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One small but notable sign of the rightward shift in UK politics in recent years is the use of “illegal migrants” for asylum seekers who arrive unofficially. It’s a dehumanising term which was popularised by the hard right and is now - as here - used repeatedly in Home Office press releases.
January 22, 2026 at 10:44 AM
One small but notable sign of the rightward shift in UK politics in recent years is the use of “illegal migrants” for asylum seekers who arrive unofficially. It’s a dehumanising term which was popularised by the hard right and is now - as here - used repeatedly in Home Office press releases.
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One of the funny* things about the Jenrick defection is his articles basically amount to "Reheated Thatcherism and bungs to pensioners have broken Britain, and that's why I'm joining the Reheated Thatcherism and Bungs to Pensioners Party".
Don't know if this sort of rhetoric has caught up with the fact that Reform's base are the most dependent on welfare of any party's
January 21, 2026 at 10:14 AM
One of the funny* things about the Jenrick defection is his articles basically amount to "Reheated Thatcherism and bungs to pensioners have broken Britain, and that's why I'm joining the Reheated Thatcherism and Bungs to Pensioners Party".
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Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.
The Carney doctrine
Open comment thread on the PM's Davos speech
paulwells.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.
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Tell you what. Not a great time to be a mid-sized nation going it alone
January 20, 2026 at 8:17 AM
Tell you what. Not a great time to be a mid-sized nation going it alone
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I kind of get what Eaton is saying here, but it's important to remember that:
a) many Liberals *did* join the Labour Party
b) the Labour platform wasn't much of a departure from that of the left of the Liberal Party (in fact, in some respects it was *less* radical)
a) many Liberals *did* join the Labour Party
b) the Labour platform wasn't much of a departure from that of the left of the Liberal Party (in fact, in some respects it was *less* radical)
Good point from @georgeeaton.bsky.social morningcall.substack.com/p/morning-ca...
January 16, 2026 at 1:39 PM
I kind of get what Eaton is saying here, but it's important to remember that:
a) many Liberals *did* join the Labour Party
b) the Labour platform wasn't much of a departure from that of the left of the Liberal Party (in fact, in some respects it was *less* radical)
a) many Liberals *did* join the Labour Party
b) the Labour platform wasn't much of a departure from that of the left of the Liberal Party (in fact, in some respects it was *less* radical)
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London is over, etc.
London’s homicide rate drops to lowest in more than a decade
London’s homicide rate drops to lowest in more than a decade
Sadiq Khan says ‘public health’ approach has made the capital one of the safest cities in the western world
London’s murder rate has dropped to its lowest in more than a decade with police in the capital and the mayor saying it is now one of the safest cities in the western world.
The figures come as those on the radical right criticise the city for having a crime problem, hoping to gain politically from such claims being believed. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:16 AM
London is over, etc.
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When you are the incumbent government, your re-election strategy is downstream of your governing record, which is what you should be preoccupied with now.
January 9, 2026 at 4:06 PM
When you are the incumbent government, your re-election strategy is downstream of your governing record, which is what you should be preoccupied with now.
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ladies, it's ok because only paying subscribers can make/distribute deepfake porn of you and your children now www.ft.com/content/c24d...
Elon Musk’s xAI restricts Grok after outcry over sexualised images
Start-up limits use of image generation system to paid users following spread of deepfakes and child sex abuse material
www.ft.com
January 9, 2026 at 11:36 AM
ladies, it's ok because only paying subscribers can make/distribute deepfake porn of you and your children now www.ft.com/content/c24d...
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If you missed this question to Nigel Farage from The Critic's Rob Hutton – and it was over an hour into the press conference – then it was a particularly good one. The answer was... vague.
January 7, 2026 at 11:50 AM
If you missed this question to Nigel Farage from The Critic's Rob Hutton – and it was over an hour into the press conference – then it was a particularly good one. The answer was... vague.
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Five RTs. Six Likes. It would be more cost effective for Defra comms officials to dial random phone numbers and launch into a spiel about otters or whatever.
January 2, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Five RTs. Six Likes. It would be more cost effective for Defra comms officials to dial random phone numbers and launch into a spiel about otters or whatever.
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We have so much good evidence for cash transfers but so many just refuse to accept that those in poverty can make good decisions.
Spoiler: They used the money just as wisely as anyone else would, and it's so frustrating that this still isn't a common sense assumption to make.
December 30, 2025 at 5:21 PM
We have so much good evidence for cash transfers but so many just refuse to accept that those in poverty can make good decisions.
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Interested in how you square the circle of “British people who post ‘burn down a migrant hotel’ during race riots shouldn’t be arrested” with “someone who posted pretty objectionable and racist things 8 years before they became a British citizen should be deported” and am sure someone will ask Nigel
December 29, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Interested in how you square the circle of “British people who post ‘burn down a migrant hotel’ during race riots shouldn’t be arrested” with “someone who posted pretty objectionable and racist things 8 years before they became a British citizen should be deported” and am sure someone will ask Nigel
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This is one of the clearest influences of actual Blue Labour (rather than just vibes Blue Labour) on McSweeney that I have seen.
I do not agree with the analysis.
I do not agree with the analysis.
One interesting nugget in this piece could explain the (otherwise baffling) appearance of Ramsay MacDonald in a 2024 Labour Party Election Broadcast
December 18, 2025 at 12:06 PM
This is one of the clearest influences of actual Blue Labour (rather than just vibes Blue Labour) on McSweeney that I have seen.
I do not agree with the analysis.
I do not agree with the analysis.
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Tominey's classic 'Whisper it'
December 15, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Tominey's classic 'Whisper it'
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WHY ARE YOU ANNOYED THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED TO HAPPEN
December 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
WHY ARE YOU ANNOYED THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED TO HAPPEN
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This article shows how feckless the policymaking elite has become, because it bigs up a leadership team who talk 100% drivel most of the time. And it contains the words 'Neil O’Brien' and 'credibility' in the same sentence. I mean, come off it.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘There’s been a Badenoch bounce’: is the Tory leader finally cutting through?
Conservative insiders say the party and the public are warming to Kemi Badenoch after a difficult first year
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:34 PM
This article shows how feckless the policymaking elite has become, because it bigs up a leadership team who talk 100% drivel most of the time. And it contains the words 'Neil O’Brien' and 'credibility' in the same sentence. I mean, come off it.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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No surprise that Ed West thinks you have to be white for London to be "your city", but still shocking that the *London* Standard prints this stuff.
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
December 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
No surprise that Ed West thinks you have to be white for London to be "your city", but still shocking that the *London* Standard prints this stuff.
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
[NB 1/2 of Londoners born in 2000 were not "white British"]
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-...
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GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
December 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
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Unelected Lords are blocking assisted dying – this is a democratic outrage | Simon Jenkins
Unelected Lords are blocking assisted dying – this is a democratic outrage | Simon Jenkins
Second chambers are a good idea, but they should not be able to overturn clear decisions reached by an elected body, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Unelected Lords are blocking assisted dying – this is a democratic outrage | Simon Jenkins
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I feel like I could live with the brass neck - it is the seemingly successful way that he and others have brainwashed themselves into thinking “our crumbling justice system” has an explanation beyond “we didn’t spend enough money on it” that I can’t stand.
November 7, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I feel like I could live with the brass neck - it is the seemingly successful way that he and others have brainwashed themselves into thinking “our crumbling justice system” has an explanation beyond “we didn’t spend enough money on it” that I can’t stand.
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Excellent podcast from the FT in which Martin Wolf patiently explains that populism causes fundamental damage to economies even if they continue to grow (aka the counterfactual) and that such damage is difficult and painful to reverse when it finally becomes apparent open.spotify.com/episode/679f...
Martin Wolf on the economics of populism
open.spotify.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Excellent podcast from the FT in which Martin Wolf patiently explains that populism causes fundamental damage to economies even if they continue to grow (aka the counterfactual) and that such damage is difficult and painful to reverse when it finally becomes apparent open.spotify.com/episode/679f...
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Reeves must get whatever growth she can on.ft.com/49ov1I8
Reeves must get whatever growth she can
Improved standards of living are the foundation of modern democracy
on.ft.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reeves must get whatever growth she can on.ft.com/49ov1I8
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It shows the value of “get a better communicator” in that Katie Lam is a better communicator than Kemi Badenoch. But it is also a problem if what you are communicating is bonkers.
Hadn’t, in truth, really absorbed the scale of what the Conservatives are proposing on ILR and immigration more broadly until this week’s Sunday Times interviews. Some thoughts on that in today’s note:
Tory deportation plan would upend Britain
Proposing such a radical bill with little public support is a gift to Nigel Farage
www.ft.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:16 AM
It shows the value of “get a better communicator” in that Katie Lam is a better communicator than Kemi Badenoch. But it is also a problem if what you are communicating is bonkers.