Please @steverichards.bsky.social or @greenmirandahere.bsky.social - make sure Iain sees this 👍: "These estimates suggest that by 2025, Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6% to 8%..." www.nber.org/papers/w34459

Excuse the pun, but I won't be holding my breath...

No doubt Michael Prescott (no relation, thank God) is similarly shocked when Carol the Weather forecasts rain on BBC Breakfast and then fails to balance it with another forecast predicting a heatwave...

This morning anyone watching BBC news and uninitiated in the ways of the UK media establishment could legitimately think that Trump on Jan 6th was akin to MLK in the March on Washington and that Tim Davie resigned because he has failed to deal with left wing bias in BBC News output. I shit you not.

Fantastic Grand Prix today. I just love Interlagos.

The problem is the media & the centrist establishment is perfectly happy not to interrogate Starmer's persistent broken promises because it suited them to neuter the left and be rid of a risk to their cosy status quo:

Nothing sums up Rachel Reeves' character quite like the things she refused to countenance: - equalising the taxation of capital with income - taxing wealth fairly - serving in a Corbyn shadow cabinet

Tax wealth not work... We will win in the end. If we haven't won, it isn't the end.

This is like Lord of the Rings - Gandalf has broken Saruman's control over King Théoden...

Oh please just fuck off Chris Philp. And when you have, fuck off some more. The justice system in general is at breaking point as a direct result of years of totally irresponsible and needless Tory austerity...

Remember: The fundamental issue isn’t the size of the government or how to make government more “efficient.” It’s who our government is for. Should it work mainly for big corporations and billionaires — or for the rest of us?

🛑 NEWS: Royals Deserve “Much More News Coverage” New Report Claims. 👇🏻 Please watch and share this #BrokenNews report. youtu.be/Zg_K_Ki1NTQ?...

In 2024, UK’s big four banks HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, & National Westminster made £45.9bn profit. Since 2021/22 profit margins up by 21%. 2022 -2024: Big four banks paid £124bn in dividends, £32bn in share buybacks. They oppose possible tax increase, publish misleading tax numbers. Tax them.

Dear @newsagents.bsky.social Why am I downloading the Sports Agents when I am subscribed to the News Agents. I need to subscribe separately to News Agents USA, which is fine, but have no choice about a podcast I am not interested in? Makes no sense.

Farage: epic grifter

It's relieving that the Caerphilly by election is done, so thankfully we don't have to hear any more English journalist butchering Caer as "Care". Along with the inevitable Cymru in Plaid Cymru being pronounced Coom-ree rather than Come-ree because they assume it's like the Cwm in "Pobl y Cwm".

What a difference 4 hours makes: 10.30pm - We were told Nigel Farage will attend the count if Reform wins 2.30am - Farage was scuttling back to London and the losing Reform candidate refused to make a speech on stage

Fiona Bruce making the usual Schrodinger's anti immigration argument: Irregular immigration is both: Far worse now and The same as always just coming by different routes BBC needs to be purged of its right wing rot.

In US and UK, long drawn-out judicial processes that often turn on painstaking examinations of evidence and elaborate rules of procedure are often called… …’witch-hunts’. Which really were the opposite, if you think about it.

It's being reported that Rachel Reeves is considering increasing income tax, something that many people thought was inevitable 12 months ago. If she does, she is simply proving that she basically wasted a year posturing over a promise that was proved to be stupid days after the election.

Inside Morgan McSweeney's brain: "Hmmmm, looks like we need to copy Reform even more"

Lesson for Reform: Don't pick a candidate who looks like JD Vance...

Fucking Naga on BBC Breakfast trying to spin Caerffili as a success for Reform when they've underperformed expectations. BBC News is a fucking shameless right wing machine.

Richard Tice. Laura Anne Jones. Lee Anderson. Danny Kruger. Sarah Pochin. Andrea Jenkyns. David Jones. Nadine Dorries. Mark Reckless. Sarah Atherton. Ann Widdecombe. Jake Berry.Lucy Allan. Nigel Farage! Nigel Farage,can you hear me? Your boy took a helluva beating! 😀👋🎊 #CaerffiliAmByth #YmaOHyd 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Wales generally has a left of centre political identity. This is how Caerphilly voted. Reform may win a lot of seats in Wales, but it will be so hard for them to ever form a Government as most ppl don't agree with them. This is why proportional systems are so much better.

Reform were over represented in the polls again. Caerffili wasn't even close. Plaid Cymru's on course to win in May. Fucking brilliant.

Let's not humour those advocating deportation of UK residents with reasons why their plans would not work. Keep it simple, this is not the action of a civilised country. If needed, this will mean complete chaos and destruction of international reputation.

The Labour leadership's years of intransigence and bloody mindedness on this issue means we could be sleepwalking into a Reform led government that no majority wants. While turkeys don't vote for Christmas, most of their turkeys in Westminster will be slaughtered at the next election anyway.

When asked whether it is wrong if it is true that Andrew has not paid water bills on the royal lodge, why is it so hard for a government minister to say simply "if true that is not acceptable"?

While Jenrick is obvs wrong about policing, crime and violence + also wrong about longterm trends integratio But he is importantly wrong - in a less obvious way - about community too The average attendance at Aston Villla in 1986 was only 15,000: that atmosphere didn't bring people together

I can't keep up. I thought conflating Israel with Judaism was antisemitic

Both weird and ludicrous seeing Stephen Kinnock, a Welsh MP being interviewed on TV dealing with his brief which is social care. Basically, his parliamentary "day job" is dealing with something that doesn't affect his own constituents at all - care is devolved to the Senedd.

If you work (or have worked) in TV/Film in any capacity, my daughter would really love it if you could complete her survey on the impact of AI - it's for her Welsh Baccalaureate. It's appreciated 👍

The Trumps: law breaking immigrants

If you work (or have worked) in TV/Film in any capacity, my daughter would really love it if you could complete her survey on the impact of AI - it's for her Welsh Baccalaureate. It's appreciated 👍

Not sure whether Kevin Hollinrake is delusional and believes the utter nonsense he is spouting this morning or whether it's just shameless Tory lies. Claims they know how to manage the economy, lol, that they balanced the books and had well funded public services when in power.

Statement by Rhun ap Iorwerth and Liz Saville Roberts to mark two years since the 7 October 2023 attacks. @rhunapiorwerth.bsky.social @lsrplaid.bsky.social

Badenoch is an utterly awful human being.

Ordinary people are castigated for believing lies, yet so many educated people who should know better don't realise that they are as susceptible to social media nonsense as anyone else. It's what happens when neoliberals spend decades denigrating social sciences & humanities as worthless.

I hope @steverichards.bsky.social or @greenmirandahere.bsky.social don't show this to Iain or Tim #notanotherone

I AM IN SHOCK. said no-one ever... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is big: Michelle Mone is being forced to pay back £122m after supplying poor quality protective gear to our NHS during the pandemic. But she STILL hasn't been kick out of the House of Lords. Mone has to go. Agree? Sign the petition today: 38d.gs/lrpq

Starmer has finished his brief stint cosplaying an anti-racist, now he's back to his usual cosplaying Reform... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Good to hear Starmer challenging that little prick Chris Mason. CM - "But that could be lost in the nuance" KS - "Well let's not lose it in the nuance". It's people like Mason who deliberately confuse things because modern media thrives on chaos.

While today he presents himself as the defender of Palestinians under Israeli bombardment, the Russian intervention in Syria was supported by Labour’s former leader Jeremy Corbyn, and his director of communications Seamus Milne. This is why Syrians continue to despise him. bsky.app/profile/ozka...

And still the centrists will defend him while simultaneously being appalled at how American Christians can tolerate a liar and criminal in the White House, who happens to share their views in other areas.

"Nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right" [William Gladstone].

What a load of complete and utter... sense www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcu0...

I know "the election is 4 years away" but this shows how bonkers it is that we still have FPTP. Labour with 78% of Reform's vote get 46% the number of seats Tories with 63% of Reform vote get 14% the number of seats Lib Dem + Green (26%) = 85 seats Reform (27%) = 311 seats