@davidbent
Founder: Atelier of What’s Next, a studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future. Edmund Hillary Fellow. Hon Lecturer: UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources. Views own. https://linktr.ee/davidbent
The energy support packages the government had introduce after Russia's invasion of Ukraine cost over £50bn and that's just the direct cost to taxpayers. The wider economic costs from higher energy bills and rising inflation were far higher. Net zero really is a bargain.
The British general election of 2029, in which we are *really* going to stress test 'the governing bloc has, through both forces inside and outside its control, presided over a *really* miserable time for the country' versus 'the opposition bloc just can't stop itself picking up unpopular stances'.
In the second half of 2025, one man accounted for almost 40% of all money donated to political parties in the UK: a crypto-billionaire who lives in Thailand.
Britain desperately needs to rewrite its party funding rules.
observer.co.uk/news/the-sen...
The voters: “we don’t like your rightward shift”
Starmer: “fuck you”
Hurray! BlueSky have made federation possible.
So, brilliant SciFi novelist and tech policy wonk extraordinare Cory Doctorow has left X/Twitter and joined BlueSky.
Your regular reminder that the UK is in fact a high trust society and anyone who implies it isn’t is either selling you a pup or has bought one.
In an interview I remember him saying that he wanted experts who *also* had experience of teaching the subjects to undergraduates.
So, there is a criteria about being able to communicate well, just not via media training.
Two things can be true (1) Labour's 2024 win was a remarkable feat given their 2019 starting point (2) The strategy pursued brought with it many problems which were obvious at the time, and have only intensified since - see eg this exceprt from conclusion of "British General Election of 2024"
It's not up to me to prosecute the US 'fascism debate', but now that ICE has answered the "but there is no armed militia loyal to the leader" objection, Hegseth is now answering the "but there's no glorification of war for its own sake" objection.
what is becoming clear is that the means are the ends. The weapons aren't being used in pursuit of anything; Hegseth's goal is to be using the weapons, a far more deliverable objective than 'regime change'.
This is just the most incredible chart...
if the UK government implements current policies on taxes and benefits, public debt is stable (contrary to what the OBR always mistakenly tells us)
My column as.ft.com/r/e69f1407-e...
An economically, politically and morally bankrupt strategy.
Bad for individuals, bad for families, bad for businesses, bad for public services, bad for integration and cohesion.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
This
Operation What Happens After The Fall of Melos, from Thucydides book If You Rule Only By Might You Are Bound By The Inevitable Consequences Of Military Defeat
Tracking our *negative* voting intention (who would Britons vote AGAINST):
➡️ Ref 38% (+9)
🌹Lab 34% (-4)
🌳 Con 7% (-1)
🌏 Green 7% (+4)
🐦 LD 3% (-)
changes w/ Nov 2025
As Reform has plateaued in the polls, the number of people saying they would also vote *against* Reform has grown
a) WHY ARE YOU ALL GOING TO THE SAME BUILDING
b) pretty clear that Israel’s goal at this point is to prevent Iran from forming any sort of new government altogether and just leave it a failed state, which is a completely insane thing to do to a country of 90 million people
This is important. Reform keep taking positions that are only supported by the 25% of the electorate they already have and in doing so are negatively polarising everyone else against them.
I'm not saying England are panicking, but substituting almost your entire backline doesn't scream 'confidence in our approach'.
I reckon Italy beat us by 10
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
Literally the only significant negative for future growth in potential output - the key variable - is lower growth in the adult population, caused by 'success' in lowering net migration. Time for the Mencken quote then:
"Today’s OBR projections reveal two competing realities in government right now. The OBR and Treasury forecast an upturn in net migration, which makes their fiscal numbers add up – while the Home Office says it is determined to drive net migration down still further. They can’t have it both ways".
An obituary for the short-lived DOE Climate Working Group, from Andrew Dessler over at The Climate Brink. It arose with a bang and died with a footnote in the EPA's endangerment finding repeal. www.theclimatebrink....
Look, what she lacks in effort, energy, decency and policy seriousness, she makes up for in 'polling at 19 per cent' and 'going down to record-breaking defeat in every contest she leads the party into'.
Ironic that the best argument for energy security and green transition is flowing from the actions of an anti net zero US administration.
The destruction of the East Wing of the White House is an apt metaphor for how Trump's America can destroy yet cannot build
I spent 6 years of my life writing a PhD about UK policy in Persian Gulf in the 1960s, including the role of the Anglo-American alliance.
Key to the Persian Gulf policy of both countries: AVOID a power vacuum under any circumstances &keep Iran&Saudi Arabia from attacking the smaller Gulf States.
Abysmal, immoral, cruel, small hearted, tiny minded, ineffective, undemocratic, and just generally utterly indecent. What a bitter godforesaken disappointment these people are.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
