This makes good sense. Heavier cars are more dangerous to people walking, in wheelchairs, on bikes, etc. in crashes and do more damage to roadways, raising maintenance costs. That's reason enough to charge them more for using public infrastructure. Climate and air pollution benefits too.

So good to hear this from Starmer. It’s inspiring at a time we need to be inspired.

BREAKING A federal judge that the Trump admin's policy targeting pro-Palestinian students for deportation violated the First Amendment. His blistering, 161-page ruling starts with a threat he received in chambers and his response.

What does Britain do if the Trump administration suspends elections and directs its army’s guns on the civilian population of Democrat led cities? There is no more urgent foreign policy debate in the U.K. right now. If I sound hyperbolic, you’re not following what’s going on.

The endgame for all of this is constructing a military that will obey orders when ordered to fire on citizens. That's the throughline to half of what Trump is doing.

This speech is a grotesque mash-up of pre-emptive injustice and partial, retrospective pardons. And on the bits about dress uniformity it’s madness driven by sexism and racism. Part of the US army’s strength relative to China, say, is that US units and personnel are trained to think on their feet.

I'm getting really really fed up at constant reassertion that welfare spending is "out of control" when it is the same as the average for the past few decades. One reason disability benefit costs have risen is because core support has fallen.

When Shabana Mahmood says migrants can’t get indefinite leave to remain if ‘taking a penny in benefits’, this must mean a couple - maybe working as NHS doctors or nurses - must forget about claiming any care support if they have a child with disabilities. Yes, this is Labour 2025

It’s hard not to read this as the US almost certainly heading into a near term recession. Crazy that the stock market bubble hasn’t popped yet.

Reform’s Russia connections are a danger to our national security. It’s time for a public inquiry. 🔥

imagine being a consultant doctor here and having to go out litter picking to be given your citizenship lol www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Diwali on the Square returns to Trafalgar Square on Sunday 12 October. As hatred and division continue to be spread globally, I’m proud that this free, family-friendly, inclusive celebration will once again bring people together from all backgrounds to spread the message of unity and hope.

I think this underestimates the combined forces of opposition but who knows. Given they’re tanking in the polls, the Trump administration only has 12-18 months to fix the mid-terms. After that, without congress, things get infinitely harder for them.

The idea of Trump leading a ‘technocratic’ transitional government in Gaza is ridiculous. Just get out of the way and let Blair and some actual technocrats do it if you want success. He’s all id and ego and no super ego… and it’s destroying everything.

This could be great news. It’s very hard for the Met police to be meritocratic and to put safeguarding first when so many members are Freemasons. It’s the worst example of jobs for the boys and in an organisation that really needs to re-build trust.

England!! Unbeaten for an entire World Cup cycle.

Finland’s president calls for UN Security Council reform, proposes scrapping of veto power. He’s right. The veto power is as absurd as the U.S. president’s pardon power. en.tempo.co/read/2051911...

It’s a big relief/privilege to know that being caught doing any one of these would lead to the immediate resignation of a British Prime Minister or minister. Let’s keep it that way.

Which inevitably means US inequality is rising steeply from an already high base.

“Terribly English pilots”

The richest man on earth owns X. The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok. The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post. See the problem here?

Knowledge is elitist. Education is snobby. Expertise is detached. The only way to be truly "democratic” is to crowd-source reality. That has been the political vibe of the last ten years, not just in Britain, and it is the road to ruin. The pandemic probably didn’t help.

If the NHS data set is worth $10bn revenue a year, let’s make sure we never sell it Instead, the U.K. should invest in the equivalent of the BBC world service by creating an NHS world service that leverages the data set to generate global health impact and big bucks for the U.K. @samfr.bsky.social

It’s really incumbent on the PM to call this bullshit out directly and unequivocally.

@eddavey.libdems.org.uk is doing a great job of promoting a positivist patriotism even if it does feel a bit provincial … “It’s one of Lionesses, Formula One, Windermere, Loch Ness, Male Voice Choirs, county shows, school fairs, fish and chips, village greens, cricket pavilions and waterslides,”

An aspiring scholarly economist from Africa? We have scholarships to study economics at graduate level at Oxford. See below!!!

It's happened again. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/w...

An absolutely wild table. Where in the country are schools most effective?!

Kimmel back on the air on Tuesday per Disney press release

This has really helped me understand the ‘independents’ as a group in the US. I used to think they were floating centrists/pragmatists. Looks like a lot of them are actually closer to what UK canvassers record as ‘anti’ or ‘not voting’.

Maybe Theresa May was on to something with the ‘citizens of nowhere’ thing The state of your home country is less high-stakes when you are internationally mobile You can justify your lack of attention to it by good acts abroad You might still want to protect it but do you fight for it as hard?

Never, ever underestimate the short-term damage that fascists are capable of. When Idi Amin told thousands of Asians that they had just 90 days to leave Uganda, lots of people laughed. “He could never do that! That’s ridiculous.” But then the violence started. www.bbc.com/news/world-a...

There is a case for sending your kids to a state school, but you’ll barely hear it - because having the option is a privilege in itself.

"If we want to understand why this pipeline leaks, we need to look at the experience of moving to secondary school. For too many disadvantaged pupils, this marks a decline in engagement and enjoyment from which they never recover." www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

I don't think it's wise of the Lib Dems to promote the idea that asylum constitutes a national emergency, justifying use of the Civil Contingencies Act. That Act bestows enormous powers on ministers, to be used only in "the most serious of emergencies". Would Davey want Farage having those powers?

Have cancelled Disney + after the Kimmel thing. Having left X, Facebook and Insta too, the lack of ethics and/or courage of these companies is actually saving me money, attention and time.

Tbf to them, I’m sure they are doing it because they expect Trump to blame a federal shutdown on the Dems before using it as a pretext to seize more authoritarian power. By pre-empting Trump they undermine his planned narrative.

7-5 up and 30 mins in. England mad not to knock over easy penalty to build score board pressure in the WC semi.

This feels significant. It takes very few Republican senators to protect the US constitution from catastrophic collapse. Updating (reducing) my Bayesian priors on the probability of that happening before the mid-terms.

Was Sultana the raisin for the split?

Higher investment, sustainable public finances, and a greater contribution from better off old people (like me and most other signatories) -very please to sign this open letter to the Chancellor.

Beyond Burnham, this piece suggests that one of the biggest benefits of powerful City Mayors is in the creation of a talent pathway that allows non-conformist future leaders to take risks, away from the dulling effect of Westminster authority.

please, think about the damage you might cause before sending an invoice

This is the standard approach through history: The community of the free. We've always had people insist on liberty, but only for their group, typically white men with property. Progressive liberalism was about rolling out those rights for everyone, a process that is now being reversed.

Would love to see this as a scatter diagram looking at the correlation with years of education.

I think it’s OK that Martin Johnson let his hair down after England won the 2003 World Cup …

I just want to warn the UK that with a ride in a gilded carriage, a castle, and a flyover with jets, the odds are increasing that Trump won’t leave. But we are good with that.

What I find weirdest about Labour’s growth strategy is that there’s virtually nothing in it about investment in education. Education 🟰 human-capital 🟰 productivity 🟰 growth. And the type of growth education produces is particularly good for workers. I guess it just takes too long

When will the equity markets react to what’s happening in the real economy? Why haven’t they so far? Is it because the potential returns to investments in AI outweigh the impending near-term recession or because some of the magnificent 7 are about to pop?

Policy that leaves working age parents poorer than pensioners is unfair, but it’s also very inefficient. It creates a long-tail of lower productivity and economic growth as child poverty significantly reduces the accumulation of human capital however well we fund education etc.