column on robbie keane www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Think we’ve crossed a pretty major threshold – and a very bad one – if a journalist working in the lobby for a major newspaper group can tweet like this without professional consequences.

No, it's not. It's all a lie. The blunt truth is across the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them.

New from DWP: 📣Over 1.6m children impacted by the 2 child limit in Apr 2025 This policy that leaves families with 3+ children struggling when they hit hard times. It is driving up child poverty, leaving families going without essentials and hindering children's prospects

Labour MP @marietidball.bsky.social delivers a powerful speech: “It is with a heavy broken heart that I will be voting against this bill today. “As a matter of conscience, I need my constituents to know I cannot support the proposed changes to PIP as currently drafted...”

Today MPs will vote on the amended welfare bill. MPs who choose to walk through the lobby and support this bill are paving the way for at least 150,000 people to be pulled into poverty. Here are just 3 reasons why they should oppose this bill from @katieschmuecker.bsky.social 🔽

Great to see broad swathe of MPs expressing opposition to a Bill that will increase poverty and destitution amongst disabled people. This new joint briefing for MPs from 10 organisations sets out the broad & deep concern about the Bill from civil society: ucpipbill.co.uk

The welfare rebellion in full - here are the 108 names on the reasoned amendment

I have signed this reasoned amendment. The majority of reforms are both necessary and welcome but I can't support changes to PIP eligibility. We need to reduce numbers by actually preventing ill health. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

BREAKING - I understand a large number of MPs - potentially 80+ and including select committee chair are signing a reasoned amendment to the welfare bill which declines to give it a second reading

No-one lost more than £300 a year due to Labour’s changes to Winter Fuel Allowance. Labour’s changes to disability benefit could cost some households *more than £10,000 a year* – and the plans tabled this week do nothing to fix that. It’s no wonder campaigners are raising alarms with MPs.

Obviously hard because of fiscal issues; but a core challenge facing this govt is people don’t to see a sense of purpose just the “tough” stuff they don’t like. As our polling shows tackling poverty and looking after the working class are what people see as Labour at its best

Many of us have been calling for the scrapping of the two-child benefit limit for a long time. It would take hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty literally overnight. Reports now suggest the PM wants to do this. Time for a bit of moral backbone from him on this.

New @jrf-uk.bsky.social analysis of disability benefit cuts by Parliamentary constituency and health condition. Select your constituency from drop-down menu on the chart at the following link, to see how many PIP recipients are at risk of losing out: jrf.org.uk/social-secur...

Come work with me!

EXC - 42 MPs have signed a letter to Keir Starmer saying the disability cuts are “impossible to support” PM is facing biggest rebellion of the parliament over welfare vote MPs call for pause and rethink until fuller impact assessments can be done in autumn and warn disabled people are frightened

Labour's biggest issue is neither being too socially conserative or not socially conservative enough. It's cuts. People have had enough.

Someone on Threads noticed you can type any random sentence into Google, then add “meaning” afterwards, and you’ll get an AI explanation of a famous idiom or phrase you just made up. Here is mine

"The balance here is off the scale" 📢 The government's proposed cuts to disability benefits will deepen poverty and hardship, and push many further from work. Watch @iainkporter.bsky.social give evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee on the cuts.

Trans women are women, trans men are men, and that’s that.

Keynesianism is like Ozempic in that it's something that works but makes people mad because they want moral hazard to be involved

On the pitch, you need that hunger…

New @moreincommonuk.bsky.social polling for @jrf-uk.bsky.social finds benefit cuts risk putting the Government on the wrong side of public opinion. 60% of the public now think the Government is going in the wrong direction, including 41% of those who backed Labour in July.

Where will the cuts to sickness & disability benefits hit hardest? New @jrf-uk.bsky.social constituency analysis shows the % of working age people receiving these benefits in England & Wales. Some MP inboxes are likely to be brimming, as concern about these plans is widespread

This was raised in the Commons today. Heartening to see MPs across the House - many drawing on their lived experience - highlight deep concern over changes to PIP eligibility leading to loss of Carer's Allowance. parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

🚨 CONFIRMED: Social security for disabled people has been slashed in the Spring Statement. This is cruel, irresponsible and shameful. People at food banks are already telling us that they’re terrified about how they will survive.

Something for Labour to think about via @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social Top 3 issues for 2024 Labour voters NHS 68% Cost of living 56% Poverty 40% Net good / bad job NHS +17 Cost of living -20 Poverty -9 Can't afford to forget the purpose 2024 Labour voters want to see. www.ipsos.com/en-uk/boost-...

Welfare reforms/cuts: • 370,000 people on PIP now, will lose it - *average* loss £4500 pa • 2.25m on UC Health affected by a freeze - *average* loss £500 pa • 3.9m on UC only (without health element) better off by £265 pa on average

The Chancellor said today that she would not do anything to put household finances in danger Yet the government’s own assessment shows their cuts to health related benefits risk pushing 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children 📢 Their assessment also found... 1/3

We can’t believe this needs saying out loud: It would be a good thing if the UK Government ensured that disability benefit reforms didn't inadvertently increase poverty rates among disabled people. Cutting essential support could have devastating effects on their quality of life.

Some families with a disabled adult stand to lose over £12,000 per year by 2029/30 as a result of the Government's disability benefit cuts. Hardship being deepened by rebuilding the nations finances on the backs of disabled people And polling suggests the public know it.

Last-minute spreadsheet wars between the Treasury and the OBR are ludicrous way to run a country, a ludicrous way to run an economy, a ludicrous way to fund public services and a ludicrous way to run the welfare system www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall's speech today laid out plans to cut disability and sickness benefits by billions. ❌ No truly moral choice would leave disabled people without support designed to allow them to lead a dignified life, or facing hardship. 1/4

Yesterday, a Government press release claimed the number of people “considered too sick to work” had "quadrupled" since the pandemic (a "383% rise"). This is incorrect. In fact, it’s not even close. It's more like 40%. This thread explains why 🧵1/7

No two ways about it - cutting welfare will send more people into poverty, and many more deeper into poverty. We have one of the least generous welfare systems in the world - which is why we have millions of people queuing at food banks. We should be increasing welfare not cutting it.

A few months ago the FT suggested the surge in disability benefit claims may not have been driven by an actual rise in illness/disability, having found limited evidence for such a rise since the pandemic Now the IFS has published research suggesting there has been a rise ifs.org.uk/news/various...

Over 75% of people receiving Universal Credit and disability benefits have gone without essentials in the last 6 months, polling shared exclusively with PolHome shows 43% have skipped meals to keep up with other costs The new @trusselluk.bsky.social research comes ahead of reported welfare cuts

I will never forget the photo of Zelenskyy’s face after he saw Russia’s war crimes in Bucha in 2022. He seemed to age years in an afternoon. Watching him constantly cross the world asking for aid that should have been thrown at him is one of the deepest shames of our age.

Ignore the very unflattering photo. Final run before the Brighton half this weekend - am raising for the Martlets Hospice, a cause v close to me. Any donations would be appreciated x www.justgiving.com/page/joefm-m...

Some thoughts from me on our new report for @jrf-uk.bsky.social today: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...

BREAKING: Keir Starmer has spoken to President Zelenskyy and backed him after Trump’s attacks. “The PM expressed his support for Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War II."

4.3 million children are in poverty UK govt won’t see progress on child poverty by 2029 even with high economic growth 📢 Our analysis shows under our central scenario only Scotland will see child poverty rates fall by 2029 in part due to social security policies 1/5

Good advice for almost any supposedly intractable problem

On the move this morning for a mammoth train journey from Brighton to Munich 🇬🇧🇩🇪

If you’re out of form and languishing at the bottom of the table #VisitBrighton #BHAFC

Massive away win for the little fella.

Govt’s Get Britain Working plan signals a welcome reset in approach to supporting disabled people to work. But risks being undermined by £3bn of arbitrary unspecified budget cuts & a safety net that leaves people going without essentials. Me for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Angela Rayner speaks for millions.

🚨 Over 1.4 MILLION emergency food parcels were provided by food banks in our community in just 6 months. This is 69% higher than the same period 5 years ago. This can't go on and we refuse to stand by while so many of us are pushed to the brink, without enough money to live on.

🥫 Earlier today, MPs from across the House came together to debate how we can build a society without the need for food banks. One of the government's key priorities in their manifesto was 'to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.' 🧵 (1/3)