Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum) header
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if anyone's following all this - sorry, pretty random stuff, no grand plan

The Blue Dot
Joined February 2009
Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)Photo by Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 (@michaelbartrum)
Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
British Gas resumes force-fitting prepay meters months after £112m settlement. With escalating energy, rents and food bills; more people will struggle to heat or eat. More pressure on GPs, hospitals, public services. Squalor is a political choice. theguardian.com/money/2026/n…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
Perhaps the most heartless BBC interruption in this compilation is this one: Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam Policy Lead for Palestine, explains how his family in Gaza have never been allowed to leave Gaza, and how Israel is besieging the Strip and causing mass displacement. The BBC: "I'm sorry this is obviously very personal, difficult situation for you and your family, and as you would understand as well, Israel would say well, they can't live next door to Hamas." There is nothing journalistic about this. There is no world where that is a rational, humane response. The presenters and journalists at the BBC are reading off a strict script where they have to staunchly defend the apartheid entity at all costs. They have weaponised the term "impartiality", which is what they cite when they launder propaganda. But as we've proven, this "impartiality" has only worked one way. They interject much less when they platform genocide deniers, and have never volunteered the other things that "Israel says", such as the genocidal statements from Netanyahu, Gallant, Katz, Smotrich and Herzog.
It’s hard to grasp the BBC’s systematic attempt to launder Israeli propaganda until you see the sheer scale of it. Here's a compilation of them doing it at 2x speed. The latest was on Newsnight on 4 November. When Bernie Sanders called Israel’s government extremist, Victoria Derbyshire answered for it: “And the Israeli government would deny that they are extremists.” As this video shows, BBC presenters repeatedly do this as guests describe Israel’s crimes: “Israel would say.” “Israel would deny.” “They would reject that.” We counted 70 of these denials and justifications in 52 aired interviews. The BBC calls this impartiality. But in not one of those 52 did a presenter raise any of these words from Israel’s own leaders: - “We are fighting human animals.” Yoav Gallant, 9 October 2023 - “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible.” Isaac Herzog, 12 October 2023 - “They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world.” Israel Katz, 13 October 2023 - “Remember what Amalek did to you.” Benjamin Netanyahu, 3 November 2023 - Starving two million people in Gaza until the hostages came back might be “justified and moral”. Bezalel Smotrich, 5 August 2024 On 10 October 2023, Tahani Mustafa told the BBC that Israeli forces were not distinguishing civilians from fighters. The presenter replied: “They would reject that.” Mustafa then had to bring up Gallant’s “human animals” herself. The BBC supplied the denial. The guest had to supply Israel’s own words. That is cherry-picking. The Royal Charter requires the BBC to be impartial, and the public pays for it through the licence fee. In these interviews, it handed its audience Israel’s denials and left out its leaders’ own words, during a genocide streamed live to the world. We have archived the BBC’s coverage for three years, and we are now counting all of it: 50,000 video clips and many more written excerpts. We are calling this first part: "BBC: The Would Say Files". Handing Israel its denials is only one of the ways the BBC launders Israeli propaganda, so we will count every other technique too. Over the next few weeks, we will announce each milestone as we complete the report. These are the first results, with every clip, quote and source: newscord.org/editorials/bbc-…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
The price of your @sainsburys shop: 📸 Your face scanned 🔓 Your privacy invaded ⚖️Your freedoms limited Orwellian live facial recognition cameras in Sainsbury's shops are treating millions of innocent customers like criminals. #StopSainsburysSpying⤵️ bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campa…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
Poundland's private equity owners extracted £18.3m in 17 months, bought for £1. £8.6m interest, £3.8m store closure fees, £2.6m debt arrangement plus other fees. PE has £22.5m secured loan, will get paid first. HMRC owed £97m. Trade creditors owed £127m. news.sky.com/story/revealed-…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
This is so strong and clear. You can't help but notice that if this was in the UK context - you wouldn't be able to get a single one of these sentences out without a journalist barracking the person saying it constantly. The UK media is in quite a state.
I've been in politics for a quarter century. It's hard to express how staggering it is to see a conversation like this on corporate US media. The Morning Joe panel gobsmacked by the directness of @AbdulElSayed's points. (clip via @DropSiteNews)
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
Did Palestine Action go too far? Ammori doesn’t accept the idea. She recalls the horror of following the war on Gaza, in which at least 70,000 Palestinians were killed, among them 21 members of the family of a friend of hers. observer.co.uk/news/observer…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
'FACIAL' RECOGNITION: UK GOVERNMENT WANTS YOUR PHONE TO SPY ON HOMEBREW PORN It's to stop children doing anything stupid of course, but to achieve it they want to Digital ID everybody who takes or shares a saucy picture on their phone. observer.co.uk/news/national…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
🚓 Speech policing is out of control in Britain. A staggering 62,000 people were arrested in the UK for ‘communications offences’ over five years. Subscribe to take action on free speech ⤵️ bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/subsc…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
The UK Government, in the person of culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP, is reportedly planning to expand its social media ban for under-16s to cover online marketplaces e.g. eBay, Vinted, Depop thetimes.com/uk/technology-u… (£) #OnlineSafetyAct #socialmediaban #techpolicy #childrights
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
The UK wants to control the entire American Internet, not just social media. This is absurd.
The UK Government, in the person of culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP, is reportedly planning to expand its social media ban for under-16s to cover online marketplaces e.g. eBay, Vinted, Depop thetimes.com/uk/technology-u… (£) #OnlineSafetyAct #socialmediaban #techpolicy #childrights
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
It’s hard to overstate just how factionalized the West Wing is right now, filled with the tension, infighting and the "knives out” atmosphere of President Trump's first term. Our latest reporting tonight:
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
David Glosser, Stephen Miller's uncle, told CNN his nephew is an "immigration hypocrite": Our family history is entirely dependent on our ability to escape a terrible situation in Belarus. Had we not been able to enter America when we did, Stephen Miller would not exist. Everybody else who didn't make it to America ended up dying in the Holocaust.
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
Labour MPs regret voting for Palestine Action ban that led to 4,000 arrests in a year Backbenchers say the right to protest has been harmed since they were ‘pressured’ into proscribing the organisation as a terror group observer.co.uk/news/politics…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
Happy Birthday to the brilliant English singer-songwriter and musician Roy Wood who was born on this day in 1946. #RoyWood #TheMove #Wizzard #ElectricLightOrchestra #IWishItCouldBeChristmasEveryDay #SeeMyBabyJive #FlowersInTheRain #FireBrigade #BlackberryWay #AngelFingers
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
The Four Horsemen of the Modern Apocalypse. What are the biggest threats preventing us from building the society we actually need? youtu.be/q0-B2m46RUA?si=W4PC…
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
Happy Birthday to the great Scottish actress Lindsay Duncan who was born on this day in 1950. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #LindsayDuncan #TheRSC #GBH #ShootingThePast #PergectStrangers #TheMysteryOfTheBlueTrain #AMidsummerNightsDream #PrickUpYourEars #AfterLife #Birdman #GrownUps #AYearInProvence
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
🎧 Kate Nash resgata a história de amor dos avós no single “Christmas Eve”. 🔗 tecoapple.com/2026/11/06/kat…
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Remembering the late Actress, Liz Dawn (8 November 1939 – 25 September 2017)
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Michael Bartrum 🌍🤓 retweeted
COULD BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES OVER GAZA? It's a question with potentially enormous implications for British politics and international law. In this striking extract from Britain Palestine projects latest podcast episode award-winning journalist Peter Oborne discusses the possibility of legal action against senior British political figures over their role in Britain's response to the destruction of Gaza. Peter suggests that, should the International Court of Justice (ICJ) find that genocide has taken place, there could be moves to pursue allegations of aiding and abetting genocide against former and current British leaders. He specifically names David Cameron, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. Referring to the International Criminal Court Act 2001, Peter explores the possibility of criminal accountability and the political and legal obstacles that such proceedings could face. These are Peter's assessments of potential future legal action, not findings of criminal responsibility or confirmation that charges will be brought. The wider question is one of accountability. If international law is to mean anything, should political leaders face scrutiny over decisions that may contribute to serious violations? Watch Peter Oborne explain his concerns. Listen to the full episode, Reporting from Palestine: Peter Oborne on Jerusalem, the West Bank and Britain's Responsibility, available now. #BritainPalestineProject #PeterOborne #Gaza #InternationalLaw #ICJ #ICC #UKPolitics #Accountability #BritainAndPalestine #HumanRights #ReportingFromPalestine
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