Jack Kessler
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jackkessler.bsky.social
Jack Kessler
@jackkessler.bsky.social
8.4K followers 1.9K following 2.6K posts
I write the newsletter, Lines To Take, bringing you one big story of the day, every day.

Sign up for free: https://www.linestotake.com/

I like human rights and French cuisine.
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jackkessler.bsky.social
Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · Mar 14
What it's like to go horribly, horribly viral.

That time I incurred the wrath of a continent (and the Daily Mail).

My new newsletter, Lines To Take, out now.
What it's like to go horribly, horribly viral
I incurred the wrath of a continent (and the Daily Mail)
www.linestotake.com
jackkessler.bsky.social
My grandpa used to say that past a certain age, friends should either see each other at least every six months or never again. Leave it too long and people will think, "Christ, you've aged."
danneidle.bsky.social Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 18h
If we'd revalued every five years the changes would be small. But after thirty years, some people will face big changes.

Those who end up paying less tax probably won't be very vociferous about this. Those who pay more, will.

So no revaluation.
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
I'm slightly wary of writing about Australia after the.. unpleasantness.
What it's like to go horribly, horribly viral
I incurred the wrath of a continent (and the Daily Mail)
www.linestotake.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:20 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
My mom told me the sweetest, saddest story today. Years ago, a friend of my grandma's would be driving and whenever she let a car go ahead of her, she'd yell, "I'm Jewish!" to, you know, help spread a little goodwill toward us.
November 24, 2025 at 1:04 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
I no longer actually watch football and my entire consumption is in the form of podcasts and so today I found out that Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes are different people.
Eze hat-trick stuns Spurs, as Liverpool + Man City are beaten again
YouTube video by The Totally Football Show
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:38 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
I’m not suggesting I was an anxious child, but I did take it upon myself to worry about the implications of peak oil after the concept was explained to me by my year 6 science teacher.

Still, not all peaks are bad.
Can we skip to the good part?
Peaks in sport, television and life
www.linestotake.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
Today's newsletter includes my favourite Barnett formula story, on how govt withheld cash for the 2012 Olympics from the devolved administrations, I suppose on the basis that, while the Games were happening in England, the feel-good factor would be... UK-wide?

✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/barnett-fo...
You don’t really need to know how the Barnett formula works. Most people in Whitehall haven’t the foggiest either. When I was at the Treasury, it was — and this sounds made up but it isn’t — a bloke called Keith who basically operated the entire mechanism on his own. Essentially, if the UK government increases spending per head in England on something that is a devolved competency, such as health, a pre-set percentage increase is applied to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But if it is spent on something UK-wide, such as defence, no Barnett consequentials are due. Of course, it isn’t always that simple. For the 2012 Olympics, UKG spent a lot of money. There were stadiums to be built, transport links to be improved and a massive regeneration effort undertaken in East London. Surely, this would see big cash transfers to the devolved administrations? The Labour government had other ideas. In the 2007 Spending Review, then chief secretary to the Treasury, a certain Andy Burnham, reclassified spending on Olympics regeneration as UK-wide benefit, rather than England only. I suppose on the basis that, while the Games were happening in a specific locale, the feel-good factor would be nationwide? It was referred to the Joint Ministerial Committee and the devolved administrations between them got a one-off payment of just £30m. Ultimately, this was a shameless cost-saving exercise, one that would deny the devolved administrations hundreds of millions of pounds, create a fair amount of bad blood and grist to the SNP’s mill.
November 21, 2025 at 8:36 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
Today's newsletter includes my favourite Barnett formula story, on how govt withheld cash for the 2012 Olympics from the devolved administrations, I suppose on the basis that, while the Games were happening in England, the feel-good factor would be... UK-wide?

✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/barnett-fo...
You don’t really need to know how the Barnett formula works. Most people in Whitehall haven’t the foggiest either. When I was at the Treasury, it was — and this sounds made up but it isn’t — a bloke called Keith who basically operated the entire mechanism on his own. Essentially, if the UK government increases spending per head in England on something that is a devolved competency, such as health, a pre-set percentage increase is applied to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But if it is spent on something UK-wide, such as defence, no Barnett consequentials are due. Of course, it isn’t always that simple. For the 2012 Olympics, UKG spent a lot of money. There were stadiums to be built, transport links to be improved and a massive regeneration effort undertaken in East London. Surely, this would see big cash transfers to the devolved administrations? The Labour government had other ideas. In the 2007 Spending Review, then chief secretary to the Treasury, a certain Andy Burnham, reclassified spending on Olympics regeneration as UK-wide benefit, rather than England only. I suppose on the basis that, while the Games were happening in a specific locale, the feel-good factor would be nationwide? It was referred to the Joint Ministerial Committee and the devolved administrations between them got a one-off payment of just £30m. Ultimately, this was a shameless cost-saving exercise, one that would deny the devolved administrations hundreds of millions of pounds, create a fair amount of bad blood and grist to the SNP’s mill.
November 21, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
stephenkb.bsky.social
One way they are making life harder for themselves is they keep burning through 'this is good cover for a broad based income tax rise' measures.
November 20, 2025 at 12:08 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
What £1.5m really gets you in London.

We have a housing affordability crisis. People on good salaries — let alone those further down the income scale — can't afford to buy.

BUT: if you have to wait for someone to get out of the shower before you can use the toilet, you don’t live in a mansion.
What £1.5m really buys you in London
Spoiler: it's probably not a 'mansion'
www.linestotake.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
People change their behaviour in response to price signals all the time. That's how sin taxes work.

It's also why a Budget built on narrow, fiddly taxes on the better-off is one heck of a hostage to fortune.

✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/rachel-ree...

My newsletter, out now.
Behavioural responses to tax changes are a fact of life, but they become a far bigger issue if you were, say, a government seeking to raise billions of pounds not by raising broad-based taxes, but through a “smorgasbord” approach. Take pensions. At the Budget last autumn, Rachel Reeves announced that pensions would be subject to inheritance tax from April 2027. In one fell swoop, this transformed retirement pots from amongst the most efficient forms of tax planning, to one of the least. That is because many would-be beneficiaries may soon find themselves paying double tax, with an effective 67% rate for additional rate taxpayers. The Treasury forecasts this change will bring in around £1.5bn a year by 2030. Yet it all rather depends on how people with large pension pots respond. Instead of continuing to plough more and more into their pensions, individuals are likely to modify their behaviour. They could spend the money, funnel it towards specific vehicles with a more favourable tax treatment or transfer it to their beneficiaries via other means, such as lifetime gifting. Behaviour changes, sometimes dramatically, and any government that is attempting to pin its hopes almost entirely on narrow and distortive taxes may find itself coming back for more next year. And if that’s the case, it may not be Reeves who gets to do it.
November 19, 2025 at 9:52 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
People change their behaviour in response to price signals all the time. That's how sin taxes work.

It's also why a Budget built on narrow, fiddly taxes on the better-off is one heck of a hostage to fortune.

✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/rachel-ree...

My newsletter, out now.
Behavioural responses to tax changes are a fact of life, but they become a far bigger issue if you were, say, a government seeking to raise billions of pounds not by raising broad-based taxes, but through a “smorgasbord” approach. Take pensions. At the Budget last autumn, Rachel Reeves announced that pensions would be subject to inheritance tax from April 2027. In one fell swoop, this transformed retirement pots from amongst the most efficient forms of tax planning, to one of the least. That is because many would-be beneficiaries may soon find themselves paying double tax, with an effective 67% rate for additional rate taxpayers. The Treasury forecasts this change will bring in around £1.5bn a year by 2030. Yet it all rather depends on how people with large pension pots respond. Instead of continuing to plough more and more into their pensions, individuals are likely to modify their behaviour. They could spend the money, funnel it towards specific vehicles with a more favourable tax treatment or transfer it to their beneficiaries via other means, such as lifetime gifting. Behaviour changes, sometimes dramatically, and any government that is attempting to pin its hopes almost entirely on narrow and distortive taxes may find itself coming back for more next year. And if that’s the case, it may not be Reeves who gets to do it.
November 19, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
Do you know this man? If you scroll TikTok or Reels, the answer is almost certainly "yes".

Rory Sutherland isn't just good at telling stories. The man is a walking, talking clip machine. And he has some lessons for our politicians.

My newsletter, out now.
Everything is a clip show now
Welcome to the era of the viral anecdote
www.linestotake.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:53 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
"I'd like to talk to you about inherently difficult trade-offs" sadly does not make good short-form video content.
Can you put that in a clip? There are few more important skills in our present world than the ability to perform (without looking like a performance) on short-form media. Politicians who get this are winning, but some have in-built advantages. Because this is a medium that rewards specificity and simplicity, leaving no space for nuance or self-doubt. So —freezing the rent is good, migrants represent an invasion, Jews have too much power and so on. Short-form video is catnip for populists on both extremes. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage with his one million-plus TikTok followers has as many as all other MPs combined. Second is Zarah Sultana, co-founder of Your Party. Other early exponents of this media include Germany’s far-right Alternative for Deutschland, Romanian far-right presidential candidate Călin Georgescu and newly elected New York City Mayor, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. It is not impossible for more moderate parties and politicians to catch up. Charisma is not a fully incorporated subsidiary of the far-left and right. But tradeoffs have rarely been an attractive concept and do not sit easily in this 45-second moment. (Self-parody klaxon: there was a great discussion on this subject recently on one of my favourite podcasts, Mixed Signals by Semafor.)
November 18, 2025 at 1:12 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
Do you know this man? If you scroll TikTok or Reels, the answer is almost certainly "yes".

Rory Sutherland isn't just good at telling stories. The man is a walking, talking clip machine. And he has some lessons for our politicians.

My newsletter, out now.
Everything is a clip show now
Welcome to the era of the viral anecdote
www.linestotake.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:53 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
A "hard sell".
MPs had been expected to vote this year on options for restoring the estate. These include a “full decant” i.e. everyone up sticks to a nearby building such as the QEII Centre, a “partial decant” or the “stay put” option, with a permanent programme of repairs that could last — no exaggeration — decades. This is only surprising if you’re new to the process. All the way back in 2016, a Joint Committee on the Palace of Westminster concluded that the Palace “faces an impending crisis which we cannot responsibly ignore” and that a major programme of works is now “urgent”. For those keeping track, we are now a few weeks away from 2026. Of course, repairing an ancient maze of buildings in this state doesn’t come cheap. Nor is the cost likely to be universally popular. The Clerk of the House of Commons described restoration of the Palace as a “hard sell” to the public. Estimates from 2022 were that the cost would range from £7bn to £13bn if the Palace decanted, lasting between 19 to 28 years, though these have since risen. Yet costs would be even higher if MPs and peers refused to leave, as much as £22bn and taking up to 76 years (!). This would make for a challenging enough public relations exercise if MPs were held in high regard and the Treasury flush with cash. My understanding is that neither condition currently applies. Naturally, a decision delayed is a decision made. In this case, one that costs money in the short and long-term, all while raising the chances of a catastrophic Notre Dame-esque event.
November 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
Not everything is a metaphor (in the same way that most things aren't a dead cat strategy).

But parliament is falling down and the chronic delays to its rebuild isn't *unrelated* to a political class seemingly unable or unwilling to address long-term challenges.

My newsletter, out now.
Parliament is falling down
A metaphor in search of a nation
www.linestotake.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:06 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
It's Islington so no complaints about the (£3.5m!) asking price, but that doesn't explain why the agents are marketing this property with a single AI-generated photo, including what I think is a fake car brand driving on the wrong side of the road? www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
November 15, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
emmavj.bsky.social
I’m very grateful to Anne for sharing her story with me and my endless back and forth

on.ft.com/4oIKbNu A parent’s fear: the mother in hiding from her son

(Hope this link works)
November 15, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
The ‘bond market chancellor’ blinks.

Income tax retreat threatens Rachel Reeves' hard-earned reputation as the only one the markets trust.

My newsletter, out now.
The 'bond market chancellor' blinks
Income tax retreat threatens Rachel Reeves' hard-earned reputation
www.linestotake.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:09 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
The ‘bond market chancellor’ blinks.

Income tax retreat threatens Rachel Reeves' hard-earned reputation as the only one the markets trust.

My newsletter, out now.
The 'bond market chancellor' blinks
Income tax retreat threatens Rachel Reeves' hard-earned reputation
www.linestotake.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
Help! I set my friends up on a date and now they're getting married.
Help! I set my friends up on a date and now they're getting married
Badly done, Emma. Badly done.
www.linestotake.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:07 AM
jackkessler.bsky.social
The second x is important in undercutting the level of intimacy.

So:

x = kiss
xx (or x x) = neutral
xxx = actual affection
luketryl.bsky.social Luke Tryl @luketryl.bsky.social · 12d
And if people do put x's they're most likely to use two! Vital piece of information there.
November 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
How it started.
“Do you know any single men, Jack?” “Lots!” My friend shot a look in my direction with the studied scepticism of a woman in her mid-thirties. “Oh, you mean straight men,” I clarified. “No, not really.” I’d never set any two friends up, though I had seen the 1996 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow (who my year nine English teacher, a wonderfully acerbic, impeccably dressed and encouragingly camp man referred to as “the woman with the exceptionally long neck”). So I knew that being an upper-class matchmaker wasn’t all it was cracked up to be — even if you got to live in Highbury. But a few months after that initial conversation, a man became available. He had broken up with his girlfriend and I figured enough time had elapsed to make an introduction potentially viable. In Sex and the City parlance, his light was on. Editor’s Note: In a 2000 episode of the show, Miranda Hobbes (sorry, I know, you’re more of a Charlotte) proclaimed that men are like cabs:
November 13, 2025 at 1:18 PM
jackkessler.bsky.social
Accept you live in a world in which pork belly is classified as a ‘side’.
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Jack Kessler
duncanrobinson.bsky.social
Column on the obvious. Loveeeee the cartoon
November 12, 2025 at 9:04 PM