suerubenstein.bsky.social
@suerubenstein.bsky.social
OD and leadership. Chair Refugee,Asylum, Migration Policy Project. Feminist.Mum.Dog owner. Cook
I notice that this thoughtfully argued, nuanced piece has generated snarky SM posts extracting single sentences. I thought the whole article was really worth reading. www.ft.com/content/96aa...
Liberalism can win back the working class. Here’s how
Nobel-winning economist Daron Acemoglu on Zohran Mamdani’s rise, the problem with cultural politics — and the case for pro-worker AI
www.ft.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted
I believe the majority of my constituents in #Folkestone #Hythe & #RomneyMarsh agree we should grant asylum to those fleeing war and persecution – provided the system is fair and managed.

I spoke to one constituent, Janice, this week, who thinks that... 1/2

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘It’s wrong’: the Labour MP speaking out against the party’s asylum policy
As a well-informed MP on the frontline of the debate, Tony Vaughan’s views are particularly unwelcome to government
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted
My Dad escaped the Nazis in 1939 on the Kindertransport.

He went to night school then University, trained as a physicist. Married my mum, brought up 3 kids, all work in public sector.

Under these proposed rules, he would have been deported.

100% 'performatively cruel' @stellacreasy.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted
Plans to leave refugees in a state of perpetual uncertainty about where and if they can rebuild their lives are not just performative cruelty, they are counterproductive to integration and the economy. It doesn’t have to be like this - 1/2
November 17, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted
I came to this country as a child refugee. No English, no certainty, no idea what my life could become. Britain gave me refuge.

Not on a timer, not with conditions attached, but with a chance to grow roots.

A thread 🧵 1/8
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted
This, this, this. If journalists don’t scrutinize this and explain it properly now then they have failed on their duty and will bear a share of the blame if such policies are enacted (most of the public oppose them and don’t I think realise what is being proposed yet).
Apropos of nothing, I really do think UK journalists and politicians need some reminding that mass deportation of LEGAL immigrants, particularly those with permanent status, is far more extreme than even Trump's America and would basically place Britain completely on its own among democracies.
October 19, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted
As I was speaking on panels at Labour conference last week I began to describe the Britain I know exists and love. In the end I gave it a name: Mr Blobby Patriotism

And I’ve written about it for @renewaljournal.bsky.social here bsky.app/profile/rene...
"Most of us basically love our country, even if begrudgingly – not the version we’re told to, or even presented with, but the one we really see and live in every day. Silly Sausage Britain is the Britain most of us reside in, and love."

@sofiejenkinson.bsky.social on "Mr Blobby patriotism"
Mr Blobby patriotism
Over recent weeks I have found myself thinking about the country we live in, what it feels like and what I like, and love, about it. I guess I found myself thinking about this because of the summer w...
renewal.org.uk
October 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted
Meanwhile, in 'ya don't f*king say' land, Reform discover that governing ain't quite so easy...

' "Everyone thought we'd come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren't," said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent. '
October 6, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Reposted
Both my grandfathers fought in the war and my grandmothers served too. Their parents would all have been deported under Reform's policies.
This one is particularly good. “How dare you call our policies racist, some of our voters may have had parents who fought in the war”
October 1, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted
It's not about "considering them". They are in gov't. It's about finding the best way of engaging them and changing their mind.
September 30, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted
Many of us worked our butts off to change minds and shift policy within Labour, knowing that when the shift finally came, hecklers would still heckle "too late". Moral superiority resides in the object-ing, not the object-ion. But I will still take modest real victories over grand fictional ones.
September 30, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted
“Labour must grab the microphone from Reform UK and stand up for true British values”
@lucympowell.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Labour must grab the microphone from Reform UK and stand up for true British values | Lucy Powell
If elected deputy Labour leader, I would take the fight to Nigel Farage and show him for what he really is, says Labour MP Lucy Powell
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted
I wrote something about feeling like a guest in a country that is my home.

bestforbritain.substack.com/p/my-place-o...
My place or yours? - Flags and the far right from someone who looks different to you
By Alex Andreou
bestforbritain.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Leadership!
In London, hate will never win.
September 17, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Reposted
“Awareness, solidarity, and practical investment are key to countering misinformation and building communities that are fair and safe for everyone.”
Bravo Ayesha. This is a full myth bust on asylum hotels 👇
open.substack.com/pub/bestforb...
What’s really happening with asylum seeker hotels?
By Ayesha Chaudhry
open.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted
We all need to be having these conversations.
September 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Reposted
Great work near Barrow today, in support of the South Lakes Islamic Centre being built via funding from doctors at Furness General Hospital, and counter to a few 'patriots' bussed in from elsewhere.
September 7, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted
Loath though he is to alienate floating racists, perhaps Starmer could rouse himself to condemn a violent fascist rally teeming with people who want him overthrown and/or killed
September 13, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted
“The current attrition rate of senior figures from the government is running at one a week” - WAIT FOR IT! - “this autumn.”

Filed eleven days into autumn.

I’m running out of pejoratives for Mason. How can someone this mediocre end up in a position meant for the best political journalist in the UK?
September 11, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted
"The politicians and pundits who crack the whip on immigration need to be asked, right now, where this ends."

@jonathanliew.bsky.social is absolutely right here. Long past time to stand up to the dangerous racism infecting our political discourse.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What is the endgame in this toxic immigration debate: is it friends and neighbours thrown out of the country? | Jonthan Liew
The notion of remigration was abstract, but the right is dragging it towards respectability. If the goal is homogeneous whiteness, they should say it, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
www.theguardian.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted
What's Nigel Farage's problem with solar panels?
September 6, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted
Yesterday evening there was a Westminster Hall Debate on a potential increase in the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain following e-petitions 727360 and 727356. RAMP Principals took part in the debate🧵
September 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted
“Farage claimed last year to have “bought a house” in his constituency but the property is actually owned in the name of his partner, meaning he legally avoided higher-rate stamp duty on the purchase of an additional home – given he already owns other properties”

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Nigel Farage uses private company to pay less tax on GB News earnings
Exclusive: Reform leader’s use of personal services firm is a practice criticised across the political spectrum
www.theguardian.com
September 5, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Reposted
I see that the folk who stretched interpretations of law / politics to absurdity around Brexit are now doing the same about leaving the ECHR. Is there an Article 24 we can invoke?

Read this instead... davidallengreen.com/2023/07/why-...
Why the United Kingdom government cannot leave the ECHR without either breaching or re-negotiating the Good Friday Agreement
1st July 2023 * The overlooked obstacle to the United Kingdom withdrawing from the ECHR * From time to time the demand comes from a government minister, or from one of their political and media sup…
davidallengreen.com
September 1, 2025 at 7:15 AM