Tony Bird
@tonybirdlondon.bsky.social
🏳️🌈 🇪🇺 💚 Sequin socialist. HIV+ he/him
✊ 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🏳️⚧️
✊ 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🏳️⚧️
Pinned
Tony Bird
@tonybirdlondon.bsky.social
· Nov 20
Thirty years since my HIV diagnosis today.
Thirty years since I was rushed to hospital weighing seven and half stone (48 kilos) and told I had an AIDS defining illness and six months to live.
I was 28.
It's been a bloody long six months
Thirty years since I was rushed to hospital weighing seven and half stone (48 kilos) and told I had an AIDS defining illness and six months to live.
I was 28.
It's been a bloody long six months
Reposted by Tony Bird
The Labour Party’s women’s conference on 26/9/26 was an embarrassing farce, with only 200 delegates of the 1,000 normal attendance (no major unions) in protest of the Labour Party’s shameful abandonment of trans people following the legally absurd ruling of the Supreme Court in FWS in April 2025.
September 26, 2026 at 11:20 PM
The Labour Party’s women’s conference on 26/9/26 was an embarrassing farce, with only 200 delegates of the 1,000 normal attendance (no major unions) in protest of the Labour Party’s shameful abandonment of trans people following the legally absurd ruling of the Supreme Court in FWS in April 2025.
I love living next to an e-bike parking space.
There's the drunk person who knocks them all over like dominos every night. And then there's the truck that arrives at 2am to noisily change the batteries
There's the drunk person who knocks them all over like dominos every night. And then there's the truck that arrives at 2am to noisily change the batteries
September 26, 2026 at 10:02 PM
I love living next to an e-bike parking space.
There's the drunk person who knocks them all over like dominos every night. And then there's the truck that arrives at 2am to noisily change the batteries
There's the drunk person who knocks them all over like dominos every night. And then there's the truck that arrives at 2am to noisily change the batteries
Reposted by Tony Bird
Labour's immigration/asylum policies are profoundly racist and xenophobic. They embolden far right, undermine international law and violate basic human rights, while being even more hostile than the previous government. They can't be tweaked. They need to be scrapped.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Angela Rayner criticises worker visa plans on eve of Labour conference
The housing secretary says the government's plans to change wait times for permanent residency are unfair because they "change the goalposts".
www.bbc.co.uk
September 26, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Labour's immigration/asylum policies are profoundly racist and xenophobic. They embolden far right, undermine international law and violate basic human rights, while being even more hostile than the previous government. They can't be tweaked. They need to be scrapped.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Tony Bird
Well, you've been progressively arresting pensioners, progressively demonising trans people, progressively allowing US bombers to engage in illegal war.
I guess I'm just not your kind of progressive though
I guess I'm just not your kind of progressive though
Labour must reunite progressive voters to win the next election, says Lucy Powell
Labour must reunite progressive voters to win the next election, says Lucy Powell
The deputy leader wants the party to take advantage of a split on the right and not be embarrassed to show its values
Labour must “reunite the progressive voter coalition” if it is to take advantage of a split on the right and win the next election, the party’s deputy leader has said.
Lucy Powell, who won the race to be deputy leader 12 months ago with a warning that Labour was losing the fight to be heard as Reform UK surged, said the government now had a second chance under Andy Burnham. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 26, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Well, you've been progressively arresting pensioners, progressively demonising trans people, progressively allowing US bombers to engage in illegal war.
I guess I'm just not your kind of progressive though
I guess I'm just not your kind of progressive though
Reposted by Tony Bird
Pandering to racists in her position of high office is structural racism and therefore I am comfortable in calling her racist.
Mahmood's rationale remains the same.
Fewer (legal, working) migrants => less racism
Nothing to do with integration. No evidence.
I'd add this *doesn't* show she hates immigrants (FTAOD don't think she does).
It shows her contempt/distrust/fear of ordinary Brits.
Fewer (legal, working) migrants => less racism
Nothing to do with integration. No evidence.
I'd add this *doesn't* show she hates immigrants (FTAOD don't think she does).
It shows her contempt/distrust/fear of ordinary Brits.
An exchange with Lewis Atkinson MP over whether the anxieties of those who don't know what rules/timelines they will face is bad for integration. The Home Secretary does not think so, on the grounds that the numbers of people who came in (and who are in that position) was high ...
September 26, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Pandering to racists in her position of high office is structural racism and therefore I am comfortable in calling her racist.
Reposted by Tony Bird
🔴 BREAKING: BP, Uber, Amazon and more paying Tony Blair's think tank $25,000 for “networking” opportunities with politicians and policy makers at party conferences
Experts say "looks and smells like cash for access"
Full story on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
Experts say "looks and smells like cash for access"
Full story on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
BREAKING: Tony Blair Institute’s $25,000 corporate network “smells like cash for access”
Exclusive documents show Tony Blair's think tank offers corporate members such as BP and Uber "networking" at party conferences and "a stronger voice" in policy debates.
democracyforsale.substack.com
September 25, 2026 at 6:10 PM
🔴 BREAKING: BP, Uber, Amazon and more paying Tony Blair's think tank $25,000 for “networking” opportunities with politicians and policy makers at party conferences
Experts say "looks and smells like cash for access"
Full story on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
Experts say "looks and smells like cash for access"
Full story on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-t...
Reposted by Tony Bird
Who benefits from privatisation? DEFINITELY NOT YOU
Private shareholders have made a killing from our public services since privatisation. Andy Burnham is right: Britain took a wrong turn in the 1980s
Our new report explains how Andy Burnham can deliver public ownership: vist.ly/5jvjg
Private shareholders have made a killing from our public services since privatisation. Andy Burnham is right: Britain took a wrong turn in the 1980s
Our new report explains how Andy Burnham can deliver public ownership: vist.ly/5jvjg
September 25, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Who benefits from privatisation? DEFINITELY NOT YOU
Private shareholders have made a killing from our public services since privatisation. Andy Burnham is right: Britain took a wrong turn in the 1980s
Our new report explains how Andy Burnham can deliver public ownership: vist.ly/5jvjg
Private shareholders have made a killing from our public services since privatisation. Andy Burnham is right: Britain took a wrong turn in the 1980s
Our new report explains how Andy Burnham can deliver public ownership: vist.ly/5jvjg
Reposted by Tony Bird
'vote labour or else you get reform!'
buddy @lucympowell.bsky.social and co have replaced my healthcare with conversion, reintroduced section 28, stripped me of my civil rights, segregated me out of public life and regularly smear me as a man and a rapist
im already surviving fascism. can you?
buddy @lucympowell.bsky.social and co have replaced my healthcare with conversion, reintroduced section 28, stripped me of my civil rights, segregated me out of public life and regularly smear me as a man and a rapist
im already surviving fascism. can you?
September 25, 2026 at 12:19 PM
'vote labour or else you get reform!'
buddy @lucympowell.bsky.social and co have replaced my healthcare with conversion, reintroduced section 28, stripped me of my civil rights, segregated me out of public life and regularly smear me as a man and a rapist
im already surviving fascism. can you?
buddy @lucympowell.bsky.social and co have replaced my healthcare with conversion, reintroduced section 28, stripped me of my civil rights, segregated me out of public life and regularly smear me as a man and a rapist
im already surviving fascism. can you?
Reposted by Tony Bird
REVEALED: New rules for rent tribunals introduced by the Renters Rights Act are actually increasing rents at a faster rate than the national average, despite claims from Housing Secretary Angela Rayner that they would bring rents down...
September 25, 2026 at 9:58 AM
REVEALED: New rules for rent tribunals introduced by the Renters Rights Act are actually increasing rents at a faster rate than the national average, despite claims from Housing Secretary Angela Rayner that they would bring rents down...
Reposted by Tony Bird
“how can I believe what you say when, I see what you do?” - James Baldwin.
September 25, 2026 at 7:53 AM
“how can I believe what you say when, I see what you do?” - James Baldwin.
Reposted by Tony Bird
The youngest person his pager attack killed was 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah, who had just started 4th grade. The pager was on a table when it went off and she picked it up to take to her dad. It exploded in her face and reports said it covered the room in her blood. She wanted to learn English.
September 24, 2026 at 6:38 PM
The youngest person his pager attack killed was 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah, who had just started 4th grade. The pager was on a table when it went off and she picked it up to take to her dad. It exploded in her face and reports said it covered the room in her blood. She wanted to learn English.
So much this.
I just want to read my damn PDF - I don't need AI to do it.
And it would easier if AI offers of 'help' didn't take up half my phone screen
I just want to read my damn PDF - I don't need AI to do it.
And it would easier if AI offers of 'help' didn't take up half my phone screen
If AI is actually good and useful then why do I need a pop-up in every goddamn app and program asking me if I want to use it every 5 seconds?!!!
September 24, 2026 at 8:49 PM
So much this.
I just want to read my damn PDF - I don't need AI to do it.
And it would easier if AI offers of 'help' didn't take up half my phone screen
I just want to read my damn PDF - I don't need AI to do it.
And it would easier if AI offers of 'help' didn't take up half my phone screen
Reposted by Tony Bird
I have a Bluesky Book Club.
Right now, we're discussing, quite passionately, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler. It's lively!
We meet each month in a Bluesky DM Group.
We've picked the next few books, so check it out & let me know if you'd like to join in
www.biggreenbookshop.com/bluesky-book...
Right now, we're discussing, quite passionately, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler. It's lively!
We meet each month in a Bluesky DM Group.
We've picked the next few books, so check it out & let me know if you'd like to join in
www.biggreenbookshop.com/bluesky-book...
September 24, 2026 at 8:01 PM
I have a Bluesky Book Club.
Right now, we're discussing, quite passionately, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler. It's lively!
We meet each month in a Bluesky DM Group.
We've picked the next few books, so check it out & let me know if you'd like to join in
www.biggreenbookshop.com/bluesky-book...
Right now, we're discussing, quite passionately, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler. It's lively!
We meet each month in a Bluesky DM Group.
We've picked the next few books, so check it out & let me know if you'd like to join in
www.biggreenbookshop.com/bluesky-book...
Reposted by Tony Bird
Note how there is no (0) person, whether politician or activist, quoted in this piece who‘s in favour of more liberal asylum policies, and as for quoting any actual refugees, their function is to be the silent object of other people’s violent imaginings, not to have a voice or personhood
Most migrant small boat arrivals in single day of 2026
A total of 781 migrants arrive on Wednesday, but the yearly total is below the same point in 2025.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 24, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Note how there is no (0) person, whether politician or activist, quoted in this piece who‘s in favour of more liberal asylum policies, and as for quoting any actual refugees, their function is to be the silent object of other people’s violent imaginings, not to have a voice or personhood
I’d really like to see a UK version of this.
Apart from higher income tax I suspect it’s not much different
Apart from higher income tax I suspect it’s not much different
Effective 2025 federal tax rates paid by these corporations:
Alphabet: 8.01%
AT&T: 4.6%
Meta: 3.57%
General Motors: 3.09%
Amazon: 1.37%
Exxon Mobil: 1.31%
Disney: -1.57%
CVS Health: -3.88%
Income tax rate paid by the typical American: 14.5%
This is what a rigged system looks like.
Alphabet: 8.01%
AT&T: 4.6%
Meta: 3.57%
General Motors: 3.09%
Amazon: 1.37%
Exxon Mobil: 1.31%
Disney: -1.57%
CVS Health: -3.88%
Income tax rate paid by the typical American: 14.5%
This is what a rigged system looks like.
September 24, 2026 at 6:59 PM
I’d really like to see a UK version of this.
Apart from higher income tax I suspect it’s not much different
Apart from higher income tax I suspect it’s not much different
Reposted by Tony Bird
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is unlawfully denied an entry visa to the US, while the wanted war criminal, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is now in New York speaking at the UN General Assembly. What a world
September 24, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is unlawfully denied an entry visa to the US, while the wanted war criminal, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is now in New York speaking at the UN General Assembly. What a world
Reposted by Tony Bird
You know that saying about how the way they treat asylum seekers is the way they’d treat everyone else if they thought they could get away with it? Well,
September 24, 2026 at 1:19 PM
You know that saying about how the way they treat asylum seekers is the way they’d treat everyone else if they thought they could get away with it? Well,
Reposted by Tony Bird
The Knesset barred today the only two Palestinian led parties from running in the coming election.
According to an overwhelming majority in the Knesset, the constitutional meaning of a Jewish State is a state where Palestinian citizens cannot run for parliament.
According to an overwhelming majority in the Knesset, the constitutional meaning of a Jewish State is a state where Palestinian citizens cannot run for parliament.
September 23, 2026 at 5:43 PM
The Knesset barred today the only two Palestinian led parties from running in the coming election.
According to an overwhelming majority in the Knesset, the constitutional meaning of a Jewish State is a state where Palestinian citizens cannot run for parliament.
According to an overwhelming majority in the Knesset, the constitutional meaning of a Jewish State is a state where Palestinian citizens cannot run for parliament.
Reposted by Tony Bird
Andy Burnham had said more about PUBS and DRINKING than he has about racist pogroms and transphobia combined
And yet, discriminating against Trans People isn't? Yeesh, @andyburnham.bsky.social, poor show.
September 24, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Andy Burnham had said more about PUBS and DRINKING than he has about racist pogroms and transphobia combined
Reposted by Tony Bird
Here's Rupert Lowe MP's payments from X Corp over the past year. This man is making serious cash from Musk's platform.
Payments surged over the summer, during UK 'unrest', and when Musk was frantically re-sharing Lowe's posts...
Bleak, lucrative work if you can get it.
Payments surged over the summer, during UK 'unrest', and when Musk was frantically re-sharing Lowe's posts...
Bleak, lucrative work if you can get it.
September 24, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Here's Rupert Lowe MP's payments from X Corp over the past year. This man is making serious cash from Musk's platform.
Payments surged over the summer, during UK 'unrest', and when Musk was frantically re-sharing Lowe's posts...
Bleak, lucrative work if you can get it.
Payments surged over the summer, during UK 'unrest', and when Musk was frantically re-sharing Lowe's posts...
Bleak, lucrative work if you can get it.
Reposted by Tony Bird
#TBT to this from 2012 in honour of Michael Gove starring as an invasion-battling leader in Sky's new show The Wargame. If you don't know what or who this comic is about... just count yourself lucky and scroll on, no worries.
![[Opening scene is WESTMINSTER, LONDON. Over Downing Street a huge ALIEN SPACECRAFT hovers, silent, still, filling the whole sky a la Independence Day].
[Cut to INSIDE 10 DOWNING STREET. The (then) prime Minister DAVID CAMERON is looking out of his office window at the ship.]
VOICE FROM OFF-SCENE, BEHIND CAMERON:
Prime Minister…
CAMERON [addressing the person behind him, still keeping his eyes fixed ahead in dread at the spaceship]:
Yes?
[We see the speaker is MICHAEL GOVE, then Education Secretary]:
GOVE:
Let me do it.
CAMERON:
For God's sake, Michael, you're the Education Secretary! You've never flown a fighter plane in your life!
GOVE:
But I know I could do it, David. I could fly a fighter plane into the big space- ship...
...and shoot all the aliens.
CAMERON:
But you have no military training!
GOVE:
David
I haven't told you this, but...
I used to be a journalist. For The Times.
[Cameron reacts, turning to look at Gove with awe and respect, as if only now truly seeing him for the first time].
GOVE:
I wrote two articles about planes, David.
I've got strong opinions about aliens.
I know I can do this job.
[Cut to a title card panel]:
AND SO:
[Then cut again to Cameron on the roof of Number 10, watching a Michael Gove pilot a fighter jet up towards the spacecraft, and then completely miss it, careering towards Earth, as Cameron buries his face in his hands].
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreictdw36myuavccr5oqqgsfb2jzkicnjrxhcexhned7ux7ws6oq5ny)
September 24, 2026 at 10:17 AM
#TBT to this from 2012 in honour of Michael Gove starring as an invasion-battling leader in Sky's new show The Wargame. If you don't know what or who this comic is about... just count yourself lucky and scroll on, no worries.
Reposted by Tony Bird
Latest news from the only democracy in the Middle East.
September 24, 2026 at 7:26 AM
Latest news from the only democracy in the Middle East.
Reposted by Tony Bird
The Labour candidate didn't turn up to a constituency hustings arranged by the Camden Muslim Network
In contrast, Zack did
He knows how important it is to listen to the concerns of Londoners when marginalised people are being targeted by this Labour government
In contrast, Zack did
He knows how important it is to listen to the concerns of Londoners when marginalised people are being targeted by this Labour government
September 23, 2026 at 10:12 PM
The Labour candidate didn't turn up to a constituency hustings arranged by the Camden Muslim Network
In contrast, Zack did
He knows how important it is to listen to the concerns of Londoners when marginalised people are being targeted by this Labour government
In contrast, Zack did
He knows how important it is to listen to the concerns of Londoners when marginalised people are being targeted by this Labour government
Reposted by Tony Bird
Zoë Garbett, the Green Mayor of Hackney, joins Zack Polanski in Kentish Town for a chat about the campaign so far.
September 23, 2026 at 3:16 PM
Zoë Garbett, the Green Mayor of Hackney, joins Zack Polanski in Kentish Town for a chat about the campaign so far.