Danielle Blake
@abradacabla.bsky.social
British social democrat, here for UK/US politics. Masochistic Arsenal, Fiorentina and SF Giants fan. #SlavaUkraini 🇺🇦
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Reporting from Boston papers makes it seem very plausible that Trump's Press Secretary had his paramilitary detain the mother of her nephew, because she was no longer romantically involved with her brother and he wanted her out of the picture.
“After Ferreira was detained, Dos Santos Rodrigues said Michael Leavitt Sr. and his father, Bob Leavitt, reached out to her.”
“‘They just kept saying, ‘Tell her to self-deport,’” she recalled. “Self-deport to where? Brazil is not her home.’” www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/26/m...
“‘They just kept saying, ‘Tell her to self-deport,’” she recalled. “Self-deport to where? Brazil is not her home.’” www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/26/m...
‘Brazil is not her home.’ Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, brought to US as child, detained by ICE. - The Boston Globe
Bruna Ferreira, 33, was brought to the United States as a child in 1998. She is now in removal proceedings in Louisiana.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reporting from Boston papers makes it seem very plausible that Trump's Press Secretary had his paramilitary detain the mother of her nephew, because she was no longer romantically involved with her brother and he wanted her out of the picture.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Reposted by Danielle Blake
“Bullying” is bad by definition. It’s not a value neutral tool to be deployed positively toward good ends. It’s so fucked up that people want so badly to reclaim this thing, and are so eager to do it that they want to brand things that aren’t bullying as bullying.
"Some people deserve to be bullied" is always wild to see because it's so deliberately childish as to make it difficult to imagine the person saying it has the moral capacity of an adult human being.
November 26, 2025 at 1:50 PM
“Bullying” is bad by definition. It’s not a value neutral tool to be deployed positively toward good ends. It’s so fucked up that people want so badly to reclaim this thing, and are so eager to do it that they want to brand things that aren’t bullying as bullying.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
looooool i aspire to this level of pettiness
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
looooool i aspire to this level of pettiness
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Sensible decision. The Bonapartist menace still stalks the continent.
Big news, income tax is being charged this year.
(It has to be renewed each year or it ceases to apply. Because it's a temporary tax, introduced to fund the Napoleonic wars)
(It has to be renewed each year or it ceases to apply. Because it's a temporary tax, introduced to fund the Napoleonic wars)
November 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Sensible decision. The Bonapartist menace still stalks the continent.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
“The Motability scheme was set up to protect the most vulnerable. Not to subsidise the lease on a Mercedes Benz,” Reeves says.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
November 26, 2025 at 1:15 PM
“The Motability scheme was set up to protect the most vulnerable. Not to subsidise the lease on a Mercedes Benz,” Reeves says.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
and again - literally just the hobby horse of some random anonymous Twitter accounts, enraging how quickly they managed to turn their horrid posting into actual government policy and rhetoric
“The Motability scheme was set up to protect the most vulnerable. Not to subsidise the lease on a Mercedes Benz,” Reeves says.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
November 26, 2025 at 1:20 PM
and again - literally just the hobby horse of some random anonymous Twitter accounts, enraging how quickly they managed to turn their horrid posting into actual government policy and rhetoric
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Minor point. But this is the OBR saying that the briefing about income tax being dropped because of improved forecasts is bollocks.
November 26, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Minor point. But this is the OBR saying that the briefing about income tax being dropped because of improved forecasts is bollocks.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Scrapping the two-child limit in full is a monumental decision. Well done to all involved in the Child Poverty Strategy, and everyone who has made the case against the policy.
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
November 26, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Scrapping the two-child limit in full is a monumental decision. Well done to all involved in the Child Poverty Strategy, and everyone who has made the case against the policy.
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
Reposted by Danielle Blake
💥 Govt says fuel duty to *go up* from next September.
In the past the OBR has assumed that fuel duty would start to rise after a one-year freeze.
This time, the govt has said explicitly that it will only be frozen for five months, and will start increasing it after that.
In the past the OBR has assumed that fuel duty would start to rise after a one-year freeze.
This time, the govt has said explicitly that it will only be frozen for five months, and will start increasing it after that.
November 26, 2025 at 12:46 PM
💥 Govt says fuel duty to *go up* from next September.
In the past the OBR has assumed that fuel duty would start to rise after a one-year freeze.
This time, the govt has said explicitly that it will only be frozen for five months, and will start increasing it after that.
In the past the OBR has assumed that fuel duty would start to rise after a one-year freeze.
This time, the govt has said explicitly that it will only be frozen for five months, and will start increasing it after that.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Yeah. The correct 'reform' of the OBR is it should be Parliament's creature first and foremost. It's good for HMT to have its own forecasts and for the Chancellor's ideology to be a partial driver to them!
What should happen is that: we publish multiple OBR forecasts in advance around different tax / spend scenarios and we can then have a proper debate about the state of the nations finances.
The OBR publishing early is bad news for a) the person who carries the can b) the political debate around the OBR but maybe good for those of us who think Budget documents should be published before, not after, the Chancellor speaks as a matter of course when the world doesn't end at 13:30 today?
November 26, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Yeah. The correct 'reform' of the OBR is it should be Parliament's creature first and foremost. It's good for HMT to have its own forecasts and for the Chancellor's ideology to be a partial driver to them!
This is not a serious country.
Complaining from the Speaker's chair about briefing Budget measures is getting very tired, very quickly. There's a reason this stuff is briefed. Some of it is narrow political interest. But it's also in the national interest- it's to prepare the markets.
November 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
This is not a serious country.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
A less polite summary would be 'they kicked the can again'.
From what you can gather from the OBR leak this budget will go down well with most labour MPs & will probably have a neutral effect re: voters & markets. So short-term survival of Starmer-Reeves maybe helped but long-term situation for Labour not much changed - but no disaster.
November 26, 2025 at 12:30 PM
A less polite summary would be 'they kicked the can again'.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
the entire budget has been leaked but not in the sense that all the main bits have been in the newspaper headlines for weeks but in a bad way this time
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
the entire budget has been leaked but not in the sense that all the main bits have been in the newspaper headlines for weeks but in a bad way this time
The average Joe reading this: Jesse what the fuck are you talking about
November 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
The average Joe reading this: Jesse what the fuck are you talking about
Reposted by Danielle Blake
You know this govt deserves to be unpopular but hard to avoid the conclusion that it gets treated by the bbc like a govt that decided to nuke a old persons home when its just sort of shit
November 26, 2025 at 12:25 PM
You know this govt deserves to be unpopular but hard to avoid the conclusion that it gets treated by the bbc like a govt that decided to nuke a old persons home when its just sort of shit
Reposted by Danielle Blake
This tone is more Westminster Bubble than most things that are labelled as Westminster Bubble
November 26, 2025 at 12:24 PM
This tone is more Westminster Bubble than most things that are labelled as Westminster Bubble
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Okay okay I meant £2 MILLION for the mansion tax, not £2 billion, I apologise for what is surely the biggest budget-related mistake anyone will make today.
This year's budget
• Mansion tax being introduced at £2bn
• Temporary cut to energy prices as treasury will pay some "policy costs"
• Two child cap abolished
• Tax thresholds frozen
• MILEAGE BASED CHARGE ON ELECTRIC CARS (fuel duty freeze kept, again, for now)
• NIC changes to pension contributions
• Mansion tax being introduced at £2bn
• Temporary cut to energy prices as treasury will pay some "policy costs"
• Two child cap abolished
• Tax thresholds frozen
• MILEAGE BASED CHARGE ON ELECTRIC CARS (fuel duty freeze kept, again, for now)
• NIC changes to pension contributions
November 26, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Okay okay I meant £2 MILLION for the mansion tax, not £2 billion, I apologise for what is surely the biggest budget-related mistake anyone will make today.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Every single person in Britain: "the chippy" or, if we're being fancy, "the chip shop"
The New York Times: "the french fry restaurant"
The New York Times: "the french fry restaurant"
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
November 26, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Every single person in Britain: "the chippy" or, if we're being fancy, "the chip shop"
The New York Times: "the french fry restaurant"
The New York Times: "the french fry restaurant"
The two child benefit cap going is an area I’ll give Reeves some flowers
November 26, 2025 at 12:10 PM
The two child benefit cap going is an area I’ll give Reeves some flowers
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Having a great first day as the OBR's website manager. Got all of the content queued up as a scheduled post, ready for a big day, but all of the work is done now.
Now before I put my feet up, time to take a big gulp of water and check the latest news.
Now before I put my feet up, time to take a big gulp of water and check the latest news.
November 26, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Having a great first day as the OBR's website manager. Got all of the content queued up as a scheduled post, ready for a big day, but all of the work is done now.
Now before I put my feet up, time to take a big gulp of water and check the latest news.
Now before I put my feet up, time to take a big gulp of water and check the latest news.
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Excited to say that’s it my very first day as Head of Publishing Administration for the Office of Budget Responsibility. Exciting things to come!
November 26, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Excited to say that’s it my very first day as Head of Publishing Administration for the Office of Budget Responsibility. Exciting things to come!
Reposted by Danielle Blake
To leak one budget may be regarded as a misfortune, to leak it again looks like carelessness!
November 26, 2025 at 12:05 PM
To leak one budget may be regarded as a misfortune, to leak it again looks like carelessness!
Reposted by Danielle Blake
Ooh... "UK trade intensity has stagnated since 2008, and we expect it to fall in the coming years due to the recent resurgence in global protectionism on top of the enduring effects of Brexit"
So much for the independent trade policy.
So much for the independent trade policy.
Full OBR doc is up here: Reeves must be FUMING obr.uk/docs/dlm_upl...
November 26, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Ooh... "UK trade intensity has stagnated since 2008, and we expect it to fall in the coming years due to the recent resurgence in global protectionism on top of the enduring effects of Brexit"
So much for the independent trade policy.
So much for the independent trade policy.