Don't Panic: Britain is not broken. The UK can do better, but we shouldn't be too gloomy about things. If you look at the stats, there's a lot to be happy with (including how happy we are): adamcorlett.com/2025/11/30/d...

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1 Trickle-down economics was always a sham. Nothing has ever trickled down.

This Government has hugely increased public spending, which will have large in-kind benefits for households. Families across the income distribution will benefit, but poorer households will benefit more as they use public services more, and these represent a larger proportion of their income.

The Government is right to keep but reduce ‘qualifying periods’ for unfair dismissal protection. Making unfair dismissal a ‘day one’ right would have taken the UK from one internation extreme to another.

Even after the mansion tax is applied, the owner of a £5m home in Westminster will pay proportionately less in property tax than the owner of a £210k Band B property in Sunderland.

This week, the UK became the world's largest economy to ban new oil and gas exploration. Another milestone in the global phaseout of fossil fuels. Who's next? www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/britain-ends-new-fossil-fuel-exploration via @greenpeaceuk.bsky.social

Naturally I think you should listen to all Volts pods, but I particularly recommend this one. I tried to wrap up a lot of current developments into a coherent narrative & a direction forward.

I agree with Torsten. The most important economic policy of the government is high and sustained investment. The £30bn gap between the old govt plan and the latest plan is the equivalent of 12 West Yorkshire trams every single year. More Budget thoughts: futurenorth.substack.com/p/what-does-...

Agree or disagree (I agree), superb to see a politician do actual policy

When did workers start standing up for their rights? "Sounds a bit Marxist, maybe 1880s?" "What about Wat Tyler in 1380s England, surely peasants are workers too!" Keep going. The 3,150-year-old Turin Strike papyrus offers a detailed account of striking royal tomb artisans. tinyurl.com/29822yb2

Architect Cuthbert Brodrick was born on 1 December in 1821 and is best known for giving Victorian Leeds some of its most iconic buildings. Born in Hull, he trained in Manchester before establishing a practice in Leeds, where his bold, confident style quickly set him apart.

Rightly lots of debates about growth this weekend - rightly because it was low productivity growth that saw wages entirely flatline during the 2010s.

'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't. 'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't. 'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.

Energy security will drive the energy transition The world is just waking up to the high risk of importing over a third of its energy as fossil fuels as the pax Americana wanes. The answer is renewables and electrification, and fast. ember-energy.org/app/uploads/...

I want literally every episode of Volts to contain some factor of Kingsmill Bond. The optimism I need right now. - My last faculty interview I ever had (didn’t get the job) used a slide I made that said: “every five days the sun sends more energy to earth than all proved plus probable FF reserves”.

It’s easy to feel despondent atm, BUT here is a podcast that is interesting and inspiring 💡 give it a listen see what you think open.spotify.com/show/3dYMY5T...

A sensible solution on unfair dismissal will deliver faster improvements to conditions at work via the Employment Rights Bill. Get our response here ⤵️ buff.ly/yIrc61I

Absolutely 👍🏻 Some really good info in comments, check the thread

I keep seeing arguments that the Government should have spent the money on services eg Sure Start rather than lifting the two-child benefit cap. The evidence for cash transfers is very strong. And cash transfers go straight to families. Their decision is completely evidence backed and valid.

Brilliant debunking as ever.

But his retirement plans are now in “disarray” and “ruined” cos he’s going to have to find an additional £208.33 per month? He has £2-4 million in savings/investments but claims he is not “cash-rich” and his house was his only “pension” Seriously @Telegraph, where do you find these people?🤣🤣🙄 9/9

Takes a few seconds and this is definitely needed so please do your bit. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...

‘Taking action is not a sacrifice, it’s not even a problem, taking action is the opportunity here’ @zackpolanski.bsky.social Add your signature to the open letter to Keir Starmer and all public service broadcasters. www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-keir #climatecrisis #netzero #NEB2025 #cop30

Wow, top article on UK National Emergency Briefing! By Claire Pool <notes name>. "food supply crisis cd cause civil unrest in the U.K. within the next decade, food security experts say". 👍 Mentions WW2 and mobilisation twice. Very good! Establish this image so itemised rationing is the logical next.

The vaccine is pretty astonishing. Just look at that green line.

Australia just recorded zero cervical cancer cases in women under 25 for the first time since records began in 1982. The amazing result of HPV vaccination.

Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.

If you’re thinking about swapping flights for trains next year, Interrail’s 25% off deal is actually decent. Makes planning way less painful. www.interrail.eu/en #BudgetTravel
#Wanderlust #GreenTravel

When Rachel analysed methane emissions data, the area around Drax had the UK's second highest levels of this potent greenhouse gas. Is using taxpayer money to subsidise chopping down forests to burn wood to power a data centre, the best way to address climate change? share.google/jOkmYCqgXmzk...

My charity @protect.earth is five years old this week. Some stats. 🧵 - Planted 157,453 trees - Created 4,985m of hedgerow - Removed over 15 acres of invasive species (Japanese knotweed, rhododendrons, bamboo and Himalayan balsam) - Run 5 free hedge-laying courses for Welsh farmers.

100s of thousands fewer people paying to come to Britain to study bringing in much needed foreign currency. Every student who arrives is worth more than selling a luxury car abroad. Their loss is a disaster for the economy caused by obsessive fear of immigrants. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Ed can knock £300 off energy bills right now, just by breaking the link  - he can halve them if he undertakes just three market changes.  Read all about it at - babelfish.news

The Times are suffering confirmation bias - the Green economy is motoring on, it’s the only game in town actually - the new industrial revolution…..and Britain can be 100% powered by the wind and sun - and have lower bills. buff.ly/N5Py9wG

UK Budget – is this the end of democracy? youtu.be/g0lEbH2kEw8

I see all the headlines today refer to ‘Benefit Street’ What they don’t tell you is 60% of those on benefits are in work. No outcry on those employers not paying enough or concocting hours to enable people to claim UC. First it was immigrants. Now it’s those on benefits.

Am writing a budget thread but just something to note: in real terms the 1 January price cap 'typical bill' is already £250 lower than it was same period two years ago. Energy prices are going down, not up. Any journalist who says they're going up is wrong.

Climate change is driving 40% of UK food price hikes. Protecting households from spiralling costs of living means protecting the planet. It's time to kick the expensive fossil fuel habit and accelerate the shift towards heating & powering Britain with efficient renewables. @nebriefing.bsky.social

Lots of analysis today rightly concluding it’s a muddling through Budget that defers pain and lacks any sense of narrative and mission. Meanwhile, the near full decarbonisation inside 25 years of the world’s first industrial economy is still just sitting there.

Resolution Foundation analysis of the Chancellor's Budget: Typical families gain approximately £230 from energy bill support, fuel duty & rail fare measures. Scrapping two-child benefit limit helps over half a million families by an average of £5,000. The Budget is progressive overall, RF finds.

Anyone seen this before?!

It's very hard to hear #RachelReevesMP or #MelJStrideMP grilled by #BBC's #NickRobinson on lack of UK growth with no mention of #Brexit effects. See 👇🏻Is there still a ban on *serious forensic* discussion of this at #BBC? We’re a trading nation! It’s harder to do business with Portugal than China.

All the Right Wing apologists are cheering the fall in UK immigration announced today while missing what could be a huge problem - 99% of emigrants are under the age of 35. That’s a big brain drain.

It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.

Headline on The World at One just now: "Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap". Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?

Amazing - why no widespread coverage?

Amazing the world’s 5th largest economy (California) increased its GDP (81% up) and cut its GHG emissions (21% cut) since 2000, BUT not a single major news outlet covered the story? Obviously the fossil fuel industry and its sycophants don’t want the world to know. www.gov.ca.gov/2025/11/06/w...

Today on Volts: I've had more requests to cover this than almost any other topic in the pod's history, so now, at long last, balcony solar! We dig into how "plug-in solar" took off in Europe & how it's making its way to the US, starting in Utah. Backyard DIY types rejoice!

I just wrote a @StopCambo letter: Disrupt the deal: Shell and Equinor's £1.3 billion tax grab. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/disr...

No, its worse. Your £321,000 semi detached in Leeds pays the same Council Tax as a £10 million mansion in Leeds.

Middle aged man. Cancer of the oesophagus diagnosis. His mum being treated for myeloma “A pox on those who would talk down the NHS, who would underfund it, defund it and even seek to dismantle it. A pox on them, apple.news/AIlG8GsfESGi...