Working class is no longer a term denoting the social or economic status and interests of real people, but instead a rhetorical device to appeal to a mythical, like minded blob that politicians can use to disparage their opponent and confirm their own authenticity - exhibit 5,320,476

It's very bleak that their natural position is never to make life better for the people they want to win over, but just to make life worse for the people they don't

Feel we are a few news cycles away from the White House declaring Donald Trump Jr the new King of Naples

This really is the bare minimum position we should be expecting of our political class at this moment and anything less would be a catastrophic moral failure

Simultaneously undermines the potential contribution of migrants by denying them agency in the labour market and lowers the floor for worker rights by creating a class of less privileged workers that others have to compete with A worst of both worlds policy

Not the biggest fan of the triple lock but a lot of the discourse ignores that all pensions, whether fully funded or PAYG, are paid for by the workforce The potential pensions crisis is less about the triple lock and more about distributing wealth in a low growth economy with an ageing population

Mixed bag on welfare today Lifting the 2 child benefit will undoubtedly benefit countless children and protect them from the consequences of poverty However, health benefits are being cut sharply and frozen as we face an inflationary crisis. Will lead to worse outcomes and more pressure on the NHS

Similar vibes

Not sure if Trump will ever get a memorial monument but if he does at least there are plenty of profound quotes that can be engraved

I think it's possible believe that the country is exposed to a major supply shock which will constrain output but through targeted support and initiatives to support more collective over private consumption (e.g. public transport over private cars) we can make a material improvement to many lives

A wealthy industrialist complaining about food imports, first big win for fans of the Corn Laws since 1846

His whole gimmick is being divisive, he can't even make a point about the state pension without making a snide remark suggesting that young people today who have endured wage stagnation, a housing crisis and a pandemic, all while maintaining record high employment levels, don't make a contribution

If you don't train doctors then no matter what health system you have, no matter how much money you throw at health services, then you are always going to find your capacity will be limited Irresponsible of the gov to see medical training as a bargaining chip rather than a duty

Big fan of humanity reaching new heights of scientific achievement and exploration

Do feel that suggesting the government has got ahead of the impending economic crisis because of things like annual increases in the state pension is heavily underestimating the scale of what's about to happen

It's amazing how little scrutiny Reform get over their grasp of economics when they respond to things like a massive supply side crisis in jet fuel with an attempt to stimulate demand for air travel

My personal view is that there is a distinction between improving health productivity by doing more with less and creating a more productive health service capable of meeting public demand which requires an expansion of resources, and increasingly it feels the gov are focused on the former

The strategy of indulging Trump as a means of preserving UK influence has failed spectacularly, but as with their response to domestic policy issues when things don't work as planned, this government seems completely unable to effectively change course www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Atlanticism, we hardly knew ye

Turning to excessively costly private finance to fund critical infrastructure for the not-for-profit health service again...

If Labour were serious about fixing the NHS then instead of manipulating waiting lists by knocking people off before their treatment is complete and rationing who gets referred they would be focused relentlessly on increasing NHS capacity through training staff not using it as a bargaining chip

Nothing a good VAT cut won't handle

Interesting from the IFS showing improvements in NHS productivity are not bringing down waiting lists as quickly as expected Raises big questions over the viability of the 10 Year Plan which very much hinges on assumptions about the benefits of productivity improvements ifs.org.uk/articles/why...

I guess some history books might be interested in the how AI impacted the publishing industry...

Hope everyone who contributed to this narrative feels appropriately ashamed but I won't hold my breath

Government rhetoric on how the economic plan is working is ringing hollow today UK is still heavily exposed to global shocks and years that could have been spent adapting to new fiscal realities that would have given the gov more room to maneuver have been wasted www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Rees-Mogg on Peston suggesting it isn't fair people on low incomes are experiencing fiscal drag to pay for benefits and this hurts low income workers but this ignores the reality that many low income workers receive benefits and that low benefit levels are often a barrier to finding work/training

Give Lee Mack 5 minutes on would I lie to you to probe a little bit on this claim about giving chase and we will get to the bottom of this

Would have maybe been good if the PM had waited for this sort of analysis and then reflected what it means about the impact his government is having, instead of accusing his opponents of extremism and embracing sectarianism

You can't be lauding someone as self aware and then immediately moving on to them explaining that the failure of this government is they're not wearing their heart on their sleeves enough It's very much a "my biggest flaw is I'm a perfectionist" type of thing to be saying...

Can't even be bothered to do the Lionel Hutz business card meme with this, just feels too easy

Looking forward to a new week of the government telling us that the economy is incredible and super resilient and an opposition telling us that we have no choice but to start fracking in the Surrey Hills immediately

The Oompa Loompa in charge of writing songs could do a whole 3 hour musical based on this single tweet

Attleeton sounds like the fictional setting of a terrible murder mystery novel written by a labour party member who regularly attends meetings

Remember Badenoch and Farage are completely wrong to march into a clearly disastrous war which is not in our national interest You have to go into it slowly, with lots of confusion and some contradictory rhetoric and you announce it on a Friday night, that's the Starmer way to do things

This is a really damning indictment of the impact of austerity and it should be obvious to government that an effective health service is not one constantly running at full capacity

Starmers always manages to drive past off ramps that would allow him to make a strong case to the public on the need to revisit labours tax pledge and get ahead of a fiscal crisis visible from space in the most spectacular way

Everything is going to plan, the green shoots of economic recovery are in bloom

Whenever my wife and I visit my mums Scottish family we remark how comically similar they are to her British South Asian Muslim family It's absurd a social media site has distorted her view so much she feels the country is some hyper sectarian dystopia in need of the heavy hand of the state...

Recent commentary suggesting welfare is the reason deindustrialised Britain struggles with defence I think betrays a misunderstanding of welfare spending as frivolous charity rather than an important fiscal tool for maintaining a minimum level of consumption which can help support growth

Tories coming out swinging against KCL

A substantial number of replies asking Grok to explain whether driving a hundred million barrels of oil through the desert each day is a feasible option The university staff warning about diminished critical thinking skills may be on to something

The compromise should be characters from Wind in the Willows who represent the different strands of British conservatism* Mr Toad - massive neo-liberal Thatcherite Badger - traditionalist Mole - one nation tory *Ratty is a swing voter, backed Lib Dems at the last election for tactical reasons

Got to say am not convinced these "hard truths" are rooted in our economic reality For me a hard truth might be we have successfully reduced net migration and it means lower growth or that meeting the needs of an ageing population requires diverting resources to health from other sectors

Sorry tories, but the people want the Disney version of Robin Hood to feature more prominently in British public life...

Going from I never said we should join in strikes on Iran to a metaphor which cannot be seen as anything other than a call to join in strikes is incredible stuff

Genuinely curious whether she'll dismiss the large majority of the public as "silly people" in the same way she did of her democratically elected Parliamentary colleagues

It's a bold claim social conservatism is the glue required for radical economic change with post war as the example Nothing on excessive labour demand, characteristics of industrial manufacturing, expectations from those who fought and sacrificed, the collectivist nature of the war economy