Anthony Painter
@anthonypainter.bsky.social
Policy. Political economy. Increasing bewilderment.
"The Three Economies" Substack here: https://open.substack.com/pub/anthonypainter
#ynwa
"The Three Economies" Substack here: https://open.substack.com/pub/anthonypainter
#ynwa
Pinned
The Reckoning
The Epstein network signifies America's elite moral collapse and a "you can do anything" impunity that fuelled MAGA. Europe must respond by reducing US dependence and strengthening its own democracy.
open.substack.com
Epstein's operation is at the heart of US decay. And Europe needs to wise up.
New Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
New Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
The best news for the liberal chattering classes since the launch of Waitrose home delivery.
February 9, 2026 at 8:34 PM
The best news for the liberal chattering classes since the launch of Waitrose home delivery.
At some point we will also reflect on whether we will sacrifice too much in trying to manage that critical ally.
It is bending our politics out of shape. That is the nature of what we are dealing with. It's distorting everything and may bring down a Prime Minister.
From Wes Streeting's oped.
It is bending our politics out of shape. That is the nature of what we are dealing with. It's distorting everything and may bring down a Prime Minister.
From Wes Streeting's oped.
February 9, 2026 at 8:19 PM
At some point we will also reflect on whether we will sacrifice too much in trying to manage that critical ally.
It is bending our politics out of shape. That is the nature of what we are dealing with. It's distorting everything and may bring down a Prime Minister.
From Wes Streeting's oped.
It is bending our politics out of shape. That is the nature of what we are dealing with. It's distorting everything and may bring down a Prime Minister.
From Wes Streeting's oped.
Just the other day they were saying we have to increase the fertility rate.
If they are going to worsen work-life balance how do they square this circle?
Oh, reverse female employment. That's how.
A Reform clock only goes backwards.
If they are going to worsen work-life balance how do they square this circle?
Oh, reverse female employment. That's how.
A Reform clock only goes backwards.
BREAKING: Nigel Farage calls for an end to working from home and the focus on work-life balance
"People aren't more productive working from home - it's a load of nonsense”
Whatever you do JUST DON’T VOTE REFORM!
"People aren't more productive working from home - it's a load of nonsense”
Whatever you do JUST DON’T VOTE REFORM!
February 9, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Just the other day they were saying we have to increase the fertility rate.
If they are going to worsen work-life balance how do they square this circle?
Oh, reverse female employment. That's how.
A Reform clock only goes backwards.
If they are going to worsen work-life balance how do they square this circle?
Oh, reverse female employment. That's how.
A Reform clock only goes backwards.
Hadn't spotted this in Bagehot. It's been really bugging me- beyond sensible fiscal and monetary policy, the actual policy locker on "cost of living" is incredibly empty. A game of chance.
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
February 9, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Hadn't spotted this in Bagehot. It's been really bugging me- beyond sensible fiscal and monetary policy, the actual policy locker on "cost of living" is incredibly empty. A game of chance.
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
Hadn't spotted this in Bagehot. It's been really bugging me- beyond sensible fiscal and monetary policy, the actual policy locker on "cost of living" is incredibly empty. A game of chance.
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
Be more Roy Jenkins
on the absence of "win wins", Growth, Labour's predicament
open.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Hadn't spotted this in Bagehot. It's been really bugging me- beyond sensible fiscal and monetary policy, the actual policy locker on "cost of living" is incredibly empty. A game of chance.
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
From @gilesyb.bsky.social blog. Which makes a series of great points.
open.substack.com/pub/gileswil...
The story of the past decade has been the fracturing of the right.
For reasons that are beyond me instead of just saying "great, let's win elections and govern well in broadly centre-left ways" some in Labour have instead gone - let's get involved with culture wars and fracture ourselves too.
For reasons that are beyond me instead of just saying "great, let's win elections and govern well in broadly centre-left ways" some in Labour have instead gone - let's get involved with culture wars and fracture ourselves too.
February 9, 2026 at 10:44 AM
The story of the past decade has been the fracturing of the right.
For reasons that are beyond me instead of just saying "great, let's win elections and govern well in broadly centre-left ways" some in Labour have instead gone - let's get involved with culture wars and fracture ourselves too.
For reasons that are beyond me instead of just saying "great, let's win elections and govern well in broadly centre-left ways" some in Labour have instead gone - let's get involved with culture wars and fracture ourselves too.
Reposted by Anthony Painter
Grim morning for the Labour Party but it is healthier to live in a country where decisions have consequences than one where an administration steeped in contact with Epstein sails happily on, even as the resignations pile up across Europe
February 9, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Grim morning for the Labour Party but it is healthier to live in a country where decisions have consequences than one where an administration steeped in contact with Epstein sails happily on, even as the resignations pile up across Europe
Today, as yesterday, the Government is trying to govern from a Blue Labour standpoint with a progressive leaning coalition.
Locked in by a manifesto that prevents any room for strategic manoeuvre.
Whatever those data charts and hero voters said in 2019 it just doesn't work.
Locked in by a manifesto that prevents any room for strategic manoeuvre.
Whatever those data charts and hero voters said in 2019 it just doesn't work.
February 9, 2026 at 8:02 AM
Today, as yesterday, the Government is trying to govern from a Blue Labour standpoint with a progressive leaning coalition.
Locked in by a manifesto that prevents any room for strategic manoeuvre.
Whatever those data charts and hero voters said in 2019 it just doesn't work.
Locked in by a manifesto that prevents any room for strategic manoeuvre.
Whatever those data charts and hero voters said in 2019 it just doesn't work.
2027: Just to say, we're shifting focus to developing our luxury resort model in Dubai. We can achieve greatness there in seven years rather than the ten it would take to make it happen on the moon.
SpaceX shifts focus from something that it will never do on Mars to something it will never do on the Moon.
February 9, 2026 at 7:54 AM
2027: Just to say, we're shifting focus to developing our luxury resort model in Dubai. We can achieve greatness there in seven years rather than the ten it would take to make it happen on the moon.
Imagine if your whole political identity was defined by reacting to an imagined grand liberal conspiracy.
And imagine you were also a Labour MP.
What an odd paranoid existence you would have. Not least as you would despise many people you need to vote for you.
And imagine you were also a Labour MP.
What an odd paranoid existence you would have. Not least as you would despise many people you need to vote for you.
February 8, 2026 at 8:56 PM
Imagine if your whole political identity was defined by reacting to an imagined grand liberal conspiracy.
And imagine you were also a Labour MP.
What an odd paranoid existence you would have. Not least as you would despise many people you need to vote for you.
And imagine you were also a Labour MP.
What an odd paranoid existence you would have. Not least as you would despise many people you need to vote for you.
Creating development corporations with borrowing powers is a no-brainer if we are serious about massively expanding housing.
It is not public debt in any meaningful sense- it would both generate growth and be self-financing.
It's what the Europeans do.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
It is not public debt in any meaningful sense- it would both generate growth and be self-financing.
It's what the Europeans do.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Ease borrowing curbs for development schemes, gilt investors urge Reeves
Aviva and Legal & General warn chancellor that push to boost growth will be inhibited without change
giftarticle.ft.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Creating development corporations with borrowing powers is a no-brainer if we are serious about massively expanding housing.
It is not public debt in any meaningful sense- it would both generate growth and be self-financing.
It's what the Europeans do.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
It is not public debt in any meaningful sense- it would both generate growth and be self-financing.
It's what the Europeans do.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
The Miliband "predator v producer" narrative felt too broad brush re business in the early 2010s.
However, in the age of Musk, Palantir, polluting water cos, Epstein, fossil energy lobbying, it feels like it might be about time for a dusting down.
However, in the age of Musk, Palantir, polluting water cos, Epstein, fossil energy lobbying, it feels like it might be about time for a dusting down.
February 8, 2026 at 9:26 AM
The Miliband "predator v producer" narrative felt too broad brush re business in the early 2010s.
However, in the age of Musk, Palantir, polluting water cos, Epstein, fossil energy lobbying, it feels like it might be about time for a dusting down.
However, in the age of Musk, Palantir, polluting water cos, Epstein, fossil energy lobbying, it feels like it might be about time for a dusting down.
The big lesson for the media and political classes from Mandelson is to stop putting these banal characters on a pedestal.
And here we are, with Cummings, saying nothing more interesting or insightful than the average X alt-right shit-poster. On a pedestal.
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
And here we are, with Cummings, saying nothing more interesting or insightful than the average X alt-right shit-poster. On a pedestal.
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
What is Dominic Cummings up to? | The Observer
Ten years on from Brexit, six years after Barnard Castle, the strategist thinks he has a plan to ‘set things on a profoundly different path’. Why does he still believe he has the answers?
observer.co.uk
February 8, 2026 at 8:37 AM
The big lesson for the media and political classes from Mandelson is to stop putting these banal characters on a pedestal.
And here we are, with Cummings, saying nothing more interesting or insightful than the average X alt-right shit-poster. On a pedestal.
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
And here we are, with Cummings, saying nothing more interesting or insightful than the average X alt-right shit-poster. On a pedestal.
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
I believe the hashtag was #qtwain
Will Keir Starmer use his nuclear option to try to head off a leadership challenge? www.independent.co.uk/voices/keir-...
Will Keir Starmer use his nuclear option to try to head off a leadership challenge?
The prime minister’s allies have hinted that he will call a general election, says John Rentoul
www.independent.co.uk
February 7, 2026 at 4:20 PM
I believe the hashtag was #qtwain
But it's all so complicated. So many trade offs to consider with restoring access to the single market. Blah, blah.
February 7, 2026 at 12:04 PM
But it's all so complicated. So many trade offs to consider with restoring access to the single market. Blah, blah.
Everything is connected. The Epstein operation was one of the sewers where MAGA was mutated. Remember Trump's "you can do anything"?
MAGA then distracted Starmer as he appointed Mandelson.
So here we are. The strategy towards the US must change. This week's piece
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
MAGA then distracted Starmer as he appointed Mandelson.
So here we are. The strategy towards the US must change. This week's piece
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
The Reckoning
The Epstein network signifies America's elite moral collapse and a "you can do anything" impunity that fuelled MAGA. Europe must respond by reducing US dependence and strengthening its own democracy.
open.substack.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Everything is connected. The Epstein operation was one of the sewers where MAGA was mutated. Remember Trump's "you can do anything"?
MAGA then distracted Starmer as he appointed Mandelson.
So here we are. The strategy towards the US must change. This week's piece
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
MAGA then distracted Starmer as he appointed Mandelson.
So here we are. The strategy towards the US must change. This week's piece
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
This deal between Villa and Liverpool doesn't reflect well on either club- if Elliott plays 10 games Villa has to pay #lfc £35m. So they are basically holding him hostage and refusing to play him to try to get Liverpool to discount. Especially bad faith from Villa.
share.google/c6t4Qz5AJSoH...
share.google/c6t4Qz5AJSoH...
Harvey Elliott: Unai Emery accepts Aston Villa are 'damaging' Liverpool loanee over loan terms - but says Arne Slot's side hold key to his future
Harvey Elliott is on loan at Aston Villa at Liverpool but the deal will become permanent if he plays 10 games for the club; Unai Emery has used the midfielder sparingly because of this permanent claus...
share.google
February 7, 2026 at 7:37 AM
This deal between Villa and Liverpool doesn't reflect well on either club- if Elliott plays 10 games Villa has to pay #lfc £35m. So they are basically holding him hostage and refusing to play him to try to get Liverpool to discount. Especially bad faith from Villa.
share.google/c6t4Qz5AJSoH...
share.google/c6t4Qz5AJSoH...
It is terribly sad that the former PM feels the need to say this in the face of low life blowhards.
We cannot allow this to even be a question.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
We cannot allow this to even be a question.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘I’m British, English and British Asian’, says Rishi Sunak in riposte to racially charged debate over identity
Podcaster claimed former prime minister not English because he is ‘brown-skinned Hindu’
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 7:06 AM
It is terribly sad that the former PM feels the need to say this in the face of low life blowhards.
We cannot allow this to even be a question.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
We cannot allow this to even be a question.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
All of these anti corruption measures are perfectly sensible.
But they don't get to the heart of the issue. Mandelson was appointed because the Government was mesmerised by Trump. A firewall with MAGA is the key urgency.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
But they don't get to the heart of the issue. Mandelson was appointed because the Government was mesmerised by Trump. A firewall with MAGA is the key urgency.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We owe it to Epstein’s victims and to British democracy to demand historic change | Gordon Brown
The abuse of women by figures such as Epstein, and of political power by the likes of Mandelson, must be confronted. As far as I am able, I will play my part, says former UK prime minister Gordon Brow...
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:22 PM
All of these anti corruption measures are perfectly sensible.
But they don't get to the heart of the issue. Mandelson was appointed because the Government was mesmerised by Trump. A firewall with MAGA is the key urgency.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
But they don't get to the heart of the issue. Mandelson was appointed because the Government was mesmerised by Trump. A firewall with MAGA is the key urgency.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Epstein's operation is at the heart of US decay. And Europe needs to wise up.
New Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
New Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
The Reckoning
The Epstein network signifies America's elite moral collapse and a "you can do anything" impunity that fuelled MAGA. Europe must respond by reducing US dependence and strengthening its own democracy.
open.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Epstein's operation is at the heart of US decay. And Europe needs to wise up.
New Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
New Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/anthonyp...
🚨The Reckoning🚨
New Substack. The past week has shown that the Epstein exploitation network is at the heart of American moral collapse and decline. The UK and Europe need an urgent new approach.
anthonypainter.substack.com/p/the-reckon...
New Substack. The past week has shown that the Epstein exploitation network is at the heart of American moral collapse and decline. The UK and Europe need an urgent new approach.
anthonypainter.substack.com/p/the-reckon...
The Reckoning
The Epstein network signifies America's elite moral collapse and a "you can do anything" impunity that fuelled MAGA. Europe must respond by reducing US dependence and strengthening its own democracy.
anthonypainter.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:58 AM
🚨The Reckoning🚨
New Substack. The past week has shown that the Epstein exploitation network is at the heart of American moral collapse and decline. The UK and Europe need an urgent new approach.
anthonypainter.substack.com/p/the-reckon...
New Substack. The past week has shown that the Epstein exploitation network is at the heart of American moral collapse and decline. The UK and Europe need an urgent new approach.
anthonypainter.substack.com/p/the-reckon...
I mean, of course Parliament should be moved to Birmingham. Manchester is not even on HS2.
February 6, 2026 at 11:04 AM
I mean, of course Parliament should be moved to Birmingham. Manchester is not even on HS2.
This is going to sound utterly pretentious because, well, it is. But a great use case I've found for genAI is as a reading companion to Habermas. I'm sure the great man would loathe that but, well, such is the nature of postmodern communicative action.
February 6, 2026 at 7:58 AM
This is going to sound utterly pretentious because, well, it is. But a great use case I've found for genAI is as a reading companion to Habermas. I'm sure the great man would loathe that but, well, such is the nature of postmodern communicative action.
If there's a white supremacist in the neighbourhood can they pop round with ketamine and hugs?
February 6, 2026 at 7:48 AM
If there's a white supremacist in the neighbourhood can they pop round with ketamine and hugs?