Philip Taylor
@philipjtaylor.bsky.social
2.9K followers 930 following 8.4K posts
Commercial and Agricultural Property Solicitor. Companion of John Ruskin's Guild of St George.
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Reposted by Philip Taylor
walterolson.bsky.social
“ICE goes masked for a single reason — to terrorize Americans into quiescence,” wrote federal judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, in a ruling last week. “In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police,” he continued.
Opinion | ‘ICE Goes Masked for a Single Reason’
www.nytimes.com
philipjtaylor.bsky.social
I remember my father (now 92) meeting Thatcher when she was education secretary in a vain attempt to save Ormskirk Grammar School
Reposted by Philip Taylor
jessicaelgot.bsky.social
Keir Starmer is to examine India’s digital ID system on his visit to Mumbai as a potential model for the UK, praising the system as a “massive success”.

Once considered impossible, it now reaches almost all its 1.4bn citizens

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Keir Starmer to look at India’s digital ID system during visit to Mumbai
Prime minister hopes to learn from success of scheme rolled out to most of country’s 1.4bn citizens
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Philip Taylor
owenwntr.bsky.social
Labour's polling deficit is the largest for any government at this stage of the parliament since John Major was PM

1993 Major -14
2025 Starmer -10
1971 Heath -10
1980 Thatcher -7
2011 Cameron -6
~
1988 Thatcher +7
1966 Wilson +8
2016 May +9
2002 Blair +11
1998 Blair +22
Reposted by Philip Taylor
owenwntr.bsky.social
But the numbers are also a good reminder that polling early in the parliament is not destiny. May (2016) and Johnson (2021) looked invincible at this point, Cameron (2011) and Thatcher (1980) looked doomed
Reposted by Philip Taylor
nvondarza.bsky.social
The most important part of these polls are two aspects YouGov does not highlight - Reform UK are seen as both the party that 'offers [radical] change' and that does most to set the agenda.

At a time when the UK government is seen as failing, offering a radical, different agenda is most potent.
yougov.co.uk
Reform UK are the party Britons most associate with being patriotic, but also being weird and extreme

Extreme: 58% (+50 lead)
Offer change: 37% (+26)
Setting agenda: 36% (+27)
Patriotic: 35% (+27)
Likely win next election: 35% (+20)
Weird: 35% (+15)
Understands problems: 25% (+15)
Normal: 17% (+4)
Reposted by Philip Taylor
lrb.co.uk
Krasznahorkai has said of his work: ‘You will never go wrong anticipating doom in my books, any more than you’ll go wrong in anticipating doom in ordinary life.’

In 2012, we recorded a 94-minute conversation with Colm Tóibín for our Bookshop podcast:

www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...
László Krasznahorkai in conversation with Colm Tóibín | London Review Bookshop
Our first Literary Friendships event brought together Colm Tóibín with his friend László Krasznahorkai. Described by the Guardian as a ‘visionary writer’,…
www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk
philipjtaylor.bsky.social
I don't remember Ted Heath, Lord Home, or Harold MacMillan being particularly right wing.
Reposted by Philip Taylor
robertshrimsley.bsky.social
Thatcher once said her greatest achievement was Tony Blair and New Labour, because she forced her opponents onto her agenda. Today's new right begs to differ.

www.ft.com/content/49ec...
The battle to dismantle Blair’s Britain
Conservatives’ biggest mistake was the adoption of the liberal agenda, the new right believes
www.ft.com
Reposted by Philip Taylor
Reposted by Philip Taylor
bestforbritain.org
New polling by YouGov, commissioned by Best for Britain, shows: Potential Conservative voters are now more than twice as likely to consider Brexit a failure for the UK (46%) compared to a success (22%).

Here’s what else we found: https://bit.ly/46LZq1G
Reposted by Philip Taylor
Reposted by Philip Taylor
groomb.bsky.social
Leeds, c.1950, photo by Roger Mayne (1929-2014).
Reposted by Philip Taylor
flipchartrick.bsky.social
I thought we already had ‘24 hour drinking’ if the pubs wanted to open late.
Many pubs don’t even open for all the hours they are allowed. If they can’t get the customers, they shut early.
iandunt.bsky.social
Genuinely outstanding news, even if this news story can apparently only report on it by cramming it full of every objection imaginable. People should be able to drink as late as they please. And by 'people' I mean me.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Pubs to stay open until early hours in push for UK growth
Exclusive: Plans for England and Wales would help ailing hospitality sector but health experts criticise plans
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Philip Taylor
70sbachchan.bsky.social
The trillions invested in US AI boom is one of the awesome exercises in PLANNING by commerical and government entities.

-40% of US GDP growth this year is AI
-AI companies account for 80% of gains in US stocks in 2025.

Just don't ask about the social welfare function....
bsky.app/profile/benb...
Reposted by Philip Taylor
70sbachchan.bsky.social
“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”
Reposted by Philip Taylor
Reposted by Philip Taylor
70sbachchan.bsky.social
how many times did you see a Hamas war-room or Iran's underground bunker?
+972 magazine investigates IDF videos: "serious spatial inaccuracies or prefabricated assets—sourced not from classified intelligence but rather from commercial libraries, content creators..."
www.972mag.com/israeli-army...
How a Scottish maritime museum ended up in Israel’s 3D propaganda
An analysis of dozens of Israeli army animations discovered digital assets sourced not from classified intelligence but commercial libraries and content creators.
www.972mag.com
Reposted by Philip Taylor
70sbachchan.bsky.social
Israel's Horrifying treatment of humanitarians on flotilla bsky.app/profile/mehd...
mehdirhasan.bsky.social
"As one of the few Jews on [the flotilla]...they asked me if I was Jewish...threw me in front of the Israeli flag... we were strip-searched & zip-tied & blindfolded, & sent to this detention camp."

Horrifying testimony to Zeteo from freed activist David Adler:
zeteo.com/p/exclusive-...
philipjtaylor.bsky.social
Aspects of this sound a bit like here.
tonytassell.bsky.social
Japan has an ‘enshortification’ problem - @urbandirt.bsky.social here on the country's shortages of practitioners with some examples here www.ft.com/content/de6a...
Reposted by Philip Taylor
economistmeg.bsky.social
The conventional wisdom that central banks should look through negative supply shocks needs updating. I use our recent experiences with supply shocks to draw lessons about how they hit the economy and how central banks should respond to them. www.ft.com/content/c774...
Central banks need to learn lessons about supply shocks
We now know that the inflation that often follows can be persistent rather than transitory
www.ft.com
Reposted by Philip Taylor
railwayhistorian.bsky.social
Good morning from the Overground.

I wish someone would make a model of these trains. And it doesn't have to be super detailed - I know a fair few children that would love it!
A London Overground train sits at a station. We see it facing forwards into the rising sun. There are overhead wires and on the platform there is a shelter and in the mostly clear sky there are whisps of cloud.