Utterly splendid podcast. Though pretty one way views: - AI boom is BS based on Soviet theory that quantity produces quality - companies using a special purpose vehicle means there's bound to be a crash -US prosperity is just K-shaped - UK is Argentina in a bowler hat Etc

I think the gilt market reaction to this week's shenanigans is easy to understand. The specific OBR leniency isn't new news. What *is* new is the revealed preference of the government to extra leeway - which is to use it to avoid doing something difficult, rather than bank it in a lower deficit. 1/

Remembering when Osborne was hired as Standard editor with zero experience in journalism and an obvious partisan agenda, and the hacks were correctly outraged for 5 minutes before realising a word out of place might affect their careers. How times change.

It's also grimly funny that the consensus of Bluesky policy wonks has been "there's way too much focus on whether policies poll well and too little on whether the constellation actually makes sense" and people are coming back with "but just *look at how this one policy polls*!"

Olivia Nuzzi got sent in to do a profile but it turned out she wanted to fuck the subject so we sent in Jacob Bernstein to profile her and it turns out he also wants to fuck the subject

If it they really had better projections you have to ask why they didn't just roll with the plan and then add sweeteners "Yes, income tax is going up....but also with this broader tax base we're are abolishing the two child cap and abolishing prescription charges in England"

at the 'stack, I argue that the future is Welsh (or Irish) backofmind.substack.com/p/one-small-...

I slightly overuse the juvenile phrase "didn't ask", but really, bluesky - I genuinely did not sign up for "regular reminders" about your views on politics, etiquette, tipping policies, or anything else except which bins go out on what day in Exeter. don't start tweets this way.

What do the bankruptcy of Tricolor and the share price crash at Fiserv have in common? Fresh-eyed outsiders spotted the issues that were missed by much more experienced - and too familiar - pros. Via @opinion.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The writing on the tombstone will be "we left it to the experts"

“The problem is that Brits want Scandinavian-style public services without the tax levels; we need to break through that barrier.” “I hear you: smörgåsbord taxes” “…what”

This skeet was basically made in heaven for @dsquareddigest.bsky.social

🎶 data guy, data guy 🎶 does whatever a data guy does 🎶 can he use common sense? 🎶 no he can't, that's not data

In the context of whether a tax rise was needed or not, "optimistic forecasts" for wages must mean pessimistic forecasts?

raising taxes is just another shit sandwich that doubles in size every week you don't eat it

Fred Goodwin (for it was he) once told me that RBS developed one of these systems but threw it away because it caused nothing but problems. Every Category 1 customer has a friend or relative who is a Category 5 and when you treat them obviously differently it always angers both.

Who could possibly have predicted

As Casey Stengel said, can't anybody here play this game?

I see people saying this but it's basically trying to build your way out of social change. Once 2 income households are the norm this is going to be factored into land prices. This is not going to be a market outcome even if you wildly expand the boundaries of what you're prepared to call "Chatham"

I know. I’m such a scold because I think you shouldn’t rape any children at all, and if you knew about the rape of children and didn’t say anything you’re officially a bad person.

This might seem cute but it isn't. Government spokes people only do this when they've been sent out to make a fool of themselves in front of their friends and colleagues and are pissed off about it

I’m fine conceding that a bunch of nebulously incriminating Epstein statements do not a story make, but in that case neither does the Biden Parkinson’s nonsense, or literally any component of the various Clinton/Wikileaks pseudo-scandals, or tons of other right-wing stuff the paper has laundered

It’s clear when the paper’s Politics Knowers think something is important, journalistic standards are no obstacle. They find a way to get that thing on the front page nonstop, whether it’s “reporting the controversy,” repeating right-wing info dumps, or meta-coverage of how it’s affecting politics

🎶 Donald where's yer coupon?🎶 www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The whole ruling class loves Pedophile Finance Guy, a lovely Finance Guy that molests children! *two decades later* We regret to inform you the Finance Guy is a Pedophile

I had never heard of the guy until much later, but that's largely because I WAS NOT ONE OF HIS MATES! If he had been inviting me to island holidays, I think I would have noticed when he was convicted for noncing

He looks like he's saying "I think a lot of people used the armed struggle as a kind of excuse ... And I wouldn't deny I was one of those people"

I mentioned it last week - but the lack of any sort of moral panic around these models which, you know, literally generate child porn on demand if you get around the fairly week guardrails is remarkable. As you say, it's treated as some sort of whimsical thing rather than a serious societal issue

We do this constantly in Britain, usually by saying: “My new book is coming in April! ‘Travesty of Horseshit: How everyone was lying about the catastrophic events, and we all knew but repeated their drivel and kept quiet for five years about the bad stuff’, at all good bookshops RRP £14.99”.

At one time the greatest whaling people in the world, the Dutch and Germans are now among the least

One of the biggest problems with the "means testing of everything" is it pushes the UK into the same zone as American attitudes towards public transit funding "services for the poor tend to be poor services" You may not like it, but people like to see they get something back from the state

I think "adults in the room" takes on a very different vibe now.

"proximity to a huge pile of money often creates the impression of genius, even in the most unlikely cases" - JK Galbraith

stop shaming them and check your privilege, some governments can't just "get their own economic data" and telling them to "read the report" is basically eugenics

The attorney general and the FBI director, a manosphere podcaster bro, pulled into the situation room a member of Congress best known for getting kicked out of a Beetlejuice musical for drunkenly giving her date a handy, in order to pressure her about the president's child sex trafficking scandal.

That noise you hear is approximately 5 dozen New York Times reporters typing the words "podcast suggestion" into an email title bar

This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.

Ireland's media regulator has launched an investigation into X It has good reasons to suspect X is not meeting its legal obligations to run a legally compliant complaints system in Ireland. It is not giving users who report unlawful content the chance to appeal www.cnam.ie/coimisiun-na...

There is a debate underway about whether supervisors should criticize bank managerial competence. History supports that very long tradition. See more ar open.substack.com/pub/petercon...

hasn't been enough reporting on his creepy science funding, tbh.

It is crazy that there is no testing or licensing regime for these things, dozens of deaths later. A drug which had such serious mental side effects would have been withdrawn instantly

the Thames Barrier (protects London from flooding) was recommended for replacement in 2013 due to climate change raising river levels much faster than expected and currently the Bodies Are Arguing about it but as somebody who used to live just east of it on the riverfront, there is a reason we moved

“would you like photos of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?” -Jeffrey Epstein

The front bench has both: the theory of growth is deregulation, airports, AI and let's hope the Bank cuts interest rates. The strategic view of taxation and spending is 'let's hope the the theory of growth is right'.

Careful how you edit this lads, wouldn't wants to be treating anyone unfairly

James Bond discourse reminds me that an ex's nan sat in solemn silence through the whole of Austin Powers, then said "Well I don't see how he gets all those women"