paulusthewoodgnome πΊπ¦πξ¨
@woodgnomology
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Born 317 ppm | Love London | Hate Racists | The only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation β Bertrand Russell
London, England
Joined December 2012
Still posting here but now also on Bluesky:
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Bloody love this woman. "Nobody voted for this mess. I blame the charlatans who peddled the falsehoods that Brexit would be easy, it would be cost free. I wouldn't trust them to run my bath, let alone the country." - Betty Boothroyd, former Speaker
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The Royal Family embodies everything that's rotten about our society: class privilege, snobbery, deference, stasis, self-delusion. They are the keystone in a vast edifice of class privilege. Until we #abolishthemonarchy we will struggle to be a normal, decent society. #dispatches
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Nice work. 'Helen Whately is claiming up to Β£39,000-a-year to rent a property in London despite her home only being 50 miles from Westminster. She has been named as the Tory MP claiming the highest rent expenses at Β£3,250 a month.' (Apr 2021). #c4news.
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John O'Farrell is the hero we all need right now. Someone who is invited onto #bbclaurak and spits some truths at Laura Kuenssberg and the BBC over their nauseating servitude towards the Daily Mail and other right wing media. Go, @mrjohnofarrell. πππ.
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"I took this city through riots." - Boris Johnson. In reality, he was on holiday when the 2011 riots happened and returned only after several days of intense political pressure. And when he did, his people skills were. Well, judge for yourself #marr
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Kemi Badenoch: "Can you imagine if Labour had been in charge during the pandemic?". Yes, there would have been no VIP Lane funneling tens of billions of pounds to colleagues and donors and friends of friends and existing PPE suppliers would not have been sidelined. #politicslive.
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"I don't have a bottomless pit of taxpayers money to throw at this problem." β Mark Harper. But he does have Β£30m to give to rail companies for every day there's a strike. "The most perverse and corrupt rail system we've ever had." β Mick Lynch #bbclauraK.
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Andrew Neil: "Kate Hoey, can you name any reputable independent study that show us better off if we leave?". Kate Hoey: "Um, probably not better off as such. ". Kate Hoey was one of three Labour MPs who voted against extending Article 50. #marr. #GammonballRun #MarchToLeave
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Lest we forget. Chris Grayling was warned on #bbcqt, back when David Dimbleby was still host, that there would be lorry queues 20+ miles long at Dover. Needless to say, in true Grayling fashion, he dismissed it with a show of arrogance and ignorance.
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"He didnβt read the protocol, he hasnβt read the Bill, he doesnβt know his stuff.". 'At first Boris merely rolled his eyes, willing Ed to disappear but by the end there was nothing but stone-cold fury in his stares.'. #r4today.
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Michael Gove left spluttering in the face of these straight forward questions: What do you remember about the PPE contract with Michelle Mone? What do you remember about the personal email she sent you?. Gove is bigger liar even than Jenrick. #bbclaurak.
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Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katarina Johnson Thompson and Denise Lewis. What a trio! π₯π₯π₯π. #BBCOlympics #Paris2024
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Robert Jenrick, the odds-on favourite to be the next leader of the Conservatives, has endorsed Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States. This is a party that is going nowhere fast. #pmqs #politicslive.
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'Sixteen Tory MPs, Including James Cleverly, rent out residential property in London while claiming their own rent on expenses.' (Apr 2021). #r4today.
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"According to the New York Times, Β£9bn went to companies run by friends and associates of politicians in the Conservative Party, or to companies with either no prior experience or a history of controversy." (Dec 2020). #PPEMedpro #MichelleMone #r4today.
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Jesus. Apologies for stating the obvious but Laura Kuenssberg is fucking abysmal. #bbclaurak.
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'Sixteen Tory MPs, Including James Cleverly, rent out residential property in London while claiming their own rent on expenses.' (Apr 2021). #r4today.
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Lord Ashcroft has tried to create a shitstorm around Angela Rayner over unproven allegations concerning Β£1,500. But when you try and question him about avoiding taxes worth millions of pounds, he hides in the toilet. #bbclaurak
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Brilliant dissection of the BBC's cowardice and hypocrisy over Gary Linker from Sky Sports News presenter, Kaveh Solhekol. π₯. #Newsnight.
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Personally, I'm delighted that Rishi Sunak is taking this opportunity to remind us what a loathsome, self-entitled, disingenuous fuckwit he is - and always was. #budget #budget24 #budget2024 #politicslive #pmqs
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Steve Hedley tells Richard Tice and Isabel Oakeshott "You're a pair of fascists." π. #politicslive.
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"I think with Michael [Gove] as Prime Minister we'd go to war with at least three countries at once." - Ken Clarke #marr
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Lest we forget. Prince Charles accepted a suitcase containing β¬1,000,000 in cash from "HBJ", the former Prime Minister of Qatar. Charles received three β¬1m gifts from the sheikh in undisclosed meetings - including one said to be in Fortnum & Mason bags. #dispatches
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Michael Gove left spluttering in the face of these straight forward questions: What do you remember about the PPE contract with Michelle Mone? What do you remember about the personal email she sent you?. He's in this #PPEscandal up to his neck. #Newsnight.
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"I donβt support the Human Rights Act and I donβt believe in economic and social rights." β Dominic Raab. #pmqs #politicslive.
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Lest we forget. Jacob Rees-Mogg said the reason so many in Downing Street breached Covid rules was because the rules were too harsh. And if people outside No. 10 obeyed them and missed their parents' funeral as a result. more fool them. #breathtaking.
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"Even his own employer realised it simply could not call him as a witness of truth at the trial. His contempt for the courtβs ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgement.". Prince Harry on Piers Morgan
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The BBC upholds its ignoble tradition of inviting on to it's flagship current affairs/news programmes right-wing commentators who already have their own shows on their own right-wing TV channels. If Alex Phillips has something to say, she can say it on Talk TV. #Newsnight
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Speaking as a white Englishman who has chosen to live in London for the past 40 years, the more the rest of the country hates this amazing city the more I wouldn't care to live anywhere else. So, up yours racists!. #LondonFireworks #londonnye
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"Rishi Sunak has thundering in his ears. The hooves of the Four Horses of the Tory Apocalypse: Austerity, Brexit, Partygate, Liz Truss. That is people's experience of the government. That is why he doesn't want to talk about the past." β Harriet Harman. #bbclaurak
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Lest we forget. Peter Davies, the best man at George Osborne's wedding, trousered a cool Β£36m via his hedge fund, Lansdowne Partners, from the privatisation of Royal Mail. Small world. #r4today.
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In other news. 'Richard Sharp owns a multimillion pound stake in a healthcare company which was granted nearly Β£600,000 for Covid research while Sharp worked in Number 10.'. Sharp practice. #bbclaurak.
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The fact that King Charles III profits from the seabed out to 12 nautical miles is completely normal and in no way adds fuel to the cause of republicans who assert that monarchy is an absurd institution which a less class-bound society would have got shot of long ago. #dispatches
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Helen Lewis nailing it. The BBC did what it did, not out of excessive reverence for Prince Philip and the Royal Family, but out of fear of rabidly anti-BBC backbenchers and the Defund the BBC mob. It's a sad state of affairs but that's where we are. #marr.
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'Home SecretaryΒ Suella BravermanΒ is being accused of embellishing herΒ lawyerβsΒ CVΒ by claiming she contributed to a seminal law textbook before the actual author came out and insisted he had just asked her to "do some photocopying".'.
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Prof Neil Ferguson broke the lockdown. He resigned. Dr Catherine CalderwoodΒ broke the lockdown. She resigned. Dominic Cummings broke the lockdown. He should resign. It's not complicated. #cumgate.
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Tampon tax: Here is the full list of MPs who voted against the amendment to scrap it (Oct 2015). #BBCLeadersDebate.
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"I once saw an episode of Politics Live that did not have on it a former or current member of the Institute of Economic Affairs. #politicslive
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This #hignfy clip from 2021 gives an idea of the coverage there had been of the #postofficescandal before ITV's drama. Why did it take Toby Jones to get the wheels of justice turning in Westminster? Why does our system fail 'ordinary' people? #politicslive.
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Adam Fleming: Why does Keir Starmer need to fly to a climate summit? He gets to look cool and people pat him on the back. What do we get out of it?. Remember when you could take BBC journalism seriously?. #politicslive
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We knew this was a lie. "Compared to other European countries a far lower proportion have died in care homes." β Matt Hancock. UK Care home residents were more likely to die of Covid-19 than in any major European country β apart from Spain. #breathtaking.
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@VictoriaLIVE @Andrew_Adonis @johnredwood Ditto. Jacob Rees-Mogg back in 2011. Also in favour of a referendum on the final deal.
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Robert Jenrick lying about the Refugee Convention. But that's not what makes this interview noteworthy β he and colleagues have perpetrated the same lie countless times. The difference is that he's challenged on it. What does that tell us about our media?. #politicslive #c4news
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It looks like something happened around 2010 that turbocharged funding for private education while slashing it for state education. What could that have been? Any suggestions, anyone?. #Panorama #BBCPanorama
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What a hero Ahou Daryaei is. She couldn't know the rest of the world would witness her courage. She wasn't performing for anyone. She stood alone to challenge a patriarchal Iranian state, steeped in violent misogyny. Hopefully, the world's eyes will protect her. π. #AhouDaryaei
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Kemi Badenoch busy affirming her reputation as the most unpleasant person in Parliament. Ugh!. #KingsSpeech
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Old Etonian, Bim Afolami, TWICE 'accidentally' used his parliamentary expenses card to pay for car fines. So out of character. #r4today.
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Aww. Lovely Ann Widdecombe. Lovely, funny, homophobic, anti-abortion, pro-death penalty, climate change denying, Ann Widdecombe. A national treasure. #politicslive
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@WinstanN69 @Tony_Diver "Perhaps it would be faster if Sue Gray were to investigate the days that there werenβt parties." β Dame Angela Eagle
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@AdamBienkov @mikegalsworthy It's not just that Johnson's wrong. It's the all-too-familiar smirking contempt with which he dismisses Tobias Ellwood, who has a greater interest in and understanding of these matters than he ever has, or ever will.
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@ByDonkeys Who funds them? The fossil fuel industry? US private healthcare? Putin's oligarchs? They won't tell us. So, we're entitled to believe the worst and judge them on that basis.
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Here we go again. Welcome, Emily Carver of the Institute of Economic Affairs β an anonymously funded neoliberal think tank which appears on the BBC virtually every day of the week without viewers having a clue whose interests they represent. Could you tell us?. #PoliticsLive
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@SteveBakerHW Erm. Steve Baker (that's you) is linked to a group that channeled Β£435,000 to the DUP to promote Leave in the rest of the UK, in the final weeks of the EU referendum.
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There was nothing 'complicated' about Penny Mordaunt's lie. She said Turkey could join the EU regardless of our membership veto. She knew it wasn't true but she said it anyway, to scare people into supporting Vote Leave. She lied. End of. #r4today
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Marvellous. π. "You're a pair of fascists!" Steve Hedley tells Richard Tice and Isabel Oakeshott. #c4news.
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@GeorgeMonbiot Google blacklisted nineteen web sites run by the wife, mother or sister of Grant Shapps after the Guardian exposed one of their sites for selling software to help breach copyright regulations. (Sep 2012). All perfectly normal.
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'Before the last election, ministers chose 101 towns in England for a Β£25m boost to their economies. 61 were chosen at the discretion of ministers led by Robert Jenrick. All but one were Tory-held seats or Tory targets before the election.'. #peston.
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In case Fiona Bruce mentioning Keir Starmer leads you to think this is six of one & half-a-dozen of the other. 'TheΒ register of interests shows more than 90 Tories have extra jobs on top of their work in parliament, compared with 3 from Labour.'. #bbcqt.
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True to his Old Etonian heritage, Kwasi Kwarteng lying his face off about North Sea oil offering energy security, when even state-educated oiks like me know that it's sold on the open market to the highest bidder. What is it with Etonians and lying. It's an addiction. #newsnight.
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The point is this. β¬οΈ. 'Britain's biggest PPE suppliers were βignoredβ by the government as the scramble for masks and gowns became a "feeding frenzy" for opportunists with friends in high places.'. #newsnight #PPEscandal.
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We all know that the BBC loves nothing more than talking about the BBC but if there was any doubt that #Newsnight is finished as a serious news programme, leading with Gregg Wallace on the day the French government has collapsed puts it beyond dispute. Very sad.
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Lest we forget. Rishi Sunak voted for Leave. Voted for Boris Johnson to be leader of the Conservative Party. Voted for Johnson's 2019 Brexit deal. He's repairing a mess of his own making. #NIProtocol #C4News
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The level of idiocy is terrifying. The judges have NOT overruled 17m people, they've overruled the govt's abuse of Royal prerogative. #bbcqt.
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"The Cameron government made clear. ". Emily Sheffield, bigging up the Cameron government without herself or anyone else mentioning the not insignificant fact that she's the sister of Samantha Cameron, David Cameron's wife. #politicslive
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Lovely. 'Southern Water CEO, Ian McAuley, has received a Β£550,900 bonus after his company was fined Β£90m for illegally dumping sewage 6,971 times. His total pay is closer to Β£1m. @SouthernWater pled guilty to the charges earlier this month.'. #r4today.
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Please God, make it stop. π©. "When it comes to football, the country shouldnβt just be worried about theΒ Danes, Slovenians and theΒ Serbs. They should be worried about Captain Flip-flop and his band of socialists. I think victory is in sight and weβll bring it home." #newsnight
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@PolitlcsUK Yesterday, upon the stair,.I met a man who wasn't there.He wasn't there again today.Oh, how I wish he'd go away
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Lest we forget. James Cleverly was one of three MPs asked to stand down as patron of a disability charity after voting for George Osborne's ESA cuts. #bbclaurak
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Letter to Viz from NHS worker Nick Lyon on his admiration for Prince Charles. #AbolishTheMonarchy
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I have no interest in the moral posturing of Tories like Helen Whately, who accuse Labour of being uncaring, when they refuse to acknowledge their own role in undermining much of what is decent in our society with 14 years of savage cuts to public services. #politicslive
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Factoid: Steve Baker was linked to a group that channeled Β£435K to the DUP to promote Leave in the rest of the UK, in the final weeks of the EU referendum, because NI electoral law meant donations could be made anonymously, unlike elsewhere. #politicslive.
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Keir Starmer wants to "end the era of noisy performance and tread more lightly on your lives.". The problem is we now have a cadre of political journalists β Kuenssberg, Rigby, Mason, etc β moulded by drama and chaos. They need the noise and will try to create it. #politicslive
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When England's water companies were privatised in 1991 they were debt free. Since then they have accumulated debt of more than Β£50bn. Over the same period they have paid out Β£57bn in dividends to shareholders. A Labour government should nationalise water. #r4today.
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"There are no health reasons why you couldn't eat chickens that have been washed in chlorinated water." - Liam Fox (Nov 2017). 'British microbiologists find chlorine washing does not kill listeria and salmonella.' (May 2018) #ridge
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So long as Grant Shapps is an elected representative talking shite on our television screens, posting this will never be old. #sundaymorning #raworth #marr.
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Today we were treated to the spectacle of a Prime Minister, with a net worth of Β£750m, cosplaying someone working in the kitchen of a homeless shelter, while telling the attendant media that workers have to take a real terms pay cut because there's no money in the kitty. #c4news
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Rishi Sunak, not just saying the quiet part out loud but announcing it with a megaphone, while holding a parade. π€¦. "Only Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably privileged position of having access to the UK market and the EU single market.". #bbclaurak.
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Isabel Oakeshott pockets Β£250K for presenting on Talk TV. Why does the BBC constantly invite on people who have shows on channels hostile to the BBC? Tory stooges in high places and a hand-ringing need to prove they're not biased against their right-wing haters?. #bbclaurak
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Old Etonian Kwasi Kwarteng sad about Old Etonian Rory Stewart resigning after rebelling in motion put down by Old Etonian Oliver Letwin to prevent a no-deal Brexit being defended by Old Etonian & Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg on behalf of Old Etonian Boris Johnson. #r4today.
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@SteveBakerHW Erm. Steve Baker (still you) prominently displayed the Vote Leave pledge to 'give our NHS the Β£350m the EU takes every week' on his website during the referendum campaign. We never gave this amount to the EU. It was a lie and you knew it. You all did.
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Steve Barclay just reiterated the most shameless lie of Boris Johnson's time as PM: that he was building 40 new hospitals. Laura Kuenssberg must know that's a lie. Everyone knows that's a lie. But she didn't say a word, just let it slide. #bbclaurak.
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Keir Starmer is surprised that Rishi Sunak makes fun of Phil, who works at Iceland and is struggling to pay his mortgage. I'm not. "I have friends who are aristocrats, I have friends who are upper class, I have friends who are working class. Well, not working class.". #pmqs
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Lest we forget. Tory donor, David Meller, phoned Lord Bethell to speed-up his Β£65m PPE contract. Six minutes later, an email from Bethellβs office was sent to Meller saying he had been in touch with Jo Churchill, the minister leading on PPE. #r4today
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Claire Fox used to be a revolutionary communist. Then she became an anti-state libertarian working for the neoliberal, climate change denying, billionaire Koch brothers. Now she has a lifelong sinecure as a peer of the realm. The modern media grifter par excellence. #politicslive
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Can't say I'm a fan of Ed Balls but I'm definitely a fan of this. Quentin Letts is an utter slimebag. #r4today .
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Lest we forget. Kit Malthouse was one of three Tory MPs told to stand down as patron of a disability charity after voting for George Osborne's ESA cuts. #r4today.
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Lest we forget. 'Labour has called for an inquiry into the use of WhatsApp after it emerged Lord Bethell replaced his mobile before it could be searched for info relevant to Β£85m of deals that are subject to a legal challenge.' (Aug 2021). #bbclaurak
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Isabel Oakeshott, the 'journalist' who broke the Kim Darroch story, with some of her friends. #pmqs.
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The Royal Family is a thousand-year-old business. That is the beginning and (hopefully, one day) the end of it. #dispatches
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@ukiswitheu So glad someone called out Nadhim Zahawi's bullshit, because you know Fiona Bruce was never going to do it. #bbcqt.
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"I want you to consider this kipper.". Boris Johnson holds up a fish to criticise the "regulatory overkill" of the EU. 1. The Isle of Man is not in the EU.2. The regulation is British.3. It's designed to prevent listeria. But apart from that. πππ.
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Yup. "Govts on both sides of the Atlantic are paralysed by the success of politicians who made promises they knew they could not keep. That's what populism is: unkeepable promises." - @mrjamesob.
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'Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, failed to notify his officials about private messages he exchanged with disgraced Conservative MP Owen Paterson, a healthcare firmβs paid lobbyist, the National Audit Office (NAO) has disclosed.'. #Newsnight.
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Lest we forget. In some taxpayer-funded mutual back-scratching, Jake Berry awarded Β£25m to Robert Jenrick's constituency, and Jenrick awarded Β£25m to Berry's, from the New Towns Fund which was meant to support poorer areas of the country. #bbcqt.
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