Author | Lightnews

Reposted

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 5h

State support for UK banks

Bailouts: Govts found £1162bn (£133bn cash+£1,029bn guarantees) in 2008
£895bn QE
State is the lender of last resort
£85k bank deposit safety guarantee
PFI profits
£22bn a year interest on reserves deposited with Bank of England

Who else gets this level of state support?

Why the banking industry is not a paragon of free markets, efficiency, or honesty

Despite making record profits and paying record returns to shareholders it resents paying taxes.

leftfootforward.org

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dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: ICE is planning to build a shadow deportation network in Texas. A proposal outlines a 24/7 transport operation run by armed contractors—turning Texas into the logistical backbone of an industrialized deportation machine.

My latest @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/ice-is...

Early planning documents reviewed by WIRED describe a statewide transport grid designed for steady detainee transfers across Texas, with ICE estimating each trip to average 100 miles. Every county would have its own small, around-the-clock team of contractors collecting immigrants from local authorities deputized by ICE. It is a subtle transfer of the physical custody process into the hands of a private security firm—authorized to carry firearms and perform transport duties “in any and all local, county, state, and ICE locations.”

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 2d

Remember that occasion Biden wandered off, and the Prime Minister of Italy led him back? And this was 'further proof of Biden's cognitive decline'? Yeah...

suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 3d

That poor woman 🤣🤣🤣

suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 4d

Same goes for Kindle. Other, better, ereaders are available. And Kindle deals are often publisher deals you can get elsewhere too, like on Kobo for instance. Only, with Kobo etc you own the book. With Kindle you have a licence to read the book, but you don't own it - you can't download it.

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jeffreyalexander07.bsky.social @jeffreyalexander07.bsky.social · 5d

FUCK BEZOS...every way you can!!

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 4d

On the A148 approaching Fakenham? Perhaps not.

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Helen @seryndippyt.bsky.social · 4d

Same with benefits in the UK. The vast majority of people claiming benefits either cannot work (children, the elderly and the disabled) or ARE ALREADY WORKING and the companies are paying dividends and CEO wages letting the government fund their employees survival.

Krassensteins @krassenstein.bsky.social · 4d

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 4d

This is what tolerance of anti-migrant political rhetoric leads to. A surge in racial abuse against nurses and care workers. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Racist incidents against UK nurses surge by 55%

Royal College of Nursing calls on government to stop using anti-migrant rhetoric, which it says emboldens racist behaviour

www.theguardian.com

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 4d

Somebody making lots of profits though! Isn't that a good thing? Or am I getting it wrong...

suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 4d

I was driving earlier and saw, in the hedgerow by the road, a hawthorn covered in deep red haws and purple leaves, next to a bright yellow leaved young sycamore, both against that beautiful blue sky. I wish I could have stopped to take a photo.

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 6d

I don't do horror movies, but I've seen The Others 3 times. So creepy, and so sad.

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 6d

Such busyness!

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The Bear @bearlypolitics.co.uk · 9d

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about this idea of “giving more than you take.”

I have been in the incredibly privileged position most of my adult life that I’ve been able to fall on the “giving” side of that ledger. Not because I think that makes me virtuous or morally superior in any way, but because it feels like a simple civic contract.

The “surplus” that I am able to generate - in time, work, taxes, empathy - feeds into something larger that others who are not so lucky can draw from when they need to.

Which, correct me if I’m wrong, is the whole point of society, isn’t it?

Those who can, give a little more - those who can’t take a little more, and both are equally valid parts of the same social organism.

I think that the problem is that this balance has become a moral test. “Do you give more than you take?” has become a central question thrown around not only of economic worth, but now also of belonging. The moment we start using this argument as a basis for immigration policy - or for determining who deserves safety, healthcare or dignity - we stop being a society, and become something far more transactional.

The UK didn’t build the NHS, public education or the social contract on an assumption that every citizen would be in perpetual profit - it built them on trust and the idea that we each give as much as we can, when we can, because one day we might be in the position of needing to “take.”

I have been lucky enough to be on the giving side, but luck is not a character, and it’s definitely not permanence. The only thing that separates the “giver” and the “taker” is circumstance - and circumstance can change with one diagnosis, a redundancy or death.

Our politics would do well to remember that.

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 9d

open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

"They Will Also Need to Go Home"

A sitting Conservative MP has introduced a bill that would make lawful residents deportable for earning under £38,700 - and Britain’s political class is barely blinking.

open.substack.com

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Ed Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 9d

People who have come to the United Kingdom legally, played by the rules and made it their home do not need to “go home”. This is their home.

I've written to Kemi Badenoch to give her the chance to reject these divisive calls from her frontbencher Katie Lam.

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 9d

People like Katie Lam MP make me ashamed to be British.
open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

"They Will Also Need to Go Home"

A sitting Conservative MP has introduced a bill that would make lawful residents deportable for earning under £38,700 - and Britain’s political class is barely blinking.

open.substack.com

Reposted

Dave Lee @davelee.me · 10d

WELL HOW ABOUT THAT

"A millionaire levy in Massachusetts has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state."

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts

A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...

www.bloomberg.com

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 10d

Yeah, well it'd be hard to tell the difference as so few of them seem to do anything requiring brain activity. It'd be a handy indicator for lunchtime though 👍

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Shirls @holmfirthartist.bsky.social · 11d

*GDPR face*

Why are UK government departments and companies connecting to AWS in the US?

🤔

news.sky.com/story/whats-...

What's affected by internet outage - all we know so far

In the US alone, there have been more than 2,000 reports of an outage connected to Amazon Web Services.

news.sky.com

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 10d

Starts with the kids, but it'll be workers next. Ba$tards

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Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 10d

With the spotlight on Prince Andrew’s alleged conduct, it’s worth re-reading @diane2v.bsky.social’s take on the Epstein birthday book—why does the media coverage focus on the men instead of the girls?

Epstein’s birthday book and the girls with no names

On the central cruelty of the ‘The First Fifty Years’ albums

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 12d

The reality of power follows the Kent dream bit.ly/47gu4is the Reform council has abandoned promises to cut council tax x- it will rise by the maximum allowed - and the chain saw of spending cuts has found nothing to bite on

‘Suck it up’: leaked video exposes bitter infighting at Reform UK’s flagship Kent council

Exclusive: Footage reveals Kent leader berating councillors amid rows over budgets and bullying claims

bit.ly

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suetthemam.bsky.social @suetthemam.bsky.social · 13d

My Cambs village has one in, one out on market day. Otherwise it's a 2.5-mile walk on the road - no footpath - to the next village, which has a more regular service.

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Oliver @oliver48.bsky.social · 13d

Billionaire property developers
dictate Labour policy ...

"Housing developers given green light to build less 'affordable' homes"
morningstaronline.co.uk/article/hous...

Housing developers given green light to build less 'affordable' homes

HOUSING developers in London will be allowed to reduce the number of so-called affordable homes they build under government plans to boost housebuilding in the capital, it was revealed today.Housing S...

morningstaronline.co.uk

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