David Shepherd
@dms59.bsky.social
Alienated by the scent of Musk. Flaneur, haunter of Art Galleries, love watching paint dry in Arthouse films, countryside conservationist, Birkbeck History of Ideas MA, progressive, radical, European.
Reposted by David Shepherd
Who remembers that Brexit campaign slogan from 2016? 🤔
November 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Who remembers that Brexit campaign slogan from 2016? 🤔
Basically a chaotic muddle!
UK budget to target cost of living crisis as Reeves battles to keep Labour MPs on side
Chancellor’s fiscal statement billed as decisive moment for fate of Starmer government as she tries to fill £20bn spending gap
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Basically a chaotic muddle!
Reposted by David Shepherd
‘There is no magic bullet. Neither geographic isolation nor a sense of existential threat can be readily reproduced. Meanwhile, current policy prescriptions look like tinkering round the edges of the problem.’
David Runciman on how to solve the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman on how to solve the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman · Are we doomed? The End of the Species
Are we doomed to die out? We find ourselves at the only point in the history of the species when the rate of population...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
‘There is no magic bullet. Neither geographic isolation nor a sense of existential threat can be readily reproduced. Meanwhile, current policy prescriptions look like tinkering round the edges of the problem.’
David Runciman on how to solve the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Runciman on how to solve the depopulation problem.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by David Shepherd
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
Reposted by David Shepherd
‘As a journalist living in exile in Vienna, Trotsky was impressed by the cultured intelligence of the Austrians (which he admitted was superior to his own) but saw them as self-satisfied and the opposite of revolutionary.’
Holly Case on the Habsburg experiment.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case on the Habsburg experiment.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case · Thin Pink Glaze: Habsburg Legacies
We still live in the long shadow of Habsburg disintegration. In addition to the lingering legacy of 19th-century state...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 3:15 PM
‘As a journalist living in exile in Vienna, Trotsky was impressed by the cultured intelligence of the Austrians (which he admitted was superior to his own) but saw them as self-satisfied and the opposite of revolutionary.’
Holly Case on the Habsburg experiment.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Holly Case on the Habsburg experiment.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
No, the problem is lack of infrastructure - there’s no where to plug one in our flats.
Will pay-per-mile raise Reeves money or drive people away from electric vehicles?
Need for new road taxes is clear – but there are concerns that pricing plan could stall transition away from petrol
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:10 AM
No, the problem is lack of infrastructure - there’s no where to plug one in our flats.
Reposted by David Shepherd
John Major, "Our links to Europe and America may be loser now than once they were and that is a loss"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
November 19, 2025 at 6:39 PM
John Major, "Our links to Europe and America may be loser now than once they were and that is a loss"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
"The loss of trade with Europe alone costs us £100 billion of lost trade every year"
"That's a tax yield of £40 billion"
"How useful would that have been in recent months to the Chancellor?"
Reposted by David Shepherd
It's hard to find words to capture quite how revolting, steeped in bigotry, irresponsible, morally unmoored, Labour has become. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Anglican bishop shaken ‘to the core’ by home secretary’s asylum seeker comments
Bishop of Edmonton says people coming to UK are being ‘scapegoated’ for years of policy failures
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:38 PM
It's hard to find words to capture quite how revolting, steeped in bigotry, irresponsible, morally unmoored, Labour has become. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Says it all:
Anglican bishop shaken ‘to the core’ by home secretary’s asylum seeker comments
Bishop of Edmonton says people coming to UK are being ‘scapegoated’ for years of policy failures
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Says it all:
Reposted by David Shepherd
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I remember Deepdene House being demolished in 1960s. I could see its yellow form from our front bedrooms. My great grandfather was a gardener on the estate and Edward VII gave my grandfather 6d when he visited having caught him up a tree.
I remember Deepdene House being demolished in 1960s. I could see its yellow form from our front bedrooms. My great grandfather was a gardener on the estate and Edward VII gave my grandfather 6d when he visited having caught him up a tree.
The wartime railway hotel in Deepdene where no guest ever stayed
The hotel and the caves beneath it were repurposed into a secret bomb proof communications centre.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 1:39 PM
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I remember Deepdene House being demolished in 1960s. I could see its yellow form from our front bedrooms. My great grandfather was a gardener on the estate and Edward VII gave my grandfather 6d when he visited having caught him up a tree.
I remember Deepdene House being demolished in 1960s. I could see its yellow form from our front bedrooms. My great grandfather was a gardener on the estate and Edward VII gave my grandfather 6d when he visited having caught him up a tree.
Reposted by David Shepherd
At this rate everyone will be driving electric cars before UK Gov has electrified the rail network.
Govt scraps all electrification investment. Midland Main Line to stay forever diesel Leicester Nottingham Derby Sheffield. Hugely embarrassing and inexplicable
www.ft.com/content/5ecd...
www.ft.com/content/5ecd...
UK transport secretary says full electrification of railways ‘not affordable right now’
Heidi Alexander says focus will be on other projects such as HS2
www.ft.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:10 AM
At this rate everyone will be driving electric cars before UK Gov has electrified the rail network.
Reposted by David Shepherd
Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out
Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out
Exclusive: Leading ecologists say warnings over threat to wildlife have been ignored in drive to build 1.5m new homes
The scale of lobbying of ministers by developers on Labour’s landmark planning changes, which seek to rip up environmental rules to boost growth, can be exposed as campaigners make last-ditch attempts to secure protections for nature.
The government published its planning and infrastructure bill in March. Before and after the bill’s publication the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and housing minister Matthew Pennycook have met dozens of developers in numerous meetings. The body representing professional ecologists, meanwhile, has not met one minister despite requests to do so. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out
Must be a sign of getting old that I can’t shed a tear for these. They were uncomfortable, either too hot or too cold and with no loos. They still seem something of an innovation compared with the 4-SUB units they replaced, not to mention the steam trains I remember from my early years.
Farewell, 455s! South Western Railway to stage ‘farewell tour’ for iconic red commuter trains
South Western Railway will stage a farewell tour for its Class 455 commuter trains, which have served South West London, Berkshire and Surrey for the last 42 years
The tour will take in familiar place...
southwesternrailway-newsroom.prgloo.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Must be a sign of getting old that I can’t shed a tear for these. They were uncomfortable, either too hot or too cold and with no loos. They still seem something of an innovation compared with the 4-SUB units they replaced, not to mention the steam trains I remember from my early years.
The Brexit Tax! The fear is that we’ll be paying more to support still failing public services.
Prospect of breaking 50-year income tax taboo shows scale of Reeves’s challenge
The chancellor appears to believe voters will forgive a broken promise in return for meaningful investment
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:48 AM
The Brexit Tax! The fear is that we’ll be paying more to support still failing public services.
Reposted by David Shepherd
It’s clear to anyone paying attention that Farage gets an easy ride from the media. They give him as much airtime as he wants but never hold him to account for the damage he’s done.
So much of what’s broken in Britain is thanks to Nigel Farage.
So much of what’s broken in Britain is thanks to Nigel Farage.
November 3, 2025 at 7:01 PM
It’s clear to anyone paying attention that Farage gets an easy ride from the media. They give him as much airtime as he wants but never hold him to account for the damage he’s done.
So much of what’s broken in Britain is thanks to Nigel Farage.
So much of what’s broken in Britain is thanks to Nigel Farage.
Then there are those strange small islands in the Atlantic archipelago near Ireland. They might want to join someday although that would be scraping the barrel a bit.
EU could admit new members by 2030, says its foreign policy chief
Kaja Kallas tells reporters more countries could join 27-country bloc, including Montenegro, Albania and Ukraine
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Then there are those strange small islands in the Atlantic archipelago near Ireland. They might want to join someday although that would be scraping the barrel a bit.
You’ll need a lot of prudence to live on the old state pension of £187.80 a week which is all many of the very old have to live on.
Many people will see failure where they should see prudence.
✍️ James Kirkup
✍️ James Kirkup
Britain's stingy state pension is good news
We still have unwise giveaways like the triple lock, but in relative terms, our state pension provision is modest and prudent.
www.spectator.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 12:26 PM
You’ll need a lot of prudence to live on the old state pension of £187.80 a week which is all many of the very old have to live on.
Reposted by David Shepherd
did the sitwells sit well? an investigation
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 AM
did the sitwells sit well? an investigation
Fed up with Reeves playing games with us with a daily drip of rumours and hints and now this speech, all raising questions of competence and creating uncertainty. A government with such a large majority ought to be able to make hard choices and get on with it.
Pound hits lowest since April as investors anticipate budget tax rises after Reeves speech – business live
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as chancellor’s speech is taken as a sign that tax rises and tighter budgets could be ahead.
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Fed up with Reeves playing games with us with a daily drip of rumours and hints and now this speech, all raising questions of competence and creating uncertainty. A government with such a large majority ought to be able to make hard choices and get on with it.
Finally saw this all the way through a few months and yes it is amazing.
Brief Encounter at 80: why we’re still falling for David Lean’s 1945 romance
The story of hot tea and unconsummated love hails from a very different era – and was far from easy to make. Yet it remains a key influence for film-makers from Sofia Coppola to Celine Song, James Ivo...
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Finally saw this all the way through a few months and yes it is amazing.
Reposted by David Shepherd
Extraordinary to hear Reeves cite tariffs and increased defence spending in her speech, as she sets up the blame for tax rises. This message could have been really effective if she'd issued it when Trump introduced tariffs. Now, much less so.
November 4, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Extraordinary to hear Reeves cite tariffs and increased defence spending in her speech, as she sets up the blame for tax rises. This message could have been really effective if she'd issued it when Trump introduced tariffs. Now, much less so.
There have been so many articles about ‘6-7’ that I’m beginning to say it.
Are your kids obsessed with ‘6-7’? Here’s my plan to break the spell | Dave Schilling
Rules seem unlikely to help – kids will just rebel. Instead, try saying it all the time yourself
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM
There have been so many articles about ‘6-7’ that I’m beginning to say it.
Reposted by David Shepherd
Even a big far-right vote couldn’t give the far-right total control, because the Dutch democracy promotes cooperation.
Here in the UK, just one-third of the vote could give Nigel Farage a huge majority of MPs.
Our democracy isn't fit for 21st-century politics. We need Proportional Representation.
Here in the UK, just one-third of the vote could give Nigel Farage a huge majority of MPs.
Our democracy isn't fit for 21st-century politics. We need Proportional Representation.
October 31, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Even a big far-right vote couldn’t give the far-right total control, because the Dutch democracy promotes cooperation.
Here in the UK, just one-third of the vote could give Nigel Farage a huge majority of MPs.
Our democracy isn't fit for 21st-century politics. We need Proportional Representation.
Here in the UK, just one-third of the vote could give Nigel Farage a huge majority of MPs.
Our democracy isn't fit for 21st-century politics. We need Proportional Representation.
I suspect Zach’s grandma is more knowing and less innocent than they think!
This is how we do it: ‘When his grandma heard us having sex, she asked if we’d been “having a fun dance” upstairs’
Living with elderly grandparents has helped Zach and Luna with the cost of living crisis – but not their sex life
www.theguardian.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I suspect Zach’s grandma is more knowing and less innocent than they think!