Indy
@indy.bsky.social
Coach. Strategy, AI-Human and more.
Politics Somewhat Meta
(if you know, you know)
Politics Somewhat Meta
(if you know, you know)
Pinned
Amongst all the other things, the sheer short-termism is notable. In 6 months time, the fact that Badenoch sacked Jenrick before he could jump likely will not matter at all - because he was going to jump anyway and the underlying causes of that won't have shifted.
This intro to David Frost's Telegraph column sums up so much that is wrong with British politics.
January 16, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Amongst all the other things, the sheer short-termism is notable. In 6 months time, the fact that Badenoch sacked Jenrick before he could jump likely will not matter at all - because he was going to jump anyway and the underlying causes of that won't have shifted.
Fred Dibnah will return in Avengers Doomsday
January 16, 2026 at 8:36 AM
Fred Dibnah will return in Avengers Doomsday
Reposted by Indy
Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
NEW
The UK constitution is even more vulnerable than the US constitution
In the face of an illiberal radical assault, what has happened politically in America could easily happen in the UK
By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
The UK constitution is even more vulnerable than the US constitution
In the face of an illiberal radical assault, what has happened politically in America could easily happen in the UK
By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
January 15, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.
PSA: The Righteous Mind by Haidt was not a good book and the empirical work it was based on was not high quality.
(I don't expect anyone to just believe me on this, so do the digging yourself, just remember to search outside of poli sci for decades of existing literature on the topic of values.)
(I don't expect anyone to just believe me on this, so do the digging yourself, just remember to search outside of poli sci for decades of existing literature on the topic of values.)
January 14, 2026 at 4:37 PM
PSA: The Righteous Mind by Haidt was not a good book and the empirical work it was based on was not high quality.
(I don't expect anyone to just believe me on this, so do the digging yourself, just remember to search outside of poli sci for decades of existing literature on the topic of values.)
(I don't expect anyone to just believe me on this, so do the digging yourself, just remember to search outside of poli sci for decades of existing literature on the topic of values.)
It's characteristic of our current political moment that Reform have announced this and received no serious questioning from the media about either the moral or the economic consequences.
A sobering thought: were Nigel Farage to become Prime Minister then the terrifying scenes from Minneapolis would become terrifying scenes here.
January 14, 2026 at 7:32 AM
It's characteristic of our current political moment that Reform have announced this and received no serious questioning from the media about either the moral or the economic consequences.
I'm much more curious about the situation with the Tokyo-Nagoya line than a lot of commentary seems to be. Seems to be a huge outlier given the other Japanese projects on this list. cc @preachypreach.bsky.social
This is *before* the new budget increases, which could take the total cost over £100bn www.ft.com/content/3f73...
January 13, 2026 at 1:15 PM
I'm much more curious about the situation with the Tokyo-Nagoya line than a lot of commentary seems to be. Seems to be a huge outlier given the other Japanese projects on this list. cc @preachypreach.bsky.social
Zahawi is banking on his money to keep him out of Farage's deportation camps. I suppose it will be some satisfaction to tell him he was predictably wrong when he gets put in the cell next to me. Yet at the same time, not that much satisfaction.
January 12, 2026 at 12:01 PM
Zahawi is banking on his money to keep him out of Farage's deportation camps. I suppose it will be some satisfaction to tell him he was predictably wrong when he gets put in the cell next to me. Yet at the same time, not that much satisfaction.
Reposted by Indy
"...and I like that."
Nadhim Zahawi MP: In Farage’s Britain, it would be legal to discriminate against me on the grounds of race
conservativehome.com/2015/03/23/n...
conservativehome.com/2015/03/23/n...
January 12, 2026 at 11:33 AM
"...and I like that."
It's so very grim that large sections of Reform would like to deport Zahawi, but he does this anyway.
NEW: Former Tory Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi defects to Reform.
Most senior member of the last Conservative govt yet to join the party.
Most senior member of the last Conservative govt yet to join the party.
January 12, 2026 at 11:28 AM
It's so very grim that large sections of Reform would like to deport Zahawi, but he does this anyway.
Reposted by Indy
This is essential: a democracy *must* know who is paying its politicians and where that money is coming from.
Cryptocurrency is *designed* to make that impossible.
The whole point is to lift payments outside the scrutiny of the state.
Cryptocurrency is *designed* to make that impossible.
The whole point is to lift payments outside the scrutiny of the state.
Seven Select Committee Chairs have written jointly to the Prime Minister calling for an explicit ban on cryptocurrency donations in the forthcoming Elections Bill.
This is not an argument about digital assets. It is an argument about democratic integrity.
This is not an argument about digital assets. It is an argument about democratic integrity.
January 12, 2026 at 9:24 AM
This is essential: a democracy *must* know who is paying its politicians and where that money is coming from.
Cryptocurrency is *designed* to make that impossible.
The whole point is to lift payments outside the scrutiny of the state.
Cryptocurrency is *designed* to make that impossible.
The whole point is to lift payments outside the scrutiny of the state.
Reposted by Indy
The "did you know Mississippi is richer than Germany?" posts will continue until morale improves
The catalog of ICE abuses in Noah Smith’s article is staggering.
January 11, 2026 at 5:32 PM
The "did you know Mississippi is richer than Germany?" posts will continue until morale improves
Reposted by Indy
Latest from me, on an eternally overlooked, sniffed-at issue that is politically huge www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The UK’s high streets have reached a tipping point – and Reform will reap the benefits | John Harris
When even Poundland and charity shops are closing, we’re near a point of no return. But there is hope, says Guardian columnist John Harris
www.theguardian.com
January 11, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Latest from me, on an eternally overlooked, sniffed-at issue that is politically huge www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Indy
It's depressing how much UK political messaging relies, not on promising better services, but by planting the suspicion that someone, somewhere, is getting something you didn't. We're told to expect next to nothing from the state, to the extent that supporting vulnerable children is framed as theft.
Third time in not much more than a week for the "falconry, ski-ing & horses" anonymous brief on SEND. What's worse: the Westminster insiders who put this toxic, nasty crap about or the journalists who blithely repeat it? PS ask an OT professional about autism, dyspraxia, core stability & horses
January 11, 2026 at 12:19 PM
It's depressing how much UK political messaging relies, not on promising better services, but by planting the suspicion that someone, somewhere, is getting something you didn't. We're told to expect next to nothing from the state, to the extent that supporting vulnerable children is framed as theft.
It's noticeable as well that lots of people were very keen to hold the Greens to account for their "unrealistic" policies, but somehow the fact that the Reform agenda leads to an economic crash is... not worth pursuing?
The immigration doom loop in full swing.
Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically.
(1/3)
archive.ph/pyVLg
Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically.
(1/3)
archive.ph/pyVLg
January 10, 2026 at 9:18 AM
It's noticeable as well that lots of people were very keen to hold the Greens to account for their "unrealistic" policies, but somehow the fact that the Reform agenda leads to an economic crash is... not worth pursuing?
Reposted by Indy
Some men would rather build an archipelago in the sea rather than admit they were wrong about Brexit
The former Chair of Northern Rock has had another bright idea.
January 9, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Some men would rather build an archipelago in the sea rather than admit they were wrong about Brexit
I wonder if MN became the target because it’s a big enough blue state to matter, but actually has quite a thinly spread population and “state government capacity.”
They’re targeting and invading Minnesota. Cutting off all of our federal funding and flooding our state with federal agents with no purpose. They’re here to terrorize, cause chaos to justify their unlawful cruelty. Enough.
Federal immigration officers are pulling out of a Louisiana crackdown and heading to Minneapolis in an abrupt pivot from an operation that drew protests around New Orleans and aimed to make thousands of arrests, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
January 10, 2026 at 8:51 AM
I wonder if MN became the target because it’s a big enough blue state to matter, but actually has quite a thinly spread population and “state government capacity.”
What’s amazing is this doom loop (absent huge random events) is already locked in for the best part of 10 years - this government and the following Farage administration.
The immigration doom loop in full swing.
Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically.
(1/3)
archive.ph/pyVLg
Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically.
(1/3)
archive.ph/pyVLg
January 10, 2026 at 8:43 AM
What’s amazing is this doom loop (absent huge random events) is already locked in for the best part of 10 years - this government and the following Farage administration.
This is how you can tell Starmer’s advisors are geniuses. Takes real talent to box a country into decline this comprehensively.
The immigration doom loop in full swing.
Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically.
(1/3)
archive.ph/pyVLg
Chasing the xenophobes is a doomed strategy both economically *and* politically.
(1/3)
archive.ph/pyVLg
January 10, 2026 at 8:15 AM
This is how you can tell Starmer’s advisors are geniuses. Takes real talent to box a country into decline this comprehensively.
The oddity is, if I think about my grandfather (RIP), who would seem to pretty canonically fit into Akehurst's concept of the voter he would have liked (coal miner, White English, nuclear family, lifelong union man and Labour voter) he would in fact not like Akehurst at all.
But not the voters who theoretically might have voted for Labour in the 1970s and who he views as its only true core.
January 9, 2026 at 5:25 PM
The oddity is, if I think about my grandfather (RIP), who would seem to pretty canonically fit into Akehurst's concept of the voter he would have liked (coal miner, White English, nuclear family, lifelong union man and Labour voter) he would in fact not like Akehurst at all.
Fantastic news, we might actually get some further thinking on recessions that goes beyond “yay! creative destruction!”
Economists are facing a recession
(My column this week)
1st 300 clicks free to read...
as.ft.com/r/6d67877e-4...
(My column this week)
1st 300 clicks free to read...
as.ft.com/r/6d67877e-4...
Economists are facing a recession
[FREE TO READ] Demand for their work is down as a hiring crunch hits
as.ft.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Fantastic news, we might actually get some further thinking on recessions that goes beyond “yay! creative destruction!”
Reposted by Indy
Lads
The only reason the government is still posting on X is that it is the only place SpAds feel important.
The only reason the government is still posting on X is that it is the only place SpAds feel important.
January 8, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Lads
The only reason the government is still posting on X is that it is the only place SpAds feel important.
The only reason the government is still posting on X is that it is the only place SpAds feel important.
So it turns out the pay at Buccees is better than being an engineer in Europe, but the trade off is government forces might shoot you because they are having a bad day.
January 7, 2026 at 10:06 PM
So it turns out the pay at Buccees is better than being an engineer in Europe, but the trade off is government forces might shoot you because they are having a bad day.
Reposted by Indy
Chekhov's paramilitary
January 7, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Chekhov's paramilitary
Reposted by Indy
The problem with the United States constitution is that it is far too dependent on the "good chap" theory
This is the kind of thing that the Founders explicitly designed our constitution to prevent; a president who has seized wealth for his own benefit without any intervention from Congress, which in our system is supposed to be the holder of the power of the purse.
Trump on Venezuela oil:
January 7, 2026 at 12:55 PM
The problem with the United States constitution is that it is far too dependent on the "good chap" theory