iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Milburn report pushed to after budget because there is no money for his recommendations. Defence spending pushed back too. Spending review is going to be a nightmare.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 19h

New post: Burnham has opened the door to a "rejoin" manifesto pledge. The politics make more sense than a lot of people seem to realise. I look at what it would involve at every step from pledge to referendum. There are significant barriers but it can be done. samf.substack.com/p/the-route-...

samf.substack.com

The route back into the EU

Back in 2022 I wrote about the long-term prospects for undoing Brexit and made two predictions.

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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 19h

Under Labour large swathes of the UK outside of London and Manchester are losing access to much of Europe and Britain's cultural heritage. Burnham talks a good game about regional pride even as his government mindlessly watches many of its foundations collapse beyond the Southeast and Northwest

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Ian Smith @iankmsmith.ft.com · 21h

"France is probably too big to fail, but it is not too big for the markets to punish" Our Big Read today on France, caught between the street and the bond market. Investors fear the country could be tipped into a debt crisis that would shake the Eurozone as.ft.com/r/4827a084-b...

as.ft.com

France: between the bond market and the barricades

The country is being hit by a pre-election debt sell-off. Many fear it could shake the Eurozone

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Niklas Plaetzer @nplaetzer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Elections in Brazil are a disaster for progressive forces around the world, and Euro-American Lefts are hardly taking notice. Even if Lula wins the runoff (unlikely), an extreme-right Senate is locked in for 8 years = unbridled destruction of the Amazon, crackdown on civil society, US fossil empire.

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Grodaeu @groda.eu · 04/10/2026

This is obviously a good proposal and anyone who says otherwise is a narc 1 Bizarre marginal tax rates are bad 2 Childcare is for the *children* 3 Society benefits from rich and poor kids mixing instead of the rich ones having nannies

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👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞 @jacktindale.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Every South American election recently has basically been: Jesús Marx Bonaventura de Corruption (Alliance to Not Kill Puppies): 48.9% Pedro Sanchez-Hitler (Reform): 50.01% Geraldo Demonslayer (Bitcoin Liberation Front): 1%

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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Manchester City cheated Premier League rules, the Commission found. Did it also cheat HMRC? We've examined the decision and leaked Mancini documents. We think City likely failed to pay £12m in tax. There should be a criminal investigation. Thread:

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Kevin McKenna MP @kevinmckenna.co.uk · 03/10/2026

Sarah’s reaction isn’t surprising. We all know the criteria she uses & that Reform’s constant two-tier refrain reveals rather more about how they see the world than how our police & courts do This incident should have been a much bigger wake-up call to all of us. Instead it was too often downplayed

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Cask beer in London is a crapshoot (and far more often over-vented, flabby and warm than sparkling and cool) - but I am far less tolerant of it at £7 a pint.

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I simply can’t trust a man whose trousers don’t meet his shoes.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

BBC reveals preferred bidders for the Doctor Who franchise tender.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I’ve seen the pitch document for The Day Today and it’s about a paragraph long. I paraphrase but: “This show worked brilliantly on the radio and we know what we’re doing.” A world in which that is a viable pitch document is something that we surrendered without a fight, which is so sad.

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Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Labour more willing to take some hit on triple-lock reform, focus on social care funding and some apparent desire to improve on the current arrangements with Europe (albeit with exactly as much detail as that implies) all to be welcomed. Still a lot of “lord, make me chaste, but not yet” in there.

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Social care? 2030. EU relationship? 2030. Ending the triple lock? 2030. Electoral reform? 2030. What year is it? Burnham’s pitch seems to be: re-elect me in three years and I’ll show you how I’m not an Hollande, Scholz or Starmer. This isn’t a sustainable position.

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Atomised media, concentrated gatekeeping. Content creators can’t find sinecured jobs and are forced to rattle tins - while a tiny number of tech giants reap the rewards. A must-read cri de cœur from BAFTA-winning producer and writer @mattnida.com.

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If the last 15 years of work on things like MH17 and chemical weapon use tells me anything is you'll need a lot more than mere evidence to change the mind of any denialist.

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Luca Tiratelli @lucatiratelli.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I await the first time a politician proposing some nuts new immigration restriction is asked what is otherwise the media’s favourite question: how are you going to pay for it??

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 29/09/2026

Either this is true, in which case *what are we doing here*? Shut it down. Or it's bullshit, in which case these are truly silly people unworthy of our money

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The head of Britain’s biggest public-sector union has attacked Andy Burnham for delaying any firm decisions on setting up a new social care system until after the next general election in 2029. www.ft.com/content/4370...

ft.com

Trade union chief criticises Burnham’s delay to social care reforms

Andrea Egan says prime minister should move faster on setting up new system

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Labour under Andy Burnham must govern decisively, delivering on his vision of a devolved, dynamic Britain that acts (on Thames Water, on care) rather than dithering. Great FT article from @johnmct.bsky.social. The window to get these things moving before 2029 is narrow. Execution is key.

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It’s a constant source of fascination to me that France never had a serious debate about preferential/AV voting for the presidency after the shock of April 2002.

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"In order to deliver the PM's promise to save social care we need a permanent class of indentured migrant workers without labour rights".

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Sandy Hendry @sandyhendry.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A US gift to China's EV industry, which is exporting around the world as the Iran war pushes up global fuel prices. GM and Ford will first shrink back into their US sandboxes protected by tariffs and then become so small they will never be able to compete on price globally.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.

theintercept.com

DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.

In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam

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Jo Michell @jomichell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Good post. At some point we are going to have to confront the fact that those who live materially comfortable lives may have to cut back a bit on what are effectively luxuries (even if they are now regarded as necessities).

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 25/09/2026

All you need is five minutes on the OECD webpage to discover that Britain raises less tax than comparable European countries and that is almost certainly why everything is falling to pieces

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Twlldun @twlldun.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Others will have their say about this, but I think it’s worth pointing out that this - or laundered versions of it - are accepted wisdom amongst a big chunk of our political and media classes and it is simply bad for society when the elites have little or no understanding of *the systems they run*

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Dealreporter broke news on BASF’s moves for Evonik on Monday and I was pleased to join the byline alongside Georgina Barnard. The FT followed up today and Evonik has now confirmed. 🧵 ionanalytics.com/insights/dea...

ionanalytics.com

BASF has explored Evonik merger this year – sources

BASF has explored a possible merger with Evonik this year, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

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Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"Absolute tosh" is the kind of British understatement I was looking for to describe this warped proposal of wanting to rejoin the EU, but not just the one that is there, and thinking an ex-member can dictate the terms of reforms... The more I think about it, the more absolute tosh it becomes.

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

I think this would be a real mistake. It’s essentially a hope that something will turn up and make things easier in the months ahead. And maybe it will. But there’s a larger chance it doesn’t and then we have months of confidence sapping speculation ahead of the Spring Statement.

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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Not to harp on this, but one man has now coordinated the disruption of a port, two separate attacks on the RNLI, and interference with the border force and the police have no further questions? And the Home Secretary has not noticed?

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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The complete and total collapse of state function in the face of far right extremists. It is frankly ludicrous that Daniel Thomas continues to be at large given the series of crimes committed which he has literally filmed.

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I found the reporting of the BoE’s ‘AI behind recent economic progress’ stuff equally eyebrow-raising.

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 22/09/2026

I may get shouted out for this, but it's a real observation: Polanski has a pattern of behaviour of making trouble for himself by telling fibs when he absolutely doesn't need to do so. He lies reflexively and then creates several more news cycles as a result.

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Samantha Asumadu @samanthaasumadu.substack.com · 22/09/2026

'New analysis on UK media: British media is not delivering the news to its readers. They are delivering an agenda. The seven days after Channel 4 filmed James Orr are a damning indictment of the British press. Orr is a Cambridge associate professor.' via @newscord.org

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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

So much of the right these days have a massive patriotism problem. This guy: - is a tax exile (left long before this govt) - hates his own country while complaining he doesn’t get big enough subsidies from it - laments the manufacturing hit from a Brexit he supported www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK

Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.

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Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 @olgalautman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is so insane I cannot believe this is real. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Jim Ratcliffe says two big issues are spiralling benefits and immigration. Neither Times (Sunday Times) not many of the follow-up reports mention that immigration has fallen dramatically. Ratcliffe has toned down his language but doesn't seem to have noticed that www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

There is a failure in my profession here. Both the Jim Ratcliffe (BBC) and Fred Done (FT) interviews are devoid of any pushback on their subjects. Was ‘the bonus king’ pressed on whether 38% of GDP is an egregious tax take in a W. European context?

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Anand Menon @anandmenon.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

God I hate this 'people who create wealth' nonsense. Let's see how much wealth we have in a society without teachers, nurses etc......

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Patrick Osgood @patrickosgood.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“could pose another First Amendment test” says the arbitrarily banned news organization - incredible milquetoastmaxxing

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AJRedЯum @ajred.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Friday

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John West @jwestjourno.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

And they’re coming in fast now.

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Nathan @nwylabour.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Tbh I find it really troubling how interviewers now have started doing the 'these people are not far-right, these people have real concerns' routine on celebrities and ordinary members of the public, not just politicians (and Victoria Derbyshire is far from the worst on this front)

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