iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Fred Cowell

Janan Ganesh writes a lot of nonsense a lot of the time, but the idea a National Care Service is anti-growth is bollocks for the ages. Freeing up NHS beds and staff to accelerate treatment times, and family members to work and generate wealth, is about as pro-growth as you can get.

ft.com

At least Burnham doesn’t pretend to care about growth

Unlike his predecessors, Britain’s prime minister is a fairly honest stagnation-ist

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Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This is your semi-regular reminder that pensioner poverty: a) is real b) is significantly less prevalent than working-age poverty and half the rate of child poverty, and c) is such that a pensioner is statistically more likely to live in a household worth over £1 million than to live in poverty

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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Most TV is just this now.

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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Shabana, did you know Indonesia is at a crossroads?

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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Wind and solar supplied 33% of EU electricity in the 12 months to August 2026, against 29% from fossil. In 2016 it was 13% and 43%.

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Elizabeth Taylor @elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is just bollocks. When my dad and grandma faced the most disgusting racism in the 60s and 70s (more extreme than what would ever be considered mistreat today) migration was far lower and many Brits were facing plenty ‘inwards’

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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The BBC news summary this morning went seamlessly from "critics warn PM scrapping triple lock would be electoral suicide" to "critics ask if PM has nerve to make tough decisions" and I don't think it's a particularly pro Burnham stance to suggest he might not be the entire problem here.

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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Meanwhile, on Facebook

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 28/09/2026

Remember, Jenrick is not stupid. He's a trained lawyer, he knows the difference between police and court bail. He's just a turd.

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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Times - which has v much joined in the rightwing clamour to reduce immigration - now reporting that Mahmood’s “success” has cost the economy £4- to £7Bn. Would they like to now honestly confirm that fewer people = less spending power for all. There’s a high price to pay for this nasty obsession.

Patrick Maguire
Chief Political Commentator Oliver Wright Policy Editor

Falling migration numbers could cost the chancellor as much as £7bn in fiscal headroom as he writes his first budget, The Times has been told.
Government insiders believe that John Healey, who already faced an uphill battle to balance the books next month, is likely to have an even bigger challenge after immigration undershot projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank estimated last month that the success of Shabana
Mahmood's
reforms, which have cut net migration to the low hundreds of thousands, could cost Healey some £4bn.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The “betting shop” chat misses the point the gambling industry has moved from classic bookies to 24 slot machine shops (AGC’s). These are awful as their business model is predicated on addiction (not the odd flutter) and Councils are powerless to do anything about that harm (reduce hours etc.)

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Aim to permit was a disaster. In practice it made running any type of local gambling policy a nightmare. Wildly cunning legally arguments were required to push back at 24 hour slot machines opening two doors down from halfway houses. Every gaming centre had to be permitted, no matter how terrible.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The name of the person who wrote this article is missing - Jon King from the Express www.express.co.uk/journalist/1... He is is sleeping easily tonight. I imagine the five people who were targeted in a pogrom in Thetford aren’t so much.

express.co.uk

Jon King | Journalists | Express.co.uk

Jon King

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Steve Williams @iloatheskies.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Average day in West Ham twitter discourse:

One West Ham poster says 'because I'm not anti-semetic?'; the next says 'I am anti semetic and I still want Solomon, it's football - shouldn't matter where are you from' to which another replies 'Exactly this, I don't like Muslims and still don't care when we sign them, we even loved a recognized fascist lol'

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

From the media group which used rhetoric that did a great deal to encourage it.

Allister Heath • @AllisterHeath • 22m
We are witnessing the emergence of a 21st century British fascism
The Telegraph
COMMENT
MOSLE

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

1. My PhD from 2015 he might 👨‍🎓 like because it debunks politicians claims about imperialism in international law, but then it’s title has a forbidden word so he wouldn’t read it (but he’s a “free thinker”) 2. My god that y axis is a crime against data that PhD a supervision might have corrected 😜

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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

As ever, I am left asking what the success criteria for the student visas policy looks like.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I have never left a voice note; they encourage people to go all ‘Act 3 Scene 1 of Hamlet’ in over a simple enquiry about milk in the fridge - this technology will absolutely cause the downfall of civilisation.

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Reposted by Fred Cowell

Jennifer 🏆 @jenisntokay.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

He became Mayor just so he could hang out with all of his favorite Arsenal players.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Jon King is an awful human being who should have to experience hardship once in his pampered life.

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Reposted by Fred Cowell

Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Just astonishing that we are now into day 3 of an attempted pogrom in England and the only statement from the government foregrounds the scrapping with the police and praises the right of protest.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This article is disgustingly. At no point is any statistic raised to prove the disproportionality claim she makes. She is essentially looking at social media and “yelling ew gross person I don’t like that” but intelligently, and definitely in a non-bigoted way.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Vertical drinking (with my licensing nerd hat on) is a decent line drawing exercise to put into a premises license. Practical use example: stops a corner suburban restaurant turning into a 4 am rave joint. It is however being grotesquely abused by Westminster Council here to shut down pubs.

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Reposted by Fred Cowell

Isaac (proud small hat wearer) Gantwerk Mayer @isaacgantwerkmayer.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

current affairs editor at EDM concert

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

The history of bad ideas series alone is worth the PPF subscription. Ideas I want to see given the treatment - gentrification - cultural relativism (human rights related) - the swing voter - behavioural genetic determinism

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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The man Badenoch thinks should be a candidate because "the Conservative Party believes in second chances". So you can be literally convicted and imprisoned on multiple accounts of antisemitic harassment and get the all-clear from Kemi

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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 04/08/2026

10/10, no notes

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I think the Iranian war stands out because its both morally terrible *and* instrumentally incredibly irrational for the US, there is just no perspective according to which this isn't a humiliating disaster for America.

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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I was struck by a piece on Radio 4 the other day, asking whether Burnham would be more "pragmatic" - meaning "positive" - about drilling in the North Sea. It was simply taken for granted that drilling was the "pragmatic" option, while opposing it was dogmatic or ideological.

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Who Targets Me @whotargets.me · 03/08/2026

Here's the spending share for the final week before the Mayoral by-election. Feels like a big miss from the Greens to spend so much for just 12% (and elimination) in the first round. They're usually more conservative in deploying resources when they're not going to win.

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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I do think you can basically draw a line from this piece to police officers failing to collect evidence against Andrew Tate in 2015 or South Yorkshire police dismissing victims of grooming gangs as slappers, which is just an utter societal failure to take sexual violence seriously.

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Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Updated numbers here: Burnham bounce still basically entirely coming from clawing back voters Labour had lost to Greens, Lib Dems and Plaid/SNP. In addition, Burnham now winning 10% of Green 2024 voters - double that from June.

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Nick Timothy’s continued presence in political life is why I know cancel culture has not gone too far

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Reposted by Fred Cowell

Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

It's incredible what can be ground up and shoved into the moral panic sausage casing at The Telegraph. Non-Muslim police staff raising money for charity by voluntarily fasting in some parkrun-esque project is grounds for extensive quotes from Nick Timothy on scrapping the Public Sector Equality Duty

“Non-Muslim police staff invited to fast during Ramadan
West Midlands force says practice helps officers understand significance of religious festival for residents
Non-Muslim officers and staff working at West Midlands Police have been invited to fast during Ramadan in an “act of solidarity”, The Telegraph can reveal.
The West Midlands Association of Muslim Police has said colleagues can take part in a fast for the day during the religious festival to raise money for charity.
West Midlands Police said the practice helped officers understand the “significance of Ramadan” for Muslim residents.
But critics of the initiative have raised concerns about how effectively front-line officers are able to carry out their duties while voluntarily abstaining from food and water for extended periods.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, said encouraging non-Muslim staff to observe Ramadan was “wholly inappropriate” and urged officials to scrap the Public Sector Equality Duty, which obliges public services to think about equality and diversity in”

Excerpt From
“Non-Muslim police staff invited to fast during Ramadan”
Sabrina Miller
The Telegraph

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Oz Katerji @ozkaterji.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

If you are a supporter of Ukraine in the Labour Party, do not under any circumstances vote for the Restoration slate including Stella Tsantekidou for the NEC. They have made it very clear that they will not be reliable pro-Ukraine allies if elected.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 02/08/2026

I can understand why Lucy Powell doesn't frame the issue this way, but it would be useful if the wider Labour world did: the current NEET crisis exists in part (and is being made worse by) multiple very deliberate policy choices made in the first two years of this government.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The Daily Express' headline compared with what the "bombshell poll" they're reporting actually found

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Philippe Auclair @philippeauclair.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Just putting it there: the last week has shown how Bluesky has grown into the most reliable, noise-, bot- and BS-free resource for anyone interested in football governance and politics. The coverage of Fifa's and Infantino's debacle has been fantastic. Size isn't everything.

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David Beech @davidbeech.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Whatever the good intentions Andy has for the kids he cares about many of us think this is precisely what will happen.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 31/07/2026

In a crowded field, this is one of the most dangerously stupid things Google has done in the last few years. And I use the word "dangerously" advisedly.

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Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! Today’s bad idea is one the US has been stuck with for a long time: David talks to historian of America @aipsmith.bsky.social about the damage done by the idea of the electoral college. How has it served to distort or discredit electoral outcomes? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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Thangam Debbonaire @thangamdebbonaire.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

“A fortnight ago, Reform-led Suffolk County Council voted to rescind motions on climate emergency…and removed references to the climate emergency from council policies, strategies and communications “where appropriate”.”. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Hundreds evacuated after ‘apocalyptic’ wildfire near Suffolk nuclear power station

Major incident declared, with Sizewell B power station monitoring blaze and RSPB nature reserve badly hit

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

This is a major omission. Confusion over the rules or anticipating them was a nightmare when I was Chair of Licensing at the Council. The comms were a nightmare and undermined faith in the law

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

My controversial view is that whole concept of gentrification is a nonsense. It’s a series of conservative campaigns masquerading as radical justice. Supposed to be a concept encompassing everything from the price of coffee to building railway lines and it actively retards other (better) arguments

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Fred Cowell @fascowell.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Working in bank but also speaking German so fluently I was occasionally called in by British intelligence and the ministry of information (translation desk based work not Ian Fleming stuff) Or being a student in Lahore and keeping my head down

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Reposted by Fred Cowell

Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Damn. I was looking for Micah Richards.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

You gotta think even Telegraph readers aren't buying this shit as their holiday home near Bordeaux goes up in flames...

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