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Reposted by Alice Lilly

James Elder @jameselder.bsky.social · 11h

TIL from a talk at @gladlib.bsky.social by @satisfactory20.bsky.social that almost all MPs' and Peers' offices in the Palace of Westminster weren't designed as such by Charles Barry.

They were originally living quarters for the large residential staff of maids, cooks etc.

Only converted later.

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 13h

I feel it says quite a lot that this was a stat contained in the House of Commons' 2024/25 annual report 'year at a glance' section.

(Worth saying that the election meant that some additional maintenance work could take place but that is still... a lot of maintenance work)

Text box stating: 61k pieces of maintenance work completed

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 16h

This is excellent (as ever) by @davidallengreen.bsky.social

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 16h

NEW

Law versus politics

Both the UK and the US face a choice between unchecked executive power or a balanced constitution

By me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

This is the crucial choice facing those both in the United Kingdom and the United States. What is to be the relationship between those with political power and the force of law?

In the United States it would seem that, at a federal level, both Congress and the Supreme Court are content to nod along with excessive use of presidential power. It is only the individual states themselves and the lower courts that are seeking to hold that executive power to account.

While in the United Kingdom there are louder political demands for the government to be free from the constraints placed by international law and supposedly activist judges. The implicit call is that ministers and officials should be able to do as they like to the rest of us without any possibility of a court ever saying otherwise.

What will happen in this contest between executive power and legal restraint cannot be predicted. The happy assumption of the Whig interpretation of history may not be well-grounded. From a liberal perspective things are not only getting worse, but could get a lot worse. The illiberals know what they are doing and they are doing it well.

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 16h

Am I going to have to write an explainer on this

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 16h

Once got a Tweet quoted in a newspaper article about Hot Podium Guy (one for the veterans of UK politics over the last decade or so, there).

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Sam Macrory @sammacrory.bsky.social · 1d

And here's a new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk explainer by @jillongovt.bsky.social on how stamp duty works (and whether Kemi Badenoch's plan to abolish it is sensible..)

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/st...

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Thomas Pope @tompope.bsky.social · 1d

My instant reaction to Badenoch's stamp duty announcement for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Stamp duty is a bad tax. But abolishing it without a broader reform of property taxes would be a missed opportunity and hard to afford.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/kemi...

Kemi Badenoch’s promise to abolish stamp duty has ducked tax trade-offs | Institute for Government

Do Kemi Badenoch's stamp duty sums add up?

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d

Secondary legislation / government announcements / primary legislation

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Tim Durrant @timdurrant.bsky.social · 1d

As Conservative party conference closes, the Labour deputy leadership contest gets going in earnest: ballots are now open for party members.

@meganbryer.bsky.social has updated the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk explainer on the contest - all you need to know here:

The 2025 Labour Party deputy leader contest | Institute for Government

Angela Rayner has stepped down as deputy leader of the Labour Party, who will replace her? The ballot is now open.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d

But, crucially, also good at watching sports and enthusiastic about giving advice to professional athletes

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 1d

general vibe of bluesky is "shit at PE"

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d

I always assumed it was what you graduated to after you were too old for using The Benches.

But we never actually used it. Maybe for safety reasons; maybe we simply did not deserve The Apparatus. Who knows

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 2d

(And to be clear it’s understandable there is confusion about who does what- this stuff isn’t really ever taught!)

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 2d

Agree and would add a lack of understanding about what level of govt does what- so often the things that pop up in MPs’ inboxes are things that are in the gift of the local council and not MPs! And equally, local councils are blamed for things that are the result of funding envelopes set centrally

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 2d

The (v helpful) staff at the station confirmed to me that I absolutely should have been allowed to travel and tried contact the train to track my luggage but couldn’t. They said I would get a call from them when it got to the end station. Of course I never did and luggage was never found.

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 2d

Explained the situation and he said i couldn’t get the train. I showed him the statement on the train company’s own website saying people could get any of their trains. He refused to accept it and said no dice. So I didnt travel. Train left. Then I realised I’d left luggage on train in the scramble

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 2d

ARGH. A couple of years ago trains going north were messed up, so train company said anybody with tickets north could get on any of their trains. I did. Announcement on train said only people with tix for that specific train could travel, so I hopped off train to find train manager on the platform…

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Gavin Freeguard @gavinfreeguard.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely astonished @hignfy.bsky.social just stated that Multiverse will be running the government's digital ID scheme

An incredibly basic failure of fact-checking

fullfact.org/technology/d...

Has Euan Blair’s company Multiverse been chosen to run the government’s new digital ID scheme? – Full Fact

Multiverse is an “upskilling company”, not a software developer, and both it and the government say there’s no truth to viral claims linking it to the scheme.

fullfact.org

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Felicity Hannah @felicityhannah.bsky.social · 6d

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

Article reads:
Woman named as Archbishop of Canterbury in historic first

The 63-year-old archbishop-designate is married to Eamonn Mullally, with whom she has two children. Originally from Woking in Surrey, she was the UK's chief nursing officer from 1999 to 2004.

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 7d

On Yom Kippur many Jewish people in Britain have their phones off to mark the holy day.

As it ends at 723pm, some will hear the tragic Manchester news for the first time.

At that time, please join many of us to send a message of solidarity to British Jews.Thanks Together coalition for proposing.

To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: you are not alone.

We will not let hate or those who spread it win.

We stand with you.

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 7d

100% would rather clean that up than slobbery mashed banana

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 7d

It’s just picking things up off the floor and then, once they’ve started weaning, cleaning the high chair, the floor, the wall, the baby, and yourself. Endlessly.

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Sathnam Sanghera @sathnam.bsky.social · 7d

Horrific. Thoughts with Jewish friends.

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 7d

I think a lot of this is primarily about what many of us in the media now rewards. I chaired quite a few fringes at Labour conference, and at all of them I walked away impressed by the quality of all the MPs and their contributions.

John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 7d

People talk about getting a "better" political class with little agreement on what that means. I suspect the best change would be getting more people who are seriously interested in policy and government. Surprisingly few MPs actually are.

Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 7d

This is my issue with politics lately. Basically, every announcement assumes the reader has an utter lack of curiosity or knowledge to the point that it's just meaningless chaff.

The government's immigration policy is now the exact policy they dismissed when Kemi suggested it in spring.

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 8d

Say what you will about GOV.UK, but this kind of thing (which is, to be clear, an absolutely outrageous political statement to make on an official government website) would never happen

Benjamin Wittes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org · 8d

This is not appropriate.

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Reposted by Alice Lilly

Sam Macrory @sammacrory.bsky.social · 8d

🎧🎧Listen now!

Brilliant analysis of Starmer’s speech and the Labour conference with @drhannahwhite.bsky.social @cathhaddon.bsky.social @alexgathomas.bsky.social and guest @sophiestowers.bsky.social of @moreincommonuk.bsky.social

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/podcast/insi...

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