@socdem70.bsky.social
Why do journalists and the BBC corrupt the English language with the use of American ideological euphemisms? Maduro wasn't "extracted", he was kidnapped.
January 8, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Why do journalists and the BBC corrupt the English language with the use of American ideological euphemisms? Maduro wasn't "extracted", he was kidnapped.
The braggart in the White House hasn't brought the "rules based order" to an end, but his armed attack on Venezuela has certainly exposed its hypocritical self-interest.
January 4, 2026 at 10:05 AM
The braggart in the White House hasn't brought the "rules based order" to an end, but his armed attack on Venezuela has certainly exposed its hypocritical self-interest.
Give boys a break! They are bombarded by negative messages about 'toxic masculinity'. Violence against women and girls is serious, but it won't be solved by re-education for boys in anti-misogyny classes. Anyone who remembers Racism Awareness Training will recognize the dangers.
December 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Give boys a break! They are bombarded by negative messages about 'toxic masculinity'. Violence against women and girls is serious, but it won't be solved by re-education for boys in anti-misogyny classes. Anyone who remembers Racism Awareness Training will recognize the dangers.
Jewish and Israeli "antisemitism" propaganda has chalked up a new success as police forces threaten to treat slogans like 'globalise the Intifada,' as an offense. Associating global support for resistance to Israeli occupation of the West Bank as (a) antisemitism and (b) terrorism is shameful.
December 17, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Jewish and Israeli "antisemitism" propaganda has chalked up a new success as police forces threaten to treat slogans like 'globalise the Intifada,' as an offense. Associating global support for resistance to Israeli occupation of the West Bank as (a) antisemitism and (b) terrorism is shameful.
The terrorist attack on Jews on Bondi Beach by Islamic State supporters has nothing whatever to do with people marching to protest Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. The attempt to associate them under the all-purpose accusation of antisemitism is propaganda pure and simple.
December 15, 2025 at 11:15 AM
The terrorist attack on Jews on Bondi Beach by Islamic State supporters has nothing whatever to do with people marching to protest Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. The attempt to associate them under the all-purpose accusation of antisemitism is propaganda pure and simple.
If the EU overcomes its apparent inability to develop a real continental economy, can it do so while reinstating the idea of 'subsidiarity' and rescuing real democracy from the 'Council of Ministers'. An awful lot depends on it.
December 14, 2025 at 9:14 PM
If the EU overcomes its apparent inability to develop a real continental economy, can it do so while reinstating the idea of 'subsidiarity' and rescuing real democracy from the 'Council of Ministers'. An awful lot depends on it.
More questions for Europe. The US National Security Strategy celebrates "The Nation State" and denounces transnational structures ... like the EU. Paradox is that the EU is mired in nation-state limitations, unable to complete the single market or create a continental capital market.
December 14, 2025 at 9:10 PM
More questions for Europe. The US National Security Strategy celebrates "The Nation State" and denounces transnational structures ... like the EU. Paradox is that the EU is mired in nation-state limitations, unable to complete the single market or create a continental capital market.
Talk today of accelerated EU membership for Ukraine. Any peace deal will be critical. If the conflict is frozen, war will return, and if it does, the EU cannot remain a non-combattant if a member state is invaded. EU politicians must spell out the consequences of their decisions now.
December 13, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Talk today of accelerated EU membership for Ukraine. Any peace deal will be critical. If the conflict is frozen, war will return, and if it does, the EU cannot remain a non-combattant if a member state is invaded. EU politicians must spell out the consequences of their decisions now.
Listening to the World at One, increasingly irritated by John Caldwell given free rein to bang the drum for busines-friendly govt. Then George Robertson, an old cold-war warrior, dug up from somewhere to help pave the way to war. Neither of their self-serving narratives questioned in any way.
December 12, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Listening to the World at One, increasingly irritated by John Caldwell given free rein to bang the drum for busines-friendly govt. Then George Robertson, an old cold-war warrior, dug up from somewhere to help pave the way to war. Neither of their self-serving narratives questioned in any way.
Is Mark Rutte a secret anti-war agent? His warning that we must be willing to endure a conflict as devastating as the first 2 world wars is surely calculated to inspire people to work for peace?
December 11, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Is Mark Rutte a secret anti-war agent? His warning that we must be willing to endure a conflict as devastating as the first 2 world wars is surely calculated to inspire people to work for peace?
Forget Trump oscillations. The US National Security Strategy makes it clear as crystal that Ukraine can't rely on the US. This is Europe's moment of truth. Don't demand or support a settlement you are not prepared to fight for.
December 11, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Forget Trump oscillations. The US National Security Strategy makes it clear as crystal that Ukraine can't rely on the US. This is Europe's moment of truth. Don't demand or support a settlement you are not prepared to fight for.
The US National Security Strategy warns that “Over the long term, it is more than plausible … certain NATO members will become majority non-European”. Is this the ‘great replacement theory’ that the European far-right have been promoting?
December 10, 2025 at 9:37 PM
The US National Security Strategy warns that “Over the long term, it is more than plausible … certain NATO members will become majority non-European”. Is this the ‘great replacement theory’ that the European far-right have been promoting?
The US “National Security Strategy” demands that Europe stop migration, re-enable the Nation State to avoid “civilisational erasure”. Don’t waste too much time on satire, it is serious. It is an assertion of American national interests and its aim to “enlist” a Europe remade in its own image.
December 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
The US “National Security Strategy” demands that Europe stop migration, re-enable the Nation State to avoid “civilisational erasure”. Don’t waste too much time on satire, it is serious. It is an assertion of American national interests and its aim to “enlist” a Europe remade in its own image.
Hurray! There is another cttee of inquiry, this time into grooming gangs. The first prosecutions were in 2010, the Rochdale case in 2012. Now, the "inquiry" is expected to report in 2029! There should be an outcry against this cynical massaging of public concerns.
December 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Hurray! There is another cttee of inquiry, this time into grooming gangs. The first prosecutions were in 2010, the Rochdale case in 2012. Now, the "inquiry" is expected to report in 2029! There should be an outcry against this cynical massaging of public concerns.
The Kenova Inquiry into "Stakeknife" and Britain's 'dirty war' in Ireland is only 'shocking' because nobody in England cares very much about what their State did to the Irish. The latest cover-up is to provide reputational alibis. "If we had known ...". Truly laughable.
December 9, 2025 at 9:03 PM
The Kenova Inquiry into "Stakeknife" and Britain's 'dirty war' in Ireland is only 'shocking' because nobody in England cares very much about what their State did to the Irish. The latest cover-up is to provide reputational alibis. "If we had known ...". Truly laughable.
The British State's capacity to acknowledge its crimes when it is too late to hold anyone to account for them is unsurpassed. The Livingstone inquiry into MI5's 'dirty war' in Northern Ireland is one such. This is the one where critical files were not withheld; they just couldn't be "found" in time.
December 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The British State's capacity to acknowledge its crimes when it is too late to hold anyone to account for them is unsurpassed. The Livingstone inquiry into MI5's 'dirty war' in Northern Ireland is one such. This is the one where critical files were not withheld; they just couldn't be "found" in time.
Nathan Gill is a corrupt, extreme-right, Reform politician, but 10 years jail for pro-Russian statements, for piddling sums of 40k, come on! This is a self-righteous State throwing its weight around because it can.
November 21, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Nathan Gill is a corrupt, extreme-right, Reform politician, but 10 years jail for pro-Russian statements, for piddling sums of 40k, come on! This is a self-righteous State throwing its weight around because it can.
Or, if not the NEC, mostly passive fellow travellers anyway, a joint committee of the TUC-NEC-PLP. It sort of rescued Labour after the debacle of 1931. I am mainly thinking about how members and their institutions can accept their responsibility for the Starmer-Reeves debacle.
November 14, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Or, if not the NEC, mostly passive fellow travellers anyway, a joint committee of the TUC-NEC-PLP. It sort of rescued Labour after the debacle of 1931. I am mainly thinking about how members and their institutions can accept their responsibility for the Starmer-Reeves debacle.
Labour has written a new chapter in the history of govt incompetence (Johnson is now a distant runner up). Can they survive their next budget, despite their majority? Whatever is in it will generate outrage. The cabinet is useless. Perhaps Labour members should make the PM accountable to the NEC?
November 14, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Labour has written a new chapter in the history of govt incompetence (Johnson is now a distant runner up). Can they survive their next budget, despite their majority? Whatever is in it will generate outrage. The cabinet is useless. Perhaps Labour members should make the PM accountable to the NEC?
The United Arab Emirates, and its counterpart Egypt, have carried out a massacre at El-Fasher. Their friends in the UK, EU, and USA looked away. The people who pulled the trigger were bought and paid for by the rivals that fund them.
October 29, 2025 at 10:28 PM
The United Arab Emirates, and its counterpart Egypt, have carried out a massacre at El-Fasher. Their friends in the UK, EU, and USA looked away. The people who pulled the trigger were bought and paid for by the rivals that fund them.
Correction … an earlier post referred to Labour’s Bristol West CLP but should have said Bristol Central (which replaced it). Oh dear! I must try to keep up.
October 24, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Correction … an earlier post referred to Labour’s Bristol West CLP but should have said Bristol Central (which replaced it). Oh dear! I must try to keep up.
Does the Labour Party have the political resources to dump Starmer, Reeves and all the functionaries and ‘yes men’ (sic) in the shadow cabinet, and re-invent social democracy for the 21stC? Nothing less save it.
October 24, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Does the Labour Party have the political resources to dump Starmer, Reeves and all the functionaries and ‘yes men’ (sic) in the shadow cabinet, and re-invent social democracy for the 21stC? Nothing less save it.
At a meeting of Bristol West CLP last night listening to delegates’ report from conference; they are young people and they enjoyed it immensely. Good luck to them. The rest have no excuse for limping lamely, and loyally along behind Starmer. No awareness at all of the hole Labour has dug for itself.
October 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM
At a meeting of Bristol West CLP last night listening to delegates’ report from conference; they are young people and they enjoyed it immensely. Good luck to them. The rest have no excuse for limping lamely, and loyally along behind Starmer. No awareness at all of the hole Labour has dug for itself.
Labour is already rehearsing its excuses for Caerphilly, among them, tactical voting to keep Reform out. There probably was tactical voting but it isn’t an explanation. Labour stands for nothing, hiding the emptiness of its politically rhetoric behind the national flag.
October 24, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Labour is already rehearsing its excuses for Caerphilly, among them, tactical voting to keep Reform out. There probably was tactical voting but it isn’t an explanation. Labour stands for nothing, hiding the emptiness of its politically rhetoric behind the national flag.
Soldier F not guilty; but the British State certainly is. The murders on Bloody Sunday in 1972 were initially covered in the Widgery Report; a second report established in 1998 only reported in 2010. The trial of soldier F, 53 years after the event. Systematic and deliberate sabotage of justice.
October 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Soldier F not guilty; but the British State certainly is. The murders on Bloody Sunday in 1972 were initially covered in the Widgery Report; a second report established in 1998 only reported in 2010. The trial of soldier F, 53 years after the event. Systematic and deliberate sabotage of justice.