What are we to conclude then? That the experts were wrong? www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
November 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM
What are we to conclude then? That the experts were wrong? www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
Reposted by TACJ
You know what would be an excellent Christmas present?
November 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
You know what would be an excellent Christmas present?
Reposted by TACJ
Either you support a tax on wealthier people or you don’t.
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
November 20, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Either you support a tax on wealthier people or you don’t.
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
"Do all the necessary but unpopular things all at once in your first day in office" is such a boring and obvious political maxim, yet this lot just... didn't do it. Amazing.
The Starmer office's freakout over Ulez and Uxbridge really was the most significant thing they did in opposition, in that it showed a basic inability to grasp 'unpopularity is what the middle years of your term in office are FOR'.
November 20, 2025 at 1:24 PM
"Do all the necessary but unpopular things all at once in your first day in office" is such a boring and obvious political maxim, yet this lot just... didn't do it. Amazing.
Reposted by TACJ
down with terraces, more of this sort of thing!
November 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM
down with terraces, more of this sort of thing!
Minimum wages are interesting, as the standard neoclassical view is (probably) precisely wrong; but I don’t really know how to think of them from a broader social policy viewpoint.
I disagree. It’s central to the country’s bad vibes that we cut state support for the working poor and have compensated for that, poorly, by shunting some of the costs onto businesses and the rest onto to telling the people who have lost out “life’s tough, adapt”.
Weird thing: the UK minimum wage has risen against inflation for years. It's now really high. Millions of people are earning more than they were as a direct result of this policy. And the impact on the vibes of the country is… entirely absent?
November 19, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Minimum wages are interesting, as the standard neoclassical view is (probably) precisely wrong; but I don’t really know how to think of them from a broader social policy viewpoint.
[A lot of these are a combination of “reducing the power and importance of central government” and “doing a Reverse Pickles and making local government responsible for both raising taxes and running the welfare state]
An occasional list of boring policies to make Britain Rich Again (or wherever).
November 19, 2025 at 12:21 PM
[A lot of these are a combination of “reducing the power and importance of central government” and “doing a Reverse Pickles and making local government responsible for both raising taxes and running the welfare state]
Reposted by TACJ
The UK needs either sustained tax rises on the middle classes to European levels or to accept a US model where public services don't exist. The billionaires are a fairytale to avoid hard choices. Labour are fucked because they dodged this one. This isn't a great sign for the other left option.
At the Budget, the Green Party's message is clear: Cut Bills. Tax Billionaires.
November 19, 2025 at 10:28 AM
The UK needs either sustained tax rises on the middle classes to European levels or to accept a US model where public services don't exist. The billionaires are a fairytale to avoid hard choices. Labour are fucked because they dodged this one. This isn't a great sign for the other left option.
An occasional list of boring policies to make Britain Rich Again (or wherever).
November 19, 2025 at 11:29 AM
An occasional list of boring policies to make Britain Rich Again (or wherever).
Reposted by TACJ
Labour is unwittingly laying the ground for this. Because they don’t have one themselves they don’t understand that others have theories and long term political projects. Of course, this is because the Lab leadership thinks its secular legal liberalism isn’t a theory or ideology but reality (5/?)
November 18, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Labour is unwittingly laying the ground for this. Because they don’t have one themselves they don’t understand that others have theories and long term political projects. Of course, this is because the Lab leadership thinks its secular legal liberalism isn’t a theory or ideology but reality (5/?)
We’re never going to beat Java at this rate.
![Ranking Island Population Density Largest settlement Countries
per km2 per sq mi
– Afro-Eurasia 6,729,986,135 (2020) 72.4 188 Pearl River Delta Multiple (in Africa, in Asia, in Europe)
– America (landmass) 1,027,067,740 (2020) 23.5 61 São Paulo Multiple
1 Java 156,927,804 (2024)[1] 1,196 3,100 Jakarta Indonesia
2 Honshū 102,579,606 (2020)[2][3] 449 1,160 Tokyo Japan
3 Great Britain 66,344,800 (2023)[4]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pmjtttvncnjiausfxzpeqbrb/bafkreifwn5giprooowelfvld2imbfd7p5v6tq3ovmcymel4wyxl5olms34@jpeg)
November 18, 2025 at 3:14 PM
We’re never going to beat Java at this rate.
Booo
Net migration now estimated to have fallen from 944,000 to 345,000 in Dec ‘24.
Some projections even suggest David Cameron’s old target of “tens of thousands” could be met. ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
Some projections even suggest David Cameron’s old target of “tens of thousands” could be met. ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
The coming collapse in immigration to the United Kingdom - UK in a changing Europe
James Bowes analyses the fall in net migration to the UK as a result of government policies and explores some of the political and economic consequences.
ukandeu.ac.uk
November 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Booo
Reposted by TACJ
This is such a great example of the clash between actual sustainable transport projects and tree-Tory cosplayer aesthetics www.bbc.com/news/article...
Roseburn Path: What is the row over a new Edinburgh tram line about?
A public consultation on plans to build a new tram line along a popular cycle route closes on Monday.
www.bbc.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:51 AM
This is such a great example of the clash between actual sustainable transport projects and tree-Tory cosplayer aesthetics www.bbc.com/news/article...
Two round systems are good actually, because they clarify the fact that democracy is about legitimacy, rather than creating an outcome that makes large numbers of people happy.
The Chilean presidential election is yet another example of the Perils of Presidentialism and the problems of the Two-Round system.
November 17, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Two round systems are good actually, because they clarify the fact that democracy is about legitimacy, rather than creating an outcome that makes large numbers of people happy.
Gung-ho Keynesianism in 2010 was "everyone else is choosing to waste resources by not having full employment". Gung-ho Keynesianism in 2025 is "everyone else is choosing to waste resources by allowing middle class boomers to have too much disposable income".
November 17, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Gung-ho Keynesianism in 2010 was "everyone else is choosing to waste resources by not having full employment". Gung-ho Keynesianism in 2025 is "everyone else is choosing to waste resources by allowing middle class boomers to have too much disposable income".
Reposted by TACJ
Borders are bad, humanity is one, I fundamentally have more in common with a Somali doctor than an English peasant, and the people who pretend otherwise are the ones who want their birthplace to count for more than their achievements because they have none of the latter
November 16, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Borders are bad, humanity is one, I fundamentally have more in common with a Somali doctor than an English peasant, and the people who pretend otherwise are the ones who want their birthplace to count for more than their achievements because they have none of the latter
Reposted by TACJ
As we saw with the late stage Conservative governments, voters develop a sense of immovable contempt for parties in power who exude an open sense of loser anxiety. Projecting winner self-confidence is a core part of being good at politics. Which arcs back to that Chris Dillow post you shared
November 15, 2025 at 3:45 PM
As we saw with the late stage Conservative governments, voters develop a sense of immovable contempt for parties in power who exude an open sense of loser anxiety. Projecting winner self-confidence is a core part of being good at politics. Which arcs back to that Chris Dillow post you shared
Reposted by TACJ
I keep meaning to write something in this vein - I absolutely think that the most underrated part of 'being a good prime minister' is 'first, have a responsible predecessor'. It's why good prime ministers tend to go in sequences!
November 15, 2025 at 11:10 AM
I keep meaning to write something in this vein - I absolutely think that the most underrated part of 'being a good prime minister' is 'first, have a responsible predecessor'. It's why good prime ministers tend to go in sequences!
Reposted by TACJ
Hadn't clocked until this tweet that this is true of every defeated Labour government other than New Labour: more votes in defeat in 1951 than in victory in 1945, more in 1970 than in 1964. And frankly, whether they win or lose next time, would bet large amounts will get more votes than 2024.
Labour got more votes in 1979 then they did in Oct 1974.
November 15, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Hadn't clocked until this tweet that this is true of every defeated Labour government other than New Labour: more votes in defeat in 1951 than in victory in 1945, more in 1970 than in 1964. And frankly, whether they win or lose next time, would bet large amounts will get more votes than 2024.
Reposted by TACJ
need to kill the recurring thought of "no I can't replay/reread that, I have other stuff to check out"
no. I am a poor little peasant living just after the advent of the printing press. I have five books at most and I will reread them so much they will know the death of the author was caused by me
no. I am a poor little peasant living just after the advent of the printing press. I have five books at most and I will reread them so much they will know the death of the author was caused by me
November 14, 2025 at 2:56 AM
need to kill the recurring thought of "no I can't replay/reread that, I have other stuff to check out"
no. I am a poor little peasant living just after the advent of the printing press. I have five books at most and I will reread them so much they will know the death of the author was caused by me
no. I am a poor little peasant living just after the advent of the printing press. I have five books at most and I will reread them so much they will know the death of the author was caused by me
Reposted by TACJ
everyone gets so mad at the mods here for doing basic mod shit. sometimes you gotta make a little murder joke and eat a three day ban for it. that’s life baby, there’s beauty in that.
November 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
everyone gets so mad at the mods here for doing basic mod shit. sometimes you gotta make a little murder joke and eat a three day ban for it. that’s life baby, there’s beauty in that.
Reposted by TACJ
Some people trade in stocks and shares, and some people trade in shocks and stares.
November 14, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Some people trade in stocks and shares, and some people trade in shocks and stares.
Reposted by TACJ
The Uk has million and millions of workers in low pay jobs who could switch to a much higher paying construction job if there was an expansion in the construction industry.
November 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The Uk has million and millions of workers in low pay jobs who could switch to a much higher paying construction job if there was an expansion in the construction industry.
I always think about how Osborne’s attempt at tax simplification was branded the “pasty tax” but barely anyone remembers him increasing VAT by 2.5%
I'd love to see some research on whether any of this has a political dividend. Suspect it just makes everything more complex *and* fails to improve the long term fiscal situation.
November 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I always think about how Osborne’s attempt at tax simplification was branded the “pasty tax” but barely anyone remembers him increasing VAT by 2.5%