Our of interest, how do you think Emily Thornberry would have played out?

They've raised taxes quite a lot? Or do you mean the big three specifically?

Can't see EU membership happening until we revert to the old Pro EU Tories (feels a long long way off) or we do, as you say, PR. Suspect that's the main obstacle atm.

'Better dating prospect'. Bros aren't looking for a partner, they're looking for a live-in servant.

Jeez the opener in this article. What some folks are looking for in a partner is wild.

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

I think that the markets are getting this systemically wrong. It's just they don't know how to deal with it. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Stock market going on sale soon then...

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

Can we not just focus on the climate crisis.

@ironeconomist.bsky.social, what's your estimate of how long before D-Day?

So if we can't have growth in real wages, I'd still personally take switching policy preference from retirees towards young Grads. 51% marginal rates at £50k when you're renting is killer.

(I should add that I don't have skin in that game, thankfully).

Well wage inflation specifically rather than general inflation preferably! And ideally, also to scrap the triple lock and switch to a single lock linked to wages.

Agreed. That said, while I 💯 think agree we need more supply, I've always been more sympathetic to the idea that policy/the financialisation of housing is the principal issue rather than supply itself. I'd still lean more towards finance but it's a close run thing.

Of course, although house prices will probably fall in real terms as a result of the above, it's still going to be very painful because i) they're starting from a very high base and ii) it's not so much they're falling (in nominal terms) but that everything else is rising so quickly.

I used to think that but I'm no longer so sure. I suspect that the combination of inflation, interest rates and significantly tightening rental rights will do a surprisingly large amount of the legwork...

BBC News leading all its bulletins on demands by former Government advisor Lord Robertson for more defence spending, without at any point mentioning his current paid senior role for US defence lobbyists

As far as I am aware, this is the first official endorsement of a UK return to the EU from an EU political party, coupling it with a statement of 'We're ready for it'

Yeah, I play in this sector and viability has fallen through the floor over the last few years. Labour and materials all up massively since pre-Covid.

Personally, I think fiscal drag is also playing into it too...

Maybe, but then some of the benefit would diminish. You'd need to run the numbers but I suspect that the combination of:
a) Relatively low pre-election support for Lab among the >50s; &
b) Lab having some leeway to pivot from breadth to depth of support
means that it'd still make electoral sense.

I know; what I'm saying is that it doesn't make sense for a Labour Government whose voters skew younger to be screwing Grads over with frozen thresholds repayment rather than to be e.g. equalising NI/tax treatment.

Also, this Labour Government is uniquely well placed to enact that sort of change; there's no way that Reform or the Tories could do it when their electoral coalition is basically just the Boomers.

Trump gets off on outrage. Better to just laugh at him for his absurdity.

I'm not convinced it's falling inequality that's making people mad; it's that almost everyone is very significantly downwardly mobile compared to their parents (at least when it comes to housing).

Indeed. Then there's how the generational component fits within there too.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE TAGGING ME IN ON THE VATICAN / PENTAGON BEEF HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT

Just to say, this thread is amazing. Thank you.

Please can we put a toll on Donald Trump coming to the UK to visit his golf course? An extremely large one if possible.

It's basically one step removed from treason right? From Putin to Orban to 'influencers'...

Extraordinary.

(Douglas Murray and Tim Montgomerie also mentioned in this article.)

Something I don't think the UK boasts about enough - and a great rebuttal to Reform and the Tories' anti-net zero propaganda:

The UK is home to 7 out of the top 10 biggest offshore wind farms in the world. 10 of the top 20. And 6 in 10 of the largest ones in the world currently under construction.

Just did a bit of research re the checks and balances re the potential use of nuclear codes in the U.S. It wasn't reassuring...