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News & Current Events Apr 9, 2026 at 7:38 PM

UK's Starmer says Iran conflict shows Britain must take a new path

Posted by InsatiablePrism



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skibbin 1 day ago +255
It's almost like distancing yourself from Europe and expecting the historically one sided friendship with the USA to save you was predictable as a bad idea. If only there were an opportunity back in 2016 for the public to have the chance to secure the UKs future. Has anything from "project fear" not yet come true?
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SKULL1138 1 day ago +100
That’s what happens when Britain decided to do its right wing xenophobic era. Starmer and the current govt have been left to pick up the pieces.
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barnfodder 1 day ago +36
For however long it lasts, might only be a year or two before Nigel ends up getting a chance to f*** things even worse.
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Advanced_Basic 1 day ago +17
As someone from the UK, am I missing something big that's happening in a year or two? Next general election's nearly four years again.
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Bluepanda800 1 day ago +17
Labour is pissing off the right who voted them in because they were sick of conservatives. Labour is also pissing off the left because they aren't left enough and are acting like less annoying conservatives.  Due to the left being split between Greens and Lib Dems and Labour it's looking like Reform who have gathered the most discontent and racist right leaning people's backing are going to win. This may hold true in the elections in a few years if they don't act too racist or invite too many conservatives into their ranks. 
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MagicBoyUK 1 day ago +35
Nah, Fartrage blew his load 4 years too early.
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Dougalishere 1 day ago +43
Man i really hope so. Reform have been shown to be incapable of running a town council let alone a country. If they get in we are totally fucked.
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Basteir 1 day ago +7
They'd never win here in Scotland.
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theekls 1 day ago +5
They are polling as well as the greens or labour…
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Bipogram 1 day ago +7
Someone's 'making plans for Nigel'. And they mean us ill.
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gloomycloud 1 day ago +10
Reform could still comfortably form the next government without winning a single seat in Scotland.
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BigBananaBerries 1 day ago +2
If Starmer could give up trying to woo those xenophobic idiots & lean more into what the people want that voted for him, that'd be nice.
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No-Programmer-3833 1 day ago +1
What exactly has he done to woo xenophobic idiots?
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Broken_Reality 1 day ago -18
Well Starmer and Labour now are just the centre right party they are still right wing just not as much as the Tories and Reform are.
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paradoxbound 1 day ago -13
Nope Starmer is doing his own right wing xenophobic era. He told everyone on the left of his party that if they didn’t like it they could leave. So they didn’t. The vast majority of those who left joined the Greens and another group joined the Liberal Democrats, less and some joined parties further on the right. They are going to be wiped out in the May local elections and Starmer is already a dead man walking. He deserves it all, lying conning filth.
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NeverSober1900 1 day ago +4
They also didn't have to enact it. It was a non-binding resolution.... A proper response to a result like that on a non-binding resolution could have been to draw up terms for how Brexit would have occurred and had binding resolutions on them. I have no idea why they went through with it. One of the sticking points the US has had with Puerto Rico statehood for instance is their lack of having a binding referendum on the matter. It's not like it's unprecedented to ignore non-binding votes since you know they are non-binding.
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theclansman22 1 day ago +2
Why has Britain stubbornly refused to re-think the Brexit idea? It was and still is an utterly ridiculous thing to do, yet I haven't seen a politician willing to walk it back.
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yubnubster 1 day ago +27
Because, and I'm sure the government and the EU, are fully aware of this.. Reform could theoretically get back in power and f*** over any progress overnight. However, there's a good chance Labour go into the next election in three years pledging to start rejoin negotiations.
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BigBananaBerries 1 day ago +6
I never thought about using rejoin as an election leaflet. It'd probably be a wise move, given how obviously bad an idea it was now. Besides, it's likely going to take a lot of wrangling to figure it out that won't be done overnight.
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Sanhen 1 day ago +16
Rejoining the EU wouldn't be a simple matter. The EU would want to know that the UK isn't going to just yo-yo back-and-forth. That'd be destabilizing for the bloc. Unless there's an overwhelming majority that wants back into the EU, there would probably be a lot of caution on both sides, which is likely why the issue hasn't been approached.
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Kaisernick27 1 day ago +14
Because almost everyone in government is scared of reform and f****** farage who will try to whip up how to go back is a "betrayal of the people" despite the "majority" being 52% so almost half who voted said no and that many of those have now realised how stupid it was to believe any of the shit in the first place.
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Longy_LTB 1 day ago +1
Don't forget that52% probably only made up a third of the actual population. Read somewhere that's the average voting turnout but not sure how true it is.
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whatsgoingon350 1 day ago +4
Because its not a switch you can just turn back on.
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hippohere 1 day ago +1
Brexit might still be popular. Visited last year and roughly 10 of 10 cab drivers supported brexit
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skibbin 1 day ago +6
The Brexit vote was granted because the UK Independence Party (UKIP) lead by Nigel Farrage was getting popular. Farrage now leads the Reform party which is leading in the polls and is likely to be the next Prime Minister. Brexit 2 electric boogaloo.
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theclansman22 1 day ago +9
Are you telling me that the UK may elect the person responsible for Brexit as PM in 2026? They are just as fucked as the US, aren’t they? Thats utterly insane.
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NailedOn 1 day ago +22
Next election is in 2029.
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aapowers 1 day ago +6
Next election is whenever the prime minister wants to call one within 5 years of the first sitting of a new parliament.
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fightfire_withfire 1 day ago +9
We’re basically Diet US. It’s even weirder that people can see what’s happening in america and still decide they want some of that over here.
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Dougalishere 1 day ago +8
Imagine looking at the US right now and thinking what we need is an even shitter version of THAT. If you hung the reform guys upside down by their ankles nothing but rubles would fall out. These guys have been shown to be incapable of even running a f****** town council let alone a country. If only these idiots running round putting union jacks up on lamp posts to "make our towns better" actually went out and did a single fkn thing to make their community better. - Sit with old people, clean up rubbish on the streets, run a youth club, help with town gardens. But NO - were gonna support the guy that was proven without a shadow of a doubt to have lied non f****** stop during the Brexit campaign leading to a monumental act of self-harm that our country wont even recover from. The fact these Reform idiots have any sort of actual support honestly sickens me.
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skibbin 1 day ago +8
Current polls Reform 25% Green 19% Conservative 18% Labour 17% Liberal Democrats 11% https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/
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skibbin 1 day ago +1
Lol @ getting downvotes for facts and sources
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Zontromm 1 day ago -7
is it really shocking that people are leaning towards the ONE party that wants to fight the one thing most native brits and Scots are against? unlimited and unvetted immigration. Yes it is one of the biggest issues which no other party is focusing on Green is such a dumb party, they see nuclear as worse than oil Conservative and Labour both showed they are the same the others are too small to matter was it the Danish or Dutch left that went hardline against immigration and completely collapsed their right wing?
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smltor 1 day ago -2
I think the thing is that almost every country benefits from migration but it is a complex topic to talk about. So the BAN THEM ALL people have an easier sell to voters that are already pretty f****** busy and don't really have time to go through complex discussions while they are trying to get dinner ready. I could go on at great length about the various topics involved but I suspect you don't want to read a massive screed involving economics, demographics, ethics, economics and so on. But maybe remember the old joke where the plumbers and the builders on a UK site sat down for smoko and were crapping on in Polish about shit and one of them fucked up the grammar. He admitted it was easier to learn Polish than to work as hard as the Poles. And all the anti immigrant protests around the world that finish up and go grab some imported food. (really shitty retelling of the joke, google it if you want the good version).
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Apprehensive_Sky1950 1 day ago
As a Yank I will try to buy back some of the Trump shaming by asking, are you people *insane*?
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fightfire_withfire 1 day ago +3
It’ll cause so much outrage it’ll push people that can’t admit they were wrong further to the racists and all but guarantee a far right win at the next election.
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Flatus_Diabolic 1 day ago
Because that’s how democracy works. The people voted for Brexit and, in functioning democracies, the government doesn’t have the power to overrule the will of the people and say “nah, it’s clear you’ve changed your mind. We’ll just forget all about what you voted for and do something else instead”. And before anyone asks, important referenda come with a “no revisiting this decision until X date” kind of a clause built into them so that whoever’s in power can’t just run and re-run a referendum until they get the result they want. Just like in the USA, the people have spoken. We voted for shitclownery, so that’s what we’re going to get, good and hard, for the next few years at a minimum.. What I can’t understand is all the people cheering this nonsense on and declaring how much they *love* having their faces eaten by leopards. Sunk cost fallacy is a hell of a drug. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
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theclansman22 1 day ago +1
Twenty years ago or so Nofx released a song called “the idiots are taking over”, now they officially have.
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Flatus_Diabolic 1 day ago +1
Twenty years ago, one of my favourite websites had the slogan “the internet makes you stupid”. Now it officially does. Social media posts written by Russian bots are making the entire western world self-destructively stupid (and if you think it’s only the conservatives who’re the victims of this, you’re mistaken)
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Mintyxxx 1 day ago +1
Starmer is, there's lots going on to move the UK closer to EU. But we won't be joining again.
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Gentlementlementle 1 day ago +1
The price of housing hasn't fallen. George Osborne promised me it would!
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ghostbannomore 1 day ago +15
I don’t disagree but what’s the plan, give the country some goal to work towards.
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thatpokemonguy 1 day ago +26
Give us the br-enter referendum then
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Better-Ad3339 1 day ago -84
The more you Rejoiners bang on about the past, the more likely it is we get Prime Minister Nigel Farage.  If you think it's as simple as quietly rejoining and nobody opposing it (from both UK and EU's side), you are living in a fantasy. 
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FartBrulee 1 day ago +27
So what gifts has Brexit given the UK that should stop people banging on about the past? Serious question. Edit: I didn't expect a response, but it's sad the UK still has people so hell bent on the self destruction of the nation because "leave means leave" yet they are unable to produce any tangible benefits of leaving.
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grey_hat_uk 1 day ago +11
That's why we start with a referendum to prove there is sufficient backing. Then we enter properly in a thought out well staged way. We don't have to get full as we were in one day just a few treaties while the much more tricky details are worked out.
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Jerri_man 1 day ago +8
Didn't realise the decision was immutable and binding for all eternity lmao. What a melt
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Araminal 1 day ago +7
The irony with Brexit and Farage is that during the referendum count, when it looked as though the Brexit vote would fail, Farage said that they would campaign for another referendum straight away. When the vote went to Brexit his response was that there couldn't be another referendum, because the people had voted to leave.
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DarthUrbosa 1 day ago +7
So instead spin the wheels and hope that pulling out wasn't a dumbass decision which it was.
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Apprehensive_Sky1950 1 day ago -6
Maybe the poster's comment was ironic.
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FYoCouchEddie 1 day ago +6
The article didn’t say anything about what that path is. Does anyone know from hearing his talk what he meant? Or was this just a vague “we have to move forwards, not backwards” thing?
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Kijimea0815 1 day ago +2
Maybe he has a concept of a plan of a path
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Pale_Goose_918 1 day ago +1
It’ll take some time and difficulty to negotiate but it’s likely for example the UK moves closer to the single market again, and embark on joint defence procurement or operations. Some of those things already in negotiation but usually end up stuck in politics - this is now less likely to be the blocker.
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TheColourOfHeartache 1 day ago +13
Starmer is talking to a domestic audience. Trump's always been unpopular here, but flattering him has until now gotten good results. After Trump got mad at Starmer for not helping enough there's less point flattering and votes to be won criticising him. But the real winners of all this: The Chagos Islanders. A small indigenous population who Starmer (and many previous British governments) have treated *terribly* and are fighting to stop Starmer giving their ancestral homelands away to a government they (from experience) say will treat them even worse. Trump got mad at Starmer and used an old treaty between the USA and UK to veto that deal. (Also a few islanders snuck back onto their home and a judge said they can't be evicted. Amazing story not enough people follow.)
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shmozey 1 day ago +15
The Chagos island deal is a huge story in the UK.
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thereoncewasahat 1 day ago +20
Because everyone is against PAYING 99 billion to GIVE them to a country that has no legitimate claim to them; who are going to then effectively give them to China; because of an advisory ruling from a kangaroo court, the Chinese chairman of which ruled that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was lawful. Either starmer is compromised or he's pants on head tarded.
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theaveragemillenial 1 day ago +13
>Either starmer is compromised or he's pants on head tarded. While i think the deal is stupid and that Labour should pull out of it, it's important to remember that it was a Tory deal in the late stages that Labour just inherited.
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thereoncewasahat 1 day ago +11
David Cameron stopped the deal and walked away because it was so bad. The Tories are now against it following from that. Labour supported it and are pushing it through. No gaslighting.
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Shaddaaaaaapp 1 day ago +1
The [optics](https://www.thetimes.com/article/0f6430b1-5e6a-438a-970f-3b5007f84813?shareToken=101dd77107b51b45fa1b07c1500c74c7) are terrible but the policy is misunderstood.
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TheColourOfHeartache 1 day ago +8
I read that and remain unconvinced
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TheColourOfHeartache 1 day ago +1
Not big enough imo
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[deleted] 1 day ago +4
[deleted]
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innovatedname 1 day ago +13
Greenland was (admittedly scary) words and Ukraine betrayal was partially priced in with a gamble he could be turned like in term 1. The Iran war has killed thousands and crashed global markets, so yeah that's in its own class of awful.
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JohnBongoham 1 day ago +27
I think it's more 'the straw that broke the camel's back' judging by the article.
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Deruji 1 day ago +6
I think a tomahawk broke its back. Shouldn’t have been close to a school.
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Flatus_Diabolic 1 day ago +1
> Shouldn’t have been close to a school. It was a false flag to discredit the dear leader. Everyone knows the Iranians fired that tomahawk.
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anotherblog 1 day ago +2
Curiously it was trash talking the Royal Navy that really hit a nerve
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therealallpro 1 day ago -4
There is no nail in coffin. He is just talking. They will got right back to it after Trump
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Apprehensive_Sky1950 1 day ago +2
There's no disgrace to getting right back to it after Trump, if some sane Democrat is then the US president.
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palmerama 1 day ago +1
The EU was initially about defence and prevention of war between member states of course. Now it’s sort of at the next level, an integrated force capable of being a counterweight to the rogue states of Russia and the US.
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keirmot 1 day ago +1
EU was not about defense, ECSC was about creating a single market to prevent conflict between France and Germany. Even today, the EU is not about defense, which is a State exclusive competence, mostly seen as working under the NATO framework.
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palmerama 1 day ago +1
The EU is about defence in the sense closer integration would prevent conflict between member states.
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Duanedoberman 1 day ago +2
Stating the bleeding obvious.
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PracticalShoulder916 1 day ago +1
At last!
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PoolRamen 1 day ago -20
So... we're officially China's b**** now?
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Ok-Mine6472 1 day ago +6
If you gotta be someone's b****, China is looking like a better daddy than USA these days. 
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BahBah1970 1 day ago +29
We don’t have to be anyone’s b****. We’re a middle power with a nuclear deterrent. We should be standing with other middle powers and building strong alliances. As Carney said, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
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Hefty-Comparison-801 1 day ago +10
This. Carney's plan for a coalition of middle powers is the way forward in a US & China world order. Take the best deals each bloc has to offer, stay neutral otherwise, and prosper.
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Spinoza42 1 day ago -9
Except the keys to your nuclear deterrent are in the Pentagon...
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BahBah1970 1 day ago +6
That would be a great "gotcha" response, if only it were true.
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yubnubster 1 day ago +5
No, they are not. They can be launched independently. If the US want to break the agreement we currently have, then we'd have about 10 years to develop something new. We already build the warheads ourselves.
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winmace 1 day ago +3
We really wouldn't need 10 years, the amount of investment the government would throw at it would our have own arms manufacturers and the EU ones chomping at the bit to help develop a solution, then we'd probably licence it out to other EU countries who want a nuclear deterrent because the US suddenly going all "f*** off" about such a long standing precedent to a permanant member of the UN security council is one sure fire way to bring back nuclear proliferation.
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Dominarion 1 day ago -10
Xi is like "It's either my d*** or Macron's, chose, now!"
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Hefty-Comparison-801 1 day ago +1
Which Macron though?
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Mallymalvs 1 day ago -6
All talk no action, typical political theatre
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Denbt_Nationale 1 day ago
Ok so sign the DIP and pay for it
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RM_r_us 1 day ago
Beg for deals with your resource rich former (but still commonwealth) colonies?
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[deleted] 1 day ago -3
[removed]
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notanothergav 1 day ago +1
>no interest or knowledge on UK It shows.
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Khaganate23 1 day ago -7
So when is the UK finally going to follow most of Europe and kick out the money laundering IRGC mosques sending blood money to Russia? Or the 'diplomatic' basiji assaulting civilians? Edit: gotta love how some of you fall for this bullshit PR. No wonder the UK is fucked.
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Ultra_Metal 1 day ago -8
The UK already chose a new path by defending the terrorist regime that illegally occupies Iran. The UK betrayed British values and liberal values. Starmer has proven to be a fascist, not a liberal.
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