im hearing he was a disturbed person with functionally illegible politics

Hadn't realised it, but the omission I highlighted from Rayner's initial statement was crucial. It was the fact that she relied on advice that fell short of being appropriately specialist tax advice, and came with clear warnings to that effect, that has felled her.

A missing element that I would have thought she might include: a formal complaint to the relevant professional body against whoever advised her incorrctly. Doesn't seem unreasonable given the seriousness of the consequences, and would reinforce the message that she was relying on advice.

12 days too late: *tale

Once again it baffles me how Policy Exchange get a pass, as if they're some sort of respectable think tank. They're funded by dark money and trying to break up the country by spreading obvious lies.

Today's case study in rubbish campaigning underpinned by poor policy analysis: the radio industry in Australia, making unrealistic demands that don't take account of real-world developments. james.cridland.net/blog/2025/in...

Sarah was a prominent volunteer throughout my time at the MND Association; I found this a touching and delightful story to start the day with. And another cautionary tail about knee-jerking at the slightest mention of AI. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bookmark this thread. It could well (unfortunately) be useful to refer back to it in future.

When I wrote about the dangers of crying wolf, stories about looming fish and chip shop closures were the case study I used. I see they've resurfaced again today. I've no doubt times are tough, but 1 in 3 shops didn't close back in 2022 and I doubt half (as claimed by the Guardian) face closure now.

Yep. Hard to take in, isn't it?

Lots of great insight in this IPPR research. Particualrly helpful if you happen to be in the early stages of developing a Local Transport Plan!

I've just said "house style isn't a democracy, it's a benign dictatorship", and I think that is my peak editor/chief sub moment and I can go home for ever now

So, are there modern examples of successful rollback of authoritarian takeovers - proper, convincing restorations of democracy and the rule of law - without civil war and/or foreign invasion? What's the playbook, or has it not been written yet?

Enjoyed this both for the analysis of the policy impact and for the case study of terrible campaigning. They made mistake #4 from my 'five policy pitfalls' article back on Policy for Campaigns, and sundry campaigning blunders on top of it... policyforcampaigns.substack.com/p/policy-pul...

It was lore when I was a student that in the 1990s the faculty board voted on whether to demolish this building, as it was so obviously a terrible failure, utterly unsuitable for its intended use. One of the grand old men of the faculty - Geoffrey Elton, even? - cast the deciding vote against.

Good grief - looks like Network Rail* has been deliberately deceiving people into submitting comments on a planning portal in support of its Liverpool St plans. Totally unacceptable for a public body. www.victoriansociety.org.uk/national-new... *(an agency it is paying to act on its behalf)

Called this in the EV strategy I authored: there's a plausible scenario in which EVs drive an increase in private motoring and therefore congestion (absent other policy interventions).

Please don't plug keyboards or other devices into random USB ports, ok?

Bleak times in my town. Self-appointed strongman leader deploying his own private security force to the streets, looking to marginalise local authority and police, urging residents to "fight". Pretty clear which political tradition this is in. www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/were-reclaim...

A reminder of how long ago April 2023 was: X was still Twitter back then. And yet the government thinks nothing of enough significance has happened since to make it review whether it should use X...!

Interesting article this, and a good illustration of how motorsport in general (this journalist included) hasn't grasped the extent to which the future is electric for road cars. It'll be much more obvious by the 2030s, and motorsport risks looking really weird... www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-...

Like that recent example where the Government worked side-by-side with civil society to design reforms to the welfare sys- Oh.

More than 20 years ago I was a member of a focus group when Teach First was being set up. Everyone else in the group liked the idea of calling it Learning to Lead, and I was a lone voice in arguing Teach First was the better name and L2L would work as a strapline. So... you're welcome, I guess.

Arrests are possible in this case because of the criminal conviction. In many other patient harm scandals, where the NHS has circled the wagons and the truth emerges slowly, partially or not at all, arrests never happen even though, at least sometimes, they should. news.sky.com/story/three-...

Conflicted about the loss of the Royal Train. Trains are expensive things and it's clearly a throwback to past times that's hard to justify. Then again, binning off a train and switching to helicopters sends an absolutely terrible signal.

The parallels and contrasts between health and transport get more and more fascinating. The Government has promised a new directing mind (GBR) and passenger watchdog (supposedly Passenger Watch, now likely a beefed up Transport Focus / ORR, possibly merged)for the railways.

The parallel between Starmer and May seems ever stronger. The PIP rebellion is the monstering given to her Brexit deal, after which her position was irrecoverable. McSweeney is Nick and Fiona rolled into one; their replacement shored her up, but ultimately couldn't remedy her weaknesses as PM.

This looks very exciting. AI's potential as an analytical tool in biomedical research is significant, and could greatly help us treat some horrible diseases. Which is one reason why I increasingly feel that people who knee-jerk into hysterics at the slightest mention of AI can get in the sea.

Exactly right. Any substantial organisation will be likely to circle the wagons and cover up failings. Within it there will be some people who should know better but don't recognise their own complicity. And others who do but will lose their livelihood if they speak up.

It’s not at all clear how the assisted dying bill now works in the Lords, who often bring expert scrutiny to the practical detail of bills. 🧵 Generally, the Lords don’t amend private members bills because to do so is to kill them, as there’s no Commons time to debate them.

Only 30% of pall care is NHS funded. Given today's vote, will Keir Starmer at least commit to dramatically increasing palliative care provision so that patients don't "choose" to end their lives because we, society, fail to give them the care that might make life worth living?

I've said for ages that as well as having scientific advisers, government departments should also have historical ones (and policy analysts working in campaigns should look to the history of their issues as well). policyforcampaigns.substack.com/p/policy-for...

Now then people of Britain, windows open nice and wide for now, remember to close them by 11am, and your curtains as needed depending on which way they face. Do not come whining to me about being “too hot” at 4pm when you’ve sat there with your windows and blinds open all day.

It's this sort of polling that makes me very sceptical of "it's a long time to the election" takes. Labour has suffered a Black Wednesday / Liz Truss / Nick Clegg type loss of a big chunk of its support. These drops don't get reversed in single electoral cycles unless your opponent suffers the same.

Great thread.

Appalling, but not at all surprising, to see political assassination return to America. It's felt like it's been on the cards since Trump's rise (and he seems to have been close to that fate himself, of course). Fear it will be in the air for some time now.

When I was working at HMT, during one fiscal event, someone senior came on the building intercom to ask us to stop watching the statement on our computers, to free up some bandwidth so they could upload the documents. Maybe they still haven’t upgraded to fiber?

So, no mention of Ely in the material published by the Treasury today. Is that just because it was a speech focused on investment in mayoral city regions, or is that yer lot for capital investment in transport this time round? Surely not? www.gov.uk/government/n...

The Ely junction improvements were on this list too. Confirmed tomorrow, then? Would be good news.

Given how slow and troubled the 810 programme appears to be, and when the 222s will have to leave EMR for staff training, looks like a big risk that either EMR or Lumo will be short of trains at some point.

👇

Monaco grand prix today, plus Indy 500, British Touring Cars at Snetterton, and no doubt plenty of other motorsport going on. One curious thing is that motorsport looks like it might be taking a wrong turn on fuel. BTCC had hybrid powertrains for the last 3 seasons, but has now binned them off.

Oh! Been to many a meeting there, and event in the basement conference facility. Hadn't known it was due for the chop, but the new development's website gives a fair summary of the building's shortcomings. 1victoriastreet.uk/the-site/

I object to paying Chris Mason's wages more than I object to paying Gary Lineker's.

Not the first time I've known Travers get policy startlingly wrong - I've been taking his name as a sign that it's not worth clicking through to the article for years now. Still, it restores a bit of bite to those jokes in Yes, Minister about the LSE.

A politics thread because, well... everyone else is at it. I’m unimpressed with commentators observing there’s a long way to go to the next general election. Chronologically it’s true, but the course to 1997 was fairly well set by the end of 1992, and events in-between just determined the details.

every now and again I remember that thirty years ago britain and france built the longest underwater tunnel in the world, still not beaten, and the thing that limits how many people we can shove through it is the tiny cellar underneath the train station that we use for security theatre

Been chuckling about this for several minutes. Definitely haven't been drawing up a shortlist of nominees in my head.

Having only been a political journalist under the Tories, I wondered if my work would be different under Labour. In reality, it's still just hearing an announcement then reporting on how horrified charities and experts are

Today my view has shifted from believing Reform could possibly become a / the major opposition party to believing Reform could enter government with Farage as PM. Long way to go, but it seems possible today in a way that it didn't (quite) yesterday.