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Phil Biles

@philbiles.bsky.social
59 followers 35 following 147 posts

Moved over from that other place that was becoming a bit challenging

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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22h
I was on a course around Kings Cross in the 90s, oh my goodness! Not an area you’d want to loiter in after dark. Completely transformed now you can even take your family!
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
You’d think that ‘Conservative’ would be the clue in the title 🤷🏻‍♂️ I despair, they’re really drunk on the Kool-Aid. One of the less reported effects of Brexit is how the party has been diminished as a result. Was it worth it 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hopefully some of these policies can come to fruition 🤞
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Won’t be able to fund social care just from double lock will need more money from elsewhere to fund it. But interesting/clever manoeuvre to remove long term burden of triple lock by linking it to reform of social care it seems to have broad public support at the moment
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Would have hoped that Ed Davey would have had a more positive spin on the Burnham speech 🤷🏻‍♂️ It offered some hope after years of statis and division. Also seems to be suggesting policies that LibDems should be supporting www.libdems.org.uk/press/releas...
libdems.org.uk
Davey: Burnham is risking a repeat of the Winter Fuel Payment fiasco
Responding to Andy Burnham's speech at Labour Conference, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes it seems clear that the party needs to clarify its position at least for the benefit of our members if no one else
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sorry that’s not to imply politicians aren’t brave and honest but that decisions that seem blindingly obvious to me and many others are fraught with other implications for elected officials
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My own view is that the LibDem policy is somewhat ambiguous to offer some hope to the support base whilst at the same time trying to appeal to voters who wouldn’t normally vote LibDem. I’d personally prefer a braver and more honest assessment but I’m not a politician
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I also reiterate that it is extremely unlikely that the EU will agree to FOM without SM. So it would be pointless to start any debate on joining by just focusing on FOM and not linking it to SM
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I’m slightly confused now. The LibDem policy is to join the SM & CU. Are you saying that the policy is implying we would join as rule takers rather than rule makers? www.libdems.org.uk/trade
libdems.org.uk
A New Deal with Europe
Liberal Democrats are calling for the UK to join the single market and customs union, to fix the damage done by Brexit and get our country back on track.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Maybe I’ve misunderstood but we won’t be joining the EU if we’re not in the SM and CU. Also, as EU made clear in the Brexit negotiations, FOM is one of the 4 freedoms that are core to the integrity of the SM
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If SM, and FOM, is a serious policy objective for the LibDems it really should be more open about what this entails - the advantages and the trade offs. Although to a certain extent understandable I see no serious leadership from our politicians to take this on.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Don’t think EU will carve out FOM from 4 freedoms of SM if we were to decide that it was now advantageous to us anymore than they were willing to carve it out when we decided it was disadvantageous. In fact it would be a waste of time to even bother.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If joining the SM is a serious policy objective we need to lay the groundwork to state, without ambiguity, what this means for FOM and whether we intend to be a rule taker or rule maker. Maybe this is politically difficult but the sooner we start this conversation the better
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I think that the simple answer is polling doesn’t identify it as an important issue for people and most politicians don’t want to go there. Seems difficult for any leadership to articulate what we’ve lost and an honest assessment of what would be needed to address the impact.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The LibDem current policy position is to join the Single Market, this will include FOM. I will never forgive the Tory party and those who agitated for Brexit for removing my rights and those of those who follow
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This 👇🏻
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Open today ❤️
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I started to feel quite emotional in the queue
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I went to shop at Poole HQ to buy a cap today, it was packed. Took 5 minutes to be served, people in front of me spent £300. The best of Britain 🇬🇧
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Sorry you and RNLI volunteers have to put up with this abuse, it is totally unacceptable. I started feeling quite emotional in the queue
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Went to the shop at HQ to buy a cap today, it was packed. Took 5 minutes to get served and people in front of me spent £300. The best of Britain 🇬🇧
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Went to shop at HQ to buy cap, packed. Took 5 minutes to get served, the best of Britain 🇬🇧
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
That pensioners carrying placards can be arrested as terrorists & these ‘patriots’ allowed to intimidate & threaten without sanction is frankly ridiculous
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It would have been good to have seen the PM come out and condemn the actions, he has the political capital to do so at the moment. We need to be aware of the lessons from history and where this can lead if not robustly addressed.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We had ‘Poole Patriots’ outside our house causing a commotion on Sunday night. A neighbour living on her own was genuinely concerned about what was going on. As far as I know no action has been taken or the action condemned.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Apparently they have ‘legitimate concerns’ & assembled ‘spontaneously’? How can pensioners carrying placards be arrested as terrorists but these ‘patriots’ get away scot free?
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
What concerns me is how little leadership there appears to be to condemn intimidating thugs on our streets in balaclavas to hide their identity.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The shame is that at one time the BBC would have been leading this story. I suspect James Orr’s remarks that the Electoral Commission are “completely useless" and "dumb and ineffective" they would also apply to the BBC
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I have just recently started reading this. Only discovered Phillipe Sands in last few years and have read The Ratline and Last Colony which were both incredible.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Sorry images I posted need to be viewed from last to first
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I don’t disagree but as Paul Johnson says in his book chapter 4 ‘Pensions and the rise of the Baby Boomers’ pensioners are now less likely to be in poverty than any other group and the relative unfairness is likely to get worse as those currently in employment are unlikely to see same benefits
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
As I say in my second post but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be reviewed to ensure fairness for those in need or those currently paying their taxes to fund it.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
As for privatisation of NHS this has long been idea of Farage. Surprisingly one of his previous financial backers, Aaron Banks, made much of his money in the insurance industry 🤔
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
It seems unfair that current workers will increasingly have to fund this benefit. At the same time we need to ensure that those definitely in need have a fair pension. Difficult choices to be made. Paul Johnson in his book ‘Follow the Money’ has some thoughts on this.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
As you know I’m the last person to look favourably on Reform policies however as someone who benefits from a good private pension plus the state pension I think there needs to be cross party review on the sustainability of the state pension.
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Reposted by Phil Biles
Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Remember how Brexit was supposed to bring the "regulatory agility" for rapid medicine authorisation and make the UK a "world-leading" medicines regulator? Well, that turned out to be yet another illusion. Good new @ukandeu.bsky.social analysis here: ukandeu.ac.uk/the-uk-us-me...
ukandeu.ac.uk
The UK-US medicines deal and the hidden costs of Brexit - UK in a changing Europe
Vilija Vėlyvytė argues that the UK-US medicines deal which will see the NHS pay more for new medicines is an unexpected cost of Brexit.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Apparently his vote has increased from 21,000 to 22,000 find it hard to believe that anyone would vote for the charlatan 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Reposted by Phil Biles
Simon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
How Europe lost the Battle of Ceuta; the four horsemen of the summer apocalypse; why Europe faces a climate sovereign doom loop; and why the Clacton by-election is not a joke - latest edition of Wealth of Nations just published open.substack.com/pub/nixons/p...
open.substack.com
Europe's Defeat
How Europe lost the Battle of Ceuta; the four horsemen of the summer apocalypse; why Europe faces a climate sovereign doom loop; and why the Clacton by-election is not a joke
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Thank you for continuing to document this, bringing clarity and enlightenment to what is happening. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
It would be delicious if Count Binface won although I suspect the great ‘man of the people’ would walk away if this looked likely
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
And could result in a recall triggering another by election apparently 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Well done Vikki, thank you for all your hard work
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This is much better 👍 Just need to try and explain to people the consequences of Single Market membership will we be rule taker outside EU or rule maker, inside EU?
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Yes, sorry. I just find that, in general, most service companies now make it extremely difficult for customers to engage so, whatever the regulation in place, most people don’t have the stamina to be able to follow through
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Probably in this case yes but my experience of service companies in general in the last few years is that you get ignored in the hope that you will give in. Regulation isn’t, unfortunately, a magic spell theemptycity.com/blog/2026/06...
theemptycity.com
Law is not magic, and prohibitions are not spells
9th June 2026 Again, politicians think that “banning” something is an end to a problem. * This is a topic this blog has addressed before, but the issue never goes away and so the same o…
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Son had abandoned car left in car park. Emailed management company, logged and told 10 working day window. Nothing happened, spoke to office on 2 more occasions on both clock reset to 10 working days. Emailed CEO no response. After about 3 months car removed but never any update
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
I tend to go straight to CEO now as anything else tends to be a waste of time and effort.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Is more regulation required or is it about making sure these companies are held to account? If there’s a problem with service companies it’s virtually impossible to speak to or actually get anyone to take any responsibility.
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Phil Biles @philbiles.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
And it was probably quietly dismissed to avoid any embarrassment to some members of the Conservative Party particularly those with links to the Friends of Russia group
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