Started the video diary thing, all for a good cause: my eternal shame 👇

Two of my worlds (snooker and local economic strategy) colliding www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Wrote about pension fund nationalism, collectivist pensions, triple lock, pensions tax relief for @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk 👇

🆕Government promised pension reforms to boost returns for savers & drive more long-term UK investment. There are some encouraging signs—but to truly deliver, the agenda needs to be far more ambitious. The Pensions Commission needs to think big, writes @craigpberry.bsky.social Read: bit.ly/4uWd1NK

Thanks to everyone who has donated to my fundraiser for @mssocietyuk.bsky.social so far On track to humiliate myself as a stand up comic in the near future! If I reach £600 milestone this week, I'm going to upload some cringe video content to whet the appetite www.justgiving.com/page/not-bei...

Thanks to everyone who has donated to my fundraiser for @mssocietyuk.bsky.social so far On track to humiliate myself as a stand up comic in the near future! If I reach £600 milestone this week, I'm going to upload some cringe video content to whet the appetite www.justgiving.com/page/not-bei...

New gig news

New gig news

I'm raising money in aid of @mssocietyuk.bsky.social at the moment In a moment of madness, I've promised to do some stand up comedy if I reach my £1,000 target Trying not to think about that bit tbh!! But you can still help me get to £999 before it gets real www.justgiving.com/page/not-bei...

I'm raising money in aid of @mssocietyuk.bsky.social at the moment In a moment of madness, I've promised to do some stand up comedy if I reach my £1,000 target Trying not to think about that bit tbh!! But you can still help me get to £999 before it gets real www.justgiving.com/page/not-bei...

For future reference, this is what a Universal Credit review looks like 👇

This blog is so good it had an impact before it was even published - if reports are true that the government is postponing Unemployment Insurance wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/government-p...

This blog is so good it had an impact before it was even published - if reports are true that the government is postponing Unemployment Insurance wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/government-p...

Long-term claimants of employment and support allowance could be moved over to a new, time-limited disability benefit – equating to cuts.

Unemployment Insurance is a new benefit merging new style JSA and ESA. Much to commend eg higher payments compared to JSA. But for disabled people, this could end long-term support without even offering the same short-term gain. While other disability benefits are cut too. Not a great start!

Disabled people are routinely shut out of employment. My brilliant colleagues @beccastacey.bsky.social and @victoria-anns.bsky.social draw on the experience of the people we support to chart a way forward 👇

The government is planning to merge two benefits to create 'unemployment insurance'. But this would end indefinite awards currently paid to many disabled people claiming new style ESA, making them time-limited instead. Great report from Craig breaking down the key issues 👇

The government wants to enhance contributory unemployment benefits - we’re good with that Contribution-based benefits can help the legitimacy of the welfare state. There is a catch though… www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

Disabled people are routinely shut out of employment. My brilliant colleagues @beccastacey.bsky.social and @victoria-anns.bsky.social draw on the experience of the people we support to chart a way forward 👇

The Equality Act should protect disabled people at work But @citizensadvice.bsky.social supported 5,393 people with health-related job discrimination in 2025 - roughly one every 1.5 hours Mine and @victoria-anns.bsky.social's new report digs into the barriers our disabled clients face at work /1

in this month's Observer column! I went to watch the snooker and I had an absolutely terrific time* *I had absolutely no idea what was happening at any given moment observer.co.uk/news/columni...

There are now 2.5 unemployed people looking for work for every vacancy. The jobs market is oversaturated with too many people looking for work and not enough jobs to fill. 1/3

@nyecominetti.bsky.social piece from yesterday important context for today's labour market stats. ALL of the change in the employment rate since the pandemic is due to unemployment - a lack of jobs not a lack of jobseekers.

Late shout for this. Still time to register!

Ahead of our end of year Data Insights session (sign up here! Featuring special guest @anooshc.bsky.social from the New Statesman www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/turning-th...) I wrote something very short on the 2 child limit, living standards and political ambition medium.com/p/9e10a39f80cf

I'm seeing 3 of my top 5 Spotify wrapped artists live in 2026, in walking distance of my house Which probably doesn't sound odd unless you know where I live

Called it - government adopts the pensions triple lock plus craigberry.substack.com/p/the-pensio... #budget2025

Growth won’t save Starmer. It’s a metric, not a mission. What if the real mission was peace — at home (less division, stronger communities) and abroad (diplomacy, democracy, humanitarian leadership)? Peace gives politics direction. Growth doesn’t. Read on: open.substack.com/pub/rainerka...

This thread collating the Sheffield Tribune’s brilliant investigation into the spivvy lawyer threatening Yorkshire leaseholders into handing over cash is worth reading before the story goes national.

www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/sometimes-it... I wrote last week about two villains and one hero in the battle between truth and lies. Well here’s another hero - the Sheffield Tribune, one of the Mill stable of independent news sites, had the courage to publish an important story despite legal threats..

Extraordinary story from @sheffieldtribune.bsky.social: A London lawyer bought hundreds of Sheffield freeholds. Then the ‘very aggressive’ letters arrived. One woman: “It broke my heart, that was my savings towards a new car...He has just wiped me out.” www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-law...

New blog out today, as part of our work with @healthfoundation.bsky.social, looking at the unequal health impacts of the current system of housing cost support that fails to cover people's rent.

Check out Sarah's thread on LHA and the autumn budget 👇

Check out Sarah's thread on LHA and the autumn budget 👇

More from @citizensadvice.bsky.social on Local Housing Allowance today... Here's our pre-budget briefing by the brilliant @DrSarahHadfield.bsky.social assets.ctfassets.net/mfz4nbgura3g...

📢Young disabled people could face benefit cuts of more than £420 a month if government plans go ahead. Young people deserve real support - not cuts that could push them into poverty. New blog from me & @victoria-anns.bsky.social: medium.com/p/62015a6f0b12

Spot on from Hannah Aldridge on Local Housing Allowance www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications... LHA *desperately* needs to be uprated this year. But we also need to change how this decision is made

This is such a good corrective by @chrisgiles.ft.com to the "working-age welfare spending is exploding/out-of-control" narrative that more & more people seem to see as an incontrovertible fact www.ft.com/content/ee67...

It's important to get the new support conversation for disabled people right... @kslharrison.bsky.social shows the way, in a new paper for @citizensadvice.bsky.social👇

Work Capability Assessment delays are leaving disabled people in limbo Excellent piece by @scollerton.bsky.social wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/work-capabil...

📢No more waiting on the 5 week wait, says my @citizensadvice.bsky.social colleague @julia-rt.bsky.social The 5 week wait for a first UC payment means families end up in debt to DWP -leading to deductions from future payments that cause real hardship This needs to change medium.com/citizens-adv...

⚠️ Mandatory reconsideration needs reconsidering ⚠️ Waiting times for benefits appeals have increased significantly - the system isn't fit for purpose Excellent analysis by my @citizensadvice.bsky.social colleague Buki Akinosho wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/reconsiderin...

📢No more waiting on the 5 week wait, says my @citizensadvice.bsky.social colleague @julia-rt.bsky.social The 5 week wait for a first UC payment means families end up in debt to DWP -leading to deductions from future payments that cause real hardship This needs to change medium.com/citizens-adv...

⚠️ Mandatory reconsideration needs reconsidering ⚠️ Waiting times for benefits appeals have increased significantly - the system isn't fit for purpose Excellent analysis by my @citizensadvice.bsky.social colleague Buki Akinosho wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/reconsiderin...

UK poverty crisis as 500,000 children in homes trapped in benefit debt cycle - @julia-rt.bsky.social's research on Universal Credit deductions covered in the Independent www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

ICYMI - the public don't support cutting Universal Credit or freezing Local Housing Allowance 🧵

The govt wants to get more disabled people into work, but isn't making full use of the tools at its disposal In my new report for @citizensadvice.bsky.social I've looked at how our social security system could do more to make sure that when disabled people want to work, work really does pay /1

ICYMI - the public don't support cutting Universal Credit or freezing Local Housing Allowance 🧵

Some fantastic insights and policy ideas in @beccastacey.bsky.social's new report. We can't simply will more disabled people into work, there needs to be greater support - and the benefits system might be going in the wrong direction 👇

📢 Benefit cuts don’t have widespread support