New Swingometer! The Gorton and Denton By-election: A tale of Two Manchesters open.substack.com/pub/swingome...

#Labour #KeirStarmer

All those doom and gloom merchants should listen to this interview with Keir Starmer. He’s human, he’s normal, and he’s making progress… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

44% of the population of Denton and Gorton are ethnic minority, the majority of them born in the UK. Reform's candidate says those people aren't British and are liable for deportation. It's a bold electoral strategy: vote for me and I'll throw you into the sea. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Don’t always believe what The Man From the Beeb asserts about this Storm in a ☕️ Well said @sturdyalex.bsky.social

Whatever you think of communism, the October Revolution was a momentous event that shook the world. It initiated a new era for mankind – of struggle for freedom, equality and social justice, especially the movement for national liberation in colonial countries around the world, including Vietnam🇻🇳

How close we come, in every UK election, to jettisoning our rights, privileges, and freedoms – which have taken so long to win in the first place…

Trump is still preposterous. He is still callous. And he is just as vain and attention seeking as ever. Above all, his version of how the world works is utterly wrong. @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

Making me homesick www.instagram.com/reel/DE0EjXU...

Bleakly beautiful

Always a sorrowful sight in Hanoi – a child’s solitary shoe…

Anthony Powell’s mesmerising series-saga, A Dance to the Music of Time is the English response to Proust. As soon as I read the description of Widmerpool – “so wet you could shoot snipe off him”, I was hooked and netted. Essential reading, too, if you want insights into the decline of empire

Would you like me to recommend more books? I have many to choose from ☺️📚📚📚🥰

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 📚 #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge BONUS BOOK 21 ☺️📚

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 📚 #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 20

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. 📚 #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 19

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 18

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 17

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 16 A trilogy…

#hanoi #thebigchurch

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 15

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 14

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 13

Hundreds of public libraries have been closed. The cause? Tory austerity policies since 2010, which squeezed local council funding. Turning the clock back 14 years is nigh on impossible…so what can be done? We have food kitchens. Maybe book kitchens are the only answer (but short term, I hope).

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 12

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 11

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 10

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 9

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 8

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 7

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 6

Rooftop gardens in Đống Đa, Hà Nội

I was planning to go to the big Lotte Center in Hanoi to buy some essentials that only they stock - then the poet laureate reminded me it was Black Friday - so I gave the shops a wide berth

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 5

"If the fight for trust is 'the battle that defines our age', as the Prime Minister has said, it is a battle Westminster is losing." ✍️ APPG Chair @alexsobel.co.uk sets out our three recommendations to restore trust in politics, by tackling: 🗳️ First Past the Post 💷 Dark money 📰 Disinformation

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 4

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 3

The elegant Cuban embassy in Hanoi - classic colonial architecture

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 2

A possible ban on social media for under-16s in the UK is "on the table", the technology secretary Peter Kyle has told the BBC. Speaking on the Today programme, on BBC Radio 4, he said he would "do what it takes" to keep people and in particular children safe online.

#COP29… “We've just walked out,” says Cedric Schuster, the Samoan chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which represents areas potentially most vulnerable to climate change. “We came here to this COP for a fair deal,” he says, “we feel that we haven't been heard”.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky #Books #BookChallenge #20daybookchallenge DAY 1

The message - “Throw away trash on time and in the right place” - is regularly delivered in Hanoi, and mostly ignored.

While I wheel around in Bluesky, finding my feet (or wings), I’m going to post pictures and comments on my life in Hanoi…

Migrated from the other place - is the atmosphere more congenial and the social ambience, well, simply friendly?