Putting former Barclays bankers in charge of financial regulators usually ends in disaster. Worth remembering the role of ex Barclays investment banker Sir Callum McCarthy, a man who didn't actually believe in financial regulation, as chair of the FSA from September 2003 to September 2008.

This show needs to be shut down right now - it shouldn't be able to survive this. And more broadly, I hope it signals the beginning of the end of shows where people are thrown together in the hope that they'll shag each other and then have dramas. It's a shit, exploitative model that needs to die

106 years ago today, on May 7th, an undergraduate at Christchurch College, Oxford, drank a glass of port then left through the main gates for a walk. I've been thinking about him, & his walk, for years now. It's taken a long time for me to figure out why - why I've kept returning, near obsessed.

Michael Haas @forbiddenmusic.bsky.social Korngold - Up Close and Personal forbiddenmusic.org/2026/04/30/k...

The Oval Office looks like the display window of a darts trophy shop I once saw in Withernsea

This absolutely wins the internet for today. 😂

This is an extremely fun way to kill a few minutes on a by-election day: generate your own Allister Heath headlines. Here's mine.

#LunchPun With turmoil at number 10 I think the 3rd Miliband brother should be the Prime Minister. Steve would be a great PM. Abracadabra, problem solved.

Imagine being so corrupt and authoritarian even Sepp Blatter thinks you've gone too far. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

🎯

first the internet got me to side with Michael O'Leary in his spat with Musk, now this. end times.

uh oh! Who'd a thunk?

Every few months now I re-read this "Who Goes Nazi?" piece from 1941 and am blown away by how it captures the people we are dealing with 80 years later. harpers.org/archive/1941...

It’s been a dreadful week in a rough year…decade…forever, and the only solution for the weekend is to finally treat myself to this wonderful book by @municipaldreams.bsky.social. Bookmark from the mighty @bookhaus.bsky.social. A refuge for a couple of days

My second book, A History of Council Housing in 100 Estates, is a full colour hardback so not cheap but it's currently discounted and obviously worth every penny. It would make a wonderful Christmas present for someone special in your life. 😊 www.ribabooks.com/a-history-of...

lol abolishing stamp duty is a policy that will prove hugely popular with the wonk set before absolutely blowing up the moment they announce what would replace it - or, alternatively, how they'd fund the lost revenue

We're celebrating International #RepairDay at the Barbican Centre with an exciting session for those at any point in their repairing journey! 🪛🧰🔧

At #HMAwards25 with all the team including of course @bbcdanw.bsky.social and @paullewismoney.bsky.social

The business model of acting to satisfy my demands as a drama consumer make no sense. You spend your career working your way up to a role in what I watch [obvs the pinnacle of your output] and then retire, as you are unable to suspend disbelief in the next thing, always associated with the last one

So Keir Starmer says Rachel Reeves is "going nowhere". I think we can all agree on that 🙄

John Major had a good question which he said could be asked of anyone interested in a political career: what would you resign over? If there’s nothing, you’re just someone who wants to be an MP. You need something that you believe in.

@juliedoughty.bsky.social more questions in this thread

If you've ever heard the phrase "friends don't let friends by new-builds", read on. In fact, even if you haven't, read on. Basically, everyone needs to read this by my amazing colleague Anoosh on the sheer horrifying mindfuck that is the new-build nightmare www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...

🎵 24 howlers from Tulsi....

Exactly this

A little bit of Cicero for the weekend.

Good morning and welcome to your thread of FT Weekend highlights on this cold but mercifully bright weekend. First before you hear one more tech oligarch redefine free speech please read this fantastic essay on the history of an ideal on.ft.com/4hlBeFq

We in the House of Commons Library are recruiting a senior researcher in our Social and General Statistics team! Come work with us to develop new and improved ways to inform MPs and their staff about data. housesofparliament.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

If you write absolute bollocks for 10,000 hours, you get really good at it.

Hope everyone in the UK remembers what Elon Musk is doing to the US government the next time Domminic Cummings writes a 30,000 word blog post on his plan to replace all the "NPCs" in Whitehall with 19 year old Nazi superforecasters.

Posted on the other place by @rmsterling.bsky.social (h/t @tiggertherese.bsky.social)

And grateful for any shares. It can be hard to find people who are extremely keen to talk to anyone about pensions, let alone a broadcaster

EEEK! In small print of announcement re resignation of Treasury Minister, it says that the Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds, has been moved to take her place. Unless she will continue as DWP pensions minister as well, regrettably we could be back to the pensions minister merry-go-round...

As @jonnelledge.bsky.social has pointed out, there’s nothing like sending out your carefully crafted newsletter, only for a dozen people to be reminded you exist, think ‘oh god not this prick again’, and unsubscribe. Would probably be best to keep quiet really.

Any news from Rishi Sunak? He has a gaff out that way doesn't he?

fantastic work well done lads

And, if you want me to write something for your newspaper thing, let me know. I write about the overlaps between finance, economics and politics.

Happy new year everyone 🥳🍾

I've shared this quote before but I'll share it again, as it's one I've been thinking about a lot as I've watched how our oligarchs have been behaving over the past few months.

The communication isn't their real gripe, it was just a hook for the legal case. They are pissed because they have to work longer (I get being pissed at that, I'll be pissed when inevitably told I won't get a pension till 73ish). Banging on about the procedural point isn't going anywhere.

A colleague pointed out to me back in 1976 that the combination of increasing home ownership and rising property prices would perpetuate a new form of inequality. Of course, Thatcher understood this, hence RTB which also helped to disguise the problem.

We don't need more 'innovative' housing products. They just belie the fact we don't have enough homes to meet demand. It's a numbers game, pure and simple.

Enjoying this photo of the young John and Pauline Prescott in which they appear to be a turbulent young couple in a televised play by Alan Sillitoe

Most excellent 👏👏👏💪😂

I'd like to speak to someone who has a Lifetime ISA (LISA) and is worried that they want to buy a house worth more than the £450k cap. Come have a chat with me about what that will mean for your plans and your finances. Shares very gratefully received.

Absolutely. If the country has been reduced to Airstrip 1 by reliance on foreign investors and thereby created conditions that no sane person would want to invest in, it is hardly savers' duty to take a hit to help the floundering government out.

The Musk-Trump relationship does feel a tiny bit reminiscent of an Americanised version of Cummings-Johnson. And feels like it will end similarly.

While the UK is pushing to create pension "megafunds" Australia's central bank is warning (again) about liquidity risks from the country's super-sized superannuation sector. www.afr.com/policy/tax-a...