Jon Loveridge

Of course we need to hold the govt to account to make things better, this is their job, but shouting at the current govt over how/why it’s got so bad, I don’t think is useful. The Conservatives spent 14 years making everything worse, wilfully, as a result of their decisions, ask them

Exactly this - of course it is on the current government to fix things. But to pretend what we see with prisons - and any other failing govt responsibility - has just magically happened in the last 18 months as opposed to the last 15 years is obviously false

Along with the meatpacking rant, further evidence Trump has clocked the cost-of-living issue but has no idea what to do about it. I guess cutting tariffs is out of the question.

(NB I reckon that despite tariffs, inflationary risks from services are probably bigger than those from goods.)

Cry laughing every time I see that

Lowe doesn't need the money but the 'thrill' of engagment can be just as corrupting as the love of cash & if engagement/cash increase according to the extremity of the opinions expressed then you need integrity to resist the temptation to become ever more offensive. This is what Musk has engineered.

Without DEI, we would only make merit-based hires, like the genius strategist who decided to pick a fight with his boss’s new young wife.

These days, believers in free trade are generally found on the Left and Centre. The Right is now intellectually incoherent on this front.

Frost looks ready to embody this incoherence – someone who actively damaged free trade but then heads up a free trade think tank.

FIFA awarding a "peace prize" to Trump would be so absolutely on-brand, a truly genius innovation.

Scumbags

Yet again - like with the economy, or immigration, or the NHS, or Brexit - it’s just another opportunistic political football where all MPs are encouraged to deceive or dodge scrutiny. Our way of doing politics is so broken

Every time a Conservative or Reform MP or supporter is on the TV or Radio criticising the budget and any tax increases, they should be asked to explain their GE promises of tax cuts. If we can’t hold everyone to account, we can hold no one to account

YouTube video by LBC 'Everyone has lied to us about taxes'

Labour will rightly be criticised for breaking a commitment not to increase certain taxes, but it is worth remembering the scale of the Conservative & Reform tax cut promises at the last GE

Applying good judgement and not being credulous is now woke

Boy, sure doesn't SEEM like wall to wall coverage of Mamdani dragged down Democratic turn out or juiced opposition in other races... 🤔🤔

Maybe the reactionary pundit class are fucking idiots?

Economic policy is one thing Nigel Farage can’t crib from the Donald Trump playbook | Rafael Behr The Maga model, based on the US’s exorbitant market privileges, can’t be imported to Britain. That’s going to be a problem for Reform UK, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

Economic policy is one thing Nigel Farage can’t crib from the Donald Trump playbook | Rafael Behr

JFC. That’s a disincentive

Fundamentally this will ALWAYS be the issue, in that too few people in Britain truly understand the trade offs of tax and spend bsky.app/profile/dann...

Of course, people should expect to get good value for their taxes, but christ, we need an explainer as to how;
A) Comparatively, the UK is mid tier in terms of taxation
B) How demographics and austerity have created a need to higher taxation
C) Why/how Brexit failed to deliver on its promises

People who are relatively well off move to the Middle East so they don’t have to pay tax, an option certainly not open to everyone. I don’t understand how this comparison, given Dubai is 85% immigrant, doesn’t have a notable welfare state, is really relevant. It’s apples vs oranges

Notable in today's YouGov that the centre/left bloc - Lab/Green/LD/SNP are on 54%. With Reform/Tories on 43%. That's the biggest differential in a long time.

I think useful to track blocs given instability between parties at the moment.

Train company LNER 'extremely proud' of rail worker in critical condition after mass stabbing as family call him 'hero' The "extraordinary bravery" of the LNER worker who intervened during the train mass stabbing attack on Saturday has been hailed by his company.

I’m sure Matt Goodwin will be along shortly to tell us all whether LNER Customer Service Host Samir Zitouni counts as British or not. news.sky.com/story/train-...

‘Let’s call an arsonist an arsonist.’

@mrjamesob.bsky.social asks why it’s taken Labour until now to challenge the ‘ignorance and dishonesty’ of those who ‘championed Brexit’ and now want to ‘move on’.

Farage is on record now saying Brexit has “failed” and was “squandered” - whatever that means. And yet, of course, he’s still here

Farage and Reform will fall away when he gets put under proper scrutiny. The real question is when l that will happen - he’s had a totally free ride since the last election to spout his inconsistent nonsense

The whole narrative of the right is to imply the police, or anyone else, ARE hiding things. Which is the entire problem

YouTube video by The Value of Nothing How HS2 built a bridge to nowhere

In a move that critics are calling ‘ill-advised’ I’ve made a mini video documentary to accompany this post, featuring sexy drone footage and less sexy Martin footage. m.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPF...

Every time I’m in and around Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Northamptonshire and you see what’s being done to accommodate HS2, it enrages me. So much cost to appease so few people. The problems of NIMBYism brought to real life

The futility of our politics/media ecosystem means Farage can just spew out widely debunked claims about millionaire flight, spending cuts, the safety of London, immigrants etc and it will get streamed right to your TV screen with no analysis, correction or debate. Scary

He of course was only there due to his private schooling and who his father was

Farage, who was paid £189,000 in January to promote gold bullion in his spare time, is currently wanging on about how out of touch the Labour frontbench is. Ok