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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 8h

There's obviously continuity Brexit (albeit with added alignment), similar immigration rhetoric and ongoing fiscal orthodoxy, but Labour is about to raise taxes and pass the Employment Rights Bill.

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Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 20h

🚨🚨Major irony alert: Brits are pining for the pre-Brexit migration system.

The idea was that #brexit would give the UK back “control” of its borders and create a fairer system.

But the widespread perception is it didn’t turn out that way.🧵
www.politico.eu/article/labo...

Brits are pining for the pre-Brexit migration system

The idea was that leaving the bloc would give the U.K. back “control” of its borders and create a fairer system. But the widespread perception is it didn’t turn out that way.

www.politico.eu

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

2025 Press Freedom Rank
1 Norway
2 Estonia
3 Netherlands
4 Sweden
5 Finland
11 Germany
16 NZ
20 UK
21 Canada
25 France
27 S Africa
29 Australia
31 Poland
49 Italy
52 Ghana

57 US

58 Gambia
61 S Korea
63 Brazil
66 Japan
89 Greece
112 Israel
124 Mexico
151 India
171 Russia
178 China
rsf.org/en/index

Global map with countries shaded to indicate level of freedom of the press based on the 2025 Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 1d

He's seemingly trying to pull the same trick of attacking "the Conservative terms" of the Brexit deal / EEC membership rather than engaging in the rights & wrongs of the fundamental issue itself. I can understand it why he's doing this but it may be too late for subtle messaging.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 1d

The story of that whole period is people exploiting Brexit for short-term personal and party political advantage, to the great detriment of the country.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 1d

Wilson pretended to be "neutral" at the time for the sake of party unity. I imagine Starmer is privately pro-European, as he always was prior to 2019, but his political strategy still seems guided by Johnson's victory that year. Generals fighting the last war.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 1d

We could have had May's deal which was slightly better than the TCA. Slightly. www.ippr.org/media-office...

May and Johnson’s Brexit Deals compared: A harder deal, less alignment and more barriers to trade | IPPR

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is an independent charity working towards a fairer, greener, and more prosperous society.

www.ippr.org

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 1d

Because if you listen to @steverichards.bsky.social that was nimble and effective positioning by Wilson at the time which enabled him to maintain party unity.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 1d

To be fair, this was Harold Wilson's approach when he opposed "the Conservative terms of EEC membership".

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 2d

One of the countries at the bottom of that democracy list is also a monarchy and you could consider North Korea to be a kinda sorta de facto monarchy, in that it's ruled by a hereditary dynasty.

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Mark McGeoghegan @markmcgeoghegan.bsky.social · 4d

Analysis in @thetimes.com by @leaskyd.bsky.social & Anna Dowell of the sharp decline in British identity uncovered by the Scottish Social Attitudes survey.

With comment from Sir John Curtice on the polarising of Scottish politics and from myself on the decoupling of Scottish and British identities:

Why Scots are losing their British identity

With only a quarter of respondents to the Scottish Social Attitudes survey identifying with Britishness, Scotland faces a generational political split

www.thetimes.com

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 7d

bsky.app/profile/just...

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 10d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 7d

Well, even Harry Styles is embracing the eccentric grandpa style trend. www.vogue.com/article/the-...

The Eclectic Grandpa Trend Encapsulates Our Personal Style Dilemma

Not only is overhauling one’s wardrobe wildly expensive and unsustainable, it eschews the core value of real dressing like a grandpa, creating a soulless replica in its place.

www.vogue.com

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Benjamin Braun @benbraun.bsky.social · 8d

Remember when dense networks of strategic cross-shareholdings among firms, native to coordinated market economies, went the way of the dodo?

The Rhenish model, Germany, Inc. undone by Anglo institutional investors?

Well, the dodo is back. Say hello to USA, Inc.
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 8d

The economic fortunes of the US do seem to be riding on AI, rather worryingly.
bsky.app/profile/just...

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 10d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 8d

There's a whole Wikipedia page on the debate about excess mortality in the USSR under Stalin. Whether you accept the hyperbolic numbers sometimes touted (20m) or the much lower revisionist figures, which are still in the millions, it's a horrific legacy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_...

Excess mortality in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Paula Surridge @psurridge.bsky.social · 9d

You can see clearly the party space fragmenting as Reform dominate the authoritarian (and increasingly the 'moderate') groups but staying virtually at 0 on the liberal left. While the Greens move to a strong second place in the liberal left group but struggle outside that group.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 9d

By the late 1960s, yes. I believe the local Asian population is much larger than the black population these days. www.generalpublic.org.uk/project/hand....

General Public | Handsworth Context

www.generalpublic.org.uk

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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 10d

"The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year... In a way, then, America has become one big bet on AI."

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

www.ft.com

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Graham Simpson @grahambs.bsky.social · 10d

78% of buildings in Gaza have been damaged. More than half have been completely destroyed.

98.5% of cropland has undergone damage and will need rehabilitation to become productive.

90% of schools have been destroyed or severely damaged and not a single university has been left standing.

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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 11d

The Tories' problems are deeper than merely a bad leader. The centre-right has been weakened by the degradation of erstwhile professional jobs and by capitalist stagnation. Here's one I wrote earlier: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/the-centre...

The centre-right: killed by economics

Economic forces lie behind the collapse of the centre-right.

chrisdillow.substack.com

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Hakyung Kim @hakyungkim.bsky.social · 12d

A key question this year is just how much of US economic growth has come from tech investment, aka the AI boom. The net contribution of the tech to real GDP growth is a bit more than a third YTD. But consumer spending, a bigger part of GDP, has weakened, in effect making tech's contribution larger.

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 12d

Quantity of references is no guarantee of their quality. If he's just referencing "Briefings for Britain" or whatever they're called, Patrick Minford and a bunch of other partisans with a dog in this fight, it's simply an exercise in cherry picking.

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 13d

Just had time to properly read this brilliant piece by @benansell.bsky.social. It left me even more convinced than I already was that what he calls Labour's (and indeed the Conservative's) "prole-whisperers" are horribly mistaken if they genuinely think chasing after Reform voters is the way to go.

British Politics' Midlife Crisis

Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters

benansell.substack.com

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cliffordinwales.bsky.social @cliffordinwales.bsky.social · 12d

I love that the episode of The Computer Chronicles introducing the PS/2 has been uploaded to YouTube. youtu.be/yoAH1aHmwR0?...

The Computer Chronicles - IBM Personal System 2 (PS/2) (1987)

YouTube video by The Computer Chronicles

youtu.be

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