Denis Buckley
@wellingtonrock.bsky.social
UK/US dual national. Haven't been to US in ten years. Family there are Trumpies, family here are sane. I'm an old man, but still learning - eg, a new 'lick' for Cripple Creek. Did I mention that in retirement, I've become an enthusiastic muso. And Green.
'MacLean's work reminds us that democracy is not self-sustaining. It can be legally and economically disarmed. When elected governments cannot act for the majority, citizens lose faith. Cynicism becomes the ruling ideology.'
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
Economic questions: The Nancy MacLean question
This is one of a series of posts that will ask what the most pertinent question raised by a prominent influencer of political economy might have been, and what the relevance of that question might be ...
www.taxresearch.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:50 PM
'MacLean's work reminds us that democracy is not self-sustaining. It can be legally and economically disarmed. When elected governments cannot act for the majority, citizens lose faith. Cynicism becomes the ruling ideology.'
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
Disgraceful Liars ...
'the IDF has denied the allegations of systematic war crimes, insisting it operates in accordance with international law and takes measures to minimise civilian harm in its operations against Hamas.'
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
'the IDF has denied the allegations of systematic war crimes, insisting it operates in accordance with international law and takes measures to minimise civilian harm in its operations against Hamas.'
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians
IDF soldiers tell documentary of opening fire unprovoked and arbitrary designations of who was an enemy
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Disgraceful Liars ...
'the IDF has denied the allegations of systematic war crimes, insisting it operates in accordance with international law and takes measures to minimise civilian harm in its operations against Hamas.'
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
'the IDF has denied the allegations of systematic war crimes, insisting it operates in accordance with international law and takes measures to minimise civilian harm in its operations against Hamas.'
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Reposted by Denis Buckley
It means Keir Starmer knew as well
US intel intercepted warnings last year from Israel's own military lawyers that Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza.
In short, Biden officials knew they were supplying weapons, in violation of US laws, that Israel was using to target civilians. Trump continued the policy.
In short, Biden officials knew they were supplying weapons, in violation of US laws, that Israel was using to target civilians. Trump continued the policy.
November 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
It means Keir Starmer knew as well
Reposted by Denis Buckley
They come across as a government in paralysis, marred by Brexit & Immigration-scare (Starmer's issue) and Budget-scare (going back to Miliband).
Inherited Tory policy is still looming large & they would be well advised to try their own approach.
Inherited Tory policy is still looming large & they would be well advised to try their own approach.
This isn't a revolutionary government. But as a Labour government, it does need to be the people's representative to the system. So far it's acted as the system's representative to the people - "no, you can't have that, tough choices". And time is running out to deliver outcomes by the election
November 10, 2025 at 9:00 AM
They come across as a government in paralysis, marred by Brexit & Immigration-scare (Starmer's issue) and Budget-scare (going back to Miliband).
Inherited Tory policy is still looming large & they would be well advised to try their own approach.
Inherited Tory policy is still looming large & they would be well advised to try their own approach.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
It's an easy card to play for Polanski because if Labour do so badly in 2029 that it needs a Green coalition partner then Starmer won't be leader anyway
Green leader says Starmer is ‘not a man I would be willing to work with’
Green leader says Starmer is ‘not a man I would be willing to work with’
Green leader says Starmer is ‘not a man I would be willing to work with’
www.independent.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:07 AM
It's an easy card to play for Polanski because if Labour do so badly in 2029 that it needs a Green coalition partner then Starmer won't be leader anyway
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Worth watching the @novaramedia.com interview with The Fraud author @paulholden.bsky.social. Awareness grows in centrist Labour that Starmer/McSweeny needs to end. But do you also ditch Reed? Mahmood? Streeting? Where are the new people and political vision?
The Starmer-McSweeney tendency is sinking Labour. Their tiny faction is dragging social democracy into an abyss. 🖊️ Neal Lawson
The Starmer-McSweeney tendency is sinking Labour
Their tiny faction is dragging social democracy into an abyss
www.newstatesman.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Worth watching the @novaramedia.com interview with The Fraud author @paulholden.bsky.social. Awareness grows in centrist Labour that Starmer/McSweeny needs to end. But do you also ditch Reed? Mahmood? Streeting? Where are the new people and political vision?
Reposted by Denis Buckley
I reckon they should put @zackpolanski.bsky.social in charge. See what he does with some actual power. (And I would love to see Boris Johnson’s op-ed on a gay vegan environmentalist taking over Auntie.)
Could put himself on Question Time more often than Farage for a start. 🤣
Could put himself on Question Time more often than Farage for a start. 🤣
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
November 10, 2025 at 9:13 AM
I reckon they should put @zackpolanski.bsky.social in charge. See what he does with some actual power. (And I would love to see Boris Johnson’s op-ed on a gay vegan environmentalist taking over Auntie.)
Could put himself on Question Time more often than Farage for a start. 🤣
Could put himself on Question Time more often than Farage for a start. 🤣
Reposted by Denis Buckley
I once believed Labour was the party for strivers and savers like me. Now – as they come for my pension – I feel betrayed: RUTH SUNDERLAND
https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/127589/
When Rachel Reeves moved into No 11 Downing Street, I was genuinely touched by her message to young…
https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/127589/
When Rachel Reeves moved into No 11 Downing Street, I was genuinely touched by her message to young…
I once believed Labour was the party for strivers and savers like me. Now - as they come for my pension - I feel betrayed: RUTH SUNDERLAND - New Zealand News Beep
When Rachel Reeves moved into No 11 Downing Street, I was genuinely touched by her message to young women and girls.
www.newsbeep.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:15 AM
I once believed Labour was the party for strivers and savers like me. Now – as they come for my pension – I feel betrayed: RUTH SUNDERLAND
https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/127589/
When Rachel Reeves moved into No 11 Downing Street, I was genuinely touched by her message to young…
https://www.newsbeep.com/nz/127589/
When Rachel Reeves moved into No 11 Downing Street, I was genuinely touched by her message to young…
Reposted by Denis Buckley
The more I think about it, the more I think Angela Rayner would make a great DG of the BBC.
The first thing would be to make half a dozen of the right wing anti-BBC mob have a stroke.
The first thing would be to make half a dozen of the right wing anti-BBC mob have a stroke.
November 10, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The more I think about it, the more I think Angela Rayner would make a great DG of the BBC.
The first thing would be to make half a dozen of the right wing anti-BBC mob have a stroke.
The first thing would be to make half a dozen of the right wing anti-BBC mob have a stroke.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Around 115,000 veterans living in Wales are set to benefit from a new network of support centres backed by more than £50 million in UK Government funding, as part of a major overhaul of veterans’ services
Welsh veterans to benefit from new support centres
Around 115,000 veterans living in Wales are set to benefit from a new network of support centres backed by more than £50 million in UK Government funding, as part of a major overhaul of veterans’ serv...
wp.me
November 10, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Around 115,000 veterans living in Wales are set to benefit from a new network of support centres backed by more than £50 million in UK Government funding, as part of a major overhaul of veterans’ services
Reposted by Denis Buckley
What a joke! The only “serious, systemic bias” is towards the racist right. The BBC basically made BoJo and Four-Home Farage’s careers. These clowns won’t be happy until BBC news is a replica of Fox. 🤬https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/09/tim-davie-expected-to-resign-bbc-director-general
November 9, 2025 at 7:26 PM
What a joke! The only “serious, systemic bias” is towards the racist right. The BBC basically made BoJo and Four-Home Farage’s careers. These clowns won’t be happy until BBC news is a replica of Fox. 🤬https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/09/tim-davie-expected-to-resign-bbc-director-general
Reposted by Denis Buckley
the Tories and Reform *and Labour* continue to use us as a political football. she's in the wrong party if she wants to be involved in anything other than making trans lives harder
I imagine @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social will be getting the usual abuse for speaking out - solidarity with her and all those fighting against hate manipulated by the wealthy right gleefully creating a distracting wedge issue
November 9, 2025 at 7:27 PM
the Tories and Reform *and Labour* continue to use us as a political football. she's in the wrong party if she wants to be involved in anything other than making trans lives harder
Reposted by Denis Buckley
What was it about the party fronted by Nigel Farage that made him think it was a safe space for a black person?
Reform’s only Black local chairman, Neville Watson, has quit, saying he couldn’t stand the party’s tone and language on immigration.
Watson, who chaired the Edmonton & Winchmore Hill branch, told reporters the rhetoric was “nasty” and “not what Britain needs.”
Another one walks out… 🫠
Watson, who chaired the Edmonton & Winchmore Hill branch, told reporters the rhetoric was “nasty” and “not what Britain needs.”
Another one walks out… 🫠
November 9, 2025 at 7:28 PM
What was it about the party fronted by Nigel Farage that made him think it was a safe space for a black person?
Reposted by Denis Buckley
“Nothing I have seen or heard gives me comfort that Rachel Reeves understands the importance of nature to economic and social wellbeing, nothing,”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out
Exclusive: Leading ecologists say warnings over threat to wildlife have been ignored in drive to build 1.5m new homes
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
“Nothing I have seen or heard gives me comfort that Rachel Reeves understands the importance of nature to economic and social wellbeing, nothing,”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Denis Buckley
“I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom,” Judge Mark L. Wolf writes on his decision to resign from the federal bench. “President Trump is using the law for partisan purposes”:
https://theatln.tc/MHDWR78I
https://theatln.tc/MHDWR78I
November 9, 2025 at 5:00 PM
“I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom,” Judge Mark L. Wolf writes on his decision to resign from the federal bench. “President Trump is using the law for partisan purposes”:
https://theatln.tc/MHDWR78I
https://theatln.tc/MHDWR78I
Reposted by Denis Buckley
www.bylinesupplement.com/p/the-bbcs-r...
This route of travel will not change. Expect "doubling down" of support for Farage.
This route of travel will not change. Expect "doubling down" of support for Farage.
The BBC’s Road to Appeasement
As the BBC comes under growing criticism for its coverage of Reform, we republish Adam Bienkov and Patrick Howse's 2024 investigation into how the corporation's leadership became cowed by the right
www.bylinesupplement.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:53 PM
www.bylinesupplement.com/p/the-bbcs-r...
This route of travel will not change. Expect "doubling down" of support for Farage.
This route of travel will not change. Expect "doubling down" of support for Farage.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
To be fair, I doubt Farage gets much pleasure from remembering that his side lost World War Two.
November 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
To be fair, I doubt Farage gets much pleasure from remembering that his side lost World War Two.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Love this phrasing from @axios.com: 1/x
It's hard to argue you care about the working class while you're fighting to not fund SNAP payments.
It's hard to argue Democrats are to blame for the shutdown when your party controls all of Congress.
It's hard to argue you care about the working class while you're fighting to not fund SNAP payments.
It's hard to argue Democrats are to blame for the shutdown when your party controls all of Congress.
November 9, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Love this phrasing from @axios.com: 1/x
It's hard to argue you care about the working class while you're fighting to not fund SNAP payments.
It's hard to argue Democrats are to blame for the shutdown when your party controls all of Congress.
It's hard to argue you care about the working class while you're fighting to not fund SNAP payments.
It's hard to argue Democrats are to blame for the shutdown when your party controls all of Congress.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Your party smoked itself Mr. Anderson.
They blame everyone but President Donald Trump
“They just smoked us. I mean, gosh, they wiped us off the map,” said Tim Anderson, a Republican who lost a House of Delegates race in Virginia Beach. “It’s going to take four years to rebuild what happened on Tuesday.”
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
“They just smoked us. I mean, gosh, they wiped us off the map,” said Tim Anderson, a Republican who lost a House of Delegates race in Virginia Beach. “It’s going to take four years to rebuild what happened on Tuesday.”
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Virginia Republicans turn on each other after crushing losses
“They should have seen this coming,” said one county Republican.
www.politico.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Your party smoked itself Mr. Anderson.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Putin/Musk/Dugin/Theil/Bannon/The Heritage Foundation all seem laser focused on flipping the UK into an undemocratic hellscape.
Sounds a bit tin-hat but I can't see any other outcome should Farage get the keys.
Outside the ECHR it'd be quite easy to achieve.
Sounds a bit tin-hat but I can't see any other outcome should Farage get the keys.
Outside the ECHR it'd be quite easy to achieve.
November 9, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Putin/Musk/Dugin/Theil/Bannon/The Heritage Foundation all seem laser focused on flipping the UK into an undemocratic hellscape.
Sounds a bit tin-hat but I can't see any other outcome should Farage get the keys.
Outside the ECHR it'd be quite easy to achieve.
Sounds a bit tin-hat but I can't see any other outcome should Farage get the keys.
Outside the ECHR it'd be quite easy to achieve.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Yes, absolutely - honest, kind & funny - about Starmer: “He does not speak human”.
Worth listening to
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
www.theguardian.com/politics/aud...
Nicola Sturgeon on leadership, scandal and trolling the trolls – podcast
In a special, bonus episode of Politics Weekly, Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey sit down with Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon for a frank conversation about her time in office and the f...
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Yes, absolutely - honest, kind & funny - about Starmer: “He does not speak human”.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Zack Polanski comes across as sincere, committed & hopeful. John Swinney comes across as genuine, dependable & decent.
Keir Starmer comes across as hesitant, duplicitous & constantly pessimistic.
Keir Starmer comes across as hesitant, duplicitous & constantly pessimistic.
November 9, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Zack Polanski comes across as sincere, committed & hopeful. John Swinney comes across as genuine, dependable & decent.
Keir Starmer comes across as hesitant, duplicitous & constantly pessimistic.
Keir Starmer comes across as hesitant, duplicitous & constantly pessimistic.
Reposted by Denis Buckley
Be VERY clear, this WILL happen in the UK if Reform get anywhere near power after the next election.
This is a Gestapo & concentration camp system & there is NOTHING to stop Farage doing this here.
If you think it “couldn’t happen here” you are dangerously deluded. It can always happen anywhere.
This is a Gestapo & concentration camp system & there is NOTHING to stop Farage doing this here.
If you think it “couldn’t happen here” you are dangerously deluded. It can always happen anywhere.
A man rushed to the Broadview ICE facility searching for his wife. They followed every legal step, but ICE took her into another room and she vanished. He tracked her phone there when the signal died. Police told him to “look up her name online.” He sat in the parking lot, weeping, with no answers.
November 9, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Be VERY clear, this WILL happen in the UK if Reform get anywhere near power after the next election.
This is a Gestapo & concentration camp system & there is NOTHING to stop Farage doing this here.
If you think it “couldn’t happen here” you are dangerously deluded. It can always happen anywhere.
This is a Gestapo & concentration camp system & there is NOTHING to stop Farage doing this here.
If you think it “couldn’t happen here” you are dangerously deluded. It can always happen anywhere.