Stephen Russell
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stephenjrussell.bsky.social
Stephen Russell
@stephenjrussell.bsky.social
International Officer, TUC, currently on parental leave
New Dad
Reposted by Stephen Russell
“It broke my heart, that was my savings towards a new car,” one woman who paid Milne tens of thousands of pounds told us. “He has just wiped me out.”

Who is Andrew Milne - the solicitor sending "very aggressive" letters to Sheffield homeowners?

www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-law...
A London lawyer bought hundreds of Sheffield freeholds. Then the ‘very aggressive’ letters arrived
Exclusive: The Tribune can reveal that Andrew Milne has threatened leaseholders with high court action. It ‘broke my heart’ one woman says
www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Farage gets voted down on leaving the ECHR… for now.
Ed Davey quite rightly tears a strip off him.

But really, the corrupt leader of a racist party threatening to remove our protection from abuses of power by our own government, should be the biggest red flag going.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
Nigel Farage loses major vote as he's accused of 'making career by damaging UK'
Nigel Farage's call for the UK to leave the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) was voted down by MPs, with Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey branding it "un-British"
www.mirror.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.

Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
‘A colony of the US’: Argentinians contemplate future after Trump-backed Milei coasts to victory
‘A colony of the US’: Argentinians contemplate future after Trump-backed Milei coasts to victory
Big win leaves many wondering if result reflects genuine support for president or corrosive US influence
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Federal workers keep America’s national parks beautiful. Threatening to fire thousands of those workers will destroy these national treasures and leave working families—who are already hurting from the government shutdown—scrambling to pay their bills. https://bit.ly/48Hlf3M
See where Interior is planning to lay off 2,000 employees
The newly revealed details lay out only a portion of the total expected RIFs.
www.govexec.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
The very fact that MI5 - and the security services generally - are accountable to our domestic courts flows from the ECHR decision of Malone.

One of many ways that Convention has benefitted our legal order.
October 20, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Pledges to cut regulation are constant unless there's just been a disaster/failure. Then everyone calls for more regulation.
The constants of British policy over my life:

- pledges to cut red tape/regulation
- talk of a ‘contributory welfare system’
- calls for more ‘on the beat’ police officers

The cyclical one: a pledge to cut backroom health/education staff & promises of more support staff to free up frontline staff
Nostalgia time for policy geeks - the Red Tape Challenge is back!
www.gov.uk/government/c...
October 21, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Why does Nigel Farage want us to be like Argentina?
October 16, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Just brace for what we will see in terms of US interference in European electoral politics soon
Another $20 billion. That is the face you make when you heist the US taxpayers for $40 billion two weeks before your midterm elections from the most corrupt America Last regime in history.
October 16, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
NEW

What the Chinese spying case witness statements reveal

The Crown Prosecution Service appears to have made at least one serious error, while the government's position now makes sense

By me

emptycity.substack.com/p/what-the-c...
October 16, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have made Farage bear any of the political costs of Brexit that they themselves have endured in terms of intra-party divisions and wider public discontent.
July 3, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Reposted by Stephen Russell
AUSTRALIA: Collective agreement coverage soars to record 2.8 million workers ieuqnt.org.au/collective-a...
Collective agreement coverage soars to record 2.8 million workers
Australian workers are reaping the benefits of sweeping industrial relations reforms introduced by the federal Labor government, with a record number of workers now covered by collective bargaining ag...
ieuqnt.org.au
October 14, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.
Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post-truths
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation.
bit.ly
October 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
It would at least explain why they (and the Tories) are keen to leave the ECHR.
UAE has no democratically elected institutions, no free speech and an appalling human rights record.

Its economy functions on completely different metrics to the ours & ranks well below us for GDP

No serious person would ever think that we should emulate it.

But here's Tice calling us decadent
October 8, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
So the argument is that authoritarian governments using slave labour and crushing dissent is good but democratic countries freely debating ideas is bad?
October 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.
October 8, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Let's get "because that's what they are" on a t-shirt.
“You described Reform and other parties across Europe today as among the 'right wing equivalents of the fascists in the 1930s'. Why?”

“Because that’s what they are”

@vicderbyshire.bsky.social asks Lord Heseltine about remarks he made at Conservative Party Conference.

#Newsnight
October 8, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Antifa Activist Michael Heseltine Shifts Overton Window Leftwards
“You described Reform and other parties across Europe today as among the 'right wing equivalents of the fascists in the 1930s'. Why?”

“Because that’s what they are”

@vicderbyshire.bsky.social asks Lord Heseltine about remarks he made at Conservative Party Conference.

#Newsnight
October 8, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
And it's actually true.

Immigrants make all cities Great.
In Discworld, cities thrive because they welcome dwarfs, trolls, vampires, and humans alike. Ankh-Morpork works because everyone belongs. Funny how fiction can seem more humane than policy sometimes.
October 8, 2025 at 8:17 AM
"The Burmese army bombed a Buddhist celebration and killed dozens of people.

The Burmese army bombed a crowd of people who had gathered to celebrate the Buddhist festival of lights combined with an anti-government demonstration. At least 40 people, including children, lost their lives"
October 8, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Stephen Russell
Struggling to find much humour in the likely next leader of the Conservative Party cosplaying the National Front of the 1970s.
October 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Watching the ICJ case on the right to strike. Govt of Panama speaking, and appear to have based their argument on the idea that confirming an international right that was held to exist until 2012 will UNLEASH HELL (even though it failed to do so before 2012).
October 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
It's interesting that the hard/far right are all calling for us to withdraw from the ECHR, given it's been used in the past to reinstate workers fired for 1) being a BNP member and 2) publicly opposing same sex marriage. In short, the ECHR protects your right to be despicable - they ought to love it
October 7, 2025 at 1:36 PM