Lee
@justlee.bsky.social
Mostly reasonable, but with a dash of snark.
Not really a squirrel.
Not really a squirrel.
Pinned
Lee
@justlee.bsky.social
· Oct 15
Unfortunate realities:
1. Climate change impacts are here, and getting worse
2. Brexit is damaging and will continue to be so
3. Our population is aging
4. Our fertility rate is dropping
5. The US President is authoritarian, quite mad, and rapidly deteriorating
1. Climate change impacts are here, and getting worse
2. Brexit is damaging and will continue to be so
3. Our population is aging
4. Our fertility rate is dropping
5. The US President is authoritarian, quite mad, and rapidly deteriorating
Reposted by Lee
The UK government:
November 21, 2025 at 10:19 AM
The UK government:
Reposted by Lee
Also not all welfare spending is the same. Eliminating child poverty is to an extent not just redistribution but an investment in their education, employment, future earnings, tax payments, and propensity to be involved in crime.
Welfare spending is currently 1.2% of GDP *lower* than in 2012-13.
Abolition of two-child cap is best viewed as a correction than an increase.
Abolition of two-child cap is best viewed as a correction than an increase.
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️
buff.ly/s5mz97u
Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️
buff.ly/s5mz97u
November 28, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Also not all welfare spending is the same. Eliminating child poverty is to an extent not just redistribution but an investment in their education, employment, future earnings, tax payments, and propensity to be involved in crime.
Reposted by Lee
Ryan Bourne, a member of the Economists for Brexit* cabal that the Leave camp depended on to make their economic case for leaving, has written a long article in the Times admitting to the damage that Brexit has caused.
(*Other familiar names include Patrick Minford.)
archive.ph/2025.11.26-1...
(*Other familiar names include Patrick Minford.)
archive.ph/2025.11.26-1...
November 28, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Ryan Bourne, a member of the Economists for Brexit* cabal that the Leave camp depended on to make their economic case for leaving, has written a long article in the Times admitting to the damage that Brexit has caused.
(*Other familiar names include Patrick Minford.)
archive.ph/2025.11.26-1...
(*Other familiar names include Patrick Minford.)
archive.ph/2025.11.26-1...
Part of the problem we have is that our electorate has been infantilised by our politicians and our media - always wanting what they want, but never willing to accept that things come with a cost attached to them.
November 28, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Part of the problem we have is that our electorate has been infantilised by our politicians and our media - always wanting what they want, but never willing to accept that things come with a cost attached to them.
Reposted by Lee
🇺🇸"The BBC removed part of Rutger Bregman's Reith lecture, where he alleged Donald Trump was the most openly corrupt president in US history"
🔇"If the national broadcaster can't air defensible claims, what hope is there for any of our free press to effectively challenge power?"
🔇"If the national broadcaster can't air defensible claims, what hope is there for any of our free press to effectively challenge power?"
November 27, 2025 at 5:16 PM
🇺🇸"The BBC removed part of Rutger Bregman's Reith lecture, where he alleged Donald Trump was the most openly corrupt president in US history"
🔇"If the national broadcaster can't air defensible claims, what hope is there for any of our free press to effectively challenge power?"
🔇"If the national broadcaster can't air defensible claims, what hope is there for any of our free press to effectively challenge power?"
Reposted by Lee
Old Polish joke; two old friends meet for the first time in a while and stop to chat. "How's your year been?" asks the first. The second one shrugs. "Oh, you know" he says, "about average. Worse than last year, better than the next."
2025 actually did suck. i know we've all said this about a lot of previous years but this one was quite bad actually
November 28, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Old Polish joke; two old friends meet for the first time in a while and stop to chat. "How's your year been?" asks the first. The second one shrugs. "Oh, you know" he says, "about average. Worse than last year, better than the next."
Reposted by Lee
he’s fascinating to me to observe simply as an example of the varieties of human experience. Totally incapable of empathy or even the appropriateness that can serve as a guide to conceal the inability to feel empathy.
Q: Do you plan to attend Sarah's funeral?
TRUMP: I haven't thought about it yet, but it's certainly something I can conceive of. I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere.
TRUMP: I haven't thought about it yet, but it's certainly something I can conceive of. I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere.
November 28, 2025 at 2:47 AM
he’s fascinating to me to observe simply as an example of the varieties of human experience. Totally incapable of empathy or even the appropriateness that can serve as a guide to conceal the inability to feel empathy.
"Outside his chateau in France"
!
!
‘Speaking outside his chateau in France, former Brexit Party and UKIP MEP Coburn answered "no" when a BBC journalist asked him whether he had ever been paid to give a speech to promote pro-Russian campaigners.’
Great work from @BBCWales. Keep going
Great work from @BBCWales. Keep going
November 28, 2025 at 7:09 AM
"Outside his chateau in France"
!
!
Reposted by Lee
Reposted by Lee
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
November 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
Reposted by Lee
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Reposted by Lee
This is the first Thanksgiving for Sophie & Colin Hortman without their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman who were assassinated along with the family dog in an act of political murder. National guards troops were not deployed to the state in response.
November 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM
This is the first Thanksgiving for Sophie & Colin Hortman without their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman who were assassinated along with the family dog in an act of political murder. National guards troops were not deployed to the state in response.
Reposted by Lee
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
Reposted by Lee
A bit too on the nose for thanksgiving
ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
‘Northern Exposure’ actor gave ICE agents in Redmond her tribal ID. They called it ‘fake,’ she says
Indigenous actor Elaine Miles of "Northern Exposure" was detained by ICE at a Redmond bus stop. When she showed them her Tribal ID, they told her it was fake.
www.seattletimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:26 PM
A bit too on the nose for thanksgiving
Reposted by Lee
Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.
PM describes net migration of 205k as "a step in the right direction". His govt has no public position on a sustainable level of immigration is, nor any known process to decide what, why & how. Starmer is now implying he wants it significantly lower
www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...
Net migration drop ‘step in the right direction’ – Starmer
Net migration peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 but has fallen sharply since then.
www.standard.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Abysmal, mindless, utterly zombified. You can't even call it policymaking because that implies a degree of thought which simply isn't present. Pretty soon they might actually hit Cameron's 'tens of thousands' target and then they'll shit themselves with horror at the consequences.
Reposted by Lee
The government figuring this out slowly over the coming two years is going to be quite something to behold.
I think the government meant to cut net migration but have accidentally overshot the target by a lot. They haven’t realised this yet.
November 27, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The government figuring this out slowly over the coming two years is going to be quite something to behold.
Reposted by Lee
‼️‼️ Newly released emails show the FBI spent almost $1 million in overtime analyzing the Epstein files as part of an effort dubbed the “Special Redaction Project."
FBI’s Frantic Scramble to Redact Epstein Files Revealed
A trove of emails shows all-nighters and almost $1 million in overtime as Trumpworld debated releasing the Epstein files.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:51 AM
‼️‼️ Newly released emails show the FBI spent almost $1 million in overtime analyzing the Epstein files as part of an effort dubbed the “Special Redaction Project."
Reposted by Lee
Serious howls of outrage in the media this morning at what is a relatively modest Budget from Labour that does nothing more than fiddle around the margins.
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
November 27, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Serious howls of outrage in the media this morning at what is a relatively modest Budget from Labour that does nothing more than fiddle around the margins.
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
Just plain weird how we never saw, or now see, any similar reporting about those who trusted Farage and co about the great Brexit betrayal.
November 27, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Just plain weird how we never saw, or now see, any similar reporting about those who trusted Farage and co about the great Brexit betrayal.
Reposted by Lee
I think Starmer's Labour actually intend to outright destroy British universities. I don't understand *why* they're doing it but it's definitely what they're doing
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage on.ft.com/3M2AYkD
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage
Surprise move from chancellor means some university graduates in England may have to pay back debts sooner
on.ft.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I think Starmer's Labour actually intend to outright destroy British universities. I don't understand *why* they're doing it but it's definitely what they're doing
Reposted by Lee
This is very much not what students were told when they took out their loans. But very much the signature of a government determined to squeeze ordinary people rather than taxing the very wealthy.
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage on.ft.com/3M2AYkD
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage
Surprise move from chancellor means some university graduates in England may have to pay back debts sooner
on.ft.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:32 PM
This is very much not what students were told when they took out their loans. But very much the signature of a government determined to squeeze ordinary people rather than taxing the very wealthy.
Reposted by Lee
Jesus CHRIST
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage on.ft.com/3M2AYkD
Threshold for repaying student loans to converge with minimum wage
Surprise move from chancellor means some university graduates in England may have to pay back debts sooner
on.ft.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Jesus CHRIST
Reposted by Lee
Imagine if they forgot one year
Big news, income tax is being charged this year.
(It has to be renewed each year or it ceases to apply. Because it's a temporary tax, introduced to fund the Napoleonic wars)
(It has to be renewed each year or it ceases to apply. Because it's a temporary tax, introduced to fund the Napoleonic wars)
November 26, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Imagine if they forgot one year
Reposted by Lee
On Truss & Kwarteng in ‘22. Allister Heath, Telegraph: “the best budget I have ever heard a British chancellor deliver". Alex Brummer, Mail: “a genuine Tory package elbowing to one side the Treasury's fiscal conservatism".
These men will now be paid actual money for their analysis of today’s budget.
These men will now be paid actual money for their analysis of today’s budget.
November 26, 2025 at 4:32 PM
On Truss & Kwarteng in ‘22. Allister Heath, Telegraph: “the best budget I have ever heard a British chancellor deliver". Alex Brummer, Mail: “a genuine Tory package elbowing to one side the Treasury's fiscal conservatism".
These men will now be paid actual money for their analysis of today’s budget.
These men will now be paid actual money for their analysis of today’s budget.
Reposted by Lee
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷