Satbir Singh

Are UK workers over-taxed? The answer in three infographics Explore OECD data on wage taxes: how UK workers rank internationally, how the tax wedge has shifted since 1979, and why many still feel over-taxed.

Programmes like Today should be careful about saying that "taxation is at record levels".

For most taxpayers, the level of taxation is not unusually high, by either historical or international standards.

The story & reality of UK taxes have got rather out of kilter
taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/06/27/u...

On the rare occasion I've asked my MP for help, or the (less rare) occasions I've helped someone else engage with theirs, things have either been life-or-death or involved some horrid crisis.

People in a shit situation want to know that someone cares.

This isn't it, Mark.

One of the ironies is that the charitable sector and politicians never come out and say things just like this. When we developed "People Move" @satbirsingh.bsky.social @chaipatel.net @zoejardiniere.bsky.social the tagline somewhere behind the sentiment was "and what?".

Open letter from UK university staff: Request for biometric deferral and safe evacuation of incoming Palestinian students and scholars from Gaza to UK Universities More than 40 students currently trapped in Gaza with full scholarships to UK Universities are asking for a safe route to come and study. We, the academic community hoping to welcome these scholars, ca...

An open letter has been launched today (27/7/25) for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

In the Andrew Tate episode of the pod next week we talk about how Tate is always framed as a "boys at school" problem when Dads are far, far more likely to be sympathetic to him.

Most of the internet used to be like this. This is actually the default, it took companies enclosing the internet and adding weird, soul-killing incentives to make people behave the way they do now. In a way, there is truly nothing special about Wikipedia except that it survived longer.

Marie, if this were me, I would consider this an unqualified win.

More deeply authoritarian, far-right, repressive measures by the US government. If you do not want to call the underlying ideology fascist then what is it? It is essential to stop wrapping this in euphemist terminology and narratives of populism, polarization or illiberalism.

UK condemns Israel for depriving Palestinians of ‘human dignity’ David Lammy joins ministers from 27 other countries in issuing call for immediate end to Gaza war

We've gone from a situation in which the government claims to have no significant concerns about Netanyahu's actions to one in which it is 'sickened', 'appalled' and 'troubled' but makes no meaningful change to foreign policy. Not sure which is worse.

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

Only one of these two things can be right:

The GOP is fully dominated by an authoritarian movement and Congressional Republicans are aggressively supporting the Trumpist regime’s assault on democracy.

Or

Democrats need to look fur cute rituals of bipartisanship and normalcy politics.

Not both.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell close to tears as she 'pleads' with the government to abandon planned welfare cuts

'These Dickensian cuts belong to a different era and a different party', she said

How on earth has it come to this?

Yep. Came back overnight for me. Apparently this is "grass/weed" pollen time (as opposed to "tree pollen" earlier in the spring/summer).

A plot of the maximum temperature (as red dots) reached in the UK each year from 1950 showing a large scatter but strong upward trend

Just one chart from the @metoffice.gov.uk State of the UK climate report published today. We get used to focusing on the record highs and how 35C has gone from being rare to routine. But just look at all those summers which never got to 30C even in my lifetime. It’s a different UK now.

One of those hills I’m willing to die on is that especially with the ongoing revolution in renewable energy technologies, of all the problems in the world, electricity consumption and *especially* daytime consumption is really not among the major ones. If even a problem.

It's maddening to me how much Covid is at the root of so many of today's crises and we just...don't talk about it?

Take the spike in children needing SEND provision. Did anything huge and traumatic happen recently that might have affected thousands of kids? No? Must be parents making it up

Today is London Pride. In contrast to previous years, you barely notice it. No rainbow flags in shops, no special deals and advertising, no corporate pride statements. Not that Sainsbury's rainbow bags are an essential part of LGBTQ+ identity but this withdrawal is a dire sign of our times 1/

always remember that the NYT was more offended by Jamelle Bouie calling out Nazi sources than they were about *using* Nazi sources.

Opinion | This Is the Birthright Reckoning That America Needs What does it mean to be an American?

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com:

Zohran Mamdani’s approach — “not shaming anyone for supporting Trump but actually listening to what these voters were seeking, then championing those things — is a blueprint for Democrats everywhere,” our columnist Lydia Polgreen writes.

Laura Loomer‘s tweet: Alligator lives matter. The good news is, alligators are guaranteed at least 65 million meals if we get started now.

The entire Latino population in the U.S. is 65 million. She means all of us.

20th bedside vigil in the unventilated 8th floor stroke ward of a hospital with no functioning elevators on the hottest night of the year as a Labour government shits itself trying to gut welfare for the sick or disabled. And in the morning back to round tables asking why people vote for populists.

😫

There are many bigger fish and maybe this is rearranging furniture on the Titanic but I feel like a really simple and decent thing that news companies/ outlets could do is: disable adverts on content that documents death, misery & ethnic cleansing. Learn that it’s ok to not make ££ for five minutes.

What policy achievements would make defectors from Labour more positive about the Govt?

Depends which group. NHS & energy bills unite, but beyond that:

Defectors to Reform = small boats
Defectors to the left = taxing the rich, child poverty, Gaza.

via Opinium

Majority of PIP claimants with heart disease, arthritis and Crohn's at risk of cuts DWP data obtained by Big Issue shows that the majority of people with heart failure, HIV and arthritis are at risk of losing their benefits.

The government argues its PIP cuts won't hit as many people as feared because applicants will appeal against rejections

But DWP figures show a ten-month average wait for appeals. And that's before demand rises with the cuts

By me, for Big Issue:
www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

Also a recipe for a government, one year into its term, still having a very public wobble about the very idea of what it wants to do with power.

Zealotry.

Mamdani Did All the Things the Establishment Hates. He Won Anyway. There’s a growing appetite for something new and innovative growing among the electorate—and an opportunity for Democrats to grow that electorate, as well.

I am not super optimistic that the Dem gerontocracy will learn the right lessons from Mamdani’s win but here’s my analysis anyway: newrepublic.com/article/1972...

FT via Politico: "They hear [cabinet minister] Pat McFadden is at odds with McSweeney’s relentless pursuit of Farage fanciers"

Cuomo’s gonna do a podcast now, isn’t he?