, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
thehistoryguy.bsky.social
Radio 4’s Jane Austen season is absolutely brilliant and wonderful. There is nothing like Radio 4 anywhere in the world, it is so precious.
December 19, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
domw.bsky.social
Apparently Brexit is a failure because it wasn’t done properly.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
The Brexit implementation fiasco
It is not too late to reverse bad policy but that requires good governance
giftarticle.ft.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
gilesyb.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

The moment the credits came up, I thought this the most entertaining movie I could remember seeing. Nice to see this lot agree
Best films of 2025 in the UK: No 1 – One Battle After Another
Leonardo DiCaprio is a former revolutionary searching for his daughter in Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilaratingly audacious counterculture epic
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Reposted by Ian Banbery
cooperlund.online
Things are going great over at X, The Everything App
December 18, 2025 at 11:48 PM