Jack Saundrs
@jacksaundrs.bsky.social
Anarcho-syndicalist, labour historian (post-war motor industry, NHS). Author: Assembling Cultures (http://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526155979/) (he/him)
Reposted by Jack Saundrs
Overton windows ltd have installed your new double glazing several streets to the right
Great illustration of the austerity ratchet in Britain - restoring the pre-Osborne welfare state treated like wild-eyed radicalism
Aside from anything else, the benefit cap was introduced in 2013. Claiming that going back to 2012, to a benefit system designed by Tories but missing some of the most egregious and punitive excesses, is a sign of a "return" to even the real 1970s let alone the media boogeyman 1970s, is bollocks.
November 28, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Overton windows ltd have installed your new double glazing several streets to the right
Great illustration of the austerity ratchet in Britain - restoring the pre-Osborne welfare state treated like wild-eyed radicalism
Aside from anything else, the benefit cap was introduced in 2013. Claiming that going back to 2012, to a benefit system designed by Tories but missing some of the most egregious and punitive excesses, is a sign of a "return" to even the real 1970s let alone the media boogeyman 1970s, is bollocks.
Look. This isn't analysis of any stripe. That this absolute fucking hogwash is presented as clever, sensible moderate stuff should be considered just as much propaganda as the tabloid screaming about benefits street.
November 28, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Great illustration of the austerity ratchet in Britain - restoring the pre-Osborne welfare state treated like wild-eyed radicalism
Partner asked me to get teacakes on the way home tonight and added "hot cross buns are fine if that's all they've got" and I hadn't realised that supermarkets had basically replaced teacakes with hot cross buns year round!
November 27, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Partner asked me to get teacakes on the way home tonight and added "hot cross buns are fine if that's all they've got" and I hadn't realised that supermarkets had basically replaced teacakes with hot cross buns year round!
Taxes are pretty much the only thing related to personal/family finance they do this little "what if that made someone's life difficult" dance for.
Benefits cut to the bone? Not interested
Wages eroded by inflation for decades and decades? Nope.
Technology abolished your job? Nope.
Benefits cut to the bone? Not interested
Wages eroded by inflation for decades and decades? Nope.
Technology abolished your job? Nope.
This house tax pretending is making me more insane than usual because as a renter I’ve had to move every 1-3 years just as standard because rents always rise. And no one cares. House owners get a tiny fraction of that precarity and suddenly it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened
November 27, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Taxes are pretty much the only thing related to personal/family finance they do this little "what if that made someone's life difficult" dance for.
Benefits cut to the bone? Not interested
Wages eroded by inflation for decades and decades? Nope.
Technology abolished your job? Nope.
Benefits cut to the bone? Not interested
Wages eroded by inflation for decades and decades? Nope.
Technology abolished your job? Nope.
Reposted by Jack Saundrs
November 26, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Doing this again Sunday
So, I read a post about one family's made up holiday tradition "big sandwich night" and so now we're doing big sandwich night
www.tumblr.com/mousemilf/70...
www.tumblr.com/mousemilf/70...
hemomancer
this post is now my 9/11 gingerbread house!!!!
www.tumblr.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Doing this again Sunday
I get that "chippy" might be a bit confusing to some American readers but "fish and chips" is surely relatively broadly known about?
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
November 26, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I get that "chippy" might be a bit confusing to some American readers but "fish and chips" is surely relatively broadly known about?
Just think it's another aspect of right-wing bubble world - students are bad and woke, academics are bad and woke, universities all give the same two courses - mickey mouse studies and anti-British history - and nothing else, why should I pay, waste of money, bunch of layabouts, get a real job etc.
One parsimonious explanation: universities presently exist quasi-independently outside the power of the state, and therefore to state actors, must be fully subsumed into the state for its ends, by any means necessary, no matter the consequences for both universities or the state
i really struggle to understand why centre left parties do not like universities, do not like the soft power we wield (imagine getting to educate the children of your geopolitical rivals!!!! IMAGINE!!!). i dont believe that albo, starmer, etc are this stupid, it's got to be hatred. but y.
November 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Just think it's another aspect of right-wing bubble world - students are bad and woke, academics are bad and woke, universities all give the same two courses - mickey mouse studies and anti-British history - and nothing else, why should I pay, waste of money, bunch of layabouts, get a real job etc.
Gotta say, having lived through the 2010-2024 period where Rachel Reeves was one of those opposition politicians that gets treated by the media like some great lost cause, an incredible talent wasted by mediocre rivals, this whole 'I've been underestimated my whole life' bit is ... weird?
“I’ll show the media, I’ll show the Tories, I’ll not let them beat me. I’ll be there on Wednesday, I’ll be there next year & I’ll be back the year after that” - Rachel Reeves urges Labour MPs to back budget @jessicaelgot.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Rachel Reeves urges Labour MPs to back her make-or-break budget
Chancellor tells parliamentary party they might not like every measure but promises budget will be ‘fair’
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Gotta say, having lived through the 2010-2024 period where Rachel Reeves was one of those opposition politicians that gets treated by the media like some great lost cause, an incredible talent wasted by mediocre rivals, this whole 'I've been underestimated my whole life' bit is ... weird?
#itfc Wrote this after the Watford game but it holds for the Wrexham game too. Wonder which version we're getting tonight bluemondaypodcast.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/t...
The More Things Seem to Change by Jack Saunders
If I were a manager I think the thing that would frustrate me most is the way games of football consist of essentially two separate things that are only partially related. On the one hand football …
bluemondaypodcast.wordpress.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:20 AM
#itfc Wrote this after the Watford game but it holds for the Wrexham game too. Wonder which version we're getting tonight bluemondaypodcast.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/t...
Post a movie where you are from
November 23, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Post a movie where you are from
Went to the Jewish bakery in Gants Hill and they told me they were out of beigels and only had "pretzels" left, which were these:
November 23, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Went to the Jewish bakery in Gants Hill and they told me they were out of beigels and only had "pretzels" left, which were these:
Very funny that even after several weeks of "gosh, isn't Wes an impressive operator" from all and sundry, he still has functionally zero chance of winning a leadership election
November 23, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Very funny that even after several weeks of "gosh, isn't Wes an impressive operator" from all and sundry, he still has functionally zero chance of winning a leadership election
The Your Party shambles just feels like such a fitting denouement to all the leftism that has existed in Britain in my life time
November 21, 2025 at 8:46 PM
The Your Party shambles just feels like such a fitting denouement to all the leftism that has existed in Britain in my life time
Morally obscene, economically inane but also just politically weird?
The idea that there's this groundswell of feeling that welcomes foreign bankers but hates foreign care workers is wild - where the hell does it come from?
The idea that there's this groundswell of feeling that welcomes foreign bankers but hates foreign care workers is wild - where the hell does it come from?
Shabana Mahmood's Indefinite Leave To Remain Culture War
3 years - if you're earning £125k+
15 years - if you're e.g. a nurse, or a teacher
Labour's two tier system which rewards high earners and insults those who work just as hard but don't earn as much - really sad to see Labour fall
3 years - if you're earning £125k+
15 years - if you're e.g. a nurse, or a teacher
Labour's two tier system which rewards high earners and insults those who work just as hard but don't earn as much - really sad to see Labour fall
November 21, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Morally obscene, economically inane but also just politically weird?
The idea that there's this groundswell of feeling that welcomes foreign bankers but hates foreign care workers is wild - where the hell does it come from?
The idea that there's this groundswell of feeling that welcomes foreign bankers but hates foreign care workers is wild - where the hell does it come from?
To go after trial by jury you'd need such an incredible combo of ignorance, brainlessness, authoritarianism, historical and legal illiteracy
The governments entire justification makes chillingly clear they do not believe in the concept of innocent until proven guilty.
Defendants have been arrested, so they must be guilty, thus asking for a jury trial can *only* be a guilty person being malicious.
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
Defendants have been arrested, so they must be guilty, thus asking for a jury trial can *only* be a guilty person being malicious.
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
MoJ to remove right to trial by jury for thousands of cases in controversial overhaul
Exclusive: Courts minister says change needed to stop criminals opting for juries to delay cases, sometimes by years, and clear huge backlog
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:40 PM
To go after trial by jury you'd need such an incredible combo of ignorance, brainlessness, authoritarianism, historical and legal illiteracy
It's funny how for some things owning a £1m+ house In London makes you a out-of-touch wealthy elitist with luxury beliefs and then suddenly when it's tax time they're back to being ordinary salt of the earth folks living in an expensive city
I sometimes feel like I am going mad.
Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
Owning a £1.5m home is not normal in London or the South East of England.
November 20, 2025 at 1:12 PM
It's funny how for some things owning a £1m+ house In London makes you a out-of-touch wealthy elitist with luxury beliefs and then suddenly when it's tax time they're back to being ordinary salt of the earth folks living in an expensive city
Reposted by Jack Saundrs
"Do you think the plebs should get a jury trial" is such a thrilling line from Labour, truly great to see this
November 20, 2025 at 11:48 AM
"Do you think the plebs should get a jury trial" is such a thrilling line from Labour, truly great to see this
Reposted by Jack Saundrs
In April, I wondered what a trans toilet ban might look like in practice. Trans people and their cis women allies have been sounding these alarms for years. It now seems clear that the UK government took all these dire warnings as policy proposals.
www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...
www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...
November 20, 2025 at 10:48 AM
In April, I wondered what a trans toilet ban might look like in practice. Trans people and their cis women allies have been sounding these alarms for years. It now seems clear that the UK government took all these dire warnings as policy proposals.
www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...
www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...
I mean, with our current media environment, if everyone of minimum wage was absolutely ecstatic about it, how would we find out?
Workers just don't exist as political subjects for most coverage of politics, except in very particular circumstances
Workers just don't exist as political subjects for most coverage of politics, except in very particular circumstances
Weird thing: the UK minimum wage has risen against inflation for years. It's now really high. Millions of people are earning more than they were as a direct result of this policy. And the impact on the vibes of the country is… entirely absent?
November 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
I mean, with our current media environment, if everyone of minimum wage was absolutely ecstatic about it, how would we find out?
Workers just don't exist as political subjects for most coverage of politics, except in very particular circumstances
Workers just don't exist as political subjects for most coverage of politics, except in very particular circumstances
Said it at the time, but if you applied the standards of the media/mainstream politics Labour anti-semitism cordon sanitaire across the board, across all kinds of prejudice, there would be very few political tendencies then (or now) that would be the right side of it
All that sniffy, finger-wagging chat about Political Hygeine sure went very, very quiet at some point in the last five years, didn’t it
November 18, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Said it at the time, but if you applied the standards of the media/mainstream politics Labour anti-semitism cordon sanitaire across the board, across all kinds of prejudice, there would be very few political tendencies then (or now) that would be the right side of it
How do you say 'shaking off the fleas' in Danish?
Well I for one am stunned.
November 18, 2025 at 9:22 AM
How do you say 'shaking off the fleas' in Danish?
Cool, so if a bunch of people send death threats and slurs to politicians they get what they want, is that how it works?
November 17, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Cool, so if a bunch of people send death threats and slurs to politicians they get what they want, is that how it works?
At this stage of proceedings you would think these people would be at least a little embarrassed about offering thoughts on what might make the government popular
This excuse would be pretty grim even if Labour were now very popular thanks to their flag-saluting foreigner crackdowns, which they really are not.
November 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM
At this stage of proceedings you would think these people would be at least a little embarrassed about offering thoughts on what might make the government popular
Reposted by Jack Saundrs
Lots of university strikes happening at the moment (from the UCU union) over the funding crisis and cuts in the sector. Via StrikeMap:
November 17, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Lots of university strikes happening at the moment (from the UCU union) over the funding crisis and cuts in the sector. Via StrikeMap: