Marina
@marstrina.bsky.social
I'm sorry to be so difficult, but I'm afraid the truth is that I am.
This framing strikes me as slightly perverse. The person in Sunderland would still be paying about £17K & the person in Westminster about £100K, which is good because it's probably more proportional to their income, but also bad because the housing market is still dictating local authority income.
Even after the mansion tax is applied, the owner of a £5m home in Westminster will pay proportionately less in property tax than the owner of a £210k Band B property in Sunderland.
November 26, 2025 at 3:54 PM
This framing strikes me as slightly perverse. The person in Sunderland would still be paying about £17K & the person in Westminster about £100K, which is good because it's probably more proportional to their income, but also bad because the housing market is still dictating local authority income.
Reposted by Marina
This is great news. Place-based budgeting could help to substantially reduce duplicative spending by different public bodies, allowing a greater focus on prevention and delivering much better outcomes
These (and other) pilots are really positive. Govt must use SR27 to make this way of working BAU
These (and other) pilots are really positive. Govt must use SR27 to make this way of working BAU
Really pleased to see a new commitment to place-based budgets today. Further progress towards the implementation of 'Total Place' principles as urged with @jesstud.bsky.social a couple of years ago. www.newlocal.org.uk/publications....
November 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This is great news. Place-based budgeting could help to substantially reduce duplicative spending by different public bodies, allowing a greater focus on prevention and delivering much better outcomes
These (and other) pilots are really positive. Govt must use SR27 to make this way of working BAU
These (and other) pilots are really positive. Govt must use SR27 to make this way of working BAU
Found out in passing today that Margaret Thatcher's first legislative initiative as a backbencher MP was a law that obliged local authorities to be open to media scrutiny. How the world turns...
Reform UK hate media scrutiny. There will be more of this.
I’d ban media again says Reform council chief
www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2025/news/id...
I’d ban media again says Reform council chief
www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2025/news/id...
I'd ban media again says Reform council chief - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage
Councillors debate press freedom after news blackout
www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Found out in passing today that Margaret Thatcher's first legislative initiative as a backbencher MP was a law that obliged local authorities to be open to media scrutiny. How the world turns...
🤷
I thought Badenoch wanted to restore the Tories' fortunes by focusing on their economic plans, but instead LOTO has chosen BUDGET DAY to do little but sneer, jeer and personally attack?
November 26, 2025 at 2:02 PM
🤷
This are the biggest (2 child limit) & smallest (no broadbased tax rises) announcements of this budget.
Time will tell whether the careful tacking between debt servicing reduction & softening austerity will pay off in 2029. Closer to home I'm not sure that this budget is going to help 2026 locals.
Time will tell whether the careful tacking between debt servicing reduction & softening austerity will pay off in 2029. Closer to home I'm not sure that this budget is going to help 2026 locals.
No increases to rates of income tax, national insurance and vat.
List of things to help children and families made - free school meals, breakfast clubs, childcare.
Tory 2-child benefits cap scrapped. It didn't do what it aimed to achieve & pushed families in to poverty. In full, from April.
23/n
List of things to help children and families made - free school meals, breakfast clubs, childcare.
Tory 2-child benefits cap scrapped. It didn't do what it aimed to achieve & pushed families in to poverty. In full, from April.
23/n
November 26, 2025 at 1:51 PM
This are the biggest (2 child limit) & smallest (no broadbased tax rises) announcements of this budget.
Time will tell whether the careful tacking between debt servicing reduction & softening austerity will pay off in 2029. Closer to home I'm not sure that this budget is going to help 2026 locals.
Time will tell whether the careful tacking between debt servicing reduction & softening austerity will pay off in 2029. Closer to home I'm not sure that this budget is going to help 2026 locals.
"If I were Keir Starmer I would simply not have a stagnant economy and a political climate dominated by the sclerotic preoccupations of an aging population."
this is the core of my Starmer/Labour complaint -- not what's analogous to the US but what isn't
the UK is a country in truly dire straits, an economy that has barely grown for 20 years
Labour needed to take drastic action and they had five years of runway to see it take root
but, instead,,,
the UK is a country in truly dire straits, an economy that has barely grown for 20 years
Labour needed to take drastic action and they had five years of runway to see it take root
but, instead,,,
November 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
"If I were Keir Starmer I would simply not have a stagnant economy and a political climate dominated by the sclerotic preoccupations of an aging population."
Whoa
NEW: Former Reform MEP Nathan Gill is sentenced to 10.5 years at the Old Bailey on 8 counts of bribery by a Russian agent.
The "ultimate source" of the funds came from "a close friend of Vladimir Putin," said Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb. Here is the evidence…
The "ultimate source" of the funds came from "a close friend of Vladimir Putin," said Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb. Here is the evidence…
November 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Whoa
This is not unique to the Home Office. It's how all central and local government consultations work. They are consultations on a proposed policy, not brain storming group exercises.
Worth remembering given the proposed ILR changes are going to be announced today. A "consultation" by the Home Office is usually 'this is what we want to do, how can we implement it?' rather than 'these are the various options we are thinking about, which do you prefer and why?'.
November 20, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This is not unique to the Home Office. It's how all central and local government consultations work. They are consultations on a proposed policy, not brain storming group exercises.
These so-called "talks" are a humiliation ritual serving Putin's psychopathy at this point.
🇺🇦 Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with top Pentagon officials in Kyiv on Thursday, his office said, as details emerge of a US plan to end the war with Moscow on terms favourable to the Kremlin.
➡️ u.afp.com/Sntv
➡️ u.afp.com/Sntv
November 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
These so-called "talks" are a humiliation ritual serving Putin's psychopathy at this point.
Reposted by Marina
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
The CDC website now disseminates disinformation about vaccines, claiming erroneously that infant vaccines might cause autism, when we know conclusively that they do not. It is difficult to overstate just how dangerous this is. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
November 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
Reposted by Marina
Leonard Cohen Labour party soft left loyalist confimed
November 19, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Leonard Cohen Labour party soft left loyalist confimed
Happy "but when is International Men's Day" to all who celebrate.
a poster for male pride with a rainbow flag
ALT: a poster for male pride with a rainbow flag
media.tenor.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Happy "but when is International Men's Day" to all who celebrate.
Reposted by Marina
As a man, nothing will turn you into a radical feminist faster than the first time you're shown the twitter mentions and DM requests of literally any woman on the internet.
We don't need a Joe Rogan of the left. We need Bryan to see what his sister's LinkedIn Message Requests folder looks like.
We don't need a Joe Rogan of the left. We need Bryan to see what his sister's LinkedIn Message Requests folder looks like.
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 18, 2025 at 4:55 PM
As a man, nothing will turn you into a radical feminist faster than the first time you're shown the twitter mentions and DM requests of literally any woman on the internet.
We don't need a Joe Rogan of the left. We need Bryan to see what his sister's LinkedIn Message Requests folder looks like.
We don't need a Joe Rogan of the left. We need Bryan to see what his sister's LinkedIn Message Requests folder looks like.
Reposted by Marina
My favourite year for oppressed literary masculinity was 2023 when the number of women on the Booker shortlist was smaller than the number of men named Paul
Exactly one woman has won the Booker in the past six years www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
November 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
My favourite year for oppressed literary masculinity was 2023 when the number of women on the Booker shortlist was smaller than the number of men named Paul
Reposted by Marina
She was always THE woman. Looking right at you from 1590: Infanta Catalina Micaela (almost surely), painted by Sofonisba Anguissola (probably). Surely one of the greatest renaissance portraits.
November 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM
She was always THE woman. Looking right at you from 1590: Infanta Catalina Micaela (almost surely), painted by Sofonisba Anguissola (probably). Surely one of the greatest renaissance portraits.
Reposted by Marina
Today marks the 400th anniversary of the passing of Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. Read about the artist on the #ArtHerstory blog -
Sofonisba Anguissola in Enschede, an Exhibition Review
by Erika Gaffney with Cara Verona Viglucci
artherstory.net/sofonisba-an...
Sofonisba Anguissola in Enschede, an Exhibition Review
by Erika Gaffney with Cara Verona Viglucci
artherstory.net/sofonisba-an...
Sofonisba Anguissola in Enschede | An Exhibition Review
This post reviews the exhibition Sofonisba Anguissola: Portraitist of the Renaissance, presented at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Spring 2023.
artherstory.net
November 16, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Today marks the 400th anniversary of the passing of Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. Read about the artist on the #ArtHerstory blog -
Sofonisba Anguissola in Enschede, an Exhibition Review
by Erika Gaffney with Cara Verona Viglucci
artherstory.net/sofonisba-an...
Sofonisba Anguissola in Enschede, an Exhibition Review
by Erika Gaffney with Cara Verona Viglucci
artherstory.net/sofonisba-an...
Get fucked why don't you. I've been trying to get a museum sign moved from one side of a door to another in a listed building for the past year. If anything is an altar - & this is a metaphor that actually works - it's the UK's increasing number of crumbling, unaffordable, unusable listed buildings.
Buildings of all historical periods have been sacrificed on the altar of ‘build, baby, build’.
✍️ Calvin Po
✍️ Calvin Po
Labour's war on heritage
Britain’s heritage is slowly going up in smoke. Medlock Mill was Manchester’s oldest standing textile mill until it burnt down in June. It joins Grade I-listed Woolton Hall – destroyed by a catastrophic...
www.spectator.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Get fucked why don't you. I've been trying to get a museum sign moved from one side of a door to another in a listed building for the past year. If anything is an altar - & this is a metaphor that actually works - it's the UK's increasing number of crumbling, unaffordable, unusable listed buildings.
There are two animal charities and zero women's, DVA, VAWG or sexual violence charities on this list. Just in case one needed a demonstration of who & what it's trendy to care about in this society
FYI: The BBC has revealed the charities #TheCelebrityTraitors were all competing for, with links so that you can donate.
November 14, 2025 at 10:27 PM
There are two animal charities and zero women's, DVA, VAWG or sexual violence charities on this list. Just in case one needed a demonstration of who & what it's trendy to care about in this society
Reposted by Marina
Another grim night in Kyiv. Six people were killed and dozens injured after Russian drones and ballistic missiles hit the Ukrainian capital. Our hotel shook. As ever, Vladimir Putin is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in a campaign of murder & terror www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Russian attacks on Kyiv ‘calculated and wicked’, says Zelenskyy
Pictures posted on social media showed different sites in flames and residents gathering in rubble-strewn streets outside apartment buildings
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Another grim night in Kyiv. Six people were killed and dozens injured after Russian drones and ballistic missiles hit the Ukrainian capital. Our hotel shook. As ever, Vladimir Putin is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in a campaign of murder & terror www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
If still feels unfair that statistically I'm more likely to be alone for the test of my life after a breakup in my early 50s than a man after a breakup in his late 60s.
Separated and divorced men often find another woman to live with quickly because they are in shock about how hard life is when they haven't got a wife doing everything for them. Divorced women usually find life easier without the extra load.
November 14, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If still feels unfair that statistically I'm more likely to be alone for the test of my life after a breakup in my early 50s than a man after a breakup in his late 60s.
Reposted by Marina
What exactly is the Chancellor going to do?
November 14, 2025 at 4:49 PM
What exactly is the Chancellor going to do?
Reposted by Marina
America's network of democratic alliances was a jewel. Never before had a great power relied on cultivating voluntary relationships, leading to the richest, most powerful country in history, and benefitting the world relative to the alternative.
Then America decided to throw it away. And for what?
Then America decided to throw it away. And for what?
Homan: "I don't think the UK is a friend to this country and friend of the president"
November 14, 2025 at 6:38 PM
America's network of democratic alliances was a jewel. Never before had a great power relied on cultivating voluntary relationships, leading to the richest, most powerful country in history, and benefitting the world relative to the alternative.
Then America decided to throw it away. And for what?
Then America decided to throw it away. And for what?
Reposted by Marina
Prime example of why the contract between the public and the police is breaking down, regardless of long term crime trends. Thames Valley Police don’t even think it’s their job to investigate this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Kidlington fly-tipping: Criminals dump mountain of waste in field
The enormous pile of rubbish is called an
www.bbc.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Prime example of why the contract between the public and the police is breaking down, regardless of long term crime trends. Thames Valley Police don’t even think it’s their job to investigate this. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jesus
A rapist described by the Metropolitan Police as “one of the most prolific sex offenders” ever seen has been given a life sentence for drugging, assaulting and filming multiple women
Xu Chao targeted Chinese students he met through his recruitment firm
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/w...
Xu Chao targeted Chinese students he met through his recruitment firm
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/w...
Rapist Believed to Be One of Britain’s Worst Sex Offenders Gets Life Sentence
www.nytimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Jesus