In classic Whitehall farce, they then realised it was virtually impossible and so changed every Tech And FE college in the country to be a University. I remember a very long dinner trying to persuade them this was completely short sighted and the German model was better. They were true believers.

This 👇 It is genuinely mystifying how journalists in London cannot reflect on the political upheaval, surge in Reform votes in former industrial areas, & collapse in economic contribution from once strong areas like the East & West Midlands. The UK's version of globalisation is a political choice.

UAE has built energy-starved Yemen's largest solar plant www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Africa too can get rich, as once-poor Asian countries have, but not if governments keep doing what they’ve been doing.

Nigeria’s solar moment: 1.7 GW of Chinese panels imported in the past year, leapfrogging Egypt to become Africa’s #2. Part of a 60% YoY surge across the continent per @ember-energy.org data.

Renewables are a masterclass in learning-by-doing. Each doubling of deployment cuts costs via experience curves: better manufacturing, finance & supply chains. Result: Solar now cheapest new power in many regions Falling battery costs enable flexibility Electrification gets more attractive

Few graduate opportunities, but plenty for warehouse workers and cleaners. Such is the economy incentivised by the government. www.theguardian.com/money/2025/s...

CEO pay is up 1,094% since 1978, while worker pay is up just 26%. Why do we always hear "we can't afford to pay our workers more" but never "we can't afford to pay our CEO more"?

A new IMF study shows trade surpluses tend to raise incomes in surplus countries and lower them in deficit countries. doi.org/10.5089/9798...

California made history in 2025. 🌞⚡ Solar is now the state’s #1 electricity source, overtaking gas (83.1 vs 81.6 TWh). In under a decade, solar surged from marginal to dominant. Big kudos to California—proof the clean energy future is not capacity, it’s generation. More to come! #EnergyTransition

I heard today that for housing to become affordable again, the market would have to drop by 30% and incomes would have to rise by 66%.

A good summary of the Kier Starmer donkey field kerfuffle. Personally, I cant see an issue as Starmer bought the land himself and effectively retained its title.

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What sector of the UK's market economy showed the largest productivity growth since 1995? The answer probably won't surprise you...

Same There’s a strong liberal case for being able to easily and quickly prove and assert your identity

It’s weird. Not an ID card but I have an Irish passport card (size of credit card), I use it in the UK for all my ID requirements even for voting. Very handy. It also means I don’t need to carry passport throughout EU. UK border force (except inter island travel) don’t accept it.

Happily click accept, accept, accept to get to their free app. (The owner v of which they have absolutely NO idea). But an ID card with a govt which already tracks where they live, work, earn, save, illnesses, education, travel overseas... No Way. Straight to Sovereign City-Zen mode.

I wonder if this guy is related to "Boris Johnson" who introduced "voter id" as Prime Minister in 2023 ... off the back of some crazy US conspiracy theories ... and in the process, made digital ID pretty much inevitable.

An excellent examination of the arguments in favour of immigration in the US, and why they can be rebutted. All apply in the UK. www.tabletmag.com/sections/new...

I get what you’re saying but russia sadly is still gaining ground day by day. The worst mistake you can make is to see your enemy as stupid. russia is many things but it learns and adapts, plus NK provides 100s of tons of shells a month, it has gigantic human reserves. They’re evil, not dumb.

Impressive 4 layered acid etched glass angel with godly halo/light. Side opening stained glass panel and a wonderfully melancholic painting Pieta by Delacroix. Saint Denys, Paris. Also not one person in the church and no queues. 😅 pity the fool. #stainedglass #glasgow #scotland #ontour

⚡️Russia helping China prepare for war with Taiwan, leaked documents say. Moscow has allegedly agreed to train and equip a Chinese airborne battalion to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan, according to a Sept. 26 analysis of documents leaked by hacking group Black Moon.

Swedish, too. Enormous difference. It's not just about government services - e.g. when you buy something in the UK you often need to provide your address (which you might not even remember when you need to cancel some service). In Sweden you just use your "bank-id" (also used by the government).

We have physical ID cards here in Spain and many other European countries. They are used to vote, to shop to open bank accounts, to travel etc. So useful and not many complain

Is it "move to Dubai"?

Renewables are winning — because they are cheaper and better. Trump has little to no effect so far. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

www.reuters.com/sustainabili... China is halting the expansion of the gobi desert by planting goji berries beneath solar panels. The shade reduces heat and water stress on the plants. Excellent

One country has pledged to reduce this line. One country has pledged to increase this line. And what makes me laugh is the thousands of Americans that constantly tweet about how much coal China uses😂

But one way in which this danger can be further reduced is by making sure that Nigel Farage does not become Prime Minister. And having enforced borders is part of that.

Strip all the verbiage away. In the end, this comes down to whether you think the UK should have enforced borders. Most people do, a very small number of people don't.

🌍 New from The Productivity Institute: UK Trade and Productivity Across Space shows exporting is easier for firms in dense cities, while smaller regions face disadvantages. Levelling up trade access could boost productivity across the UK. 🔗 www.productivity.ac.uk/research/uk-...

Brits don't hate them! They have always had substantial majority support in polls. (Most recent YG showed 57% support vs 25% oppose). What's odd is that bits of the right-wing press oppose them (e.g. today's Mail front page).

I think digital ID will be really useful, could even be used for voting one day. buff.ly/B3JeL7K

Never really got the outrage about ID cards when they were first proposed 20 years ago and get it even less now that almost every single human interaction is mediated, tracked and authorised on a second-by-second basis through our phones, anyway. What do people think it would really change?

Have Chinese greenhouse gas emissions reached a peak? Many people seem to be boldly saying yes. I think it is too premature. Lots of good things happening in China, a peak is expected soon, as we have been saying for 10 years... (in Norwegian) www.energiogklima.no/to-grader/ek...

I find it surprising that people living in a country stuffed to the gills with surveillance cameras everywhere can be so concerned about digital IDs

Interesting. But this ought to be a big incentive to build a lot of renewables. They’re generally the cheapest way to add production, and at these prices ought to be easy investments.

Sodium-ion battery startup Natron Energy announced it was shutting down operations a few weeks ago. @kbrigham.bsky.social dives into what this means for domestic battery manufacturing as a whole:

And if I may, I suggest avoiding arguments of the type “Finlandization was good actually” if you happen to meet Finns, in particular those who know contemporary history. Yes, it was probably the least bad of very bad alternatives. But it was a massive gamble whose outcome was always in doubt.

🇨🇳 China, responsible for over 25% of global emissions, just set its first-ever absolute climate target: a 7–10% cut by 2035.

Interesting energy consumption stats out today - electric cars and domestic heat pumps now account for more than 5% of total electricity use www.gov.uk/government/s...

At least one clean tech sector holds out.

This was inevitable and I welcome it. But I'd like an option to have a physical card that is combined with my drivers license which I currently use for ID. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Russia will become everyone's problem if not pushed back in Ukraine. Let's push hard. Real hard.

Boom. There it is. Europe is on the cusp of making €140 billion available to fund Ukraine’s defence for years to come, lending against Russias assets. Chancellor Merz is stepping up to the plate — singing a very hymn from his overly cautious predecessor. 1/2

The story of 2025 is China's solar growth🤯

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.

When I say the US has bet its post-pandemic economy on AI while China has bet its on green energy, this is what I mean: Here, AI related companies account for 75% of S&P 500 returns since ChatGPT's launch. In China, green tech accounts for one quarter of GDP growth.

Essentially correct, we accidentally outsourced the most productive parts of our supply chains to asia, and then wondered why they became more productive than us. whoops

If sustained this would make a huge contribution to reducing carbon emissions and mark peak coal in China’s electricity mix.