Ed Larrissy 's Avatar

Ed Larrissy

@edlarrissy.bsky.social

Retired Literature Professor. Worked at Queen's Belfast, Leeds, Warwick. Living in southern France. Opinions my own.

684 Followers  |  761 Following  |  814 Posts  |  Joined: 18.07.2024
Posts Following

Posts by Ed Larrissy (@edlarrissy.bsky.social)

@nytimes.com
@washingtonpost.com
@cnn.com
@cnnipr.bsky.social
@wsj.com
@thetimes.com
@foxnewsradio.bsky.social

06.03.2026 19:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@nytimes.com
@washingtonpost.com
@wsj.com
@cnn.com
@cnnipr.bsky.social
@thetimes.com
@foxnewsradio.bsky.social

06.03.2026 19:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I love when American politicians say they have the greatest military in the world - lads, you spent $2.3trillion and 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.

06.03.2026 10:21 β€” πŸ‘ 81    πŸ” 33    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3

Murton (Durham) Council By-Election Result:

🌹 LAB: 50.6% (+17.6)
➑️ RFM: 39.6% (-4.5)
🌍 GRN: 4.8% (New)
🌳 CON: 3.1% (-2.0)
πŸ”Ά LDM: 1.9% (-2.3)

No Ind (-13.6) as previous.

Labour GAIN from Reform.
Changes w/ 2025.

05.03.2026 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 340    πŸ” 87    πŸ’¬ 19    πŸ“Œ 74

So the fact that we bombed a girls elementary school, while likely using AI for targeting, is going to be a major headline story dominating American news coverage when exactly?

06.03.2026 02:38 β€” πŸ‘ 3945    πŸ” 1183    πŸ’¬ 140    πŸ“Œ 35
Preview
Iranian Ship Was Leaving Indian Naval Exercise When Sunk, Raising Concerns in New Delhi The Iranian frigate sunk by a U.S. submarine last week had just left an Indian naval exercise. Now India's political opposition is demanding answers.

My lord! The frigate the US submarine torpedoed, the one the White House has been bragging about, was unarmed and headed home from an international naval exercise, hosted by India, that the US pulled out of at the last minute! www.military.com/daily-news/i...

06.03.2026 00:08 β€” πŸ‘ 252    πŸ” 137    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 10
Preview
ICO writes to Meta over 'concerning' AI smart glasses report Videos, including of glasses-wearers using the toilet or having sex, are sometimes reviewed by a Kenya-based subcontractor.

Last year when I was checking into a hotel, the desk person was wearing Meta glasses. I kindly asked them to take them off. They were annoyed. I said, β€œI do not consent to you looking at my credit card and ID with Meta glasses on.” My instincts were correct: www.bbc.com/news/article...

05.03.2026 15:27 β€” πŸ‘ 5817    πŸ” 2332    πŸ’¬ 89    πŸ“Œ 180

I remember when β€˜Brexit Means Brexit’ became a way for silly people to insist that they supported something they could neither justify nor explain. Obviously the context is very different, but something similar is already happening with the β€˜war’ in Iran. And it’s mostly the same people doing it.

06.03.2026 08:10 β€” πŸ‘ 3079    πŸ” 662    πŸ’¬ 189    πŸ“Œ 19

I’ve spent years, decades, obsessing over the Bush Administration’s Iraq WMD lies, writing about them, debunking them.

I can think of no lie about Iraq WMDs told by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al that comes even close to the enormity and absurdity of this lie from Donald Trump.

05.03.2026 13:07 β€” πŸ‘ 8602    πŸ” 2399    πŸ’¬ 432    πŸ“Œ 98
Preview
Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills Some risk spending too few days in the emirate and too many in the UK

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

05.03.2026 11:55 β€” πŸ‘ 3827    πŸ” 1175    πŸ’¬ 198    πŸ“Œ 320
Preview
Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say Military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Saturday, two U.S. officials told Reu...

Reuters Exclusive

"U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school."

"The strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of U.S. conflicts in the ​Middle East."

06.03.2026 02:50 β€” πŸ‘ 9500    πŸ” 5049    πŸ’¬ 599    πŸ“Œ 604
Preview
UK Gave Β£90k to Sexual Violence Report Central to Israel’s Genocide Propaganda Exclusive: The Foreign Office funded a sexual violence report subsequently used in a Β£33m Israeli campaign to whitewash its genocide in Gaza. Rivkah Brown reports.

Mindblowing story. The UK met most of the costs of a key propaganda tool used by the Israeli Government to launder its genocide in Gaza - then tried to cover up the fact it had done so.

06.03.2026 08:04 β€” πŸ‘ 252    πŸ” 147    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 9
Preview
Anyone who wants Britain to join the war in Iran needs their head examined They don't know what they want to achieve, why they're doing it or what the consequences might be. They are lost in the void.

Anyone who wants Britain to join the war in Iran needs their head examined open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

06.03.2026 07:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1771    πŸ” 453    πŸ’¬ 93    πŸ“Œ 55
Preview
Crypto investor based in Thailand donates further Β£3m to Reform Christopher Harborne’s gift is latest to party’s election war chest and comes amid calls for cap on political donations

Who the hell is this guy? And what does he want as a return on his Β£millions invested in Reform? Because it sure as shit isn’t a fairer, more progressive, equal and prosperous UK with good public services and well-regulated consumer protections.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

05.03.2026 13:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1087    πŸ” 458    πŸ’¬ 111    πŸ“Œ 26
Post image Post image

Jansen Ganesh is on fire in this column on the UK’s role in the Iran conflict

www.ft.com/content/eaee...

04.03.2026 18:45 β€” πŸ‘ 1078    πŸ” 291    πŸ’¬ 20    πŸ“Œ 16
Reform fury as someone else wins
by Our By-election Editor
Tim Shipsink
The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost
comprehensively to someone else.
"It's totally unfair and rigged,"
said Goodwhinge.
"I shouldn't
be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost."
Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me.
Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X.
"We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families."
Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice.
They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green."
Reform leader
Mr Farage,
speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said,
"It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either."

PLUMBER DEFEATS
MATT GOODWIN

Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… 
I've stopped the cock

Reform fury as someone else wins by Our By-election Editor Tim Shipsink The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost comprehensively to someone else. "It's totally unfair and rigged," said Goodwhinge. "I shouldn't be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost." Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me. Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X. "We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families." Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice. They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green." Reform leader Mr Farage, speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said, "It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either." PLUMBER DEFEATS MATT GOODWIN Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… I've stopped the cock

Beautiful from Private Eye on the massive toddler-tantrum that Matt Goodwin and Reform are having, because they got whooped in Gorton and Denton.

05.03.2026 07:35 β€” πŸ‘ 4336    πŸ” 1443    πŸ’¬ 92    πŸ“Œ 79

If Trump really can’t control Netanyahu, it seems at least feasible that Iran becomes Gaza 2.0, up to & including the hideous pretence that they bomb a land to smithereens to somehow help the people living there.

05.03.2026 07:44 β€” πŸ‘ 925    πŸ” 187    πŸ’¬ 89    πŸ“Œ 6
Post image

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

05.03.2026 07:15 β€” πŸ‘ 17046    πŸ” 5945    πŸ’¬ 510    πŸ“Œ 493

I understand the pressures on Rutte but he really has turned into a hapless buffoon. Helping to eradicate the rules based order he believes he's upholding.

04.03.2026 23:02 β€” πŸ‘ 684    πŸ” 92    πŸ’¬ 40    πŸ“Œ 11
Post image

1. β€˜Mrs Brown’s Boys’ on television.
2. Nearly everyone in the world wearing trainers.
3. Kale, spinach & apple smoothies.
4. Wrap music.

04.03.2026 08:11 β€” πŸ‘ 278    πŸ” 43    πŸ’¬ 30    πŸ“Œ 0

But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stol’n forth of holy writ,
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

03.03.2026 15:55 β€” πŸ‘ 410    πŸ” 125    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 11

It’s not difficult to imagine what Winston Churchill would have made of Donald Trump…

03.03.2026 18:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1838    πŸ” 247    πŸ’¬ 168    πŸ“Œ 25

@bbcnewsnight.bsky.social

04.03.2026 10:01 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If I was @zackpolanski.bsky.social, I would be pointing out to the BBC that whatever model they use to justify giving Farage & his boot-lickers season tickets for every BBC show under the sun must surely now treat Green Party politicians in exactly the same way. Might even be one for the lawyers...

04.03.2026 09:02 β€” πŸ‘ 4499    πŸ” 974    πŸ’¬ 142    πŸ“Œ 37

Excellent question. Is this just another Tory choosing Twitter twattery over science & expertise?

04.03.2026 09:04 β€” πŸ‘ 346    πŸ” 70    πŸ’¬ 68    πŸ“Œ 2

So, in launching a huge bombing campaign on Iran they apparently didn't plan for:

- Who takes over;
- Interceptor shortages from sustained drone retaliation;
- How to defend US bases in the region;
- Threats to ships in the Strait of Hormuz; and
- How to evacuate Americans with airspace closed.

03.03.2026 21:13 β€” πŸ‘ 11154    πŸ” 3473    πŸ’¬ 612    πŸ“Œ 357

What happens if they kill this one? Is there another smaller younger one inside him?

04.03.2026 00:56 β€” πŸ‘ 460    πŸ” 46    πŸ’¬ 39    πŸ“Œ 2

The problem is a number of UK politicians are bypassing the tabloids and going direct to source to also aim for a US audience for social media engagement

04.03.2026 09:32 β€” πŸ‘ 106    πŸ” 30    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
β€˜Imperialist undertones’: global south condemns US-Israeli war with Iran China calls it unacceptable to β€˜kill leader of sovereign state’, while South Africa questions β€˜pre-emptive’ justification

β€˜Imperialist undertones’: global south condemns US-Israeli war with #Iran.
China calls it unacceptable to β€˜kill leader of sovereign state’, while South Africa questions β€˜pre-emptive’ justification.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

04.03.2026 07:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Son Emerges as Leading Choice to Be His Successor

It appears we may have replaced Ayatollah Khamenei with Ayatollah Khamenei

03.03.2026 23:32 β€” πŸ‘ 3784    πŸ” 967    πŸ’¬ 433    πŸ“Œ 676