as a side note to this, every day I get an instagram advert telling me to share the songs I love on my story and every time the top song it recommends to me, for reasons unknown, is Joey Essex's 2011 single Reem.

autumn coded@hoovybaby.bsky.social · 2d ago

Just talk to another human already jesus fucking christ

gotta give them credit, at least they went big.

Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · yesterday

The cheating, year by year

Failing gcse history because you can't remember the name of the first Steps single.

Mark Watson@watsoncomedian.bsky.social · yesterday

My son's history course this year includes a paper called 'Britain Transformed, 1913-1997' which means the events of 'history' for him include 'me doing history GCSE'.

A great decision to bring back Union Learning Fund. All evidence shows that it helped to deliver training to thousands of, often hard-to-reach, workers each year. Independent analysis consistently showed it more than paid for itself over time. Silly of the tories to scrap it in the first place.

Latest energy debt statistics from Ofgem incredibly concerning. The value of outstanding energy bill debt and arrears has gone above £5 billion for the first time, tripling in the past five years alone.

Should be a general rule that you can’t do press conferences on the state of the UK economy if you have moved to Monaco for tax purposes. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Billionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UK

Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea.

bbc.co.uk

98 per cent sure that neither of my parents are still exactly sure what I studied at uni.

Sophie Heawood@heawood.bsky.social · 2w ago

This one’s for you @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com

Big day for me today (recently moved to a new area and finally visited the biggest supermarket in the area).

I’ve made a terrible mistake.

Hate it when a footballer dives and you see comments like "they should get an Oscar for best acting!!". Doesn't make any sense. It's really bad acting? Would be an absolute joke if it was even nominated for any of the categories.

Important quote by PGFTU leader Shaher Saed welcoming Miliband‘s ban on illegal settlement trade as “important step forward” in this @tuc.org.uk statement www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-hai...

TUC hails ban on illegal settlement trade as “important step forward” towards lasting peace in Middle East

This is an important step forward for Palestinians who have faced the ongoing and escalating threat of illegal settler violence – and towards securing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based...

tuc.org.uk

A success story in raising Capital Gains Tax rates, as well as improving enforcement. Next step is to go further and equalise CGT rates with income tax rates, so that money made from selling assets is taxed the same as work. www.ft.com/content/8173...

HMRC reports record capital gains tax haul after Reeves’ rate rise

Data shows £24.2bn in receipts for the 2024/25 tax year, an 89% increase on previous year

ft.com

Enjoying the latest James Blake album but, as ever, can't listen to him without thinking of "he blocked us all because we kept teasing him about being posh and eating hummus".

Of course he does, that’s what he does. Notable that nowhere in the article is an actual argument as to why higher taxes on currently high banking profits would be bad. www.ft.com/content/44c0...

Jamie Dimon warns UK chancellor against higher bank taxes

JPMorgan chief’s call to John Healey is part of lobbying by financial services sector ahead of October Budget

ft.com

Walked past Clark’s and they’re selling t-shirts?? Not sure what’s happening, but I don’t like it. Stick to the world of the feet Clark’s, the upper body is not your realm.

When I looked up at the eclipse, the moon did a little wink at me.

Main memory of the 1999 solar eclipse is that we went for a day out to Morecambe because my dad figured the drive would be quiet with everyone looking at the solar eclipse. Can't remember how quiet the drive actually was.

Palantir has been given hundreds of millions of pounds worth of UK government contracts, but pays an effective tax rate of just 8%. The statutory rate is 25%. It does this by shifting revenues and profits back to a US parent company, where it pays even less tax. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Palantir paid just £2m corporation tax in UK in 2024 despite lucrative public sector contracts

Software group benefits from global systems and accounting practices ‘that enable tax to be shirked’, says union boss

theguardian.com

The big four banks have brought in £29bn in profit in the first half of the year. Up 19% on same period last year. Increase partly driven by banks profiting from higher interest rates. A windfall tax on bank profits could raise £60bn over the next four years.

East Midlands Rail particularly bad for this, sometimes even sending shorter five-carriage trains but still keeping two carriages as first class. Also currently not even allowing seat reservations on journeys.

thierry ennui@alexeptable.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Nothing quite encompasses the rancid stench of English neoliberalism like having to sit on the floor because the 3-hour train journey you’ve paid over £200 for has been oversold, and the guard reminding those who have no seats that, despite first class being empty, you will be fined if you sit there

Was sincerely thinking about this recently as saw an MP posting about going to one of the recent My Chemical Romance shows. Must be only a decade away from a prime minister who has a strong opinion on Fall Out Boy.

Amit Katwala@amitkatwala.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Who will be the first emo prime minister?

A "wealth exodus" has been widely reported since 2024, first as sensationalist headlines and then just treated as an accepted fact after that. All still based on one completely dodgy report by a consultancy. Still no evidence in any official data that shows it's true. www.ft.com/content/655a...

Data suggests fears of UK ‘non-dom’ exodus overblown

Number fell by just 0.5% in 2024-25, casting doubt on claims tougher rules would lead to wealthy people leaving

ft.com

Going back a hundred years and taking on my grandad‘s job as a newborn baby.

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · 2mo ago

Enough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?

once, in a past job, got offered "smile training" because I looked too miserable in meetings.

SMD's pension@anothersmd.bsky.social · last yr.

what are some absurd work situations you can share? once i got called into a meeting i had nothing to do with because the consultant brought an engineer and no one in the room could understand him, so they asked me to translate. he was scouse. i translated from english to english.

Celeb watch at the World Cup final: camera just shot to Chico, famous for the 2006 number 1 hit Chico Time, in the crowd.

RIP Kafka, you would have loved the avanti west coast delay repay website.

Now that the World Cup is almost over, think this is the moment that’s going to stay with me most from the tournament: Gakpo being unable to celebrate after scoring and instead curling into a ball in the middle of the pitch, alone with his grief, only to then be embraced by all his teammates.

JM =^D@jm539581.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Netherlands 1-0 Morocco 72'- Cody Gakpo

A lot of chat about who is to blame for the England defeat and its time to come clean: it is entirely my fault.

All the mentions of Miami have reminded me that I had a friend in primary school who set his doorbell to play Miami by Will Smith when it rang. Absolutely blew my mind. Couldn’t believe what was possible with technology. A new millennium was about to hit & it felt like we were living in the future.

Seems like a good place to post this as bsky must have the highest density of policy officers of any social media platform: TUC looking for a policy lead for employment rights and labour markets. A nice team. Key experience needed in screenshot. www.tuc.org.uk/jobs/policy-...