Phil Lowthian
@phillowthian.bsky.social
OBE. Retired Civil Servant. Love Politics, Sport and Music. St Helens RLFC; MCFC; Golf; Cricket and Guitar hero!
- We believe in second chances! - So you think refugees deserve a second chance at making a life? - Not like that - Young people who’ve made mistakes shouldn’t be punished? - Nope - Benefits to help people get back on their feet? - Ha! - So who do you believe in second chances for? - Nazis!
Anyone who refuses care from a non-white member of NHS staff should be told to pay to go private.
Charles EP Murphy@cepmurphy.bsky.social · 2d agonews.sky.com/story/nhs-st... stereotypically this has been seen as Old People, but not only would the old people of now have often been born post-Windrush, lot of this will be younger people who've always lived in a diverse Britain. The guy with a pregnant wife likely millennial at oldest
🗣️ PM @andy-burnham.bsky.social: "I visited Ashton Bears during the by-election to hear about their plans and was glad to return last night with a small donation to the fund. Grassroots Rugby League, and sport in general, matters a lot to me. It will be a BIG priority in my time in office.
The DWP are asking for people to contribute evidence for a forthcoming review of Carers Allowance and how it operates. Admittedly this is niche, but please spread the word so it reaches the right people. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Carer's Allowance: call for evidence
This call for evidence is being administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to gather information and views to build on the Department’s existing evidence. What we hear will help shape ...
gov.uk
The utter utter shambles Newsnight and the BBC is. The largest by election in modern history and we: A) miss the start of the declaration B) cut away for the weather Utter shit.
Great read for us 1980s politics students and fascinating for today’s too I would imagine.
Tim Bale@timbale.bsky.social · 7d agoOTD in 1990, Conservative MP Ian Gow was killed by an IRA car bomb at his constituency home just outside Eastbourne. If you want to know quite what an important role he played in Margaret Thatcher's first term as PM, read on....
You know that Fourth Lord Rothermere bloke? The billionaire who inherited the fortune the Third Lord Rothermere inherited from the Second Lord Rothermere, who inherited it from the First Lord Rothermere? Well, it turns out he's against inheritance tax.
We may well need “parity of esteem” between academic and technical education but we need “parity of wages” between the two if it is to become a reality!
The day I will pay attention to politicians guffing about "parity of esteem" is the day one of their children goes to an FE college.
City gears up for a fight bank tax under Burnham. Can't recall bankers fighting bailouts, £895bn quantitative easing, hidden subsidies, branch closures, lousy return on savings, profiteering, gambling. It is one-way traffic in the self-interest train.
City gears up for a fight on bank tax under Burnham
The U.K.’s financial powerhouse is breathing a sigh of relief on key Treasury appointments — but fears a re-run of a fight about bank tax.
politico.eu
I think Count Binface's chances are undersold I don't necessarily (yet) think he'll win it, but I reckon he could do v well in Clacton: 1. He's the main opposition to Farage 2. It's funny. People like a good laugh 3. It would mean no 2nd byelection in a few months 4. Tourism boom & global fame
I love the FT but cheap stuff like this demeans it. Doles out govt jobs to keep the party in line? You mean like every PM since Pitt?
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · last wk.Burnham doles out jobs in bid to avert Labour unrest ft.trib.al/pqtcyg2
Any UK athlete declining to compete for their country in the Commonwealth Games for any reason other than serious injury should have their lottery funding removed!
Over their 14 year rule, the Tories added a net 36 prison places per year. Sunak had to release over 10,000 prisoners early to cope with the crisis the Tories created. Since 2024, Labour have built 2,900 new places. But still the far right blame Labour for the Tory legacy.
Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan
Burnham’s messaging on Social Care should not be “let’s protect the NHS” but rather “let’s properly care for our elderly”
I have a modest proposal for a new tax. It involves a deck of cards and a monkey throwing darts. Here are the rules:
BBC demands Trump hand over personal text messages in bid to prove he incited Jan 6 riots It’s a shame that a foreign news media outlet is doing the work of our Congress and our own news media. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
BBC demands Trump hand over personal text messages in £7.5bn lawsuit
The broadcaster is seeking messages between Trump and his advisers in the hours before the storming of the US Capitol
independent.co.uk
Westminster’s snobby, dismissive response to No10 North and Burnham’s regional redistribution agenda ironically shows exactly why it’s needed
The plot thickens... Now Farage's favourite convicted fraudster has written to the National Crime Agency posing as a "long-standing member" of top security think tank RUSI. RUSI's response? He isn't a member. You couldn't make it up - except apparently he can. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
George Cottrell falsely claimed think tank membership in banking complaint
The fraudster, who has donated to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, said he was a member of the Royal United Services Institute, which it denied
thetimes.com
Phil Brickell MP@philbrickellmp.bsky.social · 2w agoFake passports. A money laundering conviction. A mystery casino fortune in Montenegro... There's yet more revelations about who Farage chooses to surround himself with. Let’s start with George Cottrell. A man Farage describes as "like a son," and his former chief of staff 👇
So we have a No 10 in the North. Like it - and looking at the media and political reaction so far it has certainly rattled a few London cages. Whether Burnham succeeds with his 10 yr plan remains to be seen. 1/2
If they were skilled political operators perhaps they wouldn’t be on the backbenches, along with their chief, two years into a Parliament which began with a landslide election win?
PoliticsHome@politicshome.bsky.social · 2w agoLabour MPs unhappy with the treatment of Starmer loyalists have warned they could make life hard for Burnham at the Budget “Andy’s Starmerite purge has created an incredibly powerful phalanx of skilled political operators who intimately know the government’s fiscal position" Harriet Symonds writes
Latest major party leader net favourability ratings, July 2026 Andy Burnham: +3 Ed Davey: -8 Kemi Badenoch: -11 Zack Polanski: -26 Nigel Farage: -46 yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
This is, by my count, every type of funny. From Badenoch’s epic absurdity to Shapps’s huge embarrassment. And everything in between. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Grant Shapps blocked from standing again for the Conservatives
Kemi Badenoch tells the BBC she leads a "new party full of new people" as ex-MP is rejected as a candidate.
bbc.co.uk
I really think some of my colleagues in the Parliamentary lobby need a bit of a break. The reporting at the moment is so frantic and a bit hysterical. Today Burnham is being accused of a major U-turn because he said he would look at something and then said he won't move ahead with it currently.
This disingenuous commentary doesn’t help anyone. Frauds start unravelling pretty quickly. That you apparently cannot afford to put your oven or treat yourself is quickly undermined by the question “so why are you spending £50 per week on petrol?” Then, it turns out, she has an agent and /1
Ash@queerash.bsky.social · 2w agoElaine 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)
