Given child poverty levels this feels a little ‘let them eat cake’

A brilliant Labour announcement! We know the difference money for decent playgrounds could make. It’s good for children, families and neighbourhoods. From Stopsley to Lewsey and all the parks in between, there are playgrounds across Luton that need this funding. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour is desperately trying to appeal to Reform supporters. In October, we asked people in the UK if they perceive a party as a "party for someone like them". Only very few people say this for both Labour and Reform. The correlation is negative. Labour is chasing an electorate that does not exist.

this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself it is also free to read youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

Any President who calls for the opposition party to be hanged should be immediately impeached and removed from office.

I'm sure the Londinistan guys will be delighted to read this... really good news... they'll be talking about something else altogether now... sure of it... because they were genuinely concerned weren't they

Typically entertaining piece with a review of the research set out here: bsky.app/profile/turn...

Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions? I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?

I am sure there will be no economic or structual consequences to this, in a country with a rapidly aging population and unsustainable population pyramid

Excellent column from @stephenkb.bsky.social on what @alanmanning4.bsky.social refers to as the “infernal circle” of immigration policy www.ft.com/content/1144...

ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

One hand of Labour: what can we do to keep liberal voters? The other hand of Labour: lets out-Reform Reform Voice of reason: you realise both sides have eyes and ears, right? You actually have to stand for something… make a choice already otherwise none of these groups will vote for you.

Going to leave you with a Home Office chart from their most recent asylum stats so you can decide whether the UK is a magnet for asylum seekers with a uniquely generous asylum system www.gov.uk/government/s...

“We're seeing a level of proliferation of bodies & body piles from space that's unlike anything I've ever seen…” Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza. 🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...

Ok- hear me out. I have a teenage daughter, so no judgement about what I watch pls. I’m just genuinely concerned about the shit we feed our kids about love. How is anyone who is team Conrad not sectioned and in therapy yet?! The emotionally manipulative man child. So glad I was there for her 😱

It seems pretty risky to tell people they won't see the change they want if they vote Green, given that they already voted Labour and didn't see the change they wanted.

We have just published the call for the Nuffield Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowships in Politics. These are 3-year fully-funded postdocs that will allow you to focus on your research in a great academic environment. (And with excellent food) www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/...

One of the most wondrous effects of dog ownership is that it seems like an entirely positive, constructive and socially acceptable use of my time to aimlessly wonder around and sit around- doing absolutely nothing, as long as I have my dog with me. I basically have no cortisol left. Loving it 🥰

Fernando (33), who was 12 when he came to the UK, was detained by the Home Office as part of their upgraded immigration raids. Held for 29 days. We are supporting him with an application for settled status. No way to know, but this is unlikely to be isolated. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Once again, the Actual Thing the Actual Democrats Must Actually Do is to make institutional reform the platform & to explain to voters why & how Doing A Popularism is the <consequence> of that, not a prerequisite.

Elon Musk’s legacy

Those brown Muslim men, coming over here, settling down for decades and then bloody going and saving dozens of peoples' lives in an act of astonishing self-sacrificial bravery that nearly cost him his life. All my heart is with Samir Zitouni and his family and loved ones right now.

The first thing Yaxley-Lennon did on leaving court was to thank Elon Musk for funding his legal costs. That's Elon Musk who has repeatedly called for civil war in the UK. As of typing this - all of the major politicians and platforms maintain a presence on X and it is time for them all to leave.

How on earth can Rachel Reeves balance the books? Well, maybe there is a bit of room for taxes to go up, given the vast majority of OECD countries have higher - and in some cases much much higher - taxes on average incomes www.oecd.org/content/dam/...

Re-reading @colmpm.bsky.social’s marvellous “Futures of Socialism”. A very different experience to reading the proof in 2023 and having a horrible feeling of dread, as opposed to now where you go “well, yeah, my worst fears have been realised and exceeded”.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WEALTH CREATORS

I hope it is now obvious why pillars of democracy like universities, the law, public broadcasting should be funded so that they are beyond the reach of financial coercion by hostile agents.

Looks like extraordinary cowardice. "...following pressure from the Chinese state and a separate defamation law suit against the university, Sheffield Hallam decided not to publish a final piece of research by Prof Murphy and her team into forced labour." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Weirdly so similar to what is happening in the UK rn, despite all the differences in context

This is good news, though I am once again left perplexed as to why Kemi Badenoch isn't more embarrassed that she visibly wasn't across her own immigration policy for *half a year*!

Oh dear. Basically the end for humanities and social sciences as these have impacts much more ‘down the line’. Although I wonder how cancer research will be able to demonstrate this 🤷🏼‍♀️ Soz government if you can’t deliver economic growth it’s on you, it is not the role of research 🙈

Election day also means a quick round up of my comments in the international media that have been published today. Pick your favorite language 🙂 www.bbc.com/news/article...

What an excellent piece - I honestly loved so many quotes I could re-sky all, but this in particular stayed with me “To understand the flaws of the Keir Starmer administration, you have to understand that it’s a reaction to the Johnson government”

Good thread on how a big part of the problem of British politics is big media figures with no real interest in being across the details.

It is absolutely shocking to me that a proposal like this comes from a mainstream party. With the speed of loss of support and such policy proposals the Conservatives risk being reclassified into a far right niche party

The policy can accurately be described as "more Idi Amin than Margaret Thatcher" since no democratic gvt has done anything comparable to remove legal settled migrants since Powell, even Monday Club, even BNP promoted *voluntary* repatriation in 1971 & 1981 Next to nobody suggested this in 2016-19

In the whole half century period since the dictator Idi Amin's expelled migrants in 1972, can anybody identify any *democratic* government at all that has stripped past grants of permanent residence from a large number of legal migrants & removed/expelled them?

Very interesting read

i think when lab leadership hear 'left defector' they picture 'angry, fringe uni socialists' but it's mainline libs - teachers, nurses, aspirational couples, recent overworked & underpaid grads & more settled surbirbanites - the **core** of their coalition

The most interesting vote of the night imho and one that foretells a potential apocalypse in the suburbs of the south-east for the Conservatives. More liberal Tories go LD, more reactionary ones go to Reform.

This is a fantastic, in-depth look at how local authorities are performing, and the impact of austerity on local public services. One thing particularly stood out to me from the report - the benefit of stable, long-term political leadership in local authorities for maintaining performance...

Come on Andy!!

I remember, many years ago now (with ny transport strategist hat on) being asked in a BBC interview if Crossrail would be Khan's biggest legacy. The thing that had the biggest impact on London. I said: "No. It'll be ULEZ." (The low emissions zone)

ULEZ means about 1,500 sq kilometres - the whole of Greater London - is covered by road emissions control. Stop and think about that for a second. It's incredible. Its impact on public health has been huge. Studies said it would take 200 YEARS to reach this emission level. Khan did it in five.

Political polarisation cuts deep in the US as we all know, but it is sort of tragic to know quite deep

After a great first session today, our @psapolpsychology.bsky.social autumn seminar series continues next week with what promises to be a fascinating talk by @klaramueller.bsky.social! Sign up here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/5edb84...

Every time we see further increases in people living in temporary accommodation I feel it should be pointed out that the big reason is that Local Housing Allowance is capped based on 2023 rents. Rents are rising, so private renting is increasing out of range for families in particular.

A no brainer

Yessss