Reposted by RossStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026One thing I find endlessly funny about the rise of AI is that it has revealed that there is a large number of people who believe that the reason they wrote essays at school or university is their teachers were desperately waiting for them to provide a definite answer to “Lear: what’s up with him?” 6857941249
Reposted by RossYouGov @yougov.co.uk · 29/09/2026SNAP POLL / By 48% to 28%, Britons support Andy Burnham's proposal to change the triple lock in order to help fund part of a national care service yougov.com/en-gb/daily-... yougov.com/en-gb/daily-... yougov.com/en-gb/daily-... 1028195
Reposted by Rosspaulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Britain... It's a class act. 🎩 Privately Educated: Senior Armed Forces 63% Senior Judges: 62% House of Lords: 52% Foreign Office Diplomats: 53% Newspaper Columnists: 50% Political Commentators: 47% Leading Podcasters: 45% BBC Executives: 38% General Population: 7% elitistbritain.suttontrust.comelitistbritain.suttontrust.comElitist Britain 2025 912369
Reposted by RossRichard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Just 4 months after the local elections, Reform UK (RefUK) have lost 158 of their local councillors: -55 resigned -42 went Independent -28 defected -24 were kicked out -5 lost their seats -2 disqualified -2 suspended. Appalling record - and a waste of taxpayers’ money! 36798405
Reposted by RossSteven (with a PH) @sjksalisbury.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Christening a baby is nothing like christening a ship. I know that now. Once again I can only apologise. 161191493869
Reposted by RossRachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Or - radical idea - employers should stop expecting new recruits to come to them fully-formed and trained in exactly what that organisation needs at the particular moment, and should actually train them. And yes I know NLW and employer NIC don't help. But neither will this. 1624862
Reposted by RossJonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 11/09/2026And I would endorse this. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/monit... 1155
Reposted by RossRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Sad to hear Ed Davey peddling this. The *overall* tax take in the UK is historically high, but taxes on low/medium earners are low by historical standards & among the lowest in the G7. The cost of living crisis is not due to high personal taxes. Pretending it is just does the Right's work for it. 1221551
Reposted by RossThe Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026We are Christopher Isherwood, watching the roving uniformed thuggish gangs in the Berlin street below from our apartment window above. 12632191
Reposted by RossJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 06/09/2026So in one week: 1) Reform get stung for dodgy finances, and the regulators play pass the parcel about enforcement 2) Farage announces plans to largely dismantle independent scrutiny of govt, and barely any press discussion of it 3) Masked thugs blockade a port, with narry a word from senior govt 491821642
Reposted by RossBen Goldsborough MP @bengoldsborough.bsky.social · 05/09/2026This is not patriotism. It is intimidation. Hundreds of masked men in black storming Dover Port, blocking nationally critical infrastructure and chanting “I’m England until I die” is a disgrace. 6037594
Reposted by RossJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 05/09/2026Reform, the party of the worst bloke you know: 49815
Reposted by RossPhil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · 04/09/2026When Stafford Cripps made a speech about this sort of scenario in early 1933, people clutched their pearls so hard they were still hanging onto them in 1945 - it was one basis of Churchill's mad 'Gestapo' attack on Labour. So I trust people will react with similar vim today. 23710
Reposted by RossFT @fucktheory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Imagine being talented and beautiful and rich and famous and still the most noteworthy thing about you is how good a person you are. 99267986329
Reposted by RossJames @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 20/08/2026>imperial concubine controls national security >court eunuchs are ceaselessly fighting for internal influence >the viziers are scheming over who replaces the leader >the leader fritters away all his time repeatedly replacing the grass on the lawn >the palace debt grows greater by the day 481710335
Reposted by RossSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 17/08/2026One reason the right-wing press is freaking out about Restore is they want enough racism to have cheap labour and low taxes but not the blood and soil type which rather messes that up. 1032247
Reposted by RossLottie @sellottie.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Making or changing legislation on the basis of individual cases is disproportionate by nature. Feels like we’re seeing some of the downstream effects of the recent slew of *Name’s* Law here — whatever the morally right take, it creates hyperfocus on the case in question which now backfires on gov 1132
Reposted by RossGarvan Walshe @garvanwalshe.org · 01/08/2026The question we all wondered about: what would a modern Jeremy Bentham be like, has been answered. 1192
Reposted by RossMark Watson @watsoncomedian.bsky.social · 26/07/2026I'm on the train from Montréal to Toronto. There's just been a reminder that it is MANDATORY to use headphones when watching video. I can't believe this guys have resorted to legislation, rather than our system of having 75% of the carriage sit in murderous, futile rage. 261067177
Reposted by RossSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 22/07/2026It's driving me insane. The govt spends £1.4 trillion a year. Borrowing estimates are often by tens of billions over a year. But we're supposed to imagine money is budgeted to the last penny. 601445307
Reposted by RossLee Savage @leesavage.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Kevin Keegan: he hated fascists 211893592
Reposted by Ross👻 Jack Djinn Wail 🧞 @jacktindale.bsky.social · 20/07/2026This does make Andy Burnham the first Labour Prime Minister to not have a member of the Benn family in their Cabinet. 77417
Reposted by RossHenry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 18/07/2026Really enjoyed this article in defence of meritocracy as.ft.com/r/5afd25c1-e... 715832
Reposted by RossRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 17/07/2026It's a cliche that leaders keep promising change that never happens - but there's a case that the opposite is true. We've had one huge, structural change after another: austerity, Brexit, massive changes to immigration... What we've lacked is honesty about the costs & trade-offs of those changes. 820546
Reposted by RossDan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Stamp duty and council tax are terrible taxes. Land value tax could replace both - and Andy Burnham has backed it for 16 years. Who wins? Who loses? What happens to house prices? LVT could drive growth. But it isn’t easy. Our model shows its promise - and its problems. 47417137
Reposted by RossThe Economist @economist.com · 13/07/2026A groundbreaking series of studies in recent years has transformed scientists’ understanding of the condition. Register for free to learn how researchers are continuing to discover new risk factorsbit.lyThe world is making heady progress in the fight against dementiaIncidence among the elderly is falling fast 271
Reposted by RossJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/07/2026One of the most tedious, and dangerous, tropes in the British press is "crimes don't count if you do them in a car". 1534450
Reposted by RossSharon 🪳🌹 @sharonk.bsky.social · 09/07/2026was reading Politics Against Markets, and my running theory is that it proved the original classical social democratic theorists in scandinavia correct in thinking that the hegemony of the market without social citizenship ends up making people view politics from the perspective of consumers 1426532
Reposted by RossTom Forth @tomforth.co.uk · 07/07/2026In 1998 and 1999, four of Britain's regions and nations voted for devolution. Since then, all have overperformed the rest of the country economically. Even Wales. . Also a bit of a rant about how there's more than one big city in Britain. tomforth.co.uk/agglomeratio... 23820
Reposted by RossPaul Brand @paulbrand.bsky.social · 07/07/2026NEW: The Greens won’t stand in Clacton either. That’s a clean sweep. It’s essentially Nigel Farage versus a bin. 3046074
Reposted by RossJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 03/07/2026Incidentally, this highlights a general problem about people who confuse respect for the right to hold their beliefs with respect for those beliefs. Within the general bounds of politieness, I don't have to respect anyone's beliefs. I can think you are stupid and wrong. 32648119
Reposted by RossGarvan Walshe @garvanwalshe.org · 02/07/2026The easiest thing to do would be to impute a default rate like they do with the flat rate VAT scheme. Then if you do the work you get an accurate and lower rate and if you do nothing a bill is sent and can then be collected. 021
Reposted by RossSteve Akehurst @steveakehurst.bsky.social · 02/07/2026What might a ‘cost of living populism’ look like & how would it do electorally for Labour/Burnham? Some new research via @persuasionuk.bsky.social TL;DR such a platform boosts Lab’s vote share by 15ppt (!) to 34% in our MRP experiment. This & anti-Reform squeeze is prob their best hope 🧵 53820
Reposted by RossDan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 01/07/2026What if Andy Burnham could raise £15bn – without a tax rise? There's one catch. He'd need to solve the UK’s biggest and least-discussed tax problem. Almost half of all small business corporation tax isn't being paid - and nobody knows why. Thread: 42540271
Reposted by RossSnowden St. @snowden.st · 30/06/2026It’s just a simple fact: the Courts and the Right are making sports less safe for everyone. None of this is necessary (including at the Olympic level), and all it can do is empower abusers and endanger athletes of all types. 616841
Reposted by RossDaniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 27/06/2026I'm pro air-conditioning, but I do feel like the intensity of the AC debate has got a bit out of hand. London has had an average of six days a year with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius (86F) in the past decade. Chicago has 30+ days at 90F (32C) a year. There's a reason Brits didn't have AC 4429740
Ross @rc1991.bsky.social · 27/06/2026Thanks, appreciate the response 🙂 Openness about winners/ losers & other factors feels like an important part of the convo, if it's going to take. Regions don't start from year 0, and international E.Gs have context like the German Solidarity tax (accepting poor perceptions of the Barnett formula). 000
Ross @rc1991.bsky.social · 27/06/2026For example, if Manchester and the North East both go fishing in the same pond for inward investment for the creative sector, are they not going to end up in an arms race that the bigger will win? Is this an argument for limits to the devolution, some collaborative coordination, or just inevitable. 110
Ross @rc1991.bsky.social · 27/06/2026Possibly a silly layman question. Do we/ how do we manage the growth of inequalities between the regions? There will I assume be winners/ losers, not just by virtue of competence, but also comparative advantages and resource heft? Central funding for all it's flaws is intended as a leveller. Thanks! 200
Reposted by RossDr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 25/06/2026I especially love this diagram. 5248542011
Reposted by RossEunice Goes @eunicegoes.bsky.social · 22/06/2026Great piece by @colmpm.bsky.social explaining why Britain is on the way to appoint its seventh prime minister in 10 years. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...politicshome.comThe obsessions of the old guard are destabilising British politicsBoth Labour and the Conservatives face existential challenges. Their hangups, obsessions and pathologies help explain why. 044
Reposted by RossStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 16/06/2026This is the perfect Kemi Badenoch line: obviously crazy, coarsens our politics and the kind of thing that collapses if she ever put herself somewhere she might face a gentle follow-up question. What does she think the Gestapo *did*? 39893227
Reposted by RossJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/06/2026I think basically this radicalisation thrives on becoming disconnected from reality and not mixing with a broad group of people, and anything you do that forces that serves as some form of prophylactic for it. Also why being exceptionally rich produces the most high profile cases. 37711
Reposted by RossDavid Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 03/06/2026The normalisation of right wing discourse in both major political parties, let alone in much of the media, has been one of the most striking, and disturbing, changes in my lifetime. Things weren’t great in the 1960s (Smethwick) but this is off the scale. 633869
Reposted by RossJackson O'Lantern-Brien @sprobeforebros.bsky.social · 31/05/2026GREG DAVIES: seems like a kind of a shit task. Everyone just seems like they're going home normally. ALEX HORNE: well before you say that let's have a look at how Odysseus did. cut to panel of AJAX, MENELAUS, AGAMEMNON, and DIOMEDES who are all staring at ODYSSEUS with his head in his hands 4360732054
Reposted by RossLewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 02/06/2026Henry Nowak’s father’s words outside court, who is probably the person we most need to hear from today. 672348859
Reposted by RossAndrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 28/05/2026Too much political commentary these days seems to consist of “we should simply do [thing that doesn’t exist]” 0234