My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man.

So much for simplistic assumptions that all the r/w justices are in Trump's pocket. Or some are picking a side on the basis the regime is on the slide. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0...

Ah

That's the shortest time anyone has had a second home in Norfolk, I can tell you.

The last time a senior member of the reigning royal family was arrested: Charles I in 1647

Letter to America. Postmark: Seoul

👏"When the problem is structural, the prime minister can feed all the good (or not so good) people he wants into the machine and it will chew them up, spit them back out and deliver the same outcomes again and again."

The glorious Martin Wolf not pulling his punches here: "the reactionary right's idea to put women back in the kitchen and the nursery is wicked and stupid". www.ft.com/content/e1a7...

Another triumph for Goodwin's campaign. No doubt he'll continue to pretend he cares about anti-semitism. www.thejc.com/news/uk/matt...

Yesterday the Cabinet Office published the ministerial direction on Chris Wormald's exit payment 👇 This has been discussed a bit in the media, mainly in terms of 'civil service tried to block the huge payout' A few points on this.. www.gov.uk/government/p...

So nearly a quarter of people think it should be illegal to cross a road not at a pedestrian crossing. A bit of a problem here, since there is *one* zebra crossing in the whole village. I couldn't get to the shop, the pub, or the Cambridge-bound bus stop. Most children couldn't get to the school.

Earlier the government reversed its decision to delay elections in 30 areas across England. This is a welcome decision. At the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk we've previously argued elections should only be delayed in exceptional circumstances.

Austrians do it too. In addition to rail-bus interchanges, I remember four buses pulling into a village square from different directions, passengers swapping over and the buses then heading off in their different directions. And you can buy multi-modal through tickets wherever you start.

We hear way too much about angry Britain, blue-red Britain. What about the Britain of Save the Children, Oxfam, the RSPCA, the RNLI, popular environmentalism, the Britain of London's absolute triumph since its 80s nadir, its civic universities, the Britain of volunteering, giving, hoping?

The strategy is to say actively stupid things so we have waste time arguing about basic facts rather than getting on with what we have to do: shifting to a post-fossil society. It's the same with the right and identity and race. Actively offensive things so it jams up democracy with distraction.

Fascinating- under current rules, all ministers' meetings should be registered. And all consultant lobbyists, like Global Counsel, have to register with the official Registrar and declare all instances of lobbying ministers and perm secs. So is this acceptance that the current schemes don't work?

The damage done to Minneapolis is probably the clearest example of how Trump is simply not like other presidents. Besieging and occupying a city for weeks like that is nearly unheard of

Wormald confirmed as leaving as cabinet secretary - interesting that Antonia Romeo (MoJ), James Bowler (HMT) and Cat Little (Cabinet Office) will act as joint interims www.gov.uk/government/n...

More than 250 people die each year in UK drink-drive crashes. Every death leaves a devastated family. Soft drinks are available. Surely no responsible pub needs a drink-driver’s trade? Anyone arguing for a different drink-drive position should meet with a bereaved family and see the lifelong impact.

Someone told me lately "Bluesky is just like Twitter." I argued that was untrue on the basis that last time I had a Twitter account most times I got a new follower their bio said "single & looking for fun" & here when I get a new follower it tends to say something like "professor of rare moths".

One for the FB or social event bores who say "no point in the UK decarbonising because Chinese building hundreds of coal-fired power stations", or something.

This is very good

I am beginning to think that presidential posts have changed somewhat over the years in tone and content

Am I missing something but what is stopping them booking a venue in Bangor and advertising a speaker event?

Well this is a very touching local news story.

No contest that much has gone badly wrong since July 2024, but on specific issues, government is moving things forward. Whether one agrees with it or not, it is serious, though-out policy. See also housing.

🧵👇

Darren Jones says there's a lack of clarity about non-corporate communication channels (ie WhatsApp, gmail) inside govt - I don't think it's unclear, if you're in the cabinet don't send sensitive info onto your personal email and then onto your mates.

Grim morning for the Labour Party but it is healthier to live in a country where decisions have consequences than one where an administration steeped in contact with Epstein sails happily on, even as the resignations pile up across Europe

Just beyond parody at this point

Rate bit of good news here for Labour.

I agree with this perceptive analysis, particularly the benefits of sorting out the centre of government. Lots of thinking out there about how to do it.

And even if printer prepares pdf from material in other formats, they send it to the customer for checking and IME customer has to sign confirmation that it is all correct.

From the party which just this week voted for lower welfare for larger families 🙃 Here's hoping, doubtless vainly, that Kuenssberg etc will hammer Farage on this proposal any time they have him on their programmes.

Just occurred to me that you have to go through a pre-appointment hearing in front of a Commons committee to become housing ombudsman - but not to become UK ambassador to the United States

Presumably silence from mainstream news outlets. Imagine if Lab/Lib/Green campaign did something like this!

Yes, four of our last five PMs have been objectively terrible at politics and Johnson was good at politics but terrible at governing.

If Starmer goes the last UK Prime Minister to complete a full term was David Cameron in 2015. So much for those who say proportional representation leads to instability.

If we want older people to downsize why do we let retirement housing companies get away with this? Why would anyone buy one of their flats? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Not the first time I have seen publicly funded institutions wasting prodigious £s (here £500k!) lobbying against sustainable transport projects www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambrid...

Depressing read from @drmatthewgill.bsky.social Abandoning improved assurance of quality of financial reporting is not "pr-growth deregulation". Confidence in reporting is the foundation of willingness to invest and lend to companies.

Another day, another wind energy record for the UK. January was the best month yet for wind generation, leading to substantial reduction in costly gas imports. www.businessgreen.com/news/4525078...

ICYMI #Cambridge folks, think tank @re-state.bsky.social hosting Paul Bristow in a webinar tomorrow morning us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

I don't understand government's reluctance to legislate to remove his HoL seat and title. The necessary very short bill could surely pass both Houses in 24-48 hours at most? Decisive response needed to quite shocking behaviour www.ft.com/content/fdf7...

Sad news from Wikipedia. Following lengthy discussion on the talk page, they've removed Matt Goodwin's claim to be the first in his family to go to university on the grounds that it [checks notes] isn't true. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ma...

The second correction here is incredible, a bit like declaring that 95% of the population is currently wearing nappies.

Labour should introduce the alternative vote system for mayoral elections Multi-party politics makes the AV the best choice, say @akashpaun.bsky.social and @jillongovt.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/mayo...

Here is an explainer on the ways in which an individual can leave (or join) the Lords, and the ways in which that is separate from removal/renunciation of titles www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/jo...