What if the British government adopted this novel new Canadian strategy of trying to be popular, instead of the opposite of that.

David Cameron: "Well, well, well, not so easy to find a Prime Minister that doesn't suck shit, huh?"

Even the bond vigilantes don’t like the fiscal rules.

Saying you would take a "much tougher stance on immigration" than the Labour government is (or should be) discrediting for the same reason that saying your budget plans would be "very fiscal" would be. What does it mean?

If some random MP's can meme Al Carns to leader on the basis, essentially, he was in the military we can meme Yuan Yang leadership from Bluesky on the basis of her dog.

A law mandating that all new vehicles must look very derpy, would reduce traffic deaths by at least 40%.

The Matrix, but instead of growing humans in pods for energy, it's to feed the AI with human-creative input to prevent the machines from turning themselves into AI-slop.

US & UK seem to be competing in some sort of perverse self-immolation olympics.

Any centre to centre-left government would probably be making a good bet to just copy exactly whatever Carney's government does and says over the next few years.

It's almost like Trump timed his backdown over Greenland perfectly to make all his biggest boot lickers look as dumb as possible. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

What if we brough back The North Sea Empire and made Greenland an alternative proposal?

While i thought "defund the police" was terrible framing back then because people heard it as 'ABOLISH the police', i think "Abolish ICE" is fantastic framing today because people hear it as "ABOLISH ICE".

I already agree with this in principle - citizenship is an untouchable status or it is nothing - but also for reasons of prudence. “The Home Sec can revoke citizenship when he/she deems someone’s online output sufficiently offensive” is a v dangerous precedent to set with Reform leading all polls.

Can I just shock you? I think public transport infrastructure is good and these people should fuck off.

If the government can and should step in to prevent mass unemployment during an emergency, why should it not step in to prevent small scale unemployment at all times? Should be an easier task right? www.independent.co.uk/news/busines...

I read a book on making money in ancient Athens recently (by Michael Leese, it's great), and the Greeks absolutely believed that the endless pursuit of wealth was a serious moral defect and personality issue no different than being a drunk or sexual deviant.

I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking you can partner with the French in a next generation fighter jet programme...

Why "up to 55,000" and not - however many are needed? We desperately need a New Deal style Civilian Conservation Corp and a universal Job Guarantee scheme. I'm tired of shitty little tinkering policies. Do it properly like the good ol' days. www.mirror.co.uk/money/young-...

A Peace Prize from FIFA? That's like getting a "Best restaurant" award from a tyre manufacturer or something dumb that would never happen.

If you're broadly on the left of centre of politics and someone asks you to name three economists you listen to, you should probably mention any of - @kateraworth.bsky.social, @mazzucatom.bsky.social, @stephaniekelton.bsky.social, @isabellamweber.bsky.social, @claudia-sahm.bsky.social.

I'm wondering how these numbers change if the question was "Should donations to political parties using cryptocurrencies (the kind of bullshit people like Elon Musk like) be banned in the UK?"

I think this is an important next step in our discussions of inflation: It makes a difference *which* prices are rising.

"Government borrowing" is a mechanism intended to induce a temporal shift in inflationary pressure. By issuing a bond - potential buyers are incentivised to refrain from spending into the economy in the present in return for a larger sum to spend later...

"ok you got me, i did mislead. The economy is actually fantastic under my leadership. I'm now announcing an extra £20bn in spending to compensate for my error in underestimating how good the economy became this year because of me". Is that what they want Reeves to say?

Latest three Newscasts have been full coverage of insane contradictory right-wing attacks on the Chancellor. What are we doing here?

Looking forward to the Your Party DLC for Political Conference Simulator 2025.

"Super rich business wanker says - eughh that's not very good is it, i don't like that, eughh!!" - is at least half of UK journalism about anything the government does.

The market loves it when the Chancellor taxes landlords and gambling. Rachel, do more, the market demands it.

I wish it were possible to accurately explain the National Debt using custard creams in a manner as clear and simple as this. It's unfortunately a lot easier to do this kind of stuff if truth and accuracy are of minimal concern.

Shit, now I'm going to have to find a new favourite grape variety.

A rail fare should be capped at - no more than 1/4 the fuel price of an average medium sized petrol car travelling the same number of miles as the train journey.

"As for financing... any remaining deficit will be covered by the issuance of additional government bonds..."

"If the bond market reacts very badly … the government will have to react if bond yields start to go up too much" .. if only there was a way for the government to control the curves on these yields... www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

How central banks control inflation 101

There's this unhelpful belief in British politics and media that central bank independence means - beyond criticism. You can believe in Bailey's independence but still point out his shitty performance.

NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected. And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.* Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:

Do it.

Another reason high interest rates as an inflation reduction tool suck. If the intended outcomes actually take place, it'll be reported as a failure. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

That big spike for the Tories is back when govt econ policy was to pay everyone to not go to work and give them discounted meals out. Sometimes you gotta just do some shit and deal with the consequences later.

British elections until 2029: Only Plaid can stop Reform here, Only the Lib Dems can stop Your party here, Only the Greens can stop Labour here, Only the Tories can...

I thought at some point we were going to have to do War of 1812 II to America but then Trump comes along and just Self-War of 1812 IIs America for us.

Rich people can't create or destroy £s. If they want to leave and invest elsewhere they'd have to sell their £s to those who do want to invest here.

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT "A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Feels like this will be a useful meme for the next few years

"Societies thrive when they reward those who create, not those who capture. And a great challenge of our time is to make the State return to being a partner in productivity, not an instrument of parasitisation."

"...expectation is that the program will also contribute to containing inflation, reducing the pressure of bus fare adjustments on the consumer price index." www.diariodocentrodomundo.com.br/governo-lula... An underrated economic tool for getting prices down is to just lower the prices of things.

I think perhaps one of the best economic productivity gains for the country would be to tax high-street gambling out of existence entirely. Despite the Chancellor's vow to leave 'no stone unturned', I'm confident this one will remain undisturbed.

"...politics used to be — persuasion, messaging, negotiation, compromise. Behaving this way will lose against someone donning body armor while calling you an antifa domestic terrorist MS-13 gang member. And the guy in the body armor will always lose to the guy in the inflatable frog suit."

We don't need billionaires money, we just need for them to not have it.

Manufacturers of inflatable frog costumes operating in the Portland area.