Quite funny that Starmer's allies are waking up to this point now …

Cuts to Winter Fuel… not in the manifesto
Disability benefit cuts… not in there either
Cutting jury trials… also not there
Digital ID… no mention
Raising employers NI… nope
Freezing tax threholds… nah
Contracts with Palantir… no

Craft beer has gone stale: let’s hear it for age-old favourites | Richard Godwin There’s nothing wrong with a good, hoppy IPA, but perhaps it’s time to reappraise classic styles of beer again

Craft beer has gone stale: let’s hear it for age-old favourites | Beer | The Guardian share.google/PdZTcJAduPKH...

Agree about scarcity of decent bitter beer and proliferation of IPA's. Bristol pubs often don't have a single bitter on draught.

Also agree on praise for Timothy Taylor's Landlord.

At a single stroke, Lord Mandelson has completely destroyed his hard-won reputation for honesty. Tragic.

Completely agree. Much breast beating about "truth", which has been claimed by oligarchs, popes, emperors and presidents for aeons. But, although they don't acknowledge the problem, there is no final arbiter of what is "true".

What they assert to be true is just their OPINION on the evidence.

All very pragmatic-sounding but, once again, an unnerving correspondence with the interests of the ruling classes.

From one Mandy to another: *He would say that wouldn't he?* 😁

American democracy seems to be collapsing. Looks like future control of government will depend on who can get the most people to storm the Capital.

This is becoming a critical election for control of the left bloc

samf.substack.com/p/whats-the-...

These two hapless goons sound like Americans with Mexican heritage who, in slightly different circumstances, could have easily been thrown into the back of the waggon themselves.

How ironic...

Here's a bit more evidence. I have a ground source heat pump which heats my 2- bed flat. I have no gas connection so all my energy use is electric. My annual electricity bill on a standard tariff is around £700

Both sides in the heat pump debate are selecting sources of evidence to suit their arguments and conclusions.

As a heat pump owner, I'm clearly in the HP supporters camp, but as reader I feel disrespected by the way both sides present their opinions as 'facts'.

The Donald is gonna love this...

"...she argued the government's measures were "fair and proportionate" for getting "the balance right between tax and spending".

Looks very much like an implicit addition that student loans are, in fact, a tax.

There may be some small comfort to be had ifl these further revelations about Handy Andy might finally force him into retired obscurity and put an end to his recurring dominance of news feeds. We have really seen enough.

Thick, charmless and entitled...

Indeed. And for those people still surprised at the extent of Trump's accommodations with Putin, this provides a very plausible explanation.

You're a saint David...

Very cogent explanation of Green's intelligent drugs policy. One factor missing however, is the very attraction of illegality - the cachet that petty criminality gives to drug consumption. Part of the marketing strategies of organised criminal suppliers.

Protesters gatecrash Sainsbury's chiefs Bristol store visit They were calling for a boycott of Israeli products

Protesters gatecrash Sainsbury's chiefs Bristol store visit | Bristol Live share.google/WfNYh9SMv3TC...

It's should also apply to politicians who simply change their politics without changing party.

I'm thinking Starmer's 10 pledges here....

I think that Mensa's membership problem is related to the fact that nobody likes a smartarse...

William Hill owner to shut betting shops after Rachel Reeves's £1.1bn gambling tax plunder Company drops 90 per cent in value since taxes introduced

Source: GB News
search.app/XiHw3

Not all doom and gloom then...

In order to prevent such extractive speculation on land values a form of tenure that allows for state or community stewardship will be needed. Leasehold is not ideal, but at the moment it's all we've got.

5/5

Almost all the value of a parcel of land is created by the community around it. If the value created by improvements in infrastructure funded by public purse is continually siphoned off in the profits of land speculators, the UK economy will continue to under-perform.

4/5

More generally, some form of tenure, as in garden cities, is needed to allow communities to hold land in stewardship in order to exercise control on behalf of local people over it's exploitation.

3/5

While leasehold has been exploited by commercial developers it is central to the 250K families living in shared ownership and other joint equity forms of affordable housing.

2/5

Leasehold reform is widely seen as necessary curtailment of the activities of land speculators, but there's another aspect of leasehold tenure that is really important which has been largely overlooked.

1/5

The European summit that will really wind up Trump Wind turbines are for “losers,” says Trump. Europe’s leaders beg to differ at a high-level meeting in Hamburg.

The European summit that will really wind up Trump – POLITICO share.google/638BmEpKE4g1...

Worth reminding Trump administration that while USA may be "picking up the bill" for Europe's defence, Europe is picking up the bill for USA's climate damage.

You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment....

Similarly the wind turbine installed by community organisation Ambition Lawrence Weston in Bristol docks.