samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman
@samfr.bsky.social
85K followers 850 following 9.9K posts
Writes the most popular UK politics Substack (samf.substack.com) Sunday Times bestselling book "Failed State" out now. (An Economist and Financial Times Book of the Year for 2024). Senior fellow: Institute for Government
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 2d
New post just out:

"Staying alive vs taking control"

Labour's big choice at the budget is whether they just want to try and survive it or whether they're willing to take some bigger risks that would have future payoffs.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
Staying alive vs taking control
Labour's budget choices
open.substack.com
10 23 110
samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 3h
I'd be interested in why James thinks the stats are dodgy. I thought the trend was pretty clear.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 3h
Yes for sure. But only if the Conservative Party doesn't just become a copy of Reform on immigration/rule of law issues. We badly need a centre-right party.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 4h
Would depend on the candidate. I'd vote for, say, Jesse Norman to keep out Reform but not Jenrick or Philp.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 5h
With encouraging news on Gaza this morning read @ldfreedman.bsky.social's post on how this peace deal emerged and its prospects of success.

samf.substack.com/p/will-there...
Will there finally be peace in Gaza?
One never goes too far wrong by being pessimistic about events in the Middle East.
samf.substack.com
9 5 30
samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 5h
Really enjoyed doing this - thanks for having me on.
quietriotpod.bsky.social
Quiet Riot @quietriotpod.bsky.social · 6h
🆕 Anti-Woke Wake: It the Tory Party dead or just resting? ☠️

💥 Tory Conference debrief
💥 France latest political soap
💥 A deal on Gaza - but antisemitism on the rise

An amazing episode with special guest @samfr.bsky.social.

🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/5JQF...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/q...
Anti-Woke Wake: Is the Tory Party dead or just resting?
Podcast Episode · Quiet Riot · 09/10/2025 · 1h 13m
podcasts.apple.com
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 14h
A literal example of "don't threaten me with a good time".
stephenkb.bsky.social
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 14h
Where's the downside? www.theguardian.com/business/202...
However, critics are warning that the planned liberalisation of the alcohol licensing regime in England and Wales will erode local councils’ right to decide on opening hours, hand the drink industry unprecedented power and limit the ability of people affected by late night openings to object.
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Reposted by Sam Freedman
ariehkovler.com
Arieh Kovler @ariehkovler.com · 18h
Multiple reports from Israeli, Arab and US sources that a ceasefire deal in Gaza could be imminent, with the hope that Phase 1 is signed today or tomorrow and hostage releases would begin almost immediately.
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Reposted by Sam Freedman
oldtrotter.bsky.social
David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 19h
This piece (£) by @samfr.bsky.social is excellent on the choices facing Reeves as the Budget approaches 🧵 open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
Staying alive vs taking control
Labour's budget choices
open.substack.com
1 2 8
samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 22h
It is a great idea and it's only a matter of time before I'm pitching girl twin's art at you.
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Reposted by Sam Freedman
stephenkb.bsky.social
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d
If you want to read an actually good piece about integration in the United Kingdom, try @samfr.bsky.social:
The Truth About Integration
I have been challenged by readers to write something less depressing about the state of the country.
samf.substack.com
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Literally exactly the same arguments were made by people trying to stop Jews arriving 100 years ago.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
I wonder which broken culture Mosley and his band of thugs was from?
samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Oh and they're going to abolish stamp duty and business rates for high streets and triple stop and search....

I reckon we're well over £20 billion of committments here.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Good to see the Conservative Party committed to keeping the deficit down by *checks notes* spending £2 billion giving tax breaks for private education, creating a massive new deportation force and pledging to maintain pensioner benefits.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
China is ofc a country well known for it's excellent record on women's rights.
rmcunliffe.bsky.social
Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 1d
"While Britain was redefining what a woman is, China was building five nuclear reactors," says Kemi Badenoch.

I cannot be the only person curious about how these two things are related
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Maybe by the time we rejoin we'll be poor enough to get some of that action.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Though I do remember a lot of think-tank bosses tweeting excitedly about Liz Truss was finally implementing their ideas in the not-a-budget.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
It's the DfE's way of breaking it down...
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Depends how you bundle the sectors together
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Everyone imagines apprenticeships as being focused on advanced manufacturing or skilled trades but by far the biggest sectors are health/social work and retail.
7 9 130
samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Also, the nostalgic lionisation of apprenticeships is intensely irritating. There are some great ones but also a lot of poor quality ones and dropout rates are much higher than unis.

You can also do apprenticeships in arts!
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
Interview opener: "Why do you hate Shakespeare?"
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
At some point these imbeciles are going to realise that arts courses are *funding* the courses they do like and if they cut those places unis will just go bankrupt so no maths or science either.
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samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 1d
If you want to win over younger voters, telling them they can't go to university is probably not going to help.
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Reposted by Sam Freedman
samfr.bsky.social
Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 2d
New post just out:

"Staying alive vs taking control"

Labour's big choice at the budget is whether they just want to try and survive it or whether they're willing to take some bigger risks that would have future payoffs.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/s...
Staying alive vs taking control
Labour's budget choices
open.substack.com
10 23 110