James Sibley

With a lot of this sort of coverage and noise about impact on businesses I wonder how much of it is inconvenienced business owners over anything else.

I've assumed half of it is manufacturers desperately hoping that this stuff takes off so they can get in on the subscription model

The WFA U-turn is a total mess. You rightly say it was a coalition of the working age that elected Labour. The Government now very noticeably handing money to pensioners that earn close to the median salary is quite a statement to make to that coalition.

I think they came in, HMT officials dusted off one of their least favourite policies and plonked it down in front of fresh ministers, and they went with it through political naivety

Kemi's data bill for browsing Reddit and X

WFA u-turn is an absolute mess. Pensioners won't thank you and and it highlights to working families on median salaries that you matter a lot less politically than the luckiest generation. Win win!

Last week - Strategic Defence Review talks about need to counter hybrid warfare, including disinformation

This week - can't guarantee longterm BBC World Service funding

I got so burnt by the Mandalorian turning into Fetch Quests: The Series that I put off watching Andor. I needn’t have though, it’s so good

The existence of Mansfield confuses the hell out of me for similar reasons

I'd say damage limitation is about the best we can hope for with Trump!

It's wonderful day for the supporters of the vibrant, open-to-the-world GLOBAL BRITAIN that supporters of Brexit embraced.

Correction - they think GLOBAL BRITAIN is shit.

The media coverage of the India trade deal is mental. It's not even toss of a coin stuff it's just absolute falsehood.

We need more of this sort of thing.

"Change is good, say local residents as absence of anxiety grips local area."

Critical Mass is an unofficial mass ride organised the last Friday of every month. They usually do different routes around central London so I’d imagine the Silvertown ride was a one off/protest kind of thing

Infrastructure for walking, cycling and/or wheeling. E.g. Bike paths, footpaths etc. You can only drive or get the bus through the Silvertown Tunnel. They’ve put on a free “bike bus” that I can guarantee won’t really be used

£2bn road tunnel that will create more traffic and pollution in Greenwich and Newham and has laughable active travel provision: 👍

£600mn walking and cycling bridge: 🙅‍♂️

I see a lot of you are worried about your stocks so I’m glad I invested all my money in the one asset that will NEVER decline in value: tulips

447% tariff on shops that put stickers on books that don't peel off cleanly

She was elected to lead, not to read

He’s done it again!

Smashing that get offer button

European messaging today in Paris was exemplary. Strong message that Europe won’t prematurely lift sanctions for sake of a terrible Black Sea deal. Efforts to goad Trump into seeing he’s being played. Signals that Europe won’t accept caps on Ukraine‘s military. And pressing on w/ coalition planning.

Telling the country that maintains your nuclear deterrent to essentially fuck off would be a bold choice

I don’t think the UK Government is trying to bridge the divide. They’re trying to buy time and Starmer nearly said that bit out loud at PMQs this week.

It’s the right strategy for a country that maintains your nuclear arsenal in a naval base in Georgia

The madness of the £100,000 childcare tax trap With some parents requiring a 50 per cent pay rise to mitigate the effects of the threshold, the trap is zapping productivity

Gets even worse once childcare benefits are factored in. There are people out there for whom salary sacrificing up to 50k to get under 100k would make sense. Money that isn’t being spent or taxed full whack today.

www.ft.com/content/8fc5...

Stupid policy:

(1) A lot of money is being sucked out of the economy and into pensions

(2) This will be taxed much later at a lower rate

(3) Frozen thresholds will push more money into the big pension funnel as the years go by

(4) A bunch of skilled workers will retire early in ~20-30 years

Currently can't use mobile data in the middle of the City of London with O2. Our digital infrastructure is so cooked

Agree Labour should just raise tax, particularly by undoing the NICs cuts

But the UK actually taxes high earners at a rate in line with other European countries (~50%). It’s for median earners that the average tax rate is lower (~30% v ~45%). Hard to raise much in a way that isn’t deeply unpopular

Two men in togas in a shop. A sign says TOGAS TO GO. Man on the left: "Do you have a toga in an XL, please?" Man on the right: "A size 40? Let me see..."

I have a cartoon in the current Private Eye. It’s set a long time ago.

"On the night of the 2nd of March 2025, your actions were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for."

Surely a contender for the funniest thing a judge has ever said www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...