@chrismartin861.bsky.social
Reposted
Government sought to manage public expectations before Budget. Shock, horror. Can't the BBC find some real news?
December 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Government sought to manage public expectations before Budget. Shock, horror. Can't the BBC find some real news?
Reposted
Chris Mason sounds utterly absurd, trying to turn the screws on Rachel Reeves while acknowledging that she has done nothing that one wouldn't expect a politician to do.
December 1, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Chris Mason sounds utterly absurd, trying to turn the screws on Rachel Reeves while acknowledging that she has done nothing that one wouldn't expect a politician to do.
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Honestly the completely weird Budget coverage is mostly a sign of how pretty much any attack can stick when you’re unpopular enough.
Of course Rachel Reeves didn’t brief the full Cabinet on Budget details weeks in advance! No chancellor ever does! It would immediately leak!
Of course Rachel Reeves didn’t brief the full Cabinet on Budget details weeks in advance! No chancellor ever does! It would immediately leak!
December 1, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Honestly the completely weird Budget coverage is mostly a sign of how pretty much any attack can stick when you’re unpopular enough.
Of course Rachel Reeves didn’t brief the full Cabinet on Budget details weeks in advance! No chancellor ever does! It would immediately leak!
Of course Rachel Reeves didn’t brief the full Cabinet on Budget details weeks in advance! No chancellor ever does! It would immediately leak!
Reposted
This story is starting to make me feel I’m going slightly mad - maybe RR overdid the gloom, but the tax rises are paying for a) the welfare U-turns b) the £10bn-plus increase in headroom c) scrapping the two child limit d) bits of other spending eg higher local gov costs 🤷🏻♀️
December 1, 2025 at 8:15 AM
This story is starting to make me feel I’m going slightly mad - maybe RR overdid the gloom, but the tax rises are paying for a) the welfare U-turns b) the £10bn-plus increase in headroom c) scrapping the two child limit d) bits of other spending eg higher local gov costs 🤷🏻♀️
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literally everyone reporting this should just be curdling up with embarrassment but that would require them to have functioning emotional spectrums
November 29, 2025 at 10:43 PM
literally everyone reporting this should just be curdling up with embarrassment but that would require them to have functioning emotional spectrums
Reposted
Nine years ago Mike Fitzgerald wrote up an extraordinarily fascinating breakdown of the differences between the Tom Stoppard shooting script and the original Jeffrey Boam draft of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
It's well worth your time: www.creativescreenwriting.com/indiana-jone...
It's well worth your time: www.creativescreenwriting.com/indiana-jone...
July 2, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Nine years ago Mike Fitzgerald wrote up an extraordinarily fascinating breakdown of the differences between the Tom Stoppard shooting script and the original Jeffrey Boam draft of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
It's well worth your time: www.creativescreenwriting.com/indiana-jone...
It's well worth your time: www.creativescreenwriting.com/indiana-jone...
Reposted
Let’s hope there’s now a BBC4 Stoppard season…
November 29, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Let’s hope there’s now a BBC4 Stoppard season…
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Nice dataviz from the ONS showing median wealth split by category at different points of the distribution: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
November 27, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Nice dataviz from the ONS showing median wealth split by category at different points of the distribution: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
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The Fourth Estate aint in good nick - unceasing hostility to pretty much everything the UK government does. And not a little inconsistency.
What puzzles me is all the commentary that says in one breath that Starmer has no real governing purpose or "vision" and then in the next that he is more left wing than any PM in recent memory. Hard to see how both can be right.
November 27, 2025 at 4:39 PM
The Fourth Estate aint in good nick - unceasing hostility to pretty much everything the UK government does. And not a little inconsistency.
Reposted
We need to reduce household consumption, says @gilesyb.bsky.social.
Just before that OBR document dropped, I wrote this about why sluggish household spending is part of the grim plan
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
the chart of misery, and also a sign of success
stagnant household real consumption is what we were told we needed
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:40 PM
We need to reduce household consumption, says @gilesyb.bsky.social.
Reposted
“This was a big Budget, but not in the way people were necessarily expecting.” – @helenmiller.bsky.social
📗 Our immediate IFS response to #Budget2025 is out now: ifs.org.uk/articles/aut...
📗 Our immediate IFS response to #Budget2025 is out now: ifs.org.uk/articles/aut...
November 26, 2025 at 3:06 PM
“This was a big Budget, but not in the way people were necessarily expecting.” – @helenmiller.bsky.social
📗 Our immediate IFS response to #Budget2025 is out now: ifs.org.uk/articles/aut...
📗 Our immediate IFS response to #Budget2025 is out now: ifs.org.uk/articles/aut...
Reposted
Hearing Rachel Reeves explain why it is so important to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty is a reminder of what a Labour government can do. It is also a reminder of how little of this sort of thing they have done and how much more needs to be done.
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Hearing Rachel Reeves explain why it is so important to lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty is a reminder of what a Labour government can do. It is also a reminder of how little of this sort of thing they have done and how much more needs to be done.
Reposted
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.
November 26, 2025 at 1:12 PM
And honestly I don't give a fuck if it's popular or not. It's going to make a lot of kids' lives better. That's the point of government. Not an opinion poll.
Reposted
Kudos to @resolutionfoundation.org , they foresaw a much rosier forecast of Growth despite the productivity downgrade, and they nailed it
Applause to @ruthcurtice.bsky.social @adamcorlett.bsky.social @jamessmithrf.bsky.social or whichever genius is responsible.
Applause to @ruthcurtice.bsky.social @adamcorlett.bsky.social @jamessmithrf.bsky.social or whichever genius is responsible.
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Kudos to @resolutionfoundation.org , they foresaw a much rosier forecast of Growth despite the productivity downgrade, and they nailed it
Applause to @ruthcurtice.bsky.social @adamcorlett.bsky.social @jamessmithrf.bsky.social or whichever genius is responsible.
Applause to @ruthcurtice.bsky.social @adamcorlett.bsky.social @jamessmithrf.bsky.social or whichever genius is responsible.
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"having changed my mind about the OBR, my internship there has begun smoothly"
November 26, 2025 at 12:28 PM
"having changed my mind about the OBR, my internship there has begun smoothly"
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Opinion: what do I hope for from Wednesday’s Budget? Some sight of a workable and coherent long-term economic strategy. I do not expect it. It may already be too late. But, without that, it is hard to be optimistic about the UK’s future. on.ft.com/47Yb6if
November 24, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Opinion: what do I hope for from Wednesday’s Budget? Some sight of a workable and coherent long-term economic strategy. I do not expect it. It may already be too late. But, without that, it is hard to be optimistic about the UK’s future. on.ft.com/47Yb6if
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In 2024, the UK had the lowest taxes on an average employee of any G7 country.
UK taxes for lower earners were also the lowest in the G7.
But the UK's position might change in 2025.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/4ppe7Q8
UK taxes for lower earners were also the lowest in the G7.
But the UK's position might change in 2025.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/4ppe7Q8
November 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
In 2024, the UK had the lowest taxes on an average employee of any G7 country.
UK taxes for lower earners were also the lowest in the G7.
But the UK's position might change in 2025.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/4ppe7Q8
UK taxes for lower earners were also the lowest in the G7.
But the UK's position might change in 2025.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/4ppe7Q8
Reposted
Must-read piece by Aditya Chakrabortty on detailed analysis of who Reform voters are by @focaldata.bsky.social & @hopenothate.org.uk
"What this analysis of Reform voters shows you is not Farage’s strength, but the political mainstream’s weakness" 🎯
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"What this analysis of Reform voters shows you is not Farage’s strength, but the political mainstream’s weakness" 🎯
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The real Reform voters have been revealed – it’s a slapdash coalition Farage will struggle to hold together | Aditya Chakrabortty
This is no single bloc marching under one ideology, or even a mass of ‘red-wall’ voters. What unites them is a desire for something different, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Must-read piece by Aditya Chakrabortty on detailed analysis of who Reform voters are by @focaldata.bsky.social & @hopenothate.org.uk
"What this analysis of Reform voters shows you is not Farage’s strength, but the political mainstream’s weakness" 🎯
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"What this analysis of Reform voters shows you is not Farage’s strength, but the political mainstream’s weakness" 🎯
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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More memories to be made 💙
Hear from our Club Captain as he commits to his home county for another three years.
Read more 👉 yorkshireccc.com/news/jonny-b...
Hear from our Club Captain as he commits to his home county for another three years.
Read more 👉 yorkshireccc.com/news/jonny-b...
November 13, 2025 at 11:16 AM
More memories to be made 💙
Hear from our Club Captain as he commits to his home county for another three years.
Read more 👉 yorkshireccc.com/news/jonny-b...
Hear from our Club Captain as he commits to his home county for another three years.
Read more 👉 yorkshireccc.com/news/jonny-b...
Reposted
Prospects for ending war in Ukraine, future of Russia, role of China, use of small-yield nuclear weapons, future of defence industry - answering questions put by subscribers (£/free trial). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/w...?
Will Russians continue to support the war? Will 2026 be a crunch year? Possibility of Ukrainian counter-attack?
More answers to your questions.
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Prospects for ending war in Ukraine, future of Russia, role of China, use of small-yield nuclear weapons, future of defence industry - answering questions put by subscribers (£/free trial). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/w...?
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Trump and his cronies have the BBC in their sights. Leaders can’t stay silent while one of our great institutions is attacked.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Trump and his cronies have the BBC in their sights. Leaders can’t stay silent while one of our great institutions is attacked.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
We must defend its independence, end political appointments, and remove Robbie Gibb from the Board.
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SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
November 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
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Should Gibb be sacked? yes, obviously. He's an abomination of basic journalistic standards. His GB News channel spreads conspiracy theory & disinformation. His Jewish Chronicle newspaper spreads invented stories. He is plainly trying to undermine the BBC so it's as bad as everything else he touches.
November 10, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Should Gibb be sacked? yes, obviously. He's an abomination of basic journalistic standards. His GB News channel spreads conspiracy theory & disinformation. His Jewish Chronicle newspaper spreads invented stories. He is plainly trying to undermine the BBC so it's as bad as everything else he touches.
Reposted
Public trust in media (Reuters/Oxford) 2024
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Public trust in media (Reuters/Oxford) 2024
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news...
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The BBC is tearing itself apart to appease publications and politicians who want to see it die.
An absolutely kamikaze approach to running a media organisation. I can't see it ending well.
An absolutely kamikaze approach to running a media organisation. I can't see it ending well.
November 9, 2025 at 9:55 PM
The BBC is tearing itself apart to appease publications and politicians who want to see it die.
An absolutely kamikaze approach to running a media organisation. I can't see it ending well.
An absolutely kamikaze approach to running a media organisation. I can't see it ending well.