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Simon Parker

@simonparker.bsky.social
2.6K followers 887 following 3.1K posts

Public servant in search of a better future. Communities and service users first. Desires to unbuild walls.

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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 22h
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 · 22h
I mean what I think we really need is a broad based tax rise, but if it's got to be even more on the prosperous I think you have to show you're taking eg wealth taxes seriously.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 22h
The current messy tax system is a product of previous clumsy attempts to soak the upper middle class. I think there's a deal to be done where you sort out the £100k cliff edge and shift some of the burden up the income scale onto the very rich.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I hate this argument. The fact that liberals are liberal does not require you to become a racist. The reason the British left worries about nationalism and the flag is because the far right of the 70s and 80s cast a long shadow.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Sadly yes. LGR makes the decision to sell the old Shire Hall look a bit short sighted tbh.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Bit like this you mean?
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
REBEL CHEESEMAKERS www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
Pasture lives: the rebel cheesemakers preserving an Alpine tradition
Storico ribelle is produced by a small group of mountain herders according to a traditional farming system based on seasonal and rotational grazing
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Local news at its finest. www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/2660102...
lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
Fartgate - Reform UK Councillor accused of loudly farting at rival during meeting
A Reform UK councillor has been accused of loudly farting at another politician during a meeting at Blackburn with Darwen Council
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Yep and then there's the hefty incentive to keep your income below £100k using pensions, salary sacrifice etc. Higher earners don't reduce hours but they do reduce taxable income, which means less for HMRC.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
So not about hard work, but what works and I think we could raise the same money in a much better way.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The test for me is whether you think it's right that someone earning £500k pays a lower marginal tax rate than someone on 100k? Defend that and you've got me.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I know it's world's smallest violin territory, but the tax system at £100k is a mess. And it reduces government income - there are huge incentives for high earners to reduce their taxable income eg through AVCs and salary sacrifice schemes.
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Reposted by Simon Parker
Chris Hanretty @chanret.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Devolution! No autonomy! Only devolution!
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Right lads. Downloaded the new China Mieville. See you in January.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
People earning at this level pay a shedload of tax. So they should. But there's no reason to structure it so stupidly, in a way that discourages women in particular from returning to work. Why does someone on £100k pay a higher marginal rate than someone on £500k? It all makes no sense.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
For the avoidance of doubt, by Braverman's definition I am super English and know a lot more about it than she does. And I say we're a culture not a race.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Bloody foreigners coming over here and telling me who's English and who isn't.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Your regular reminder that Cambridge University has been investigating James Orr for about a month, and it’s all gone a bit quiet. www.varsity.co.uk/news/32175
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Boy do I have a Norfolk story for you...
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Also I thought Tories were generally against casting ethnic minorities in period dramas?
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Whether it's Ed Miliband or Zac Polanski, the media goes to great lengths to try and prove that the Jewish politicians of the left aren't really Jewish.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Social care, electoral reform and public control of utilities were in the 2024 manifesto?
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
What keeps striking me is that Burnham set out an agenda - the things he wants to talk about and be judged on. That this seems so earthshattering tells you something about our politics. >80% of the criticism is really people afraid that he just downgraded the thing they want to judge him on.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Immigration is a good example. If Burnham foregrounds it, he is going head-to-head with Farage in an area where the latter will always be tougher. The numbers are falling and the public is starting to notice. Leave it and talk about social care instead.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It's a slight aside, but this is another example of right-of-centre commentators criticising Burnham for not speaking to their agenda. I mean of course he isn't. He is presumably trying to do what Starmer should have done, and assert his own agenda.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Has anyone done George du Maurier yet? The influence of his 1890s novel Trilby is really quite something. It gave us the word Svengali after the villain, the Trilby hat (yes really) and not only a line of footwear but a craze for foot shaped ice cream.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Yes it will have a greater effect on future pensioners, but those people will also benefit from free personal care. For these who need social care this is probably worth a lot more than the triple lock.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They will indeed, but auto-enrollment still helps a lot.
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Reposted by Simon Parker
Co-operatives UK @cooperativesuk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Co‑operatives deliver good growth – and we can prove it. Our Co‑operative and Mutual Economy 2026 report is out. Co‑ops are: 📈 more than 2x as likely to survive five years 💷 4x more likely to pay the real Living Wage 📍 more likely to be based outside London and the South East 👉 www.uk.coop/economy
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And of course the bit no one has really said is that even with the pension changes this will almost certainly be another net transfer from working age people to the retired. The intergenerational contract will actually be tilted even further in favour of the elderly.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Well I guess for a lot of pensioners free at the point of use is simply free, as they don't pay much tax.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I think we've seen repeatedly that the public doesn't really regard giving up a future benefit as a real loss. Your pension will rise a bit more slowly in four years time just isn't that scary, especially when coupled with a massive new free thing.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Really interesting chart. On the face of it the north was actually catching up a bit in the 70s and this is reversed essentially by Thatcher. It fits with the story you hear from people like Paul Mason about the sense of optimism he felt growing up.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Oh interesting. Rent control is one of those policies I want to support in principle but have always understood the economics don't add up. How do you deal with the objections that a) a tenant with rent control never moves so supply dries up and b) condition declines as landlords cut maintenance?
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Powerfully agree with this Chris. I think I'd add two caveats though. First, the social care and pensions policy is a significant exercise of political power. Second, general direction does matter - without it you risk the random exercise of power for its own sake per Trump.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
And yes... the only people who really remember the 70s in economic terms are boomers, so I think the attack line has weakened considerably.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What's striking is of course that it was driven by unions bargaining up the labour share.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Real household disposal income rose by about 30% across the 70s. It was very uneven, lots of economic disruption and periods of what was then felt to be very high unemployment, but now is business as usual. But if you were in work it was... not so bad? lordslibrary.parliament.uk/the-uk-econo...
lordslibrary.parliament.uk
The UK economy in the 1970s
This briefing is the third of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy, focusing on the 1970s. Following a brief economic boom, inflation and unemployment reached post-war highs and the econ...
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The point being that what pensioners actually live on is more important than the basic state pension.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Well on average of course they are - they've had 60+ years to accumulate assets. After housing costs the median pensioner income is only about 10% less than someone of working age. The issue is pensioner poverty and we can target that.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Farm wish they were a Madchester act Mike.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes but it's getting on with stuff in the next parliament... not said to run Burnham down, just out of frustration that we know what answers on social care and electoral reform look like and should just do it.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's all a bit next parliament innit?
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Electoral reform but only after we have a commission...
static.klipy.com
South Park City Council Meeting
ALT: South Park City Council Meeting
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A POLITICIAN JUST MADE AN ACTUAL CHOICE.
static.klipy.com
Picard - Klaxon
ALT: Picard - Klaxon
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Still needs subsidy but oh look we have Homes England.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yeah but did it have to be The Farm? Among the crapper Madchester acts IMHO.
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Simon Parker @simonparker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
ifs.org.uk/publications...
ifs.org.uk
How have pensioner incomes and poverty changed in recent years? | Institute for Fiscal Studies
This report examines the key trends in pensioner incomes and poverty over the past two decades.
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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 · 29/09/2026
Defund Batman.
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