Maybe this time cutting capital spending on the long term infrastructure the country desperately needs to maintain its competitiveness and prosperity will work out well.

Is it a 'transatlantic argument'? Or is it malevolent foreign interference in British politics by people who have called for civil war here? Who can say?

A mad thing about Tories disavowing the Climate Change Act is that it's been around for 18 years and for 14 of them it was Tory governments that delivered all the policy and reporting. Yes, they lost a few legal challenges, but ultimately we've met each carbon budget to date because of Tory policy.

See also climate breakdown.

Sorry but the world doesn't stop to allow a PM to focus just on the domestics. The fundamentals are all inter-connected. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"If that is running, I would seek to join it" almost suggests Burnham wouldn't launch the contest himself if no one else did. Odd way to put it.

The way the entire British media is suddenly discussing 'two tier policing' as if it is a real thing worth seriously debating, rather than the obvious far-right white supremacist fantasy it has always been, is very alarming

Lads next time the woke progressive left successfully captures all the elite institutions we have got to be better at it cos this time it clearly didn't work at all.

Violent far right rioters attacked police. That's what happened.

Remarkable that the BBC couldn't even find the space to report on it as well.

QTWTAIN. Sloppy framing. Ed Miliband hasn't signed up to anything. Or does collective responsibility not apply to DESNZ? The Government accepted independent scientific recommendations and tabled an SI in line with legal requirements. This is the CCA working well, as it has done for nearly 20 years

I have a student son Henry Nowak’s age & I can’t imagine what it took for his family to respond outside court with the grace they did, asking that their son’s death not be used for division and hate. That Reform & Restore chose to throw that back in their faces makes me feel sick.

This is the niche content I'm on bluesky for. Parliamentary procedure🤝Withnail and I

Left: Nigel Farage using the murder of Henry Nowak to sew division in society, "rights of white people matter less than ethnic minorities" Right: Henry Nowak's father, "We do not want his death used to create further division hated or tension"

When the father of a murdered son makes a public statement saying "we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension", then I believe it's incumbent on any news outlet reporting on Farage's comments to ensure people know he has chosen to disregard the family's wishes.

This will be 100 years ago this September. And in all likelihood a new Mayor will be running Greater Manchester. I gather there are now trout back in the Irwell, but will they be able to say that their policies will finally restore the murdered rivers of Greater Manchester?

A gem from the Guardian archive on the River Irwell: "Nothing is wrong with it but the unmitigated filth of man." "Something may some day be done to restore dead, murdered rivers... to the life that man has taken from them." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Whack a deposit on 'em using extended produce responsibility rules. Require all sellers to take them back and return to producers for appropriate recycling. Make it a chunky enough deposit that there's a meaningful incentive to return (£2+), and offer some level of discount on refill/reuse.

The problem is it won’t make everyone shut up about it, sadly. The pro fossil fuels camp will take the win and move straight on to demanding net zero targets and other policies are dropped, while the Greens will make hay by accusing Labour of ditching a manifesto pledge and trashing the climate.

Remarkably this has now happened twice.

It's Tony Blair who's tilting at windmills. The reality of government energy policy is a vital recognition that fossil fuels will not deliver cheap abundant energy, techno-optimism is not policy, & rapid renewable roll-out and electrification of everything is the only medium-term route to security.

For the best part of a decade the UK had a policy of maximising oil and gas production from the North Sea and throughout that time the economy continued its miserable run of form. www.thetimes.com/article/cc56...

The UK needs more than temporary bill support every time the system breaks. The Affordable Energy Guarantee is a practical way to do that. Read our idea piece here: www.jrf.org.uk/cost-of-livi...

Have some longer thoughts on the Blair intervention, but big challenge for him is, fairly or not, the public aren't particularly inclined to want govt to listen. When we asked about which ex-PMs (and podcasting MPs) govt should listen to he got lowest 'worth listening to' of any ex PM bar Truss.

The UK was built for a climate that no longer exists. People, wildlife, our economy and our food supply are feeling the heat. But it’s not too late to act. The government needs to protect people & nature by cutting emissions and preparing for a warming world. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

They aren't "Miliband's net zero targets". It's one target, set by a Tory government, using Labour legislation backed by all political parties, founded in the best available science on the pace of change need to avoid the catastrophic risks of climate collapse. But sure, it's Miliband's hobbyhorse.

My hot take on Blair is that he can't stand that it's actually Brownite Labour that's won out in the battle of ideas in the party.

Econ 101. Or how to profiteer from a heatwave. 1. Buy ProBreeze air cooling fan during heatwave. 2. Courier conveniently "loses" parcel 3. ProBreeze offers store credit and 10% discount 4. ProBreeze increases product price by £60 and refuses to honour original purchase price.

You know who's done a better job of being a former 90s PM who's moved with the times? John Major. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Blair has no coherent plan for the actual problems of the 21st century", says everyone who thinks it isn't right that it was 35.5 degrees in May.

What the Labour Party really needs is a realistic analysis of the world right now. As I write this, on a 35 degree day in May, on the eve of the new price cap (+13%), my prescription is: give up on climate change and give up on energy independence. The North Sea, which has run out, will save us. 🤡

The UK only acts on food security when crisis hits. By then, it's too late. 🌾 But there's a better way: diversifying crops and farming regeneratively could build resilience for people & planet. Our Policy Advisor Dr Lilly Da Gama makes the case for urgent change. 👇 lcef.co.uk/blog/risky-business

Interesting one of Burnham's breakages is deregulation, as the current Labour government pursues an arbitrary target to cut (the cost of complying with*) regulation by 25% by 2029. Would Burnham do it differently? *People forget this bit, especially the people making the policies in DBT.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... It's interesting that the Shadow Chancellor thinks government should focus on dealing with "the fundamental problems of inflation" when his party would reduce action on climate change, and tie the UK into a volatile fossil fuelled future.

Nothing to see here so let's offer retailers lower packaging regulations as a quid pro quo for them to fix food prices.

Oh look. Maybe they’d have been better boycotting it, taking a moral stance and forcing some meaningful change? 🤷🏽‍♂️

3/4 Given we're already hearing about jet fuel shortages this is less about saving CO2 - because that 'saved' jet fuel will be burnt elsewhere - and more about fairness in how we allocate scarce resources Energy shocks, with associated raised prices, shouldn't just be allowed to hammer the poorest

Things don't look good for Starmer. Burnham loses? It's because national polling is dire & Starmer's Labour is toxic. They need a change of leader but have to pick from the PLP. Burnham does win? It's because only Andy can save us from Farage. They need a change of leader and Burnham's the one.

Despite having just 8/57 Seats, the Green Party have just taken control of Worcestershire County Council from Reform UK, after doing a deal with the Conservatives, Lib Dems, & Independents. electionmaps.uk/councils

Wes Streeting is a bad politician. He should have let this get big coverage in the news at 1.

That clip of Reeves warning of chaos is interesting. She does suggest that a leadership contest would cause chaos - but the line Reeves repeats is that growth and stability are because of decisions she has made, as if the chaos might be caused by a change of Chancellor not a change of PM.

I know it's not news and they've done it for years but the Home Office should not be doing things like conflating asylum claims with deportations, illegal immigration and border control. They're not the same thing. I will vote for whichever candidate abolishes the Home Office (and the Treasury).

Climate change is bad.

Seeing this earlier got me thinking about how the Westminster bubble has also shrunk. When I started in advocacy 25 years ago, there was a desire to root things in practice on the ground. Panels had people from councils, community groups & charities actually delivering stuff. (1/)

If you don't have a resignation to lead the 6 o'clock news your coup is stalling.

This must be deeply embarrassing to the many green Tories out there. To paraphrase Clement Attlee, "the words you read are from the Conservative Party, but the thoughts are those of Reform UK". Forward to the 1980s!

The Conservative 'Alternative Kings Speech' is an exercise in self-delusion on energy, nature and climate It rejects the Conservative environmental achievements of Cameron, May, Johnson It shows they are adhering to a view of the world from the 1990s 🧵🧵 www.conservatives.com/alternative-...