Nick

In Wales, Cornwall, Edinburgh, London and so many places when most 30mph roads were changed to 20mph, people injured or killed by motor vehicles reduced by 20%+. With minimal change to journey times and £2bn saving in insurance costs it's a huge win. bit.ly/4gIBPlJ

Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

Absolutely rock-solid work from Zelenskyy

the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed

I understand why racists want to conflate illegal with legal immigration, recently-arrived immigrants with long-term residents, UK-born minorities with non-UK born. They know they are a small minority, so they set up a cascade of equivalences to get from immigration control to mass deportation. 1/n

The golden ticket is a good description of what the country receives: asylum seekers like my father who worked tirelessly for the community, such as volunteering at Crisis at Christmas on Xmas day, chairing charities, and supporting youth football on Sundays on top of his normal work.

My dad’s dad was an extremely gregarious man. Life of the party. Made barrels and barrels of his own wine and drank most of it himself.

He had also been a tank gunner in Korea - and if you asked him about it, his eyes would darken and he’d change the subject. He would not speak a word about it.

Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges Gill admits to eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in the European parliament and articles

Nathan Gill, Reform's leader in Wales at the last Welsh parliament election, has pled guilty to 8 bribery charges, taking Russian cash while he was one of Nigel Farage’s MEPs to speak in favour of Putin's Russia in that parliament
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Reform are now coming after people with permanent residency. It'll be citizens next. No one is safe from authoritarian governments.

Keir Starmer: Our Nation's Crossroads

Sawyer - person who saws timber for a living

A grim reminder: these people will never be satisfied. There’s no point at which they will say “we’ve won, let’s enjoy life.” They will always be looking for someone else to punish, to revile, to dehumanize. They’re empty without that.

"Foreign-born UK residents are much more likely to be of working age than the UK-born — and thus less of a fiscal burden. They tend to be healthier than the UK-born, and are much more likely to have a university degree. 75% have lived in the UK for more than 5 years and 90% speak good English."

Nearly 900 fewer people injured since 20mph introduction in Wales Figures show a 25% reduction in the number of injuries on Wales' roads in the past 18 months.

Almost 900 fewer people have been injured on Welsh roads since the default speed limit was lowered from 30 to 20mph two years ago

Casualties on 20 to 30mph roads between July and September 2024 were the lowest for the three month-period since records began in 1979

👏 Evidence-led policy

My most centrist dad take is that most governing politicians deserve sympathy because almost every policy that's actually any good for the country is unpopular, and almost every popular policy is probably bad.

Johnson's Brexit approach was far worse than Chequers IMHO but 20ppts more popular 1/

I know it's uncivil and so on but honestly "coked up EDL paedos and wifebeaters" is genuinely a good line of attack, because it's true and everyone knows it is.

Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year Helsinki has completed 12 months without a single traffic fatality, a milestone credited to lower speed limits, safer infrastructure, and years of consistent planning, officials say.

The capital of Finland hasn't had a traffic death in a full year. Lower speed limits, plentiful speed cameras, 1,500+ km of bike lanes, infrastructure for pedestrians, and a new tram line.
When you prioritize people and not vehicles, you can save lives while protecting the environment.

Thread

By age 30, you should have a magic act, your own ministry, some prostitute friends, and an omnipotent, all-loving father who orchestrates your crucifixion

Just tried this - ranks people you don't follow but are followed by people you do bsky-follow-finder.theo.io

A danger of the 'will Bluesky succeed or not?' discourse is getting too fixated on this particular platform. This place grew because there was a demand for a microblogging site not tied to a fascist actively using it for campaigning and misinformation.

Are you young, highly educated and driven, and want to contribute to our stagnant economy with its aging population and low productivity? Well out you go

A tweet from Jason Groves of the Express, saying that Starmer is testing a new economic pledge to deliver “growth people can feel in their pockers”

Going for the Kenneth Williams vote, I see.

It may be that the Trump presidency reminds people of the dangers of untrammelled power - but that's only going to happen if politicians, journalists & opinion formers actively make that case.

If we keep pretending the problem is that there are *too many* constraints on govt, we really are doomed.

Trump and the far right wallow in a “Putinogneic environment” Russian spies and lies saturate their world

Piece from me on how Putin dominates Trump’s White House and the wider Western far right by enveloping them in an environment saturated with Russian money, Russian propaganda, and Russian spies open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

Govt has not reviewed its use of X since April 2023, despite its outsize contribution to the 2024 riots, Elon Musk's decision to replatform most accounts removed for the promotion of violence (reversing decisions after the Christchurch mosque massacre) and Musk championing Tommy Robinson

Start thinking of the global south as leaders in the energy transition.

Let’s be honest here: they were hoping the anti-refugee protests turned ugly because then there would be sexy telegenic violence. The reason that the progressive protests aren’t news is because they don’t. Which shows the warped priorities of our tv news coverage and is not a great signal to send.

Kindness is active, not passive