Faux Brummell

The clever thing about going for stuff like the cycle for work scheme is it’s really noticeable, affects people with lots of media access and platforms, annoys green groups, and raises almost no revenue at the same time. Real win/win/win there.

So is that an idiotic stunt that went wrong, or is it an idiotic stunt that succeeded? I really have no idea at this point.

Ultimately, this relentless leadership speculation in UK politics since Brexit, based on personalities and abstract labels rather than ideas and coherent governing philosophies, is displacement activity for a system that is hurtling towards a legitimation crisis. And may be in one already.

Exciting developments of the day. Having spent two and a half days pretty much bed-bound, it's possible the antibiotics will have worked sufficiently by this afternoon to allow me to go outside. Yippee!

+1

Intelligent question: what, if any, social democratic policies might rejuvenate the economy & defeat the far right? Stupid question: should Streeting replace Starmer? The fact that the political class are discussing one rather than the other is the problem.

Part of the complexity in this instance is that the people briefing about the other guy challenging their guy never actually wanted their guy. Their guy was a way to get the other guy who they really wanted & who they are now briefing against, making their guy look weak and embattled.

New @nberpubs: "The Economic Impact of Brexit" www.nber.org/papers/w34459
"by 2025, Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6% to 8%, with the impact accumulating gradually over time." 😲

It's an obscene act of irresponsibility. Inward-looking, solipsistic, self-interested, playschool fucking bullshit.

You're right about the editing but the second film contains the line "She's standing right next to you" which, in context, is one of the all time great lines in an action film - possibly any film - so the editing has to be tolerated.

Donald Trump is not going to sue the BBC for $1 billion

The real story today is both Reform/Farage and the Conservatives/Badenoch talking today about radically changing the BBC

This is the real agenda

This is entirely plausible. The news output has been undermined from within such that scepticism is always the appropriate stance. Earlier today Jonn Elledge inadvertently deployed a new verb that captures the undermining process neatly viz. the BBC has Robbie fucking Gibbed its news output.

What could possibly go wrong, you ask?

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

The BBC's depressing lack of of inherent institutional strength The BBC needs to be a robust, independent institution

The BBC's depressing lack of inherent institutional strength

The BBC needs to be a robust, independent institution

By me

Substack emptycity.substack.com/p/the-bbcs-d...

Personal blog davidallengreen.com/2025/11/the-...

The Authoritarian Stack How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next

Must read: esta es la forma en que los multimillonarios de la tecnología están construyendo una América posdemocrática y cómo están haciendo de Europa su siguiente objetivo.
www.authoritarian-stack.info

The obvious answer is that it is BJ. But the turn of phrase feels like it wasn't written in the last half century.

Quite apart from the whole "every accusation is a confession" thing, this is politics played on easy mode. Make up a premise, speculate regarding a dubious course of action, then condemn it as unacceptable. With the whole confection never making contact with anything so trivial as reality.

Here's another bit of conventional wisdom Zohran completely blew away: His speech was at well above a 10th-grade level. It was complex, erudite, punctuated by deep and fluent references. You don't have to condescend to voters with baby talk! Part of re-establishing norms is speaking like an adult.

AI boom shows strain as Palantir slumps and Nasdaq slides The selloff in Palantir and the Nasdaq highlights a tense dynamic: America’s entire stock market has arguably become a leveraged bet on AI

“The AI boom that built the bull market is starting to wobble
The selloff in Palantir and the Nasdaq highlights a tense dynamic: America’s entire stock market has arguably become a leveraged bet on AI.”
qz.com/the-ai-boom-...

Onion bhaji, vegetable jalfrezi, lachha paratha, saag aloo.

In other words, the Right is getting even more horrible.

Yes, I saw the agent had spoken on the matter. If I were in her position then I think I might have enquired before now whether they'd actually done it - given the political risk is obvious. But I don't think it's a big deal in the cosmic scheme of things.

Selective licensing is area-based not by type of property. Anyone letting a property in a designated area needs a licence. It's a policy introduced by the Labour Government 20 years ago. It shouldn't be a surprise to RR.

I'm sure Neal isn't anti-planning reform. It is a relatively well-established position in the housing literature that planning reform alone isn't the solution, but it is the one that governments keep reaching for. It's easier for them to reform planning than tackle other elements of the problem.

Cracker here from @resi-analyst.bsky.social

“Millions of people need homes. That’s not up for debate. But confusing need with demand has caused a massive policy failure.”

academic publishing industry hellbent on destroying academic knowledge (and knowledge generally)

Looking at you, UK government...

At odds for now, perhaps, but surely the question is how resilient those social norms are to the repeated failure among the elite to reaffirm them - quite apart from the efforts to outright undermine them.

Wait until he hears that Reagan didn't trust the Russians.

Who Funds Reform? Nigel Farage’s Party Received 92 Percent of its Donations from Fossil Fuel Interests, Polluters, and Climate Deniers Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...

A report in 2024 found that 92% of donations to Reform UK came from fossil fuel groups and climate change deniers.
Any wonder they are against all policies for cutting carbon emission into the atmosphere ...
www.desmog.com/2024/06/04/n...