Neil Schofield-Hughes

Absolutely wrong. Equality is the antidote to division, and growth without tackling inequality exacerbates division. It is beyond horrifying that this Labour government should be peddling its own version of trickle-down economics.

My piece in @bylines.cymru on Saturday’s Cardiff Transformed conference. A hopeful day with @zackpolanski.bsky.social @leannewood.bsky.social Beth Winter and many others.

Farage’s evidence that Muslims want to takeover London: Wait for it. Taxi drivers. In Buckinghamshire. I’ve heard taxi drivers tell me lampposts are watching us, Covid was a scam and Aston Villa will win the premier league!!

Please let me know. I’m awaiting a call from the engineer who’s servicing my boiler tomorrow and I need to be prepared…

Meanwhile, on a rare trip East of Offa’s Dyke, trying to work out whether it’s really a mark of patriotism and respect to festoon the public conveniences in flags?

Starmer's Weimar Moment How Keir Starmer's failure to confront the aggressive nationalism of the Right is allowing it to dominate political discourse

New blogging: Starmer’s Weimar moment.

open.substack.com/pub/neilscho...

I trust it has not gone unnoticed that for all the excluding rhetoric about “working families”, Labour has decided to undermine the operation of Article 8 of ECHR in respect of asylum seekers - of people fleeing real danger and persecution.

What hypocrites and cowards Labour have become.

Labour ‘dithering’ on child poverty as Education Secretary admits to being ashamed LABOUR was slammed for dithering on child poverty as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson insisted today she was “ashamed” after 38 faith leaders demanded ministers scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Labour ‘dithering’ on child poverty as Education Secretary admits to being ashamed.

Govt finds money for corporate bailouts, subsidies, foreign wars and tax perks for corporations and the rich.

Child poverty is an unacceptable political choice. Blights lives.

As someone once put it, Mother of God…

Exactly this.

Were the flames that nearly singed Will’s keyboard spreading from Jo Stevens’ pants?

We all know it’s a lie. Everyone in that room knows it’s a lie. So why do they keep lying to us and patronising us? Don’t they understand that the serial dishonesty plays into the hands of hard-right populists?

A vote for soft Fascism Yesterday’s vote to leave the EU is a leap into the unknown.

Something I wrote exactly nine years ago, the morning after that Brexit vote. Apart from the forlorn hope that Labour might stand up against the toxic politics that led to Brexit, and even though I say it myself, it stands up astonishingly well. neilschofieldhughes.substack.com/p/a-vote-for...

I believe the second word is “off”.

My MP was Starmer’s legal enforcer, parachuted into a constituency (Cardiff West) with which he had no previous connection. So I don’t expect him to do anything.

Nevertheless, numbers of emails in MPs’ inboxes matter. It’s worth the few minutes it takes.

Indeed. And by parachuting a Starmer apparatchik into Cardiff West was showing contempt for his - and Rhodri Morgan’s - legacy, for “clear red water” and a distinctive Welsh Labour identity. And now he’s reduced to doing Reeves’ dirty work. It’s sad and humiliating.

(Incidentally I suspect that the reason why Mark Drakeford lost it with @rhunapiorwerth.bsky.social in the Senedd is because, deep down, he knows that Labour in Westminster is failing Cymru. Defending what he must know is indefensible must take its toll).

And not just on rail.

The spending review being hailed by Welsh Labour ministers leaves us worse off overall - a poorer settlement than even the Tories gave us.

But “both ends of the M4”… why do Welsh Labour always accept second best as being good enough for Cymru?

Budgets, block grants, and the Barnett Formula – how Welsh devolution embeds austerity If Cymru’s a ship then Westminster has been a tug boat, pulling the nation towards shoals and rough seas. Can we ever take the wheel and steer away from austerity?

Barnett’s original purpose was to cap spending in the nations (not regions). This is something I wrote a while ago that explains how it has failed Cymru. The Oxford-Cambridge line decision is just the latest instance.

bylines.cymru/politics-and...

By designating spending that has no benefits for Wales e.g HS2, Oxford-Cambridge rail as “England and Wales” which means no Barnett consequentials - costing Cymru £billions.

Plenty of journalists and politicians are all too aware. But Labour in Government here chooses to look the other way.

The long term is precisely the point. Cymru has been starved of public investment by Governments that continue to game the Barnett formula. It’s a key reason why our economic outcomes are so poor.

- In a world of trade there is no such thing as a sovereign currency

- Its account of the creation of money doesn’t stack up empirically.

- it has no theory of the role of the state.

Above all, it offers simple solutions to complex problems. It offers insights but as a theory it fails.

Spending review could mean cuts in Wales - experts Experts warn of potential cuts if cash boost in spending review is spent on the Welsh NHS.

“In power at both ends of the M4…”

Spending review could mean cuts in Wales - experts www.bbc.com/news/article...

There is much in here that I wholeheartedly support. But we absolutely must not base the economic case for independence on MMT woo. There is a powerful economic case for independence; resorting to fiscal faddism undermines it.

The importance of public space - safe places of public interaction, free of charge and unsullied by traffic - is one of the things that the British political class doesn’t get, and reveals their privilege when they don’t.

Revealed: “Shocking” scale of Big Tech’s influence over Labour Science and technology secretary Peter Kyle asked Google boss to “sense check” AI policy and told Amazon he’d “advocate” for them to competition watchdog

🚨 New: 'Shocking' scale of Labour’s Big Tech ties

In its first 6 months, Labour ministers and top officials met with tech giants an average of *six times a week.*

We’ve got the documents. 🧵

New on Democracy for Sale with @lucasamin.bsky.social

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-s...

This is a terrific disc. But, more importantly, what a composer Grace Williams was. Such a powerful and utterly distinctive voice. And, as well as this, her masterpiece - the huge, stunning Missa Cambrensis - is at last now on disc too.

Exactly so. But Labour - in both Westminster and Bae Caerdydd - is like a rabbit in the headlights when confronted with the realities of right-wing populism. It’s become about perpetuating the brand, an isn’t really politics at all.

It’s always worth a reminder that the Brexit that Starmer wants to make “work” was among Putin’s key policy aims.

Exactly this. And it probably deserves to be Cardiff Council’s obituary - fine words about the climate emergency, but greenwashing and unsustainable over-development in practice. @cardiffcouncil.bsky.social

How tactical voting could shape the outcome of the next Senedd elections - important piece from @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social in @bylines.cymru