David Timoney
@fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social
Autonomous vehicle. Self-assembly required. May contain traces of critical theory. Retweets not necessarily a WTF
Blog: fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.co.uk
Blog: fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.co.uk
The great fear of The Economist is govt activism. Describing Starmer & Reeves as leftwing, for implementing policies that they have been largely forced to adopt, obscures that this was a conservative budget that has reassured the markets.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Britain’s left-wing government is left-wing
An obvious fact. But still an overlooked one
www.economist.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The great fear of The Economist is govt activism. Describing Starmer & Reeves as leftwing, for implementing policies that they have been largely forced to adopt, obscures that this was a conservative budget that has reassured the markets.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
"It's alive! The soft left is alive!".
November 27, 2025 at 12:19 PM
"It's alive! The soft left is alive!".
The error sprang from someone uploading the file in advance (reasonable enough) and the OBR using descriptive filenames (pretty stupid if you want to embargo releases). No "cyber" was involved in the making of this minor drama.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
OBR calls in cyber expert over botched release of Budget analysis
Rachel Reeves's statement was thrown into chaos after journalists were able to access the document early.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 12:14 PM
The error sprang from someone uploading the file in advance (reasonable enough) and the OBR using descriptive filenames (pretty stupid if you want to embargo releases). No "cyber" was involved in the making of this minor drama.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
First they came for trial by jury ("Blindfolded chimps who cannot possibly understand fraud") ...
We are moving inexorably to the end point of electoral chaos - five parties all tied on 19% in the polls, election to be decided by blindfolded chimps chucking coloured darts at a constituency map
Westminster Voting Intention:
RFM: 25% (-2)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (+1)
GRN: 16% (-1)
LDM: 15% (+2)
SNP: 3% (=)
Via @yougov.co.uk, 23-24 Nov.
Changes w/ 16-17 Nov.
RFM: 25% (-2)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (+1)
GRN: 16% (-1)
LDM: 15% (+2)
SNP: 3% (=)
Via @yougov.co.uk, 23-24 Nov.
Changes w/ 16-17 Nov.
November 26, 2025 at 9:23 AM
First they came for trial by jury ("Blindfolded chimps who cannot possibly understand fraud") ...
It's worth noting this in the context of the "An assault on our ancient liberties" discourse around the plan to curtail jury trials. The UK justice system has always been anti-democratic and indulgent of the security state. Authoritarianism is built-in.
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
‘Unavoidably unfair’: the secret courts system hearing part of Palestine Action case
The CMP system means Huda Ammori will not be allowed to know what allegations were made against her
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:19 AM
It's worth noting this in the context of the "An assault on our ancient liberties" discourse around the plan to curtail jury trials. The UK justice system has always been anti-democratic and indulgent of the security state. Authoritarianism is built-in.
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
"Exiting the doom loop means leaving the fiscal and monetary consensus that Labour and now Reform are signed up to." James Meadway on "the advantages of backwardness".
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
Rachel Reeves has a choice
Her planned Budget will only entrench our national stagnancy. But there are radical alternatives out there
www.newstatesman.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
"Exiting the doom loop means leaving the fiscal and monetary consensus that Labour and now Reform are signed up to." James Meadway on "the advantages of backwardness".
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
"This is a government that was engineered by the politico-media caste to thwart the left, eject the hapless Tories before they did any more damage, and otherwise just sit tight until something turned up to give the economy a boost." More ...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
A Touch on the Tiller
This is a government that refuses to publicly choose between the interests of capital and labour and believes it can steer a course between the two.
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"This is a government that was engineered by the politico-media caste to thwart the left, eject the hapless Tories before they did any more damage, and otherwise just sit tight until something turned up to give the economy a boost." More ...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
The pernicious influence of Bongo once more at work.
November 23, 2025 at 11:10 AM
The pernicious influence of Bongo once more at work.
What Kenan Malik has failed to do here is distinguish between mundane bigotry (the "visceral") and programmatic racism. The language of "invasion" and "white decline" does not arise organically from working class anxiety or xenophobia but is imposed from above.
November 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
What Kenan Malik has failed to do here is distinguish between mundane bigotry (the "visceral") and programmatic racism. The language of "invasion" and "white decline" does not arise organically from working class anxiety or xenophobia but is imposed from above.
New Blogpost: A Touch on the Tiller - The budget announcement next week is likely to confirm that this is a government of stasis, determined to navigate a middle course between the interests of capital and labour and thus satisfy neither.
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
A Touch on the Tiller
This is a government that refuses to publicly choose between the interests of capital and labour and believes it can steer a course between the two.
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:05 PM
New Blogpost: A Touch on the Tiller - The budget announcement next week is likely to confirm that this is a government of stasis, determined to navigate a middle course between the interests of capital and labour and thus satisfy neither.
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-to...
Jonathan Freedland is studiously ignoring that Britain's woes didn't arise promptly after 2019. Brexit is not a cause but a symptom: of deindustrialisation, of the failure of neoliberalism, and of the toxicity of the British press.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in its roof | Jonathan Freedland
The autumn budget will mop up some damage, but the true source of the economic crisis is clear. The government should now fix it – tragically, it won’t, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Jonathan Freedland is studiously ignoring that Britain's woes didn't arise promptly after 2019. Brexit is not a cause but a symptom: of deindustrialisation, of the failure of neoliberalism, and of the toxicity of the British press.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"The choice of a humanoid form factor reveals more about the sloppy thinking of our tech elite than about engineering logic. The design represents a triumph of anthropomorphic fantasy over functional optimization."
crookedtimber.org/2025/11/22/m...
crookedtimber.org/2025/11/22/m...
Musk’s last grift — Crooked Timber
by John Q on November 22, 2025
crookedtimber.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:04 AM
"The choice of a humanoid form factor reveals more about the sloppy thinking of our tech elite than about engineering logic. The design represents a triumph of anthropomorphic fantasy over functional optimization."
crookedtimber.org/2025/11/22/m...
crookedtimber.org/2025/11/22/m...
The publication of part 2 of the Hallet Report into the Covid-19 pandemic has predictably resulted in a lot of finger-pointing and the last rites being read over Boris Johnson's political career. But this means we're ignoring the key issue highlighted in part 1 last year.
November 21, 2025 at 10:39 AM
The publication of part 2 of the Hallet Report into the Covid-19 pandemic has predictably resulted in a lot of finger-pointing and the last rites being read over Boris Johnson's political career. But this means we're ignoring the key issue highlighted in part 1 last year.
Revisiting the infamous mural ...
gapingsilence.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
gapingsilence.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
Not one of us
There was an unexpected blast from the past on Bluesky the other day: Point: the racism of current Labour government policy (to which Stephen Bush rightly objects) was facilitated by the labelling …
gapingsilence.wordpress.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Revisiting the infamous mural ...
gapingsilence.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
gapingsilence.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/n...
Hard to shake the suspicion that these (very old) allegations have been revived now to contrast with the more wholesome racism of the govt's asylum plans. Tommy Robinson was wrong to say that the Overton Window has been obliterated, but it's certainly shifting.
November 21, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Hard to shake the suspicion that these (very old) allegations have been revived now to contrast with the more wholesome racism of the govt's asylum plans. Tommy Robinson was wrong to say that the Overton Window has been obliterated, but it's certainly shifting.
The argument is that we need a generational shift in taxation from labour income to accumulated wealth due to demographic shifts, the secular rise in inequality, and climate change. Characterising this as a 1% levy on the super-rich is a distraction.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What does the left want? A wealth tax. What will that accomplish? Very little | Aditya Chakrabortty
Imposing a 1% levy on the super-rich isn’t a policy, it’s pantomime. Tackling inequality in Britain will require much more far-reaching changes, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
The argument is that we need a generational shift in taxation from labour income to accumulated wealth due to demographic shifts, the secular rise in inequality, and climate change. Characterising this as a 1% levy on the super-rich is a distraction.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The ideological load here is not the idea that we must keep the bond markets happy, or that no one is in favour of raising the higher rate of income tax, but the narrowness of what is possible. There is no tax reform here, merely pulling existing levers.
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
Could you do better than Reeves as chancellor? Play our interactive budget game
Can you pull the levers of power to deliver a successful budget? Can you keep backbenchers happy without upsetting the bond markets? And can you do it all while keeping the books balanced? Try our…
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
The ideological load here is not the idea that we must keep the bond markets happy, or that no one is in favour of raising the higher rate of income tax, but the narrowness of what is possible. There is no tax reform here, merely pulling existing levers.
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
Once more we are told that people are "gaming the system", a phrase repeatedly used about benefit claimants and more recently asylum-seekers. What underpins these evidence-free claims is the idea that you do not have inalienable rights.
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
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 2:06 PM
Once more we are told that people are "gaming the system", a phrase repeatedly used about benefit claimants and more recently asylum-seekers. What underpins these evidence-free claims is the idea that you do not have inalienable rights.
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
"The Yellow Line is supposed to be temporary, but history suggests otherwise. Under ostensibly transient arrangements, Israel has annexed Palestinian land, displaced large numbers of people and expanded its control."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Zinaida Miller | Temporary Measures
The Yellow Line is supposed to be temporary, but history suggests otherwise. Under ostensibly transient arrangements,...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:29 AM
"The Yellow Line is supposed to be temporary, but history suggests otherwise. Under ostensibly transient arrangements, Israel has annexed Palestinian land, displaced large numbers of people and expanded its control."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
"The UK’s refugee protection regime has always involved hypocrisy, as successive governments trumpet their adherence to humanitarian principles ... while doing their best not to incur the costs and obligations of those commitments in practice."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
Christopher Bertram | ‘Core Protection’
Refugeehood is not supposed to be like this. The ideal envisaged by the Refugee Convention is that refugee status should...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 11:41 AM
"The UK’s refugee protection regime has always involved hypocrisy, as successive governments trumpet their adherence to humanitarian principles ... while doing their best not to incur the costs and obligations of those commitments in practice."
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...
"Democracy is dying in the West because it has been overtaken by a caste of professionals ... for whom democracy is a slogan, a contest, a source of legitimacy in an instrumental sense, but not an idea or ideal they respect or aspire to."
drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/18/r...
drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/18/r...
Running on democracy hasn't been tried
drafts @ interfluidity
drafts.interfluidity.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:34 AM
"Democracy is dying in the West because it has been overtaken by a caste of professionals ... for whom democracy is a slogan, a contest, a source of legitimacy in an instrumental sense, but not an idea or ideal they respect or aspire to."
drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/18/r...
drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/18/r...
Every John Rentoul column about who is up and who is down in the PLP is simply another opportunity to praise Tony Blair as the model. I sometimes wonder if the ex-PM himself finds this a bit cringe at times, or does he just think "Because I'm worth it".
www.independent.co.uk/voices/shaba...
www.independent.co.uk/voices/shaba...
From New Labour to Blue Labour – is Shabana Mahmood now the true heir to Blair?
With her swashbuckling – and occasionally sweary – performance in parliament announcing that she will do ‘whatever it takes’ to restore control over immigration, the home secretary has won rave…
www.independent.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Every John Rentoul column about who is up and who is down in the PLP is simply another opportunity to praise Tony Blair as the model. I sometimes wonder if the ex-PM himself finds this a bit cringe at times, or does he just think "Because I'm worth it".
www.independent.co.uk/voices/shaba...
www.independent.co.uk/voices/shaba...
Everything that Rafel Behr complains about - Starmer's lack of principle, his inauthenticity - was known from day one, but he, like the rest of the commentariat, insisted this empty suit was uniquely qualified. They will never admit fault.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Starmer’s squandering of a historic election victory is a tragedy nearing its finale | Rafael Behr
The tactics that gave Labour its huge majority in 2024 were no preparation for government – and the prime minister has proved he has nothing more to offer, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Everything that Rafel Behr complains about - Starmer's lack of principle, his inauthenticity - was known from day one, but he, like the rest of the commentariat, insisted this empty suit was uniquely qualified. They will never admit fault.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The irony is that while the far-right casts immigrants as "invaders", Labour are working hard to fully integrate them into the imagined community of Britain. It's just that they see them now as the epitome of the welfare-scrounger. So, yes. They'll probably get the blame for the budget too.
Labour’s “we have to do it, or racism will get worse” argument is striking. Any other public policy failures British ethnic minorities should be on the hook for? Can we be blamed en bloc for Rachel Reeves’ budget next week too? www.ft.com/content/37b0...
Defence of Labour asylum policy reveals backsliding on racism
Home secretary’s framing of failures is partly low politics, but also a result of ministers’ poor approach to race relations
www.ft.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:08 PM
The irony is that while the far-right casts immigrants as "invaders", Labour are working hard to fully integrate them into the imagined community of Britain. It's just that they see them now as the epitome of the welfare-scrounger. So, yes. They'll probably get the blame for the budget too.
The Sun readership has plummeted in recent years and even in its heyday most didn't read the political news. Propaganda isn't subtle. It works through overwhelming background noise, not careful exegesis. Also, has No 10 recently shown any aptitude for cunning news management?
Labour is going to introduce safe routes for those claiming refugee status while everybody here is talking about ‘jewellery theft’ proposals. I strongly suspect the latter was meant to divert Sun readers’ attention from clocking the former while you are meant to be welcoming the former. 🫤
November 18, 2025 at 12:02 PM
The Sun readership has plummeted in recent years and even in its heyday most didn't read the political news. Propaganda isn't subtle. It works through overwhelming background noise, not careful exegesis. Also, has No 10 recently shown any aptitude for cunning news management?