Will Dunn

Is there any ship so seaworthy, and so welcome a sight in port, as the Pret a Manger miniature cheese boat

If you're a big-shot TV producer and would like this written up as this generation's West Wing, let me know?

The population increase in England and Wales since 2021 is pretty wild when taken in longer-term context.

The years 2022-24 saw the largest population annual increases, by some way, outside of the two world wars. Natural change was close to zero, so the increase was all from migration.

I wrote about Donald Trump's visit to Scotland www.newstatesman.com/politics/the...

Donald Trump, the king of Scotland The president took in the natural beauty, which he so loves to bulldoze for golf courses.

The president took in the natural beauty, which he so loves to bulldoze for golf courses.

@willdunn.bsky.social's sketch: Donald Trump, the king of Scotland

Eight years after it came out, I have come to the important and relevant conclusion that I did not enjoy The Emoji Movie. www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

The truth about junior doctors’ pay The BMA’s figures are debatable.

The truth about junior doctors’ pay

I went to see Jeremy Hunt giving a talk about Jeremy Hunt and afterwards signing copies of his book about Jeremy Hunt

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Is a DWP text about claiming Winter Fuel Payment a scam? I got a reminder from the Department for Work and Pensions to claim my winter heating allowance. Can you help?

Yep - HMRC have taken down more than 4,000 scam Winter Fuel websites, often linked to texts. More here: www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensio...

Winter Fuel Payment now the focus of scam text campaigns

Kemi Badenoch isn’t working The Tory leader was supposed to save her party. What went wrong?

Sparkling, hugely enjoyable profile based on months of reporting by the great @willoyd.bsky.social

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

The billionaire and the tax evading gift shops Asif Aziz's Criterion Capital manages a row of high-profile shops at Piccadilly Circus. So why does his team keeping renting them to students who vanish without paying millions of pounds in taxes?

He's one of Britain's richest men. So why does Asif Aziz's property company keep leasing London gift shops to overseas students based in abandoned offices or flytipped car parks — before vanishing without paying millions of pounds in taxes? www.londoncentric.media/p/asf-aziz-l...

How does this sell airline tickets? Who picks the airline after seeing this?

Sharon Graham: Unite's Labour affliation "getting harder to justify" The Unite boss on Labour, Angela Rayner, Corbyn-Sultana and dissafilation.

Will Unite abandon Labour?

Will they fund the Sultana-Corbyn party?

All Graham will say is that she wants to focus on building a "strong, independent workers' union".

The triple lock does NOT properly account for the rising cost of Fever-Tree and Evian spray
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Are Unite and Labour heading for divorce? The union’s disaffiliation threat is real but its leader Sharon Graham fears the “personality cult” of a new left party.

“Sharon is not interested in personality cults”.

Unite source on why they won't back a new Corbyn-led party if they disaffiliate from Labour. www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

UK offered to speed up resettlement case of Afghan who posted leaked data online The BBC understands the individual, an Afghan national, is now living in the UK.

Did the UK ask Facebook to take this data down? Or did Facebook refuse? Incredible story: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Has-Car-Ban

Britain’s billionaire tax problem HMRC does not appear to know how much tax our billionaires pay.

HMRC does not appear to know how much tax our billionaires pay.

💰 @willdunn.bsky.social: Britain’s billionaire tax problem

School catering firms make millions while children eat Bad Pie The quality of school meals has been falling dramatically in the cost-of-living crisis – and the proof is in the pudding.

The magic of outsourcing: a company which provides school dinners, which takes most of its income from the taxpayer, can pay its owner about six times as much as the Prime Minister. The people actually serving the food get min wage. www.newstatesman.com/business/202...

School catering firms make millions while children eat Bad Pie The quality of school meals has been falling dramatically in the cost-of-living crisis – and the proof is in the pudding.

School catering firms make millions while children eat Bad Pie. The quality of school meals has been falling dramatically in the cost-of-living crisis – and the proof is in the pudding. @willdunn.bsky.social

What's the argument from the Centre for Social Justice here? That people with disabled children are unreasonably fortunate? The NHS can spend millions treating a single person. It doesn't make that person a lottery winner. Quite the opposite.

Morning! Like a bottle of JP Chenet in a boiler cupboard, the UK is not ageing well.

www.newstatesman.com/business/eco...

Tuesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

Some thoughts about what yesterday's PMQs revealed about the people taking part.
(full article here www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...)

At one point negotiations over the concessions became so fraught that when one rebel MP asked if the government could include lifting the two-child benefit limit, a furious aide told them: “You’ve just spent the money for that!”

New Statesman cover this week. Online tomorrow. On newsstands Thursday.

A modern Heraclitus

If I understand correctly, the £1.7bn cut to the health element of UC doesn't save any money because it is cancelled out by the higher UC standard allowance (£1.8bn). So if the Timms review removes the four-point rule then the attempt to save £5.5bn has now ended up costing an extra £100m