‘One of the many virtues of Mark Mazower’s excellent and timely “On Antisemitism” is his effort to restore historical context to a word that has become a generic term of condemnation.’ www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

👇👇

This only happens to you once

FWIW I'm a convert to ID cards, largely because it removes discrimination against migrants and has the potential to make existing "papers, please" checks about *identity* and not *right to live here*. Subtle but important, to my mind. But...

Lucid & perceptive analysis, as always from @ldfreedman.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...

Roe deer stag on the slope between the lower two meadows by Cat Lane Woods in Gleadless Valley, Sheffield. Picture by SQ.

Nathan Gill is no fringe politician. He was the leader of the Reform Party and before that UKIP in Wales. A Brexit Party MEP. A friend and ally of Nigel Farage, who in 2016 called him: "terrific," and "as honest as the day is long." This is a MASSIVE story www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Roe deer stag on the slope between the lower two meadows by Cat Lane Woods in Gleadless Valley, Sheffield. Picture by SQ.

"Oh he's only talking about ILLEGAL immigration." I'm sure he thinks he is. But since that is not how the message is being heard by actually existing immigrants, non-white Brits OR the bigots who currently feel they can yell at the aforementioned with impunity, I think we can say he's fucked this.

Very good thread:

Very good thread:

Today’s digital ID announcement yet another example of how X being the main platform for political discourse will inevitably throw the MSM’s coverage off course, because online right opinion is fevered/way off the beat with the public. Guess who need digital/reliable ID most? Those in poverty.

Racism on the Elizabeth Line. Sophia Choudry says she can feel a regression in social norms this summer after the progress across generations. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Once again (in recent times), Dan is nailing it.

You don't have to be in hock to bond markets. You just have to have tax and spending plans that wouldn't melt the calculator of a seven year old

It’s so frustrating: if he had some courage in his political convictions Burnham could’ve just said “we need to tax more and spend more”. Instead, he just engages in a damaging fiction that harms both the government *and himself*.

Two quartz lion-head. Seat ornaments, probably made between 300 and 550 AD, somewhere in the Roman Empire. (On display in the Cluny Museum in Paris, along with masses of other beautifully presented and explained artefacts.)

Three years on from Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng's mini budget, I've written for @theobserveruk.bsky.social about its legacy and the lessons the Chancellor, her team and her backbench MPs (including would-be MPs) should keep in mind this autumn. This point is especially important.

Quite. So many Labour people on this website visibly have no idea of just how bad things have got for ethnic minorities since they came on, and how their visible indifference lands.

Tesselating dog-treats:

Retrospectively changing the rights of people to stay in the UK isn't fair, isn't right and is certainly not the British way. To Farage they are,"low skilled migrants." To the majority of Brits, they are our friends and neighbours, working as teachers, carers and in small businesses. A short video 👇

Badenoch has finally found a hard line between the Conservatives and Farage.

The logical culmination of Gove’s ‘we don’t trust experts’. Now it’s ’we don’t know anything’.

Exit Rayner, enter Reed. @julesbirch.bsky.social considers the loss for social housing that Angela Rayner's resignation represents. Birch is unimpressed with one of Reed's first statements. julesbirch.com/2025/09/08/e...

This is focused and good. [I can imagine applying it within an organisation, and using it in a governance setting.] www.gov.uk/service-manu...

Nothing in this acknowledges the economic reality of why many brownfield sites don’t get away as housing: they’re not financially viable unless someone (usually us, in some form) pays for them to be cleaned up and made ready

In a sane media culture, this would be the end of him.

This is focused and good. [I can imagine applying it within an organisation, and using it in a governance setting.] www.gov.uk/service-manu...

Keep looking up! 16 Glossy Ibis in the skies of #TheOutdoorCity this morning spotted by @shefbirdstudy.bsky.social - see: open.substack.com/pub/abitblac...

statistic of the day

Well I hope last week's State Visit was all worth it...

This makes for disturbing reading and is shameful that we treat fellow humans this way. They’re desperate and it’s only a matter of time until a tragedy takes place. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A Paris staircase:

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is well worth reading, especially with its thorough update from Cllr Howard Knight (RIP):

Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins? He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions. So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?

Switching 2p from National Insurance to Income Tax could raise £6 billion, while protecting workers’ pay packets. This would mean that landlords pay a similar rate of tax on their rental income as their tenants do on their employment income. Learn more ⤵️ buff.ly/uLWun7f

I hadn’t, till now thought it sensible for the Government to break it’s manifesto pledge on tax, but this is compelling, given the fiscal pressures, global headwinds & the imperative to increase significantly spending on defence.

Fundamentally, the headbanging Right doesn't believe Autism (or ADHD) exists. Or in so far as it does exist, a human conspiracy has created it. We're back to their core outlook that 'It didn't exist back in the good old days so can't exist now.' 'It must just be some modern woke Marxist nonsense'.

A Paris staircase:

Reeves urged to break Labour manifesto pledge and raise income tax on.ft.com/3KipGaY

There should be a high bar for politicians attacking the media, but maybe Ed Davey has half a point here? For example, the first three paragraphs of this BBC story repeat Reform's £243bn figure without saying that the thinktank behind the estimate now disowns it. (This is mentioned in paragraph 35)

The Reform Party policy of abolition of indefinite leave to remain is supported by 3% of the public

No. 10 spokesperson responding to a far right idea: "lol how will you pay for Dachau?" No. 10 spokesperson three days later: "On reflection, Dachau is bad"

It's obviously true unless something unexpected happens, but a) the incumbent government needs to actually have *delivered for its coalition* to lead a republican front b) the leader needs to be a plausible leader of it and c) they do need to actually be able to say 'Vichy was bad'.

This is why nothing ever sticks. It's a cult like, Dunning Krugeresque faith system that attracts highly opinionated people who have "decided already" that they are right and who "believe what they see" rather than acquainting themselves with facts.

Responding to terrible proposals from terrible people with variations of "we're doooomed" gets us nowhere. Argue against them. Organise. Join/support parties, candidates, NGOs, trade unions that oppose the terrible proposals. Point out that much the media is crap. Fight back FFS.

People get in a tizzy about whether to use legal or practical or moral arguments, to deploy reason or emotion, data or storytelling. The answer is: everything. Let him have it.

All reminiscent of liberals’ paralysis pre-2016. Complacency + dismissive contempt for Farage + dislike of incumbents + embarrassment in defending the status quo.

Yes Reform's plans on indefinite leave to remain are a moral disgrace. They would also be an economic catastrophe, lead to chaos in public services, create a constitutional crisis and make the UK a pariah. It will be reported as "controversial".