In a miserable world here are some very early bluebells to lift spirits

Carlin Moran nails it this week - Give Jim Ratcliffe a break. He’s just a billionaire www.thetimes.com/article/f387...

Having finally caught up with the need to do a story about Inheritance Tax the scriptwriters are making a total mess of it! Don’t seem to have made any attempt to understand the issues. Disappointing #thearchers

Very sad to see this. I knew Deborah as a colleague at Worcester College, where she was as sensible, no-nonsense and wise as in other roles described here. My sympathy to all her family and friends. Deborah Cameron obituary: linguist, feminist and firebrand www.thetimes.com/article/a042...

Once had privilege of listening to Ian McKellen perform at Oxford. Seemed timely then - even more so now.

9 months later. First serious discussion of inheritance tax by farm owners on #TheArchers. But I thought Brookfield had a family company. Don’t Kenton, Shula and Elizabeth have some kind of interest? Why don’t the scriptwriters get some advice on this? And they need to consider succession anyway.

Apparently there is a curvy Barbie but she is a size 8! www.bbc.com/news/magazin...

I have to say this is exactly what I thought when I saw that there was a new autistic Barbie. It is great to have diverse Barbies but if they are aiming to reflect the true population a plump one and a flat breasted one are needed too. Do they have those?

Tried to watch Love Actually with family over Christmas and had to turn it off. Unwatchable on so many levels. Legally Blonde, however, really stands the test of time- excellent!

Terrifying!

AI making up citations. This is happening and is really hard to check if it is not the editor or referee they are citing. Makes good editing more and more important and more and more time consuming.

Lovely legal discussion around #TheArchers but with all the talk about succession it is completely incredible that there has been no serious discussion of inheritance tax! Even if only to say ‘thank goodness we have arrangements in place to avoid it’ ( not convinced they all do though).

Christmas carols, as written by Parliamentary lawyers

The NHS must employ armies of people to constantly rearrange appointments they sent me in the first place. It is so inefficient. This has nothing to do with the strike. I have just had an April 2026 appointment moved to March 2026. OK with me but why?

Great letter in The Times today!

I have just seen the play ‘Oh Mary’ and I shall never be able to sing ‘I’m a little teapot’ to my grandchildren again!

Like Sam I am loving the way the newspapers are now advising us about devaluing our houses. Will we have glossy magazine articles on recluttering? Best excuse yet not to throw away all my papers.

This is splendid.

Great idea and what could be better than an episode of In Our Time featuring my daughter in law? What a wonderful treasure trove this is.

And my other post from this week on the big risks lurking in the budget small print. (Several Treasury folk have got in touch to say they're worrying about similar things...) Sign up for a trial to read both of them. bsky.app/profile/samf...

I agree with higher taxes on expensive properties but why do it like this with these weird thresholds and cliff edges?

Like Sam I am loving the way the newspapers are now advising us about devaluing our houses. Will we have glossy magazine articles on recluttering? Best excuse yet not to throw away all my papers.

Good questions. Plus pay moves around a lot for about half of workers, plus pay rises are now chunky and (probably?) come around at the same time as any tax rise

How many people know precisely what rate of income tax and NICs combined they are paying now? Especially employees. With digitalisation, how many look at their ‘payslips’? #Just asking.

Struggling through crowds at Paddington station and feeling fed up when a very small boy says to his grandmother- ‘this is fun’ and suddenly I am smiling. The amazing power of positivity ( and small children). Thank you, little boy!

Just back from trip to Pompei where I learned about the Roman tax on urine. Seems like one of the very few ideas that has not been leaked over the past few weeks …

Very much agree with this and intent to keep going as long as I can!

Most tax specialists agree we need reform not fiddling, but easy to get dragged into detail and lose overview. Good that Martin Wolf in FT also writing about big tax reform. But it cannot be rushed or it will go wrong. Economists in particular-don’t forget the need to be able to implement

Big problem with #The Archers. No scriptwriters- wills are not to be found on laptops1 They must be written, signed and witnessed.

Big Four accountants lobby against partnership tax changes in Budget . Of course they are! ‘A lot of firms will incorporate as a result of this…’ They would have done that in 2002 if they hadn’t had the LLP created for them- a vehicle that has done little but provide opportunities for tax saving.

I did predict he would turn the experience into a substack. A lot of lessons to learn ( for Sam and the NHS!)

The South Bank area used to be a lovely place to walk and sit but now there is noise everywhere. Why are buskers allowed to be so loud?

Will the Maliks buy the farm? Or will it go to Archers of some description?

Very interesting!

This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system. I am not fearful — I am fearless. We will fight these baseless charges aggressively, and my office will continue to fiercely protect New Yorkers and their rights..

Amazed this is still going ahead - basic and obvious problem is that essentially everything local government does now is for the poor. You can’t move it around without really hurting poor people somewhere!

Spot on on how politicians think about tax. Unfortunately I agree likely we shall have minor fiddling again. But better options exist - eg Resolution Foundation suggestion. Since even small tweaks upset someone, why not be bolder and go for principled reform? Politics, that’s why.

Covid vaccinations open.substack.com/pub/timleuni... - this from the ever interesting @timleunig.bsky.social My surgery delivered 1000 flu jabs on Saturday and I don’t believe it would not have been cost effective to give COVID jabs at the same time but not available even to those eligible 🤷‍♀️

Worth reposting

Very interesting on a bunch of things including reparations

9 year old kids know…

I think this is very correct from @ianleslie.bsky.social. They probably should have done this ages ago but right now there really is very little to lose...

I couldn't agree with this article more. We need to think about how we move from piecemeal ideas flying around to a proper method of tax reform. It seems politicians cannot deliver it on their own. They must always be in charge, but they must be persuaded to seek sensible help. on.ft.com/4muHY6n

I love this- something positive from my son @samfr.bsky.social , talking with the new director of the @theifs.bsky.social , a long-term colleague of mine, @helenmiller.bsky.social !

Fascinating that Hermer referred to Salomon v A Salomon in this lecture on the rule of law- it seems to me it was about putting form over substance - is it really about the rule of law? Very problematic case in many ways...

This can’t be dealt with by gimmicky new taxes. And there isn’t the time or political will to restructure our tax system properly within OBR time scales. I can’t see any sensible alternative to increasing income tax and/or VAT.

HMRC Stakeholder Conference today. I was concentrating, really I was. But there was a very special view out of the window.

Just looking at (enormous) bill for new glasses following a fall which smashed old ones. Frame and lenses not that that much but dispensing services cost very high. Looks like a VAT division - saves me money but really? @maxschofield.bsky.social ?