Dan Davies
@dsquareddigest.bsky.social
15K followers 590 following 13K posts
Malcolm Sparrow in the streets, Stafford Beer in the sheets. Once I wrote about fraud and its detection; currently writing about the industrialisation of decision making in general
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dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Tbh "pension scheme contributors against pension scheme benefits" is always going to be a niche political movement
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Good to see you thought about the politics of this as well as the policy merits
Reposted by Dan Davies
ghose.bsky.social
Are we yet at the point that Jason Calacanis starts writing in large caps “YOU SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED RIGHT NOW”…Silicon Valley needs a tariff exemption
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
The aging population is the reason; restoring the state pension is just one of the mechanisms.
dsmitheconomics.bsky.social
My Sunday Times piece: Sacred cows like the pension triple lock and the long freeze on fuel duty help explain why other taxes are having to go up:

Taxes are going up, and the pension triple lock is one of the reasons

www.thetimes.com/article/7f77...
Taxes are going up, and the pension triple lock is one of the reasons
As Rachel Reeves struggles to fix the public finances, sacred cows such as fuel duty and the state pension are cramping the chancellor’s room for manoeuvre
www.thetimes.com
Reposted by Dan Davies
chrisbrooke.bsky.social
"My father's no different than any other powerful man. Any man who's responsible for other people. Like a Senator or a President."

"You know how naïve you sound?"

"Why?"

"Senators and Presidents don't have men killed."

"Oh. Who's being naïve, Kay?"

#DianeKeatonRIP
🚩 DIANE KEATON - THE GODFATHER (1972) Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
YouTube video by Darwin Pictures
www.youtube.com
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
5 years after first getting rabbits, my family still exclaim "ooh, he's washing his face!" because it is quite the cutest thing
Reposted by Dan Davies
himself.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o... I'm unreasonably pleased that the end of this fantastic piece provides a NYT shortlist of opinion pieces on "reclaiming the constitution" that includes my own. There's something in the air that both pick up on.
Opinion | The Constitution Doesn’t Belong to Trump or the Supreme Court
www.nytimes.com
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
There was someone in double Burberry at the hotel protest in Exeter who was apparently doing "audits" for a YouTube channel, filming people in an annoyingly aggro way. Apparently crowdfunding for afaict unrelated police troubles.
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Well they did have electric hackney carriages in London so I don't think it could have been completely impossible
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
... but in fact as far as I can tell this is actually what happened!
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Rory Sutherland has this bit where he imagines what might happen if the ICE engine had been invented after the EV - "so you're saying that it has a more complicated drivetrain, worse torque, requires you to carry 50kg of explosives around and pollutes the air, but it's a bit quicker to recharge?)...
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
very very surprised to see you come down on the anti side for this to be honest
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
as Sonny Boy Williamson said, don't start me talking. If you google his name with words like "migrant housing", "fire", "tyres", "Ghana" and combinations thereof you will turn up some of the lore; there is also some proper dark stuff in that family which I probably shouldn't talk about.
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
it is kind of difficult because the prisons are full of CSA victims
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Surprised, tbh, given the extent to which my former schoolfriend has been in the headlines, that people are just talking about the Kremlin bribes as if it was the only interesting thing about him. There's actually enough material in the back pages to give Jed Mercurio two or three seasons' worth.
zackpolanski.bsky.social
Ever since I finished Question Time, Reform have massively been on the attack.

Including a rant from Richard Tice entirely designed to distract from Reform and Russia.

Everyone should know about Nathan Gill, the bribes from Russia and the link to Reform.
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Seems like it wasn't for want of trying
Reposted by Dan Davies
helldude.bsky.social
the inverse of this is how much of politics is now just accepting that you have to vote for people who hate you, so your best option is to vote for people who hate other people more than they hate you
hazelmonforton.com
I think the main refreshing thing about Mamdani, for me, is that he actually likes New York City and wants to see it thrive for everyone.
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
You should have a word with Will Butler-Adams at Brompton, it's right up his street
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
I think everyone reading this thread can see what you did and didn't say or imply and make up their own mind, so I have no enthusiasm for a repeat performance of the merry dance we went through when you were pretending Welsh language requirements stopped a nuclear power station.
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Hehehe, "that" speech. I always used to have this comedy bit about Labour centrists, saying that if they went on Desert Island Discs, seven of their choices would be Tony Blair speeches but the one they saved from the hurricane would be Kinnock bashing the left.
politicalhackuk.bsky.social
A very moving interview with the great Neil Kinnock from @lewisgoodall.com on @newsagents.bsky.social - really worth a listen on the 40th anniversary of that speech.

They say never meet your heroes, but that doesn’t apply with Lord Kinnock.
Reposted by Dan Davies
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Me too but I find that I can't drink a whole one as easily as I used to
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
vibes of the thing are absolutely gone, there's just no point standing handing out flyers in 41 degree heat when nearly all of the punters only care about the big names. you've got more chance of finding something new and interesting in bloody Melbourne
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Riyadh Comedy Festival is an absolute joke, all the hotels booked up, silly money for airbnbs, venue owners absolutely taking the piss and too many shows with not a hope of getting the attention they want. I swear I'm not going back next year, is this something send bloot