@sturdyalex - Twitter Profile Analysis

I hope you find this short explainer on Taiwan as useful as I did. I'm not ashamed to say, my understanding of its quasi-independent status, the roots of it, and my ability to glean what is going on and what might happen next, was at below beginner level. Listen & share. https://t.co/ILrNF5QHEt

And Sunak. Yikes. By this stage it must be crystal clear he has lost this. Can he not find some dignity in defeat? Must he debase himself like this, until the last minute, sinking the entire political conversation down a far right quicksand in the process? https://t.co/udilONgYwd

Such a gift to Labour. Truss will either start her premiership by losing one of her first big votes in Parliament or - worse - she will win it and end up smeared with her predecessor's excrement on day one. Amateur hour. https://t.co/ED2h6Vw0tr

Right wing trolls are attacking Bryant, as usual. And circulating that photo of him in his pants, as usual. The underlying homophobia and sheer puritanism involved in thinking you can attack someone for posting a photo in their underwear on a dating app, is almost quaintly 80s.

Why is it SUCH A HARD SELL to get people to vote for their own self- interest?

I mean FFS. I hadn't even seen that when I posted the previous tweet. https://t.co/aPJ845zu0c

WE WANT A HIGH WAGE ECONOMY! No, not you, rail worker. No, not you, nurse. No, not you, teacher. No, not you, legal aid criminal barrister. No, not you, gig worker. No, not you, police officer. No, not you, zero-hours warehouse staff. No, not you, postal worker. etc.

Faux fiscal conservatism is often rooted in idea the state spends ‘other people’s money’. Strange then, that it so often veers to emotive ‘HANDOUTS’ rhetoric, which treats a budget precisely as if it is somehow the govt’s money, rather than a redistribution of OUR tax back to us.

Apparently, “we need to avoid a recession, by growing the economy”. 😜 A recession is, literally, economy shrinking for two consecutive periods. Saying growth avoids a recession is as vacuous as saying ‘we must avoid losing, by winning’. This is not an economic strategy. https://t.co/bKvRo4YYSo

It’s interesting that many of the same people clutching their pearls about the Mar-a-Lago raid, are big advocates of things like stop-and-search, racial profiling at airports, etc. because “if you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear”.

Startling. England last summer. England now. Not so green and pleasant.

Wrote this over a decade ago. It seems relevant. "Here’s something about Red Tape, however, which is rarely said: it does not only define the areas within which we must operate; it also delineates the areas outside which we must not."

WILL NOBODY THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRES? https://t.co/wHn26XYOET

And from my personal account, I’m really sorry @toryboypierce. I really didn’t know and it’s not fair game. I’m mortified. https://t.co/GnUEV0HgFf

I'm not sure that 'if you start equating deliberately lying to the Commons with knowingly misleading Parliament then we're all at it all the time' is the slam-dunk defence that Paul Scully thinks it is.

I just don't https://t.co/vpWmLRjb8u

Look at all those EU countries in that chart. Almost like the notion you had to leave the EU to trade outside it was utter 🐂💩 https://t.co/NmqIhu0lqL

What amazing local reporting. And what a humble final sentence. https://t.co/ac3x4l9Aqa

And it's coming for you, dear. https://t.co/YbVHT4mtOa

Is Twitter turning a LOT porn-ier? Or is the algorithm just getting more decisive about giving me the content it thinks I want? I was looking for some photos of that burst water main. I searched “London leak”. And it was like

It really is a no-brainer for both candidates. Oh wait. I think I see the problem. https://t.co/aFR3bMJtjM

Note who is saying this: a Conservative peer and former leader of the Tory party in the EP and a former Conservative Home Secretary. https://t.co/ISXXJxUPHH

A General Election is a national IQ test. I don’t hold much hope. https://t.co/YvtpmSUhys

Zac Goldsmith here - who was thrown out by the voters of Richmond Park, but was then made BARON OF RICHMOND PARK, elevated to the Lords anyway, so he could keep his ministerial job, by his close mate Johnson, whom he defends here - speaking of 'partisanship' and 'abuse of power'. https://t.co/5NwnTm1FYL

Neil is perpetually annoyed at suggestion that he exercises any sort of editorial influence over the Spectator. Yet here he is expressing a very specific view, widely mocked, and three days later, the Speccie has commissioned someone else to write the same thing. 🤔

Saturday Night Fever-dream https://t.co/fq4ZSRNjbs

Everyone can see precisely how this will go, everyone can see the giant 7.5-ton risk, except the clueless ballsack whose job it is to see the risk. https://t.co/eeNJ0fVXIb

Capital 'D' or any 'd'? https://t.co/aQulYBTE5h

I still can’t get over “Look, I’m here, I’m in a suit.” It speaks volumes as the the ethos Johnson has built around him and what his team think government entails. Turning up. https://t.co/5pAgnONVpI

Asked how come both the Prime Minister and Chancellor of The Exchequer are on holiday during a time of profound economic crisis, @KwasiKwarteng keeps saying that they get updates by WhatsApp and "he's here and he's in a suit". Like they deserve a prize for not ALL going off. ~AA

I am a straight-talking Yorkshire woman and I know that Liz Truss was born in Oxford and only had a brief hiatus to a Yorkshire school (that she criticised) https://t.co/8t3f6oT1bu

I dug into about 50 of the biggest culture war stories published in British papers for my book and not a single one was true as reported. https://t.co/iH71jXRreb

Lance wouldn't know an honest argument about energy if it slapped him round the face with a kipper In case it isn't obvious, he doesn't offer a source for his ludicrous claims about the cost of energy, which are totally at odds with the evidence (THREAD) https://t.co/5RsKHk9DGI

Pleasure to join @sturdyAlex again on The Bunker, *trying* to unpick the complicated history of Taiwan that led to this moment 👇 https://t.co/RCbkOFKRFr

DAILY: As Pelosi's visit ignites tensions over Taiwan, how real is the threat of a Chinese invasion? @CindyXiaodanYu, host of the 'Chinese Whispers' podcast, joins @sturdyAlex to discuss Beijing's anger and what could happen next. Listen: https://t.co/xyS9OWjO09 https://t.co/G0FG3terKg

oh my god, the Times sent 300 (!!) FOI requests to every single UK university (!!!) looking for evidence that writers are being taken off reading lists, found only TWO examples, & then had to pad out the article with whining about academics on Twitter telling them to fuck off https://t.co/KLvRb58u0I

America’s oldest president can now boast of a stronger legislative record in less than two years than either Obama or Bill Clinton achieved in eight. It turns out that low expectations are Biden’s secret weapon. https://t.co/GCciFRgxhg

Fox News talking about Hillary but make the footage the Trump raid

No, you don't. YOUR government keeps writing to farmers telling us all to retire! I've had 3 letters. https://t.co/7gVmbuthyh

FDP leader Christian Lindner called it a "Gratismentalitaet" at the weekend, Liz Truss today calling direct state intervention "handouts". We may live in the 21st century, but politicians are still stuck with a 19th century idea that poverty equals immorality. https://t.co/E6gsUxt6Y9

Joseph Rowntree confirming that £6 in £7 of Liz Truss’ tax cuts go to the better off @LBC

How UK attitudes to immigration have shifted over the last decade 👇 https://t.co/StZx5QQrh4

FLASH: House Ways and Means Committee says it expects to begin receiving Trump tax returns and audit files "immediately." https://t.co/SWXZZop3A0

“Political points are best made in non-political theatre.” @sturdyAlex and @Dorianlynskey discuss their favourite plays and performances, and the unexpected things you can learn from theatre. Monday mini-casts are Backers-only - sign up to listen: https://t.co/BqkHk8rIJL https://t.co/qe5TByu7ku

If not for us, do it for Britain. There's less than a week left to complete The Bunker's LISTENER SURVEY and be in with the chance of winning some free merch: https://t.co/1v8ItBknhq https://t.co/6g3Ag0CSsD

"Donald Trump, you have a copy of the warrant. It explains what they were looking for, what statutes they think were violated, what judge signed off on that...If you believe this is such an abuse, release the warrant and let us decide for ourselves." @neal_katyal

Florida AG Ashley Moody complains that it's not like Trump was going to start flushing things down the toilet. (She must not have read the news yesterday...)

Two facts today: 1. The UK remains one of the world’s richest countries 2. Some of my lung patients are considering limiting oxygen or ventilator use this winter because they won’t be able to afford the energy bills. This crisis is not inevitable. It is a political choice.

@CatharineHoey I think you’re confusing with the teleprinter on Grandstand. Radio 5 didn’t start broadcasting until you were a grown up. A former Minister for Sport might be expected to know that.

Thank you for accurately describing rule of law, @AbbyJohnson.

This morning I became aware of @toryboypierce’s circumstances. I genuinely had no idea. I was QTing a tweet about his Irish roots in what I thought was a lighthearted way. I could not be more sorry if I’ve upset Andrew - or anyone else. I have, of course, deleted the tweet. ~AA

Jacob Rees Mogg wrote an article criticising lazy civil servants staying at home. It featured this photo, supposedly of empty desks in the Serious Fraud Office. Unfortunately...the photo was actually taken in Rees Mogg's own cabinet office department. It has been quietly deleted.

President Trump lead "Lock Her Up" chants so often it became one of his campaign's unofficial slogans and held Ukrainian aid hostage to try and incriminate Biden. Are we now supposed to pretend he thinks the FBI should never investigate a potential candidate for high office?

Regret to inform that the world’s oldest undergraduate is at it again.

*food safety* "BORING. Shred it." *child protection* "Ugh. Shred." *Workplace safety* "YAWN. Shred it." *Redistributive taxation* "Booooo" *Speed limits* "Bleargh" *Environmental protection* "LOLZ" This is all "Keep Brexit Safe" means. Mega deregulation for big business https://t.co/NM4k2aGSTC

From climate denier Lord Frost in The Times. The line "The current evidence does not support the assertion that we are in a climate emergency" is something you could only write if you completely ignored the current evidence. https://t.co/9PwgUlfBlj

How it started. How it’s going. https://t.co/OtWwe8X1Qy

Speaking as an adopted person with, I think, fairly strong anti-Brexit credentials, the attempts on here to vilify Andrew Pierce, with whom I disagree about pretty much everything, for being born to an Irish mother before being adopted are gross & utterly pathetic. Do better.

@Hammermad_Brian @thameswater Millions? Try BILLIONS. https://t.co/fwYfcxcl2g

This is absolutely superb from @eiecampaign “It’s time to channel anger into action” #EnoughIsEnough!

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