Phil Hill
@highburyphil.bsky.social
Reposted by Phil Hill
He’s doing well in the polls, but most people in Britain disagree with almost everything that the Reform leader actually thinks.
My latest in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on Farage the snakeoil salesman
www.thenewworld.co.uk/luke-mcgee-n...
My latest in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on Farage the snakeoil salesman
www.thenewworld.co.uk/luke-mcgee-n...
Nigel Farage is hopelessly out of touch with public opinion
He’s doing well in the polls, but most people in Britain disagree with almost everything that the Reform leader actually thinks
www.thenewworld.co.uk
January 16, 2026 at 10:53 AM
He’s doing well in the polls, but most people in Britain disagree with almost everything that the Reform leader actually thinks.
My latest in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on Farage the snakeoil salesman
www.thenewworld.co.uk/luke-mcgee-n...
My latest in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on Farage the snakeoil salesman
www.thenewworld.co.uk/luke-mcgee-n...
Reposted by Phil Hill
in part - also liberalised visa rules for work and study, esp care visa.
the key point is that all of these were specific visas, with clear rules, that people applied for and were granted.
Completely the opposite of open borders (or even free movement) and describing it as that is simply a lie.
the key point is that all of these were specific visas, with clear rules, that people applied for and were granted.
Completely the opposite of open borders (or even free movement) and describing it as that is simply a lie.
January 16, 2026 at 10:54 AM
in part - also liberalised visa rules for work and study, esp care visa.
the key point is that all of these were specific visas, with clear rules, that people applied for and were granted.
Completely the opposite of open borders (or even free movement) and describing it as that is simply a lie.
the key point is that all of these were specific visas, with clear rules, that people applied for and were granted.
Completely the opposite of open borders (or even free movement) and describing it as that is simply a lie.
Reposted by Phil Hill
Why is the PM circulating a far-Right recruitment meme?
What's next? Did this 'experiment' let in 'fighting age men' that attack 'our women'? Was it done to 'replace indigenous whites'?
What's next? Did this 'experiment' let in 'fighting age men' that attack 'our women'? Was it done to 'replace indigenous whites'?
Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers.
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
!["And this is what Keir Starmer’s press secretary has said about Robert Jenrick at the lobby briefing this morning.
[Highlighted] Robert Jenrick was the immigration minister in a government that presided over an open borders experiment [Highlighted], a health minister who left people stuck on waiting lists, and a Treasury minister during the worst decline in living standards on record.”
While Reform continues to welcome failed Tory retreads, this Labor government is putting the country back on track."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cixgmtrg7nzy4gkmyfeosaox/bafkreibe3jczrmbmzfnhj2adl4qe432lbpmcbn6m6qrentwih7vxj4fu7y@jpeg)
January 16, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Why is the PM circulating a far-Right recruitment meme?
What's next? Did this 'experiment' let in 'fighting age men' that attack 'our women'? Was it done to 'replace indigenous whites'?
What's next? Did this 'experiment' let in 'fighting age men' that attack 'our women'? Was it done to 'replace indigenous whites'?
Reposted by Phil Hill
Ministers and PM are choosing to lie about this and adopting the conspiracy based language of far right and openly nazi web forums in doing so.
They're not just paving the way for a Reform win, they are rolling the pitch for mass deportations of ethnic minorities.
They're not just paving the way for a Reform win, they are rolling the pitch for mass deportations of ethnic minorities.
“Robert Jenrick is the man who as Immigration Minister oversaw the open borders experiment that led to the biggest increase in illegal immigration in our country”
Labour's Steve Reed reacts to Robert Jenrick's decision to defect from the Conservatives to Reform UK
Labour's Steve Reed reacts to Robert Jenrick's decision to defect from the Conservatives to Reform UK
January 16, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Ministers and PM are choosing to lie about this and adopting the conspiracy based language of far right and openly nazi web forums in doing so.
They're not just paving the way for a Reform win, they are rolling the pitch for mass deportations of ethnic minorities.
They're not just paving the way for a Reform win, they are rolling the pitch for mass deportations of ethnic minorities.
Reposted by Phil Hill
Yes it's a barmy tactic. Nobody who believes the Tories would do that believes that Labour (still seen as more pro-immigration despite Starmer's best efforts) wouldn't. Which bright spark came up with the idea of the "experiment" (the part of the "island of strangers" speech that KS didn't disavow)?
January 16, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Yes it's a barmy tactic. Nobody who believes the Tories would do that believes that Labour (still seen as more pro-immigration despite Starmer's best efforts) wouldn't. Which bright spark came up with the idea of the "experiment" (the part of the "island of strangers" speech that KS didn't disavow)?
Reposted by Phil Hill
Morning all. Sensible step towards repositioning ID cards as 'convenient way of accessing services like they have in Europe' rather than 'punitive tool of state surveillance' but as ever raises the question, why does govt keep getting it wrong the first time www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
UK government rolls back key part of digital ID plans
Workers will be able to use other identification for right to work, meaning digital form not mandatory
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:46 AM
Morning all. Sensible step towards repositioning ID cards as 'convenient way of accessing services like they have in Europe' rather than 'punitive tool of state surveillance' but as ever raises the question, why does govt keep getting it wrong the first time www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Phil Hill
Reposted by Phil Hill
“It feels more than a little queasy to quote Margaret Thatcher, but that line from the old Jewish Chronicle interview is going to be very relevant in the next few weeks & months.”
- @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...
- @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...
Trump, Venezuela, and why every critic is being painted as an 'apologist' for dictators
The right-wing British press had decided anyone who doesn't back Trump must be mad for Maduro.
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:43 PM
“It feels more than a little queasy to quote Margaret Thatcher, but that line from the old Jewish Chronicle interview is going to be very relevant in the next few weeks & months.”
- @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...
- @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...
Reposted by Phil Hill
Will be reducing my time on here, and focusing more on housing when I am. In that spirit, here's a good piece from @alextoal.bsky.social on s106 with reform on the horizon it's a good overview of the history of a critical part of housing delivery.
housingalex.substack.com/p/a-quick-hi...
housingalex.substack.com/p/a-quick-hi...
A quick history of Section 106
And why I am the most fun at every dinner party I go to
housingalex.substack.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Will be reducing my time on here, and focusing more on housing when I am. In that spirit, here's a good piece from @alextoal.bsky.social on s106 with reform on the horizon it's a good overview of the history of a critical part of housing delivery.
housingalex.substack.com/p/a-quick-hi...
housingalex.substack.com/p/a-quick-hi...
Reposted by Phil Hill
Indeed. This is why I think the 'what can the PM do?' crowd (not Twll) are wrong: a better Downing Street operation, with a PM that actually gripped it, would not have a BBC that went 'detail? Complexity? Not our department! Podcast time!!'
December 29, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Indeed. This is why I think the 'what can the PM do?' crowd (not Twll) are wrong: a better Downing Street operation, with a PM that actually gripped it, would not have a BBC that went 'detail? Complexity? Not our department! Podcast time!!'
Reposted by Phil Hill
Having had a day to think through everything about El-Fattah, here's where I stand. Yes, it's possible to believe all of these things at once! In fact, it really shouldn't be that hard.
December 29, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Having had a day to think through everything about El-Fattah, here's where I stand. Yes, it's possible to believe all of these things at once! In fact, it really shouldn't be that hard.
Reposted by Phil Hill
It's really beyond belief. Now, the "Romanians propped up UK's economy" (though I notice the Mail have now changed the headline). Then, they were taking our job/ scrounging welfare/ committing crimes. As, ofc, the Mail now says non-EU immigrants are doing.
Mail report: 70,000 more EU nationals left than arrived in the 12 months June 2024- June 2025, while somewhere around 3.5 million to 4 million EU nationals live in the UK
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
Up to 1m Romanians propped up UK's economy - now they are going home
The numbers of Romanians leaving the UK are higher than for any other EU nationality, dwarfing the 25,000 Poles who left Britain to return to their low-tax homeland in the year up to last June.
www.dailymail.co.uk
December 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
It's really beyond belief. Now, the "Romanians propped up UK's economy" (though I notice the Mail have now changed the headline). Then, they were taking our job/ scrounging welfare/ committing crimes. As, ofc, the Mail now says non-EU immigrants are doing.
Reposted by Phil Hill
Grevenstraat, Leiden, the Netherlands: late 1930s social housing, now owned and managed by the non-profit Portaal housing corporation. Fully renovated in 2020.
December 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Grevenstraat, Leiden, the Netherlands: late 1930s social housing, now owned and managed by the non-profit Portaal housing corporation. Fully renovated in 2020.
Reposted by Phil Hill
Harry Homer gets a mention in today's Arsenal v Wolves programme.
Who's he?
Well, he (sort of) came up with the Arsenal motto:
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Here's the story behind it.
thearsenalcollection.org.uk?p=35447
Who's he?
Well, he (sort of) came up with the Arsenal motto:
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Here's the story behind it.
thearsenalcollection.org.uk?p=35447
Victoria Concordia Crescit – The Origin of Arsenal’s Famous Motto
Ingrained within the heritage of The Arsenal is the long standing Latin motto “Victoria Concordia Crescit”. Over the years there have been a number of variations of the translation but all are roug…
thearsenalcollection.org.uk
December 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Harry Homer gets a mention in today's Arsenal v Wolves programme.
Who's he?
Well, he (sort of) came up with the Arsenal motto:
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Here's the story behind it.
thearsenalcollection.org.uk?p=35447
Who's he?
Well, he (sort of) came up with the Arsenal motto:
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Here's the story behind it.
thearsenalcollection.org.uk?p=35447
Reposted by Phil Hill
Migration Advisory Committee report on fiscal impact of main work migration routes.
Key table: they estimate 2022/23 cohort (those arriving in 2022/23) will over lifetimes pay about £47 billion more in taxes than they "cost" in public spending.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693810...
Key table: they estimate 2022/23 cohort (those arriving in 2022/23) will over lifetimes pay about £47 billion more in taxes than they "cost" in public spending.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693810...
December 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Migration Advisory Committee report on fiscal impact of main work migration routes.
Key table: they estimate 2022/23 cohort (those arriving in 2022/23) will over lifetimes pay about £47 billion more in taxes than they "cost" in public spending.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693810...
Key table: they estimate 2022/23 cohort (those arriving in 2022/23) will over lifetimes pay about £47 billion more in taxes than they "cost" in public spending.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/693810...
Reposted by Phil Hill
just catching up with this - an amazing example of misleading statistics.
Badenoch tries to blame the government for teacher numbers falling, but the fall was between November 2023 *and November 2024* (it's just that the figures were published in 2025). we don't have 2025 figure.
Badenoch tries to blame the government for teacher numbers falling, but the fall was between November 2023 *and November 2024* (it's just that the figures were published in 2025). we don't have 2025 figure.
December 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
just catching up with this - an amazing example of misleading statistics.
Badenoch tries to blame the government for teacher numbers falling, but the fall was between November 2023 *and November 2024* (it's just that the figures were published in 2025). we don't have 2025 figure.
Badenoch tries to blame the government for teacher numbers falling, but the fall was between November 2023 *and November 2024* (it's just that the figures were published in 2025). we don't have 2025 figure.
Reposted by Phil Hill
the jeans analogy reminds me of the family court researcher who pointed out there was a better system for tracking how long a tin of beans was on the shop shelf than how long a child was going through court
The real asylum scandal is the incompetence of the Home Office inews.co.uk/opinion/the-...
December 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM
the jeans analogy reminds me of the family court researcher who pointed out there was a better system for tracking how long a tin of beans was on the shop shelf than how long a child was going through court
Reposted by Phil Hill
After this weekend's racist attacks on the EU, I've written a column about the moral obligation to stop posting on X.
Oh no, wait, I wrote it *two years ago* when it was blatantly obvious what was going on and how it would get much much worse.
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Oh no, wait, I wrote it *two years ago* when it was blatantly obvious what was going on and how it would get much much worse.
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
December 7, 2025 at 10:18 PM
After this weekend's racist attacks on the EU, I've written a column about the moral obligation to stop posting on X.
Oh no, wait, I wrote it *two years ago* when it was blatantly obvious what was going on and how it would get much much worse.
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Oh no, wait, I wrote it *two years ago* when it was blatantly obvious what was going on and how it would get much much worse.
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Reposted by Phil Hill
Imagine if your online memeing is too disconnected from reality for *Freddie Sayers* in *Unherd*.
Over 100k of the increase in British nationals emigrating is to Poland, Romania (and Bangladesh). Good work from Freddie Sayers on Unherd in checking the assumptions behind some of the "we all know why" commentary on the online right
unherd.com/2025/12/are-...
unherd.com/2025/12/are-...
December 3, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Imagine if your online memeing is too disconnected from reality for *Freddie Sayers* in *Unherd*.
Reposted by Phil Hill
Utter bullshit/lies from the "Centre for Social Justice" via the Express.
November 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Utter bullshit/lies from the "Centre for Social Justice" via the Express.
Reposted by Phil Hill
At this moment of the year, when the temperature drops and the dusk closes in, I get a longing to go walking through Walter Thornbury’s London: spitalfieldslife.com/2025/11/27/a...
November 28, 2025 at 7:16 PM
At this moment of the year, when the temperature drops and the dusk closes in, I get a longing to go walking through Walter Thornbury’s London: spitalfieldslife.com/2025/11/27/a...
Reposted by Phil Hill
Mahmood/government should say explain *objective* of increasing time to settlement for 15 years for care workers who arrived 2022-24
Is it
A) to get them to leave? Why?
B) to save money? Then why not just restrict benefits?
C) to "encourage integration"? How? Will do opposite.
Is it
A) to get them to leave? Why?
B) to save money? Then why not just restrict benefits?
C) to "encourage integration"? How? Will do opposite.
15 years for people in medium skilled jobs and care workers too. I believe this goes down to 10 years if they earn over £50,270. Someone in a high skilled job earning over that qualifies in 5 years.
November 21, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Mahmood/government should say explain *objective* of increasing time to settlement for 15 years for care workers who arrived 2022-24
Is it
A) to get them to leave? Why?
B) to save money? Then why not just restrict benefits?
C) to "encourage integration"? How? Will do opposite.
Is it
A) to get them to leave? Why?
B) to save money? Then why not just restrict benefits?
C) to "encourage integration"? How? Will do opposite.
Reposted by Phil Hill
V good piece this - asks the two important policy questions about the government's approach on asylum.
"Labour must fix the asylum system - but I have two very real concerns with Mahmood's plans"
My op-ed in LBC on the Government's asylum plan
t.co/06PtJfT4NJ
My op-ed in LBC on the Government's asylum plan
t.co/06PtJfT4NJ
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/labour-fix-asylum-system-real-concerns-opinion-5HjdN4X_2
t.co
November 19, 2025 at 11:55 AM
V good piece this - asks the two important policy questions about the government's approach on asylum.
Reposted by Phil Hill
This is very good indeed on how Mahmood talks about race. To suggest that immigration policy and racism are linked "reflects this government’s biggest failing, which is that it is essentially incapable of saying that racism is wrong, full stop".
Why should people who “look like” the home secretary be on the hook for immigration policy?
This is great by @stephenkb.bsky.social:
This is great by @stephenkb.bsky.social:
Defence of Labour asylum policy reveals backsliding on racism
Home secretary’s framing of failures is partly low politics, but also a result of ministers’ poor approach to race relations
www.ft.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:50 AM
This is very good indeed on how Mahmood talks about race. To suggest that immigration policy and racism are linked "reflects this government’s biggest failing, which is that it is essentially incapable of saying that racism is wrong, full stop".
Reposted by Phil Hill
I don’t share Janan’s politics, his pessimism or the idea that people shouldn’t be disappointed because it was always going to be this bad… but but but… this is a pretty sharp ‘told you so’ that’s well worth reading.
www.ft.com/content/68ee...
www.ft.com/content/68ee...
The Labour government will deteriorate from here
Starmer and Reeves are unfit and their likeliest usurpers are worse
www.ft.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I don’t share Janan’s politics, his pessimism or the idea that people shouldn’t be disappointed because it was always going to be this bad… but but but… this is a pretty sharp ‘told you so’ that’s well worth reading.
www.ft.com/content/68ee...
www.ft.com/content/68ee...