Neil O'Brien

The "economy reset" is not going... that well

Even smarter to say Downing St has seized control from the Treasury, that always ends super well

Yikes

Thanks for sharing

Online Safety Act Blocks Tory Frontbencher's Video on Families Newly promoted Tory frontbencher Neil O'Brien has had a video on families blocked on social media act under the Online Safety Act. This will keep

Bizarrely the film is being blocked in some places by the Online Safety Act because it features a cute baby.

order-order.com/2025/08/07/o...

YouTube video by Neil O'Brien MP A new deal for parents? Tackling the birth gap

People aren't able to have the children they say they want to have. It's a huge problem we can't afford *not* to solve.
A short film with me, (aged 46),@PMArslanagic (aged 29) and Emina (age 0).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l21q...

That tweet was exactly what I did not want to happen, off to find mindcleanser

Channelling Sean Connery in "Zardoz"

More than 600,000 graduates on benefits Official figures cast doubt on the value of ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees

The Telegraph reports on data I’ve obtained showing there are over 600k graduates on Universal Credit.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07...

Is Britain Balkanising? Whether by age, migration, or education - are we flocking together, or coming apart?

My new longread on residential sorting - Is Britain Balkanising?

www.neilobrien.co.uk/p/is-britain...

The new sex education guidance will fail There are big problems - and this won’t fix them

My piece on why the new sex education guidance will fail

open.substack.com/pub/almondtr...

Smartphone bans in Dutch schools have improved learning, study finds After initial concerns, pupils are said to be more focused and have better social interactions with each other

Most schools in the Netherlands have banned smartphones.

The impact?

"children found it easier to concentrate (75%), the social environment was better (59%) and some [schools] said results had improved (28%)."

Unbelievable that England hasn't done the same.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Back in the day about a third of people wanted to join the euro AND keep the pound - we politicians are terrible at explaining

I mean, their main tax increase of 25bn is laser focussed on low income workers - particularly part timers. Assuming the pasthrough rate OBR use is correct it takes £500 off someone on 13k & takes away 5% of the earnings of someone on 9k

Really must take the kids next time :-)

Saw Mr Tumble live in Leicester, it's almost insane what a pro he is

Labour has no clear plan to recruit teachers despite VAT raid The party plans to attract 6,500 teachers over the next five years and is being funded by applying 20 per cent VAT on private school fees

What a mess. They promised more teachers, they delivered fewer, so they are trying to move the goalposts.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07...

Also video versus the written word

The text does say it is in real terms! I have added that to the charts as well in case people only look at them.

Haha. Where there is harmony, may I bring (polite) discord

That's a strange response a data-led piece on migration but hey, whatever makes you happy

Literally replying to a person saying nothing had changed, when, obviously it has.
You have nothing left beyond low grade abuse, sad to see.

I promise you I haven't - show me your version then.
As you say, you *agree* with my conclusion on wages!

It's real terms - if you don't believe the data, take it up with HMRC, what are you using?

The shapeshifting 6,500 teachers pledge Education secretary confirms promised teachers won't all be new, and target omits key subjects aim

Even Schools Week talking about "shapeshifting" on this. If we had try to spin away declining teacher numbers like this Labour would have gone mad

schoolsweek.co.uk/the-shapeshi...

One year in for Labour: is it hitting its education pledges? Tes assesses how much progress has been made in Labour’s mission to ‘break down barriers to opportunity’ a year after it was elected to government

V interesting

www.tes.com/magazine/new...

New FOI data: where in the UK did recent migrants move to? And what impact did they have?

I’ve obtained a load of new data under FOI about where in the country recent migrants have moved to. I use it to look at the impact on wages and rental costs.

open.substack.com/pub/almondtr...

Sex education in schools: part two Schools are trying to navigate a minefield, but the government it sitting on its hands - with bad consequences for kids

Part two looks at how we got here, and why the government is sitting on key decisions

www.neilobrien.co.uk/p/sex-educat...

Sex education in schools: part one How sex education in schools has gone wrong

I have a longish two-part piece out, on what's gone wrong with sex education in schools.
Part one is here:
www.neilobrien.co.uk/p/sex-educat...

If only the tsar knew what his evil advisors were doing