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David Rochester

@dgr70

We live under a 3km blanket - paper thin - that makes Planet Earth 🌍🌎 uniquely friendly to life and protects us from the unimaginable horribleness of space. So we would look after that blanket like our lives depend on it. Wouldn't we? πŸ’™πŸ’› πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦πŸ‡¬πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡¬πŸ‡±

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01.01.2024
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Latest posts by David Rochester @dgr70

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Why would the people of Durham not vote Reform - what's not to like about increasing council tax, cutting Β£12.9m from services, having a Deputy Leader who posts AI lies or a Leader who ran two companies that went bust owing more than Β£500k in tax?

07.03.2026 08:35 πŸ‘ 508 πŸ” 123 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 3
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No ships at all going through the Strait of Hormuz

06.03.2026 13:14 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3

Anyway, here we have it black and white that because U.K. has a less significant currency, it needs to pay a much higher interest ras than France and Italy.

Should we be in the €-zone, we can save Β£30 billion per year on the interest payments on our Β£2.9 trillion debt.

06.03.2026 11:37 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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NEW ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 2.4% in 2025 as coal fell to a 400-year low. Incredibly, we used less coal last year than than in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet.

All the details in our article: www.carbonbrief.org/...

05.03.2026 18:05 πŸ‘ 913 πŸ” 395 πŸ’¬ 23 πŸ“Œ 29
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EU UK Reset Efforts Urged to Accelerate in 2026 MEPs call for EU UK reset efforts to be decisively accelerated in 2026 as Brexit marks ten years and geopolitical pressures reshape European priorities.

"Brexit meant Brexit, but 10 years is a long time in politics and the geopolitical landscape has changed beyond recognition. It is time for the UK Government to recognise that the EU is its closest ally and its strongest partner. Progress has been too slow. The EU–UK reset must now be supercharged.”

05.03.2026 02:48 πŸ‘ 100 πŸ” 41 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 1
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FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

05.03.2026 07:15 πŸ‘ 17133 πŸ” 5975 πŸ’¬ 514 πŸ“Œ 493
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BREAKING - Rachel Reeves on the need for closer relations with the EU πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί

"To go further in strengthening our global relationships, breaking down trade barriers and deepening alliances with our European partners for a more secured and connected economy.

03.03.2026 13:07 πŸ‘ 182 πŸ” 28 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 4
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Fantastic news, and will revolutionise European travel.

02.03.2026 22:14 πŸ‘ 41 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2

Green MP Ellie Chowns on the elections bill last night: "It is really quite extraordinary that the Thailand-based crypto investor Christopher Harborne has been allowed to donate Β£9 million to Reform UK. I notice that its Members are still not here" (2/3rds of the way into the debate)

03.03.2026 10:33 πŸ‘ 717 πŸ” 272 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 6
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"The trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics when moving to Dubai."

02.03.2026 15:19 πŸ‘ 4039 πŸ” 669 πŸ’¬ 221 πŸ“Œ 559

A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown,
Whose compass is no bigger than thy head,
And yet, incaged in so small a verge,
The waste is no whit lesser than thy land.

02.03.2026 16:52 πŸ‘ 277 πŸ” 70 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 3

Really concerned to hear the Defence Secretary refuse to rule out UK's involvement in future strikes on Iran.

Iraq lessons must be learned.
Further escalation in the Middle East makes us all less safe.

Starmer must rule out UK involvement immediately.

01.03.2026 09:46 πŸ‘ 2164 πŸ” 426 πŸ’¬ 81 πŸ“Œ 24
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01.03.2026 12:02 πŸ‘ 157 πŸ” 56 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 8

There's a lot going on on this front page, most of it disgraceful.

I am assuming that the answer to the question in purple font is "Stop reading The Daily Mail"?

28.02.2026 17:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

For all its efforts, and all its dishonesty, the media could not prevent the Greens succeeding in Gorton & Denton. The revealed impotence of the media might be the most important consequence of the by-election.

28.02.2026 15:23 πŸ‘ 721 πŸ” 118 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 4
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Biden on Trump's SOTU speech: The guy talked for almost 2 hours, but never mentioned the anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Not once. I’ve spent a lot of time in Ukraine. The incredible bravery of those people. Imagine how they feel, wondering,

28.02.2026 17:03 πŸ‘ 304 πŸ” 59 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 1

Could a journalist ask her to explain her reasoning behind "plain wrong"?

28.02.2026 11:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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There is always a tweet.

28.02.2026 08:22 πŸ‘ 2522 πŸ” 930 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 40

Reform asked voters of Gorton and Denton to 'channel their patriotic Blitz spirit'

And they did just that - by defeating fascists.

27.02.2026 09:51 πŸ‘ 214 πŸ” 73 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2

Thank god. A great win for Hannah Spencer and the Greens, for #GortonAndDenton and for progressive voters. Made even greater by the huge Reform sulk. And the fact that the hateful Goodwin got whooped.
Now Labour, look to your left because you will not win from the right. We’re sick of that failure.

27.02.2026 06:58 πŸ‘ 1811 πŸ” 360 πŸ’¬ 68 πŸ“Œ 14
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This from @adilray.bsky.social made me cry ❀️

27.02.2026 09:27 πŸ‘ 99 πŸ” 27 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2

It’s a running joke in academia that Matt Goodwin is bad at maths.

This sort of thing is why: the combined Labour/Green vote could have split in any way possible and Goodwin would have finished 2nd or 3rd. He did not lose because progressives coordinated. He lost *in spite of them not doing so*.

27.02.2026 09:26 πŸ‘ 900 πŸ” 245 πŸ’¬ 33 πŸ“Œ 7
Kevin Nguyen
@knguyen
...
Tried to add "12 Years a Slave" to Google Calendar and it created a 12-year-long event called "a Slave"
β€’ a Slave
Tue, February 25, 8pm - Wed, February 25, 2026, 8pm
Delete
Edit event Β»
5:27 PM β€’ Feb 23, 2014

Kevin Nguyen @knguyen ... Tried to add "12 Years a Slave" to Google Calendar and it created a 12-year-long event called "a Slave" β€’ a Slave Tue, February 25, 8pm - Wed, February 25, 2026, 8pm Delete Edit event Β» 5:27 PM β€’ Feb 23, 2014

It’s finally over

26.02.2026 02:09 πŸ‘ 5062 πŸ” 835 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 21
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Reform UK plans to scrap Renters' Rights Act spark fury Reform UK has pledged to scrap the Renters' Rights Act if the party secures power. It has angered renters waiting for no-fault eviction ban.

Reform plans to rip up Renters’ Rights Act after tenants wait years for no-fault evictions ban

26.02.2026 10:56 πŸ‘ 52 πŸ” 38 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

If Manchester elects Matt Goodwin an MP I don't think we should ever let them live it down

26.02.2026 08:50 πŸ‘ 255 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 22 πŸ“Œ 12

Great to see the Conservatives wanting to reform student loans. Would like to see an account for Osborne replacing maintenance grants with loans in 2015. This has left poorer students with bigger debts vs richer ones for a whole decade, compounding inequality between rich and poor. It’s scandalous.

26.02.2026 09:04 πŸ‘ 995 πŸ” 250 πŸ’¬ 54 πŸ“Œ 25

Better still, grow up and rejoin.

26.02.2026 08:33 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
Starmer's Brexit reset must go even further, says European Parliament president. The Telegraph, 24 February.

Starmer's Brexit reset must go even further, says European Parliament president. The Telegraph, 24 February.

Europe wants us back in - it's time to listen, and repair our relationship with them to regain our place at the heart of the continent.

25.02.2026 13:38 πŸ‘ 70 πŸ” 23 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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If we wake up on Friday to a by-election result like this, and particularly if a Labour-Green split means Reform win, then you'd wonder if the PR supporters within Labour might start wondering very hard about pushing for electoral reform in this parliament.

25.02.2026 11:22 πŸ‘ 141 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 20 πŸ“Œ 14
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Zelenskyy on the streets of Kyiv

Have you ever seen Putin walking the streets of Moscow and people greeting him like this?

This is exactly why Ukraine will win and Russia will lose.

#UkraineWillWin #Ukraine #Zelensky

24.02.2025 06:39 πŸ‘ 102 πŸ” 36 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3