Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Richard

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 10h

Lots of commentary saying that it's not clear what the point of the speech is. Seems pretty clear to me. It's pitchrolling broad based tax rises in the Budget and making sure - as Reeves did with the fiscal rule change in 2024 - that it doesn't surprise the markets on the day.

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 10h

Rachel Reeves' answer to @pippacrerar.bsky.social makes it crystal clear that Reeves is headed towards breaking a manifesto pledge on tax and how she will frame it - as a necessary response to "the world as it is" when the alternative would be more cuts or borrowing.

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 10h

One of the crazy aspects of modern broadcast media is reportage, commentary & interviews about a speech whilst the speech is still going on, often from within the same room!eg BBCr4 Today on Rachel Reeves right now!

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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 1d

Noted this at the time - many of the most enthusiastic proponents of Brexit had oddly imperial childhoods that wouldn't "look out of place if you read in a biography that it had happened in the 1890s"

www.newstatesman.com/politics/201...

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

Britain First are now campaigning, trolling. shitposting for British rule of India, the restoration of apartheid in South Africa, the Christian conquest of the holy land and Constantinople.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 2d

We're now at "black people aren't British". Open sewer racism. Look forward to seeing him on QT again soon.

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 2d

The sheer greasy desperation from these bastards that any violent crime is committed by an immigrant so they can continue their grift. Even when they know it isn't true. Foul.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

Matt Goodwin attributes a crime that he now knows appears to have been committed by people born in Britain in the early 1990s to "mass uncontrolled immigration"

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 2d

Next time someone tells you that train drivers "just push buttons" show them this from the BBC

The driver "managed to contact the control
centre at Network Rail and get the train
diverted onto the slow line", Calder says.

"That was absolutely crucial because this
train was scheduled to be travelling through
Huntingdon station on the tracks with no
platform at 125mph."

"It didn't stop in the middle of nowhere,
which would have been very difficult."

Calder thinks this was handled in the "safest
possible way" thanks to the "incredible
professionalism from the driver and the
police". Train drivers are trained on how to
take appropriate action, he adds,

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 2d

The Grand Egyptian Museum, completed at last, nevertheless looks utterly stunning, a magnificent place to display its worthy treasures, & a triumph for its Irish architects, Heneghan Peng www.dezeen.com/2025/10/29/g...

Grand Egyptian Museum reaches completion in Giza

Dublin studio Heneghan Peng Architects has reached completion on the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, more than three decades after plans for the project were announced.

www.dezeen.com

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 4d

Amid all the fuss, remember that for much of the 1960s and 1970s, "the Spare" Andrew Windsor was just one unfortunate incident away from being the next king.

Hopefully, this appalling saga will lead to a proper national debate on our hereditary monarchy.

Long, long overdue.

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 4d

…to the family’s Christmas celebration, traditionally held at Sandringham.
Now, he will live in internal exile — bearing the title of a commoner, in a house on the grounds of the castle where the rest of his family gathers.”
t.co/2nYB6bl0ZB

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/world/europe/uk-prince-andrew-title.html

t.co

Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 4d

They’ve noticed the defenestration of Andrew Windsor on the other side of the pond, & this @nytimes.com reporter has a particularly delicious nugget:
“When the palace stripped Andrew of the use of the title Duke of York this month, officials said he would no longer be invited…

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Jo Kibble (Political Animal) @politicanimal.bsky.social · 4d

Yeah, but those are low priorities compared with Hertfordshire sorting out this positively scary road name in Royston.

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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 4d

Man with stubble, "Small boats arrivals are 37,000. There are over 4 million kids in child poverty. And 4.5 million who can't get a dentist appointment" #BBCQT

"We spend 90% of the media discourse on the 37,000. How much more could we achieve if we put that effort into the 4.5 million?"

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 4d

This is the Royal equivalent of the amputation of a gangrenous limb to stop the rest of The Firm getting infected.

An act of self-preservation.

If it was integrity, then they'd have booted Andrew out years ago.

They didn't.

www.ft.com/content/a7d6...

King Charles strips Andrew of prince title and ejects him from mansion

Royal subject to ‘censures deemed necessary’ in sharp change of tone by Buckingham Palace

www.ft.com

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 5d

YouTube version: youtu.be/aPT9Uk0wXDM?...

The Last Dinner Party - The Scythe (Official Video)

YouTube video by TLDPVEVO

youtu.be

Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 5d

The video to The Last Dinner Party’s The Scythe, itself the best track on their new album, imo, is unbelievably moving to anyone who’s lost a much loved elderly relative recently; a superb work of art! music.apple.com/gb/music-vid...

The Scythe by The Last Dinner Party on Apple Music

Music Video · 2025 · Duration 4:59

music.apple.com

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 5d

Perhaps another way of looking at these two good responses to the equally good original thread, is that if the best time to say taxes have to rise was before the general election, & the 2nd best was straight after it, the 3rd best & best left available is now (or as soon as possible)

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 7d

Lots of Labour despair on the timeline today.
The next election is likely more than three years away. The route to winning it starts by acknowledging that some more short term pain is probably required to get into a position where victory is possible.
This budget is going to be painful. But 1/3

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 5d

Colour me Janan. (www.ft.com/content/00e9...)

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 5d

I had a short but great walk this afternoon, just before the sun set, from Over Haddon to Haddon Grove & back; the clear, golden, setting-sun-light on the village, fields & trees, was fabulous! #Derbyshire #PeakDistrict

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 6d

Net migration to the UK is falling rapidly. But how far will it fall? A new, detailed estimate by @jamesbowes01.bsky.social projects net migration in 2026 will be 70K to 170K.

This will have significant consequences, both economic and political.

ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...

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Oz Katerji @ozkaterji.bsky.social · 6d

Russian fascism is engaged in an existential civilisational battle against liberal democracy, with the Ukrainian working class acting as the first line of defence for Europe.

Material support for the Ukrainian armed forces is class solidarity. Arming Kyiv is anti-fascist praxis.

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Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 6d

Also can’t understand anyone there who rejects the overwhelming evidence for Man Made #GlobalWarming & the increasingly extreme weather events this #ClimateChange is causing!

Richard @rtruscott.bsky.social · 6d

Tragic effects of #Hurricane #Melissa; really feel for the people of Jamaica. However, I can never understand British tourists who go to the Caribbean or Florida in the Autumn; surely we all know by now that’s #HurricaneSeason!

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Peter Smith @redpeter99.bsky.social · 7d

I recall in the 60s, Remembrance Day was one solemn Sunday morning. That was it.
It was a moving occasion at our local memorial and attended by actual WW1 and WW2 veterans. Unlike the mawkish weeks long competition for the most tasteless display of a poppy that it's become
Often, less is more.

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