Thirteen Nobel Laureates, on welcoming China to WTO in 2001, declared that this would “promote economic development and freedoms”. Instead, China’s authoritarian regime has become increasingly repressive. It seems sometimes we can have too many experts? #r4today freedomhouse.org/country/chin...

OK - we’ve heard the spin from #r4today on jobs. Now the facts - the estimated number of vacancies in UK fell 1.3% to 717,000 in July to September 2025. That’s the 39th consecutive period where vacancy numbers have dropped compared with the previous three months. (Source: Bloomberg)

Really good to have cyber security highlighted on #r4today - for all businesses but especially #SMEs who may not have dedicated IT support. 👏 Cyber Essentials certification is a great place to start. www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessenti...

Scary stat for the day: A 0.1% drop in UK productivity costs the economy c. £8.7 billion per year. (Source: OBR) That’s almost the size of the fiscal headroom that was never enough and that Reeves no longer has. #c4news

Is the Palestinian Authority really in this deal? (They are the Government aren’t they?) Will the UN Security Council approve the final version? Will Hamas really disarm? It’s a bit premature for a victory lap, Mr. Trump. #c4news

Today we see the two lives of Starmer writ large. The overseas one, gladhanding Trump, Modi and any other foreign leader that might spend a dime. Then there’s domestic Starmer - avoiding questions on his dire approval ratings, spluttering economy & Labour’s apeing of Reform immigration hype. #c4news

It’s ridiculous that Reeves urged business leaders to talk up UK economy or risk letting Farage into power. Had she forgotten that it was Labour that doom mongered the economy for nine months after assuming power, culminating in the economy achieving barely 0.5% growth and now flatlining? #c4news

I’m not getting into the celebrations yet over Gaza - its future is only as good as its governance, and that is very unclear right now. But the hope amongst its people seems undeniable, as is the huge uptick in aid. Both of those are a huge step forward. #bbcpm

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/w... This is one route to greener energy solutions for running data centres - huge solar farms on the Tibetan plateau that need almost zero air conditioning. (I’m trying to contain my emotional response to China’s attitude to Tibet as a power station though) #r4today

“He won’t say it in English”, says Nick Robinson. Wow. #r4today

Media reports suggest the iconic “Never Kissed A Tory” T-shirts so often seen at Labour conferences were in short supply this season. Perhaps a measure that Conservatives simply aren’t worth the bother anymore? Or that members are less ideologically driven? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli... #r4today

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd... Is Hamas going to hamstring the ceasefire before it even starts? #bbcpm

With so many living ex-Conservative PMs, how many attended last week’s Tory Conference? Precisely none. #r4today

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Trump gets his military base, whilst UK gets…..what exactly? #r4today

The best-performing rail franchise, Greater Anglia, will move to public ownership tomorrow. Meanwhile the worst (CrossCountry) will continue to punish the the public with terrible performance for another two years. Hardly fixing the network in the public interest, is it? #r4today

Insightful piece in FT on the rise & impact of US building LNG capacity. Consequences of Trump tariffs have included China ending US LNG purchases and switching to Russia, as well as Asian buyers signing deals to please Trump to try and avoid tariffs. And of course the environmental impact. #r4today

It’s been ages since the last time the BBC was talking about itself. As long ago as 6.20am. #r4today

That gentleman living with dementia gave his #1 tip as “go and get diagnosed.” Sadly, that is easier said than done. Our local NHS Trust has a waiting list of nearly a year between referral and diagnosis. #WorldMentalHealthDay #r4today

Yes, you rightly highlighted that Israel wanted the destruction of Hamas, Mr.Bowen. However, Hamas also wanted the destruction of Israel, which you didn’t mention. #r4today

BBC talking about the challenges of competing with streaming platforms. Yet, iPlayer is a streaming platform that it switches off for its own licence payers when they travel overseas. Not doing that would make its proposition more competitive. #r4today

I suspect that firms like OpenAI will soon be heading into profit. Once the world comes to rely on AI, the big platforms will buy up their rivals, corner the Western world market and hike prices. Such is the fear of Chinese tech in EU, US and UK, switching to them will be seen as too risky.

Last week at conference, Wes Streeting’s down payment of £500 million towards a care home sector fair-pay agreement was trumpeted. Yet when you do the maths across c.1.5m workers, it adds up to just an extra 20p p/h per worker! (Source: Health Foundation) #wato www.health.org.uk/features-and...

Next month is #COP30 in Brazil. Starmer appears not to be interested in attending. That is both disappointing and surprising. Disappointing because UK still has some clout in climate change policy making. And surprising, as he loves any excuse to leave the country and avoid domestic scrutiny #wato

With conference season over, I noticed how little was said about clean sky policies. Labour wants to open new airport runways and grow flight numbers, whilst Lib Dem’s would only impose aviation fuel taxes if EU agrees to do it too (they tried and failed). Sustainable fuel is decades away. 🤦🏻‍♂️ #wato

@swanljenn.bsky.social I thought Olivia Dean was the standout performer on Jools - Later this week, albeit a rather odd mix of guests which didn't set a high bar imho (it's all v subjective of course).

This morning’s walk has proved definitively that the grass really is greener on the other side. 😃

Obviously good news on the progress of peace in Gaza. However, was Starmer's demand for the sausages to be returned included in the deal? #r4today youtube.com/shorts/kPMzc...

“People want something that’s not being spewed out by AI” says COO of Waterstones. What does that even mean? Any explanation or data to support this? 🤷🏻‍♂️ #r4today

Amazing that #r4today runs with Jamie Dimon’s flagging of a big correction risk in US stock market. This has been obvious for ages, you simply have to look at the PE ratios. The question one should ask is what is the motivation for Dimon to splash such interviews right now?

Abolishing stamp duty is actually quite a clever pitch from the Tories. As it only exists in England, it costs just 4.5m in lost revenue to fund. And since Conservatives have very little support in Wales & Scotland, they have little to lose by not offering these nations a sweetener. #bbcpm

Tories would have done better to propose removing the 0.5% stamp duty tax on share transactions. That would cost just £3.3bn of tax revenue, and make London a much more attractive place to raise and grow funds for businesses to expand. It’s the economy, stupid. #wato

Despite the truly dismal attendance at the Tory Conference, they are still attracting more corporate donations than Labour. That gives an indication of just how much business leaders and entrepreneurs distrust Government economic policies. #wato

October is the third month in a row where a strike is happening every single day. #r4today www.strikecalendar.co.uk

Taliban’s fundamentalist beliefs of faith, society, education is perhaps the most regressive culture anywhere in the world. #r4today

I hope Mel Stride has something else to say later at his Conference. Because his proposed policies this morning are so muddled. #r4today

For the likely awful OBR forecast to change, it requires either: 1) growth to rise sharply 2) welfare spending to drop 3) gilt rates to drop significantly Do you see any of these as even remotely likely? No, me neither. And as more borrowing makes the deficit worse… …..it’s tax hikes. #wato

Extending the freeze on income tax thresholds is essentially a real terms tax on income. It would break her pledge in spirit, if technically not in nominal terms. So, she might as well be honest about the use of stealth taxes on working people. (Now that Conference is over). #bbcbh

@swanljenn.bsky.social FYI - Olivia Dean is on Jools’ Later tomorrow evening. 🎶

@alechitchman.bsky.social Disagreement is fine - but you’re usually someone who challenges with respect, Alec?

Listening to the #wato headlines, of the aftermath of the Manchester attack, of marchers refusing to stand down tomorrow’s event, and now the Green Party calling for decriminalisation of class A drugs - what is happening to our society? 😢

At my company, we’re seeing good performance from our AI software investment and we’ll continue with that. But it’s disappointing that almost all of the software providers are from US, with the only exception coming from India. UK economy needs homegrown firms to latch on to this tech market. #wato

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx... Oh my goodness - this latest news that one of the victims was killed by police bullets could not be more terrible. An inquiry will be inevitable, as with any death caused by police, but right now, it is just awful news for the family. #wato

Greens Conference is genuinely important this weekend. They have a new charismatic leader and an opportunity to finally put the party on the political map. But they have to get serious about growing the economy beyond pure idealism. #r4today

Rachel Reeves confirmed this week that she will not be adding a new wealth tax in the Budget. Instead, she might be tempted to simply increase existing wealth taxes. #wato

Another dreadful tragedy for Manchester, and even more so for the Jewish community, on Yom Kippur of all days. #wato

Here’s another poem for National Poetry Day. This one is called ‘A Brief History of Modern Art in Poetry’.

Let’s call it a bailout. If JLR had to borrow £1.5bn at market rates, it would cost them hugely. The biggest beneficiaries of this will be its shareholders. Employees - along with suppliers? They just get to keep going. It’s only a good deal if strings are attached- what are they? #r4today

FT’s Economics Editor, Martin Wolf sums up Trump’s extractive policies perfectly. Trump turns mutually favourable relationships with nations into vassal states, either squeezing them with tariffs and/or paying with investment into US industries. It is gangsterism, pure and simple. #r4today

I’m keen to share this NYT article on how Trump’s tariffs are causing economic havoc with US soyabean farmers - some of the very people he claims to support. A bumper harvest with nowhere to go, a glut crashing domestic prices. #r4today www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/b...

Humans are wiping out plenty of other species first. People are destroying the plant - let's put responsibility where it lies. #bbcpm