Alex Stevens

Bathos hits:

Rachel Reeves could raise £45bn in taxes and keep promises, report says Chancellor has ways to cover UK deficit without breaching spirit of Labour manifesto, Morgan Stanley claims

Investment bankers mysteriously avoid recommending tax on wealth. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

In other news, Kemi Badenoch's party has taken at least £7 million in donations from funders and directors of climate change denial lobby groups bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...

In practice, most people adopt an adaptive/abduction approach; moving between inductive and deductive modes of reasoning (although many don't acknowledge this).

Prison is for poor people.

• Discontinue the idea of introducing a levy on higher education provider income from international students. • Reduce visa costs to ensure they are at least as competitive in cost as other leading science nations, and preferably have a target to become the mos competitive in the G7. • Provide immediate clarity that the current time length for Indefinite Leave to Remain is kept in place for current and future Global Talent visa holders and their dependents.

We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...

Can you imagine the government slapping a tariff on car exports in order to subsidise a small proportion of drivers? That is what the government plans for UK universities.

My ILR cost something like £1200 in 2013, what then felt like a huge amount for a PhD student. Citizenship then cost £700 a year later. This now looks positively cheap compared to the current costs of £3k plus for ILR and £1700 for citizenship.

Sounds a lot like the experience of supporting Sheffield Wednesday.

As if New Labour never tried #TotemicToughness

Can somebody from @ippr.org, @demos-uk.bsky.social, @compassoffice.bsky.social please explain why Labour ministers are coming up with such ill-thought ideas, and what they plan to do about it?

A few years ago, I went to a talk by Eric Kauffman - hosted by Goodwin - at which they both tried to explain that it is not racist to restrict immigration to white people only.

That's great so I've added #AltText so that more folk can appreciate it.

Take a bow, @kornetzke.bsky.social

Another nail in some Universities' coffins, as income from international students is diverted to student maintenance grants.

When journalists become Trump's stenographers...

Beautiful day in Sheffield for the first day of the University term.

The government has to learn how to lead public opinion, rather than chase it. Leaving X is a no-brainer when the algorithm is stacked in favour of extremists.

Movies with stoner-in-a-dressing gown heroes: One Battle After Another, The Big Lebowski. Any others?

"How many traitors are in Farage's new party?" would, I suggest be a better line than Digital ID.

To beat Reform, make wavering voters ashamed to back them.

Already more than a million signatures against digital ID cards, including mine.

What are the effects of youth club closures in the UK? - Economics Observatory The widespread closing of youth clubs during the 2010s, driven by government austerity measures, led to falling educational performance and increasing rates of youth offending. The long-term…

TODAY on the Economics Observatory – What are the effects of youth club closures in the UK? By @carmenvillaecon.bsky.social

Starmer gambles on ‘levelling up’-style initiative to tackle Reform threat Deprived communities to be given tens of millions to patch up derelict shops, pubs and libraries and ‘restore pride’

Welcome back to the New Deal for Communities #NewLabourRedux www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

To all Brits: *please* can you stop starting every presentation with an apology.

Research methods: "some academics I've spoken to".

No leaks that I've seen. Maybe the King threatened to behead him.

King Charles?

And more broadly: why is what politicians *say* treated as more newsworthy than *what is actually happening*? We are caught in an endless cycle of #gossip.

We're hiring! 📢

We're currently recruiting for a Policy Manager, Maternity Cover, Fixed term for 1 year

Find out more and apply 🔽

https://twp.ai/9PVaHX

Campbell Robb, Chief Executive at Nacro, responds to today's @hmiprisonsnews.bsky.social 'Children in custody' report 2024-2025, he says YOIs are "entrenching disadvantage."

👉Nacro knows it doesn’t have to be this way. We help young people to move on and be who they want to be.
shorturl.at/sbErX