Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 22hFor now, I can see it. But does it change by next GE if you’ve got President Le Pen making the whole EU look less progressive & a lot shakier? 020
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 09/10/20262004: live-streamed killing of Ken Bigley held to reveal the uniquely medieval barbarism of modern Jihaddis 2026: live-streamed killing becomes US Govt policy www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukFort Hood attacker's execution by firing squad will be livestreamed, Pentagon saysPete Hegseth says the execution will be public, but a legal expert says the "unprecedented" decision is on "uncertain legal terrain". 44122
Reposted by Tom ClarkJim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I'm sorry if this is obvious but the Tory proposal to exempt family homes completely from IHT will lead to 1] pensioners buying the biggest houses they possibly can 2] pensioners refusing to downsize which can only be bad news for younger families trying to buy family homes 871040242
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Brilliant! Borrow someone else’s flag & stick it on your, well, small boats! 010
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 30/09/2026The mooted link with national security isn't new either Witness link the condition of Boer War recruits and how that linked to the Poor Law Commission Or indeed the 'new dispensation' in the way that Britain discussed itself that set in after Dunkirk 270
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 30/09/2026And of course, 'social security' as an ideal isn't a new coinage, but a restoration The social security programmes of FDR and Beveridge were part of a broader push to banish the old anxiety of destitution 1142
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 30/09/2026"From that social security you can build that national security" -- AB to BBC Last time he struck this echo pundits howled about a gaffe -- benefits before bombs! But he's actually doing something more interesting, not using "social security" to mean "welfare spend" but invoking as an ideal 2237
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Does the state need to ramp up funding to the local orgs? 200
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Interesting: not a point often made. So how exactly would you support them instead? 100
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026A lot in that, but experience of falling real earnings in early 2010s casts a shadow I guess 100
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I think it’s fair to say that line in the speech has been honed for feel rather than detail! Not given as a pledge, so presumably can be finessed 010
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026“Fixing care” in general terms almost certainly costs more than most of the costings we’re used to seeing The various plans kicking around - Dilnot cap, minimum entitlements, fair pay agreements - each focus on one problem If the hope is to fix them all at once, that’s expensive 140
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/20264. Suppose you could argue the rules of the game will change if & when he actually delivers PR But that’s done way off 200
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/20263. In 5-party politics it’s alk aboyt enthusing a minority And i’d have thought that there’s quite a large minority out there for something in this register 250
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Really? You’re probably right (as you nearly always are!) but why do we all moan all day about stuck real wages? Is it because the falls were all in 2009-13? 100
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/20262. You can quibble (as I did in this morning’s column) with whether there’s an economic plan to underlay all the substance Or you can quibble (as the lobby will) that median Lab member is not same as median voter BUT…. 110
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Strange & possibly right Isn’t there another effect, though: every year inflation exceeds wages (happens more often) the ratio edges up And then you at least maintain that ratio next time 100
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/20261. Two thoughts on the AB speech A) Just more — much more — ground traversed with big political arguments than the average leader’s speech. Not just care/pensions, but PR, housing/property, Brexit etc etc B) Almost exactly in tune with the median LP member on nearly all these topics 1154
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Big difference with Triple Lock over time is no tendency for pension/earnings ratio to rise when the different measures diverge Not quite clear on the short term, but that’s less important 450
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026AB’s exact words on Triple Lock important (though not super clearly drafted) He’s NOT proposing to break earnings link a la Thatcher If value vis-a-vis earnings is to be maintained he’s talking about some form of smoothed earnings link (Not sure how the 2.5% fits in) 7277
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Don't get me wrong Public debt is a costly problem But framing it as the moral root of all problems is a recipe for continuity, not change And jars with the promise of drawing a line under an economic model that has been broken for 40 years 052
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026At times Healey leaned more deeply into the conventional wisdom than Reeves ever did She rewrote the fiscal rules to allow more public investment He talked of debt in terms of morality and "values" Less Keynes than Philip Snowden! 163
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026After Labour's coup, I applied 1 test to John Healey's speech Would Rachel Reeves disagree? I heard (at most) 1 line where she might www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/lab...prospectmagazine.co.ukIn Healey’s conference speech, a new voice sang old tunesDespite Labour’s political upheaval, the new chancellor sounded strikingly similar notes to his predecessor 162
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Hard to think of a starker London Vs England story than Council Tax Learnt a lot from helping out on this brand new report — have a look below 141
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Important stats & points on Interaction of different benefit caps & limits here 040
Reposted by Tom ClarkStephen Hunsaker @hunsaker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Local Housing Allowance, the cap on housing support that helps 1.9 million low-income private renting families, has been frozen since April 2024. Rents haven't. The gap between rents and support hits a record this October. Our new spotlight shows why the Budget should end the freeze 🧵 11516
Reposted by Tom ClarkRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Fixed that story about Sir Jim Ratcliffe on the BBC. 18751215
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The BBC has decided that this constitutes news… A man who left for Monaco several years ago declaring he’s ’lost confidence’ in the UK His qualification for making the headlines? Owning £15bn Broadcasting like democracy already died! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukBillionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UKIneos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea. 49525147
Reposted by Tom ClarkLisa O’Carroll @lisaocarroll.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Revised projections put one seat between left and right alliances Follow live here special Europe live blog with @jakubkrupa.bsky.social in Stockholm www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...theguardian.comSweden election: exit polls project centre-left government and bad night for the far-right – liveInitial projections put centre-left opposition bloc at 51.3%, with 46.8% for rightwing parties; result worse than expected for far right Sweden Democrats 02110
Reposted by Tom ClarkProspect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 09/09/2026Trump is “trying to turn the United States into an authoritarian country”, Francis Fukuyama tells Tom Clark. But he remains “confident that there will be a big pushback”—from Orbán’s ousting in Hungary to the US midtermsprospectmagazine.co.ukFrancis Fukuyama takes stockWe speak to the man who was unfairly caricatured after declaring ‘the end of history’—and today sees no end in sight 1129
Reposted by Tom ClarkRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 06/09/2026A new statue of British prime minister William Gladstone was unveiled in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria earlier this year. Find out why in this week's @ppfideas.bsky.social: a story of three empires, two great popular movements, the origins of "jingoism" & the last great battle between Gladstone & Disraeli 33516
Reposted by Tom ClarkJeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Polls have closed in Saxony-Anhalt and exit polls put result on a knife edge (AfD 41 seats, others 42). First projections based on actual results due out soon. But if exit polls are right this is a rupture in the history of the federal republic. 2014377
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 06/09/2026… turns out they’re filming some Christmas ad All this ‘snow’ is made of processed paper 0120
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Thought I was going mad on the usual dog walk this morning — an early September snow storm?! BUT… 2120
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Even more interesting than I expected: author of Disraeli hatchet job, pro- & anti-partition, agnostic, elected for 2 seats on the same day!! A biography of him would be a window into a lot. Shall we toss a coin to decide which of us will pick up the task?! 110
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 05/09/2026I love this (the seat being called Scotland is another bonus!) & have always wondered about the post-independence bit. As an Irish nationalist (rather than a Sinn Feiner) I guess he wasn’t advocating for a full-on Republic but happy with a free state? Worried about Ulster? 110
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 05/09/2026A VERY long view on gilt yields c/o @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social www.resolutionfoundation.org/comment/whos... Factoring in today’s mildly positive inflation wld make things look better vis-a-vis the deflationary C19, but also reveal real rates a lot closer to those of the super-inflationary 1970s 030
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Fukuyama hasn't quite given up on his "end of history" phrase But his definition of "end" now includes a scenario where history could go round & round & round www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/7458... 120
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Enjoyed this vox pop from the Reform conference — STRESSING the British people’s yearning to “get back to normal” While — DRESSING as a merry monarch 081
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 04/09/2026FT’s exhaustive profile of James Orr said he was “heavy on classical roots of philosophy, replete with references in Ancient Greek” But after last 24 hours, it seems like he never got his head around the lessons Socrates drew from the Ring of Gyges www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comFarage aides step down after undercover report on Reform UK donationsJames Orr and Dan Jukes have stepped down from positions pending outcome of party investigation, says Reform UK 081
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Andy Burnham has definite instincts but perhaps not a plan—and now lacks the time to dream one up Luckily @philtinline.bsky.social has been thinking hard about all the mightier foes than ‘Whitehall’ that AB must slay I read this twice. Hope PM does too www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/lab...prospectmagazine.co.ukAndy Burnham’s great power struggleThe prime minister has a theory of power, its abuses and imbalances. But there is a major gap in his analysis 132
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 03/09/2026No end in sight My chat with @frankfukuyama.bsky.social -- as he looks back over his life & career, and forward into a wildly uncertain future www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/7458...prospectmagazine.co.ukFrancis Fukuyama takes stockWe speak to the man who was unfairly caricatured after declaring ‘the end of history’—and today sees no end in sight 061
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 02/09/2026I ‘read’ (audiobooked) Emma during the pandemic. Then watched Clueless & am so clueless I could hardly see the link. Certainly wouldn’t have spotted if not widely out there 010
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Heard on a podcast that this is a ‘donnish joke’ by a virtual namesake! archive.org/details/sens...archive.orgSense and sensibilia 200
Reposted by Tom ClarkResolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 28/08/2026Last week, we got the latest figures from the ONS on what’s happening with private rents. ⬇️ 254
Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 27/08/2026After the Great Summer Bake, a dash of mellow fruitfulness?! 131