OBR and Treasury rn #Budget2025 youtu.be/084ndDTxTps?...

Person from this group #epping4everyone was excellent on #PoliticsLive today, giving voice to people currently being silenced, including asylum seekers and also local kids fearful of the protests. So refreshing to hear.

So, hang on, someone is now briefing against the briefer? #No10 #PoliticsLive

Important account by @dramirkhangp.bsky.social about the increase in racism experienced by #nhs staff and the politics of division that has promoted it #newsnight

“An argument between Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer is like an argument between Narcissus and his reflection” says Barry Gardiner. Blimey. It’s all kicking off #newsnight

Fascinating if depressing #newsnight debate rn about current state of Labour government.

“You can blame the professionalisation of politics, which has given us a frontbench that, throughout their careers, have been insulated from public argument.” Yes, this is an important point about Labour’s present woes.

Mmm…perhaps the legal profession needs all those graduate trainees to do the donkey-work afterall… www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Sometimes justice does prevail #violenceagainstwomenandgirls www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Persuasive argument from @zoesqwilliams.bsky.social #toryconference “When the mainstream right loses its confidence, when it starts to chase the buzzwords and symbolic politics of the far right, it hands them the steering wheel.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Entertaining phone-in w Clare Foges on @lbc.co.uk on, ‘Can there be a renaissance of the Tory party?’ … “What’s Michael Heseltine up to these days?” texts one Tory ruefully #toryconference

Beautiful story: “These women are saying to us: ‘Before I was just doing hair, now I do healing.’” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Blimey, Steve Baker making an awful lot of sense on #Newsnight discussing the hotels issues and the politics of the flag.

Ailbhe Rea of Bloomberg is always worth listening to - clear, thoughtful and concise as ever on #politicslive today, discussing the #afghandatabreach #superinjunction @pronouncedalva.bsky.social

Surely, there was only ‘no expelling’ under Blair because Kinnock had already done it all and set the party on its centrist way? @tomclarke.bsky.social @prospectmagazine.co.uk

Such an important study: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Well said and well done @vickyfoxcroftmp.bsky.social on taking a principled stand over #benefitcuts. True Labour.

If they could bottle the good feelings brought on by watching #BBCSpringwatch they could make a fortune. One of the best things on the telly by a mile. @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social

This #BillyJoel gig on BBC2 is something else. I’d forgotten how talented he is. Used to know every single word to the songs on The Stranger

Brilliant panel on protecting and advancing the health and reproductive rights of women and girls 👏 💪🏽 a#hayfestival @hayfestival.bsky.social

I cannot keep up with the Apple/China expert on #Newsnight but I can tell he’s brilliantly knowledgeable 😀

How on earth @ayeshahazarika.bsky.social stayed calm while being mansplained at by James Cleverley and Guto Harris about rape and the Tory record on convictions I will never know. Really awful on #politicslive

Can’t see how Rachel Reeves survives this, and I don’t expect Kemi Badenoch to last long either #newsnight #winterfuel

Finding it very stressful watching Hart on #universitychallenge; he’s so tormented 😩 They’d better win…

Nadra Ahmed of National Care Association very good on #politicslive. Neither MP on the panel, Labour or Tory, have an answer. Richard Reeves quite right to highlight gender and care dynamic #socialcare #immigration

“”How has Trump made the world safer?” “Well we have iconic images that show this” says desperate mewling Trump sycophant on #Newsnight

The Radek Sikorski and Peter Frankopan combo on #Newsnignt tonight was riveting, particularly the clarity of the Polish perspective on Putin @radek-sikorski.bsky.social

Abigail from Dewsbury was an absolute star 🌟 on @lbc.co.uk just now. Reform are not going to improve the lives of women, and especially working class women!

Kevin O’Leary on #newsnight tonight was just an embarrassment. “We’d better get used to watching the sausage being made in the markets.” WTF? #Tariffs

Mehreen Khan and Edward Fishman both excellent with their analyses of the #tariff fallout on #Newsnight tonight. Fishman on the idea this is economic rather than tariff war with China (ie broader) and Khan on possible outcome of a little more headroom for Rachel Reeves particularly insightful…

Ben Chu spot-on as ever - the key thing will be the US public’s reaction to the economic shock that is to come at home - #newsnight @benchu.bsky.social

I do not know how @vicderbyshire.bsky.social stands interviewing Gorka; his behaviour is always so utterly unpleasant, aggressive, sarcastic as well as being utterly wrong on virtually everything #newsnight #trumptariffs

Great analysis as ever by Gillian Tett. So much to digest about Trump’s trade war, but her distinction between tactic (tariffs) and strategy (‘levelling’ the economic playing field) seems crucial. Will US public tolerate pain that will flow from the tariffs? #newsnight @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social

We’re ready! #solareclipse

Rachael Maskell very good on #politicslive making clear why so many Labour MPs are deeply troubled by these cuts to benefits @rachaelmaskell.bsky.social #springstatement

All I keep thinking about is how Pete Hegseth raised questions of the competency of a Black four-star general and Air Force fighter pilot who was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hegseth asked did he get the job “because of his skin color? Or his skill? We’ll never know, but always doubt.”

Great piece by Jeanette Winterson about #AI “Good writing moves us. That’s not sentimental, it’s kinetic. We are not where we were. […] AI reads us. Now it’s time for us to read AI.” www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Even by recent standards, tonight’s news stories are *wild*. Bulgarian spy rings with little tie cameras run from Moscow and operating out of…Great Yarmouth?

“Resist fascism in this country. To the barricades,” More optimistic vibes from Europe: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

“Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed-off, poor country,” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Excellent #Newsnight w Mehreen Khan, Jonathan Sumption + NATO’s former chief, Rasmussen. Very sharp analysis about what’s going on between US and Europe and what the future holds. @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social

I know, I know…bears…in the woods…but still… www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

Mark Carney very robust in response to Trump tariff decision. Could this be the start of Trump’s undoing? I wouldn’t bet against Carney, given his strategic skills. #Newsnight

Polly Billington doing a sterling job on #politicslive today. Giving absolutely no quarter to the nonsense coming from Reform. @pollybillington.bsky.social

Yuan Yang excellent on #Newsnight analysing the impact of bond yields shifts and very nice to see @benchu.bsky.social back again too @yuanfenyang.bsky.social

I asked Vladimir Putin: “25 years ago Yeltsin handed you power & told you 'Take care of Russia.’ Do you think you have? In light of significant losses in Ukraine, Ukrainian troops in Kursk region, sanctions, inflation…” Here’s his reply. Producer @lizashuvalova.bsky.social @bentavener.bsky.social

I miss Valentina & her kiosk. I miss her positivity & warm-heartedness. Valentina has been undergoing cancer treatment. To cheer her up I turned the Valentina’s Kiosk theme into a song & the legendary BBC Singers have recorded it for her. Here is Valentina’s Song. Conducted by David Hill.