Jake Puddle

Most charities oppose government’s ‘harmful’ migrant volunteering plans, survey shows

Three-quarters of charities oppose the government’s plans to link volunteering to settlement in the UK, according to a new survey by @ncvo.bsky.social

Guardian headline 10th feb 2026 ICE List: the small European website exposing US immigration agents Netherlands-based site uses public information and tips to reveal identities of agents involved in crackdowns across US

Dutch site IDs ICE agents via public data

“ICE aren’t actually fearful of their safety…What they’re fearful of is not being invited to baseball games or not being invited to the pub with their friends. Community exclusion – that’s what they’re fearful of”

wiki.icelist.is/index.php/Category:Agents

The truth about immigrants and sex crime Corrosive innuendo about asylum seekers is helping no one

My column in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, on bad data used in bad faith.

FOI-ing the stats myself, I didn't find a great deal of difference in sex offending rates: 5 per 10,000 Afghan men, 7 per 10,000 UK men:

What is effective about this Burnham statement is it reads like something that he is personally invested in and is not worried about criticism for. More of this please.

Early Day Motion 2737: Together Alliance. Motion Text: That this House notes with grave concern the growing confidence and visibility of far-right movements in the UK, including the increasing scale of far-right protests on the nation’s streets; further notes that such movements exploit genuine economic problems faced by many in order to scapegoat migrants, minoritised communities and refugees; recognises that narratives of division and racism threaten social cohesion, democracy and public safety; welcomes and supports the formation of Together Alliance, comprising over 140 organisations and thousands upon thousands of individuals, united in rejecting racism and promoting solidarity across communities; acknowledges the importance of collective action in challenging hatred and misinformation and in promoting hope over fear; commends Together Alliance’s commitment to mobilising people nationwide and its plans to hold a major demonstration in London on 28 March 2026 in support of unity and against the far right; and calls on people across the UK, from all backgrounds and communities, to reject narratives of division and racism, stand together in solidarity, and promote hope, unity and equality.

I have co-sponsored a parliamentary motion backing @togetheralliance.bsky.social

They are mobilising people nationwide for a major demo on 28 March to show unity against the far right. We must reject narratives of division and racism, and stand together in solidarity, for hope, unity and equality.

70 parliamentarians have written to the Home Office saying the settlement proposals are unfair & need a significant rethink

By age 2, toddlers understand ingroup loyalty

They realize that people have social identities and expert their social identity to take precedence in intergroup contexts even when it conflicts with their personal preferences
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

🚨NEW BLOG: Home Office plans could double the settlement wait from 5 to 10 years or more for people already living in the UK. Moving the goalposts mid-journey risks harming integration and increasing child poverty🔗 www.ippr.org/articles/far-from-settled-the-governments-earned-settlement-consultation

Screenshot of an Early Day Motion on the parliament website titled 'Together Alliance.' It has been supported by MPs including Dawn Butler, Liz Savile Roberts, John McDonnell, Carla Denyer and Clive Lord. The full text can be read in the link posted below.

Bold text on a black background reading 'Together: 28 March, London.' Below text reads: 'March together. For love. For hope. For unity. Sign up to get involved.'

The resistance to the far-right is strong and united. I support @togetheralliance.bsky.social bringing over 140 organisations and thousands upon thousands of individuals together united in rejecting racism and promoting solidarity across communities.

if you spend any significant amount of time on X the everything app, your brain is being cooked

PM’s welcome words on cohesion must be followed with national action - British Future The PM has set out a vision for social cohesion. We now need to see a long-term plan to turn the vision into reality, writes Sunder Katwala.

"It is welcome, if overdue, that the PM has set out a positive vision for cohesion... What needs to follow is a clear plan to turn these words into sustained action," writes our @sundersays.bsky.social www.britishfuture.org/pms-welcome-...

Doesn't seem like the best day for Starmer to reheat "you lefties [on the backbenches/in the Labour membership/in the Labour electorate] just don't get it" Blue Labour type arguments?

Dozens of Labour MPs are going public on their doubts that this government's settlement reforms are fair or good for integration.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02...

Nothing like enjoying your slightly cheaper pint while imagining the toddler crying from hunger that paid for it.

Very rich people knew they'd not be affected by Brexit or MAGA. They have mobility and money. Just a game and a gamble.

Read the full report here -> www.southampton.ac.uk/publicpolicy...

Looking forward to joining @britishfuture.bsky.social today as part of a Healing The Divide event in Carmarthenshire

Among other things we're bringing a #socialcapital masterclass; techniques for holding positive conversations; how to stimulate progressive change; & discussing #trust in communities

We need your help.

The Government is proposing sweeping reforms to settlement for migrants and refugees, including for those already in the country.

Add your voice to the public consultation before 12 February, using @praxisprojects.bsky.social's response link 🔗 www.praxis.org.uk/consultation

Really hard to look at this and all the other examples of bravery and kindness from ordinary people in this moment not think also of the tremendous cowardice exhibited over the past year by some of the richest, most well-protected people in business, media and politics

Men, algorithms and how YouTube shapes media consumption ISD's new research project explores the topics and content YouTube’s algorithm recommends to young male users.

YouTube’s algorithm is often blamed for pushing young men toward extremist or harmful content. ISD research suggests a more mundane reality: using test personas, we found most recommendations aligned with users’ existing interests, with only modest shares in other masculine topics. More below ⬇️

Migrants—particularly those on skilled work routes—make a strong positive contribution to the UK economy and public finances. Fiscal and labour-market benefits arise from migrants’ high employment rates, earnings growth, and the long-term incentives created by stable legal status. Delaying settlement would discourage investment by both migrants and employers and have negative impacts on both earnings and occupational mobility. International evidence across the OECD and Europe shows that predictable and relatively early access to permanence has a number of positive impacts on both economic and labour market outcomes, as well as on integration. Extending the ILR period – particularly if this were to be retrospective - would therefore introduce new costs, reduce the UK’s competitiveness for global talent, and risk undermining both fiscal and social outcomes; the costs would substantially outweigh any fiscal benefits from reduced access to benefits and increased visa fees. The evidence supports maintaining the existing five-year route as the standard pathway to settlement.

The Home Affairs Committee has now published written evidence to its inquiry on the Earned Settlement proposals.

Mine is linked here - screenshot shows summary.

[1/3]

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

Lab to DK is a group twice as large as Lab to Ref (and losses to DK are often easiest to win back)
Lab to Grn/LD is a group three times as large as Lab to Ref (and on multiple metrics this group looks more open to returning to Labour)

The drop coincides with immigration and asylum falling down the agenda. 35% now say it's one of the most important issues facing the country, down from 49% in early November.

As we found earlier this year, Farage-led parties typically move in lockstep with migration concern.

In Britain’s new year of anxiety, cohesion is no longer optional A stronger, shared vision would help, despite some anxiety about how far national leaders and institutions have the public standing to narrate it

This frenetic January is a harbinger of things to come, casting 2026 as a year of accelerating anxiety. My Eastern Eye column this week on global instability, Westminster defection dramas asks how efforts to build cohesion can respond to such volatile times
www.easterneye.biz/trump-greenl...

Average daily minutes of in-home video viewing, by age, 2024

Would love to be able to break this down a bit more to know about whether people are actively watching TV, using it as a second screen while doomscrolling, ambient tv versus sitting and focusing, etc etc

www.ft.com/content/12f5...

This is brilliantly fun and also a great insight into a certain archetype of person who gets inexplicably far in today's (well, yesterday's) Tory Party.

Incredibly, no-one on Nigel Farage’s team has got round to deleting this post. It’s still live as Robert Jenrick gives his big defection speech.

It will be necessary for the govt + Ofcom to monitor how far X's statement it will make changes to the Grok App happen or work. But they need to join the dots + investigate the systemic failure of X to uphold the law: its broken complaints system defends unlawful racist hatred 95% of the time

There are fascinating nuggets in this report on Britain's Political Party Members (co-authored by QMUL's @timbale.bsky.social).

The chart of different party members' responses to "I am proud of my country's history" is going straight into my lectures.

esrcpartymembersproject.org/wp-content/u...

Zahawi is having to clean up some of his tweets this morning 😂