James Austin
@jamesdaustin.bsky.social
This again. Outdoors. Politics. Sport. Not always in that order. Labour. Trade Unionist. Trying to do community things. Views entirely my own
Reposted by James Austin
I have worked to end the two child limit ever since the day I was elected. Today this Labour govt acted to give every child the best start in life.
5,540 children in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley will be out of poverty immediately. This is what a Labour government is for 😍
5,540 children in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley will be out of poverty immediately. This is what a Labour government is for 😍
November 26, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I have worked to end the two child limit ever since the day I was elected. Today this Labour govt acted to give every child the best start in life.
5,540 children in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley will be out of poverty immediately. This is what a Labour government is for 😍
5,540 children in Tipton, Wednesbury and Coseley will be out of poverty immediately. This is what a Labour government is for 😍
Reposted by James Austin
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 James Austin
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.
November 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.
Reposted by James Austin
Whatever else this government do (and there's plenty of issues with this budget) ministers will always be able to point to this as an incredible important contribution to the country's future. Almost half a million kids taken out of poverty.
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 1:03 PM
Whatever else this government do (and there's plenty of issues with this budget) ministers will always be able to point to this as an incredible important contribution to the country's future. Almost half a million kids taken out of poverty.
Reposted by James Austin
£18m for playgrounds. It's not much but it's one of those small things that will measurably improve lives. There's nothing more depressing than a derelict playground.
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
£18m for playgrounds. It's not much but it's one of those small things that will measurably improve lives. There's nothing more depressing than a derelict playground.
Reposted by James Austin
💥 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 James Austin
Millions of people are set to get a pay rise from April due to an increase in the minimum wage. #NewDeal
💷Over 21s £12.21 ➜ £12.71 (+4.1%)
📈18–20 £10 ➜ £10.85 (+8.5%)
🛠️Under 18s & apprentices £7.55 ➜ £8 (+6%) www.bbc.com/news/article...
💷Over 21s £12.21 ➜ £12.71 (+4.1%)
📈18–20 £10 ➜ £10.85 (+8.5%)
🛠️Under 18s & apprentices £7.55 ➜ £8 (+6%) www.bbc.com/news/article...
Minimum wage to rise again from April to £12.71 for over-21s
The move has been welcomed, but some experts say it will not cover the current cost of living.
www.bbc.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Millions of people are set to get a pay rise from April due to an increase in the minimum wage. #NewDeal
💷Over 21s £12.21 ➜ £12.71 (+4.1%)
📈18–20 £10 ➜ £10.85 (+8.5%)
🛠️Under 18s & apprentices £7.55 ➜ £8 (+6%) www.bbc.com/news/article...
💷Over 21s £12.21 ➜ £12.71 (+4.1%)
📈18–20 £10 ➜ £10.85 (+8.5%)
🛠️Under 18s & apprentices £7.55 ➜ £8 (+6%) www.bbc.com/news/article...
This won't happen (or if it does it will be in a blind panic in 2028) because the Government largely believes that fragmentation will favour them.
Reasonable chance that there's electoral reform before the next election driven by the on-the-ground fact of a five-party system (six in Scotland and Wales)
We are moving inexorably to the end point of electoral chaos - five parties all tied on 19% in the polls, election to be decided by blindfolded chimps chucking coloured darts at a constituency map
November 26, 2025 at 10:38 AM
This won't happen (or if it does it will be in a blind panic in 2028) because the Government largely believes that fragmentation will favour them.
Reposted by James Austin
Good morning, while everyone is waiting for the budget to be announced it’s a good time to say that immigration is a source of prosperity for the UK and painting Britain as a hostile state is sabotaging the country. Thanks!
November 26, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Good morning, while everyone is waiting for the budget to be announced it’s a good time to say that immigration is a source of prosperity for the UK and painting Britain as a hostile state is sabotaging the country. Thanks!
Reposted by James Austin
This is a common thread with issues to do with racism; it's only when the story can be reduced to an internal party dispute, that the media is comfortable talking about. That means if a party closes ranks behind a racist, like Reform will, the media will struggle to keep returning to the story
November 26, 2025 at 9:15 AM
This is a common thread with issues to do with racism; it's only when the story can be reduced to an internal party dispute, that the media is comfortable talking about. That means if a party closes ranks behind a racist, like Reform will, the media will struggle to keep returning to the story
Reposted by James Austin
The government’s decision to halve the time limit for refugees to leave Home Office accommodation is driving people into homelessness and exploitation, according to migrant rights campaigners and homelessness charities
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
New asylum policies making homeless refugees “targets for the far right”
Labour’s abrupt return to the 28-day move-on period is pushing vulnerable people into rough sleeping and exposing them to fraud and abuse.
national.thelead.uk
November 25, 2025 at 1:20 PM
The government’s decision to halve the time limit for refugees to leave Home Office accommodation is driving people into homelessness and exploitation, according to migrant rights campaigners and homelessness charities
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
By me, for @theleaduk.bsky.social national.thelead.uk/p/new-asylum...
This is correct - but I also think he drives people mad because he's quite incredibly ernest and internet culture is not able to deal with that level of genuineness.
I think Stancil drives people particularly crazy because he breaks the way they expect social media to work. Like the way it's supposed to work is "you say something I don't like, I post a pithy dunk, my followers laugh, and you log off." But Will doesn't log off. He will never log off.
November 26, 2025 at 8:57 AM
This is correct - but I also think he drives people mad because he's quite incredibly ernest and internet culture is not able to deal with that level of genuineness.
Reposted by James Austin
Doing a U-turn on a tax the market both wanted and expected on the day of the budget itself would have been absolute smackhead behaviour. From great piece by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/...
November 25, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Doing a U-turn on a tax the market both wanted and expected on the day of the budget itself would have been absolute smackhead behaviour. From great piece by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/...
Once this budget is over there probably needs to be a real investigation into how/why so much was leaked and how ti prevent that in future.
Its been absurd, has caused multiple negative economic effects and hasnt even helped politically
Its been absurd, has caused multiple negative economic effects and hasnt even helped politically
November 26, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Once this budget is over there probably needs to be a real investigation into how/why so much was leaked and how ti prevent that in future.
Its been absurd, has caused multiple negative economic effects and hasnt even helped politically
Its been absurd, has caused multiple negative economic effects and hasnt even helped politically
Reposted by James Austin
And Zack Polanski was only 30 when the breast hypnosis thing happened. Shame on all of you for judging an effective teenager.
Adolescence lasts to 32, say brain scientists
Adolescence lasts to 32, say brain scientists
www.thetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:30 PM
And Zack Polanski was only 30 when the breast hypnosis thing happened. Shame on all of you for judging an effective teenager.
Reposted by James Austin
Never underestimate the hypocrisy of the Greens
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Never underestimate the hypocrisy of the Greens
Reposted by James Austin
beginning to believe I would actually vote for a dead pigeon on a stick if it just promised to restore the fuel duty escalator
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
beginning to believe I would actually vote for a dead pigeon on a stick if it just promised to restore the fuel duty escalator
Well, that's the city governance fucked then
Bristol won’t have to scrap committee model after exception
Earlier this year the government appeared to suggest the city council would have to switch how it's run
share.google
November 25, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Well, that's the city governance fucked then
Reposted by James Austin
Although you can argue - and I obviously would, given my day job - that US evangelicals are a symptom of declining religiosity rather than a different form of it. Leaving ethics out of it, there’s dozens of ways in which evangelical religious practice is quite a secularised form of Christianity.
November 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Although you can argue - and I obviously would, given my day job - that US evangelicals are a symptom of declining religiosity rather than a different form of it. Leaving ethics out of it, there’s dozens of ways in which evangelical religious practice is quite a secularised form of Christianity.
Reposted by James Austin
In the span of a hour, they stealth edited the article from trans woman to "biological male who identifies as a woman." The BBC isn't fit for purpose.
It looks like that BBC page has been updated in the last few minutes, so that's no longer the last sentence. I think part of it has been moved to this paragraph in the middle of the article, and the age is no longer mentioned:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 25, 2025 at 1:36 PM
In the span of a hour, they stealth edited the article from trans woman to "biological male who identifies as a woman." The BBC isn't fit for purpose.
Can't have a pasty tax budget, if it contains 12 pasty taxes.
They cancel each other out
They cancel each other out
The smorgasbord of tax increases has just acquired its smallest and feeblest contribution, as a bottle of Yakult is quietly added to the buffet.
(Am reliably told they excepted milk-based drinks because it looked silly taxing yogurt that advertised itself as healthy, silly though that is.)
(Am reliably told they excepted milk-based drinks because it looked silly taxing yogurt that advertised itself as healthy, silly though that is.)
UK GOVT WILL REMOVE THE CURRENT EXEMPTION FOR MILK-BASED DRINKS FROM ITS SUGAR TAX FROM 2028
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Can't have a pasty tax budget, if it contains 12 pasty taxes.
They cancel each other out
They cancel each other out
Reposted by James Austin
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
Platformer is always worth reading - and this is on of those editions which mainly makes you declare 'Butlerian Jihad when?' and think that a lot of the senior leadership of tech co's need to go to jail.
I wrote about our interview with Roblox's CEO and how platforms got too big to feel shame www.platformer.news/roblox-ceo-i...
November 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Platformer is always worth reading - and this is on of those editions which mainly makes you declare 'Butlerian Jihad when?' and think that a lot of the senior leadership of tech co's need to go to jail.
Reposted by James Austin
All the supposedly progressive people saying 'Nigel Farage's racism doesn't matter. His fans love it'.
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 AM
All the supposedly progressive people saying 'Nigel Farage's racism doesn't matter. His fans love it'.
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game