AJ Thomas

I’ve said before that I strongly believe in a progressive global maximum wealth tax, kicking in around $10 million. Think what a life you could have if you had $10m! Everything you could possibly want! Now think about how that’s just 1% of $1bn. Insane. Too much. Would make you go weird

Billionaires are money hoarders. No one can spend $1 billion, let alone $100bn, on things they & their families need, or even really want. If they gave away 99% of their loot, this lot would still be absurdly, obscenely rich. Their wealth is socially useless, kept out of circulation for status alone

Extinction Rebellion medics unanimously acquitted despite defences being withdrawn | Garden Court Chambers Tom Wainwright, of the Garden Court Protest Team, acted for the first and second defendants, instructed by Ella Jefferson and Hester Cavaciuti of Bindmans Solicitors.

Something's going on here
gardencourtchambers.co.uk/extinction-r...

All I see on my Twitter timeline are reporters parsing every quote from AOC in Germany, trying to mock them for incoherence or inaccuracy, while a demented old man who can’t string sentences together or stay awake sits in the Oval, while the legacy media happily sanewashes his quotes.

No, I haven't.

Though it's interesting that in an article that elbow drops from the top rope onto AOC for stumbling in giving an on-the-spot live answer on a massive stage, the author and New York Times managed to fumble a basic fact about a very prominant public figure.

Sign me up.

Am starting to get annoyed with the negatives being piled on England for losing to a very good Scotland performance.

15 v 15 England won, just for context. England are not in a dark place or having to reconsider everything. They lost a guy to the bin and were punished by an excellent attack.

I understand the case for postponing some elections while local govt is reorganised,but the bar for suspending elections should be extremely high.

It's crucial not to set a precedent that elections can be easily cancelled. Pandemics & wars meet the threshold; administrative convenience & cost don't

Someone posts: TBH if citizenship means anything I don't understand dual citizenship-either you feel affinity and loyalty to a country or you don't but I don't think you can do that simultaneously for two countries I reply: That's ridiculous, of course you can, how idiotic. Can you simultaneously love two parents, two children? Absurdly reductive. Identity is complicated and damn these people who tell me who I can or can't be.

Very fed up of people trying to reduce my identity to a single stupid flag.

Yes, there actually is some substance to Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights Emerald Fennell's divisive adaptation of Wuthering Heights isn't about romance at all, it's about trauma bonds.

As the Wuthering Heights discourse continues, I wrote a (mild) defense of what Emerald Fennell is trying to do thematically, and how it's at least somewhat in conversation with ideas from the novel.

This is an incredibly unusual result in the UK, BTW, where it is quite rare to find a ban or a crackdown that the public doesn't love.

Fast-spreading measles outbreak takes hold among under-10s in north London UK Health Security Agency urges parents in Enfield to get their children vaccinated as Easter holiday travels approach

60 cases of measles in Enfield, all unvaccinated, 1 in 5 hospitalised

Well done anti-vaxers, slow clap 👏

64.3% of five-year-olds in Enfield are vaccinated, 95% is needed to prevent outbreaks

Measles is 6 x more infectious than Covid

What a very good weekend for Exeter! Top-four rivals lose (Harlequins expected, Trailfinders not so) while the Chiefs come away from a tricky match against another top-four rival with a bonus point win.

Also, Bristol are very much back and Sale are realising their potential at last.

Since the government is about to introduce a social media ban for under-16s based largely on vibes – and Jonathan Haidt's shitty book – in the hopes it boosts its popularity (it won't), I'll re-up this.

If we're banning under-16s, why not over-60s?

Yet another example of this government pointlessly using up political capital for something they had to u-turn on anyway. A real speciality.

There is one stat* (other than the scoreline) which has been won by all six winners of this year's Six Nations matches so far.

Kicking metres - the team with the most kicking metres in each match has won EVERY SINGLE TIME.

* There is probably more than one

If you are a community leader and allow adults and minors to interact without doing safeguarding, that is a moral hazard at best and endangerment at worst. So you end up with community-run ID checks or a faulty trust-me-bro system that empowers predators and endangers kids!

I am generally for apps responsibly checking age categories, for what it is worth, because I have seen how awful it is for communities to have to do the legwork to police minors sneaking in when said minors are unwelcome. Like with all ID law, the need for it should be emergent and obvious.

Je dis ça…

Build the Rail! Save the Snails! How to speed up the planning system without trashing the environment

New post out:

We have a guest post today from the excellent @dsquareddigest.bsky.social.

"Build the Rail! Save the snails!"

Or how we don't need to sacrifice the environment to speed up our mad planning processes.

(Free to read)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

Revealed: The true toll of female suicides in UK with domestic abuse at their core Exclusive: Research suggests official statistics could track as few as 6.5% of the true number of cases

The role male violence plays in women's suicides and mental health is so overlooked. Really important reporting by @hannahalothman.bsky.social and Geraldine McElvie www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

“Where’s your thumb, Liz?”

"This is vibes-based policy making, not evidence-based policy making" — me talking on BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast just now about the MPs pushing for a social media ban for under 16s.

It is all just nonsense

Anything but regulate tech

And can we ask what happens at 16? Do they suddenly have the skills? Or are they just expected to be like the adults in schools or at home? Addicted to Twitter and Facebook and unable to discern truth?

(Free to read)! Then no excuses - read it.

Identifies the holistic failures in the planning of major infrastructure and a major change that can fix them.

Featuring my favourite misunderstood part of the UK system - common law, and how fear of judicial review causes costs to rocket.

Gloucester-Hartpury vs Harlequins 45–22 Trailfinders vs Sale Sharks 31–36 Exeter Chiefs vs Loughborough Lightning 26–5 Saracens vs Bristol Bears 36–33

1st Gloucester-Hartpury 50 points 2nd Saracens 45 points 3rd Exeter Chiefs 35 points 4th Harlequins 32 points 5th Trailfinders 27 points 6th Loughborough Lightning 22 points 7th Sale Sharks 19 points 8th Bristol Bears 15 points 9th Leicester Tigers 1 points

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #PWR Round 11
Quins lose 1 position after their visit to the champs.
Sharks gets their 2nd win with a lot of hard work and a bit of ref help.
Exeter secures the try bonus in the nick of time.
And Saracens turns the game around after the best Bristol of the season gives them a good tumble.

This little North American summit between Mexico’s Donovan Carrillo, USA’s Ilia Malinin, and Canada’s Piper Gilles is adorable

Trans people are the only UK citizens that are considered 'guilty, until proven innocent'

... and even when proved innocent, are still paraded in the media as a monster.

Do you realise who Musk is dismissing here (alongside millions of other people)?

Nikola Tesla

Like addicts at the slot machine terrified someone else will get the big win if they walk away now.