Tom Adams

"isn't worse" - I should probably read my posts before sending them.

But essentially, effective tax rate is a lovely metric, but if we don't account for inflation on basis (food, rent) outpacing minimum wage growth (or otherwise, in recent years) it doesn't provide a fair cross-year comparison.

But alas, stagnation of income over the last 20 years means that a lower effective tax rate doesn't make for a better outcome for the lowest paid.

I don't have the figures to hand, but 20% tax on "just about enough" 20 years ago isn't better than 15% tax on "definitely not enough" now.

These days, if you say there's deep disillusionment in this country, you'll be arrested and thrown in jail.

Keir Starmer prepares to miss key green target in effort to keep energy bills down Exclusive: Promise to remove almost all fossil fuels from UK’s electricity supply by 2030 may be quietly abandoned over cost

This is pretty representative:

The election promise was "carbon free grid by 2030", not "carbon free grid, unless it's more expensive".

Of course it's going to be more expensive - it's huge amounts of new investment! So either this is incompetence or dishonesty - neither is attractive.

I'm disappointed because the promises were essentially: no more games, no not dishonestly, no more saying one thing and doing another, no more policy-writing based on polling.

The promises were integrity, transparency, respect, and doing the right thing even when it's hard.

That's not happened.

I also love the idea that Reform types think companies are deliberately "woke-ing up" their ads for wokeness' sake, rather than just targeting the audience that exists.

Large companies don't tend to be in the business of deliberately sabotaging sales by producing unrepresentative advertising.

And that's the root of the problem.

"He just wants the noise to stop" = "he doesn't care so much about the reprehensible ethical and legal horrors which Andrew has [allegedly] committed, just that it's a distraction now"

Suggests, concerningly, that if it were still hushed up, he would mind less.

I always thought this was the commonly held view. I'd much rather not have a monarchy, but even I thought the queen was a class act, and held the whole thing together.

Without her gluing it together, I always assumed it would be a crumbling tower of rats in a sack.

Helped enormously by the fact that it suggests cities if you enter the country name, without which I would have been in trouble!

What a great little game - shame I've only discovered it a month before it goes behind a paywall 😟

I know it's my fault for not watching live, but please can you mention Traitors, The Traitors, #TheTraitors or similar in your Traitors posts so the Bluesky filter can do its thing?

I could start blocking posts mentioning faithful and faithfuls but I'm going to lose a lot of innocent posts 😅

I'll be the first to admit that I would have been a DK until middle of last week so can't definitely see where you're coming from. Fast moving times in the polling industry!

Out of interest, what's your criteria for selecting "major party leaders" to poll on popularity? Is there a % party vote share threshold?

At 10%, the greens are only 3pp behind the Lib Dems - might you think of including Polanski in this at some point (expecting quite a lot of DKs, maybe!)

Just listened to the first episode of Coining It. Enjoyable, and I shall be coming back for more.

But, @lewisgoodall.com , what the heck is so weird about eating mushrooms raw from the fridge?

Did not expect my snacking habits to come under fire this evening 😅

It's almost worth them recognising this and producing an edited five minutes of "crazy stuff the president has done this week" - doesn't engage in the outrage that he's desperate to provoke, but provides a focus (without eating the rest of the news) of ridicule, highlighting that this is not normal

But will we (the centre/left) believe the offer when it comes?

I was medium enthusiastic in 2024 about "we'll be honest, have integrity, make tough decisions in the best interest of the country and [crucially] not just take the easy path based on polling".

I won't make that mistake again.

Watching from across the Atlantic - please keep the momentum up. Don't let them get past the point of no return.

It's been a while since we've had a regular "news person" who could sit comfortably (although I'm guessing it didn't feel very comfortable!) next to the comedians without looking a bit out of place. Potentially not since the Toksvig era. Hopefully a few repeat visits to come.

@londoncentric.media - you should offer one-off article payments. I would genuinely consider parting with money to deal with this unresolved wordplay.

I don't even live in London and I'm tempted to subscribe.

Partly because it looks like a well researched newspaper full of interesting stories.

But mostly to see if this article capitalises on the rich seam of pun-potential in a story about snails and shell companies.

Best line: "I'm not Jo Swinsoning this!"

Partly because it made me chuckle. Partly because it summed up the extremely pragmatic approach Zac takes.

He knows his objectives, but he also knows the fastest way achieve them isn't always to go straight at them.

Very interested to see where it goes.

Best line: "I'm not Jo Swinsoning this!"

Partly because it made me chuckle. Partly because it summed up the extremely pragmatic approach Zac takes.

He knows his objectives, but he also knows the fastest way achieve them isn't always to go straight at them.
Very interested to see where it goes.

Are you sure about coherent? I agree with well meaning, but seems the government (and it looks like Starmer's [or people he should stop listening to] decision) is trying itself in knots - protest is good but we should have less; football hooliganism is bad, but not our place to clamp down on it.

A classic bit of internet fun.

And the post this is a reply to and the subsequent discussion is a great thread that's well worth reading.

Read this excellent article earlier today - interesting you see the full range of reasons / justifications / excuses given by comedians attending.

But mostly enjoyed the editor saying it wouldn't be fair to say CK bombed, despite the rich pun possibilities.

Thanks for that great article, and for the sneaky apophasis on the bombing pun.

Surprised to see Andrew Maxwell on the list, but not surprised that he had actually clearly thought about the ethics of it. Not sure I quite buy his "we take money from the BBC and this is the same" line, though.

Was not expecting a Neil Kinnock - High School Musical combo this morning.

Not disappointed.

CEFR is very common, and is used in nearly all language teaching across Europe. The government could align with it, rather than make up their own benchmarks.

Is "A level standard English" clearer? I suspect the public isn't clear what standard A level French is. I've forgotten, and I've done it!

In that case, which foreign language A level? Because you won't be looking at the same standard for Arabic or Japanese as you would for French or Spanish.

I guess my point it, the CEFR framework exists and is used by most other countries for this kind of thing - why must we overcomplicate it so!

What do they mean by "A level English"?

AFAIK we don't offer English as a foreign language at A level.

Do they mean "a level of English comparable to an A level in a foreign language" or "a level of English sufficient to pass A level English lit / language".

These are drastically different asks!

Haha, I totally did not realise this. But now I realise why Wintersmith felt a bit erratic and missing some of the Pratchett detail. I just figured he thought young adults preferred a brisker pace 😅