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Reposted by Rob Blackie

Zoë Crowther @zoecrowther.bsky.social · 4h

Lib Dem deputy leader @libdemdaisy.bsky.social asked Keir Starmer whether he would commission the security services to "assess the threat that Elon Musk poses to our democracy"

Her question at #PMQs comes after Tommy Robinson claimed Elon Musk was paying his legal costs

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 5h

Wind turbine blade manufacturers. Huge industry, very concentrated, very high tech - and growing fast because it underpins the energy transition.

Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 5h

A friend swears by those body fat scanners that allow you to see your actual muscle, bones, fat etc.

A lot of money - but surely there's a feature in it?

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 6h

Credit to China though - they seem to be doing pretty well at turning the corner.

And credit to Brazil for cutting emissions very fast for a big country.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 6h

This is a great league table of countries doing well /badly on climate change.

Terrible: South Africa, Russia, India

Sluggish: China, USA

Not bad: EU

Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 8h

In contrast, China does NOT lead the world in how fast it's adding clean energy in relation to the size of its energy market, and most definitely does not lead the world in how clean its energy or power mix is.

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Reposted by Rob Blackie

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 15h

The key thing to understand why the BCR and the BSA are so bad is that they are primarily about finding a way to blame someone other than the government for failures of regulation. Hence: oh, a second staircase, because you can see whether a building has one just by eyeballing it.

Left Outside @leftoutside.bsky.social · 18h

The impact assessment for a second staircase is mental. Why is it recommends to spend £3bn to get £9mn of benefit? The low case BCR is 0.0002. What???

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 19h

This policy misses the point that learning English is a big draw for workers!

Reposted by Rob Blackie

Tim Leunig @timleunig.bsky.social · 20h

Yes, with an emphasis on lots more houses in London, where all measures of affordability show they are most needed.

Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Fixing the cost of living crisis isn't easy but it is fairly obvious how to make some progress:

1. Lots more housing > lower rents & house prices
2. Rejoin the Single Market > lower food prices & lower overall prices because the inputs to everything are cheaper.

Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 1d

“I think politicians are ignoring prices and bills and hoping we’ll forget about them and find something else to complain about…”

My report on how the flighty Westminster bubble forgot about the cost-of-living crisis, which certainly isn't over:

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 19h

I absolutely love it. I was staring at it on my wall just a couple of hours ago!

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 22h

Virtually no new houses are being sold in London right now - the current & previous government's policies have utterly failed.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Quite extraordinary behaviour by Labour in Lambeth:

www.brixtonbuzz.com/2025/10/lamb...

Lambeth Labour slammed for ‘ludicrous’ plan to appoint councillor charged with sexual offences to Investigations Committee

Lambeth Labour is facing fresh outrage after it emerged that the party plans to appoint Cllr Irfan Mohammed – who is currently facing trial for alleged sexual assault, exposure, and coercive …

www.brixtonbuzz.com

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

3. Lots more green energy > lower energy prices.

To unlock these you need the political courage to:

a) Make the planning system less of a block on building.
b) Get closer to the EU
c) Be comfortable with immigration from the builders we would need to build on this scale.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Fixing the cost of living crisis isn't easy but it is fairly obvious how to make some progress:

1. Lots more housing > lower rents & house prices
2. Rejoin the Single Market > lower food prices & lower overall prices because the inputs to everything are cheaper.

Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 1d

“I think politicians are ignoring prices and bills and hoping we’ll forget about them and find something else to complain about…”

My report on how the flighty Westminster bubble forgot about the cost-of-living crisis, which certainly isn't over:

Energy bills rise while Westminster talks immigration

Why have our politicians forgotten about the cost-of-living crisis?

www.newstatesman.com

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Kind of interesting that it hasn't taken off more already given the high returns.

My solar, currently being installed, is projected at 8% returns - and that's tax free - so an extraordinarily good rate.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Presumably, by now we can look back and get a sense of what the actual risk transfer was?

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Starlink is harder because the competitive alternatives are lacking...

Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

The British government has lots of points of pressure on him - which are currently entirely unused:

a) Advertising money from Twitter, b) Sales of Teslas, c) Starlink sales from the UK.

All of these can be targets given his incitement to criminality.

Two of these are easy too.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

A while back the NAO quantified this for HS1.

If I remember right it was about £50m for the privilege of keeping it off balance sheet.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

If you doubt we have the power, consider that he gets a) Advertising money from Twitter, b) Sales of Teslas, c) Starlink sales from the UK.

All of these can be targets given his incitement to criminality.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

The cowardice, or incompetence, of the British government on Elon Musk is incredible.

We have the power to stop him interfering in our politics - we just need to do it.

Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 1d

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka ”Tommy Robinson,” says Tesla CEO Elon Musk is paying his legal bills.

Robinson says Musk is paying his legal costs in counterterrorism trial

Far-right activist accused of refusing to give his mobile phone pin to police

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Rob Blackie

Liberal Democrats @libdems.org.uk · 1d

"Everyone who protested, wrote to their MPs, shouted at the TV...we have to work towards that two-state solution."

@LaylaMoran.bsky.social

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Nice to see some actual research on young people - rather than prejudice.

On the whole, Gen Z is a liberal generation - keeping with the pattern of society getting more liberal over time.

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 1d

🧵/ Our major new study on young men, masculinity, and misogyny questions the extent to which Gen Z men are really more likely to hold misogynist views than older generations of men

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

This morning I stumbled on the Google Maps reviews for the Lib Dem HQ - and it does not disappoint.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting fact in that article: £50m reseller fee is probably going to mean that they pay zero UK tax, given the revenue figures you reported.

Some people might perceive that as tax evasion.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 1d

Ok that's true - but I think my shorthand was a reasonable description - which is that *if you are asked today* then you need to provide some sort of ID to satisfy your landlord / employer - which is either your immigration status documents, passport etc.

An ID system wouldn't really change that.