Stefan Zylinski

Soaring bills are the gift that keeps on giving for Reform. Shame Labour doesn’t have the guts to do anything about them | Mathew Lawrence A cost of living crisis is not inevitable if there is the will to stop companies extracting profits from Britain’s essential services, says Mathew Lawrence of the Common Wealth thinktank

“For right-wing populists, the cost of living crisis is the gift that keeps on giving, allowing them to blame the experience of declining living standards on migrants and perceived ‘outsiders’.”

Our Director @mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @theguardian.com 🔗👇

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A Green Cold War In our era of global economic interdependence, the face of geopolitics has changed.

"Where non-aligned countries wanted a seat at the capitalist table in order to flip it, today's polyaligned countries want something different: a larger slice of the pie on the way to a green capitalist future."

Everyone should be reading @iliasalami.bsky.social!

www.break-down.org/a-green-cold...

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s.

Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

The US-UK 'Tech Prosperity Deal' exemplifies how not to structure tech investment. £31bn from US firms like OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia comes with public sector AI outsourcing and potential scrapping of the Digital Services Tax.

Latest piece in @guardian ➡️ buff.ly/jXuANv5

Data Dashboard | Who Owns Britain An interactive Data Dashboard exploring who owns and profits from Britain’s essential services.

Who owns Britain?

How does privatisation of essentials services like energy & water shape your life?

How does it impact the cost-of-living crisis?

We’ve been digging into the data — what we’ve found will shock you. 🧵 

Who Owns Britain? How the radical experiment of privatisation transformed society and reshaped our lives.

Today, it’s the defenders of privatisation who are clinging to an out-of-date ideology. They’re out of touch & out of time.

Let’s end the rip-off & take back our future.

Explore our new project — Who Owns Britain? — at the link below.

www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

US has made an all-in bet on AI and Fossil Fuels. China on green tech.
@katemac.bsky.social & I @parismarx.com podcast on how China's bet made Solar+batteries+EVs turn into business models of Coke cans-everywhere, cheap, accessible, satisfy the thirst for freedom.
techwontsave.us/episode/291_...

The IRA was surprisingly effective at spurring investment in green energy. Where it failed was making it *politically* sustainable by delivering immediate tangible benefits to the public. In that sense, the Green New Deal was, in retrospect, the more prudent and realistic approach. on.ft.com/4n4Ayra

I think it's time to give up the idea that Capital only thrives under liberal institutions.

‘Our genocide’: Israeli rights groups abandon their restraint on Gaza After months of hesitation, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel assert that the war is meant to erase Palestinian life — now and in the future.

‘Our genocide’: Israeli rights groups abandon their restraint on Gaza

After months of hesitation, B'Tselem & Physicians for Human Rights-Israel assert that Israel's assault on Gaza is intended to erase Palestinian life — both now and in the future.

www.972mag.com/btselem-phri...

Rent Freeze Proposal Chills Cash-Starved Owners of Bronx Buildings Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s pledge is raising alarms as bankers refuse to finance regulated buildings where costs outstrip income.

This article on on NYC landlords unable to pay their expenses gives a foretaste of what I suspect the pushback to a rent freeze is going to look like. www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/07/b...

If your choice to work in the UK is based on avoiding taxes that pay for vital public services & infrastructure (which improve productivity & thus the output of UK firms), then you're not welcome here.

This isn't an issue of 'tax efficiency' but a healthy sense of national pride & identity.

2/2

Thousands of company directors leave UK after Labour’s tax changes FT analysis finds jump in departures with UAE the top destination

Thousands of company directors are reported to have left the UK after Labour's #nondom tax changes.

If this is indeed true (& the methods to calculate this are patchy at best), then from my perspective, good riddance.

1/
www.ft.com/content/a3fc...

Labour urged to revive Sure Start label to win back Reform voters Commission says new Best Start project should be called Sure Start to rebuild trust in austerity damaged areas

Good to see the beginning of efforts to address the economic causes of why many turn to the far-right rather than a) joining in the culture war politics or b) chastising them for being 'ignorant racists'.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tony Blair thinktank worked with project developing ‘Trump Riviera’ Gaza plan Staff at former UK PM’s institute took part in calls as proposal led by US consulting firm and Israeli business people evolved

Insatiable appetite for war crimes

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Looking forward to another financial crisis in a few years.

BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani is on track to become Dems' candidate for NYC mayor — toppling Andrew Cuomo's comeback dreams and putting incumbent Eric Adams on notice.

Cuomo has conceded and said he called to congratulate Mamdani.

ow.ly/SHE050WfR0C

Israel kills at least 43 Palestinians in Gaza, including aid seekers Among the dozens killed are 20 aid seekers, as NGO warns Israel is also deliberately blocking energy access.

While almost everyone has fallen for Netanyahu's ploy of focusing on Iranian-US-Israeli air strikes, Israel has been intensifying its genocide. For the sake of humanity, ALL EYES ON GAZA! www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/...

Super happy to be back in Bolivia for the next few weeks! 🇧🇴

Fascists wanna watch the world burn🔥

Every single day. on.ft.com/409SaZx

Bar chart showing government's 5 billion benefits savings conceal extra 1.5 billion cuts for ill and disabled people.

The government has failed to listen.

Despite widespread concern it is pressing ahead with cuts to health and disability benefits.

These cuts will leave over three million disabled people worse off by the end of this parliament, and the government must be clear and honest about their scale.

Chart showing department spending is set to increase at the lowest rate since the 2015 spending review

This may not be an austerity #SpendingReview, but it certainly isn't the start of a decade of renewal.

Departmental spending will be increasing at its lowest rate since the 2015 spending review from George Osbourne. 1/2

Reeves’ review shows Labour plans to take on the right over net zero By earmarking billions of pounds for the green economy, Labour is setting itself apart from the Tories and Reform

It might not be enough £'s, but great to see a move in this direction.

Those, like Blair & right-wing press, who think it's an either/or between growth and the green transition, are either funded by big oil or don't understand how to economy.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Spending review 2025: key points at a glance Rachel Reeves has delivered her spending update – here are the main points

Concerns remain (e.g. benefit cuts, spending on military, etc.), but after 15+ years of dismal neoliberal misery, it's quite refreshing to have a UK government that remembers that capital investment is actually pretty useful for an economy.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Which state is next?

Sanctioning individuals in the Israeli government and 'strong words' are pointless while active military, economic, and financial support like this continues.

Los Angeles responds with roaring backlash to Trump’s dramatic escalation The president vowed to crush opposition to his immigration raids – but his attempted show of force may have awoken something else

Fascism

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

It's yet another illustration: the privatisation of key public infrastructure & services is never and has never been about 'efficiency' or 'value for money' - rather, it's about privatising returns & socialising risks, asset stripping & wealth accumulation, & no care for society/nature at all.

4/4