People's private lives are to be mourned and celebrated by those who knew them as they seen fit. I see little to mourn or celebrate in this public life.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · yesterday

Liddle's ex-colleagues find it easy to defend his mainstream journalism as a lark But a conscious effort to ignore what his Millwall-Monkey stuff revealed."Even the Jews were allowed to smoke at Auschwitz" was reported. His "niggermeat, not wogmeat" comments + most virulent sexist threads were not

A party that was actually anti-racist would be kicking this person out, not allowing them to run for the Governing Committee. There are many decent Greens who will be disgusted by this and I wish them all power fighting back against it. We know from experiance how hard that is.

"The jobs that AI won’t do, like healthcare or the creative industries." An alarming line in an alarmingly shallow piece www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

We must end this one-size-fits-all approach to education

Our school system has become too single-minded and is stopping children reaching their potential, says the education secretary

thetimes.com

Why do people assume a technical route doesn't require academic qualifications. If you want to be an engineer and recognised as such in Germany you are going to need an accredited engineering degree amongst other things.

The most infuriating thing about it all is that this has been tried and has failed numerous times. And saying "oh it works well in Germany etc" is silly as this ignores the very different economics and overlooks the role of our class system. Which we won't change through tech ed.

If I wanted to protect the most prestigious and highly paid jobs for the social groups who usually hold them I'd probably design an education system that discouraged poorer children from studying the entry qualifications for these jobs as early as possible..

Every serious analysis of the future of the economy says we need a lot more B. It happens in universities. A is not an alternative to B. It is also important. Universities do not only consist of D. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

as a general rule, delaying specialisation to 16 + the GCSE being well specified exams are positive feature of England’s system

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · last wk.

The other issue with vocational at 14 is implicit selection. Well off families will ensure their kids do academic courses. This happens at 16 anyway but at least we give everyone a chance to get a set of academic quals.

And good luck finding businesses to offer meaningful work experience to hundreds of thousands of 14 and 15 year olds. As ever a failure to acknowledge that our big challenge with vocational ed is our labour market.

Laura McInerney@missmc.bsky.social · last wk.

Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ve thought through how this will be staffed, funded, and the class size implications for GCSE options. They learned that from the last time, right? RIGHT? www.tes.com/magazine/new...

It's noticeable, too, that there wasn't a single question on the climate, at a time when Europe is experiencing catastrophic wild-fires & record-breaking heat. It's astonishing how low down the political agenda this remains in Britain, when all the environmental indicators are signalling disaster.

If MiC is showing this, god knows what someone like YouGov will which tend to be a bit more Lab friendly. big old swing and very clear signs of a consolidation of the progressive vote. Question is how much this will hold as Burnham's broad positioning comes into view, but very welcome

Luke Tryl@luketryl.bsky.social · last wk.

Our latest voting intention sees cross over. Labour move ahead by 4. Their first lead since March 2025 & highest share since Nov 24 🌹 LAB 28% (+4)
⏩ REF 24% (-2)
🌳 CON 22% (nc)
🔶 LIB DEM 12% (+1)
🟢 GREEN 8% (-3)
🟡 SNP 2% (nc) N = 2061| Dates 24-27/7| Change w 22/7

'listen, forget whoever was in charge of this department before. from now on, we're doing things my way.' huge energy, massive enthusiasm, a transformative figure in the UK's cultural renaissance.

Back into the Cabinet after two years in a silent monastery in Tibet.

David Wilcock@davidtwilcock.bsky.social · 2w ago

Lisa Nandy heading into Downing Street, presumably for a promotion

I can't work out if this is intended as a punishment to Lisa Nandy, who clearly hates the job; or a punishment to the entire UK culture sector, which is suffering as a result of that. Maybe both?

good to see at least one cabinet minister announcing their departure on the non-nazi social media app

Richard Hermer@richardhermer.bsky.social · 2w ago

It has been the privilege of my life to serve my country as Attorney General over the last two years. I’ve been so lucky to be a part of Keir’s team, as he delivered for the public at home while rebuilding the UK’s reputation abroad, in particular on the rule of law.

There's gonna be a new PM. What he needs is an op-ed telling him what to do, of which there's no doubt a lamentable absence. Here's the time-hallowed method for creating one: 1. Set out the problem cleanly, as if the PM had literally no idea that growth, the cost of living and deficit matter. 1/

I’ll take this paragraph! Higher Education and Universities are a success story. The chaotic destruction of the sector is avoidable, undesirable, and self defeating.

Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 3w ago

Just one para from @jdportes.bsky.social brilliant (and beautifully written) @theguardian.com piece on Burnham and the economy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I know it's only a PCC election with low turnout but 11% for a party that happily accepts neo-Nazis as members is really bad.

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 3w ago

Norfolk Police & Crime Commissioner By-Election Result: ➡️ RFM: 26.7% (New) 🌳 CON: 15.0% (-18.9) 🌍 GRN: 13.8% (-2.0) 🙋 Ind: 13.4% (New) 🌹 LAB: 11.6% (-23.6) ◼️ RES: 10.9% (New) 🔶 LDM: 8.6% (-6.5) Reform UK GAIN from Labour. Changes w/ 2024.

First professional job I ever had was working for Ken! Learned a lot about good work and good politics from him, lovely to see this news.

Holyrood@holyroodmag.bsky.social · 3w ago

Former presiding officer Ken MacIntosh has been included in Keir Starmer’s resignation honours list www.holyrood.com/news/view,ex...

Amongst many important points in @jdportes.bsky.social article is the succinct explanation of why universities are vital to a coherent economic strategy.

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · 3w ago

"A closed country will be poorer. A country that underinvests will not grow. A state that refuses to reform tax will ration ambition. And a Labour government afraid to say these things will discover once again that caution, too, has costs." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It would be v helpful for politicians to agree not to use language vs opponents they would object to being used vs them Yusuf saying these are OK words to target Reform MPs with is silly & ofc he would object to thst

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · 3w ago

After Zia Yusuf accuses critics of endangering Reform politicians with violent language, he is read a list of quotes where he called Reform's opponents "lunatics who deserve extinction", "sick arsonists" and "traitors" who will face a "reckoning". He says these are in "a totally different category"

Saying you're the "most physically attacked" MP when two MPs have been killed in the last decade is just horribly self-absorbed.

The level of insight is astonishing

Amazing to be out there standing on a platform that you should be able to pocket £5m and not be asked about it

It almost goes without saying that a government that is serious about improving integration outcomes is not a government that puts refugees into 1000s of pounds of debt, gives them shorter periods of leave that has to be renewed and makes them wait 2 decades before they can settle.

You will never be able to be cruel enough to refugees to satisfy Reform voters. You will never benefit from raising the profile of the issue. Your best hope is to address the problems, reduce the backlog, and make the problem move down in salience. Whatever Mahmood is doing is the opposite of that.

It's a weekday, it's after 10pm, so Shabana Mahmood is doing her thing *yet again*. Yet another incredibly punitive policy aimed at people recognised as legitimate refugees, in the service of some political game I honestly can't work out. What's she actually trying to accomplish here?

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · last mo.

Since PM resigned, Home Office blitzing media 1030pm nightly Thursday: "Govt ramps up use of military barracks to house asylum seekers" + Home Sec tells No 10 Immig Minister should be sacked. Friday: New safe routes to save asylum system Tonight: "Asylum seekers to pay towards accomodation costs"

This is absolutely damning.

Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration@icibi.bsky.social · last mo.

The Independent Chief Inspector's report on ‘An inspection of asylum casework’ has been published and is available on the ICIBI website:

Won't get the coverage it deserves today but this is a just end to an utterly horrendous story. A privy councillor for 20 years, knighted for services to politics, and having risen to the leadership of a major political party, he has been found guilty of the most abhorrent crimes against children.

Sam McBride@sjamcbride.bsky.social · last mo.

Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is a paedophile, a jury has unanimously found: Guilty on all 18 counts, including rape of a primary school girl. Judge says jail is "inevitable" and ex-MP immediately remanded into custody. Full breaking coverage:

My professional advice to all public officials is to develop their perceptions of public opinion from high quality opinion polls, rather than marinating in media controlled by right wing oligarchs, most especially those that appear to be organic "social" media like X