Rory Taylor
Writing things about global politics and current affairs for TLDR News (mostly Global & EU content)
(@tldrnews.bsky.social)
• Views my own • Repost/like ≠ endorsement •
- Imagine winning this majority and then being brought down by a Peter Mandelson scandal in the year of our lord 2026
- My prediction for Gorton and Denton is basically that it's a repeat of Caerphilly, but with the Greens instead of Plaid
- Normally I wouldn't think Davos was worth paying much attention to, but this year has it all: Macron and his aviator shades. Bart de Wever quoting Gramsci. Mark Carney declaring a new world order. Great stuff.
- Anti-Americanism becoming a major theme of next year's French presidential election (for both left and right) would make things very interesting
- Terrible few decades to be an authoritarian with a moustache
- Feels like it's now only a matter of time before the US tries this with Cuba. And then Greenland?
- My Goodreads 'Year in Books' for 2025. Thirteen in total but my favourite was Nathan Thrall's A Day in the Life of Abed Salama. An incredible, but heartbreaking and infuriating, account of real life in the occupied West Bank. Highly highly recommend, it's a Pulitzer Prize winner for a reason.
- Is this the beginning of Starmer's AMLO arc
- Danish local elections tomorrow. I wonder if the UK media/political class will continue waxing lyrical about the 'Danish model' as a silver bullet for Labour after the Danish SocDems inevitably do poorly...
- Reposted by Rory TaylorWhat we know, final edition of the night: [Now in 3 parts] —Prop 50 wins —VA Dems flip Gov, LG, AG —Dems gain leg seats in VA, NJ, & MS —Dems defend NJ-Gov —Dems win NJ+VA trifectas —Mamdani wins —PA Dems win state supreme court —ME anti-mail voting measure loses —GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices
- Pro-EU centrists surging last minute to first place? Ed Davey is grinning and rubbing his hands together.
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- So these supposed narcoterrorists are so dangerous that they need to be executed by drone strike at sea, but if captured it's safe to just repatriate them and not prosecute them? Or perhaps the US has just been murdering people in the Caribbean?
- There it is
- Reposted by Rory TaylorThe right-wing campaign group that helped topple Roe v Wade in the US is now working to roll back abortion laws in the UK, with the help of Nigel Farage. Its first step? Trying to create a debate around "free speech" www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...
- So in one weekend we've had: 🇯🇵 Japan's decades long ruling coalition splits 🇫🇷 France gets a new(ish) PM 🇵🇪 Peru's president impeached 🇲🇬 Madagascar's president possibly ousted 🇻🇪 Nobel Peace Prize awarded 🇵🇸 Gaza ceasefire comes into force 🇵🇰 Pakistan-Taliban clashes Anything I've missed?
- Rajoelina might be about to leave office the way he entered it
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- Obviously very very welcome news but I have a real sinking feeling that as soon as the hostages are returned, Netanyahu will hit resume and plunge Gaza back into violence. As far as I can tell there are no safeguards against this, but I really hope I am proven wrong.
- Quite the headline
- Monsieur Macron I am ready to serve
- Prime example of why the immigration conversation is so misinformed: @thetimes.com writes an article about the 1.3m people who've moved to the UK since Brexit, vast majority of whom came on work/study/family visas... And yet every single photo in the article is of small boat/Channel crossings
- Reposted by Rory TaylorOur new BARN Cymru poll run with @itvcymruwales.bsky.social and @yougov.co.uk has landed 📈 #Senedd26 #Wales #Cymru
- I'm wary of speculating on someone's health but it's hard to deny that he's looking increasingly like post-2013 Bouteflika
- Looks like Thailand's influential ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra is returning to self-imposed exile ahead of tomorrow's PM vote and next week's verdict that could see him jailed. He says he's heading to Singapore for a checkup and will be back tomorrow, but that's definitely not the way to Singapore...
- Happening right in front of our eyes
- Ishiba gone by the end of next week?
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- This one simple trick could make Rachel Reeves' life so much easier. HS2? That's military spending. The entire NHS? Military spending. Welfare state? Military spending. Bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland? Military spending.
- It's not quite The Lord of the Rings or the Cornetto trilogy, but my latest video on Lula completes a trilogy of Latin American polling videos on TLDR Global: 🇧🇷 Why Lula's popularity is fading 🇲🇽 Why Claudia Sheinbaum is so popular 🇵🇪 Why Dina Boluarte is the world's most unpopular leader
- Regime change at TLDR. Patriots are in control. Trust the plan.
- So Pedro Sánchez is due to speak in 15mins after a bad bad day for him and his party. Place your bets, will it be: 1. Snap election 2. Resignation 3. Absolutely nothing
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- Exactly six months after Yoon's martial law attempt, South Korea elects Lee Jae-myung president. Probably not the outcome that Yoon intended.
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- I'm pretty sure there's a perfect correlation between the length of time that a papal conclave goes on and the frequency that journalists covering it talk about seagulls
- Reposted by Rory TaylorWorld Central Kitchen has run out of food to serve in Gaza. Its bakery ("recently the last working bakery in Gaza") is out of flour. There are 100,000+ tons of food in staging areas within driving distance of Gaza, and Israel refuses to let them in wck.org/news/gaza-up...
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- TLDR EU is now ~500 subscribers away from 1,000,000 ❗️ If you're not already subscribed, YOU could be number one million - there's no prize but it's a pretty good claim to fame
- If Labour want a 'republican front' à la 🇫🇷 2024 legislative election, they'd surely need to be looking at mutual candidate withdrawals/election pacts with left & centre parties, not just simply hope that progressive voters will return to Labour due to threat of Reform
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- If 2024 was the year of incumbents losing, is 2025 the year of the incumbent comeback?
- The fun thing about end to end encryption is that it sort of becomes irrelevant when you add the editor-in-chief of a major publication to your war planning group chat
- American war planning usually takes place in highly secure facilities. But the Trump administration planned its strikes on the Houthis using a group chat—and accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. theatln.tc/IuULQFiY
