Kerry Ferguson
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kickingk74.bsky.social
Kerry Ferguson
@kickingk74.bsky.social
Moderate in most matters. Mad about music, moggies & marmite.
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Plug in your postcode. deprivation.communities.gov.uk
deprivation.communities.gov.uk
November 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
How we do pensions and retirement income in this country is predicated on a few assumptions, one of which is that old people have minimal housing costs and/or security of tenure. It's not happening anymore, and will get worse.

www.joxleywrites.jmoxley.co.uk/p/the-other-...
November 13, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Replace “Dems” for “mainstream parties” and “GOP” for “far right” and you have West European politics.
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
November 11, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
I am not opposed to a wealth tax. What I oppose are claims it is a simple silver bullet the government opposes because it is in hoc to neo-liberalism etc etc. Yes, tax wealth. But if we want no austerity and better public services, it means more tax rises on top. Sorry. That's the real world.
November 7, 2025 at 11:11 AM
BBC News - Crime network behind UK mini-marts is enabling migrants to work illegally
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Oh fgs - that's the angle here? Not 'organised crime on the high street' or 'Vapes & fake cigs sold to kids' or 'Companies House allows sham directors to run crime networks across UK'?
Crime network behind UK mini-marts is enabling migrants to work illegally
Undercover reporters were told how easy it was to make big profits selling illegal vapes and cigarettes.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Proper good news today - the Renters' Rights Act gets Royal Assent. Citizens Advice see 200 people a day with problems in private rented housing. The act shifts the balance towards tenants, but it's just the start, as @tessthompsonca.bsky.social says here wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/the-renters-...
The Renters’ Rights Act is here — but the work is just beginning
After years of waiting, the Renters’ Rights Act has finally received Royal Assent and passed into law. We’ve campaigned hard for this, and…
wearecitizensadvice.org.uk
October 28, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
I've been updating my lecture slides for this cycle, and I was about to post how it's wild to me that the last Index of Multiple Deprivation is still 2019. It's not like *anything at all* has happened in the last 6 years to warrant an update.

Before I did, I thought I'd better go and check...
October 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Apropos of nothing, I really do think UK journalists and politicians need some reminding that mass deportation of LEGAL immigrants, particularly those with permanent status, is far more extreme than even Trump's America and would basically place Britain completely on its own among democracies.
October 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Higher taxes on gambling probably would cost some jobs. But employment has to be weighed against other social costs.

That's why we don't have brothels and ketamine stores on every high street. It was a terrible mistake to let gambling shops become such big employers.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Betfred says all its shops may close if Reeves hikes gambling tax
The company's co-founder says it would be forced to close all its sites, putting 7,500 jobs at risk, if gambling taxes go up.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 19, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
And when those new coercive powers are introduced, then what follows will prompt another round of more coercive powers for the state, and then another, and then another.

The UK is trapped in an illiberal spiral.
October 5, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
The government want more coercive powers for the state against protests, and the main opposition party wants more coercive powers for the state against migrants.

Our political-media culture continues in a loop where the response to every perceived problem is yet more coercive powers for the state.
October 5, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Incredible. Both the appointment & the reporting of it : /
This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.
October 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
This is no accident or diplomatic faux pas. It is retribution for UK recognition of Gaza. A v dangerous game but Netanyahu & his rw coalition partners won't care about that.
This Israeli government decision to host Tommy Robinson will widen the growing gulf between the Netanyahu government and the British public, including the broad majority of Jews in Britain (3/4 of whom dsapproved of Netanyahu, before this new link to this anti-Muslim racist UK far right convict).
October 3, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Alleged sex offenders should not be out on bail! It's a serious offence!!
That makes him the second person to launch a recent terrorist attack in Britain while under investigation for sex offences

The previous one was Callum Parslow, a neo-Nazi who stabbed an asylum seeker during an attack on a hotel he believed was housing migrants
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Revealed: English neo-Nazi who stabbed asylum seeker was serial stalker
Terrorist Callum Parslow was previously jailed for sending 10 women sexually explicit and misogynistic messages, and targeted a former GB News presenter
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
I do genuinely feel for politicians (almost everywhere) having to grapple with the fact that the longer you keep people alive, the more they cost - literally exponentially - whilst everyone wants to live a long time and keep their loved ones alive, and no one wants to pay for it.
September 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Uurgh. This gives me the heebie-jeebies. Digital surveillance by the state & whichever tech corporation gets the lucrative contract, social exclusion of people who are not IT literate, woeful track record of public IT projects, risk of hacking... Sorry, no I don't want this.
September 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Not a significant change in fortunes then? Furthermore it would unleash all manner of angst & strife & be a huge distraction from the important business of, y'know, governing the country.
Excl: Labour would take a two-point lead over Reform with Andy Burnham as leader, new More In Common polling shows. www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
September 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Stark statistics about the benefit cap & who is affected (families with children).
New DWP data today shows 123,000 families – including 103,000 (over 4 in 5) with children – had their Universal Credit reduced by the benefit cap in May 2025.

This eats into UC’s already inadequate basic rate, pulling it further below what’s needed to afford life's essentials. 1/6
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
This! It's infuriating. Even though its bunkun, the news coverage will have sewn seeds of doubt in some pregnant women's minds.
Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins?

He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions.

So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?
September 24, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Why the ideas here might help, substack.com/@jpspencer/n...
Pride and Prosperity
Restoring civic power
substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
There are 4.24m people with Indefinite Leave to Remain (or equivalent).

82% are in work, compared with 74% of Britons

3.8m are in relationships with Britons

They have about 2.4m British-born children.

This bullshit is never going to happen. Again.

But...

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Reform branded ‘threat to democracy’ over Farage plan to remove thousands of migrants with leave to be in UK – politics live
Nigel Farage says Reform UK would scrap the main route that migrants take to gain British citizenship
www.theguardian.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Today marks the start of #OrganDonationWeek 2025. This week, it’s really important that you consider your wishes about organ donation, register a decision on the ODR and tell your loved ones - #LeaveThemCertain #YesIDoNate
Home
If you needed an organ transplant would you have one? If so please help those in need of a transplant by opting to donate organs and tissue.
www.organdonation.nhs.uk
September 22, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
I like this. I really like this.

It exposes the rank hypocrisy of these ‘patriots’.

Kudos to whoever wrote it via @thelondoneconomic.bsky.social
September 21, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
Having said that, who will *in practice* be asked for them, if ‘immigration enforcement’ is the purpose for which they will be used?

People who ‘look like’ or ‘sound like’ they might be here illegally. That is, black or brown people, people with ‘foreign accents’ or foreign names. 3/10
September 21, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Kerry Ferguson
The latest average monthly wage data means the UK state pension will rise by at least 4.7% next year under the Triple Lock.

The lock is supposed to protect and boost the real income of pensioners.

But it’s worth noting that pensioners - as a group - are not as poor as they used to be...🧵

1/11
September 16, 2025 at 3:20 PM