Terry Weldon

Should stamp duty be scrapped in the UK? Conservative party says property tax deters people from moving house and stifles productivity

a) it's a bad tax - but economists aren't lining up to endorse this announcement - 'Badenoch’s proposal would need more credible measures to fund it', say experts, who highlight 'need for wider reform of property taxation'.

1/

www.ft.com/content/df62...

Johnson "repeatedly broke rules forbidding him from exploiting for private gain contacts made in office"

So what is #Starmer"sLabour going to do about it?

He belongs behind bars.

Various photos of Reform’s former Leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, with Nigel Farage.

Just a reminder that Reform’s former Leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, has admitted taking bribes from Russia while an MEP.

Yet Reform spokespeople have suggested their leaders didn't really know Gill.

So here's a few pictures of him with Nigel Farage.

It was always obvious that Farage's promise to cut local taxes and "fix" local government were completely unrealistic, but too many voters fell for his lies.

Now actually in government, his councillors are facing reality.

So many lies spout from Farage it’s sickening

Attention, Germany!

Russian propagandists threaten that "in the event of any aggressive actions against Russia, Germany will experience a fourth entry of Russian troops into Berlin."

Welsh UKIP leader while Farage was national leader - but NF claims he never knew him?

Just not credible. #FarageLies.

How ultrasound is ushering a new era of surgery-free cancer treatment Ultrasound has long been used for helping doctors see inside the body, but focused high frequency sound waves are offering new ways of targeting cancer.

During my own cancer journey, including 6 years as a trustee for the patient support charity GISTCancer UK, I've been constantly amazed and encouraged by the many rapid new advances in cancer treatment.

This is just the lates I've come across.

www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Ha! I just read that Richard Tice describes efforts to neutralise the UK’s fossil fuel emissions as “the most costly self-inflicted wound in modern British history”.

Really, Dick? Really? You can't think of a more costly self-inflicted wound?

I can. I'll give you a hint. Ends with "exit".

Not one to allow principle or belief to get in the way of profit.

I'm not Welsh, even by ancestry so I have no opinion re Welsh politics or Senedd - but I can say I was seriously impressed by your leader in Westminster parliament when I heard her on #R4 news at one today: Thoughtful, articulate, sane, clearly stating why Plaid cannot co-operate with Reform.

Reform having no choice but to send Zia Yusuf on QT, as Lee Anderson would probably get so rattled he’d ask Zack to step outside, and Tice and Farage are exactly who Zack is talking about when he talks about the super rich

Typical Tories: determined to fix problems that don't exist.

We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel – it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins With British industry faltering, the excuse that the public wants this is risible. Parliament must force Starmer to act, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

Remember when Nigel Farage said, 'If we vote to Remain on June 23rd, it will be the end of the steel industry in this country. It's as simple as that.'

Now we all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel – it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it

Tories’ search for new ideas leads to same HE playbook ‘Debt trap’ has replaced ‘Mickey Mouse’ courses but Badenoch still kicking universities after being ‘boxed in’ by Labour’s apprenticeship embrace and Reform attacks on elitism

Good despatch from @patrickjack.bsky.social from the Conservative conference exploring why the Tories have run out of ideas on higher education www.timeshighereducation.com/news/tories-...

According to YouGov, 61% have concluded that Brexit is a failure. Just 13% now regard it as more of a success. Almost half want another referendum within five years, and 63% oppose loosening ties with the EU any further. That figure should daub every public meeting staged by Nigel Farage.

The Tories Are Not Okay - And We Urgently Need Them to Be The Conservatives' Spectacular Collapse Into Grievance and Grandstanding Isn't Just Their Problem - It's Ours Too, Whether We Vote For Them Or Not

The Tories Are Not Okay - And We Urgently Need Them to Be
open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

No sign of understanding Pratchett.

She dislikes universities teaching English, so she's obviously not studied it, or learned how to think.

The Death of Conservatism? Part 1: Laying out a map

I have also written about this here theorymatters.substack.com/p/the-death-...

It's not just Badenoch or Jenrick. The entire British conservative project is dying iandunt.substack.com/p/the-empty-...

Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado wins Nobel peace prize Leader of country’s opposition receives award after scrutiny surrounding committee and comments by Donald Trump

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

This week's local by-elections confirm a continuing trend - the primary battle now is between Reform and Liberal Democrats.

CON and Lab in decline, Greens some way behind.

More than half of world’s bird species in decline, as leaders meet on extinction crisis Biodiversity losses are growing, the IUCN reports as summit opens, but green turtle’s recovery ‘reminds us conservation works’

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

17-year-old trans girl's suicide over NHS wait times was preventable says coroner A 17-year-old trans girl's death by suicide over NHS wait times could have been prevented with swift intervention, a coroner has ruled.

Wes Streeting extended the puberty-blocker ban on 6 November 2024.

Leia died by suicide on 11 November 2024.

One of our team was arrested yesterday for allegedly breaching protest restrictions, even though they weren't protesting – because wearing a keffiyeh while walking down the street is "reasonable suspicion".

This is the result of Starmer's crackdown: we're back in time to Nov 2023 under the Tories

Nathan Gill on X: "One year ago today, ⁦@Nigel_Farage⁩ made his final speech in the ⁦@EUparliament⁩ One chapter closed forever. https://t.co/POJWD0farX" / X One year ago today, ⁦@Nigel_Farage⁩ made his final speech in the ⁦@EUparliament⁩ One chapter closed forever. https://t.co/POJWD0farX

This photo with Nigel Farage was taken in the same place Nathan Gill spoke, influenced by Russian Bribes.

The photo was taken just months after he did it.

Farage has been silent about his old friend.

x.com/NathanGillME...

#ReformRussianBribes

Bird ringing – bringing knowledge and delight A South African discovery offered the first proof of birds migrating across the equator

Interesting.
Back in Johannesburg, on an outing with the local bird club I once enjoyed watching a professional ornithologist weighting and ringing birds trapped overnight in his mist net.

groundup.org.za/article/bird...

"Jency is working with Loyola’s administration to reserve seven to 12 seats each year for free education for transgender students. “Any transgender person who wishes to study is welcome,” she said. “I approach the Jesuit fathers, and they support them — providing education without any cost.” "

Indian Catholic College Hires Trans Woman as Professor - New Ways Ministry “From a small government school in Valakkanampudi to the faculty halls of Loyola College, Dr. N. Jency’s journey is one of courage, brilliance, and hope."

Great news - and no surprise that it has happened in India, where there is public recognition of more than two genders, and at a Jesuit institution. (Jesuits worldwide are generally LGBTQ supportive).

www.newwaysministry.org/2025/10/10/i...

Nor Marxism.