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Simon Tilford

@simontilford.bsky.social
851 followers 785 following 208 posts

Director, The Oracle Partnership. Director, Economists & Strategy Council, The Conference Board

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Reposted by Simon Tilford
James Bloodworth @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Wrote about the class problem of the political class, and how it opens the way for demagogues
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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
At some point you just have to ask 'why does my license fee pay for this sort of chaff?'
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Seemingly not The Onion
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Dom White @domw.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I’m not English by Braverman’s definition. But that’s just fine with me because I wouldn’t want to associate with people who place any kind of significance on an exclusionary definition of national identity.
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Heather Rolfe @heather-rolfe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Free movement as part of a future UK-EU relationship has more support when linked to benefits to trade and opportunities for UK citizens My blog based on new @britishfuture.bsky.social research for @freemovement.bsky.social 👇👇👇
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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I would be very careful with this factoid because it is very dependent on generous defined benefit schemes which future generations of pensioners, beginning with late GenX to early millennials, will not have
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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've been a member of the lobby for well over a decade. Not a single one of my lobby colleagues has said a word about the Conservatives banning me from their conferences, without any explanation. Contrast with the US where even Fox News stood in solidarity when Trump banned news outlets he disliked
bylinetimes.com
Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives Block Byline Times From Conference After Condemning Reform for Journalist Ban
The ban comes just weeks after the Conservative leader called Reform's barring of critical journalists from their conference an "authoritarian" attack on the free press
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We're repeatedly told that asylum seekers pose a threat to the good people of our country... Reading about the threatening and violent treatment of elderly and open minded locals in Crowborough I get the impression that the real threat comes from closer to home. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
On Facebook and other platforms, people
who are known to support the asylum
seekers have been threatened with acid
attacks, petrol bombs and rape. The dossier.
which has been seen by the Guardian, also
claims that several local businesses have
been threatened by far-right agitators, along
with a church where some asylum seekers
worship. One man was punched in the throat
after he held up a "Love Thy Neighbour"
sign, while an elderly couple were falsely
accused of supporting sex offenders. In yet
another case, a 92-year-old church volunteer
was reportedly woken at 3am for two nights
in a row by a man standing outside her
home, shining a torch through her window
and shouting abuse
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Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Polling from June. Wonder if it shifts now the debate is more open. Also do respondents know what Schengen is or is it a proxy for freedom of movement? On the latter.... 1/2
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John Harris @johnharris1969.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yesterday evening, the Save SEND Legal Rights petition started by Tee-Jay, a fantastic autistic campaigner who is just 15 years old, galloped past the post of the 100,000 signatures needed to spark a Parliamentary debate. The battle continues! www.specialneedsjungle.com/government-m...
specialneedsjungle.com
Oops, we did it again... The Government must now listen to more than 100,000 people who do not want to lose SEND rights — Special Needs Jungle
The amazing feat you helped achieve that says the Government MUST listen to more than 100,000 people who don't want to lose SEND rights
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Simon Tilford @simontilford.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
,
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Tomas Hirst @tomashirstecon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Labour more willing to take some hit on triple-lock reform, focus on social care funding and some apparent desire to improve on the current arrangements with Europe (albeit with exactly as much detail as that implies) all to be welcomed. Still a lot of “lord, make me chaste, but not yet” in there.
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm increasingly disillusioned with the (policy) ideas ecosystem in the UK - it seems like underlying (social) scientific research is less and less influential and there's increasing dominance of PR and pseudo-research.
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Mahmood's comment makes sense if either 1) there is a fixed pie of labour and stuff and people who come here mean less pie for others [false] or 2) British workers and the young just don't want people coming here - ie racism. This might be true of some but it's not universally true.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Mahmood on "earned settlement": deliberately bland. No explanation of why punishing workers who have been here legally for 5+ years with ongoing insecurity (and in many cases kicking them out of the country) would be "fair" to British workers "and the young".
As we restore control and fairness to our asylum system. We must do the same for legal migration too: Fair to those who seek a new and better life here, like my parents did. And fair to those already here, including British workers, and especially the young.

That same principle underpins my reforms to the right to live here indefinitely. Ensuring settled status is earned by those who have shown a consistent commitment to this country.

I know that, throughout our consultation process some have said elements of these reforms are not fair.

And to that, let me say this: we will come to a position that balances fairness for those who came here legally and fairness to British citizens across this country.
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Nick B 🔶 @aviarm.com · 27/09/2026
Difficult to know where to start with this, but the logic seems to be that we can't let these essential immigrants feel secure and welcome in this country in case they get better paid jobs....
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The Troubles in NI arose at least partly because people saw that protests against injustice were not working. In this respect, state-sanctioned unwelcome sectarian marches into a neighborhood is a reminder about which communities have been empowered to impose their values over others.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Mahmood's rationale remains the same. Fewer (legal, working) migrants => less racism Nothing to do with integration. No evidence. I'd add this *doesn't* show she hates immigrants (FTAOD don't think she does). It shows her contempt/distrust/fear of ordinary Brits.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🧵 As front-page headlines go, this has to be one of the most misleading I've seen in a long time It's an out-and-out lie But notice the trick they use to get away with it...👀 *They're* not lying - they're just quoting someone else who is👍🏻 In this case, the leader of the opposition🙄 1/33
Daily Express headline:

"More Freedoms Handed to New Arrivals than British Citizens"

Above an image of Kemi Badenoch

All with a Monk Debunked stamp on top
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
But then honestly what do I know. When George Osborne and Ed Balls started a podcast, I thought I would rather torture myself with red hot irons than listen to it, and yet people seemed to be into it. I fundamentally do not understand people.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hmmm on what is arguably the biggest issue in British politics right now, Andy Burnham’s government sounds a lot like Keir Starmer’s…. Wild thought, but maybe this is what happens when you keep the same people in post?
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Everybody acts like it's f-ing normal for the President of the United States to get up in front of the UN and announce he might just annihilate a country if he feels like it, then declare "to the victor go the spoils."
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Ben Zaranko @benzaranko.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
One day, our political parties will face reality and stop making farcical, unserious promises to voters -- promises which entrench the delusion that we can enjoy lower taxes and better public services without ever having to pay more, even amidst the crisis-strewn 2020s. But today is not that day.
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Garvan Walshe @garvanwalshe.org · 22/09/2026
An example of member states demanding the EU do more in difficult circumstances while refusing the funds. Germany and the Netherlands: If this budget is supposed to respond to radically different times you can’t treat it like the usual post GFC negotiation.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A much better thread than @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social's original article
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🔴 Something Tom Watson won't tell you: Five police forces in the East Midlands working with Palantir on a controversial surveillance programme are ending their involvement Exclusive by Democracy for Sale and Liberty Investigates. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-f...
democracyforsale.substack.com
Revealed: Five police forces to drop Palantir surveillance tool
Exclusive: Palantir's UK policing ambitions take a hit as East Midlands forces end their involvement in a controversial data pilot.
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Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 20/09/2026
Although the cost of housing in London is insane and makes life difficult for anyone under 50, youngsters are mostly unaware much of the city used to look like this
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
So much of the right these days have a massive patriotism problem. This guy: - is a tax exile (left long before this govt) - hates his own country while complaining he doesn’t get big enough subsidies from it - laments the manufacturing hit from a Brexit he supported www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Simon Tilford @simontilford.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Agree with that, but I'm sceptical that Ratcliffe is actually a 'wealth creator' in the way he claims. As for risk, he has been quick to demand government bail-outs when his bets have fallen flat.
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Simon Tilford @simontilford.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Don't think he's actually built any businesses either - just borrowed really heavily to buy existing ones.
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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I really hate the framing of these stories as "an AI agent broke out and hacked something." No, an inadequate sandbox meant that a powerful and unpredictable computer program was set loose on the open internet by the company that designed it. The agency isn't with the "AI agent", it's with the firm
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Holger Hestermeyer @hhesterm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
How is this news? billionaire oil person says uk needs to drill more and tax less, though, of course, he‘s actually in Monaco. And he would do more in the uk if the state subsidised him more. Dear BBC, that‘s like me saying the uk‘s problem is underpaid law profs. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK
Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
my brilliant colleague @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on the threat from Elon Musk’s X platform www.ft.com/content/f270...
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I would love to ask a prominent BBC journalist to give me an example of an illegitimate concern. Is seems to me that it has become a question not of fact, logic, or ethics but of volume. If a big enough proportion of a village was anxious about Bigfoot or Chemtrails, BBC would cover it in a way...
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Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Andy Haldane almost Truss like in his wrongness. Where's the evidence that 'doing something on one of the big spending departments' would 'almost pay for itself as a growth dividend'? This is just economics by a hunch.
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It is perfectly coherent to think that tighter fiscal policy was the wrong macro policy call circa 2008-2020 and is the right one now. Because a lot of things have changed. We’re in a different macro environment when it comes to interest rates and inflation.
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Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“Asking for tax handouts while turning record [unearned war] profits during a #climateemergency takes staggering audacity – even by the fossil fuel industry’s standards" 1/2 www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Scrap windfall tax on oil and gas firms early, North Sea industry urges
Labour should replace levy in 2027 rather than 2030 as energy bills are poised to surge over the winter, says lobby group
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It's a rare policy that would be welcomed by both business and trade unions - and at the same time would *improve* the UK's fiscal position. Dropping these proposals - for which there is no economic, moral or political case - would be one. www.ft.com/content/8a00...
ft.com
Unions demand softening of UK immigration reforms
Proposals will ‘punish’ low-paid migrants doing essential work in public services and create a new staffing crisis in social care, says motion passed at TUC
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Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Brexit supporters not taking the prospect of a closer 'unique' EU-Canada partnership well.
Telegraph article with the header: " Canada and the EU is an alliance of weakness that will cost Carney

‘Comprehensive partnership’ would break many of Ottawa’s ties with the US – a huge mistake'"
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Your regular reminder: If the Russians stop fighting, the war ends. If the Ukrainians stop fighting, their land will be occupied, their leaders will be killed, their history and language will be erased, their children will be kidnapped to serve Russia.
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AJ Thomas @zzypt.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The triple lock is a catch up mechanism and I don't think the basic pension has caught up yet. In the long run it is a benefit to the currently young. What a government could do to stop the endless cycle of speculation is define the "caught up" position and wait for that.
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Politicians on the centre-left and centre-right simply don't seem to understand they are in an existential battle for the future of British democracy.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Reform is the richest party in Britain. Its leaders are almost all millionaires. It is funded almost exclusively by billionaires. It has a supportive TV station and widespread media backing. So naturally, this donation comes with the usual attack on "elites". www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform UK given record £36m donation by British crypto billionaire
Ben Delo was convicted in US for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls but pardoned by Trump
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Evening.
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Honestly, might be better if government ministers kept their half-baked views on education to themselves
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This story is a perfect example of how broken reporting of the mobs roaming Britain's streets now is - and the political response. What would have been the appropriate response if this hadn't been a sports team? Trash the hotel? Force them out into the street? What about other people staying there?
bbc.co.uk
Group entered hotel of Pakistan cricketers mistaken for migrants
Protesters congregated at a Portsmouth hotel after false rumours that a coach of migrants had arrived.
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
yeah, or they noticed but didn't care. people talk about Labour's "weak bench" or whatever but god, the cast of characters from 2010-24 - Grayling, Williamson, Pickles, Truss, Braverman, Patel, Boris bloody Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, on and on and on. And most of their ministerial careers lasted *ages*
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 10/09/2026
If you're in government watching criminal-led blackshirt thugs in balaclavas wage war on the RNLI and you're hedging your bets because you're not sure who the majority of the country will side with, why do you even want to be in government? Why would you WANT to lead people you think so little of?
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Excellent by @paulnowaktuc.bsky.social on Mahmood's settlement proposals “You end up with Reform claiming a woman born in Somalia who's lived here most of her life, worked hard and contributed to our society,somehow isn’t fit to hold elected office.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 09/09/2026
If Miliband's comparatively mild, caveated, and strictly targeted criticism of Israeli settler actions are enough to endanger the UK Jewish community & unleash pogroms then: a) We've passed some point of no return. b) Successive UK governments have utterly failed in addressing antisemitism.
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