iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

What is the movie that came out before you were born that you’ve watched the most times?

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

But so is this. After housing costs the median pensioner's income was only 10% less than the average working age adult.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

www.pewresearch.org/2009/11/23/p...

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Is he singing Sussudio or trying to sell you a used Montego?

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

I sort of want to add (Official) on the end to make BISTo.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Drop a crush from your youth.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This is the leadership team No 10 North needs.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Oh please... Telling that nearly all the examples of left wing terrorism are from other countries in the 70s and 80s.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

That's a very good line but this lot want a word.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

More than one thing can be true at the same time.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Sorry better rendering of chart here:

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

I think this is more or less accurate though. Increases in the minimum wage and relatively low median taxation have compressed incomes a bit. So the economy did stagnate but policy favoured lower and median earners.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Not the expert, but this from JRF seems to support the idea that rents tracked incomes.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

TL;DR Monty Python saw this all coming in the 1970s.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

37% of 18-24 year olds say they're voting Green and only about 20% are voting for parties of the right. This doesn't scream 'get back in the kitchen' now does it? The boring truth is that young people remain stubbornly progressive.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

She's right... and it comes down to money. SCS salaries are down 20% in real terms since 2010. You have directors on less than £100k. The main reason we still have a functioning SCS is Stockholm syndrome.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

“Show me what comic you loved when you were 13, and that's all I need to know about you.” OH MAN. I cannot express to you how formative 2000AD in general and Slaine in particular was for me.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

You will be visited by three spirits.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

It certainly doesn't seem to be having any impact on public confidence in teaching or nursing. Mori's veracity index shows public sector professionals remain very highly trusted. Whatever is going wrong probably isn't their fault.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

But I'm really not sure about some of the evidence being used to support this. Take this finding that public sector workers are more sympathetic to Hamas. So what? Why does it matter that teachers or nurses have this view? It's only significant if they act on it in the course of their work.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

The absolute bloody vandalism of austerity in one chart. Good analysis of the overall picture here.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Turns out the establishment is composed entirely of public sector workers.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

'The Puritans in the 17th century'.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Political violence is always and forever appalling and unforgivable, no matter who it's directed at. The Cato Institute has helpfully categorised politically motivated murders in the USA since 1975. Here is what it found. www.cato.org/blog/politic...

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

I think about this scene from Father Ted a lot at the moment.

A scene from Father Ted where an Islander is saying 'I hear you're a racist now, father'.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

She's the moment for sure. Just ask this London bobbie from the 1950s what he thinks of that saucy lump of toxic gases.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

This chart tells us something important about the British political debate. The big state only really afflicts the top 10% of the income scale.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Excited to discover that the UK remains one of the most centralised countries in the known universe. Thanks @oecdgovernance.bsky.social for the ever useful Government at a Glance.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

The UK reached record numbers of housing completions under the TCPA.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Are we witnessing the slow death of the council tax? On the face of it #localgov doesn't do too badly from the spending review, but a lot of that new money is actually the government banking a universal 5% rise in council tax, 2% of which is a straightforward national precept for social care.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Certainly. On the left is Jules Pipe and the right Friedrich Merz.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Depends what we mean by middle class, but I think part of the problem is we've already rinsed higher earners and kept tax relatively low for the median.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The number of civil servants has grown very significantly over the past decade. Some good reasons for this, but there is undoubtedly inefficiency in the system. We need a smaller, delayered and more focused civil service, with better pay.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Left, Frederick Gibberd. Right, Jonn Elledge.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Just spotted this on the other place and wowwww. Same post repeated an argument I fear we'll hear a lot, which is that government spending drives inflation.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Yeah but why bother when this sultry temptress is a mere £3.14...

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

The argument that UK school performance has improved dramatically is quite commonplace and the OECD is usually cited as evidence. There are the PISA charts and I don't see it. What am I missing? Genuinely curious.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

It's a longstanding problem which I tried to explain (with others) back in 2011... www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

“You‘ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you?” I reckon they've got this...

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

'Dad why is Xmas always suffused with a bizarre combination of twee silliness and existential dread?' Well kids wait until you see who's coming down the chimney...

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

There's certainly a case for saying that insurance schemes involve quite a lot more management overhead. I suppose insurers will have incentives to mitigate this by pushing down treatment costs, but that probably won't be as effective as a monopsony purchaser just capping overall spend.

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