iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This does in fact seem obvious to everyone apart from the people who came up with the policy.

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Rahel Freiburghaus @rfrbrghs.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Today, Brazilian voters head to the polls to elect a new president. A fitting occasion to remind us Europeans how concentrated presidentialism is in the Americas & to (re-)read Linz’s seminal “The Perils of Presidentialism.” (I created this map for my lecture, using Anckar/Fredriksson's cool data)

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 04/10/2026

What’s the evidence on rent control? I charted the findings from 112 studies: Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅ But: Pushes up rents for other people ❌ Pushes down new housing construction ❌ Pushes down building quality ❌

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 04/10/2026

I think there is such an interesting ideological block on the Cons analysing defeat in 2024 through a lens that says "Maybe people like public services".

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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 28/09/2026

Maybe if we destroy the creative sector then in 2066 a Labour chancellor will make a speech about how great it was when we had it.

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Good thing that this couldn’t have been predicted almost a year ago <runs bitter victory lap> and the government didn’t just blithely carry on doing the same thing. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/718...

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Alex Davenport @alexanderdavenport.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"could appeal to the many former Conservative voters who backed the Lib Dems in 2024"- it just feels like the type of voters who've been a Tory but left amid Brexit, Boris, Truss etc are likely to put a high value on credibility & competence, hard to see how a pledge like this helps in that regard!

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Time to arrest this guy and charge him.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I was delighted to see Ed Davey recognize the incredibly high rents that Londoners face – and that his local council has announced plans to tackle this by building on an old golf course – exactly the sort of land that we should be converting to new housing. www.politicshome.com/news/article...

politicshome.com

Lib Dems In 'Fight Of Our lives' Against 'Well-Funded Far Right', Warns Ed Davey

Ed Davey has warned Liberal Democrats that they are part of a fight for the country's future against an “extremely well-funded” modern-day “far-rig...

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Neil Fawcett @neilmfawcett.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Has someone in the policy unit been at the sherry again? If we've got a few billion to spend, I'm pretty sure there are more important priorities than tax cuts for the top 20% of earners. Like, you know, the NHS, SEND, transport infrastructure, or even carers. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Ed Davey promises £17bn income tax cut if Lib Dems are elected

Growth created by rejoining EU single market and customs union would fund change, Davey tells the party’s conference

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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Lib Dem pledge to cut fuel duty by 10p is depressingly bad policy: poorly targeted, expensive (£5bn), and it weakens incentives to switch to EVs and reduce usage.

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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 18/09/2026

Only reasonable lever really left to government - and probably a sensible step to take in any case given campaigning is constant and not just in election periods. And it takes away the governing party's advantage in (possibly) knowing when the election will be called & therefore what spending counts

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 18/09/2026

What on earth is happening?

This had become the new normal. RNLI crew members had been forced to take their permits off their cars after their tyres have been repeatedly slashed. Most of them have been pilloried at the school gates or turned away from local pubs. One man who worked in search and rescue had been beaten unconscious and hospitalised, recognised for TV interviews he had done.

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Public Universal Friend @jamesinlimbo.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

One thing that's noticeable in BBC news output over the last few years isn't necessarily a decline in the quality of the basic journalism, but increasingly sloppy editing. (You can see it at a more basic level - typos getting through that would previously have been picked up, mislabelled maps etc.)

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Martin Wheatley @martinhwheatley.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

With all that is going on internationally and domestically, why is this dominating BBC news coverage? Time for an independent external review of editorial policy and decision-making? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Palace in war of words with Earl Spencer over book's claim on Charles and Diana

The row threatens to overshadow a very crowded day for the royals - with the King and Princes William and Harry all attending events.

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Cristian Ramirez @cristianramirez.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Taylor doing the bit, but sincerely

Screen shot of a social media interaction.
OP: Can't wait to gamble today. Literally shaking. That's called dedication.
7:29 AM • 30 Nov 22

Replying to @sloprules
That's called an addiction
8:56 AM • 30 Nov 22

OP: Buddy, I've been gambling everyday for 20+ years. It's all I think about and I still haven't gotten addicted so doubt it's happening.

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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Solidarity with this Piddington resident ♥️✊ #Newsnight

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Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 14/09/2026

In both China and the west, the gig economy has become a sort of safety net/labour market shock absorber. But automation is coming for a lot of this work. Which means the biggest impact of AI/robots might unfold in the dark, in the part of the economy hardest to track. www.ft.com/content/a2c3...

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Alex Hern @hern.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

continually maddening that people blame "the water companies" for hosepipe bans when "the water companies" have been begging to build new reservoirs but a few retired QCs in Oxfordshire have used the entire weight of the british planning system to prevent it www.theguardian.com/business/202...

theguardian.com

Thames Water redraws mega-reservoir plan amid local opposition

A new public consultation has opened on the 150bn-litre above-ground White Horse project in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

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Gavin Jackson @gavinjackson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Sometimes I think about AI like cars. Cars kill over 1m a year in accidents alone and that's after we've come up with "car alignment" policies like traffic lights and speed limits. When cars first came out the British government had a man with a flag walk very slowly in front of them.

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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes

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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Inheritance tax is paid by less than 5% of estates and couples can already transfer up to £1m in property tax-free. Abolishing it would be regressive, unmeritocratic and a bad use of £9bn.

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 13/09/2026

tbh I’d have said this was most German words, which is why it’s German and not some other language

5 German words that don't exist in other
languages

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

As I/ @benbrindle.bsky.social recently noted, the government's attempts to make the migration system more selective may, paradoxically, make the fiscal impacts of lower migration *worse*, not better ukandeu.ac.uk/the-paradox-...

ukandeu.ac.uk

The paradox of selectivity - UK in a changing Europe

Jonathan Portes analyses how increasingly strict immigration policies may have impacted the overall economc contribution of migrants in the UK. He argues that if the objective is to maximise economic ...

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Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

But that does speak to an interesting cultural question - why is Britain willing/able to raise much more money for dog shelters, opera houses, oxbridge colleges than historic parties intended to form govts? One of side effects of this is they have threadbare policy ops which is bad for everyone

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ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ 🌝 @daddyxanax.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Her baby is about to set the Guinness world record for the fastest time a baby said their mother's name

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Luke Turner @luketurner.com · 12/09/2026

As Ben Delo's record £36m Reform donation is headline news, I can't emphasise enough that the media ought to be reporting on Delo's heinous funding of antisemitic conspiracy theorists in the High Court – anonymous contributors to the horrifying neo-Nazi account shown below. bsky.app/profile/luke...

A sample of neo-Nazi posts by the @ParallaxOptics account, displaying grotesque antisemitic caricatures and violent Jew hate.

The @ParallaxOptics account's banner image depicting Adolf Hitler.

Post by @ParallaxOptics of an article anonymously written by Nina Power and Daniel Miller: ON CULTS II "If we're proposing the the Left is a cult, the first question is what do cults want in general?"

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Dr Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

“Geneorisity”!?!?! “Strong Christian message “??!!!!?

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"Explosive economic growth and destruction of the intellectuals."--why are we making Techno-Maoism?

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Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

It's hard to think of anything less British than the morons doing this to the heroic RNLI

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Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Wrote about why politicians still knock on doors, couldn't resist this Grade-A Thatcher anecdote. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/politics-i...

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Nicolas Fulghum @nicolasfulghum.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Gas power costs are reaching energy crisis levels again in the UK, which will inevitably push bills up for consumers. The fortunes of the British economy are still tied to the price of a single fossil fuel. When bills go up, remember that this is the reason why.

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Gavin Hales @gmhales.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I suspect the lack of interest is because the suspects and victims are predominantly Black at a time when discourse has only been interested in 'Asian grooming gangs' targeting White girls.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It might be a good idea for a senior politician to talk about the AI alignment risk at some point given I suspect the vast majority of the population have no idea it exists, except maybe in a jokey sci-fi sort of way.

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Dr Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I’ve seen a number of people commenting along the lines of “this is weird even for Oxbridge” and I think it is worth noting that this is way, way outside the Oxbridge norm. The one time I set foot in my doctoral supervisor’s house, she’d twisted her ankle so the seminar met in her living room.

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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 04/09/2026

So, if I understand Nigel Farage's argument correctly it is: "Everyone I trusted and elevated into a position of responsibility is constantly doing crimes that benefit me but of which I somehow have no knowledge. I am a man with the character, judgement, and intelligence to run the country." Ok.

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Patrick Iber @patrickiber.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Today you're going to see a lot of tributes and assessments of Gloria Steinem (I thought this one very good: www.thecut.com/article/glor...). You'll also see some people raising her involvement with the CIA, and others ignore it. (That obit doesn't even mentioned it.) What was that about?

thecut.com

Gloria Steinem Loved Women

The feminist icon, who has died at the age of 92, epitomized the contradictions and hopes of the women’s liberation movement.

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Ed Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 03/09/2026

This is racism, straight out of the Trump playbook. Reform are trying to turn our great country into a franchise of Trump's America. There are countless British patriots who came here from overseas, many of them refugees we proudly welcomed. That's the kind of country we are.

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 03/09/2026

Reform U.K.: the state is bloated and can't spend money efficiently, but we will find the perfect people to fix it... some folks from NHS and military procurement!

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Kieran Lowe @kieranran.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Up to £8 million spent on heat pump planning applications from 2015 to 2026 - while the vast majority of applications are approved, new @nestauk.bsky.social analysis of 19,000 applications finds. Is this unnecessary friction – or ‘sludge’ – for would-be heat pump owners to navigate?

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Rachel Holdsworth @rmholdsworth.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I take great delight in asking these people (including those sitting on the aisle, trying to claim the double seat), with all the innocence I can muster, if I can sit there. MWHAHAHA motherfuckers.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Net migration is at its lowest level, outside of the pandemic, for fourteen years, small boat numbers are collapsing and yet you still can't move for 'migrant crisis' stories in the British media

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

As small boat numbers reach a six year low, this is what they choose to splash on

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

A gentle reminder that if we miss the 1.5°C target (and we certainly will), the next target is 1.51°C and not 2°C. We need to keep fighting. Every tonne of CO₂ emitted makes the job of future CO₂ removal harder, and every 0.01°C of temperature increase makes the world more chaotic and dangerous.

Cover from The Economist from two years ago "Say goodbye to 1.5°C; why climate policy is off target". It has a graphic of the Earth with an apple on its head, and a arrow shot through the Earth.

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David Brindle @brindled.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

So Guardian Jobs is closing. It’s truly the end of an era when Society (Weds), Education (Tues) & Media (Mon) kept @theguardian.com going and job ads funded great journalism - some of it in the supplements themselves. Sad.

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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The ability to make wild generalisations about other countries while simultaneously so baffled by ‘abroad’ that you can’t follow the purple signs to change planes at Heathrow is such an American ‘foreign policy expert’ pair of qualifications.

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

This whole piece is absolutely wild. Of course we know renters are treated appallingly at the bottom end of the scale, but look how even these people paying £4300 a month (!!) for a one-bed flat (!!!) can’t get their landlords to behave decently

Some buildings have loosened their rules in the wake of the Renters' Rights Act, such as no longer charging fees to have pets, said Karen Standing, who oversees the build-to-rent segment at estate agency Hamptons.
Shard Place does not allow pets, except for guide dogs. Under the Renters' Rights Act, the Labour government's flagship effort to help renters, landlords cannot have a blanket ban on pets.

Instead, almost immediately, tenants encountered snags. Rubbish could only be placed in the building's chutes before 5pm, when tenants were often at work. The pool had to be booked and was often unavailable.
Food-delivery drivers were barred from entering the building or leaving items with the concierge. Guests had to be fetched from reception and were not permitted to use the pool.

In another instance, a tenant wanted a key card so their partner could enter the flat without them. Knight Frank, one of the estate agents responsible for letting the building, suggested adding the person to the lease.
"But we had only been dating for four months, the tenant told the FT. "It would have been crazy ... We could break up tomorrow, and then what would I do if they had a right to reside here?"

One issue that united residents earlier this year was internet access. After mistakenly charging some residents a lower fee, or in some cases nothing, the building told tenants in March it would charge £60 a month for internet use.
Residents balked at the short notice, the inability to choose their own internet provider and the price. Average entry-level broadband prices in the UK are about £25 a month, according to Enders Analysis.

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Anthony Zacharzewski @anthonyzach.be · 01/09/2026

The French! Whose president once wrote the handwritten addition "which is to say, in every case" to the order "English terms must not be used when a French one is available"

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