John Lappin
@johnlappin.bsky.social
Journalist, financial, mostly I have opinions on many things.
Reposted by John Lappin
I don’t like being referred to as a Yankee but I’ve realized this is not at all because I’m Southern, but because I specifically resent being associated with traditional New England Protestant culture and its flavorless foods
All people from the U.S. are Yankees. I say this as a person born and raised in The South because pissing off That Specific Kind of Southerner is a moral good.
November 26, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I don’t like being referred to as a Yankee but I’ve realized this is not at all because I’m Southern, but because I specifically resent being associated with traditional New England Protestant culture and its flavorless foods
This BBC line on pleasing the party not the country is absolutely absurd. I don't carry a candle for Starmer but it's just silly opposition spin.
November 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
This BBC line on pleasing the party not the country is absolutely absurd. I don't carry a candle for Starmer but it's just silly opposition spin.
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Angrynomics once more for the win
If people become insecure, we find they’re three times more likely to desert Labour than if they become more concerned about immigration. Around one-third of Britons felt economically insecure as of April 2025.
Focusing on immigration is a ‘red herring’ when financial security is so foundational.
Focusing on immigration is a ‘red herring’ when financial security is so foundational.
November 27, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Angrynomics once more for the win
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Don’t think about it too hard. Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 🔪
a cartoon of snoopy and woodstock eating dinner
ALT: a cartoon of snoopy and woodstock eating dinner
media.tenor.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Don’t think about it too hard. Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 🔪
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the next couple of days are going to see a hell of a lot of "the rich declare themselves poor"
November 26, 2025 at 10:26 PM
the next couple of days are going to see a hell of a lot of "the rich declare themselves poor"
Reposted by John Lappin
One big risk to the OBR forecasts has already materialised -migration is falling more quickly than their projections and that will hit growth and tax revenue.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
UK net migration drops sharply to 204,000 in year to June - live updates
Net migration fell by around two-thirds - from 649,000 in the year to June 2024 to 204,000 in the year to June 2025.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:55 AM
One big risk to the OBR forecasts has already materialised -migration is falling more quickly than their projections and that will hit growth and tax revenue.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
Reposted by John Lappin
Spot on. The terms of the plan 2 loan are utterly usurious. Notably the budget has not frozen just the threshold for repayments at a marginal rate of 9%, dragging more and more graduates into it, but it also freezes the interest of those loans which is as much as 6.2%! Which is ridiculous!!
I'm constantly shocked (but not surprised) by how little we discuss the additional financial burden placed on young people by the Clegg-Cameron student loan regime.
@rmcunliffe.bsky.social is one of the few journalists who brings it up continuously - once again in the wake of the budget 👇
@rmcunliffe.bsky.social is one of the few journalists who brings it up continuously - once again in the wake of the budget 👇
Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax
The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax
www.newstatesman.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Spot on. The terms of the plan 2 loan are utterly usurious. Notably the budget has not frozen just the threshold for repayments at a marginal rate of 9%, dragging more and more graduates into it, but it also freezes the interest of those loans which is as much as 6.2%! Which is ridiculous!!
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I lived through the dot com bubble and the financial crash of 2008. Now with AI and this ⬇️ I may be about to experience them again but concurrently this time.
November 27, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I lived through the dot com bubble and the financial crash of 2008. Now with AI and this ⬇️ I may be about to experience them again but concurrently this time.
I am going to suggest that the OBR messed up because they still thought it was British Summer Time. I've done it on Zoom, so anything's possible? In fact, it is my theory and I am sticking to it.
November 27, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I am going to suggest that the OBR messed up because they still thought it was British Summer Time. I've done it on Zoom, so anything's possible? In fact, it is my theory and I am sticking to it.
Reposted by John Lappin
"If the OBR cannot organise its document handling, how can we trust it to get the judgment on productivity or the tax richness of GDP forecasts right?" Well, because they're different things, for one. www.ft.com/content/b1af...
The OBR’s careless leak has damaged us all
The fiscal watchdog’s error is worse than other Budget leaks because it exists solely to improve the process
www.ft.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:51 PM
"If the OBR cannot organise its document handling, how can we trust it to get the judgment on productivity or the tax richness of GDP forecasts right?" Well, because they're different things, for one. www.ft.com/content/b1af...
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So these guys didn't travel across the galaxy, they just got off planet Earth and waited?
November 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
So these guys didn't travel across the galaxy, they just got off planet Earth and waited?
Reposted by John Lappin
NEW: Net migration falls sharply to 204,000 in the year to June.
That’s a fall from 649,000 in the year to June 2024. It is a drop of nearly 80% from its 2023 peak.
That’s a fall from 649,000 in the year to June 2024. It is a drop of nearly 80% from its 2023 peak.
November 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
NEW: Net migration falls sharply to 204,000 in the year to June.
That’s a fall from 649,000 in the year to June 2024. It is a drop of nearly 80% from its 2023 peak.
That’s a fall from 649,000 in the year to June 2024. It is a drop of nearly 80% from its 2023 peak.
Oh yes. And they really need to be wary of stoking unemployment. And they simply don't seem to be aware that we might be seeing an AI meltdown.
November 27, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Oh yes. And they really need to be wary of stoking unemployment. And they simply don't seem to be aware that we might be seeing an AI meltdown.
The student loans changes essentially imposing fiscal drag on loans are absolutely the worst kind of double dealing dishonesty.
It may not be the main point, but it's pretty disgraceful. It actually shows contempt for citizens and genuinely breaks promises. If an insurer did it, they'd be fined.
It may not be the main point, but it's pretty disgraceful. It actually shows contempt for citizens and genuinely breaks promises. If an insurer did it, they'd be fined.
November 27, 2025 at 12:34 PM
The student loans changes essentially imposing fiscal drag on loans are absolutely the worst kind of double dealing dishonesty.
It may not be the main point, but it's pretty disgraceful. It actually shows contempt for citizens and genuinely breaks promises. If an insurer did it, they'd be fined.
It may not be the main point, but it's pretty disgraceful. It actually shows contempt for citizens and genuinely breaks promises. If an insurer did it, they'd be fined.
Reposted by John Lappin
NEW: My Udemy course 'Propaganda & Disinformation for Beginners' has helped students in 26 countries worldwide strengthen their armour against disinformation since it launched 2 years ago. Techniques Cambridge Analytica used to secretly profile millions have become a vastly profitable industry.. /1
November 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
NEW: My Udemy course 'Propaganda & Disinformation for Beginners' has helped students in 26 countries worldwide strengthen their armour against disinformation since it launched 2 years ago. Techniques Cambridge Analytica used to secretly profile millions have become a vastly profitable industry.. /1
Reposted by John Lappin
people loooove to shit on microsoft office but i personally love that every time i open it up i get to go on a little adventure to find where the things i always use have been moved
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 PM
people loooove to shit on microsoft office but i personally love that every time i open it up i get to go on a little adventure to find where the things i always use have been moved
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November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by John Lappin
I have thoughts on this excellent piece which (naturally) I agree with.
What might have caused this strange absence of attention to substance which we find across government, opposition, and criticism / commentary (the cult of savviness)?
What might have caused this strange absence of attention to substance which we find across government, opposition, and criticism / commentary (the cult of savviness)?
On budget, Brexit and UK politics paddling in the shallow end of a problem that goes way deeper than just tax rises. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Rachel Reeves has many problems. She’s realising that her Brexit bind may be the biggest of all | Rafael Behr
Brutal economic realities are prompting a shift in Labour’s tone on Europe. But will it dare tell the whole truth about Britain’s predicament, asks Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:41 AM
I have thoughts on this excellent piece which (naturally) I agree with.
What might have caused this strange absence of attention to substance which we find across government, opposition, and criticism / commentary (the cult of savviness)?
What might have caused this strange absence of attention to substance which we find across government, opposition, and criticism / commentary (the cult of savviness)?
Reposted by John Lappin
what the fuck
November 25, 2025 at 3:29 PM
what the fuck
Reposted by John Lappin
London’s River: The Pool of London, London Transport travel poster, 1951, by John Minton.
November 25, 2025 at 9:22 AM
London’s River: The Pool of London, London Transport travel poster, 1951, by John Minton.
Reposted by John Lappin
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
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Don’t want to be too moralistic about this, but it is an active disgrace what people are doing to a profoundly liberational scheme that costs relatively piddling amounts on the basis of a couple of right wing shitposters misrepresenting it on Twitter.
November 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Don’t want to be too moralistic about this, but it is an active disgrace what people are doing to a profoundly liberational scheme that costs relatively piddling amounts on the basis of a couple of right wing shitposters misrepresenting it on Twitter.
Reposted by John Lappin
Gibb; “ I had no editorial role whatsoever at the Jewish Chronicle”. Lee Harpin, reporter at the paper; “RG made a habit of calling into the office on print days to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view’”
November 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Gibb; “ I had no editorial role whatsoever at the Jewish Chronicle”. Lee Harpin, reporter at the paper; “RG made a habit of calling into the office on print days to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view’”
Reposted by John Lappin
