Jean-Luc Picard
voiceofpericles.bsky.social
Jean-Luc Picard
@voiceofpericles.bsky.social
Proctor ergo, proctor hoc - after this, therefore because of this.

Philosophy, economics, politics, football, Wales, UK, climate change, gaming, LOTR, Dinosaurs and the stars.
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
December 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
Anyone noticed how UK media is a lot less obsessed with Farage’s alleged antisemitism than Corbyn’s alleged antisemitism?

Odd that.
December 6, 2025 at 9:23 AM
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Truly shocking that Rachel Reeves had the audacity to call herself the U14 girls chess champions when she won the U14 girls chess championship but some bloke thought she was talking about something else.
December 3, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Nicked this from the ever wonderful Alex Andreou, Chris Mason waxing lyrical about the run up to Hunt's budget in February 2024, quite the contrast eh.
December 3, 2025 at 8:18 AM
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This is how Chris Mason, like a child filled with wonder, described "the choreography and theatre that surrounds a Budget" in Feb 2024, when a male Tory Chancellor was in post.

"Plans, or even just options, can be floated... Reaction to them can be tested. Opponents can be teased or wrongfooted." 👀
December 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
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Is Farage still facing scrutiny over his partner’s £885k Frinton home.

Is it aggressive tax avoidance? Has he misled voters? Where’s the transparency? What’s happening?

Just asking questions.

#FrintonGate
December 2, 2025 at 7:06 AM
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I wonder if it's time to retire the role of "political editor" altogether

Return most of the coverage to the Economics Editor, the Health Editor, the Home Affairs team & so on.

Leave the "who-said-what-to-whom" & "what-does-it-mean-for-the-polls" to others. The BBC doesn't need to foreground this.
Watched BBC 6 o clock news. Just a completely unserious broadcast. Chris Mason, acting like a children's entertainer, giving a prolonged impenetrable editorial. Not a whiff of informative content about the Budget or what it means for the country. Just playschool blah blah bollocks.
December 1, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Hang on a sec, if the OBR had not downgraded productivity by £16bn Rachel Reeves would have had £20bn fiscal headroom based on last years budget.

The exact amount most commentators said she should have budgeted for.

So.. she was right and everyone else was actually wrong?

@bestforbritain.org
December 1, 2025 at 2:39 PM
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Rats in a sack
December 1, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Another good episode this week.

I think I agree with @sturdyalex.bsky.social re 2028 election.

Interest rates will be about 3%, Govt borrowing costs down giving more headroom and allowing them to cancel the tax freeze. Masses of renewables due online by 2028, will be Net Zero on grid at times.
🆕 SPOILER ALERT - Unpicking the Budget 📈

The good stuff
The less good stuff
The economic rationale
The political consequences

Balance, humour, @pimlicat.bsky.social , @sturdyalex.bsky.social & top economist Vicky Pryce.

🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/05mP...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Unpicking the most-leaked Budget in history, with Vicky Pryce
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 26/11/2025 · 1h 18m
podcasts.apple.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
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“Speaking outside his chateau in France, former Brexit Party and UKIP MEP Coburn…”
Former Brexit Party MEP denies taking payment from pro-Russian campaign
A prominent former MEP for Nigel Farage's old party denies taking bribes in a pro-Russian campaign.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
And here's David Coburn again in the European Parliament accusing the EU of "unwarranted imperialism in the Ukraine"

Coburn denies taking any money from Russia to make these statements www.youtube.com/watch?v=52W7...
EU edges us closer to war with Russia while dictating to the Greek people - UKIP MEP David Coburn
YouTube video by UKIP MEPs
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
And Here's David Coburn on Russian state television accusing the EU of "interfering in the Russian sphere of influence" on Ukraine www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJS...
Russia today - David Coburn on Russia/Ukraine, March 2014
YouTube video by Liberty media
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
Here's UKIP's former Scottish leader David Coburn, who has denied taking Russian bribes after being named in Whatsapp messages between Nathan Gill and a pawn of the Putin administration, being applauded by Gill for arguing against Ukraine's entry to the EU
November 28, 2025 at 11:38 AM
A question for the Sunday supplement.

Why did Reeves get such bad press about her relatively small fiscal headroom but Hunt didn't?

Despite Hunt cutting NI and leaving himself even less fiscal headroom.

@bestforbritain.org
Despite a fiscal tightening, the Government only has plans to run a modest surplus in future.

Read 'Stairway to headroom' now ⤵️ buff.ly/U9ZeozU
November 27, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Interesting that Reeves has been hounded by critics over the relatively low fiscal headroom and yet I don't remember the same happening to Hunt, even when he cut NI despite it being unfeasible.

Why is that?
November 27, 2025 at 4:00 PM
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Woman to woman, I can tell Kemi she’s coming across as that really nasty cow at school who spends her time bitching and bullying other girls and ends up sitting on her own at lunch.
November 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
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🔥 Highly recommended that you all sign and share.

Link to the petition—> petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
November 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
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It was Kaja Kallas with the pistol in the library
EU: OK, show of hands, how can we sabotage this deal in 48h?
One Bloomberg journo: it's OK I got this fam
November 25, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
🚨The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has already passed 40,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done

Please sign and share 🙏
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
November 25, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Jean-Luc Picard
Woah.
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
November 25, 2025 at 9:57 AM
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The UK is losing up to £250m a day in lost tax revenue due to the economic impact of Brexit, House of Commons Library analysis for the Lib Dems suggests.

Brexit has blown a "black hole of [up to] £90 billion a year in the public finances" the party says. Even under lower estimates the hit is ~£65bn
November 25, 2025 at 10:33 AM
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Tusk slips the knife in right at the end.
November 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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So the line is that he wasn't getting paid for any of this
November 22, 2025 at 5:33 PM