A deeply concerning analysis by @richardjmurphy.bsky.social I'm not qualified to assess its merits, but it sounds as if we should at least be highly alert to the possibilities he raises. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/05...

One fact Leave supporters never address is that Brexit has hit the “left behind” towns that depend most on manufacturing hardest.

In 1990, billionaire wealth was 2.5% of global GDP. Their wealth is now 14.1% of GDP. In the UK, it's now 22% of their GDP We absolutely have to get inequality under control. It's the extreme level of inequality that's causing so many of our problems. We need to tax wealth + transactions and do UBI

All democratic states that thought they were good friends with the USA, beware. If Trump can treat a free and democratic Taiwan as a “bargaining chip”, he can do the same to you.

How to change this debate. " Being outside the EU costs every UK household an average of £8,300 every year. But being inside again would only cost each UK household £38 every year. Do you still think we should stay out? "

Remembering yet again how, when I worked at HHS, we weren't allowed to use public funds for the water cooler in our office. That was a personal expense and we all chipped in, because we needed to preserve public trust.

This whole thing of the entire global economy now being based solely on gullible fascists selling each other magic beans would be much funnier if the global economy wasn't how I feed, clothe, and house myself.

From care homes to the water industry...how private equity targeted taxpayers and helped the wealthy pile up ever bigger profits. @goldbergradio.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social with @hettieobrien.bsky.social @alexcobham.bsky.social @naomifowler.bsky.social 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4SiO...

"“It’s possible that we’re starting to see the consequences of severe and sudden cuts to global health programs that have eroded surveillance and allowed deadly viruses to spread undetected...” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/w...

One amusing byproduct of the Labour leadership candidates advocating the UK returning to Europe is that Farage will be forced back onto what is now, for obvious reasons, his least favourite subject: Brexit. Let’s see him forced to defend it in every interview.

Also, the government is manifestly *not* 'defying the results of the referendum', given that we have left the EU. 'Leave without any reset treaties' was not the option on the ballot paper. On the other hand, a reset *was* in the manifesto of the government elected in the last general election.

The U.S. government requires visa applicants to make all of their social media accounts fully public or risk being denied entry. This is straight out of 1984. Your right to privacy doesn’t just disappear at the border for millions of people, it disappears before they ever set foot here.

If Starmer was any good at politics (which he isn't), he could use this – very loudly and publicly – to further clamp down on all foreign donations to any party or member of parliament/the Lords.

This is what the climate crisis looks like. Our beautiful homes, luxurious cars, and money has no value on a dead planet. There is no time to wait. #ActOnClimate #ClimateEmergency #climate #energy #renewables

US hard power (forcing compliance) is going to remain formidable. US soft power (attracting collaboration) is withering before our eyes. The challenge for the US is going to be how expensive, dangerous, and exhausting it is to extort everything from everyone, everywhere, all the time.

still not quite over the fact that i watched 15 year olds get sued for millions of dollars for downloading twelve songs and now we all have to accept AI slop because every tech company in the known universe decided that IP laws don't exist now that they're inconvenient for them

How long do we have to continue with the utter farce of this deeply corrupt spiv being considered seriously for our highest political office? Farage should be nowhere near power… but it seems it’s being bought for him by a crypto billionaire who thinks everything’s for sale. Including our democracy.

The majority of the electorate doesn't want chaos. They want order, direction, good government, vision, and leadership. If Labour continue like this, they will get punished again and again and again until we end up with Prime Minister Nigel Farage.

Oof. Missed this the other day. By our measure Nottingham is the UK big city most reliant on the universities for local 'knowledge' jobs. One in four of all of these high skilled jobs in the city are academic and non academic staff in higher education. Could be a big blow

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

Even the mundane stuff. Applying for bail variation is straightforward but all we hear from the lawyers is " they've asked for xyz.. this is unprecedented" On remand, drawing a still life to manage anxiety=drawing an escape map, put on the escape list, which affects further decisions. On and on

Some Tory MP says unchallenged on the BBC that "the welfare bill is spiralling out of control" Here's that 'spiralling' in full - steady for the last 20 years

The Iranians are telling people that they will never give up their nuclear material for American security guarantees because Trump is not honoring the security guarantees that America made to Ukraine when Ukraine gave up their nukes.

Might have to post this annually until we do something.

of course all the chaos is funny and I'm glad that Keir Starmer, a bad person, is having a bad time. but jfc what a waste of two years, what a waste of a majority, what a waste of a once in a generation window to improve things. and now it's just 24/7 infighting, briefing, backstabbing. pathetic

Canva- now with AI! Gmail- now with AI! Zoom- now with AI! Word documents- now with AI! Washing machines- now with AI! Books- now with AI! The sky- now with AI! A moment of stillness on a spring morning- now with AI! ✨There’s nothing that can’t be worsened or completely ruined with AI!✨

Labour has 3 directions it can go now, in order of effectiveness: 1. Return to positive progressive values, inspire, stand for things. Deliver. Cool Britannia 2.0 2. Learn nothing. Appease right. Slow-motion drive towards wall of 2029 3. All the worst people scrabbling for power like the Tories

The biggest majority in the modern era, and terrified of your own shadow for two years. It beggars belief. I've never known any govt. to have less to lose, and never known a greater need for political honesty than now. But, hey, best stay cautious. You don't want to become unpopular do you?

Donations breakdown of more than £1K to political parties in the UK in the last year (from the donation watch website), as at 10 May 2026: Reform UK - £18.63M Conservative Party - £14.34M Labour - £9.15M Lib Dems - £4.74M Just shows how much the right wing parties (Reform & Tories) get funded!

I don't know how you can write an article like this without basically sitting down and saying "I am going to lie to my readers today." I really truly don't understand what's going through the minds of people who write this stuff.

"Public ownership is in the public interest" says Starmer. Except on water companies where he will continue to let them dump sewage.

Say what you like about the British press, but I find it reassuring that they spend months ripping apart a Labour PM for properly declaring some glasses and football tickets, then all but ignore someone who wants to be PM when he tries to cover up a £5 million gift.

Here, a friend demonstrates that attaching a bicycle stand to block paving has some pitfalls.

If Streeting is the answer, Labour hasn't understood the question.

BREAKING: A source close to Wes Streeting tells me he feels confident that he is the one Labour MP who could make an even less popular Prime Minister than Keir Starmer. He is therefore preparing a leadership challenge ♥️

Genuinely incredible to have such a robotic response to this situation. Haemorrhaging votes. Empowering Farage. Pissing off all voters. And utterly incapable of shaking off their terror of the Daily Mail and their blinkered commitment to an outdated manifesto. Such a terrible waste of power.

This is assault at best, if not attempted murder, using the car as a weapon. Yet the driver is not mentioned until the third paragraph. Nobody would frame an incident as "a knife stabbed people", so why remove the offender in motor violence? This type of incident is also getting far too common.

🙄 #CyclistsDismount misused again #PortobelloRoad works by #SPEN #ScottishPower 🙄Why up to us to explain the rules? @edi.bike @robbieainsworth.bsky.social @johnrobson87.bsky.social @harryjwilliams.bsky.social @kate-c.bsky.social @stephenjenkinson.bsky.social @edtiss.bsky.social @edfoc.bsky.social

Respect to council officers on Monday, explaining that the council can't spend cycle lane money on potholes, there is no asylum seeker budget, and free parking means more cuts on top of the already slated cuts.

This paint job—if you can call it that—is costing you $7 million, America, because Trump gave a no-bid contract to a pal This would have been Exhibit A of the sort of shit DOGE was actually *supposed* to be looking for when it was instead cutting lifesaving scientific research

The first thing Nigel Farage will introduce if he is elected is Health Insurance. The NHS correctly costs £200bn a year. In the USA Health Insurance is £14,000 a year per person £14,000 x 50m adults is £700bn a year. £500bn a year profit If you can't afford that you are dying

Please sir, my first past the post electoral system, it is very sick.

destroying the trees themselves instead of the peaches is where this goes from unmitigated greed into actual evil

Wtf is this framing? Why isn’t the headline “Britain more vulnerable to Putin and climate change, thanks to campaigners”? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

also: FUCK EPSON for discontinuing cartridges for a printer that still works perfectly

ATWATER: ".. Faced with higher taxes," the wealthy flee. ".. The net result is an increasing awareness, especially among those at the bottom, that those at the top are at best temporary residents and not true citizens of the local community."

England today.

Wowser ReFuk gets 2.5 times as many mentions per MP as Labour And 110 times as many mentions per MP as the Lib Dems.

And finally (finally), in news we already knew: first past the post is a bin fire in a five (or six/seven) party system. If Keir Starmer wanted a *big* relaunch next week he could offer a quick change eg AV votes in constituencies.