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Steve Jary

@unionsteve.bsky.social
455 followers 435 following 2.5K posts

Manc in long-term exile. PhD technology, control and work (1990). Former @ProspectUnion Nat Sec for aviation (and, earlier, various bits of the Civil Service, including MoD). Now retired and emigrated from N16 to the Highlands. Photo ©Jess Hurd

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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 52m
It is obvious, but seems to have passed most commentators by. Just like all the other obvious stuff that they’d rather people didn’t know about.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 58m
I guess the double-taxation that is VAT doesn’t affect you if you don’t spend your income on goods, but use it to accumulate assets.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 2h
BBC axing The Artificial Human just as the whole World is debating ‘AI’ - mainly from a position of ignorance - seems a remarkable desertion of the BBC’s purpose. #bbc #r4
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 6h
‘Now we turn to the controversy that is what is it to be English?’ Nick Robinson says on radio 4 today before talking about Badenoch and Braverman Couldn’t turn the dial quick enough
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 5h
#r4today running with confected right wing ‘controversies’ again - debated by two right wing controversialists just so it’s ‘balanced’. This is how racism is being re-normalised.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 17h
Mason bigging up Badenuff on #bbcnews No analysis at all. Parroting that inheritance tax is a tax on money that has already been taxed. Which, of course, it isn’t. Unlike VAT, or Council Tax. Or fuel duty. Or … [add pretty much every other tax here]
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 17h
Isn’t it perplexing that the supposedly bestest country on earth can’t execute people effectively?
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 18h
Get a heat pump. Ours has been ‘on’ all the time. Lots of hot water, but space heating hardly on at all until the last few days. And then only briefly - constant 19C.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I wonder if Badenuf asked John Barnes and Ian Wright whether they remember the absence of racism against black England players “back in the(ir) day”.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Looking forward to the next #PMQs. Bet Burnham gives Badenoch a hard stare before offering her a marmalade sandwich.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I think Andy will be quite pleased with that. Everyone loves Paddington.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Badenuf celebrates the convicted criminal Jeffrey Archer, then slags off Reform for being a home for, er, convicted criminals. She really is a bit dumb, isn’t she?
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Badenuf’s family home exemption is fraught with difficulties. It’ll create perverse incentives (why downsize if that means more of your estate becomes liable?) And what’s the ‘family home’ - do you have to have lived in it as a youngster? My parents moved three times after I left.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Badenuff celebrating the life of a convicted criminal. Not sure that’s a good look.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oops! When we said it’s OK to steal IP, we didn’t mean OUR IP.
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Paul Murphy @paulmurphy.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
What no right-of-reply from Labour on Badenoch’s sneering criticisms of Labour? Curious because #R4today & Radio4 news bulletins always managed to include a Tory response to Labour conference speech announcements (that btw mostly had nothing to say about the Tories)
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Paul Murphy @paulmurphy.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Why focus on Inheritance tax paid? Because it’s paid by mostly Tory voters But because it’s unpopular, ‘most disliked tax in UK’ So please don’t be conned by BBC’s servile reports the Tories are moving beyond the populist culture wars #R4Today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The Tories seem to be running the argument that inheritance tax is immoral because it means “taxing twice”. OK. Let’s go with that for a second shall we? Any other immoral taxes? VAT? Council Tax? Actually, all taxes which are paid from income already reduced by income tax and NI?
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Now that Chris had bought the notion that inheritance tax is wrong because it means “taxing twice”, I’m looking forward to the announcement of the abolition of VAT. After all, I’ve paid income tax and NI, so why tax my money again when I spend it? #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Delicious.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I’m beginning to wonder whether Blair’s pitching to be the next Bond villain.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
No obvious reason? How about ‘drill baby drill’ as the answer to the climate emergency and collapse of the ecosystem?
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Isn’t he just following the manifesto? Only two months ago, everyone was insisting that he must.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Sarah Pochin raised "concerns" in parliament about the impact of second homes on rural communities. Two days later she purchased an £800,000 second home on Anglesey. Remarkable stuff. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform MP raises concerns about second homes – then buys one for £800,000
Sarah Pochin bought Anglesey property two days after writing to minister about impact of second homes on rural communities
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I do hope Paddy O’Connell reads this and apologises for his fawning interview with Archer on Sunday. #bbcbh
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yes. She was. But managed to embarrass herself nevertheless!
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Or a reward in a shabby hotel chain’s loyalty scheme.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Just embarrassed herself on #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
RNLI smoke bomb - deployed so the Fash can’t find them?
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Chris Mason just lovin’ it. Forensic reporting from the Tory conference there. #bbcnews
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The BBC still swallowing Trump’s performative withdrawal from Fairford. If there’s a threat, why have they left their other aircraft there and all the other USAF bases in the UK? #bbcnews
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The Daily Mail Test strikes again!?
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arnie @arnie.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
sometimes u see something that makes u feel like 'whats the fucking point anymore' & well, this is one of those times
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
🔴 Conservative Plan to Scrap Solar Rules for New Homes Would Lock Millions Into Gas Use Pledge to abolish the Future Homes Standard is branded ‘a plan for poor housing and high bills’ by fuel poverty campaigners, as the solar sector urges the party to think again bylinetimes.com/2026/10/05/c...
bylinetimes.com
Conservative Plan to Scrap Solar Rules for New Homes Would Lock Millions Into Gas Use
Pledge to abolish the Future Homes Standard is branded 'a plan for poor housing and high bills' by fuel poverty campaigners, as the solar sector urges the party to think again
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And how many of those reports were written by, or relied mainly on evidence from, the developers? There’s a reason for all those political donations, you know. 🤫
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It’s a market - the only incentive they respond to is price. Unless you’re going to subsidise them. Which brings us back to Council housing…
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
They often finance the build out with sales - another reason for dribbling houses out in ‘phases’. The problem for governments is they don’t control any of these factors.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The supply problem is multifactorial. Materials and labour are two factors. Suitable land is another (although developers aren’t really interested in appropriate sites, they want to build in land they can get cheaply). The main factor is the developers’ business model: build slowly to maintain price
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
And yet, the Tories started talking about adaptation instead of net zero just a few months ago. Adapting housing to cope with a 2% increase in average global temperatures will cost a hell of a lot more than £50k.
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Yes. That’s the point: government can’t expect to hit a target when it has no control over supply or demand!
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The only explanation we need of US Frat houses is this: just like the Bullingdon Club. #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It’s like summer never happened. Even if they’re giving up on net zero, they were saying we should adapt instead just a couple of months ago. Obviously they don’t really mean that - additional housebuilding costs would be considerable if they go for adaptation!
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Tony Iles @tonyeye.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Tories going full-on Trumpian. Heat pumps, insulation, etc. do not add £50k to house cost. Scrapping the EA extraordinary. I presume Tories want completely unregulated pollution of our air, water, & land? Or do we rely on the corporate responsibility demonstrated by the Water Cos? #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Surely an LLM prompted to debunk a conspiracy theory can equally be promoted (or, more deeply, trained) to amplify and embed that conspiracy theory? See Grok?
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Government housebuilding targets have never been met. You’d think someone would have worked out that current methods can’t simply be stepped up. Cutting regulation to speed things up won’t make any difference. Developers don’t want to speed things up - it’ll reduce prices. #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The BBC’s appetite for treating Trump’s latest performative act as a genuine, evidence-based decision knows no bounds. #RAFFairford #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Good of the USAF to release another base for asylum seekers. #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
So, the USA didn’t really need ‘RAF’ Fairford, after all? #r4today
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Steve Jary @unionsteve.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A programme of environmental destruction seems an odd way to go about getting elected. #Tories #r4today
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Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
It's that time of year again when we need to remind National Trust members that Restore Trust is a dark-money funded right-wing astroturfing entryist outfit. Please vote, and vote for literally anyone else.
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