Still think lowering the personal allowance (but compensating low income families by reintroducing tax credits), and letting thresholds rise with inflation for the rest of the parliament is what I would have gone for
The continued weird thing about this year's budget and the last is the...'you do understand that you have to get *re-elected* in 2028-9, right?'
I think a government in a stronger political position would have been prepared to be bolder at the moment.
November 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Still think lowering the personal allowance (but compensating low income families by reintroducing tax credits), and letting thresholds rise with inflation for the rest of the parliament is what I would have gone for
We need AV!
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
Westminster Voting Intention:
RFM: 25% (-2)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (+1)
GRN: 16% (-1)
LDM: 15% (+2)
SNP: 3% (=)
Via @yougov.co.uk, 23-24 Nov.
Changes w/ 16-17 Nov.
RFM: 25% (-2)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (+1)
GRN: 16% (-1)
LDM: 15% (+2)
SNP: 3% (=)
Via @yougov.co.uk, 23-24 Nov.
Changes w/ 16-17 Nov.
November 26, 2025 at 9:10 AM
We need AV!
Reposted by N 🌹
I take to agree with this in general. The two huge risks are it being done in a panic because of a huge backlog and the fact that it seems to have dropped from the sky for most people and you really, really want them to have thought hard about the whats and whys of this.
I struggle with how much of the commentary which implies that our European neighbours are dreadful places ruled by judicial autocracy. But as @nwylabour.bsky.social says, it does not help that the government has done so little to build goodwill and has blundered on other 'reforms'.
November 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I take to agree with this in general. The two huge risks are it being done in a panic because of a huge backlog and the fact that it seems to have dropped from the sky for most people and you really, really want them to have thought hard about the whats and whys of this.
I'm sorry, I feel like I'm going mad here. For crying out loud, the vast majority of democracies don't make extensive use of jury trials!
November 26, 2025 at 8:11 AM
I'm sorry, I feel like I'm going mad here. For crying out loud, the vast majority of democracies don't make extensive use of jury trials!
Reposted by N 🌹
Fundamentally this is a form of devolution: a local tax under local democratic control. Why should that be controversial? If the locals don't want to charge it, they don't have to!
November 25, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Fundamentally this is a form of devolution: a local tax under local democratic control. Why should that be controversial? If the locals don't want to charge it, they don't have to!
Reposted by N 🌹
Tourist taxes are widely applied in places around the world, there is plenty of data that can be used for a discussion rather than just people's personal feelings and guesses!
November 25, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Tourist taxes are widely applied in places around the world, there is plenty of data that can be used for a discussion rather than just people's personal feelings and guesses!
Still getting annoyed with all the hyperventilating British exceptionalism on this
I am somewhat sceptical of this new suggestion of going beyond the Leveson recommendations on reducing the number of jury trials, but I am getting a little annoyed at all the (IMO) excessive outrage on here over it
November 25, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Still getting annoyed with all the hyperventilating British exceptionalism on this
This is why most of this government's attempts at reform will fail, in a nutshell.
The pervasive sense that policy is being made reactively, rather than proactively, is slowly gnawing away at the government's bandwidth to get anything done.
The pervasive sense that policy is being made reactively, rather than proactively, is slowly gnawing away at the government's bandwidth to get anything done.
I half agree, insofar as I think we should do it because it's the right thing to do, not simply to reduce the backlog.
It's understandable that people are sceptical because the government is giving the impression of making policy reactively rather than proactively.
It's understandable that people are sceptical because the government is giving the impression of making policy reactively rather than proactively.
November 25, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This is why most of this government's attempts at reform will fail, in a nutshell.
The pervasive sense that policy is being made reactively, rather than proactively, is slowly gnawing away at the government's bandwidth to get anything done.
The pervasive sense that policy is being made reactively, rather than proactively, is slowly gnawing away at the government's bandwidth to get anything done.
I am somewhat sceptical of this new suggestion of going beyond the Leveson recommendations on reducing the number of jury trials, but I am getting a little annoyed at all the (IMO) excessive outrage on here over it
November 25, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I am somewhat sceptical of this new suggestion of going beyond the Leveson recommendations on reducing the number of jury trials, but I am getting a little annoyed at all the (IMO) excessive outrage on here over it
I'd love to see how Polanski would react if you explained to him that Sweden has no inheritance tax, one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the world, and that its equivalent of council tax is capped at £800 annually per house
November 25, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I'd love to see how Polanski would react if you explained to him that Sweden has no inheritance tax, one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the world, and that its equivalent of council tax is capped at £800 annually per house
Reposted by N 🌹
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
ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Piano in the Dark" by Brenda Russell
YouTube video by Todd in the Shadows
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 10:27 PM
British economic policy failings aside, Darlington and Gliwice aren't particularly good comparators.
The former is a town of about 100,000 people which doesn't form part of a larger urban area, whereas the latter is a component of the 2nd largest urban area in Poland (2.5 million people).
The former is a town of about 100,000 people which doesn't form part of a larger urban area, whereas the latter is a component of the 2nd largest urban area in Poland (2.5 million people).
Over at the Daily Telegraph, they're scratching their heads as to why the former mining and steel producinv city of Gliwice in Poland is now 45% more prosperous than Darlington... and why it has new shiny infrastructure... without mentioning EU funds for urban and regional development...
November 24, 2025 at 9:21 PM
British economic policy failings aside, Darlington and Gliwice aren't particularly good comparators.
The former is a town of about 100,000 people which doesn't form part of a larger urban area, whereas the latter is a component of the 2nd largest urban area in Poland (2.5 million people).
The former is a town of about 100,000 people which doesn't form part of a larger urban area, whereas the latter is a component of the 2nd largest urban area in Poland (2.5 million people).
Weather has now sufficiently wintry that I can listen to this fantastic record
open.spotify.com/album/5X0MAn...
open.spotify.com/album/5X0MAn...
Everything Harmony
open.spotify.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Weather has now sufficiently wintry that I can listen to this fantastic record
open.spotify.com/album/5X0MAn...
open.spotify.com/album/5X0MAn...
Die My Love – a brilliant, if unremittingly intense portrait of a woman experiencing post-partum psychosis
November 24, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Die My Love – a brilliant, if unremittingly intense portrait of a woman experiencing post-partum psychosis
This is especially true IMO as the cost of running rail services increases (through the Baumol effect)
Essentially the best way to run a railway is for it to be owned by a development corporation, and then frankly whether that corporation is state owned or privately owned is sort of a much of a muchness:
The missing piece in Labour’s rail renationalisation scheme
Whether trains are public or private is not the deal-breaker for a well-functioning service — it is about a better delivery model
www.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:45 AM
This is especially true IMO as the cost of running rail services increases (through the Baumol effect)
Reposted by N 🌹
Arguably the development corporation model was also what a lot of the pre-1948 railways also ran on, whereas in the nationalised era BR sold off a lot of its portfolio for much less than they could have got for it with a bit of strategic thinking.
November 24, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Arguably the development corporation model was also what a lot of the pre-1948 railways also ran on, whereas in the nationalised era BR sold off a lot of its portfolio for much less than they could have got for it with a bit of strategic thinking.
Public service broadcasting should be retooled specifically to correct for this market failure IMO
This chart (which applies even more to social media than it did to TV) lives in my head rent free.
Social media enveloping traditional media means everything and everyone is now competing in the entertainment market. Boring stuff like policy that affects millions of lives doesn’t stand a chance.
Social media enveloping traditional media means everything and everyone is now competing in the entertainment market. Boring stuff like policy that affects millions of lives doesn’t stand a chance.
November 23, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Public service broadcasting should be retooled specifically to correct for this market failure IMO
My score is 11
(I'm 24)
(I'm 24)
My score is 1. And I still use paper maps sometimes. I’ve become an old fogey haven’t I?
7 (I am 37; I am counting any rental video store as a Blockbuster as they weren't common here).
November 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
My score is 11
(I'm 24)
(I'm 24)
What lots of people fail to realise is that the main benefit of privatisation is that you can increase the revenue-raising capacity of something without the government getting the blame
"You know how British Rail was starved of investment because governments kept prices artificially low? And how privatisation has seen ridership increase with increased ticket prices underpinning much needed investment?
Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"
Well, we've nationalised it again, so we can go back to freezing ticket prices!"
November 23, 2025 at 2:48 PM
What lots of people fail to realise is that the main benefit of privatisation is that you can increase the revenue-raising capacity of something without the government getting the blame
I'd say this was quite perceptive.
It's perfectly possible to be intensely weird and neurodivergent and be a successful PM – but you can't be scared of what people are going to think of you.
It's perfectly possible to be intensely weird and neurodivergent and be a successful PM – but you can't be scared of what people are going to think of you.
dawg my Prime Minister actually has social anxiety this is incredible
an extremely weird man
November 22, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I'd say this was quite perceptive.
It's perfectly possible to be intensely weird and neurodivergent and be a successful PM – but you can't be scared of what people are going to think of you.
It's perfectly possible to be intensely weird and neurodivergent and be a successful PM – but you can't be scared of what people are going to think of you.
Yes, and this is also why the decision on the Winter Fuel Allowance was so damaging. WFA was a flagship Labour policy!
No wonder means-testing it (to save an ultimately pretty small amount of money) was disastrous
No wonder means-testing it (to save an ultimately pretty small amount of money) was disastrous
The tuition fees thing was not damaging bc they promised not to do it in writing but bc it had become what the Lib Dems are *for*. The equivalent would be if Labour privatised the NHS or the Lib Dems now somehow tripled the amount of river pollution
November 22, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Yes, and this is also why the decision on the Winter Fuel Allowance was so damaging. WFA was a flagship Labour policy!
No wonder means-testing it (to save an ultimately pretty small amount of money) was disastrous
No wonder means-testing it (to save an ultimately pretty small amount of money) was disastrous
Reposted by N 🌹
What happens is that the rent buys more. And since life is about more than £ that’s a huge welfare gain. Paying 1/3 of your income for a 200m2 mansion flat is not like paying 1/3 of your income for a house share.
November 22, 2025 at 10:49 AM
What happens is that the rent buys more. And since life is about more than £ that’s a huge welfare gain. Paying 1/3 of your income for a 200m2 mansion flat is not like paying 1/3 of your income for a house share.
Reposted by N 🌹
honestly biggest sign that this is personalist authoritarianism with a New Right wing attached versus the other way around
November 21, 2025 at 9:27 PM
honestly biggest sign that this is personalist authoritarianism with a New Right wing attached versus the other way around
I've been blown away by the reception this got!
I will try to write something else soon, but I can't promise I'll post regularly. Busy with lots of other things at the moment.
I will try to write something else soon, but I can't promise I'll post regularly. Busy with lots of other things at the moment.
Finally got round to setting up a Substack! And I've published the piece I shared with a few of you last month - on the intellectual crisis within Labour's liberal wing.
thenewsocialdemocrat.substack.com/p/intellectu...
thenewsocialdemocrat.substack.com/p/intellectu...
Intellectually adrift, where does Labour’s liberal wing go from here?
The tradition of Gaitskell, Crosland, Jenkins, Blair and Brown stands at a crossroads.
thenewsocialdemocrat.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I've been blown away by the reception this got!
I will try to write something else soon, but I can't promise I'll post regularly. Busy with lots of other things at the moment.
I will try to write something else soon, but I can't promise I'll post regularly. Busy with lots of other things at the moment.