One reason why it is insane that neither the departing prime minister nor his replacement seem to want to leave X is that it is obviously bad for UK plc that so much of the global conversation takes place in places where people talk about our only global city as if it were a dangerous crimehole.

Again, I beg MPs and the government to actually look at the policy they may or may not be implementing and think through both the human consequences and their willingness to have 1/6 of all care staff be deported.

The International Olympic Committee announces that it has provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee which had been in effect since October 2023.

BREAKING: Eleventh Circuit, on a 2-1 vote, upholds injunction blocking Florida from enforcing its 2022 Stop WOKE Act in the university context. The majority opinion is from Judge Britt Grant, a Trump appointee: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The NATO summit kicking off today in Ankara will focus attention on America’s commitment to the alliance and the pace at which Europe needs to secure strategic autonomy. Continental capitals have made a stop-start effort on that score as fiscal ramp-up meets sclerotic procurement processes. 1/🧵

Check out my thread on the NATO summit, European rearmament and procurement headaches complicating private sector involvement. And read my Mergermarket column on all this here: ionanalytics.com/insights/mer...

The NATO summit kicking off today in Ankara will focus attention on America’s commitment to the alliance and the pace at which Europe needs to secure strategic autonomy. Continental capitals have made a stop-start effort on that score as fiscal ramp-up meets sclerotic procurement processes. 1/🧵

Bluesky: the home of vindicated but still often annoying opinions

Lisa Nandy did something! Or at least she’s “minded to”. The UK intervening in Warner Bros. Discovery’s $110bn takeover by Paramount Skydance would be a big move away from the Labour govt’s stance of steering clear of major US mergers. 🧵

This might be the most blatant example in existence of "rich guy who created a problem attempting to place the blame for that problem on immigrants"

Once again, I am flabbergasted that a Labour leader about to become PM isn’t bringing Neidle in. Stick him in the Lords to lead a tax Royal Commission. Quid pro quo for business: higher receipts, simpler system/cliffs gone.

Dragged kicking and screaming…I’m delighted the two-child cap is gone but let’s never forget Starmer’s frontbench sacrificed child wellbeing - and future fiscal returns - on the altar of seeking credibility vibes.

New York contingent in our London office this week. Many complimenting my suspenders. Never not funny.

Call it house price 'growth', call it 'inflation' — either way, it's capital fleeing the productive economy for a two-bed in Zone 5. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/house-pric...

Nothing will satisfy anti-immigration campaigners. So we should give them nothing.

This is why forces should have worked tirelessly to pause this till Burnham had named a new chancellor. An indelible stain on Starmer/Reeves is the storing up of fiscal pain in 2028-29. Burnham needs to find more cash, but the defence plan should be wrapped into a fiscal event.

When it comes to the cult of British amateurism, I’m much closer to @mjrobbins.com. martinrobbins.substack.com/p/on-picky-b...

Great way to disincentivise refugees from working and integrating. Also, we refuse to let them support themselves, force them to live in taxpayer funded accommodation for years and then force them to pay back some of the cost? Morally indefensible. How is this different from the far right?

@resolutionfoundation.org continues to post on X. It must grasp that X is a site owned by a de facto fascist, and be aware that Musk has used his site and his own account to spread CSAM, disinformation, racist great replacement conspiracy theories and promote civil war.

IMHO, the Supreme Court is a *bigger* problem than Trump, and it should be the primary target for reform. Trump and Congress would both be very different under a law-abiding SCOTUS, which would have stopped government action clearly animated by racism and racially gerrymandered districts.

There's more substantial policy direction in this Burnham speech than the median commentator expected, I hope it's not too tedious for them to rewrite their articles...

Long overdue but thankfully new powers give Sadiq Khan the opportunity to override Westminster Council. Good. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Just perfect

My wife got me a Bandit Heeler t-shirt for my 5 year old’s Blue themed birthday and is increasingly dismayed at my choice to periodically wear it in public

🚨 SpaceX hangover spreads www.ft.com/content/6a13...

Reading the piece only confirms in my mind it should be Miliband - vibes be damned. He’s effective and experienced. The others don’t pass the smell test.

At some point this Government will come to its moral senses and realise that retrospectively denying people settled status/citizenship is wrong. With Reform on the horizon that moral imperative is even more urgent. It should be encouraging people to become citizens. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Burnham’s inability to make tough but necessary decisions - abandoning the Clean Air Zone vs Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ triumph - augurs ill for bigger fiscal and competitiveness calls as PM. My latest Continental Drift column for Mergermarket. ionanalytics.com/insights/mer...

Two-speed Europe done right.

Not everyone is a fan of the volume and kind of communication the Fed and other central banks do. But IMO this move by Warsh is a bid to return the Fed to a state where the FOMC Chair has more discretion. Which he can use to hide Trump-aiding interest rate views, pressure and ultimately decisions.

These people are scum, pure and simple, and need to be beaten, beaten, beaten again and again.

Burnham’s inability to make tough but necessary decisions - abandoning the Clean Air Zone vs Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ triumph - augurs ill for bigger fiscal and competitiveness calls as PM. My latest Continental Drift column for Mergermarket. ionanalytics.com/insights/mer...

I have to say, it's making me feel a little insane hearing commentators say Ed Miliband shouldn't be chancellor because of his "ideological zeal" for Net Zero, in a week where temperatures are so extreme that my kids are being sent home early every day and it's regularly 30 degrees inside my house

I don’t think this was the moment where it became inevitable that Starmer would flame out after two years, but I do think it was the clearest illustration that he was terminally prone to panic and unable to grasp “the mayor is doing a difficult thing years before his re-election is due”.

Chaser.

Shot.

An outrage. Must read. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...

Reform UK councillors have introduced a motion to rescind King's Lynn and West Norfolk's climate emergency declaration and deprioritise decarbonisation efforts The council were going to vote on it on Thursday But the meeting has been postponed due to extreme heat

Who’s going to explain to the ‘person briefed’ that this isn’t devolution, it’s an office move?

Capital concerns about wealth taxes, carried interest treatment, property levies? Honest people can disagree either side of those. “Miliband gonna Truss it up” is just bond traders giving voice to their political prejudices in a free, anonymous hit to papers.

I think this chart from @andrewgoodwin.bsky.social at Oxford Economics cuts to the heart of UK fiscal policy - whatever the chat about market vibes, who's gonna be chancellor etc Basically the UK economy is not expected to grow quickly enough to outrun its debt costs (with only Italy in same boat).

Capital concerns about wealth taxes, carried interest treatment, property levies? Honest people can disagree either side of those. “Miliband gonna Truss it up” is just bond traders giving voice to their political prejudices in a free, anonymous hit to papers.

Fascinating the extent to which people responsible for billions of pounds base their views on nothing but vibes.

Markets don't appear that bothered. Yields have fallen over the past month. Almost as if inflation expectations matter more than anything else.

Imagine a government that was helping everyone do this, instead of locked into a permanent psychodrama about how many refugees to hate this week.

Amid rumours that the July 22 EU summit will be postponed due to UK politics, a supportive note from a highly influential Brussels figure. Argument a new UK PM should be making - we need strong EU relations to deliver domestically. To say otherwise is not serious politics.

I've had 2 journalists today asking if Miliband as Chancellor would be a "Liz Truss moment" and find it difficult not to just respond "are you on crack?".

Well.

Lisa Nandy looking pleased at the count. Be good to see her finally make Cabinet when AB becomes PM

It is extremely important that Labour understands that the movement of voters between Lab and Ref was not the crucial factor, it was consolidation of the anti-Ref vote and Lab voters turning out in droves. Otherwise Burnham will make the same mistakes as Starmer in targeting only one set of voters.