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Feargal Cochrane

@feargalc

Professor (Emeritus) University of Kent. Also Prof at University of Warwick. Have taught & written about political conflict & peacebuilding for last 30 years. Still learning. Living in Peak District England but FROM Belfast in NI. Politics nerd

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Latest posts by Feargal Cochrane @feargalc

Gove wouldn’t recognise ‘bias-free reporting’ if he snorted it up his nose.

06.03.2026 11:15 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

What this indicates is that the Cabinet is riddled with the pox. Internal discipline is breaking down by the day in similar way to implosion of spaffer Johnson’s tenure. The PMs colleagues know it is only a matter of time (well…May) before the end and are positioning themselves accordingly.

06.03.2026 10:28 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Getting strong Targaryen vibes now

06.03.2026 07:43 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

😂
I’m old enough to remember when Mr Badloser would have a social media account dedicated to him 😉

05.03.2026 08:03 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

On the day that’s in it #Worldbookday
worldbookdayuk.bsky.social here’s my favourite book.
Frank Ormbsy’s fabulous A Rage for Order: Poetry of the Northern Ireland Troubles. With magnificent cover by artist Rita Duffy. A treasure trove of epic poets and poems ❤️

05.03.2026 07:12 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

There’s a new Nasty Party in town. Morally bankrupt, strategically inept.
Unclear now what the point of the Labour Party is?

04.03.2026 08:01 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
03.03.2026 20:53 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

One for Labour’s ideas box: nationalise all his UK golf courses & build wind farms across the fairways -& what the hell on the greens too. Then build a 1000 new eco homes all with solar etc exclusively for families of asylum seekers from all the countries he has bombed.
You’re welcome Sir Keir 👍

03.03.2026 19:56 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 0
Preview
Historic Irish newsreels digitised and made available for free online Gael Linn’s Amharc Éireann captured a snapshot of Irish life in the 1950s and 1960s

Historic Irish newsreels digitised and made available for free online

03.03.2026 08:31 👍 11 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0

@ledbydonkeys.org 👏

03.03.2026 07:02 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

True -But this gov would see such a description as praise rather than criticism.

02.03.2026 13:07 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Framing kills.
Israel ‘launches strikes’.
Hezbollah ‘fires missiles’.
It’s not random it’s deliberate.
It shapes perception of legitimacy in conflict. And it is pervasive.

02.03.2026 08:27 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Streeting’s response is exactly the sort of language Starmer would have used when campaigning to be leader of the Labour Party.
And Starmer’s response is exactly the sort of language Streeting would use if he replaces him -which is one of several reasons why that is highly unlikely.

28.02.2026 23:35 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

We've entered the stage of the news cycle where the clear initial information has been reported, fresh reporting is hours or days away, and the gap in between is full of talking heads either constantly re-stating the bleeding obvious and/or speculating wildly based on nothing.

28.02.2026 10:58 👍 263 🔁 49 💬 7 📌 2

The man just has a tin ear politically -I mean it’s quite astounding…Truss-level standard.
Effectively calling all the core Labour vote that deserted him and the potential non Labour vote that he needs, either stupid or divisive and sectarian!
Not sure what he’s smokin?

27.02.2026 15:28 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Anthropic v the US military: what this public feud says about the use of AI in warfare At the heart of this dispute is how Anthropic’s large language model Claude is being used in a military context.

Excellent but scary piece in @uk.theconversation.com by @elkeschwarz.Bsky.social & Neil Renic. Not sure if I’m more worried about the US military -or Anthropic! Claude giving off strong HAL vibes 🫣

theconversation.com/anthropic-v-...

27.02.2026 08:41 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
27.02.2026 07:31 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Hope Beats Hate: Green Party Defeats Reform and Labour in Huge Gorton and Denton By-Election Victory A concerted political and media campaign to scare voters about a “Green Menace” winning this by-election failed, reports Adam Bienkov

In a battle between hope and hate, hope won out.

Why voters rejected the hateful politics of Reform and instead embraced the "Green Menace" in Gorton and Denton

bylinetimes.com/2026/02/27/h...

27.02.2026 06:53 👍 2583 🔁 581 💬 81 📌 41

Will be interesting to see whether local voters pivot towards a tactical vote (anyone but Goodwin) and also whether the ‘split vote’ issue will be mitigated by a high turnout among those opposed to Reform UK. Stakes are high for everyone, within and beyond G&D.

26.02.2026 07:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

We finished watching this last night -what a load of ballsology that was! More realistic than Trump’s speech I’m sure, but still -total guff that meandered to a banal inconsequential end. More holes in the plot than a Swiss cheese!

25.02.2026 19:51 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
23.02.2026 18:13 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

But they will -that’s why it will be reassesed at Year 6. Why else would you reassess it? And it is not just about the EHCP -it is about reasonable adjustments to meet the educational needs of neuro-diverse children. In any case everything depends on how it works in practice (or gets ignored).

23.02.2026 07:29 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Picture of Andrew M-W as an England rugby player

Picture of Andrew M-W as an England rugby player

I’m sorry - but this wins the internet today -I will be taking no more questions at this time 😂😂😂

21.02.2026 18:05 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

Goodwin was to academia what Guillis was to teaching😉

21.02.2026 16:41 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Moving deckchairs on the Titanic here. -the scandal goes right to the top including the now King Charles & his mother -the police, the palace & senior politicians. Hard to imagine that they were not fully aware of Andrew’s activities & have paid money to cover it up & deny justice to the victims.

20.02.2026 19:29 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
19.02.2026 12:08 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

😂😂

18.02.2026 18:26 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

& Dev turns into John Bruton in 1952 😂

18.02.2026 18:24 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Though on reflection -is ‘the AI’ making some clever clogs point that they’ve all been more or less the same? #oldgreymen Hmmm 🤔

18.02.2026 17:31 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Albert Reynolds 😂

18.02.2026 17:23 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 1