The only flags I can truly get behind are the regional flags devised in the 70s for the expected regional governments.
Ben Ansell@benansell.bsky.social · yesterdayI recall we had a period of time where the response of Starmer and Cooper to concerns about these groups was ‘I like flags’
I’ve got some worries about the emerging picture of devo-max 🧵
A bit from me on devo max and the outlines of an emerging question: what will councils be for? as.ft.com/r/731ed47f-f...
Andy Burnham rewires the ‘unaccountable’ state
Prime minister’s opening devolution gambit does not lack ambition
as.ft.com
look, if fear of having everyone on the internet celebrate your death by bringing up every bad thing you’ve done is what it takes to stop people being cunts while they’re alive, i say let’s give it a go
This debate is so stupid and chauvinistic. If anything, machine intelligence is going to be closer to insect intelligence or an octopus’s - distributed. Maybe we can have a functionalist account of what “superintelligence” is but it’s not going to be just a very smart human.
The Economist@economist.com · 2d agoIf superintelligence is in reach, building football fields’ worth of compute could be history’s most valuable capital-allocation exercise. But the spending could still generate disappointing returns bit.ly/4yQ0AFj
There are working class and vulnerable kids who will never have the life they should have had because of school closures. Let’s address that too, shall we?
What the hell is county government of not a strategic local authority?!?
What is the point in scrapping two tier local government if you immediately replace it with metro mayors?
He looks like he’s in the Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
George Pearkes@peark.es · 6d agoAn 8 employee hedge fund that was up hundreds of percent and used aggressive leverage is asking investors for more cash to meet margin calls. The tropes in this particular bull market couldn’t get any lazier. www.ft.com/content/2803...
We all make mistakes, but there’s for sure a pattern of shoddy academic practice here everyone would rightly condemn if done by AI. It’s also still absolutely weird/politically motivated to go through someone’s PhD 11 years after the fact, and is indeed carried out by the worst people. No winners.
James Butler@piercepenniless.bsky.social · last wk.BSky reaction to the Jason Arday story puzzling to me. Yes, it's absolutely driven by the worst online racists. But the evidence of plagiarism is pretty clear, and the doctoral thesis is really ropey. That matters. What am I missing?
"I’ve lived in the same house in the Elm Heights neighborhood for the past twenty years, and I just love everything about this town except for the problems that my politics have directly created."
Every NIMBY’s Speech at a Public Hearing
“Friends, neighbors, it’s good to see all of you. I know you, you know me, and just seeing all of your faces at this city council meeting reminds me why I l...
buff.ly
Not surprised Burnham’s ed policy has prompted a backlash but…he’s not creating secondary moderns. Or suggesting that people don’t or shouldn’t go to university. Or that people don’t and shouldn’t want to move away from home.
Kemi saying to fund social care by tax cuts to welfare … where do you even start?
The Guardian reporting is getting worse. This article says this is first time members of Socialist Campaign Group have been appointed to government. Blair appointed several including Michael Meacher as environment minister. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Burnham brings members of Socialist Campaign Group into government
The appointment of three ministerial aides marks the first time members of Labour’s most leftwing faction have held government positions
theguardian.com
Justice for the Fourth Doctor?
Royal Astronomical Society@royalastrosoc.bsky.social · last wk.The Royal Astronomical Society is shocked and dismayed to hear that the UK's iconic Jodrell Bank Observatory is at risk of closure amid a slew of catastrophic budget cuts. Read our full statement here: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
Oh FFS. Just f*ck off. I suspect more of your journalists not only went to Oxbridge than the cabinet but that fewer than 75% went to a state school.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last wk.Is Burnham’s Oxbridge-heavy cabinet a sign of social mobility or lack of progress on class?
Something Andy could do that would immediately make things a little better is let local authorities conduct their own valuation exercises, with the proviso that they happen automatically every five years after.
I am terrified that we’re finally going to get devolution and it’s going to be terrible.
Just briefly spotted some discourse about casting in The Odyssey. My usual thing: the Greeks simply didn’t have the same (colourist) concepts of race as we do. And we’re much better off thinking of their world as a “brown” - one that includes North Africa, Turkey and goes as far as northern India.
If we go on Leave/Remain lines of the 2017 election, I think the only change is that the two blocs are distributed between more parties. But we’ve seen that people still largely vote for their bloc candidate who is most likely to win.
Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 2w agocoalition builder final boss
The key thing Starmer appears to have done wrong here is become Prime Minister.
Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 2w agoStarmer's Approval Rating during his time as Labour Leader & Prime Minister. Current: -41.3% (20.7% Approve, 62.1% Disapprove). Peak Approval As: LOTO: +14.5% in June 2020 PM: +0.4% in July 2024 Lowest Approval As: LOTO: -16.2% in August 2021 PM: -48.9% in December 2025
I was once teaching a lesson on inequality and a kid said it was unfair to advance LGBTQ rights because it would expose gay kids to more homophobic bullying - from him.
typwritre Monky@tpwrtrmnky.bsky.social · 2w agoNorwegian institute of public health straight up saying "Given the many challenges faced by trans people we need to look into preventative measures so fewer people end up trans"
I work in #localgov so priors, but the national care service idea irritates the hell out of me. The cycle is always the same - underfund councils, complain we don't have any capacity, then use it as an excuse to centralise things. If we can afford a national care service we can afford a local one.
I hope I'm wrong, but this Cabinet looks like a lot of square pegs in round holes. There are plenty of talented people in there, but I'm not sure it's what you would come up with if you asked "whose skills and interests seem best suited to these departments"? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Who's in Andy Burnham's new Labour cabinet?
An in-depth look at which Labour MPs have been appointed to cabinet roles by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham
bbc.co.uk
The only minister who did anything, and did anything good.
The problem with a property tax is that if want devolution rather than a centralised tax (like current form of business rates), you need a mechanism for sharing revenue between local authorities. Not impossible to devise, but the two policies are in some tension with one another.
