John Barrett
@northorchi.bsky.social
Trying to make sense of a muddled world. Immigration Detention visitor for near 30 years and still learning.
Reposted by John Barrett
We are days away from the Israeli expulsion of a million people from Gaza city
The second largest since this Oct 23
This time would be much more violent and deadly
It can be stopped
It must be stopped
The second largest since this Oct 23
This time would be much more violent and deadly
It can be stopped
It must be stopped
September 5, 2025 at 8:40 AM
We are days away from the Israeli expulsion of a million people from Gaza city
The second largest since this Oct 23
This time would be much more violent and deadly
It can be stopped
It must be stopped
The second largest since this Oct 23
This time would be much more violent and deadly
It can be stopped
It must be stopped
Reposted by John Barrett
The billionaire press barons must be having a right laugh…
Here we are distracted & arguing over asylum seekers (0.2% of the population)
Meanwhile, billionaires (just 0.0002% of the population) hoard more wealth than half the UK
Immigration isn’t draining us
Inequality is.
Here we are distracted & arguing over asylum seekers (0.2% of the population)
Meanwhile, billionaires (just 0.0002% of the population) hoard more wealth than half the UK
Immigration isn’t draining us
Inequality is.
August 28, 2025 at 7:25 PM
The billionaire press barons must be having a right laugh…
Here we are distracted & arguing over asylum seekers (0.2% of the population)
Meanwhile, billionaires (just 0.0002% of the population) hoard more wealth than half the UK
Immigration isn’t draining us
Inequality is.
Here we are distracted & arguing over asylum seekers (0.2% of the population)
Meanwhile, billionaires (just 0.0002% of the population) hoard more wealth than half the UK
Immigration isn’t draining us
Inequality is.
Reposted by John Barrett
Measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio, tetanus.
Diseases that used to terrorise families, killing children & babies in their thousands.
Now we have vaccines - safe & miraculous life savers.
Please, parents, use them.
Protect your precious children 🩷
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Diseases that used to terrorise families, killing children & babies in their thousands.
Now we have vaccines - safe & miraculous life savers.
Please, parents, use them.
Protect your precious children 🩷
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Vaccine warning for England as one in five children start school unprotected
Experts say country needs ‘wake up call’ with levels far below those needed for herd immunity
www.theguardian.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio, tetanus.
Diseases that used to terrorise families, killing children & babies in their thousands.
Now we have vaccines - safe & miraculous life savers.
Please, parents, use them.
Protect your precious children 🩷
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Diseases that used to terrorise families, killing children & babies in their thousands.
Now we have vaccines - safe & miraculous life savers.
Please, parents, use them.
Protect your precious children 🩷
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by John Barrett
Ali Smith writes in @theobserver.bsky.social ‘Ten years on, in even darker times for the people rendered voiceless and used as political expedience every day, Refugee Tales is more necessary than ever.’ shorturl.at/Fl5Z7 @rsliterature.bsky.social @commapress.bsky.social @aviddetention.bsky.social
Ali Smith: ‘Refugee Tales is a small bright spot in dark ...
In 2015 the novelist Ali Smith was invited to tell the story of a former detainee. Ten years on, she explains why the project is more necessary than ever
shorturl.at
July 5, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Ali Smith writes in @theobserver.bsky.social ‘Ten years on, in even darker times for the people rendered voiceless and used as political expedience every day, Refugee Tales is more necessary than ever.’ shorturl.at/Fl5Z7 @rsliterature.bsky.social @commapress.bsky.social @aviddetention.bsky.social
Reposted by John Barrett
Arbeit Macht Frei
Ron DeSantis on his new camp for migrants: "We've got showers. There you see the shower and bath facilities."
June 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Arbeit Macht Frei
Reposted by John Barrett
"That's equivalent to..."
Wales. Blue whales. Football pitches. Running X appliance for Y hours. A city the size of Z. Olympic swimming pools.
FFS journalists we have units. An international system of units. Recognised throughout the civilised world. Just give us the damn units.
Wales. Blue whales. Football pitches. Running X appliance for Y hours. A city the size of Z. Olympic swimming pools.
FFS journalists we have units. An international system of units. Recognised throughout the civilised world. Just give us the damn units.
May 22, 2025 at 9:03 PM
"That's equivalent to..."
Wales. Blue whales. Football pitches. Running X appliance for Y hours. A city the size of Z. Olympic swimming pools.
FFS journalists we have units. An international system of units. Recognised throughout the civilised world. Just give us the damn units.
Wales. Blue whales. Football pitches. Running X appliance for Y hours. A city the size of Z. Olympic swimming pools.
FFS journalists we have units. An international system of units. Recognised throughout the civilised world. Just give us the damn units.
Reposted by John Barrett
Reposted by John Barrett
I spent the weekend utterly absorbed by 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆, Nicola Kelly’s outstanding new book in which she walks the reader chapter-by-chapter through the various stages of the UK’s asylum process.
1/5
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social
eandtbooks.com/books/anywhe...
amzn.to/3XuF7Q8
1/5
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social
eandtbooks.com/books/anywhe...
amzn.to/3XuF7Q8
Elliott & Thompson | Anywhere But Here
eandtbooks.com
April 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I spent the weekend utterly absorbed by 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆, Nicola Kelly’s outstanding new book in which she walks the reader chapter-by-chapter through the various stages of the UK’s asylum process.
1/5
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social
eandtbooks.com/books/anywhe...
amzn.to/3XuF7Q8
1/5
@nicolakellywrites.bsky.social
eandtbooks.com/books/anywhe...
amzn.to/3XuF7Q8
Reposted by John Barrett
AOC: Fox News and the right-wing would have you believe that these American values are something out of The Communist Manifesto. But let me tell you Fox News, I don’t believe in healthcare, labor, and human rights because I’m a Marxist.. I believe it because I was a waitress.
March 20, 2025 at 9:27 PM
AOC: Fox News and the right-wing would have you believe that these American values are something out of The Communist Manifesto. But let me tell you Fox News, I don’t believe in healthcare, labor, and human rights because I’m a Marxist.. I believe it because I was a waitress.
Reposted by John Barrett
Reposted by John Barrett
Kemi Badenoch ditched the Tories’ commitment to reaching Net Zero by 2050 after accepting donations from funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation and Net Zero Watch, both of which have campaigned for the target to be scrapped.
@adambienkov.bsky.social
@adambienkov.bsky.social
Kemi Badenoch Ditches Net Zero Target After Taking Donations From Funders of Tufton Street Climate Denial Group
The Conservative leader and her Shadow Net Zero Secretary took funding from key backers of lobby groups campaigning to curb action against climate change
bylinetimes.com
March 18, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Kemi Badenoch ditched the Tories’ commitment to reaching Net Zero by 2050 after accepting donations from funders of the Global Warming Policy Foundation and Net Zero Watch, both of which have campaigned for the target to be scrapped.
@adambienkov.bsky.social
@adambienkov.bsky.social
Reposted by John Barrett
Also London.
March 13, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Also London.
Reposted by John Barrett
London doesn’t waste any time 🤣💀
March 12, 2025 at 6:59 PM
London doesn’t waste any time 🤣💀
Reposted by John Barrett
They should go on strike for better terms & conditions. I’m sure all the right-wing gobshites clutching their pearls about VAT will be right behind them…
Private school teachers say they are taking second jobs because schools are using the introduction of VAT on school fees to freeze salaries, according to a survey by the biggest teaching union ⬇️
Private school teachers take second jobs as VAT on fees bites
www.thetimes.com
March 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
They should go on strike for better terms & conditions. I’m sure all the right-wing gobshites clutching their pearls about VAT will be right behind them…
Reposted by John Barrett
Today is #CommonwealthDay, as UK celebrates “Commonwealth values” while detaining and deporting people from these very nations.
2 yrs ago, we asked: How can we be heard when they are not ready to hear us? Today, that question still stands.
Read below:
www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/how-...
2 yrs ago, we asked: How can we be heard when they are not ready to hear us? Today, that question still stands.
Read below:
www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/how-...
How can we be heard when they are not ready to hear us?
It is six days away from King Charles’ birthday, and four months have already passed since we sent him the letter detailing the colonial roots of immigration detention, our shared lived experience in ...
www.aviddetention.org.uk
March 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Today is #CommonwealthDay, as UK celebrates “Commonwealth values” while detaining and deporting people from these very nations.
2 yrs ago, we asked: How can we be heard when they are not ready to hear us? Today, that question still stands.
Read below:
www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/how-...
2 yrs ago, we asked: How can we be heard when they are not ready to hear us? Today, that question still stands.
Read below:
www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/how-...
Reposted by John Barrett
A set of countries hates us; another is bewildered/dismayed/horrified; a third group is laughing at us; and the last group is working the angles to fleece us by flattering the weak-minded senile dope who occasionally shows up at the White House to sign stuff. NOBODY respects us.
February 25, 2025 at 1:51 AM
A set of countries hates us; another is bewildered/dismayed/horrified; a third group is laughing at us; and the last group is working the angles to fleece us by flattering the weak-minded senile dope who occasionally shows up at the White House to sign stuff. NOBODY respects us.
Reposted by John Barrett
And here we go. Mostly a PR stunt for now, but cumulative radicalization is a thing and we have it going mainstream. Once it fully does, rolling it back would be extremely hard.
February 6, 2025 at 11:01 AM
And here we go. Mostly a PR stunt for now, but cumulative radicalization is a thing and we have it going mainstream. Once it fully does, rolling it back would be extremely hard.
Reposted by John Barrett
Kemi Badenoch was born British in 1980 before birthright citizenship was abolished in 1983.
Today’s announcements are just the next iteration of cruel, costly and ineffective policies that stoke division in communities.
People move, always have & always will.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Today’s announcements are just the next iteration of cruel, costly and ineffective policies that stoke division in communities.
People move, always have & always will.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Tories pledge to expel low-paid and unemployed migrants from UK
Time before applicants may qualify for indefinite leave to remain would double from five to 10 years
www.independent.co.uk
February 6, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Kemi Badenoch was born British in 1980 before birthright citizenship was abolished in 1983.
Today’s announcements are just the next iteration of cruel, costly and ineffective policies that stoke division in communities.
People move, always have & always will.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Today’s announcements are just the next iteration of cruel, costly and ineffective policies that stoke division in communities.
People move, always have & always will.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Reposted by John Barrett
If she can do it, we can all do it.
January 22, 2025 at 10:43 AM
If she can do it, we can all do it.
Reposted by John Barrett
Musk just had a "perfectly square bit of black dirt on his window" media reports
January 21, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Musk just had a "perfectly square bit of black dirt on his window" media reports
Reposted by John Barrett
It’s only…time! 🫶
December 1, 2024 at 10:01 PM
It’s only…time! 🫶
Reposted by John Barrett
Let’s grow @bsky.app with a passion. Let’s grow it quickly & with urgency. Let’s make it the biggest social media platform on the planet & TOGETHER lets say boll**** to Musk
www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/musk-co...
www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/musk-co...
Musk could sidestep overseas donation laws by donating to Farage through UK branch of X
Elon Musk could sidestep overseas donation laws by donating to Nigel Farage and the Reform UK Party through the UK branch of X.
www.thelondoneconomic.com
December 2, 2024 at 2:38 PM
Let’s grow @bsky.app with a passion. Let’s grow it quickly & with urgency. Let’s make it the biggest social media platform on the planet & TOGETHER lets say boll**** to Musk
www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/musk-co...
www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/musk-co...
Radical but a humane solution.
The ways British governments have handled the accommodation of #refugees is expensive and has left voters feeling resentful and refugees feeling trapped.
Instead, Tom Scott-Smith argues, refugees need the resources & autonomy to handle their own shelter:
Instead, Tom Scott-Smith argues, refugees need the resources & autonomy to handle their own shelter:
Give refugees autonomy to solve the asylum accommodation problem
The ways British governments have handled the accommodation of asylum refugees is expensive and has left voters feeling resentful and refugees feeling trapped, while enriching a few lucky landlords…
buff.ly
November 26, 2024 at 11:13 AM
Radical but a humane solution.
Reposted by John Barrett
"Having him in the Royal Society seemed such a contradiction of all the values of the Royal Society. And I didn’t really want to have anything to do with it.”
Huge respect for Prof Dorothy Bishop, given Musk's avid promotion of vaccine conspiracy theories.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Huge respect for Prof Dorothy Bishop, given Musk's avid promotion of vaccine conspiracy theories.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
November 25, 2024 at 6:56 PM
"Having him in the Royal Society seemed such a contradiction of all the values of the Royal Society. And I didn’t really want to have anything to do with it.”
Huge respect for Prof Dorothy Bishop, given Musk's avid promotion of vaccine conspiracy theories.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Huge respect for Prof Dorothy Bishop, given Musk's avid promotion of vaccine conspiracy theories.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...