iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dan Paskins

Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We should adjust our institutions, better, affordable childcare, family friendly leave policies, more available IVF. They might stabilise or slightly increase fertility rates. They might not but they are good family policies anyway. And, please, save us "trad wifism".

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General Boles @generalboles.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I for one welcome our new furry First Lord of the Treasury

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Child Poverty Action Group @cpaguk.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If we learnt anything from austerity it’s that cutting social security support drives up child poverty and cuts young people off from opportunity. Much better training & employment support is needed but blocking access to UC would not remove young people from jeopardy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Conservatives pledge 'tough love' benefit rules for under-25s

The party says it would bring in new work requirements for young people claiming Universal Credit.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Excellent thread this:

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

One thing that's revealing about her pamphlet is that it barely mentions pensions, ageing population, social care or the NHS. Hard to shrink the state without a plan for what to do about these.

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Builds on their past (bipartisan) policy successes, helps children, simplifies the tax system while boosting growth. It's a first step away from their previous strategy of "let's never talk about our ideas for helping children or the things we've done to make their lives better"

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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

On a much happier note, I wrote my New Statesman column this week on reading to children, in honour of the wonderful Dolly Parton and her Imagination Library, which is expanding in the UK. Got to reminisce about my dad reading me The Hobbit, with all the voices! www.newstatesman.com/politics/fut...

newstatesman.com

The magic of reading to children

Its appeal is in the forging of memory as much as the story itself

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And Reform seems to be putting down roots in a lot of those places - they will be the ones with local councillors, a reasonably active membership and a local organiser etc.

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Bryce Covert @brycecovert.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Fascinating new study of New Mexico's universal childcare program, first of its kind, finds the program dramatically increased work for lower-income moms www.the74million.org/zero2eight/n...

the74million.org

Nearly a Year In, Universal Childcare Is Reshaping Work for Moms in New Mexico

A new study highlights some early impacts of universal childcare on labor supply for mothers in New Mexico.

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yeah, ultimately it is a terrible format but means loads and loads of international cricket so all power to the schedulers really

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Right down to pre-determining that England will scrape through as the lucky loser of the first group stage...

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's kind of an administrative and scheduling work of art to have a 3 team qualifier, then a 12 team league, then a 7 team pre-seeded league stage, and somehow make this take a month and a half to get to the semi-finals.

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National Children's Bureau @ncb.org.uk · 02/10/2026

What happens in a baby's first thousand days shapes their health, learning, and relationships for years to come. Every family deserves support with their care in those early months, no matter where they live. Read more about new commitments for babies, families and social care lnkd.in/e5gb-VNy

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Emily✨ @emilyoram.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

You know what Ipswich. Big respect for this 🚜

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Alison McGovern @allymcgovern.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Correct, Jurgen.

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Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 01/10/2026

The gap between the support low-income private tenants can get and market rents in their area has now reached 21%. It's approaching the record gap of 23% when support was last increased in 2024, but the government has given no plans to increase support until 2030.

Chart showing gap between support provided to lower income private tenants and the estimated percentile level

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Lovely story here for those who need one. 🐿️

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Save the Children NI @savethechildrenni.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It didn’t make headlines but this week Stormont's Department for Communities provided an update on the Anti-Poverty Strategy. They said the Minister is committed to creating a more ambitious strategy. Along with many others we've been calling for leadership on child poverty so we wanted to respond:

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Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

NEW: How does Burnham’s conference speech land with voters when they see it it? In short, very well it seems. A thread on some new video testing of the PM’s speech among voters by @persuasionuk.bsky.social Top line findings and some caveats below! 🧵👇

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Relationships Project @rshipsproject.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Paul Stepczak created the ‘Do With, Not To’ scorecard tool for public services and private companies to evaluate their progress in working alongside communities to make a real difference. Get stuck in: padlet.com/paulstepczak...

padlet.com

"Do With, Not To" Scorecard (Excel Version)

Feel free to download and complete the assessment. I've also created digital versions that will send you a PDF report: bit.ly/DoWithNotToScorecard (36 Question 'Deep Dive') bit.ly/DoWithNotToLite…

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

They have already got a lot to do: SEND reform, devolution, police reform, child poverty strategy, immigration reform, rearmament, NHS reform, decarbonisation etc etc. Plenty to keep them busy for the rest of this parliamentary term

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Child Poverty Action Group @cpaguk.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The PM’s thinking about the long term is crucial but action is also urgently needed to remove millions of children from poverty now.

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Katie Schmuecker @katieschmuecker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Good to hear the Prime Minister saying to @bbclaurak.bsky.social that crude cuts to welfare just push costs elsewhere, and the problems we need to address are the economic failures that put pressure on our social security system. He’s right about this.

Screen shot of Andy Burnham being interviewed by Laura Kunnesberg

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Also a lot of people for whom "UC=benefits" with no knowledge of the past history, and the huge influence on people in the UK Right of American culture and how their system works

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It was in response to a question on what created the Dependency Culture at a fringe meeting, and the speaker said it was the introduction of Universal Credit that had created it, with no further context. I remember back when the introduction of UC was meant to end the dependency culture!

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

One thing I learned at the Reform conference is that many on the Right believe that what they call the dependency culture was created by the invention of Universal Credit

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

- Honestly my dear grandchildren, you’ll never believe how low rates were in the 2010s. - at least you built a load of infrastructure when borrowing costs were so low grandad? Right? Right?

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Power to Change @powertochange.org.uk · 24/09/2026

5 practical steps for govt to unlock a resilient high street that goes beyond retail: 1️⃣ Tackle vacancy through new ownership models 2️⃣ Support councils to use existing powers 3️⃣ Improve data transparency 4️⃣ Reform meanwhile-use 5️⃣ Help communities move from temporary to long-term use 👇️ buff.ly/wxV1j8d

buff.ly

Briefing: The civic high street - Power to Change

Our civic high street briefing offers recommendations for how government can deliver a transformative High Street Strategy, using policy and investment to d ...

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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

BlueSky doesn't need this reminder but remember that Headroom is, roughly, the difference between: - est. revenues a few years out, a >£trillion number - est. spending, similar - removing capital, a semi artificial construct - divided by GDP, Ditto - taken from a self-imposed allowable amount

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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Which would you choose? 🏚️Pay the rent. 🍊Put food on the table. ♨️Heat your home. The bleak choice facing many private renters. Because LHA has fallen far below rents & is frozen. @trusselluk.bsky.social are asking the Prime Minister to act this Autumn. action.trussell.org.uk/local-housin...

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

There's much that can be criticised about Suella's mad position, but nobody who thinks this actually 'supports the England football team'.

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Nuffield Foundation @nuffieldfoundation.org · 23/09/2026

Looking for a podcast recommendation? 🎧 The We Society podcast brings together leading thinkers, researchers & policymakers to tackle some of the biggest questions facing society today, from education & child poverty to AI, inequality & public services. 👉 acss.org.uk/we-society-podcast

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Yes it could be argued that keeping up with world events is important but alternatively can I interest you in hugging an ancient mossy boulder that looks like a face and quietly listening while it tells you stories from centuries cloaked in mist.

A lovely mossy boulder with a face. I walked past this venerable stone gentleman on Dartmoor when I was beginning to write my first novel, Villager, and it whispered all 104,000 words of the book to me. So now I have to pay it all of my royalties. Unfortunately my ex-publisher stopped paying me royalties last year. Understandable, the boulder was not happy. But now I have a new publisher and the book has been republished. So remember if you purchase a copy you will be helping a boulder to eat, pay the rent on his riverside moss garden, and feed his boulder family.

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Iain Porter @iainkporter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The first benefit cap stats have been published since the 2-child limit was scrapped. 165,000 families - containing over 370,000 children - are now hit by the benefit cap. That’s 50,000 more families than before. 1/4

Chart from the DWP showing the number of benefit capped households in Great Britain over time. It shows that 164,000 families receiving Universal Credit were affected by the benefit cap in May 2026, up from 115,000 families in February 2026. (These figures are slightly different from those quoted in this post because we have added the separate benefit cap statistics for Northern Ireland into the DWP’s statistics for Great Britain.)

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This is very good. Should also double lock child benefits so that in the long term we have the same system for children and for pensioners

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Andrew Harrop @andrewharrop.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Threading the needle on the Triple Lock. My new thing for @labourlist.bsky.social calls on John Healey to pre-announce an end to the Triple Lock in the 2030s Both to sort the politics, and because it’s the right policy for fighting poverty labourlist.org/2026/09/end-...

labourlist.org

'End the triple lock – just not yet' - LabourList

By pre-announcing an end to the triple lock in the 2030s, John Healey can make a Labour case as to what it was for and why it should end.

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Paul Hebden @paulhebden.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Life's overwhelming enough, what with the far right's nihilism pushed down our throats. We don't need progressives doing the same. We're supposed to believe in the power of human agency. the constant doomerism on climate and AI just makes people feel worse. We have to show there is hope.

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Larry the Cat @number10cat.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Things that aren't patriotic: - Racism - Moving abroad for tax purposes Things that are patriotic: - A love and sense of duty to your country, including paying taxes that contribute to it

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Sarah Crook @sarahcrook.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Does anyone else suspect that their children are shills for Big Snack? I swear 90% of my wage goes towards snacks, but yet the snacks are always wrong, engendering a need for more snacks, which are also wrong

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Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 21/09/2026

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Save the Children US @savethechildren.org · 21/09/2026

Every child should have the freedom to dream about their future, not worry about whether they’ll see their loved ones again. This #WorldPeaceDay, listen to children from Yemen, Lebanon and Ukraine share their hopes for peace. Every child deserves to live in peace. ❤️

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Agree - this is why I think the AI analogy is a useful one. AI is much less popular than net zero, so either Rentoul thinks we should abandon AI as well as net zero or the argument is clear bad faith

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Stephen Hunsaker @hunsaker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Local Housing Allowance, the cap on housing support that helps 1.9 million low-income private renting families, has been frozen since April 2024. Rents haven't. The gap between rents and support hits a record this October. Our new spotlight shows why the Budget should end the freeze 🧵

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This is a really interesting thread

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Only 20% of people would support building an AI datacentre in their local area, with 48% opposed. Would you agree that this shows a problem of democratic consent with the UK increasing its usage of AI, and that we should seek alternative options to AI? yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...

yougov.com

Would you support or oppose the construction of an AI data centre in your local area? | Daily Question

Would you support or oppose the construction of an AI data centre in your local area?

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Dan Paskins @danpaskins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I went to a meeting recently where a speaker claimed that the "dependency culture" had been created by the introduction of Universal Credit. I remember hearing someone from the exact same organisation a few years ago claiming that Universal Credit would end the "dependency culture".

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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

18 years after the party conference that birthed the policy, allow me to repost my 2014 oped attacking the politically pointless policy of supposedly progressive parties raising the income tax threshold- giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.com

Tax cuts are exactly what the UK doesn’t need

The financial crisis turned a smart idea into a regressive own goal, writes Giles Wilkes

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