Reposted by Tom InnesStephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Why no bank holidays from now until Christmas? This is why. 8394113
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026I need more popcorn to watch the slow end of Farage's political career. Really feels like the kind of thing I should be able to log on Letterboxd tominnes.substack.com/p/reform-are...tominnes.substack.comReform are in troubleQuestions over party finances threaten both the financial architecture of reform and the authenticity of Farage’s character 011
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026I'm running the @royalparkshalf.bsky.social for @amnestyuk.bsky.social!!! I'm shit at running, but not as shit as the EHRC are at producing guidance on "single-sex" spaces. Amnesty has been on the front line on this one, so please please donate if you can Cheers! www.justgiving.com/page/tom-inn...justgiving.comTom's fundraiser for Amnesty International UKHelp Tom Innes raise money to support Amnesty International UK 110
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 31/07/2026The fauci witch trial left me despairing at how we'll reflect on COVID even five years from now. I wrote a little bit on how it radicalised our main characters and why we choose to forget about it. open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comThe Social DistanceThe radicalising effect of lockdown and why we choose to forget it 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 23/07/2026There can be no half measures with Burnham's devolution agenda. This can't be a "move fast, break things" plan, but it does need to be utterly radical. My newsletter "The Elephant Weekly" is up now on Substack open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comChange (but for real this time)If Burnham is to succeed, he needs to implement the most radical changes in our constitution for generations 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Coyle is a really unconventional MP. The only member of the PLP to nominate somebody other than Burnham for leader, horns locked with the new Southwark Council, and a tetchy history with parliamentary conduct. Was great to talk to him for Living Conversations. If you're in South, give us a follow! 010
Reposted by Tom InnesTom Freeman @tomfreeman.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Football was being sent to France under the "one in, one out" scheme but it has escaped and is now coming home 48916
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 19/06/2026I'm not sure what the baggage allowance is on Avanti West Coast, but somehow the weight of a nation is going to have to fit. My read on Burnham's win in Makerfield open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comBurnham wins MakerfieldThe Prime Minster in waiting doesn't have much longer to wait 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 07/06/2026The Unite the Kingdom rally earlier this month was a consequence of MAGA money and ideas poisoning our political discourse. This is not the grassroots Christian movement Yaxley-Lennon would have you believe The latest edition of the The Elephant Weekly is out now! open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comBad FaithThe MAGA money and ideas feeding Britain's 'Christian Nationalism' 010
Reposted by Tom InnesAilbhe Rea @pronouncedalva.bsky.social · 04/06/2026EXCLUSIVE Andy Burnham interview in this week's New Statesman On the fight against Reform, what he would do differently to Keir Starmer, and how he wonders whether Brexit would have turned out differently if he had been elected Labour leader in 2015. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...newstatesman.comAndy Burnham's door-knock to Downing StreetOn the campaign trail with the Manchester mayor in Makerfield 4208
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Burnham's policy agenda is unmoored from the positions he's held in the past. Is his ideological reflexivity a boon, or are labour members doomed to repeat the mistakes made with Keir Starmer? Available now @ The Elephant Weekly on Substack open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comCall TimeStarmer's successor waits in the wings, but he is ideologically liquid where it matters most. 000
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 12/05/2026Starmer's decision to stay on today is suicide for Labour and suicide for the country. It defies all the principles we were told he possessed in 2024 and risks rolling out the carpet for Farage open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comCurtain CallStarmer cannot stay on as Prime Minister, the damage he does in doing so is existential 000
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 22/03/2026This reads like a Cohen film, some of the most imaginative journalism I've ever read 000
Reposted by Tom InnesJim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 13/02/2026this feels like a spoof from The Day Today 70624114
Reposted by Tom InnesDmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 21/01/2026Netherlands should join and offer to host the first meeting at the exclusive, famous, gilded and very luxurious palace called "The Hague". 241212284
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 21/01/2026It seems so simple, but the potential political capital gains for progressive leaders who are just honest about Trump are (and have always been) enormous. Greenland has simplified things, but the toss up between acquiescence vs candour remains exactly the same, and blisteringly obvious. 000
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 14/01/2026Covered some of this very briefly on my Substack last week, but we are only now beginning to understand how online isolationism will affect us as a species. This piece is great on quite how existential the threat is. open.substack.com/pub/dralicee...open.substack.comWhy is Fertility Collapsing, Globally?Something dramatic is happening everywhere all at once: fertility is plummeting, with major implications for economic growth and social stability. 000
Reposted by Tom InnesZoë Grünewald @zoegrunewald.bsky.social · 13/01/2026Been thinking a lot about how we are talking about health and society so I wrote down some thoughts about what happens when self-care replaces collective care, and why joy, connection, and shared spaces are as essential to a nation’s wellbeing as any diet zoegrunewald.substack.com/p/when-whats...zoegrunewald.substack.comWhen “what’s good for us” stops meaning "us"Wellness culture promises control and self-care — but what happens when it starts to hollow out our shared collective lives? 1514338
Reposted by Tom InnesOtto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 07/01/2026Telling isn't it that all the "protect our girls" people are still on X despite what Grok is doing. 20356371323
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 06/01/2026I have grown to absolutely despise my phone in the last few months, and you should too! Here's why you're currently holding an ungodly Demon of Babylon and why you ought to put it down more in 2026 open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comNew Years Resolution: Get Off Your PhoneWhatever your resolutions are, your phone is standing in the way. 010
Reposted by Tom InnesAdam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 09/12/2025New Home Office impact assessment finds that cutting skilled and social care visas will cost the UK up to £10 billion with a central estimate of -£5.4 billion. It would be good if this got even a fraction of the coverage devoted to the endless debate about boats, flags and Turkish barber shops 261144667
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 24/09/2025"In time, Charlie Kirk's legacy will not be the many thousands he radicalised, nor the hate he spread, it will be the machinery of the state that was mobilised against his political opponents in death" open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comTurning PointCharlie Kirk's leaves a contentious legacy, but the consequences of his death could be profound 020
Reposted by Tom InnesJane @localnotail.bsky.social · 05/09/2025On the same day in the Telegraph: 12564483184
Reposted by Tom InnesAdam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 03/09/2025Democrat @raskin.house.gov excoriates Nigel Farage for banning journalists from Reform UK events: "I'm asking you a direct question. Why do you ban journalists who oppose your views from coming to your events? Why did you tell local government not to do interviews with your local newspaper?" 1371612595
Reposted by Tom InnesPeter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 03/09/2025"There is not a free speech crisis in the UK. Keir Starmer has not shut down GB News," Ruskin says. Farage seems "most at home with the autocrats and dictators of this world", he adds. If he's serious about the Online Safety Act, he should be in parliament, he says, not here. 9500127
Reposted by Tom InnesIan Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 29/08/2025Labour's cowardice in the face of extremism iandunt.substack.com/p/labours-co... 621096453
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 13/08/2025This is what true patriotism looks like. Labour have long now ceded the narrative on what it means to proud of ones home to the opportunists of the right, I'm chuffed to see Khan try and take it back 010
Reposted by Tom InnesProf Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 21/07/2025The website tracking the Trump administration's authoritarian-like actions is here: www.trumpactiontracker.info? and a post explaining the website is here christinapagel.substack.com/p/introducin... 49661
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 17/07/2025Labour have developed the unfortunate habit of running the exact type of government they claim to be against. Is Starmer actually fighting Farage, or is he just keeping his seat warm? open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comStarmer is rolling the pitch for Britain's authoritarian futureInadvertently or not, Labours recent policy decisions have emboldened a potential Farage premiership to act with total disregard for our basic freedoms. 020
Reposted by Tom InnesIan Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 11/07/2025The new Superman film is the first time that America has been forced to stare at itself in the cultural mirror since the election iandunt.substack.com/p/immigrant-... 701613371
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 04/07/2025Joining the caucus of 'Starmer Year One' commentary. A look at why the fiscal rules are as fissiparous as they are boring... open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comThings can only get better, right?Starmer's crisis this week does not have to be a prognosis for his next four years 000
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 16/06/2025Back on The Stack! Why the Tories self destruct bodes ill for everybody else as well as the party... open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comWe Need the ConservativesWhat happened to the Tories and why we need them to be better 000
Reposted by Tom InnesArchie Bland @archiebland.bsky.social · 24/05/2025I wrote for the Guardian’s Saturday magazine about my son Max, who changed how I see the world. Took ages. More jokes after the first bit. Thanks Merope Mills for being the most patient and generous editor. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...theguardian.comThe boy who came back: the near-death, and changed life, of my son MaxIt was, we were told, a case of sudden infant death syndrome interrupted. What followed would transform my understanding of parenting, disability and the breadth of what makes a meaningful life 126855184
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 23/05/2025The way this verdict has been misinterpreted sheds a harsh light on how broken our legislature is. Without once being debated in our elected chamber, the laws protecting trans people have all but vanished. The government constantly leaning on the supreme court over the issue shows shocking cowardice 000
Reposted by Tom InnesReform Political Advertising @reformpoliticalads.bsky.social · 19/05/2025Do misleading ads have an impact on our often close run elections? Support our campaign to have rules for fact based claims in elections ads. (There are none in case you were wondering.) We are making progress. 👉 reformpoliticaladvertising.org/donate/ 25717
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 19/05/2025"Well, we’ve got a really constructive deal on defence cooperation and a handful of tweaks on the agreement Johnson scraped through in 2020." Today certainly isn't what Farage would have you believe, but it's not really what Starmer says either. On Substack now... open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comAre There Really Plenty of Fish in the Sea?A closer look at what the new UK-EU deal actually means, and what it doesn't... 000
Reposted by Tom InnesTom Fletcher @tomfletcherun.bsky.social · 14/05/2025So, for those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need? Will you act now – decisively – to prevent genocide in Gaza and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? This Council must prevail. Demand this ends. 16681362
Reposted by Tom InnesIan Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 12/05/2025Incredibly depressing day. I've spent my entire life being told by British governments how dreadful immigration is. New Labour did it. The Coalition. The Brexiters. Now Starmer. All of them accusing the ones who came before them of failing to clamp down. The same old vacant mean-spirited bollocks. 26065131322
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 07/05/2025"Brexit was primarily an attempt to rescue votes from Farage and ultimately placate him. Did it work? Did it fuck." Starmer is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the Tories unless he changes course. My reflections on his strategy after Reform UK took KCC open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comFarage is beatable, but not like this...A reflection on Labour's strategy after my home town fell to Reform 110
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 07/04/2025Looking enviously across the Atlantic at Carney’s backbone this week, a lesson for all leaders… open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comRediscovering LibertyBeating the far-right is possible, but only if we recognise what's at stake 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 24/03/2025I’ve tried to chronicle the latest from Reform HQ and quite how inconsequential it is tominnes.substack.com/p/out-of-the...tominnes.substack.comOut of the Frying Pan: Part TwoA look at the forces squeezing Starmer at home while he battles abroad 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 11/03/2025Part one of my deep-dive on why the forthcoming by-election means more to Labour than those that have come before… open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comOut of the Frying Pan: Part OneA look at the forces squeezing Starmer while he battles abroad 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 03/03/2025To understand the events of this weekend is to understand the magnitude of the decisions that face us in the not so distant future. My latest Substack is out now open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comFor every action...In the face of Trumps malign actions, we must answer with strength 010
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 24/02/2025Returned to Substack for my second (hopefully weekly) blog. The threat of trump denialism… open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comIf it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck...The greatest threat to European security is Trump denialism, we must learn to call a spade a spade 020
Tom Innes @tomosinnes.bsky.social · 17/02/2025Have tried my hand at Substack. Finding the silver lining in the most terrifying cloud I have ever seen… open.substack.com/pub/tominnes...open.substack.comInbox | Substack 000
![Scene is a Victorian drawing room; a group of gentlemen is assembled for a meeting. At the front of the room, stood at a large blackboard, is SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, the inventor of bank holidays. The board has a calendar drawn on it. Also in the room is a SMALL DOG sat on the floor.
1
LUBBOCK:
And so gentlemen, I, Sir John Lubbock, hereby announce
2
LUBBOCK:
The invention of ‘bank holidays’!
Legally protected days off work, for the whole nation to rest.
AUDIENCE:
CLAP CLAP CLAP
3
LUBBOCK (marking days on the calendar):
My first two bank holidays shall be at Easter...
and then another straight after in May...
4
LUBBOCK:
And then - what the hell - another one in May!
And then one in August!
AUDIENCE:
Hurrah!
5
AUDIENCE MEMBER:
So many, Sir John?
LUBBOCK (grabbing him by the lapel, his face ecstatic)
Life is for living, man!
6
AUDIENCE MEMBER:
And then in the Autumn, sir….?
7
[Lubbock looks sideways. He is distracted by the SMALL DOG. It has started scooting its bum across the floor]
8
LUBBOCK:
Ugh.
[his face has dropped, it's totally grossed him out]
9
LUBBOCK:
OK that'll do
AUDIENCE MEMBER:
What?
10
AUDIENCE MEMBER:
Is that it? You’ve put loads in the summer…
LUBBOCK:
Yeah
no more bank holidays till Christmas.
11
AUDIENCE MEMBER:
Sir - have you just condemned future generations to long winters of unalleviated toil... because you saw my dog scooting its arse and it killed your vibe?
12
LUBBOCK:
It's so gross
AUDIENCE MEMBER:
Rollo can’t help it!
[dog continues to scoot across floor]
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiabf3hhw7b35mdikzkfjgdhadqnge5zvvyrdaeu5ql4t24rmbqbni)
![The Telegraph
Rayner tax scandal - £40k tax dodge - Statement
Angela Rayner dodges £40,000 stamp duty
Deputy Prime Minister reduces tax bill for Hove flat by declaring it as her main residence
[Photo: Angela Rayner pictured at the weekend in Hove, where she has just bought a flat Credit: Dan Charity/The Sun on Sunday]
Robert Mendick Chief Reporter. Amy Gibbons Political Correspondent
29 August 2025 8:57am BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreihe5mm7nwmwvzhtgadmsafyvsaxhrufuai2d2j2rju5zt6g2lytea)
![The Telegraph
Money > Property > Second homes
How to avoid tax on your second home
From stamp duty to council tax, shield your wealth from Labour's tightening net
[Photo of houses around a bay - Areas such as Cornwall have added a premium to council tax bills for second homes Credit: iStockphoto]
Fran Ivens Senior Money Writer
29 August 2025 1:21pm BST](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kf2qj56o2vq7jfaq4x4ogp6/bafkreieuwgc2vsmyfcctmf4cnpcqckij2pqdk2gmzajpnihrsqyqmzyr5e)