If parties want credit for telling hard truths, they need to tell them when they're genuinely hard. If Labour had told the truth about taxes & the costs of Brexit before the election, its majority would be smaller. But it would have more real power & the public would put more faith in its judgment

There should be a tax on ridiculously bloated road boats registered in urban areas, because (a) they cause obvious problems in such areas (b) they are bad for the environment (c) they are dangerous for children (d) they are awful, and driving them should be expensive and socially stigmatised.

My AMA is live @askhistorians.bsky.social ! Ask away! www.reddit.com/r/AskHistori...

If anyone needs a freelance researcher in London (or across the UK), I'm your person! I've reasonable rates, lots of archive experience & great recommendations from academics globally. I'm only teaching 1 module this term, as the job market is what it is. Therefore, I'm open to all work. DM me!

This new database will fix almost everything annoying about driving (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/fix-annoyi...

Conversely, plenty of non-UK-headquartered companies, such as Google, have thousands of highly paid employees in this country. What's the rational basis for the Government encouraging you to sell your shares in Google and buy Antofagasta?

I used to work at the Turf Tavern in central Oxford while I was an undergrad. We claimed to be the pub at which Bill Clinton 'did not inhale' and Bob Hawke knocked back a yard of ale in record time, and countless historical figures frequented. Let's just say the evidence was...sketchy, at best.

Really sad news. One of my personal favourite Pompey players of the last few years, and I would have loved to have seen him back in the Championship with us last year. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Someone on the AWS service desk is about to get the bollocking of their life

"There is no universe in which Sam Ashworth-Hayes – or any of Britain’s array of overpaid columnists, commentators and ideological wonks – is more valuable to this country than a care worker" I wrote for @samfr.bsky.social's Substack on benefits and "contribution" samf.substack.com/p/the-someth...

You're absolutely right — starting a land war in Asia wasn't just a bad call, it's 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀. Thank you for calling me out on that — really. I'll be extra-strategic from now on. Would you like me to get cracking on those 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿?

Okay. So. Amazing scenes playing out at the vets when i arrived to pick up Napoleon. Names changed/removed. But get ready for a lost kitty story with a happy ending. It starts late last year, when the elderly neighbour of a young couple went into a care home /1

Afternoon. Much to unpack.

Been to the youngest’s harvest assembly. Theory: every primary school built pre about 1980 in Britain has some version of this equipment. It is referred to as something like ‘the apparatus’. No one has any memory of it ever being used.

For someone who has watched more than one film and indeed some television shows during his life, I think I have a real black hole for a lot of cultural touchpoints simply *because* they are so ubiquitous.

'Despite only making up 4% of the population...'

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! The second part of David’s conversation with @robertsaunders.bsky.social marking the 40th anniversary of Neil Kinnock’s party conference speech attacking the Militant tendency takes the story up to the present and beyond. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

Labour seem to hate their own voters. You know whose voters would be cool though? People who voted for Reform, or who want to do so now. That’s the ticket. That such people might disagree with almost every value Labour MPs and voters hold dear? Well that just makes them cooler. Hard to impress. 5/n

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

The biggest puzzle in the UK economy is why non pension savings are so high For decades no one could get Brits to save. Now they won’t stop. That this has happened without a recession shows UK economy under last and this govt is not the basket case I read about

I've just watched Starmer's response to Laura K about the threat of Reform and the nature of Farage's politics. It's actually really good - pitched note perfect. It's just a shame it's taken this long and, y'know, all the terrible governing.

Rewatching Office Space and getting angry about Jacob Rees-Mogg

I work adjacent to the pharmaceutical/clinical trial industry, and this is a really wonderful story at a time when, globally, we sadly need a reminder of the power of modern medicine to save and transform lives. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The article @robfahey.net and I wrote on Sanseito is finally out (open access). We describe the party’s conspiracy worldview and how it shapes its policies and organizational features. I may do a thread to include the work I have done since finalizing the draft. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

People keep bashing Labour but I for one am impressed by their commitment to answering the thought experiment 'what would happen if a 170 seat majority government simultaneously pissed off every member of their voting coalition at once?' The Tories at least *tried* to keep their core voters onside!

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

Reform's Next Star Signing Will Surprise You.

Proud to wear my wheatsheaf for #BackBritishFarmingDay 🌾 Farmers are the backbone of our rural communities and deserve real support to thrive, yet this government keeps failing them time after time. As Liberal Democrats, we will keep championing rural interests.

2028: Prime minister Lucy Powell, having recovered Labour's disastrous position inherited by the now jailed Sir Keir "Sir Beer Korma" Starmer still finds herself behind in the polls to Reform. She knows of only one man that can help...

So, I actually think this is not quite fair on May, who I do think did have a clear political vision, she just could never get out from under and she badly misread what she needed to do in 2017.

The Johnson line remains very funny. What a day that was - makes you pine for the golden era of Twitter.

And we're off! The @instituteforgovernment.org.uk reshuffle live blog is now live, stay with us for updates and analysis from IfG colleagues on Starmer's first government reshuffle. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/st...

*Ed Miliband intensifies*

We're 300 followers away from 70,000. 300 more would be really nice. But you know what would be even better? 300 plus 30,000. Bluesky: help a museum out

on.ft.com/3V4S2ra Tax data allays fears of non-dom exodus from UK 'Fears of a massive non-dom exodus from the UK have been allayed by initial tax data, which suggests that total numbers leaving the country are in line with — or even below — official forecasts.'

46 games to go.

Not to defend men, but if I kick it hard and the keeper guesses wrong, I've got a chance. I could play 10,000 points against Serena Williams and never win one, but I feel like penalties are a different kettle of fish.

Upsettingly close to missing my target this month, so... Special offer til Monday: sign up for a year and get 10% off AND I'll stick two extra months on the end. I need four of you to sign up TONIGHT or @jasperjackson.bsky.social will cry himself to sleep like a little baby. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?

I have unfortunately been made aware of the Sydney Sweeney Discourse against my will and can confirm I am now 10% more right wing than I was this time yesterday

If you are one of the many people earnestly engaging in Discourse over this sign, then I beg of you: log off Bluesky, hug a loved one, go outside and breathe in the warm July evening air.

This is going to be so much more '1970s left-wing university politics' than any of us could have ever imagined. So committed to the bit they can't even name the party. There will be no leaders, no hierarchy, no applause. Infighting strictly encouraged.

My 'I closed Congress to avoid voting on the Epstein Files' t-shirt has a lot of people

*JAPAN RULING BLOC LOSES UPPER HOUSE MAJORITY: NHK

The fucking head of fucking XBox Graphics used a fucking "AI" slop image to hire new engineers but couldn't tell that the fucking screen on the fucking monitor is facing backwards.

Wedding Crashers. The central premise has aged so badly, Vince Vaughn is a reactionary so-and-so, but damn, it still makes me laugh.

Damien from Brighton is one of the few people I know I am blocked by on Twitter - being a nobody on Twitter I can only assume he's thin-skinned enough to block anyone right of Marx. Glad to see his political insight is as sharp as ever.