Zach Elsbury
@zachelsbury.bsky.social
🏳️🌈 🇦🇺 - transport - politics - flying
Because that worked out well for the last lot …
The sheer cowardice from the leadership is utterly staggering.
The sheer cowardice from the leadership is utterly staggering.
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves says the government’s new trade deals will boost growth, after the Office for Budget Responsibility snubbed a request to count them in its growth forecast.
Reeves insists trade deals will grow economy despite snub by budget watchdog
The OBR refused the chancellor’s request to count the agreements in its growth forecast
www.politico.eu
November 27, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Because that worked out well for the last lot …
The sheer cowardice from the leadership is utterly staggering.
The sheer cowardice from the leadership is utterly staggering.
Backloading tax rises for an election year … fantastic politics from Reeves and Co.
Well done all. This definitely won’t end in tears - either for you or your successor.
Well done all. This definitely won’t end in tears - either for you or your successor.
The tax rises in this Budget’s are backloaded.
They're largely kick in in what is likely to be a pre-election year, somewhat implausibly.
They're largely kick in in what is likely to be a pre-election year, somewhat implausibly.
November 27, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Backloading tax rises for an election year … fantastic politics from Reeves and Co.
Well done all. This definitely won’t end in tears - either for you or your successor.
Well done all. This definitely won’t end in tears - either for you or your successor.
You can layer up, drink tea, or wrap up in a blanket in winter … there’s only so many layers you can take off in summer before you’re arrested and end up on a list.
Also -stares in HK summer-
Also -stares in HK summer-
want to go to the cinema but desperately trying to make it so I miss as few of our rare daylight hours as possible while in the dark room, people who love autumn and winter are such fucking freaks, my god
November 27, 2025 at 11:42 AM
You can layer up, drink tea, or wrap up in a blanket in winter … there’s only so many layers you can take off in summer before you’re arrested and end up on a list.
Also -stares in HK summer-
Also -stares in HK summer-
„Missed opportunity“ - the epitaph of the Starmer ministry.
Serious howls of outrage in the media this morning at what is a relatively modest Budget from Labour that does nothing more than fiddle around the margins.
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
November 27, 2025 at 8:58 AM
„Missed opportunity“ - the epitaph of the Starmer ministry.
Oh no, so sad.
‘I don’t live in a mansion. It’s a 1930s house’: Richmond residents react to council tax rise
‘I don’t live in a mansion. It’s a 1930s house’: Richmond residents react to council tax rise
Rachel Reeves’s new council tax surcharge on homes worth £2m or more earns mixed reception in well-heeled London borough
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Oh no, so sad.
Nothing quite like the current leadership snatching cowardice from the jaws of victory.
This is something they should have owned from the off - instead, they tried to triangulate their way around it before subtly abolishing it.
This is something they should have owned from the off - instead, they tried to triangulate their way around it before subtly abolishing it.
Whatever else this government do (and there's plenty of issues with this budget) ministers will always be able to point to this as an incredible important contribution to the country's future. Almost half a million kids taken out of poverty.
Scrapping the two-child limit in full is a monumental decision. Well done to all involved in the Child Poverty Strategy, and everyone who has made the case against the policy.
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Nothing quite like the current leadership snatching cowardice from the jaws of victory.
This is something they should have owned from the off - instead, they tried to triangulate their way around it before subtly abolishing it.
This is something they should have owned from the off - instead, they tried to triangulate their way around it before subtly abolishing it.
Gee I wonder why people don't trust politicians ...
Freeze Income Tax & National Insurance Personal Allowances
Apply National Insurance to Pension Contributions
Apply duties to small parcels
Brag about not increasing Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apply National Insurance to Pension Contributions
Apply duties to small parcels
Brag about not increasing Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
November 26, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Gee I wonder why people don't trust politicians ...
Reposted by Zach Elsbury
Freeze Income Tax & National Insurance Personal Allowances
Apply National Insurance to Pension Contributions
Apply duties to small parcels
Brag about not increasing Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apply National Insurance to Pension Contributions
Apply duties to small parcels
Brag about not increasing Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
November 26, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Freeze Income Tax & National Insurance Personal Allowances
Apply National Insurance to Pension Contributions
Apply duties to small parcels
Brag about not increasing Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apply National Insurance to Pension Contributions
Apply duties to small parcels
Brag about not increasing Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yet the budget process being leaked for nearly a quarter will result in precisely no-one being held accountable.
I was in the House of Commons press gallery when the Evening Standard accidentally tweeted its front page featuring bits of the Budget an hour early. And Ed Balls was handed a copy of it and waved it around at his future co-podcaster. And that was a scandal. Anyway, thinking of the OBR intern today.
November 26, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Yet the budget process being leaked for nearly a quarter will result in precisely no-one being held accountable.
There’s not enough money to finish electrifying the Midland Mainline … but there’s plenty of money to continue subsidising private motoring.
Reeves‘ cowardice is contemptible.
Reeves‘ cowardice is contemptible.
When can you declare an emergency over?
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
November 26, 2025 at 6:49 AM
There’s not enough money to finish electrifying the Midland Mainline … but there’s plenty of money to continue subsidising private motoring.
Reeves‘ cowardice is contemptible.
Reeves‘ cowardice is contemptible.
Reeves‘ refusal to meaningfully raise tax - and her flippant approach to warnings she was boxing herself in before the election - will have countless negative secondary affects … like undermining the basis of the justice system.
Well done, Rachel. Well done.
Well done, Rachel. Well done.
The government could just increase funding for the MoJ and recruit more judges and magistrates rather than further dismantling our right to justice - wild thought.
November 26, 2025 at 6:25 AM
Reeves‘ refusal to meaningfully raise tax - and her flippant approach to warnings she was boxing herself in before the election - will have countless negative secondary affects … like undermining the basis of the justice system.
Well done, Rachel. Well done.
Well done, Rachel. Well done.
Begging your own back-benchers to support a budget you’ve spectacularly mishandled, after demonstrating weakness in the face of PLP resistance, isn’t the sign of strength Reeves thinks it is.
“I’ll show the media, I’ll show the Tories, I’ll not let them beat me. I’ll be there on Wednesday, I’ll be there next year & I’ll be back the year after that” - Rachel Reeves urges Labour MPs to back budget @jessicaelgot.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Rachel Reeves urges Labour MPs to back her make-or-break budget
Chancellor tells parliamentary party they might not like every measure but promises budget will be ‘fair’
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Begging your own back-benchers to support a budget you’ve spectacularly mishandled, after demonstrating weakness in the face of PLP resistance, isn’t the sign of strength Reeves thinks it is.
Kneecapping one of the UK‘s main exports because you boxed yourself in with unsustainable tax pledges and too cowardly to properly walk it back is contemptible.
Reeves‘ unfortunate tenure in No 11 will be marked by lots of small, damaging tax increases because the alternative was too hard.
Amateur
Reeves‘ unfortunate tenure in No 11 will be marked by lots of small, damaging tax increases because the alternative was too hard.
Amateur
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 25, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Kneecapping one of the UK‘s main exports because you boxed yourself in with unsustainable tax pledges and too cowardly to properly walk it back is contemptible.
Reeves‘ unfortunate tenure in No 11 will be marked by lots of small, damaging tax increases because the alternative was too hard.
Amateur
Reeves‘ unfortunate tenure in No 11 will be marked by lots of small, damaging tax increases because the alternative was too hard.
Amateur
Starmer? Full of rubbish? -shock-
Starmer promised to spend big on defense but Britain’s arms industry is still waiting
Starmer promised to spend big on defense but Britain’s arms industry is still waiting
Six months after a major inquiry into how the U.K. would meet geopolitical threats, many in the industry complain they haven’t received the certainty they need about where the British government pl…
www.politico.eu
November 25, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Starmer? Full of rubbish? -shock-
It’s just a bit pathetic.
Reeves asks banks to praise her plans as they escape Budget tax raid on.ft.com/3KjmNae
Reeves asks banks to praise her plans as they escape Budget tax raid
Chancellor is under pressure from some Labour MPs to raise levies on business this week
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:23 AM
It’s just a bit pathetic.
The adults are in charge latest
It is - ironic - that Brexit itself, a reaction in part to international circumstances has been outmoded by those circumstances.
Also ironic that Labour would seem to have given up on domestic growth and now be somehow reliant on the unfortunately infelicitous international environment.
Also ironic that Labour would seem to have given up on domestic growth and now be somehow reliant on the unfortunately infelicitous international environment.
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
The adults are in charge latest
There simply isn’t a violin small enough.
How dare someone have to pay tax on over a million pounds worth on *unearned* wealth.
How dare someone have to pay tax on over a million pounds worth on *unearned* wealth.
I don't think this was actually deliberately published as ragebait, but the entitlement contained within is remarkable and a classic example of the sort of sentiment governments sometimes just have to face down inews.co.uk/inews-lifest...?
We were hit with a £148k inheritance tax bill when mum died at 97 - it's disgusting
Jill Lemon has labelled inheritance tax as 'cruel', 'horrible' and 'unfair'
inews.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 8:42 AM
There simply isn’t a violin small enough.
How dare someone have to pay tax on over a million pounds worth on *unearned* wealth.
How dare someone have to pay tax on over a million pounds worth on *unearned* wealth.
From "the adults are in-charge" to a chronic inability to look past the bottom of the current spreadsheet.
At some point the amateurs in Nos 10 and 11 need to be replaced.
At some point the amateurs in Nos 10 and 11 need to be replaced.
Martin Wolf on our essay. "So, what do I hope for from Wednesday’s Budget? Some sight of a workable and coherent long-term economic strategy. I do not expect it. It may already be too late. But, without that, it is hard to be optimistic about the UK’s future."
www.ft.com/content/17e1...
www.ft.com/content/17e1...
How to get the UK out of its economic hole
Reeves’ challenge is to remedy the disaster that Brexit has been for the country
www.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:45 AM
From "the adults are in-charge" to a chronic inability to look past the bottom of the current spreadsheet.
At some point the amateurs in Nos 10 and 11 need to be replaced.
At some point the amateurs in Nos 10 and 11 need to be replaced.
Instead of a broad-based tax rise, Reeves has chosen to attack the UK‘s main export.
It‘s almost like Reeves is incapable of seeing beyond the bottom of the spreadsheet…
It‘s almost like Reeves is incapable of seeing beyond the bottom of the spreadsheet…
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Instead of a broad-based tax rise, Reeves has chosen to attack the UK‘s main export.
It‘s almost like Reeves is incapable of seeing beyond the bottom of the spreadsheet…
It‘s almost like Reeves is incapable of seeing beyond the bottom of the spreadsheet…
It would be helpful for certain elements of the pro-EU movement to stop and think for a moment before implying simple-sounding solutions.
There's a prevailing idea in the UK that a customs union with the EU would be a compromise solution if single market membership is not possible, e.g @eddavey.libdems.org.uk and @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social recently. But a customs union is, from a trade policy, a more radical step. (1/N)
November 23, 2025 at 1:37 PM
It would be helpful for certain elements of the pro-EU movement to stop and think for a moment before implying simple-sounding solutions.
Giving up - the unifying narrative of Starmer‘s ministry and „leadership“.
"Never forget that immigration wasn't even in the top 10 of the electorate's concerns in 2016".
observer.co.uk/news/busines...
observer.co.uk/news/busines...
‘Reset’ with the EU looks more like ‘upset’ as Brexit damage mounts | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Giving up - the unifying narrative of Starmer‘s ministry and „leadership“.
That human rights lawyer has chosen to push trans and gender-nonconforming people into the sea because court told him so and he’s too politically-incompetent to do anything else.
Contemptible coward.
Contemptible coward.
22 Nov 2025 -- Leaked, unpublished guidance from U.K.’s Equality & Human Rights Comsn recommends excluding trans people from restrooms single-sex spaces & encouraging others to question those in spaces suspected of being trans. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social
Trans people banned from single-sex spaces based on their appearances in leaked UK guidance - LGBTQ Nation
"This is a license to discriminate based on looks, plain and simple."
www.lgbtqnation.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:51 AM
That human rights lawyer has chosen to push trans and gender-nonconforming people into the sea because court told him so and he’s too politically-incompetent to do anything else.
Contemptible coward.
Contemptible coward.
It also demonstrates how woeful most senior politicians are.
They refuse to deal with significant political issues either because it’s „too hard“, they lack the ability to lead the electorate, or they’re too scared of an already-hostile media.
It’s utterly pathetic.
They refuse to deal with significant political issues either because it’s „too hard“, they lack the ability to lead the electorate, or they’re too scared of an already-hostile media.
It’s utterly pathetic.
This for me this je evidence of the pervasiveness of British declinism. An event that most people consider to have gone badly, that has demonstrably impaired the economy, leading to lower public spending and higher taxes, is considered simply too difficult to change. It’s all a bit too hard.
November 22, 2025 at 10:51 AM
It also demonstrates how woeful most senior politicians are.
They refuse to deal with significant political issues either because it’s „too hard“, they lack the ability to lead the electorate, or they’re too scared of an already-hostile media.
It’s utterly pathetic.
They refuse to deal with significant political issues either because it’s „too hard“, they lack the ability to lead the electorate, or they’re too scared of an already-hostile media.
It’s utterly pathetic.
Reposted by Zach Elsbury
This for me this je evidence of the pervasiveness of British declinism. An event that most people consider to have gone badly, that has demonstrably impaired the economy, leading to lower public spending and higher taxes, is considered simply too difficult to change. It’s all a bit too hard.
November 22, 2025 at 10:19 AM
This for me this je evidence of the pervasiveness of British declinism. An event that most people consider to have gone badly, that has demonstrably impaired the economy, leading to lower public spending and higher taxes, is considered simply too difficult to change. It’s all a bit too hard.