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Reposted by Rob Blackie

Luke Taylor MP @luketaylorld.bsky.social · 4h

This is unacceptable - it will leave people in Sutton and across London less safe.

Our disgraceful Mayor has broken his promise to keep a twenty-four hour front counter in every borough.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cuts sees London left with two 24/7 Met Police front counters

Only Lewisham and Charing Cross stations will be open 24 hours a day, with 25 others running with reduced hours.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 9h

Incredible failure from the Met's leadership yet again.

London's police can only do their job if they represent the whole community - and yet they are still failing to recruit and keep enough black officers because they are too scared to confront their problems.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

‘Damning’ review of anti-Black racism within Met police ‘buried’ by force

Exclusive: External consultancy report found discrimination ‘baked into HR systems’ at London force

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Rob Blackie

Liberal Democrats @libdems.org.uk · 11h

"Hong Kong nationals are being repressed on the streets of London in this very country at the moment."

"And if that isn't a national security threat, then, frankly, I don't know what is."

@benmaguiremp.bsky.social

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Reposted by Rob Blackie

James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 11h

Vince Cable: Decarbonisation is a convoy. All the companies have to move together and they are surrounded by hostile submarines. It has to be co-ordinated and the only people who can co-ordinate it is government.

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Reposted by Rob Blackie

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 15h

thinking about the time a cool Instagram fashion account asked me to name my favorite products and i didn't know i was supposed to name fashion products, so i said pigeon food because i like feeding pigeons and their followers were like "why the fuck do i need pigeon food for my outfit?"

The Instagram account Saint featured me. The first slide says: "Derek Guy - Dieworkwear. Derek Guy is a menswear writer who has written for The New York Times, Esquire, and Mr. Porter. He also runs a menswear blog called Die, Workwear"

One of the slides showing my favorite products. It's it's a big bag of Hagen pigeon food. The food is fortified with the vitamins and nutrients pigeons need.

Instagram user writes: "Why tf do i need pigeon food for my outfit." I replied: "this is what i can afford to eat after spending all my money on clothes ::sad face::"

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Most police front counters in London are being closed - but the Mayor welcomes a few being saved.....

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 1d

The news that more police front counters will remain open - with extended opening hours - for members of the public is welcome.

Whilst this is an operational policing decision, this action would not have been possible without record-breaking funding from City Hall.

Met Police progress in closing £260m funding gap

27 police front counters will remain open

news.met.police.uk

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Five years, not sure.

But here's a prototype of this sort of thing that includes trust (first example):

spectrum.ieee.org/spatial-web-...

How Will the Spatial Web Transform the Physical World?

The Spatial Web's HSML and HSTP standards offer a new way for autonomous vehicles to communicate and coordinate in real-time.

spectrum.ieee.org

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Tax avoidance is a significant industry.... as this magazine supplement suggests.

Reposted by Rob Blackie

Zoë Crowther @zoecrowther.bsky.social · 1d

Lib Dem deputy leader @libdemdaisy.bsky.social asked Keir Starmer whether he would commission the security services to "assess the threat that Elon Musk poses to our democracy"

Her question at #PMQs comes after Tommy Robinson claimed Elon Musk was paying his legal costs

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Wind turbine blade manufacturers. Huge industry, very concentrated, very high tech - and growing fast because it underpins the energy transition.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

A friend swears by those body fat scanners that allow you to see your actual muscle, bones, fat etc.

A lot of money - but surely there's a feature in it?

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Credit to China though - they seem to be doing pretty well at turning the corner.

And credit to Brazil for cutting emissions very fast for a big country.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

This is a great league table of countries doing well /badly on climate change.

Terrible: South Africa, Russia, India

Sluggish: China, USA

Not bad: EU

Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 1d

In contrast, China does NOT lead the world in how fast it's adding clean energy in relation to the size of its energy market, and most definitely does not lead the world in how clean its energy or power mix is.

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Reposted by Rob Blackie

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

The key thing to understand why the BCR and the BSA are so bad is that they are primarily about finding a way to blame someone other than the government for failures of regulation. Hence: oh, a second staircase, because you can see whether a building has one just by eyeballing it.

Left Outside @leftoutside.bsky.social · 1d

The impact assessment for a second staircase is mental. Why is it recommends to spend £3bn to get £9mn of benefit? The low case BCR is 0.0002. What???

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

This policy misses the point that learning English is a big draw for workers!

Reposted by Rob Blackie

Tim Leunig @timleunig.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, with an emphasis on lots more houses in London, where all measures of affordability show they are most needed.

Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Fixing the cost of living crisis isn't easy but it is fairly obvious how to make some progress:

1. Lots more housing > lower rents & house prices
2. Rejoin the Single Market > lower food prices & lower overall prices because the inputs to everything are cheaper.

Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 2d

“I think politicians are ignoring prices and bills and hoping we’ll forget about them and find something else to complain about…”

My report on how the flighty Westminster bubble forgot about the cost-of-living crisis, which certainly isn't over:

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

I absolutely love it. I was staring at it on my wall just a couple of hours ago!

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Virtually no new houses are being sold in London right now - the current & previous government's policies have utterly failed.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Quite extraordinary behaviour by Labour in Lambeth:

www.brixtonbuzz.com/2025/10/lamb...

Lambeth Labour slammed for ‘ludicrous’ plan to appoint councillor charged with sexual offences to Investigations Committee

Lambeth Labour is facing fresh outrage after it emerged that the party plans to appoint Cllr Irfan Mohammed – who is currently facing trial for alleged sexual assault, exposure, and coercive …

www.brixtonbuzz.com

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

3. Lots more green energy > lower energy prices.

To unlock these you need the political courage to:

a) Make the planning system less of a block on building.
b) Get closer to the EU
c) Be comfortable with immigration from the builders we would need to build on this scale.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Fixing the cost of living crisis isn't easy but it is fairly obvious how to make some progress:

1. Lots more housing > lower rents & house prices
2. Rejoin the Single Market > lower food prices & lower overall prices because the inputs to everything are cheaper.

Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 2d

“I think politicians are ignoring prices and bills and hoping we’ll forget about them and find something else to complain about…”

My report on how the flighty Westminster bubble forgot about the cost-of-living crisis, which certainly isn't over:

Energy bills rise while Westminster talks immigration

Why have our politicians forgotten about the cost-of-living crisis?

www.newstatesman.com

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Kind of interesting that it hasn't taken off more already given the high returns.

My solar, currently being installed, is projected at 8% returns - and that's tax free - so an extraordinarily good rate.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Presumably, by now we can look back and get a sense of what the actual risk transfer was?

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

Starlink is harder because the competitive alternatives are lacking...

Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 2d

The British government has lots of points of pressure on him - which are currently entirely unused:

a) Advertising money from Twitter, b) Sales of Teslas, c) Starlink sales from the UK.

All of these can be targets given his incitement to criminality.

Two of these are easy too.

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