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You can support net zero, LGBTQ+ rights and a Palestinian state. But if you attend a synagogue or partake in almost any aspect of communal Jewish life, the Green Party now considers you a racist.

Jewishness itself is now the offence

The Green Party votes to say “Zionism is racism”

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Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 6h

My visit to Bayeux many years ago is remembered less for the tapestry and more for my introduction to French service station squatting toilets.

Grimly fascinating that Green voters, overwhelmingly in favour of immigration, are also, at 51%, the most likely to want to reduce migrant numbers from Israel. Which does rather beg the question: if Israel is to be eliminated, but Israelis barred from the UK, where exactly are they to go?

Which countries to 2024 voters want to see fewer migrants from?

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Scaring Jews is part of the fun.

If the headline motion is itself racist, the refusal to even pretend to make a carve-out for Jewish members of your own party is perhaps most revealing. Evidently, a majority of Green Party members who voted for the motion and against the amendment simply have little interest in finding an accommodation with Jews.

And I think this speaks to what a lot of people fail to understand. That for Jew-haters, antisemitism is fun. Even better, it frequently forces Jews to play the game of emptying their pockets and patiently explaining why this obviously horrible, racist thing — a slogan, a placard or a burning of ambulances operated by a Jewish charity — is in fact antisemitic. That, too, is part of the fun.

You don’t need to label every antisemitic terrorist attack (and there are horrifyingly many to choose from this year alone) a “false flag” or suggest that “Zionists control the media” to oppose a terrible war or in any way dilute support for Palestinians. You certainly don’t have to, as Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories claimed in a recent interview, say that Jews in Nazi death camps were called “Muslims”.

I could attempt to explain why they do this. Why so many people believe that Jews, whether stabbed on the streets of Golders Green or murdered in gas chambers, are molecularly incapable of being victims. Indeed, how and why the Holocaust itself is an example of Jewish power and privilege. But that would be to play the pocket-emptying game.

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You can support net zero, LGBTQ+ rights and a Palestinian state. But if you attend a synagogue or partake in almost any aspect of communal Jewish life, the Green Party now considers you a racist.

Jewishness itself is now the offence

The Green Party votes to say “Zionism is racism”

214243

Reposted by Jack Kessler

John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 02/10/2026

At least Brexit had a theoretical deadline. Rejoin enjoys no such luxury. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/brexit-ref...

As any first-year philosophy undergraduate will tell you, finitude gives life meaning. Mortality generates urgency, deadlines make choices weigh something. In that spirit, if the biggest problem with Article 50 was its finality, then Article 49 — the legal basis for any European state to join the EU — appears to suffer from the opposite affliction.

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Because of the success of the fundraiser - and the support of so many on here - we were also able to contribute to some unmanned vehicles that were donated. Heard today that these UGV's have already been involved in 16 life-saving rescues from the frontline. Thank you to everyone who donated.

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I think what a lot of people fail to understand is that for Jew-haters, antisemitism (like other forms of racism but right now we're talking about antisemitism) is fun.

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The top line motion is obviously hideous and bigoted, but the refusal to even pretend to make a carve out for Jewish members of your own party is perhaps more revealing of motives.

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Jewishness itself is the offence.

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 02/10/2026

They're contributing to the spectacularly inefficient Right Bloc vote and they're bored.

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Argh. I get it, truly. But don't do it. Pay in *something*, anything

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Also, TW for the Barnier staircase of doom, which has started to take on Giggs-at-Villa-Park-FA-Cup-semi-final status in my head.

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The obligatory Turkey-candidate-status-since-1999 thing is obviously silly (Cyprus! Rule of law!) but today's subject line is good imo.

At least Brexit had a deadline. Rejoin suffers from the opposite affliction

The indefinite article

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At least Brexit had a theoretical deadline. Rejoin enjoys no such luxury. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/brexit-ref...

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Enjoyed a writer's work? Tell them. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/dear-slim-...

Dear Slim,

It seems a bit twee. Needy. Low-key deranged behaviour, further evidence of your ongoing downward spiral from upstanding-member-of-society-who-qualifies-as-a-countersigner-on-UK-passport-applications-and-other-legal-documents to Stan, the obsessive super fan in the eponymous song by Eminem.

And sure, there’s a way to be a creep about it but it’s fairly easy to avoid. For instance, don’t request a lock of a person’s hair, suggest an alternative ending or, if you’re a man and the author/artist is a woman, raise the prospect of sex in return for your kindness.

But a simple note saying how much you enjoyed a thing and perhaps why it was meaningful to you? Why would you want to keep that to yourself?

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Bit of a myth, this one. Krugman is very good on the limited benefits of a reserve currency. UK, Canada, Oz also run persistent deficits. CHF is a reserve currency but Switzerland doesn't.

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(For the avoidance of doubt, I have zero interest in cruises.)

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My interest is in the explanation for why 99.9% of US cruises dock at a foreign port.

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Emma Jacobs @emmavj.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Starting to notice a narrow but persistent majority of all the YouTube videos I watch reference the Jones Act.

The Jones Act, which refers to Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (P.L. 66-261), requires that vessels transporting cargo from one U.S. point to another U.S. point be U.S.-built, and owned and crewed by U.S. citizens. The act provides a significant degree of protection for U.S. shipyards, domestic carriers, and American merchant sailors.

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

It does seem exhausting

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Britain Elects @britainelects.com · 01/10/2026

On rejoining the EU Support: 55% Oppose: 34% ... but on the conditions of single currency and Schengen membership Support: 35% Oppose: 43% via YouGov, Jun 2026 britainelects.substack.com/p/is-rejoin-...

britainelects.substack.com

Is Rejoin happening anytime soon?

Ten years on from the EU referendum

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Opens, for reasons, with George H. W. Bush's vice presidential, 30,000-strong Christmas card operation.

You liked the book. Tell the author.

Dear Stan,

Enjoyed a writer's work? Tell them. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/dear-slim-...

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Steve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Unlike Liz Truss, Andy Burnham clearly believes that time is on his side. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/hope-defer...

Pensions triple lock, social care, electoral reform, Brexit — if there was a third rail of British politics, Andy Burnham intended to step on it. At the same time, there was a curious asymmetry with regards to how fast he was prepared to go.

The triple lock won’t be scrapped reformed until 2030, social care is for the next parliament, the voting system to be determined by committee, the EU gets more talks about talks. Contrast this with Liz Truss, who had similar ambitions to rewire the country, in her case by cutting taxes and rolling back regulation. But she wanted to do it at break-neck speed, which was ultimately her downfall.

For Truss, haste was a product not simply of impatience but of her own insecurity. She needed to create facts on the ground before her limited political authority (little support from MPs, even less in the country) evaporated. She was there for a good time, not a long time. Burnham appears more confident that time is on his side.

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There is no doubt most voters - across generations- start from a position of supporting triple lock. Far more so than SW1. Probably Burnham's approach (frame it as double lock, give something back, push change into future) is the best possible persuasion play. Still a gamble, i think winnable.

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

So, the big speech. My takeaway broadly that of others here: it wasnt a classic. It had too much cliche. Pulled a few punches *But* It was probably the most refreshing and significant speech for... over a decade? A proper political arguement, with faith in the power of politics for positive change

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A bit like net migration figures being lower, the fact that UK economic growth has been higher than expected cuts against the narrative but can’t be ignored forever. Maybe (probably) I was wrong and Labour did have a theory of growth after all.

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Andy Bruce (Reuters) @bruceandy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🥳 UK economy grew more than thought in the second quarter. • GDP +0.5% qq versus a previous estimate of +0.4% (same with GDP per head) • Strong business investment growth (see 👇) • Current account balance (exc. precious metals) smallest in 5 years at 1% of GDP thanks to services exports

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But also in his favour, and unlike Truss or Starmer, Burnham's political instincts are neither mad nor non-existent.

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Clearly, waiting until you no longer have a triple-digit majority or for Donald Trump to send your borrowing costs even higher has risks too.

Unlike Liz Truss, Andy Burnham believes time is on his side

Hope, deferred

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Unlike Liz Truss, Andy Burnham clearly believes that time is on his side. ✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/hope-defer...

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Nominally a piece about the six types of friend who won’t text you back, but at its heart a theory that *you* are the one who is, in fact, bad at texting.

The six types of friend who won’t text you back (and the one message making it worse)

‘Hey, how’s things?’

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Reposted by Jack Kessler

Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The Treasury underestimated the impact of the triple lock was that they did not anticipate the seesaw between inflation and earnings. That is what has led to the big rise in spending and the pension growing well ahead of earnings. There are proposals around to ensure it grows with earnings.

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He was *38 years old* when the first episode of Saved by the Bell aired.

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Also, unless you know a person really well, maybe don't buy them art. It's risks being like "Here is a gift from me! Now hang it on your wall forever!"

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Friends don't set their friends homework.

It is tempting to think that, when left on read, you are the victim. Sometimes, I guess. But who wants to be made to feel like the culprit?

One piece of advice I’ve tried to deploy in my professional life is if I’m hoping to catch a minute with a contact or potential mentor, I don’t message with something vague such as “I’d like to pick your brain.” This makes the person far less likely to agree because they don’t know what you want and suspect, rightly, that you don’t actually know either.

In that vein, “Hey, how’s things?” is, with notably rare exceptions, a terrible, verging on bullying message to send, akin to setting someone homework. Obviously it’s context- and closeness-specific but why not ask them about their holidays, their hobbies, anything but “Gimme a pithy, breezy, 250-character update on your life in time for tomorrow’s all-hands meeting k thanks bye.”

Nominally a piece about the six types of friend who won’t text you back, but at its heart a theory that *you* are the one who is, in fact, bad at texting.

The six types of friend who won’t text you back (and the one message making it worse)

‘Hey, how’s things?’

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No disrespect to just-in-time logistics but how are supermarket avocados still not being displayed according to ripeness?