‘Team Kemi or Team Miliband?’ asks Simon Jack on BBC R4 Today re North Sea drilling. It’s matey Boris all over again …

Goodness gracious he was a board member of Homes England for almost five years and its interim chair for 15 months! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

predicting one heck of a hangover

Thomas Skinner has tweeted at the other place that he was paid £2k to appear on Question Time. Excellent use of licence fee payers’ money.

Scary @theipaper.com

The unique & irrepressible @clentonf.bsky.social battles through tech problems to tell a @local.gov.uk seminar that social care reform must be all about Place, Power (for the individual) & Possibility

What to believe in today’s @thetimes.com ??

RIP Tom Georgeson aka Detective Harry Naylor in Between the Lines - still the best TV police drama ever. I shall be taking no questions.

"and is this game plan in the room with us now?"

Maximum fine 40 shillings www.countypress.co.uk/news/2592704...

£1.80 from April

A couple of weeks ago we brought together leaders in adult social care to work out if, and how, they could help break the logjam on reform. You can now read me & @blimeysimon.bsky.social on what happened www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

Some tough messages here for many of us in and around social care. Welcome candour.

I get that Labour is the main story but if we’re talking humiliation then the Tories losing their deposit surely merits more than one sentence of nine words buried in six pages of news and analysis

‘We’re gonna need a harp for that track.’ ‘Just book a session guy.’ ‘OK, boss’ - Warren Zevon, Sentimental Hygiene (1987)

‘Only 23 overseas care workers were granted entry in October-December 2025’. Disaster for social care. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Lindsay Hoyle: Master Detective. My SKETCH of Today in The Case Of the Missing Mandelson. thecritic.co.uk/hoyl...

Median average pay of social care workers now £12.60/hr - still a full £1 below NHS Band 3 health care assistants with two years’ experience. Imperative that planned Fair Pay Agreement for social care addresses pay progression not just starting rate. @skillsforcare.bsky.social

Amol Rajan’s preamble to his interview with Netflix boss Ted Sarandos on R4 Today this morning came in at 2 mins 17 secs - impressive even by his long-winded standards

London’s “worst mass eviction in recent history” is underway; hundreds of households across London told to get out of their homes this week by the same landlord, ahead of the renters rights act. The landlord? Billionaire Asif Aziz’s Criterion Capital. www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-...

Wonder if Yaxley-Lennon knows his US bankrollers laugh at him behind his back. Per Simon Kuper @ftweekend.com

FACT OF THE DAY. 21 February 1946. Aneurin Bevan announced the Labour Government’s proposals for a National Health Service. The service began on 5 July 1948. Its introduction represented one of the greatest social reforms in British History which helped every citizen.

Most confusing to read a letter responding to an article that turns out to be in the same paper. Presumably it ran online earlier? @thetimes.com

David Dimbleby magnificent on royalty here … www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Ouch. Even before his arrest. Those whom The Times deemed worthier of listing today include model David Gandy,singer Seal and @bethrigby.bsky.social

Healthy life expectancy in UK at lowest levels since official data series began in 2011-13. Grim reading. www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

Deeply touched to receive personalised special offer and free gift from, er, Pure Cremation. On Ash Wednesday too!

We are proud to launch our new interactive report, detailing the impact of the Centre for Care during our first four years and setting out our ambitious roadmap for the future of our centre. Follow this link to learn more: centreforcare.ac.uk/impact-and-p... #towardsabetterfutureforcare

Astonishing donation to @mind.org.uk www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/mind-re...

In other news … (bottom p11, @thetimes.com)

👀

Weird and almost universal revisionism today. Even at the time, it was pretty clear that Mandelson wasn't appointed *despite* his dodgy links but *because* of them. Trump's Washington is a dirty swamp. Mandelson was deemed a man able to swim in it. This wasn't a secret. Everybody said it out loud.

Strategic re-set, you say? A black day for @washingtonpost.com and for journalism

Appreciating this attention to detail @pickardje.bsky.social @financialtimes.com

You have to admire Peter Mandelson's capacity to deliver surprises. thecritic.co.uk/pete...

Happy transfer window day to all who celebrate

and yes she did travel business class with the kids in economy fwiw

I can also reveal that: Ferguson received flights from the disgraced financier in 2009 for herself and her daughters which were worth over $14,000 at the time, other documents released by the US Department of Justice show.

Grim reading in annual official report on use of Mental Health Act. Out-of-area placements rising even though they should have been ended by 2021. www.cqc.org.uk/publications...

Times apology for Trevor Phillips column arguing that Labour’s NEC ‘should simply have made it possible for Burnham to carry a dual mandate’

A privilege to have been able to write this tribute to the remarkable John Knight. What a life. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

He’s losing the conservatives

US Speaker Mike Johnson has been sent to win Britain over. But can he hear the words coming out of his own mouth? My SKETCH. thecritic.co.uk/calm...

‘I’m surprised to notice that Jenrick’s pint is now almost half empty’ - broken Britain, eh?

Boris Johnson’s pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 - how it’s going …

Recalling that Nadim Zahawi’s first job in government was 18 months as a wholly unsuited junior minister for children & families. Awful appointment by Theresa May.

Well …

One of the good guys … www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Just one of the many great reasons to join me at the European Social Services Conference in Malta in May connect.esn-eu.org/public/confe...