“This is about plunder and power.”

Venezuela - a question I asked in the #HouseofLords last month. Hoping we will get a stronger, clearer reaction this time from the UK government about the US attack, which cannot conceivably be legal under international law nataliebennett.org/latest/venez...

Other world leaders seem to be laying in this morning

From the man who doesn’t like wars

As 2025 comes to a close, thank you to everyone who’s been part of the Care City journey. In a year shaped by reform and financial pressure, we stayed focused on what matters most: designing and proving what works, alongside our communities and partners. www.carecity.org/seasons-gree...

My post on why Kent and Reform's other councils have got into such a mess.... samf.substack.com/p/the-realit...

John Major, "Our links to Europe and America may be loser now than once they were and that is a loss" "The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year" "That's a tax yield of £40 billion" "How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"

There were 93 homicides in London last year: population 9 million In New York - population 8.5 million - there were 391. London's homicide figure is 6 times lower than LA, 9 times lower than Miami, 17 times lower than Chicago. And it's falling year on year despite the population increasing

Why should we switch 2p of tax from National Insurance to Income Tax? ⤵️ Income Tax raises more money and spreads the burden more fairly. The switch would raise £6 billion, and leave the vast majority of payslips unaffected.

There are lots of reasons not to leave ECHR. But apart from anything else, it just doesn't solve the problem the Tories/Reform think it does. E.g. the Supreme Court judgment re Rwanda being unsafe explicitly said it was not based on ECHR.

71% of care home residents in Redbridge fall each year. Our Care Tech Pilot is testing sensors, AI & health monitoring tools to prevent falls, boost independence & transform care, with over 300 residents already benefiting. Read more in our blog: www.carecity.org/redbridge-ca...

"Zack Polanski said it was 'rank hypocrisy' for Nigel Farage to call for Angela Rayner's resignation and not to do so himself." inews.co.uk/news/green-p...

The world's largest sand battery just launched in Finland! Developed by Polar Night Energy, this is a massive step for clean energy. It stores 100 MWh of thermal energy in sand, providing cost-effective alternative to LI batteries for long-term heat storage. www.pv-magazine.com/2025/08/28/w...

Wonder how many of these flags have been made in China and bought from Temu…

Can we have lessons for all the adults too?

Funny they don't seem so bothered by Jenrick's three homes (including a grade 1 listed manor) plus his forth home in his constituency rented at taxpayer expense. Wonder why.

63% of people think net migration rose in the last 12 months 8% of people think it fell Yet it fell by 400,000 in 2024 vs 2023 [It is falling further in 2025] Public service broadcasters are doing a core part of their job on this topic badly if that 8% is not closer to 30% at least

Good on the Mirror for having the bravery to strike out against this bullshit

Migrants can't answer back. They have no voice. So they make the perfect scapegoat for the pent-up rage of the angry, self-loathing far right who can unite around this issue. In addition it gives the media something to write about in the long summer recess. That is what is really going on here.

Paris has removed the paving from its city hall square and transformed it into an urban forest. Stunning! 🤩

Looks like a waste of time and massive gift to Putin then - what a shock. Not

We’re teaming up with London Social Ventures on the Adult Social Care Impact Launchpad, connecting researchers with care teams to turn bold, evidence-based ideas into action. Real change, grounded in rigour. More soon on how to support or pilot the work. londonsocialventures.com/impact-launc...

I really get the national outrage over the felling of the sycamore tree, but 4 years in prison seems v expensive and unlikely to address their behaviour. Surely several years of community service planting trees and public realm work and educating them would be a better outcome

It turns out that when you remove cars from city streets, many fewer people are injured or killed. #CarsRuinCities

But they will use paper straws on the planes

Ceasefire didn’t last very long did it

📅 @carecityuk.bsky.social has spent the last year building belonging in Barking & Dagenham – working with 100+ people, saving £££ & embedding real community power. We heard about the lessons learnt – and how these can be applied in other contexts to create more connected places. #StrongerThings

Back at the ‘Glastonbury for change doers’ that is #StrongerThings already reconnecting with fab people this morning. We’ve brought the Barking and Dagenham community along this year to share their learning from connecting and supporting people experiencing social isolation and complexity

As Heidi says (and knows well), this is the start of the process. American space scientists are hardly alone as the target of gratuitous, damaging cuts. Park rangers, rural nurses, migrant restauranteurs, chemistry PhDs, and countless others have suffered. Ask Congress to restore sanity. 🔭🧪🛰️

Farage claimed in his speech today that he would raise £65 *billion* by cutting climate policies, DEI schemes, and ‘Quangos’. He’s not running a serious operation and every political journalist in the country has a public duty to shout that from the rooftops

Delighted to be part of the Community Benefit Society Working Group helping to shape this in Barking and Dagenham with some brilliant local community leaders

I’m not sure mass genocide is really in keeping with the spirit of Eurovision

Socialism is what they called public power.  Socialism is what they called social security.    Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.   Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. —Harry Truman, 1952

Fantastic evening at the launch of The Academic Centre for Healthy Ageing @acha020.bsky.social - huge ambition to connect research into real change with our communities in North East London. Congrats to all the ACHA team on an excellent launch

There is no point saying to the Reform-curious 'ah, it's all a lot more complex than that, that's simplistic'. The whole point of the right-populist insurgency is a revolt *against* complexity, the promised escape into a simpler, purer world.

Thrilled to share the news that Helen England has been appointed the new Chair of @carecityuk.bsky.social Board

Presumably the govt will be building the new electric arc furnaces at Scunthorpe. Wonder what the economic case is for letting the coal ones go off, keeping the staff employed and building the electric furnaces is vs current scenario

China calling Trumps bluff on tariffs whilst the rest of the world fumble around to make deals - felt like there was time to plan a better response

Tariff medicine coming from someone who encouraged injecting bleach and who has put an anti vaxxer in charge of pub health. Not surprising this medicine tastes a lot like poison

I wrote a bunch of words trying to explain how economically incomprehensible the tariff stuff is. It explains how a 5th grader understands basic econ better than Trump and his economic advisors. www.techdirt.com/2025/04/03/t...

I just did the numbers and this assumption looks to be completely right. Let’s pause for a minute and consider how INSANE this is. 🧵

Ever wondered what happens if you elect a complete moron >>> USA

Well done the judicial system in France

Jfc

‘Under the changes, people who are not able to wash half of their body, or who are unable to cook a meal for themselves will no longer be able to claim Pips unless they have another limiting condition.’ - but we will spend £10bn to build a new road wtf

Please will this govt now finally admit that their plan isn’t working. Get in the room with EU leaders and thrash out a plan to allow easy trade. Call it whatever it needs to be politically but get on with it. Can we also stop measuring GDP as a good growth measure - it’s fundamentally broken

Last-minute spreadsheet wars between the Treasury and the OBR are ludicrous way to run a country, a ludicrous way to run an economy, a ludicrous way to fund public services and a ludicrous way to run the welfare system www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...