Autumn

"Research released this month by economists at the Bank of England, the Bundesbank, King’s College London and the universities of Stanford and Nottingham underscored the economic hit from leaving the EU. Brexit had reduced UK GDP by 6-8%" on.ft.com/4p1NoHv

our BBC analysis: “Insiders admit the BBC has often been at fault. But the scandals have been amplified by a hostile cohort of rightwing politicians and media allies” www.ft.com/content/28b4...

Westminster this evening

this is brilliant satire: “Given what I took to be the anti-Trump nature of the Sketch, I of course assumed there would be a similar, balancing Sketch discussing the possibility that the Capitol building had attacked the rioters....."

Rachel Reeves lets the cat out of the (already threadbare) bag about the looming break to the manifesto: “It would of course be possible to stick with the manifesto commitments but that would require things like deep cuts in capital spending.” www.ft.com/content/a502...

Absolutely right. I criticise BBC News, because we need it to be as good as we know it can be. People like Farage criticise the BBC, because they work for its competitors and don't want it to exist.

excoriating Observer editorial on the BBC departures observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...

Interesting paragraph from a long tweet just posted by Nick Robinson.

not only was Prescott’s former employer Hanover Communications a Tory outfit, it also represented Sky News for many years….

this is my favourite comment of the day on an FT story

Glad that someone has finally taken responsibility for the appalling assault on democracy that was the Jan. 6 insurrection. Slightly confused that it's the Director-General of the BBC, but what do I know?

the biggest question: did the former BBC director-general fall on his sword because of fears (either in the corporation or in Westminster) about Trump's wrath www.ft.com/content/ccc0...

only in the small print of this article do they make clear that the pensioners paying an extra £2,500 of tax would have to have “earnings over £125,140” I know many pensioners are asset rich but how many have income at that level?

only in the small print of this article do they make clear that the pensioners paying an extra £2,500 of tax would have to have “earnings over £125,140” I know many pensioners are asset rich but how many have income at that level?

NEW POD! FT's 📻 @pickardje.bsky.social @katie0martin.ft.com and Sam Fleming pick over the taxes Reeves might raise and how; the political damage thereof; crucially from Katie, what the markets *really* think of the UK, Reeves and Farage; PLUS how to pronounce smorgasbord www.ft.com/content/359e...

Mandelson’s advisory firm Global Counsel is in trouble it would appear www.ft.com/content/6580...

Mandelson’s advisory firm Global Counsel is in trouble it would appear www.ft.com/content/6580...

Get your colleagues and friends off it, folks.

it's beyond time to leave X; anybody still there ... unless you're a journalist or researcher who studies right-wing misinformation or whatever, why ...

must-read analysis of how Musk's twitter is drenching new users with right-wing propaganda news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

I never get bored of this silhouette

David Lammy at PMQs attacks Reform MP Sarah Pochin for her “disgraceful racist language…that belongs on the Dark Ages” and - curiously - Nigel Farage nods along

Outstanding, no notes

terrific couple of paragraphs here

Notable in today's YouGov that the centre/left bloc - Lab/Green/LD/SNP are on 54%. With Reform/Tories on 43%. That's the biggest differential in a long time. I think useful to track blocs given instability between parties at the moment.

Comedy is the UK's superpower.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the former UK chancellor whose infamous “mini” Budget under then-Prime Minister Liz Truss triggered a crisis in the gilts market, is backing the launch of a bitcoin investment company.  www.ft.com/content/c5a6...

elon musk: people in the uk live like hobbits. um let’s look at you for a second bro

NEW: ‘Nigel Farage is not my friend…he’s just a handsome & stylish English gentleman’ The wife of the Russian agent who Nathan Gill has admitted to accepting bribes from says Nigel Farage is not her ‘good friend’ after saying that he was her ‘good friend’ 1/ open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Off the top of my head, in terms of degrees of separation I managed to get from myself to *Jimi Hendrix* in "three hops," this is a WILD assertion to make www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

One in twenty Reform councillors elected in May 2025 has left by the Autumn - half expelled/suspended - a quarter resigned from council - some defected An "unusual rate" of attrition in 6 months, says Tony Travers www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Kemi Badenoch is absolutely right about this. At the time she hacked Harriet Harman's emails it was an offence carrying a prison sentence of up to five years

Never in the history of the US has any president openly and repeatedly called for the investigation, arrest & prosecution of his political opponents. While many continue to shrug these things off and normalize them, I will never stop pointing out that this is what autocrats do.

does he become….symbol…?

Poor Kemi.

this is as robust a defence as Rachel Reeves could hope for, lettings agent has coughed up that it’s their mistake www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

FT: Chancellor Rachel Reeves could be ordered to repay more than £38,000 in rent after admitting breaching housing rules by unlawfully renting out her family home without a licence. www.ft.com/content/b1ed...

Prediction: Danny Kruger and Nigel Farage will fall out by Christmas and Kruger will either form his own party or be an independent by this time next year. It's called "Carswell's law."

"When I was a kid, we didn't have smartphones. We had to come up with our own extremist views"

Farage: epic grifter

Think one of the key things why adverts are such a thing with them is that people in ads are usually enjoying themselves and having a nice life; seeing non-white people be happy is something that drives your typical racist absolutely mad

Thames

The Tony Blair Institute is undergoing a major restructuring that includes staff lay-offs, as the not-for-profit set-up by the former UK prime minister searches for a more sustainable funding model. www.ft.com/content/1196...

You can make a case for freedom of speech and debate in some of these instances, but when you’ve got uncorrected claims about ‘enforced veganism’ how is that not a breach of Ofcom rules? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

When idiot Ron Schneider was born in 1963, the infant mortality rate was 29/1,000. It is now close to 5/1,000. So, no, children were NOT healthier when he was a kid. And he was, clearly, dropped on his head.

who chooses the photographs? www.ft.com/content/1f79...

swan, Thames, this morning

🔥🔥🔥 Go to his profile - he has posted a gift link.