I do genuinely feel for politicians (almost everywhere) having to grapple with the fact that the longer you keep people alive, the more they cost - literally exponentially - whilst everyone wants to live a long time and keep their loved ones alive, and no one wants to pay for it.

Uurgh. This gives me the heebie-jeebies. Digital surveillance by the state & whichever tech corporation gets the lucrative contract, social exclusion of people who are not IT literate, woeful track record of public IT projects, risk of hacking... Sorry, no I don't want this.

Not a significant change in fortunes then? Furthermore it would unleash all manner of angst & strife & be a huge distraction from the important business of, y'know, governing the country.

Stark statistics about the benefit cap & who is affected (families with children).

This! It's infuriating. Even though its bunkun, the news coverage will have sewn seeds of doubt in some pregnant women's minds.

Why the ideas here might help, substack.com/@jpspencer/n...

There are 4.24m people with Indefinite Leave to Remain (or equivalent). 82% are in work, compared with 74% of Britons 3.8m are in relationships with Britons They have about 2.4m British-born children. This bullshit is never going to happen. Again. But... www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Today marks the start of #OrganDonationWeek 2025. This week, it’s really important that you consider your wishes about organ donation, register a decision on the ODR and tell your loved ones - #LeaveThemCertain #YesIDoNate

I like this. I really like this. It exposes the rank hypocrisy of these ‘patriots’. Kudos to whoever wrote it via @thelondoneconomic.bsky.social

Having said that, who will *in practice* be asked for them, if ‘immigration enforcement’ is the purpose for which they will be used? People who ‘look like’ or ‘sound like’ they might be here illegally. That is, black or brown people, people with ‘foreign accents’ or foreign names. 3/10

The latest average monthly wage data means the UK state pension will rise by at least 4.7% next year under the Triple Lock. The lock is supposed to protect and boost the real income of pensioners. But it’s worth noting that pensioners - as a group - are not as poor as they used to be...🧵 1/11

Nice thread outlining what the government is delivering for ordinary people (y'know, the policies we don't hear anything about because everyone - including the govt - prefers to talk about small boats & immigration all the time...)

This is brilliant - and actually rather useful for anyone teaching methods (correlation isn't causation etc.) to undergraduates.

This is exceptional writing from Ian Dunt about Saturday's demonstration (read the whole substack piece).

Thank you for the moral clarity + challenge, Jonathan. At the bare minimum the vast majority of people in UK who reject a politics of violence + hatred can no longer close our eyes and hope the global rising tide of racist grievance + disintermediated lies will not wash up on our shores. It’s here.

‘Starmer plans electronic ID cards for all to help stop UK boat migrants’ I can’t believe this nonsense is back again. A Trojan Horse policy that hoodwinks all of us into accepting deeply problematic ID cards that won’t remotely impact asylum numbers. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Are you young, highly educated and driven, and want to contribute to our stagnant economy with its aging population and low productivity? Well out you go

Across all questions, Reform UK voters are the most likely to have negative opinions about the state of both their local area and the wider UK yougov.co.uk/politics/art...

Reform UK: “Free speech! You can’t say anything these days!” Also Reform UK: “You’re banned from reporting on our council because we don’t like what you said.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Really enjoying @lukehaines.bsky.social @ @remhq.bsky.social at @ the Metronome Nottingham. Just seen @theeminus5.bsky.social, they sound a bit Pixies, Green on Red & Stooges. Then they shake the kaleidoscope & become Luke Haines & Peter Buck for the second half. What.A.Lineup!

I'd normally hold this back for Grin and Share It but it's too lovely so am posting about it now. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BBC News - Sturgeon memoir describes arrest as 'worst day of my life' www.bbc.com/news/article... The revelations in Sturgeon's memoirs seem to indicate a sharp recollection of events, in contrast to her testimony at various inquiries. Hmmm 🤔

What an utter absurdity our Home Secretary has created - Destroying British free speech, right to protest and with it undermining democracy. It is not for the government to terrorise the public for political opinions they don’t want to hear.

Arresting 400+ people for the "terrorist" offence of protesting against mass murder while large segments of the right are openly encouraging riots against immigrants is a tale of a very unhappy country and government.

Shocking news. 36% of UK children are living in poverty according to the latest Social Metrics Commission research (I am one of the Commissioners) www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

Agree. It's so dangerous & irresponsible- but gives them something to write about...

Extraordinary how much of the media is essentially trying to incite rioting now. Not just legitimise or normalise but actively encourage. It is, of course, unlikely to kick off anywhere near them.

Domestic violence is a major threat to women around the world but it is also a warning sign for political violence. And yet, it rarely gets the political attention it deserves and requires.

Age verification on Bluesky is nae bother. I don't understand the fuss. Just did the face shot thing (no way I'm giving my credit card details for no good reason!). It scans & deletes the image within 2 seconds. Sadly I was judged to be 'sufficiently old'- dammit, need to change my beauty serum...

Ozzy Osbourne International. Would love to see it happen. Sign petition.

Congratulations to Netenyahu in managing to unite the Express and the Guardian in outrage.

Three stunning and shaming paragraphs, by Rachel Wolf of Public First, in @theobserveruk.bsky.social

Someone found this thread again via search, so I'm reupping the reminder: if you're diagnosed with Dupuytren/Ledderhose, especially if it's bilateral or you're under 75, get yourself to an oncologist specializing in benign radiotherapy IMMEDIATELY.

Manslaughter receives a much lighter sentence if you are recklessly responsible for a two tonne, high velocity piece of machinery where children are at risk. Just crazy.

Emergency Alert day has been confirmed as 7th September. If you have a secret phone for safety go to settings and turn off all government notifications. Setting it to silent or airplane is not enough 🚨 (guidance on each step is on the internet). Spread the word

the core idea that can radicalize people is so simple: there is enough. there is enough food to feed everyone. enough resources to house everyone. money and technology and medicine to stop the suffering of people around the globe. once you accept that there's only one question: why don't we?

Ahead of the expected proscription of Palestine Action - the first time a protest group has been legally redefined as terrorist - I went through the Hansard of the 2000 Act they're being banned under. Turns out MPs were assured the law wouldn't be applied this way. Thread 🧵🔽

Desperately sad. A well-known & much loved figure in Nottingham.

This looks like a massive overreaction & another example of the overreach of terrorism legislation.

This is not necessarily prevention. It’s prediction. And prediction only leads to prevention if certain screening criteria are fulfilled including how good the prediction is & how effective the action is once you have the info. Otherwise there may be harms. IMO this hasn’t been well thought through.

Allowing assisted dying while savagely cutting PIP is telling disabled people they're allowed to die with dignity but not to live with dignity

40% of all corporation tax owed by small businesses isn't paid. How has this happened, without anyone noticing or caring? Because nobody wants to talk about it. These reactions to the latest HMRC tax gap figures are typical:

Today's vote means assisted dying is likely for England & Wales. It is time to answer the hard questions about how to address concerns through its implementation - and face the gaps in end of life care MPs highlighted Reaction of @sarahscobie.bsky.social 👇 www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/no...

No-one lost more than £300 a year due to Labour’s changes to Winter Fuel Allowance. Labour’s changes to disability benefit could cost some households *more than £10,000 a year* – and the plans tabled this week do nothing to fix that. It’s no wonder campaigners are raising alarms with MPs.

Urgh! Why?? And how can we opt out of being filmed by these glasses?

Good thread. There are attempts at reform roughly every 10 yrs e.g. Incapacity Benefit, then ESA, PIP, then UC, PIP again... And the view that there are 'too many' people on disability benefits is especially ill-placed after a global pandemic that has left a legacy of chronic conditions & trauma.

On Friday, we protested outside Parliament to oppose the assisted dying bill. We will do the same this Friday, and we need you to join us! Our 3 key messages: ❗️Not now ❗️Not this way ❗️Assist us to live before you assist us to die Photos: Natasha Hurst

This is everywhere. Every academic institution I know is held together by some exhausted woman in her early 40's who waits until the old white male professors have finished their vague rants and says, "alright, so concretely can I propose the following next steps..." She makes half their salary.

This sounds like good advice. I'm constantly dismayed at how much AI gets wrong on topics that I know something about, so would not trust it on things I *don't* know about. Which greatly reduces LLMs' usefulness (in their form anyway).