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LimitedSlipDiff

@limitedslipdiff.bsky.social
37 followers 41 following 794 posts

Having been in read only mode for years, finally trying out posting on social media. I like economics, energy, UK politics, stats, sci-fi, science & cars. I don't like cats.

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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In the stories about early prisoner releases, the tone seems to be that keeping the person behind bars for a few months is the difference between them being a reformed character, and leaving jail as exactly the same scumbag as they were when they went in. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
We fear for our lives after being told our abusive exes will be freed from jail early
Three victims of domestic abuse tell the BBC why they feel let down by the early prisoner release scheme.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Good to see MPs using their time wisely. Can't think of anything that the Culture and Sports committee could better spend their time on. Well done Dame Caroline Dinenage. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK's 'dismal' Eurovision song choices to be examined by MPs
It comes after the UK's entry Look Mum No Computer came last in May's final, scoring just one point.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The UK government knows the name of the diplomat who it is alleged was in possession of child abuse images. We can't get him back because of diplomatic immunity. But what we can do is pay for posters with his name and photo to go up around his home city with the message "Check his hard drive".
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
While a supporter of passing the assisted dying bill today, I would have liked it to have a sunset clause, forcing a review of the operation of the safeguards before it is renewed. We have to get this right, some other countries with these laws have headed down a route few in the UK want.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I don't post on American politics often, but this $5k offer to voters in Trumps recent speech only increases the parallels with Crassus and other patricians in the late Roman republic. A failed military campaign against the Parthians. Subverting democratic norms. Now bribing the electorate.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
When they bowled England out for 290, Pakistan probably thought that putting England into bat first was the smart thing. How wrong they were.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
While Burnham's announcements over the summer on homelessness etc are welcome, everything they do at the moment is twiddling at the edges compared to the budget in the Autumn. How are they going to increase taxes and by how much, what will they spend it on, and measures to increase growth.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Pass rates for GCSE Maths resits have dropped to 15% which makes them functionally useless as a general policy approach to 16 year olds who got a grade 3 or under the first time around. The government's proposal of a stepping stone Level 1 qual is pointless. You still have to resit...
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
If you see a post from someone saying we should have a national care service, ask them for successful European examples of the model of funding, organisation and care delivery they are proposing to show it works. I'm not against social care reform, I'm against the UK (again) ignoring what others do
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Am I alone in not particularly caring that more than half of Burnham's cabinet went to Oxbridge? Generally you have to be pretty smart to go there, and I like having smart people in government (FYI I did not go to Oxford or Cambridge university). Skills and experience are way more important.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Why is Andy Burnham messing around with a No10 for the north? Move parliament to the north. Everyone has to leave the palace of Westminster in a few years anyway, use the opportunity to split the political and economic centres. Lots of other European countries do this very successfully.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
NHS blood test form. Do you want to book an adult or child appointment? We have an upper age limit of 12 for a child's appointment, but won't tell you that until much later in the process. You should just know this. I mean duh, did you even go to school?
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
It is absolutely true that UK citizens wouldn't be affected by the monumental screw up that is the new EU border processes for non EU citizens without Brexit. Instead we'd have stories about how our border processes are turning into a disaster zone instead. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
UK summer bookings jump as Britons put off overseas holidays by travel fears
Reports of ‘stampede’ for stays near water amid concerns over cancelled flights, higher air fares and EU border delays
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
And we wonder why it takes so long and costs so much to deliver any kind of infrastructure in the UK. Months wasted and hundreds of thousands of pounds on one part of the public sector suing another. The system for building things is completely broken. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
HS2 tunnel extension did not have planning permission, court rules
The Court of Appeal finds the tunnel extension did not benefit from existing planning permission.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Kindle's frustration free setup is really quite frustrating as it doesn't seem to actually work.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I'm all for passive cooling strategies for your home, but when its over 30C for 5 days in a row (and over 35C for 2 days) there is only so much passive cooling can do in a home designed for the cold, damp usual weather in the UK. Portable aircon to the rescue!
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Sarah Pochin, a Reform MP, tweeted this last night: "England won the football last night. And thank god they did because, on the occasions that England lose their football matches, the incidents of domestic violence go through the roof. So, boys. Keep winning."
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Defending a country is a top priority for a government, and I have sympathy for John Healy in being unhappy with the financial settlement for the MoD. But as a former Treasury minister he must know that HMT is always skeptical that the MoD will just waste any additional money it's given.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A good lesson in thinking about the numbers that you quote. The figure below is nearly the entirely daily amount of water provided by Scottish Water. This should give you pause before quoting it as in reality it mistakes per day for per year figures.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Interesting article by Dan Neidle - reinforces my thought that we need to spend more time looking at what our more successful European neighbours do and copy them taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/06/05/t...
taxpolicy.org.uk
Has Britain run out of “other people” to tax?
For decades, UK governments raised taxes by targeting higher earners, wealth and property rather than ordinary wages. Has that strategy reached its limit?
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
I missed this over the last couple of days, only noticed through this Guardian article. Do the morons complaining about this not understand the danger of false positives? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The right’s culture war over prostate cancer screening is damaging trust in medicine | Polly Toynbee
The decision not to test all men and only screen the most at risk, including black men, is fact-based. Yet it’s been called ‘two tier’ – and labelled as misandry, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
The reality of Cuba's repressive government laid bare in this interesting article I launched Cuba’s first independent magazine. And that’s when my troubles began www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ju...
theguardian.com
I launched Cuba’s first independent magazine. And that’s when my troubles began
The long read: My friends and I wanted to tell the story of Cuban life, without interference. Before long, I was being isolated, monitored and interrogated
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Vetting council candidates is a bit of a nightmare as there are so many of them. Every party struggles a bit, particularly when you're growing fast. @greenparty.org.uk What's the excuse for lack of vetting on a single, super high profile by election candidate?
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Reposted by LimitedSlipDiff
David Beech @davidbeech.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Reposting antisemitic conspiracy theories otherwise known as personal and family problems, it seems.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Have been reading the sad story about the Italian divers who died in the Maldives. Never dived in caves, but I did in wrecks which can have similar challenges and was pretty surprised at what seems to be reported about they way they went about it. Using normal air mix, no primary guideline etc
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Interesting analysis with some proper detail and work behind it. Worth a read.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Rare to see sensible comment on housing policy.
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Claire S (UK not USA) @csav55.eurosky.social · 15/05/2026
I'm appalled by politicians and the media who think it's perfectly acceptable for a sitting Labour MP to stand down to enable a sitting Labour Mayor to stand down in order to contest the ensuing by-election. No wonder people have no faith in politicians or the media. So disrespectful to voters.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
While I don't want a Labour leadership challenge because I'm not sure any of the others will be much better and I'm not a fan of the kind of political chaos it will cause, I am enjoying the frustration from Andy Burnham seeing yet another chance to become PM slip through his fingers.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"Them? I didn't know they were noble?" said Io. "They're all very rich and have had millions of people butchered or tortured to death merely for reasons of expediency and pride" said the Lady. The watching gods nodded solemnly. That was certainly noble behaviour.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
I need to manipulate the Bluesky algorithm into giving me much less US internal politics. There was some kind of decision on a case about voting rights this week and its clogging up my feed. I don't care about domestic US politics as I don't live there. I need to convince Bluesky of this.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Interesting how the discourse over trans women in elite sport has changed over time. A few years ago the guardian would have been horrified at considering publishing an opinion article like this. Now they published this alongside an opposite one by Moira Quinn - two opposing views.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
The founding fathers in the USA were very taken with the Roman Republic, and it figured heavily in their debates about structures for the new United States republic. It's interesting there are so many parallels with what's happening today in the USA and the events in its final 50 years.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Hard to describe how disappointed I am that Starmer hasn't been better as PM. The latest mess with the appointment of Mandelson as ambassador is an example. He's dissembled and wittered on about process. Just tell the truth:
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Do you know who is very happy that the UK has binned (for now) the legislation giving the Chagos Islands to Mauritius? The great majority of Chagossians and their descendants. They don't want this deal to go ahead and have been roundly ignored by the UK government.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
More disingenuous research being parroted by journalists who fail to read the report and question the assumptions for a cheap headline. Lots of things here, the first one being the quote of 8-9% profit for firms in the UK. Yes, but that's not like for like. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds
Exclusive: MPs say profit-making levels in England are ‘scandalous’ and call for cap on amount private companies can make from NHS
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
@thisisyourparty.bsky.social now expelling members of other left groups, completing the usual splintering of very left politics. My politics don't align with theirs, but if you're on the very left, don't bother with Corbyn and Sultana's dumpster fire, just join the Greens
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Seeing lots of online mentions about introducing wealth taxes in the UK with figures in the multiple billions of revenue. For those of us pushing back, its not because: - We are billionaires (if I was I wouldn't be on here, I'd be whizzing around italy in my limited edition Ferrari)
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Not generally one to boycott anything, but I will be boycotting watching the World Cup this summer in the USA. It's no hardship, I don't like football and won't be watching anyway, but I get to virtue signal this one for free. #Aren'tIBrave
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
One thing the war in Iran has done is exploded the myth of international law. Doesn't exist, never did. It's just the law of the strongest, the law of the victor. It's unenforceable, so so isn't a law at all. The legalistic view of international relations is bullshit.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Seeing a lot of discussion about Zack Polanski dancing on the stage in Trafalgar square after the march on Saturday. I think it says a lot about the deeply unserious nature of politics at the moment that its a significant topic of conversation, rather than policy positions.
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Stephen Jarvis @stephenjarvis.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
I have seen lots of enthusiastic posting about what a great idea this is. And don't get me wrong, I get the frustration with electricity prices spiking so high when gas prices rise. But so far I've seen far too many half baked solutions being thrown around that don't really add up. 🔌💡 (1/12)
news.sky.com
Government looking at decoupling electricity and gas prices to bring down bills
Ed Miliband spoke to Labour MPs about possible action after the chancellor faced questions about how she plans to help households if the war in Iran continues to impact their finances.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Some really important lessons for NESO on the management of the UK electricity grid over the coming years in the report on the Iberian grid failure last year www.entsoe.eu/publications... Blythe statements that it was or wasn't caused by renewables miss the important facts.
entsoe.eu
28 April 2025 Blackout
The final report of the Expert Panel on the 28 April 2025 blackout in continental Spain and Portugal identifies the causes of the blackout and outlines recommendations to strengthen the resilience of Europe’s interconnected electricity system. It was prepared by a technical Expert Panel of 49 members, including representatives from Transmission System Operators (TSOs), Regional Coordination Centres (RCCs), ACER and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), and was chaired by experts from two unaffected TSOs.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
The biggest blocker to much greater use of renewables in the UK energy system is the lack of a serious energy storage strategy. Batteries are only going to play at the margins, balancing local demand and helping voltage regulation.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Where has that England performance been all championship? An epic six nations game that.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
If we could all not start a world war and blow ourselves up before April 14th, that would be great. The next book in the new James SA Corey series, The Faith of Beasts, is due to be published then.
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
One of the interesting things about the UK electricity grid at the moment is that if you *just* want cheap bills, it's likely that coal is still the answer. Our grid is still designed around a few large generators rather than distributed, theres 200 years or so of supply still in the UK...
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Qatar has shut down its LNG plant. This is going to get very tricky for all of Europe unless we can get it and the Strait of Hormuz open again very quickly
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
The bizarre BBC obsession with the USA continues. Headlines just now - a storm about to arrive in New York was given far more time than SEND reform in the UK. Minutes on a live press conference in New York about a travel ban today. Has New York suddenly become part of the UK???
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LimitedSlipDiff @limitedslipdiff.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Went to watch I'm Sorry Prime Minister at the London Apollo this week. Quite disappointed - some good quips and links back to the TV series, but too much of it was cliche and old men shout at clouds, with none of the classic scheming and machinations that made the series so good.
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