I’m kinda worried about the devolution we’re getting. bsky.app/profile/danh...

Daniel Harkin@danharkin.bsky.social · 5h ago

I’ve got some worries about the emerging picture of devo-max 🧵

FFS we cannot keep doing this… A handful of the richest people hoovering up wealth from everyone else while quite literally making the planet unlivable At what point does someone grow a fucking spine and do something?!

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

'Eight of the biggest oil companies amassed profits of more than $90bn (£67bn) in just three months as the Iran conflict sent energy prices soaring and the emissions-fuelled climate crisis caused deadly heatwaves.' www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...

Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis

Iran conflict windfall over three months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage

theguardian.com

Great.. Minister's pushing companies they've identified as having 'potential'. That's worked out well in the past few years, hasn't it?

Time to drag up the rather controversial Renacker dominance of the Manchester skyscraper market i suppose. share.google/48Kq3ej3YZTJ...

'Heavily skewed': How Burnham’s fund turned Renaker into a giant

After pressure from The Mill, the GMCA publishes a revelatory report

share.google

I have spoken about this issue before in my article on the ‘Integrity Gap’. Read more here: bylinetimes.com/2025/09/29/t...

The Integrity Gap: How We Built the Authoritarian Future We Fear

Labour MP Clive Lewis argues that the collapse of public trust in Government is the product of corporate power being wired into the architecture of the state

bylinetimes.com

Our leaders are deaf to public fear and anger. open.substack.com/pub/annpetti...

It is Time to Storm the Gates of Private Power

if humanity is to address the question of survival.

open.substack.com

Have you ever noticed how when #r4today does the "business news" it is almost always & entirely from the perspective of business owners & the c-suite. It is almost never from the pov of employees or trade unions. That drives a false narrative about who is responsible for the UKs economic growth.

I am angry.

Devolution: Andy Burnham hears no evil at Ben Houchen’s TVCA There is a deafening silence surrounding the Tees Valley northeastbylines.co.uk/news/politic...

Devolution: Andy Burnham hears no evil at Ben Houchen’s TVCA

There is a deafening silence surrounding the Tees Valley

northeastbylines.co.uk

Author @georgemonbiot.bsky.social: "Their massive tax cuts for the rich, crushing of trade unions, reduction in public housing, deregulation, privatisation, outsourcing and competition in public services were all proposed by Hayek and his disciples." Read more: evonomics.com/ruthless-net...

The full-blown meltdown here is wild in the context of the fact that from all reports the vast majority of the people have already returned to Morocco and they were never ever ever going to “reach the UK.”

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 4d ago

Achieved

🧵On @thenewsagents.co.uk yesterday, school closures and the lab leak theory were offered as two examples of legitimate questions that were hard to ask. Both have in fact been asked constantly since 2020. But here's a thread on why I think they were wrong and dangerous on school closures 1/12

New post just out: "Burnham's first mistake" Splitting 14 year olds into academic and vocational paths seems intuitive. But it's a terrible idea that risks increasing inequality, and closing down options for the young people that need them most. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

Burnham's first mistake

The problem with his education plan

open.substack.com

Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.

Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says

LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance

ft.com

NEW: Tax revenue sharing with England’s mayors will mean local areas share more in the rewards of growth – but it also brings risks. 📗Our Head of Local and Devolved Government Finance David Phillips responds to today’s announcement: ifs.org.uk/articles/gov...

The case for state intervention is discussed at greater length here substack.com/@chrisdillow...

Social care: the fight for economic thinking

Reforming social care isn't a left vs right issue: it's about economics vs prejudice.

substack.com

Hukou Britain

Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · last wk.

One of the things I find odd about UK skills and jobs policies over the last 10 years is the idea that - for young people - place is destiny. It's like we've taken the Brexit memo and double stamped it into meaning you need to stay put to be a success. The geographical footprint of the UK is *tiny*

Elaine in this article "can't remember the last time she used her oven" but also spends £200 a month on petrol (so driving probably ~50 miles a day?) (she's also a professional old person; she was on Good Morning Britain last year, and then also at the Nov budget, and the year before lmao)

'I can't afford to turn the oven on': 7.4m households struggling to buy essentials

As Andy Burnham promises “breathing space” for households, millions are unable to buy items such as clothing, heating and food.

bbc.co.uk

The new prime minister is about to run out of prison spaces. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. But once again, there are no easy answers and just cancelling early releases is not a solution. The focus must be on public protection - including better protection in the community. 🧵

The government must focus on public protection when it comes to prison releases | Institute for Government

There are no easy answers to meeting the prison capacity challenge.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

There’s massive fallacy at the very start and heart of this story - no amount of new oil and gas from the North Sea can bring down the cost of living - global markets set the price, even when we make it here - not us. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

'In the video Tavia, a stay-at-home mum living in Cheltenham, says the heat "feels like the world is literally ending", she's "terrified for [her] children's lives", and that she "wants to scream at the people not taking this seriously".' *Kemi Badenoch rolls eyes*: "Woke."

Heatwave anxiety can make you feel 'incredibly helpless' - here's how to manage it

Extreme heat can take a toll on mental health - and young people and women are among the groups most at risk, according to one study.

bbc.co.uk

I was asked yesterday what neoliberalism is. This is the answer:

On the last day of another challenging year for schools, it is time to reflect on the responsibility owed to the most important part of any society: our children | Nick Kemp

Our children are our future – it is time we treated education that way

On the last day of another challenging year for schools, it is time to reflect on the responsibility owed to the most important part of any society: our children

northeastbylines.co.uk

“Burnham’s first steps as Labour leader indicate his intention to preserve the soft-blue alliance that delivered Starmer's downfall and brought him to power.” www.politics.co.uk/news-feature...

Andy Burnham’s first choice - Politics.co.uk

Andy Burnham’s coronation as Labour leader and therefore prime minister is confirmed. The leadership crisis that engulfed Labour between May and July 2026 has reached a resolution. Burnham’s successio...

politics.co.uk

Why ‘protected characteristics’ are not in themselves extra rights. The crucial different between ‘black lives matter’ and ‘white lives matter’, is that the first is a protection against discrimination while the second is an assertion of a biological right

Trump administration to grant $12m to groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young - the grift is in. But Paul Marshall spent $18 m on Jordan Peterson’s “College” Like Orban, money down the drain www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Trump administration to grant $12m to groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young

Exclusive: Controversial grants are part of package criticised as misuse of public money to influence European politics

theguardian.com

Jane Gingrich and I have written an essay for @ippr.org on a fundamental problem, that an age that demands more of the state also suffers from multiple state legitimation crises www.ippr.org/articles/the...

The legitimacy trap | IPPR

In many ways, the public want more government: to shape a fairer, more dynamic economy and protect ordinary people from the consequences of a turbulent wor

ippr.org

There's a simple, fair and effective means of funding politics, which ensures that voters count and money doesn't. MPs: please stop messing about with proposals for donation caps, and press for a proper, democratic funding system. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Political donations are poison to our democracy – but there’s an easy antidote to that | George Monbiot

As revelations about Reform UK’s donors emerge, it’s clear that increasingly complex forms of patronage can’t be regulated effectively. We need a clean sweep, says columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com