frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 06/10/2026It doesn't look crazy weird as baked potatoes with baked beans and grated cheese go. Common in the UK and Ireland, presumably unfamiliar on the other side of the pond. Of course, food photography is always weird, milk is frequently PVA glue. 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 01/10/2026France almost at 5% is a bigger deal. UK debt to GDP - ~95%, deficit ~5%. Not great. France debt to GDP - 119%, deficit ~targeting 5%, will probably miss it. 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Nice idea but the compute isn't generally in a country that will tax it and it's already crazy expensive to run compute in the UK. There aren't any UK owned frontier AI models that are in any way competitive. 001
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 24/09/2026There's lots of excitement around Charlie O'Shea and Tom Wood, shame the latter is out till 2027. Unlikely Tony Butler is fully match fit, last played in Jan, brought back in a couple of weeks ago. Unless he's had a very active summer, doubt he's at speed, would have been nervous times without JJ 010
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Same is true for Munster, although fewer players impacted... 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 20/09/2026The lowest spending on defence in the EU (0.2% of GDP) is apparently too much... 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 12/09/202632, that's a good number, some say the best number 010
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 04/09/2026The importance of the byelection is very different for the Greens vs Labour. If Labour win, even a narrow victory, it's a disaster for the greens. Zach failing to win a seat he's chosen wrecks chances of Greens selling themselves as a valid alternative to labour. If Labour lose, it's a dent at most. 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 03/09/2026It's permanently streaming in Reading 030
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 30/08/2026I live close enough to the site that I got to hear it while in bed... 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Ireland need to move on from the strategy anyway, it's very heavily dependent on Beirne and at 34 years old, he hasn't got a long time left on him. 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Irish people can vote too, as can a large proportion of Commonwealth citizens. 010
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Hard to argue that 0-0-10 is a winning formation 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 15/07/2026When exactly did he come up with the term context engineering? First used it in a client project back in August 2023, he claimed in a twitter post it was a new concept last year... 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Bad news for the Ourselves party... (For those who don't know, that's what Sinn Fein means) 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Couple of good ones last week too. The format is at least as bad as the Champions Heineken European Cup, and I question how sensible it is to attempt to fill half a million seats over 3 days at Twickenham in the final weekend in London at the end of November. Jury very much still out IMO 010
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Make Clacton Count The headlines write themselves really. 011
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 07/07/2026Can the UK levvy a wealth exit tax?The idea of a citizen tax would be to ensure that any wealth tax is easily avoided by leaving. If it's an expensive option, few will take it. You can rescind your tax residency, it'll cost 5% of your assessed wealth vs standard 2% annual rate. Apply to non-citizens 040
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Important signing for Leinster, 10, 12 and 15 cover, could easily be first choice 10 with a decent injury free run of form. Would expect him in the Ireland squad but I wouldn't be surprised if he's still pissed off by how he was treated for last world cup. 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Or "the plan to stop spending money on imported oil & gas" I will admit, it's not snappy. 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 17/06/2026The current process is bare bones and just not good enough. Only 2 EU countries report a higher infant mortality rate than the UK, and the rate in the UK is going up, especially among deprived groups. The bottom 10% have more than 2x the rate of top 10%, that's a huge difference. 110
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 17/06/2026It's actually a good idea on the surface: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... "the government should have a duty to ensure babies and children up to age two, and their parents and carers, have access to midwifery checks and health visits. Could work with Best Start centres, done well, can see it passingbbc.co.ukParents of babies and toddlers could get right to supportThe campaign to cement prenatal, baby and toddler services is backed by a Hampshire MP. 141
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 12/05/2026Sadiq Khan makes more sense IMO. Unfortunately it won't happen because, well, you know yourself. 070
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 11/05/2026The board of peace seems to be quiet enough, maybe Tony would give it another go? 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 29/04/2026There's definitely a divergence (albeit not massive) in this chart: bsky.app/profile/dann... The cost of UK borrowing has also diverged from other advanced economies post Truss. GDP makes much less sense as an indicator of economic health when you consider wealth distribution and the green economy 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 29/04/2026Brexit also occurred in 2020, it's not just an outcome from the pandemic. You can see a persistent drop in the rate of growth of GDP per capita adj PP from 2020. The UK goes from matching advanced economies minus US to trending consistently below. Other question is whether GDP is a good measure... 110
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 28/04/2026If he watched it, Macroom very much is football, not hurling territory. Not enough swearing and random conversion of s->sh. He's gone all fancy, probably doesn't even say filum any more. 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 28/04/2026Thought it's remarkable how much his accent has a number of English pronunciations, such as how he pronounces party with a soft a. He has definitely worked on his pronunciation, heard him in one answer correct himself from "eider" to "either". I'd say after a few scoops the Macrumpian comes back. 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 24/04/2026They're mid table in the URC, they're not doing amazingly well at the moment, but they've lost a load of players over the past 3 years, with it IRFU funding. They won the URC 3 years ago, finished top of the table 2 years ago. It's not munster of old, but it's not half as bad as people are saying 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 23/04/2026Sligo (no, not that one) for Sam 010
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026houseofthepeople.com/polls There's loads of crazy ones in there. It's clearly wildly skewedhouseofthepeople.comHouse of The People - Direct Democracy Platform for the UKVote on every UK parliamentary bill. Compare your votes to your MP. Measure the democratic gap. Join thousands of citizens holding Parliament accountable. 020
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Buckingham Palace's council tax is £2,095 a year, which is insane. There are an awful lot of retired people round my part of the world living in £1M+ houses, asset rich, cash poor. Only taxing billionaires is v. hard. If you're taxing non-property, non-pension wealth, are you really taxing wealth? 000
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026The data on the wealthy is very poor, from the report: "this appears to be missing wealth at the top. We supplement these data with information from the Sunday Times Rich List, but anecdotally this list is far from complete. " That's because the wealthy are good at hiding wealth, making tax harder.. 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/202676% of that wealth is property and pensions.Survey people and ask if they want more taxes on property and pensions,it'll be unpopular. Council tax is a disaster, replace with a property value tax,more expensive for pensioners who are asset rich but income poor.Think Winter Fuel policy but much worse 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026I think Gary Stephenson is exactly right with the diagnosis that we tax income too heavily, and wealth/capital not enough. But how you do that matters. Property and pensions combined make up 76% of UK household wealth. Are you proposing a pension tax when you say you're bringing in a wealth tax? 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026This is the problem I have with the rhetoric on wealth taxes. It's exactly the Brexit problem all over again, sounded good in principle to those who were that way inclined, the practice was a disaster, and if those who wanted Brexit had proposed what they were going to do, would have been rejected. 200
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026I think a wealth tax as it's historically done is unlikely to make the difference its proponents claim. Targeted wealth taxes definitely do work, which is what I think should be implemented but make no doubt, many such as property value tax (which most economists support) would be unpopular. 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026High rate-40%, dividend-35.75% Additional rate-45%, dividend-39.35% That's close Extra 4-5% would bring in more, Labour raising the higher rate by 2% this year is estimated to bring in only £1.2bn next year, 5% probably won't make huge difference. Yes, there's other charges on income, it's complex. 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026I just don't think a general wealth tax will be worth it, I've yet to see detail on how you make it work well, when the majority of evidence out there is that they struggle to make a positive impact to distribution or revenue. Specific taxes on wealth? Labour are doing those, e.g. mansion surcharge 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Point being, the proposed wealth taxes are unlikely to solve the budget problems and labour already increased those in place. Replacing council tax & business rates with property value tax, fixing VAT, IP-based transfer pricing, and capital expensing would be much better but politically much harder 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Switzerland has revenue of ~€10bn, starts at under £50k in some cantons. Analysis suggest Norway loses tax revenue due to capital flight, tax raises £2.4bn. Britain's dividend taxes are just below income tax, higher rate up 2% last Mon, additional rate 39.35%. Further increases won't raise much. 300
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/20261 - Euro countries have tried & abandoned it, hard & expensive to monitor and carry out. 12 OECD countries had them in '90, now only 3. Spain brings in €2 billion annually, pretty small. 2 & 3 - Investment income is usually taxed via CGT. Have MsC in Economics 4 - wealth is not the same as income. 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Of the 4 wealth tax policies, #1 has been shown to be very challenging to implement. #2 Labour already made huge steps in that direction through changes to CGT rates in the Oct 24 budget. It's not clear how #2 and #3 are different. #4 is not a wealth tax, it's purely an income tax rise... 100
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 09/04/2026As someone who has paid taxes in Britain for the past 24 years but is not British, I'd greatly appreciate if they didn't take my pension away because while the option to move back to Ireland along with my salary and kids exists, I've not got an Irish pension... 020
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 09/04/202690%, to be precise. population is currently polling at 23% for Reform, 4% for More Racist Reform. 010
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 09/04/2026What exactly does he mean by it when it comes to policy? Is he advocating for a direct wealth tax, with assessment of assets globally? UK only? Or property tax? Or taxes on financial transactions? Or taxes on the richest companies? Or... I don't think many object to the principle, but the policy... 230
frankbarrylong.bsky.social @frankbarrylong.bsky.social · 09/04/2026And there's so much wrong here that it's hard to know where to start: 4260
