I hate ID cards. There is no pragmatic argument you can make that will stop me hating them. It's a project almost entirely for the state's convenience, paid for by the citizen and open to *vast* abuse.

When I finally get round to writing my first play, it will be about a once-idealistic politician who makes a Faustian bargain for relevance that slowly turns him into an oligarch's plaything. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

Just fund #localgov properly.

Multi Academy Trusts aren't obviously any better than LEAs. We went through a 30-year system shift just to re-create a more fragmented and inconsistent middle tier. Prove me wrong.

He so nearly got there...

As tensions rise and divisions deepen across the UK and beyond, Quakers are inviting everyone to pause, reflect, and act on one simple but radical idea: Love Your Neighbour. Find out more about Quaker Week and this year’s theme: www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

Delighted to publish this first paper in @demos-uk.bsky.social Powering Public Service Reform programme today. And it’s only right that we start with one of reform's biggest, but simultaneously least explored, barriers: culture. demos.co.uk/research/the...

Reform needs a position on immigration that allows it to clearly say the other parties aren't taking the issue seriously. The fact that Farage is being forced into such risky territory may suggest he's worried about other parties muddying the waters.

Also 'potentially illegal' risks creating the impression that they won't really do it. They can and they will. And the dire consequences will be wished away by the same media that wants you to forget who championed Brexit. It's always someone else's fault.

If we extend this to law and social science graduates then Duncan has just identified the entire British political elite as the worst kind of policy moaner. STEM is always an amazing choice for someone else's kids.

Keep thinking about the different ways left and right view protest. On the right protest is used very effectively to project views on eg immigration into the mainstream. Violent protests are condemned but said to reflect 'legitimate concerns' to which the mainstream must respond.

at one point Albania was on the brink of civil war after the collapse of pyramid schemes that had sucked up roughly half of GDP, and now that is only the *second* stupidest thing the country has done.

Found a copy of Britain's favourite truthpaper The Light today. It includes an article by a lady who writes wills. She cannot seem to understand why her clients keep dying.

Whenever I hear someone say we're a Christian country, I wonder when they last read the sermon on the mount? Or when they last attended church? The strength of your faith is not defined by the number of people it excludes.

Sacha's work presented here is a fascinating and sensitive deep dive into how de-industrialisation has been felt, understood, and interpreted in the places Reform is now winning, with reflections on what it means for Labour's political strategy

What if you received Jesus Christ and he didn't think banning stuff was a good idea?

Ok that's my dormant twitter account finally deactivated. As a patriot I can't support a man who wants to overthrow my country's directly elected government. I loved twitter and am genuinely sad to lose an account with a decent following, but I cannot abide what X has become.

Hallelujah. Well said 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

‘Business secretary Peter Kyle was asked by Sky News’ Trevor Phillips this morning if the demonstration – organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson – “disturbed” him. Kyle said the number of people who turned out for the protest shows free speech is “alive and well” in the UK.’ For shame

Shot, chaser Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men

Today people went around my neighborhood in north east London spray painting St George’s crosses onto people’s homes. Many of these houses have non British people living in them. This is getting very dark, very quick.

Same thugs we've been dealing with all my life. Utterly shameful and frankly dumb that one or both of the PM or his main advisor think you appease these people.

Hurrah for the bloody blackshirts.

Yeah the problem with making places great again is it's inherently backward-looking. Great policy for a brighter yesterday.

Forced choice or ferrets in a sack? I fear the next election will be the latter.

Political violence is always and forever appalling and unforgivable, no matter who it's directed at. The Cato Institute has helpfully categorised politically motivated murders in the USA since 1975. Here is what it found. www.cato.org/blog/politic...

This new course on public sector strategy has piqued my interest. vaughntan.org/newpublicstr... Am liking the embracing of uncertainty, and the need to move beyond private sector approaches to strategy. @vaughn.bsky.social

Is the next election a forced choice between Starmer and Farage, or a 3-4 way scrap? The answer really, really matters.

I remember exactly where I was and how I felt when Jo Cox died. I can understand people feeling the same way about Charlie Kirk. But we honour people by respecting their values, and I keep hearing that Kirk valued free speech and peaceful dialogue.

Great blog on the impact of VAT on private schools, which turns out to be zero. And that means the new tax is doing nothing to level the playing field... so where next? Some answers in the article. blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Public service is incredible. The opportunity to run a country. To make things better for ordinary people. To achieve at the very highest level. But you won't get rich from it, and neither should you. This is taxpayers' money. If you want wealth, do something else.

There are moments when even my localism is tested...

My bigger issue is the way that British politicians seem to end up in these gilded, morally-dubious entanglements with very rich foreigners. It speaks to a world of privilege I think many voters are intuitively uncomfortable with.

huge trigger warning for this piece (and extract) but I do think - as someone who really is liberal on a lot! - that the "oh any attack on mainstream online porn is inherently conservative/dangerous/a slippery slope" just doesn't hold anymore, this stuff is horrific www.404media.co/michael-prat...

Centrist death rattle.

'The country desperately needs a prevention revolution, & this government should make good on its promise to deliver one.' In a joint blog, @swoolnoughtkf.bsky.social & @jenniferthf.bsky.social call for political bravery & radical, decisive plans when it comes to prevention. https://bit.ly/4lZiKN2

"A society that worries about smartphone addiction has got most things right. This is late-stage development: the west is a family fussing over the interest on the interest from a capital pile that it takes for granted" Peerless Janan Ganesh. on.ft.com/4m0FFaE

There are some things I just don't get financially, and they include how anyone but the mega rich would be able to pay an unexpected £48,000 bill. I think I'd have to do equity release to cover something like this.

So I listened to the Origin Story on Enoch Powell. Occasionally I will try to defend people like Thomas Jefferson on the basis that their racism was not defining. In Powell's case this isn't possible. Take away the racism and there isn't much left

Righteous indignation from @hannahfearn.bsky.social here. It does look increasingly like the worst we can say about Rayner is that she should have sought better advice. national.thelead.uk/p/angela-ray...

I think about this scene from Father Ted a lot at the moment.

Good from @rafaelbehr.bsky.social but it repeats the moaning from No 10 that one of the most powerful political offices in the world can't get anything done. Here's my thing: you are literally prime minister, so if you don't think your office works then fix it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It's impossible to justify that so much money should go on science & technology breakthroughs & nothing to the equivalents in the social field geoffmulgan.substack.com/p/an-aria-fo...

I have finally reached the stage in life where I don't care about Number 10 reshuffles. This government's problem is not that there aren't enough capable people in Downing Street. Next, please...

Me too.

Caveats: council tax is our only local tax (and that barely), and its primary role is... to fund councils. These facts are quite important. Now I've said them, I'll agree it's crud and we should come up with something less maddeningly irrational.

Here's my thing with the ECHR. Lots of people say leaving would mean we could control immigration better. But how? What is it, specifically, that the ECHR is preventing us from doing?

You can't even generate dirty power from fossil fuels any more. Because of cokes.