Nick Wells

Wow - this guy must be really, REALLY bad with money if an extra £208 per month will “ruin” his retirement.

Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph

Because this does NOT add up!

No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies…

🧵1/9

💥 Russian fascists refused to surrender.
Russia occupied <1% of Ukraine in 3 years, losing a million soldiers and hundreds of billions of dollars in military equipment.
The US admin fell for Russian psyops and wants to force Ukraine to gift 1.5% of the most fortified land.

reddit post screenshot. what’s the point of vibe coding if i still have to pay a dev to fix it? what’s the point of vibe coding if at the end of the day i still gotta pay a dev to look at the code anyway. sure it feels kinda cool while i’m typing, like i’m in some flow state or whatever, but when stuff breaks it’s just dead weight. i cant vibe my way through debugging, i cant ship anything that actually matters, and then i’m back to square one pulling out my wallet for someone who actually knows what they’re doing. makes me think vibe coding is just roleplay for guys who want to feel like hackers without doing the hard part. am i missing something here or is it really just useless once you step outside the fantasy

you’re so close

People who say "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" must be terrible cooks

Road damage is proportional to the 4th power of the axle weight. Set taxes based on that and see what changes.

Guardian headline: UK to expand nuclear deterrent with US fighter jets capable of carrying warheads Starmer to unveil purchase of 12 F-35A jets that can deliver tactical nuclear weapons, which may be kept at RAF bases

It's very depressing that Labour think it's a good idea to climb further into America's pocket, and intertwine our military even further, making us more and more beholden to them.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I feel your pain but the Economist is well worth the cost of the subscription. It's one of the best journals out there

Our cover this week.

Going back to the exact status quo ante bellum that enabled Russia to invade Ukraine is not a serious approach to end the war in Ukraine — as everyone knows.

Nine months ago, the NHS was at breaking point.

The turnaround under Labour has been remarkable – and barely anyone’s talking about it.

5 seriously impressive stats:

Wow! And this is going on for the next four years

I finally sit down for a one on one with gamekeeper Glenn Massacre (@mrhenrymorris.bsky.social) and it gets HEATED !

We discuss what constitutes 'vermin' and how he ALWAYS follows the letter of the law .

Please sign our petition to ban driven grouse shooting now govpetition.uk/700036

Britain’s parties cater to a voter who is, often literally, dead To understand British politics, one must understand Dead Man

Britain’s parties cater to a voter who is, often literally, dead
economist.com/britain/2025...
from The Economist

Brexiters celebrate 10% tariffs

Doctor to patient "Good news and bad news, Sir"
Patient "What's the bad news?"
Doctor "I've accidentally amputated your legs"
Patient "The good news?"
Doctor "The bloke in the next bed has offered £10 for your slippers"

Presumably the Mail thinks women should embrace "evil predators, cheaters and wife beaters"

Yes, we mustn't bespoil the beauty of the A40 as it majesically sweeps passed Eynsham.

God I hate these people.

Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous | Timothy Snyder Thanks to Trump’s administration, the US could soon have to fight wars to get things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking, says professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University

This is very good from @timothysnyder.bsky.social , not just about slow learner Vance who seems to have learned ZERO about effective diplomacy or American/ European history following his wincingly disastrous and despicable public attack on Zelensky

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

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So, the DOGE kids intend to rewrite the social-security administration's COBOL code-base!

and they want to do it ...

... in *a few months*

I did a huge dive into COBOL a few years ago (www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazi...) ...

... so let me explain why DOGE is *way* over its skis here

1/9

500,000 second-home owners face paying twice as much council tax Nearly three quarters of local authorities will take the option to double the charge for second homes, with the average bill rising from £2,280 to £4,560

Love it when people say “not all people with second homes are wealthy” as if asset wealth is not a thing

500,000 second-home owners face paying twice as much council tax

www.thetimes.com/article/763c...

I’ve seen a lot of assumptions in the media that Trump (and Musk) are targeting institutions with loyalty tests.

But that’s not quite right. They’re using dominance tests. And the difference between these two things matter. 🧵

“What do you mean by that?” and “Can you give me an example?” are such powerful questions. Like, they’re at least half of how I achieve anything at work. I wonder if journalists know they’re free - there’s no licence fee or anything. You can just ask them.

I’ve reached a sort of a boiling point with the Western Left.

Here’s the thing: I truly believe we are focused on all the wrong things and that’s why we have seen absolutely 0 progress when it comes to our influence, growth, and impact.

Ruling on Peter Mandelson’s firm shows Britain’s lobbying laws are a farce The lobbying watchdog has cleared almost every case it has investigated. Why? Because our laws are designed to be ineffective.

🗣️ “Those who can jump to the front of the queue may be representing clients with a particular policy to plug.”

As Peter Geoghegan exposes lobbying loopholes, Steve Gooridch warns how the "revolving door" undermines public interest in policymaking.

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/ruling-on-...

A masterclass in fashion

Aim and feasibility are the two key issues.

I wrote about the difficulties of putting together a European force and the dilemmas involved for the coalition of the willing here.
www.chathamhouse.org/2025/02/euro...

Good character guidance amended to block refugees from naturalisation - Free Movement There have been some important additions to pages 50 and 51 of the Good Character guidance (a comparison of the new and old versions is here) that have the

This should be changed asap.

If we give someone refugee status, it can't be right to then refuse them route to become a British Citizen. To say they can have a home in our country, but never a place in our society and be forever second class. freemovement.org.uk/good-charact...

"You don’t grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?"