#Stephen flynn

[guy60660]

David and Stephen Flynn | Ellius Grace | Financial Times

[freenewsreport]

The Rise of Stephen Flynn: A Bold Voice in Modern Politics

In today’s ever-changing political climate, it takes more than just charisma to stand out. Stephen Flynn has emerged as one of those rare politicians whose leadership and vision capture the attention of both colleagues and the public. With his bold ideas, sharp rhetoric, and a passion for advocating the voices of the underrepresented, Flynn is on a path to becoming a key figure in British politics. But what is it about him that’s making such an impact? 

Stephen Flynn: Who Is He?

Stephen Flynn isn’t just another politician. He’s the SNP (Scottish National Party) MP for Aberdeen South, a rising star with the kind of grit that resonates with the modern voter. Having taken over the leadership of the SNP group in Westminster in December 2022, Flynn has quickly set himself apart by tackling tough issues and offering innovative solutions that reflect Scotland's evolving political landscape.

Early Life and Education

Born and raised in Dundee, Flynn wasn’t handed his career on a silver platter. He worked hard, attending the University of Dundee, where he obtained both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Throughout his academic years, Flynn was deeply involved in activism, particularly issues surrounding Scottish independence, which would later form the cornerstone of his political ethos.

Flynn’s upbringing wasn’t without its challenges. Diagnosed with a rare spinal condition in his youth, Flynn learned resilience early on. That experience, no doubt, shaped his determination and drive—qualities he carries into his political career today.

A Quick Political Ascent

What makes Flynn’s rise so interesting is that it’s been fast and strategic. Elected to the UK Parliament in 2019, he made his mark by focusing on key issues like economic justice, the oil and gas industry (a significant sector for his Aberdeen constituency), and, of course, Scottish independence.

It didn’t take long before Flynn’s leadership skills shone through. By 2022, he was elected as the SNP’s Westminster group leader, following in the footsteps of Ian Blackford. His leadership style? It’s a blend of pragmatism and passion, with a firm grasp on policy intricacies and an ability to communicate those ideas in a way that resonates with ordinary people.

Stephen Flynn’s Vision for Scotland

Flynn’s vision for Scotland is grounded in the belief that Scotland can thrive as an independent nation. His advocacy for independence isn’t just rooted in idealism but in a practical understanding of Scotland’s potential. He’s consistently argued that Scotland can better manage its own resources, set its own economic policies, and create a fairer society when free from Westminster’s control.

Tackling the Energy Sector

One of Flynn’s primary focuses has been the energy sector, particularly in his role representing Aberdeen, Europe’s oil and gas capital. As the world shifts towards greener energy, Flynn has been vocal about the need for a just transition. He believes that while Scotland should lead in renewable energy, it’s crucial to ensure that the thousands of workers currently employed in oil and gas aren’t left behind.

He’s consistently advocated for:

Investment in renewable energy

Support for oil and gas workers transitioning to new sectors

Government funding for green innovation

This balanced approach reflects his pragmatic side. Flynn doesn’t just throw out lofty ideals; he backs them with realistic strategies that consider both economic and social impacts.

Fighting for Economic Justice

Economic justice is another cornerstone of Flynn’s politics. He’s consistently pushed for policies that support the working class, including raising wages, protecting workers’ rights, and reforming the tax system to ensure that corporations pay their fair share. He’s also been a staunch critic of austerity measures, arguing that they disproportionately harm the most vulnerable in society.

His speeches in Parliament often focus on holding the government accountable for policies that exacerbate inequality. In his view, economic justice and Scottish independence are inextricably linked. For Scotland to create a fairer society, he argues, it must have full control over its own fiscal policies.

Stephen Flynn’s Leadership Style

Flynn’s leadership style is distinct and refreshing. He’s approachable, but he doesn’t shy away from confrontation. He’s known for being sharp in debates, yet he maintains a sense of humility that makes him relatable. Whether discussing policy on the floor of Parliament or engaging with voters in his constituency, Flynn brings an authenticity that resonates with many.

Bridging the Old and New in the SNP

One of the most fascinating aspects of Flynn’s leadership is his ability to bridge different factions within the SNP. The party is a broad church, with members ranging from moderate centrists to more radical left-wing figures. Flynn has managed to maintain unity while pushing for a more progressive vision of Scottish independence.

His pragmatic yet ambitious style has garnered support from both younger members of the party and its veteran figures, helping to solidify his place as a key leader moving forward.

Stephen Flynn’s Impact on UK Politics

While Flynn’s primary focus is Scotland, his presence in Westminster has undoubtedly impacted UK politics as a whole. He’s been an outspoken critic of the current UK government’s handling of issues ranging from Brexit to economic policy, calling for a more democratic and transparent system.

Flynn’s influence extends beyond speeches. He’s actively involved in working across party lines on issues like climate change and economic reform, demonstrating that while his primary mission may be independence, he’s committed to making a broader impact.

What’s Next for Stephen Flynn?

So, what does the future hold for Stephen Flynn? Well, his career seems to be on an upward trajectory. He’s young, ambitious, and backed by a party that’s likely to play a key role in Scotland’s future. With independence becoming a more central issue in Scottish politics, Flynn’s leadership will likely be crucial in shaping how the SNP navigates the road ahead.

Could Flynn Be First Minister?

It’s a question many are asking: could Stephen Flynn one day become Scotland’s First Minister? While it’s still early days, Flynn’s popularity within the SNP and his strategic vision make him a strong contender for future leadership roles within the party. He’s already proven he can lead at Westminster, so the idea of him leading Scotland isn’t far-fetched.

Conclusion

Stephen Flynn’s rise in British politics has been nothing short of remarkable. With a blend of pragmatism, passion, and a clear vision for Scotland’s future, Flynn is a politician to watch closely. His leadership, advocacy for Scottish independence, and fight for economic justice are reshaping the political landscape. As his influence grows, it’s clear that Stephen Flynn is just getting started. Could he be Scotland’s next great leader? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: he’s made his mark, and he’s not done yet!

[realpeterabell]

You've never had it so bland!

Having been preoccupied with Other Stuff for most of the morning, I sat myself down a few minutes ago with my laptop atop my lap (I’m a traditionalist that way.) ready to confect a morsel to feed the ravenous beast that is the blog. Things being as they are, I thought it best to check the headlines before proceeding to cast pearls of wisdom that might better resemble turds of absurdity in light…

[mounadiloun]

Un débat sur Gaza provoque une crise parlementaire au Royaume Uni

La situation en Palestine, à Gaza précisément, est à l’origine d’une sérieuse crise politique au Royaume Uni. En effet, en sa qualité de parti d’opposition et troisième force politique représentée à la House of Commons, l’équivalent de l’Assemblée Nationale française, le Parti National Ecossais bénéficie de «fenêtres» parlementaires qui lui permettent de soumettre des textes au vote. Et le parti…

[peterabell]

BETRAYED!

The resolution passed by the SNP conference yesterday amounts to nothing more than a rewording of the 'strategy' that has kept Scotland's cause immobile since 2015 and seen numerous opportunities for progress casually squandered.

Yesterday in Aberdeen, Scotland’s cause was betrayed by a clique of craven, self-serving politicians and the pathologically credulous conference delegates who had the power to put a stop to the treachery but chose the other thing. Between them, the leadership cabal of the SNP and those representing party members dealt what may prove to be a final, fatal blow to hopes of restoring Scotland’s…

[natgallery]

The Fall of Uselysses

This Cult work from the Nat Gallery’s ‘Temporary Humza Collection’ is usually known by its common name ‘The Fall’. More illustratively is the work’s full name “Arrestsa looks upon Uselysses and Baldemort Contemplating their Fall”.

Uselysses, also known in ancient Govanic as Odiouss and by his Cultic title Continuetus, was a pagan demigod of the Cult pantheon. (Because of this work he is often also referred to by historical scholars as The Fall-Guy). He succeeded Arresta as Cult leader just as her empire teetered on the brink of collapse. The swift ascent of Uselysses, engineered by Arressta, was supposed to ensure the continued rule of the Cult; purporting to place the Cult in safe hands. Yet Uselysses’s grip was anything but.

In the time of these figures the Cult was deep in tumult. A series of disasters were undermining the faith. Tithes were missing from the treasury, citadel temples had collapsed and many of the captains and generals of the Cult were falling upon their swords - rather than face battle with mounting numbers of enemies. In this wakened state Arressta herself was pursued by augers (as was her husband, Petra - also known as the Great Magpie, and much of her personal retinue) so the unthinkable was happening - the End Time of the Cult was considered a real possibility.

This, then, was the world inherited by Uselysses. Failings on all sides, internecine battles and a loss of the will to fight. The engineered rise of Uselysses, meant to cure those ills, merely heightened tensions. In assuming Cult leadership Uselysses cut the throat of the Vestal Priestess in a gory ceremony. Normally this Cult ritual would pass without comment - but Uselysses was of a pagan temple so his ceremonial actions were seen as divisive (the ceremony itself was botched by Uselysses and the bloody head of Wee Free Vestal rolled off stage - a bad omen) deeply worrying the augers. This was rapidly followed by one message of bad news after another. (This even included the sick heckling Uselysses at his coronation convention. The sick would traditionally make up a large portion of Cult crowds and in the case of Uselysses’s convention, the temple was in Dundee where legions of the sick were present. Normally they would expect to be healed by attending the coronation of a demigod - but in another bad omen the attending sick were only made worse at this set piece event as they wailed in agony during the ceremony!)

Newly elevated High Priest Baldemort had also come to power by bloody means. His was clericide, slaying his predecessor and then making love to his corpse in a grizzly Cult ceremony to ‘show unity’ with the immediate past. This event too was marred as the corpulent cadaver of the prior High Priest burst open during the ceremony. The wretched stink was said to befoul the whole city.

Thus the artist brings us to our current vantage: - observing a stunned leader contemplating his fate together with his High Priest, Baldemort. The two appear dazed and unconnected, at least in thought, looking past one another - even as they are clearly intertwined and thus likely to fall together. The artist tells us through each vacant gaze that neither is able to comprehend their true situation. Arressta is trapped in the background, yet anppears overshadowing all. She is unable to help the two doomed figures, or indeed herself. This is an epic tragedy unfolding before our eyes.

On the composition

At first glance there is a homoerotic quality to the two barely clothed central figures. But this is misleading. As clearly seen by the visual allusion to the phallus rising from behind their heads - we are informed they are not interested in dick, they in fact are dicks. Point of fact much was written about Uselysses and Baldemort each being lovers only of themselves. Both were initiated into the Cult Inner Ring - the Narcissi. (The highest rings of the Cult were the Egoi, the Corrupti and the Narcissi. Uselysses and Baldemort were initiates of all three. Neither was known to be admitted to the lower Cult rings of the Pervi or the Suggesti. So an interpretation of homoerotic undertones here, despite their obvious preening, would be erroneous).

Both central leaders are stripped bare, exposed as it were - an artistic allusion to the loss of their powers of guile. They are literally laid bare. Arressta, on the other hand, is hardly corporeal at all. She seems spectral. In other, earlier, works hers was invariably the central figure. But by the time represented in this work, her eclipse was well under way and the common title might easily refer to her alone - were it not for what we know of the other tragic figures.

The doomed atmosphere of the three is the overwhelming impression of the work. Of course one is uncomfortable by the sight of two preening men cavorting in public, but knowing this is their ‘death throws’ - haunted by their recent past behind them - amid the murky colouring, we are merely left to share a bleak contemplation. Just like the Cult leadership pictured.

COPYRIGHT ©️ The Nat Gallery

[irnbraw]

Wanker of the Week*

So Flynn-flam won the contest to become new SNP leader of the cult’s group of Westminster MPs.

This is another of those less and less indications of real hate and friction inside the party of Hate & Friction.  Implosion is on countdown…!

And mere moments after posting this meme - the warfare has opened and there are - at current count - 2 front bench resignations so far.

‘‘The shootings will continue until moral improves’ - Old SNP Saying

Looks like a fun ‘hostage ransom video’ rehearsal 

*Too many in that cult for him to hold the title for much more than a week

[stratocumulusperlucidus]

« That was a fun day to have Stephen on set. It was just Stephen and the younger cast and they were all on their best behavior. I was like "why can't you be like that when Stephen Fry's not on set?!" »

Matthew López On Adapting and Directing a Beloved Queer Love Story for 'Red, White and Royal Blue' (AwardsDaily)

[texaschainsawmascara]

Excision / Sharp Objects / Stoker / Alice, Sweet Alice / Carrie / Daddy’s Girl / The Bad Seed / The Ring / Firestarter / Moonrise Kingdom

[sondheim-girly]

Lindsay Mendez the queen that you are, I’m sorry that you get forgotten because Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathon Groff are more well known. Everybody knows that you have the most beautiful voice in the ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD and I actually think that you are perfect

[noys-boise]

here's to us! who's like us? damn few!

Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez in Merrily we roll along

(x)

[rwrbsource]

thomasflynn: I suppose it’s only fair we share some #RWRBmovie BTS shots now the strike is over…? ✨🪧📸😏 Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all your wonderful support. It was a JOY being a small part of this film and I adore everyone who worked on it. ❤️🤍💙

[realpeterabell]

BETRAYED!

The resolution passed by the SNP conference yesterday amounts to nothing more than a rewording of the 'strategy' that has kept Scotland's cause immobile since 2015 and seen numerous opportunities for progress casually squandered.

Yesterday in Aberdeen, Scotland’s cause was betrayed by a clique of craven, self-serving politicians and the pathologically credulous conference delegates who had the power to put a stop to the treachery but chose the other thing. Between them, the leadership cabal of the SNP and those representing party members dealt what may prove to be a final, fatal blow to hopes of restoring Scotland’s…

[rwrbmovie]

thomasflynn I suppose it's only fair we share some #RWRBmovie BTS shots now the strike is over...? ✨🪧📸😏

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all your wonderful support. It was a JOY being a small part of this film and I adore everyone who worked on it.

❤️🤍💙

P.S. love to hate the wig x

[peterabell]

Nothing to lose?

Our focus, I think, rightly needs to be on holding the UK Government to account and promoting the brilliant work of the Scottish Government where possible, but making that case for Scottish independence. “Now walking out of the chamber on a weekly basis will not achieve any of those aims. It just means there’s going to be nobody there to stand up for our constituents and to speak out for…

[denimbex1986]

We are lucky to be alive in the age of Andrew Scott, an actor of extraordinary breadth, skill and sensitivity, who can terrify as Jim Moriarty in Sherlock, make us fall in love (inappropriately) as the hot priest in Fleabag and cry in All of Us Strangers. He can also astonish, last year playing eight parts in a stage adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. He recently became the first actor to win the UK Critics’ Circle awards for best actor on stage and screen in the same year. And his latest project, Ripley, is a beautiful and chilling adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr Ripley, with Scott playing the lead, dominating all eight one-hour episodes. It’s been a wild, crowning year for the 47-year-old Irish actor. But in March his mother, Nora, died of a sudden illness; she is who Scott has credited as being his foremost creative inspiration. His grief is fresh and intense and for the first half of the interview it seems to swim just beneath the surface of our conversation.

“We go through so many different types of emotional weather all the time,” he says. “And even on the saddest day of your life you might be hungry or have a laugh. Life just continues.” We are in a meeting room in his management company’s offices, talking about his ability, in his work, to modulate between emotions, to go from happy to sad, confused to scared, all within a matter of seconds. How does he do it? Scott laughs. “I would say that I have quite a scrutable face — is scrutable a word? — which is good or bad depending on what you are trying to achieve. But my job is to be as truthful as possible in the way that we are, and I don’t think that human beings are just one thing at any particular time. It is rare that we have one pure emotion.”

It’s an approach that is particularly appropriate for the playing of Tom Ripley, an acquisitive chameleon who inveigles his way into the lives of others (in this case Johnny Flynn, as the careless and wealthy Dickie Greenleaf, and his on-off girlfriend Marge, played by Dakota Fanning). “Ripley is witty, he is very talented. That’s gripping, to watch talent. I can’t call him evil — it is very easy to call people who do terrible things evil monsters, but they are not monsters, they are humans who do terrible things. Part of what she [Highsmith] is talking about is that if you dismiss a certain faction of society it has repercussions, and Ripley is someone who is completely unseen, he lives literally among the rats, and then there are these people who are gorgeous and not particularly talented and have the world at their feet but are not able to see the beauty that he can see.”

The show was written and directed by Steven Zaillian, the screenwriter of Schindler’s List. It’s set in Sixties New York and Italy, and filmed entirely in black-and-white, its chiaroscuro aesthetic evoking films of the Sixties — particularly those of Federico Fellini — while also offering an alternative to Anthony Minghella’s saturated late-Nineties iteration that starred Matt Damon and Jude Law. This has a darker flavour. “I found it challenging,” Scott says, “in the sense that he’s a solitary figure and ideologically we are very different. So you have to remove your judgment and try to find something that is vulnerable.”

It was a tough shoot, taking a year and filmed during lockdown. Scott was exhausted at the end of it and had intended to take a three-month break, but delays meant that he went straight from Ripley into All of Us Strangers. “Even though I was genuinely exhausted, it was energising because I was back in London, I was getting the Tube to work, there was sunshine,” he says. “I found it incredibly heartful, that film, there were so many different versions of love … I feel that all stories are love stories.”

All of Us Strangers, directed by Andrew Haigh, is about a screenwriter examining memories of his parents who died when he was 12. In it Scott’s character, Adam, returns to his family home, where his parents are still alive and as they were back in the Eighties. Adam is able to walk into the memory and to come out to his parents, finding the words that were unavailable to him as a boy. Some of it was filmed in Haigh’s childhood home, and there was a strong biographical element for him and his lead. Homosexuality was illegal in the Republic of Ireland until 1993, when Scott was 16. He did not come out to his parents until he was in his early twenties. I ask if he was working with his own childhood experiences in the film. “Of course, so in a sense it was painful, to a degree, but it was cathartic because you are doing it with people that you absolutely love and trust. I felt that it was going to be of use to people and I was right, it has been. The reaction to the movie has been genuinely extraordinary — it makes people feel and see things, and that isn’t an easy thing to achieve.”

The film is also a tender and erotic love story between Scott’s character and Harry, played by the Irish actor Paul Mescal. The two found a real-life kinship that made them a delight to watch on screen and off it, as a double act on the awards circuit. “I adore Paul, he’s so, so … continues to be …” Scott pauses. “Obviously it’s been a tough time recently and he just continues to be a wonderful friend. It’s everything. The more I work in the industry, I realise, you make some stuff that people love and you make some stuff that people don’t like, and all really that you are left with is the relationships that you make. I love him dearly.”

Scott and Mescal were also both notable on the red carpet for being extraordinarily well dressed. Scott loves fashion and has a big, well-organised wardrobe that he admits is in need of a cull. “I don’t like having too much stuff. I really believe that everything we have is borrowed — our stuff, our houses, we are borrowing it for a time. So I am trying to think of people who are the same size as me so I can give some of it away, and that’s a great thing to be able to do.” One of his favourite labels is Simone Rocha. “I love a bit of Simone Rocha. What a kind, glorious person she is. I just went to her show.” Fashion, he says, is in his DNA. “My mother was an art teacher, she was obsessed with all sorts of design. She loved jewellery and jewellery design. Anything that is visual, tactile, painting, drawing, is a big passion of mine, so I have tremendous respect for the creativity of designers.”

Today Scott is wearing Louis Vuitton trousers and a cropped Prada jacket, dressed up because he is collecting his Critics’ Circle award for best stage actor for Vanya. I ask how it feels to have won the double, a historic achievement. “Ah …” he says, looking at the table, going silent, having just been so voluble. “I’m sorry …” His voice cracks a little. “It’s bittersweet.”

At the ceremony Scott dedicated the award to his mother, saying of her “she was the source of practically every joyful thing in my life”. Is it difficult for him to carry on working in the circumstances, I wonder. “Well, you know, you have to — life goes on, you manage it day by day. It’s very recent, but I certainly can say that so much of it is surprising and unique, and there is so much that I will be able to speak about at some point.”

He is looking forward, he says, once promotion for Ripley is over, to taking some time off, going on holiday, going back to Ireland for a bit. He has homes in London and Dublin. To relax he walks his dog, a Boston terrier, dressed down in jeans and a hoodie “like a 12-year-old, skulking around the city” or goes to art galleries on the South Bank — he was considering a career as an artist until he was 17 and got a part in the Irish film Korea. He goes to the gym every day, “not, you know, to get …” he says, flexing his biceps. “More that it’s good for the head.” He is social, likes friends, likes a party. When I ask if he gave up drinking while doing Vanya, which required him to be on stage, alone, every night for almost two hours, he looks horrified. “Oh God, no! Easy tiger! Jesus … Although I didn’t drink much, I did have to look after myself. But we had a room downstairs in the theatre, a little buzzy bar, because otherwise I wouldn’t see anybody, so I was delighted to have people come down.”

Scott was formerly in a relationship with the screenwriter and playwright Stephen Beresford and is currently single, although this is not the sort of thing he likes to talk about. He is protective of his privacy, not wanting to reveal where he lives in London, or indeed the name of his dog — but he swerves such questions with a gentle good humour.

He is famous on set for being friendly and welcoming, for looking after other people. “The product is very important, but most of my time is spent in the process, so I want that to be as pleasant and kind as possible. I feel like it is possible to do that, that it is an honourable goal.” He is comfortable around people, with an easy charm — no one I have interviewed before has said my name so many times. And although when we talk he sometimes seems reflective or so very sad, there are also moments when he is exuberant, silly, putting on accents. “I feel like, as a person, I am quite near my emotions. I cry easily and I laugh easily, and there is nothing more pleasurable to me than laughing.”

Scott was raised a Catholic and is no longer practising, but says his view about religion is “ever changing — I definitely have a faith in things that cannot be proved”. When he was younger and felt overwhelmed, just before or after an audition, he would go to the Quaker Meeting House in central London and sit in silence, something that made its way into the second series of Fleabag, in which Scott’s priest takes Waller-Bridge’s character to that same meeting house. “It’s just around here,” he says, standing up, looking out of the window at Charing Cross Road. “When Phoebe and I first talked, we met at the Soho Theatre. We talked about love and religion, we walked all around here. And I said, ‘This is a place I go,’ so we called in and there was no one there, so we sat in there and we talked. It was a really magical day.”

Scott says he sees all the different characters that he has played as versions of himself. “It’s like, ‘What would this version of me look like?’ rather than, ‘Oh, I’m going to be somebody else.’ You filter it through you, and you discover more about yourself. I think that is a very lucky thing to be able to do, to find out more about yourself in the short time that we are here.”