Another day in Paris…tutto passa

Hugely important on right wing attempts to remove people from the next Census giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Who counts in Trump’s America?

Who counts in Trump’s America?

Gillian Tett on the president’s bid to reform the 10-year census, and the explosive politics behind who gets included and who gets to decide

giftarticle.ft.com

That was loud (govt fire alert!)

The problem with #devolution: Burnham’s signature policy meets its limit: most want “more control” but 46% oppose devolving income tax powers vs 24% in favour. Business rates split evenly. 53% expect devolution to mean higher taxes either way.

If you have been reading about “Blue Zones” and their long lived people…think again!! “Something Is Very Wrong with Modern Longevity Science” - The New Yorker apple.news/AHSYGTeh5S6G... Have to love a good counter factual!!!

Something Is Very Wrong with Modern Longevity Science — The New Yorker

A new book argues that many of the world’s oldest people aren’t so old after all.

apple.news

Today experienced the 24th day of year hitting 30C in London. For perspective in whole of 1980s we had 21 days.

The Office: Woman Holding 'HOT' Sign

ALT: The Office: Woman Holding 'HOT' Sign

static.klipy.com

Interesting piece by @benpageresearch.bsky.social, picking up the thread on deliverism. Have sympathy for the view that public services should care about satisfaction as well as hard outcomes. On the other hand, I wouldn't say that focus has worked well in universities

Is public service delivery really dead?

We will shortly have a new Prime Minister and, with him, yet another promise of better public service delivery and growth across the country. Every government...

themj.co.uk

On Tessa Jowell and her impact on @andyburnham.bsky.social - and others inc me. She was always good value, empathetic, helpful to junior people like me and many others. You can always judge people by how they treat others who cannot benefit them in anyway. newsroom.observer.co.uk/cr/AQjcjBUQrcM…

Great piece by @londoncentric.media Basically we need more HMRC activity on the ground on our high streets….. HTTPS://open.substack.com/pub/londoncentric/p/who-wants-to-be-the-greens-mayoral?r=qcpgw&utm_medium=ios

Who's going to be the Greens' mayoral candidate?

Plus: High street scam shops go to parliament • Palantir sues the mayor • Google's foxy HQ finally opens • Pret cornichon shortage latest

open.substack.com

Great analysis by Chris Clark - the more free your media - the lower the trust in government….

Well - 10 years on from #brexit some 52% now want to rejoin and 33% stay out. (Personal prediction - the 52% will need to be nearer 70% before it happens )

Great piece in @data.ft.com by @tejparikh.ft.com on how unwillingness to compromise by an angry divided electorate leads to instability and stasis

Oh gawd….Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/o...

Opinion | Silicon Valley Is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass

nytimes.com

"The Devil was so tired that he had retired: not into a desert, but into the hearts of men. His presence was no longer necessary, for men had learned to do everything themselves, and better than he could." From Leonardo Sciascia The knight, Death and the Devil

In the same manifesto, Palantir's owners argued that we need a national military draft, that soft power is over, and that we were too hard on Germany and Japan after World War II. I don't think that company should be allowed to exist anymore.

Voodoo polling at work :)

House of The People@hotpofficial.bsky.social · 7mo ago

There is no way of knowing how often Parliament votes against what the public actually wants. Until now. houseofthepeople.com tracks every bill going through Parliament. You vote. We compare it to how your MP voted. The gap speaks for itself. houseofthepeople.com

Who is spending? The top 10%….

All those fawning stories about Noma, its 'food innovation lab' and its 'social mission'.

The train has left the station: Agentic AI and the future of social science research www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

The train has left the station: Agentic AI and the future of social science research | Brookings

A new era of agentic AI agents has begun. What does it mean for social scientists? Solomon Messing and Joshua Tucker discuss.

brookings.edu

Trump supporters still behind him on Iran but only 27% of Americans per @ipsosgroup.bsky.social

We have an “unregulated sexual economy” what does that mean - more regulations needed?

Pippa Crerar@pippacrerar.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Fascinating interview by @siennamarla with Reform UK's Danny Kruger - who (among other things) tells her political parties have a "limited but important" role in undoing the sexual revolution and UK is suffering from a "totally unregulated sexual economy". www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Will AI ultimately cause a slump/ Depression? open.substack.com/pub/citrini/...

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS

A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future

open.substack.com

US govt stops collecting data that it might not want to hear …. www.notus.org/trump-white-...

Federal Data Is Disappearing

The Trump administration has disrupted data collection on everything from homeland security, maternal mortality, hunger, drug use, education, disaster preparation and the economy.

notus.org

The shift by social media owners from a chronological approach to one driven by engagement (and thus outrage) from c2012 onwards will be seen by future historians as a key event - discuss….

Read this and weep. c1,500 homes out of 88000 annual target built in London in ‘25. “botched implementation and a failure to anticipate how policies would interact have created a perverse situation where it is no longer economical to build homes in London” H/t @jburnmurdoch

I have just discovered the The Holy Roman Empire is still kept alive by an association of aristocratic descendants based in Belgravia and my day is complete #historyneverdies holyromanempireassociation.org

At the #unsungbritain @resfoundation event in Westminster - the change in WHO inflation is affecting is dramatic -

After a certain point the sanity of Palantir's leadership does matter to the national security of the UK and other European states buying its software

Mr RobertBob@mrrobertbob.bsky.social · 9mo ago

This is not a sane person. fortune.com/2026/02/04/p...

Great essay by Martin Sandbu on how triumph of neoliberal globalism/Third Way neglected communitarian belonging - with inevitable consequences #populism giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... The pessimist who became a prophet

The pessimist who became a prophet

Philosopher Michael Sandel was ignored by a generation of political optimists. Now he is searching for a way out of the mess he saw coming

giftarticle.ft.com

Well here’s Jeremy Clarkson on what happens after Reform win…