Rhys Jones
@rhys-jones64.bsky.social
A brutal, but very accurate takedown of the budget. The decision to focus the tax rises on young professionals (threshold freezes, student loan changes and salary sacrifice) is also perplexing when that group is one of their few remaining core voters.
The second year of magical thinking: this evening's newsletter on the Budget:
Rachel Reeves doubles down on wishful thinking
A government that can’t make tough choices now is unlikely to do so on the eve of an election
www.ft.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:42 PM
A brutal, but very accurate takedown of the budget. The decision to focus the tax rises on young professionals (threshold freezes, student loan changes and salary sacrifice) is also perplexing when that group is one of their few remaining core voters.
While it’s great news that this won’t be called in it will be nearly a year since the first council meeting before this is approved, and nearly 9 years since the plans were first discussed. Way too long!
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/p...
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/p...
UK's longest ski slope and tropical waterpark set for Wales
The Rhydycar West resort is set for Merthyr Tydfil and will be home to the UK's largest and longest indoor snow centre and the official training headquarters for the GB and Welsh national, Olympic and...
www.business-live.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 PM
While it’s great news that this won’t be called in it will be nearly a year since the first council meeting before this is approved, and nearly 9 years since the plans were first discussed. Way too long!
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/p...
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/p...
Reposted by Rhys Jones
"To say 'Zelenskyy is no friend of the working class' is an insulting, facile distraction from the fact that Sultana refuses to support the Ukrainian people’s fight for existence."
Proper cold fury and moral clarity from @paulmason.bsky.social on Sultana.
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/c...
Proper cold fury and moral clarity from @paulmason.bsky.social on Sultana.
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/c...
Coventry South needs a by-election soon
Zarah Sultana has no mandate for disarming the people of Britain and betraying Ukraine
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:06 PM
"To say 'Zelenskyy is no friend of the working class' is an insulting, facile distraction from the fact that Sultana refuses to support the Ukrainian people’s fight for existence."
Proper cold fury and moral clarity from @paulmason.bsky.social on Sultana.
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/c...
Proper cold fury and moral clarity from @paulmason.bsky.social on Sultana.
open.substack.com/pub/htsf/p/c...
Reposted by Rhys Jones
Roath park lake in 1889!
Has changed a bit !
Has changed a bit !
October 26, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Roath park lake in 1889!
Has changed a bit !
Has changed a bit !
Fascinating piece (again) by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com. This spike in mid-life mortality is so much greater than I’d have expected.
on.ft.com/47lh62V
on.ft.com/47lh62V
October 24, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Fascinating piece (again) by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com. This spike in mid-life mortality is so much greater than I’d have expected.
on.ft.com/47lh62V
on.ft.com/47lh62V
Interesting interview with Nicola Johnston by @sionbarry.bsky.social. This bit (on the URC and Six Nations equity deals to CVC) is unbelivable. How can you not understand such a fundamental point about the deal you’re signing? Was the same true about the WRU?
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/r...
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/r...
October 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Interesting interview with Nicola Johnston by @sionbarry.bsky.social. This bit (on the URC and Six Nations equity deals to CVC) is unbelivable. How can you not understand such a fundamental point about the deal you’re signing? Was the same true about the WRU?
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/r...
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/r...
Frustrating game overall. Missed kicks, poor discipline and an inconsistent set piece turn out costly. Weird to be disappointed after getting 2 points in Thomond Park, but the win was there for the taking. #CARVMUN
October 4, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Frustrating game overall. Missed kicks, poor discipline and an inconsistent set piece turn out costly. Weird to be disappointed after getting 2 points in Thomond Park, but the win was there for the taking. #CARVMUN
Very good thread. There’s a need for cautious optimism in govt comms - will be hard with a difficult budget coming up, but is the only way of turning their position around.
Today's speech was easily the best Starmer has given.
For the first time since the election, he told a compelling - & optimistic - story about what the government is trying to do; charged that story with moral purpose; & drew clear battle lines with the Right.
A few quick thoughts & a challenge...
For the first time since the election, he told a compelling - & optimistic - story about what the government is trying to do; charged that story with moral purpose; & drew clear battle lines with the Right.
A few quick thoughts & a challenge...
September 30, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Very good thread. There’s a need for cautious optimism in govt comms - will be hard with a difficult budget coming up, but is the only way of turning their position around.
A very fun piece about a very annoying practice.
I wrote about the most frightening and dangerous trend in Britain
www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...
www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...
Queueing in pubs disgraces Britain
The practice is unpatriotic and must be banned
www.newstatesman.com
September 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
A very fun piece about a very annoying practice.
Reposted by Rhys Jones
Here's one factor English commentators will miss: on the left is a map of Welsh speakers, on the right is voting intention
September 17, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Here's one factor English commentators will miss: on the left is a map of Welsh speakers, on the right is voting intention
The Virtues (Channel 4) is mine. Unbelivably emotional and also contains the best acting performance of Stephen Graham’s career (which is high praise as he’s so good in everything).
Everyone has a 1-2 season TV show they sorely miss and not enough people knew about that you are always praising the heavens about.
What's yours?
What's yours?
September 13, 2025 at 10:40 AM
The Virtues (Channel 4) is mine. Unbelivably emotional and also contains the best acting performance of Stephen Graham’s career (which is high praise as he’s so good in everything).
Reposted by Rhys Jones
FT mag piece from me: Spent a long time looking into the Britannia hotel chain, beneficiaries of a vast amount of taxpayer money via the asylum system
on.ft.com/47HEE46
on.ft.com/47HEE46
The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis
[FREE TO READ] How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration
on.ft.com
September 13, 2025 at 8:27 AM
FT mag piece from me: Spent a long time looking into the Britannia hotel chain, beneficiaries of a vast amount of taxpayer money via the asylum system
on.ft.com/47HEE46
on.ft.com/47HEE46
Reposted by Rhys Jones
I picked a fight with some hydrogen that's 93 million miles away. I lost. On my hatred of the sun, and the horror of sunburn.
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
‘I treat the sun with the contempt which it deserves. It ...
I return from holiday painfully burnt – and with no one to blame but myself
observer.co.uk
August 31, 2025 at 9:32 AM
I picked a fight with some hydrogen that's 93 million miles away. I lost. On my hatred of the sun, and the horror of sunburn.
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
A fascinating, but disturbing read. This bit in particular did make me chuckle!
www.ft.com/content/0e24...
www.ft.com/content/0e24...
August 9, 2025 at 10:38 AM
A fascinating, but disturbing read. This bit in particular did make me chuckle!
www.ft.com/content/0e24...
www.ft.com/content/0e24...
So if you kill a child by driving carelessly and without insurance you’ll be out of prison within a year, and back behind the wheel within three. Crimes committed behind the wheel aren’t treated as real crimes.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Cardiff driver jailed for 16 months for killing teenager
Christopher West hit Keely Morgan on 1 May 2023 and she died at the scene.
www.bbc.com
July 17, 2025 at 1:15 PM
So if you kill a child by driving carelessly and without insurance you’ll be out of prison within a year, and back behind the wheel within three. Crimes committed behind the wheel aren’t treated as real crimes.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...