I’d like you all to run “transgender extremists captured the BBC” through your deranged conspiracy theory bullshit detector, and see whether it pings

[incidentally, some people here who claim to be on the left/anti-racist, but think that it can't be antisemitism if you just say "Zionists" instead of "Jews" would benefit from reading this.]

If this isn't "designed to stir up hatred" against Jews, what is? Why are the Met not arresting them?

It's mad that Angela Rayner's career was ruined by the likes of Dan Niedle, who continues to crow that the HMRC are wrong to clear her. Yet Farage is unscathed by a £5 million bung and claims of antisemitism. Imo the dynamics of both cases speak to the privileges afforded to rich, white men.

Janet's work was musically head and shoulders above MJ's imo. Sure Thriller is untouchable, but I don't go back and listen to it. But "When I think of You" or "What have you done for me lately" still slam big time.

They will do no such thing unless you order something.

And LDI blow-ups aren’t going to cause run dynamics in long gilts.

Andy Burnham isn’t going to do a Truss. He isn’t going to sack the permanent secretary of HMT or do a major fiscal event with no OBR forecast. He isn’t going to attempt the largest borrowing-funded tax cuts in years.

We seem to be going down the same road as the US and allowing this awful person to do what he likes because the people who should be taking responsibility for protecting us are not doing their jobs.

To be clear: debt is high, interest payments are high, growth is weak, wages and productivity are flat and an inflationary shock is about hit. This is not an easy situation and it could quickly deteriorate. But the current Kuenssberg-style sensationalist gilt doom mongering is not helpful.

Back over at alphaville: the U.K. currently has a political risk premium of 0.25 percentage points.

Increased bond yields reflect higher inflation expectations caused by (please select all that apply): a) The US-Israeli attack on Iran and the resulting closure of the Straits of Hormuz and loss of 10% of the world's energy supply b) UK council elections bsky.app/profile/toby...

AI summary: chaos • doom loop • unnervingly volatile • untethered • problem children • thrall • ratcheting • precarious • moron premium • lingering institutional trauma • guilty until proven innocent • watching through their fingers • delicate balancing act

It’s a shame the politics desk doesn’t read alphaville giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

For everyone currently talking up the UK's politics-driven bond market crisis -- please take some time to read Toby's careful walkthrough of the data which is ... oddly underwhelming.

The moral of the story re: Farage, is that everyone should not give a toss about looking after themselves and feeling absolutely no scruples about it. And that it's also fine to be a racist and an antisemite. This is the guy that the press love and the BBC continuously choose to platform.

“I’ve tried to talk to them about climate, they are so smug and captured. And it boils down to privilege."

Literally been saying this for ever. You only have to see Burnham at public events to see the guy's very well liked by the public. If he plays it smart, he could be a formidable Labour leader.

Indeed, a fifth of people in the North West have a *very* favourable opinion of Andy Burnham, which is roughly the same as the number of Britons that have a positive opinion of any shade of Keir Starmer.

Not just is Burnham particularly popular among Labour voters, but in the North West as a whole his favourability ratings are 51% to 29%. Not just net positive, but clearly so. Very rare.

I think this maybe the most niché bit of trivia I’ve ever heard.

I can't see Burnham losing to Reform in the north west, I just can't.

🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

The local elections in one chart. Labour has been squeezed between the Greens in young wards and Reform in older working-class wards www.economist.com/britain/2026...

So very many stories like this, just so that Wes Streeting could launch his bid to be Prime Minister with “the results are in” bsky.app/profile/nath...

This has always been at the core of wealth tax argument and messaging from the likes of @taxjusticeuk.bsky.social and @patrioticmillionaires.org It wasn't always just about revenue raising. Fairness and the over sized impact of the ultra wealthy part of the argument.

Game-changer?

This whole piece is just *perfect* "It must be hard to hear people say shocking things such as: 'Maybe we should restructure the tax code so the ultra-rich don’t pay lower effective tax rates than teachers.'” Chef's 👏 kiss 👏 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An update to this extremely rigorous method might do it. www.ft.com/content/0890...

Not a huge surprise but the Northern Powerhouse Bill included in the King's Speech kills the idea of a new Manchester-Leeds via Bradford line. Only new bit of NPR will be Manchester-Liverpool via Warrington and Manchester Airport.

Some Tory MP says unchallenged on the BBC that "the welfare bill is spiralling out of control" Here's that 'spiralling' in full - steady for the last 20 years

A move of anything less than, say, 0.1 percentage points -- sorry, Ten Basis Points -- in gilt yields is meaningless noise and does not qualify as news. Please stop breathlessly reporting every 0.02 pp move and connecting it to the Westminster soap opera! This is getting ridiculous.

"No... not those ideas" meme

A former Black Rod says it succinctly: "This is a spectacle of order, despite the political chaos." Yes, this is a yearly reminder that a happy few are destined to rule, assured that the system is designed to produce those meant to serve.

"Is that the Cap of Maintenance on the short baton?" asks Sophy Ridge? This country is a parody of itself.

The gilt market of course does not get a vote. At the moment this is mostly vibes rather than considered analysis. The vibes absolutely, 100% matter but medium term I can’t see Burnham/Rayner/Miliband/Streeting/etc making an especially large difference to the gilt market. www.ft.com/content/3e1c...

In Sunderland, Reform stood David Barker. Who beat his girlfriend “black and blue”. He also neglected and burnt his child with cigarettes. He was handed a suspended sentence. It comes up when you Google him. He won in the council election. A vicious domestic abuser is now a Reform Councillor.

Despite what you may hear from a greedy minority trying to scare us away from taxing them, when you actually ask millionaires the vast majority are happy to pay and here to stay. Just check out the latest research from our friends at @patmillsuk.bsky.social 👇

The super wealthy want to pay more tax, why are we ignoring them? Why are centrists, in particular, adamant that we shouldn't do it. If Keir Starmer REALLY believes that the status quo is not good enough, why has he consistently ruled out a wealth tax? www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ma...

At some point there needs to be a *proper* conversation about how cruelty has become a new normal for so many people. And we can't just keep putting it down to structures. Too many people with plenty of agency are actively choosing this.

I gave an interview recently about the importance of making nightlife more affordable for young people, and some of the feedback was, what a woke interview. And I think: so much of the current moment is just indulging people who don't want anyone else to have nice things.

The turnover in PMs is only one symptom of the UK's political malaise and gradual reversion to a rainy version of Italy. The Prime Ministerial turnovers have also taken place amidst referenda, which are not common to the UK (electoral reform, Scots indie ref, EU) and hung parliaments. >>>

A far-right influencer is suing the charity 10,000 Interns, claiming their trailblazing schemes supporting Black people are “anti-white”. We’re pushing back:

meanwhile Reform make grim capital out of grooming gangs & sexual assaults by immigrants (oddly uninterested if not immigrants). So it matters on a life and limb level for women but also for social cohesion/fighting the far right. Harriet Harman appt was meant to reassure but too late

partly that was over Mandelson (& obv if Starmer gets through all this, there's still the next release of Mandelson whatsapps/emails to come) & sense of a boys club in no 10 but not entirely. It's disappointment that the PM genuinely does care about VAWG, it's not empy words, but can't drive it.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jess Phillips and Alex Davies Jones; so far all 3 ministerial resignations are women, 2 directly responsible for delivering on the manifesto pledge to halve violence against women and girls. There has been real simmering anger in the women's PLP about not being listened to.

oooof

This tweet from Ian Murray is being shared widely by MPs who are supportive of Keir Starmer. The point about a "small 0.25 basis point increase in UK government gilt yields costs £17bn a year in interest payments alone" is a wild overstatement.

When you hit your 50s you become familiar with new terms about your health and life prospects, like "snipers alley". This is the propensity of people in their 50s to early 60s to die of a preventable illness. Basically a phrase for declining healthy life expectancy too. >>>

Honestly, the depressing thing about the Labour leadership thing, is the lack of any ideas about what needs to be done, from any of the candidates eligible to run. Burnham is the only one who's set his ideas. It's like the Labour Party's 2024 general election campaign all over again.