I think if you’re the CEO of an extremely politically exposed firm in the public eye and you agree to take this kind of pay increase at this moment, you’re essentially demonstrating that you are not up to the job.

Once you start mass removal of citizenship on political grounds you've stopped functioning as a viable democratic state. But that was always where this agenda was heading.

RIP to Sam Neill, a brilliant actor who said what needed to be said about the excesses of Big Salted Caramel

Local Housing Allowance rates don't tend to get a lot of press because they're a bit technical. However, they have been deliberately kept low by policy decisions over multiple governments. That is having a severe impact on the financially vulnerable. www.crisis.org.uk/media/00pnzl...

Exactly this. A policy which will either push up personal housing subsidy and reduce work incentives for low income working tenants or (if housing benefit is held down) hugely intensify poverty. We’ve been returning to this argument periodically since the 80s. It’s still nuts.

To claim that welfare is over generous is pure political venom. In reality, people are treated with complete inhumanity, failing to get the support they need because of a decade and a half of brutal politics and cuts. Labour is no longer playing along. Bravo. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

I hear Ed Balls is a Blairite now, Father.

It's a weekday, it's after 10pm, so Shabana Mahmood is doing her thing *yet again*. Yet another incredibly punitive policy aimed at people recognised as legitimate refugees, in the service of some political game I honestly can't work out. What's she actually trying to accomplish here?

Plenty to reflect on here and in the Estelle Morris report, in the context of renewed emphasis on regional inequality. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that London has the highest youth unemployment in the country.

The case for Ed Miliband as CX. The planet is burning. Labour doesn’t need a “balanced ticket” - it needs to lead.

I will continue to die on the hill marked "it would be completely mad for a PM with 400 seats and 3 years left in a government term to call an early election which is all but certain to weaken his party." www.arguably.uk/p/dont-be-a-...

The met office want to know why I describe their forecast as ‘not at all accurate’

Not now, tiny particle that supercollider has found that can erase the universe at any moment www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-th...

I'm not a professional historian, but if I were a world leader looking to sign a peace deal, I'm pretty sure I'd pick literally anywhere in the world *except* Versailles.

There are a lot of things about this (where are the women? I’ve been researching Labour feminism in the East End…) but… when Labour was this, it was never enough to win even when Britain had a million mine workers. Herbert Morrison always wanted the ‘black coated workers’ to vote Labour too.

This is just glorious.

It is extremely annoying the way that Hunt, like Osborne before him, personally undermined the foundations of the British state and now gets to opine as if this mess was absolutely nothing to do with him.

The same employers who witter on about young people lacking the basic social skills, see nothing wrong with not bothering to tell job applicants that they have not been successful. www.ft.com/content/2af1...

"Racist pogroms are bad but..."

Russia is openly waging a form of hybrid warfare against us and this is part of it.

This is no more about the details of immigration policy than the progroms my great great grandparents fled were about Jews committing crimes. It's straightforward racist violence and it needs the strongest possible response.

No one wants this. Not the families. Not the receiving areas. Not London boroughs. It’s a nightmare all round. But if London councils can’t fund homelessness accommodation locally, due to Local Housing Allowance freezes and budget pressures, they will procure elsewhere. This isn’t complicated.

Farage, Braverman & - above all - newspapers mainstreamed racist notion of “two-tier policing”. IRL: “In England & Wales, police use of force, which includes handcuffing, batons & Tasers, is three times more likely against black people than white people.” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

This is as it should be.

This episode of "Today" desperately needs a historian of policing, to explain why things like anti-racism training were introduced in the first place. This wasn't some departure from a world in which the police treated everyone the same. It was an attempt to bring that world fractionally closer.

NEW: Labour's housing benefit cuts have hit a million of the poorest renters, often costing them more than £1,000 a year Greater Manchester and the West Midlands have been worst hit My new substack on the cost of living measure the next PM must take chamindajayanetti.substack.com/p/how-labour...

All these people without work and it still takes an hour to get through to the bank

One mildly interesting thing: Blair's recent essay is a total repudiation of Blairism. It doesn't at all resemble what he did as PM, especially on tax and spend. And yet 'Blairites' are largely applauding it as a serious document (it isn't). Maybe it really is just vibes all the way down.

Good to see a minister push back against the content of the Blair piece. Particularly on the incredibly lazy "taxes have risen because of benefits" stuff.

Pretty much 🎯

Our Book of the Week is IF WE TOLERATE THIS, by Daniel Trilling. His latest book is a short and powerful polemic examining how far right ideas have come to dominate the political agenda, and outlining a strategy for how we might combat them. www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/if-we-...

Guess it was time for this ancient proposal to come back around on the eternal baggage carousel of lame hear-me-out attention-farming.

Today is Cost of Rent Day. The point in the year when England’s renters have basically earned only for their landlord. In 2026, that’s until 11 May, over 4 months of wages or benefits gone on rent. High rents are driving people into poverty. Watch to find out more:

The big problem with using MRPs for councils is that even if the vote shares are broadly right: 1. Overall vote shares don't translate straightforwardly to seats 2. They can't pick up independent groups (e.g. in Newham and Redbridge)

Vote Reform. Or we will house *dangerous migrant centres* in your village. And if you vote Green, it will be even worse for you. It's beyond disturbing. The chill wind of threat, thuggery and menace of a kind never before seen in Britain.

Also Lush Life, but Carol Grimes It never entered my mind-Ella Fitzgerald God bless the child-Billie Holiday Atomic-Blondie 10th Avenue freeze out-Springsteen Harlem Shuffle-Bob and Earl Living for the city-Stevie Wonder A new bohemia-Pet Shop Boys Waterfall-Stone Roses Hurricane- Neil Young

🚨BREAKING: RENTERS’ RIGHTS ACT IS IN FORCE TODAY!! 🚨 Today marks a new era for private renters across England. This new law is a vital step towards re-balancing power between renters and landlords and should be celebrated.

This is good on why insurgent parties experiencing rapid growth become magnets for cranks and also lack the buffering layer of veterans and stalwarts that might stop the maniacs becoming candidates

None of what she is stating here relates to the Renters' Rights Act, or will be impacted by its introduction. Her issues stem from our collapsing justice system. To be clear - you can still seek possession based on arrears under the RRA. It's no fault evictions that will be stopped.

I’m deeply saddened at the tragic loss of Giles Peaker. Giles was not only an exceptionally talented housing lawyer but a real force for good in the world who played an integral role in the development of the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. My heartfelt condolences to all who loved him.

Giles co-authored the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act with Justin, and I was delighted to work with him on other projects too. I was, frankly, terrified of Giles’ razor-sharp intelligence but soothed by his kindness and great good humour. God, we will miss him.

It's perfectly reasonable to challenge ministers on N Sea oil & gas as a response to the energy shock. But this is the exclusive framing for EVERY interview on this topic. No minister or opposition leader is ever asked if they'll "max out" wind/solar. It's always framed as fossil fuels v inaction

So, happy 120th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s birth to all who celebrate

NIGEL FARAGE ELON MUSK JD VANCE PETER THIEL MARINE LE PEN MATTHEW GOODWIN CAN YOU HEAR ME? YOUR BOYS TOOK A HELL OF A BEATING, A HELL OF A BEATING

Now we can breathe for a moment… The decimation of youth services across the country was one of the most damaging legacies of post-2010 austerity. We saw its consequences every day in London. Great to see this investment from @london.gov.uk

This is the ultimate test for a constitutional order. Either constitutional mechanisms are used to check and balance this, and remove him from office, or they are not. For there can be no greater test for any constitution.

A truly terrible social policy, finally consigned to history. Proof of the power of social security to lift huge numbers of people out of poverty. A wonderful day for our whole society!

That UK government ever considers asserting its contractual rights against a major supplier is rare and welcome. And here, this is especially welcome. This will not be easy but it can be done, but it is good it is being seriously considered at all. www.ft.com/content/2d2b...

It is absolutely stupid that a major focus of policy response to the Iran War is on the planned 1p rise in fuel duty in September (watching Trevor Phillips interview Bridget Phillipson). Of no help now to anyone to abandon it. Shows how trivial our political debate has become.

The Renters’ Rights Act coming into force in May will ban no fault eviction and make it possible to challenge unfair rent rises. The Mayor of @london.gov.uk is setting up a £400k Renters’ Rights Enforcement Fund for renters rights groups and for training for borough enforcement officers.