🔴NEW🔴 Thread 🧵 @bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12

New from Institute of Jewish Policy Research: most comprehensive study of Jewish attitudes > Rising experience + perception of antisemitism:feel less safe > Growing (now majority) criticism of military campaign in Gaza; rising attachment to Israel (July 2025 fieldwork) www.jpr.org.uk/reports/two-...

This Israeli government decision to host Tommy Robinson will widen the growing gulf between the Netanyahu government and the British public, including the broad majority of Jews in Britain (3/4 of whom dsapproved of Netanyahu, before this new link to this anti-Muslim racist UK far right convict).

Please join me in congratulating Woman on her appointment

New post: "Identity Crisis" Labour keeps trying to appeal to a lost white working class vote + alienating middle-class grads / ethnic minority voters that are a much bigger part of their coalition. Why? And how can they rebuild their coalition more effectively? open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/i...

Interesting but not me, the superior @samfr.bsky.social

Polling commissioned by POLITICO shows wide public support for Labour’s EU reset www.politico.eu/article/uk-w...

This is excellent from @samfriedman.bsky.social explaining why Lab seems to ignore that they’re losing more votes on left than right. Identity is SUCH a strong motive for them I agree- but, as the now old chestnut Brexitland shows- identity is SUCH an important motive for voters on their left too. 1

Part of the burden of Jewish history is being touched, and proud, that the British police rushed to the site of this atrocity and that the reaction of the British prime minister was to send police reinforcements to synagogues. For millennia, this was not so. It is not taken for granted.

A call for those outside the Jewish community to share a message of solidarity when Yom Kippur ends at 723pm tonight. Please do join if you can. This is an initiative coordinated by the Together coalition, talking among networks of all faiths + none this afternoon bsky.app/profile/sund...

My wife is supposed to be doing synagogue security duty on Saturday. It's terrifying.

People recognised as refugees fleeing persecution & granted the right to live in the UK to be denied the right to be joined safely by their spouse & children. This Labour govt is a moral void, a stinking darkness, an empty hollow of cowardice & contempt. #r4today www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I can’t even process this. The Jewish community in the UK is tiny. We will all be feeling this more deeply than I can explain.

An important new paper from my talented, but BlueSky-less PHD Jose Lopes www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

My essay on stupidology (originally published in N+1) is in today's Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...

Genuinely mad, and they'll lose their few remaining supporters to the Lib Dems over this. Presumably she's barely got a month left in the role.

Manchester synagogue attack latest: police say suspect shot after four people injured by vehicle and stabbings

🚨 Our new investigation out today reveals how thousands of people who've taken their bosses to employment tribunals & won, never got paid, even after they approached the government for help. This has serious implications for the Employment rights bill. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Just as a point of reference, fewer people, on average, are provided with asylum, per year, under family reunification routes as attend an average Birmingham City home game. It really isn't a lot, but it is a vital route, and it isn't "automatic" as the routes are already restrictive. 2/

Really enjoyed this one!

Every time this man opens his mouth nowadays something extremely unpleasant and largely misleading comes out. What fresh hell is a ‘golden ticket’ - it’s a basic human right to family reunion you [redacted]

I think Jonathan is being too polite: this policy is straightforwardly stupid. Other countries will make attractive offers that encourage hard-working, capable, and interesting people to choose them over us, and the UK will be worse off for it. And for what?

Delaying ILR/settlement/citizenship for this group would very likely leave them to the mercy of a future Reform/Tory govt -and to policies which Starmer and Mahmood have (rightly) explicitly described as racist. A real litmus test for Labour.

“UN human rights experts have said they are appalled by a ‘dramatic escalation’ in the number of executions in Iran, with more than 1,000 people killed during the first nine months of 2025” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Governing by public opinion polls is bad enough, but this isn’t even that. It’s governing by one question in public opinion polls (vote intention) and then misinterpreting/projecting the meaning of that one question into whole policy areas. It is a DISASTER

Apart from the unnecessary hardship this will inflict on individuals, this will be bad for integration and social cohesion, bad for the economy, and will increase irregular migration. [And, as @robfordmancs.bsky.social has shown, it's hugely unpopular and out of step with the British public]

In the post I look at the 2024 BES and the May 2025 BES panel to see where various occupational groups (like the PMC) and parties lie. Should Labour be going after those cool Reform voters they want so much..? You'll never believe the answer (TLDR: no, that's mad). 10/n

Is there a reason I ask that the Times are using a picture of asylum seekers in a boat to describe rules for migrants who came on legal routes such as skilled worker visas for doctors?

I may have said this once or twice previously, the way to counter Reform is on their *weak* issues. People are still struggling with crap public services and high inflation. This is supposed to be Labour's strength, show what you are doing about it.

"Tony Blair and Donald Trump are on the post-war Transition Team for the Palestinian Authority", now invent a time machine, travel back to 2004, say that, and get yourself sectioned.

The US wine industry today employs more people than coal did at its peak a century ago

By going after Labour>Reform voters, Labour is essentially trying to 'unwind the realignment' - arguably a much harder task, and win voters lost over many elections. True even of Labour's voters in Leave voting constituencies. But Labour IS losing more voters on the left and to undecided.

Exactly. The panic about ID cards is a bit absurd, IMO. I'm fed up with hunting for utility bills etc etc (every site needs different forms of ID). At a time when we are being held to ransom by cyber-criminals, a simple form of ID would be good news (and most of the public want it).

In honour of the taskforce recommending a “new” town on the outskirts of Bristol (South Gloucestershire), I’m reposting my piece: Bristol should be a city of a million people acjsissons.medium.com/bristol-shou...

Nathan Gill, Reform's leader in Wales at the last Welsh parliament election, has pled guilty to 8 bribery charges, taking Russian cash while he was one of Nigel Farage’s MEPs to speak in favour of Putin's Russia in that parliament www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Very sad to hear of Ming's death - he was such wonderful company, mordantly cynical at times, and with a sensationally dapper wardrobe - he and Elspeth were a very glamorous pair - and it's quite a life story www.ft.com/content/891e...

“He prefers to be elected on our ideas, rather than fight for his own. In general, people prefer the original to the copy."* *Jean-Marie Le Pen, 1990 re. former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

I wonder why they think that? Is it perhaps because literally no media or politician tells them it’s not true? And bangs on about illegal migration as if it were true? Who knew words had consequences?

This other foreigner is equally perplexed.

Some great ‘Debunks’ for arguments against universal Id One I’d add is that currently an ID is required in many situations but there is no universal free one- you pay for the most common forms such as drivers license and passport. So frankly it’s an equalising policy

Omg please do not call it that 🙈 Is this an effort to make it sound good to Reform voters?

This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how Putin and Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

My old research group at UvA is hiring an assistant professor to replace me. Do get in touch if you want to know what a fabulous place it is to work. And female colleagues, I especially encourage you to apply!

How is this not a bigger scandal?! There is no way we should rely on charity to provide this necessary equipment to disabled children!!! We’re still one of the richest countries in the world- absolutely beggars belief?! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

We're looking forward to putting together a *fantastic* Electoral and Voting Behaviour section for the @epssnet.bsky.social 2026 meeting in Belfast! ‼️ Make sure to submit your papers by 7 November 2025!

I’d encourage all @psaepop.bsky.social members to apply!

📢 Call for Papers for EPSS 2026 conference in Belfast is out: epssnet.org/belfast-2026... We'll feature two sections each Tuesday & Thursday to provide more information about the conference. 🔝 This Tuesday: Party Politics & Historical Political Economy

A beautiful piece from @manchestermill.bsky.social

Very interesting!