The govt is not the 1st to approach the housing crisis by pledging ambitious housing targets, but: In its drive to boost housing numbers, govt runs the risk of adopting a deregulatory approach (the 'curry night' took place days after govt reduced affordable housing targets in London)

This news story makes me think of this piece that me and @rosegrayston.bsky.social published a few weeks ago that looked at the current govt's housebuilding agenda and whether it's approach is working

*Demand destruction watch* BYD is now doing a fortnight's worth of sales each day, in several Asian countries. "Wang singled out markets such as Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, where he said daily sales volumes are now as high as what the carmaker could previously sell in two weeks."

A history of the top marginal tax rates on the wealthiest Americans: 1940: 81% 1950: 84% 1960: 91% 1970: 72% 1980: 70% 1990: 28% 2000: 40% 2010: 35% For 50 years, corporate backed politicians in Congress have slashed taxes to line the pockets of their wealthy donors.

I mean, like it or not, the Iranians are pretty much the first people to tell Trump to eat shit. The supreme court hasn't, Joe Biden didn't, he's not under arrest for being a pedophile or running a load of really obvious bribery campaigns. If you don't do your job someone else will.

I feel like we're at the "we don't do lockdowns, they're very un-British" stage of the Iran crisis. Starmer's aphorism that "politics should tread more lightly" on people's lives, is about to get stamped on and ground into dust?

This has become my memory aid bsky.app/profile/kath...

The UK's most "Keep Calm and Carry On" think tank here... Er panicking? www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...

The 2025 numbers are really striking. www.kielinstitut.de/fileadmin/Da...

It's remarkable to me that the Tories don't get a lot more scrutiny for austerity decisions they made that have left UK military in the state it's in today. I'm not a fan of this stuff, but I do think people who claim to be the natural leaders of this country should be held accountable

🚨 BREAKING: The European Commission has urged people to work from home, drive and fly less, and for EU countries to urgently roll out renewables, as it warned of a prolonged energy crisis as a result of the conflict in the Gulf. Full story: www.politico.eu/article/euro...

This was 11 years ago. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015...

Trump and Hegseth are making statements that legal experts say constitute war crimes. On live television. Without apology.

Riddle me this. If Trump commits a plausible war crime in bombing Iranian energy or water infrastructure, does the royal visit go ahead?

However, the revelation that Ben Delo spent £300,000 funding a cynical attempt to silence criticism of antisemitic conspiracy theorists—exposed in court as anonymous contributors to a notorious Hitler-promoting neo-Nazi account—casts Mr Delo's activities in a far darker light.

This appears to have been a not-so-subtle attempt by Nina Power to dissipate her significant assets—namely, her home, bought with money from her parents in 2012—to try to unlawfully shield her property from the insolvency process, whilst publicly pleading poverty.

The insolvency practitioner managing Nina Power and Daniel Miller's bankruptcies uncovered a paper trail showing that Ben Delo paid their solicitor, Mark Lewis’s firm, Patron Law, directly, whilst taking a 100% charge on Ms Power's London home on the eve of trial.

I can now reveal that crypto billionaire Ben Delo—pardoned by Trump after a conviction for anti-money-laundering violations—privately funded the failed libel action brought against me by neo-Nazi conspiracy theorists Nina Power and Daniel Miller to the tune of at least £300,000.

The thing is, this is probably precisely what EU countries will do. Secure unilateral or EU wide deals with Iran with or without the US. And Trump will have further isolated his country from the rest of the world. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

FT Exclusive: A broker for the US defence secretary attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran, according to three people familiar with the matter ft.trib.al/erwM82D

Hilarious how for years serious people have said that you can't rely on renewables because they are prone to disruptions in supply www.ft.com/content/19f1...

The last known shipment of jet fuel to the UK from the Middle East is expected to arrive this week, pointing to the fast-approaching impact of the Iran war on airlines and travellers. Am sure it will be fine. www.ft.com/content/19f1...

Oralè Crew Tear jerker! “US Soldiers hug their families before being sent to Iran” #USDemocracy #NK3 #TrumpIranWar

Trump's presidency vindicates the view of right libertarians & classical liberals that government can be stupid & evil. You'd imagine, therefore, that these would be noisy & growing in numbers. But they are (mostly) not - which vindicates the most cynical view of them.

Gosh yes, can you imagine how bad it’d be to deal with people who do not negotiate in good faith, with madmen bent upon killing you and destroying your country? Fanatical, murderous wackos, crazy men who cannot be appeased or bargained with

"Iran is now earning nearly twice as much from oil sales each day as it did before American and Israeli bombs started falling on February 28th. It may be pummelled on the battlefield, but the regime is winning the energy war." www.economist.com/finance-and-...

The lesson of the previous energy crisis: Price interventions have to stop ripple effects before they start. This is about buying time for emergency adjustments. European democracies cannot afford another round of falling real wages and war profiteering. @wsj.com Link: www.wsj.com/economy/glob...

now *this*.....is democracy manifest

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised for ‘peddling dangerous fantasy’ about North Sea oil drilling - @tessakhan.bsky.social: ‘a vapid, political game playing at the expense of ordinary people’ #energycrisis #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Is there a single piece of non-renewable infrastructure in the north sea that is connected up to the UK's energy system? I mean, those oil platforms, they're not filling up petrol stations in Cromer and Southend are they? The wind turbines on the other hand?

Stop accepting responsibility for failures that are systemic. Don't let politicians and commentators - who have real influence, blame you for things you alone can never change: - Climate change - The failures of care, social work and health - Politics generally. It's political poison.

Genuinely kind of disturbing how little attention has been paid to Israeli officials explicitly promising to do unto southern Lebanon what they did to Gaza

He was talking about the US attacking Venezuela, not an aircraft carrier being hit.

Isn't the solution to the energy crisis to massively overbuild wind capacity so you have supply year round and oversupply in winter. Giive everyone a free EV cars, chargeable for free in winter. Then improve connectivity throughout Europe?

Really pleased to have won MasterChef AGAIN!!

What this is all designed to do is create a climate of self censorship. To basically blunt the criticism of Netanyahu and co by forcing a list of provisos into discourse on Israel lest you be accused of antisemitism. So you fear ethical condemnation. There's nothing about "reason" to it.

I have another way of describing it: collective punishment. And, using the vernacular, barbarism. And yes, I see Hamas, the Iranian Government, and Hezbollah as barbaric too. But because they are too it doesn't make the Israeli Government "rational". They are a rogue state.

Tony Blair basically arguing that the actions of the Israeli Government in Gaza (and presumably South Lebanon) are based on "reason". And you are an antisemite if you don't express any criticisms in exactly the form he specifies and acknowledge the rationality. institute.global/insights/new...

Iran basically dishing out drone lessons to a superpower, degrading the US's strategic capabilities. Reminds me of Ukraine's Operation Spider web, hitting Putins strategic bombers and forcing them to relocate. How long before US forced to do same.

A direct hit on an AWACS radome by a ballistic missile? That’s a CEP of zero That’s insane (Is the damage consistent with a ballistic hit? How come the whole airframe wasn’t destroyed given kinetic energy level?)

Is Trump really saying the US Aircraft Carrier, Ford, was successfully targeted and hit, now? Pentagon still denying, but I've seen what I can't decide are credible reports of comments by Trump yesterday, confirming it was attached from 17 angles. share.google/ug6BKjaVvBg5...

If you want a laugh, scroll to the bottom of that article to learn that it’s a reprint of a column Tony wrote for The Free Press: Bari Weiss’s crackpot, Trumptastic wingnut website. The paper of record, ladies and gentlemen.

LOL sure Tony, okay mate. Even if we pretend the actual topic here is addressing a real, serious problem and it’s not the usual “I must never be held accountable for my career of horrifying crimes”: how, exactly, would we go about ending this sinister nexus of treason

It is the end of democracy if we don’t tax Elon Musk and his fellow billionaires at a punishing rate and limit the amount of money anyone can spend to influence politics.

Trusted on the economy, eh? www.theguardian.com/business/202...

I have absolutely no problem with people like Matt Goodwin - or anyone - using AI to do data analysis. But it's unforgivable when people refuse to admit their data is wrong, once it's been checked. People make mistakes, mistakes can be corrected. That's a good thing.

The media hasn't held the Tories to account for their abject failure over 14 years in office. The Tories mismanaged the economy and underfunded our public services which is never mentioned in the daily round of why didn't Starmer reverse the mess the Tories left behind the day he took office.

Reform offered hate. We offered hope. Hope won. The police say his accusations of cheating are baseless. Farage is a bad loser.

www.ft.com/content/4f09... Genuinely hard to overstate how much of a strategic defeat it would be for the United States if the war ends with effective Iranian control of the Strait.

To mark the end of Long Covid Awareness month, we spoke to someone living with it and campaigning to be heard.