Lavenham Teacher
@robknapp.bsky.social
Primary School Assistant Head Teacher, politics obsessive, Oxford United fan, wildlife enthusiast and lover of science fiction.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
"People are not imagining that Trump is becoming more out of control, that he’s becoming more misogynistic, that he lacks impulse control," @davidrlurie.com tells @gregsargent.bsky.social. Great conversation about an aging president raging against facts and reality. newrepublic.com/article/2037...
Trump’s Fury at NYT Explodes Amid Fresh Concerns About Mental Decline
As Trump’s rage at the paper of record reveals too much, the author of a piece on Trump as a “lame duck dictator” explains how devastating it is for him that his carefully cultivated illusion of stren...
newrepublic.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
"People are not imagining that Trump is becoming more out of control, that he’s becoming more misogynistic, that he lacks impulse control," @davidrlurie.com tells @gregsargent.bsky.social. Great conversation about an aging president raging against facts and reality. newrepublic.com/article/2037...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
If you would like to know the actual problems with the budget I set it all out in detail here.
As Stephen says the problem is the headroom isn't really there. Not that Reeves had loads of spare cash...
samf.substack.com/p/survival-f...
As Stephen says the problem is the headroom isn't really there. Not that Reeves had loads of spare cash...
samf.substack.com/p/survival-f...
December 1, 2025 at 11:26 AM
If you would like to know the actual problems with the budget I set it all out in detail here.
As Stephen says the problem is the headroom isn't really there. Not that Reeves had loads of spare cash...
samf.substack.com/p/survival-f...
As Stephen says the problem is the headroom isn't really there. Not that Reeves had loads of spare cash...
samf.substack.com/p/survival-f...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
There is an actual interesting little deceit in the budget, namely ther have the OBR still forecasting based on increasing net immigration back to 300-350k whilst the Home Secretary is promising to bring it down from 200k, which does dissolve about half the headroom, but somehow we're doing vibes.
Think this is exactly right - political journalism that is completely abstracted from policy, which was not the norm before 2017, has become the default. Impossible to have a serious attempt to either shrink what the state does or widen the tax base (have to do at least one) on that basis.
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
December 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
There is an actual interesting little deceit in the budget, namely ther have the OBR still forecasting based on increasing net immigration back to 300-350k whilst the Home Secretary is promising to bring it down from 200k, which does dissolve about half the headroom, but somehow we're doing vibes.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
December 1, 2025 at 1:09 PM
All this budget news, claims, counter claims is confusing, but two things of consequence.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
1. We're all talking about that, not any financial benefits (or losses) of the budget.
2. Yet more focus on the very weird few weeks and politics of it all. Starting to feel dangerously like a norm.
I fear the slow collapse of the Remainiac's car sticker and the Peace, Love and Understanding one might be an unsubtle comment on the state of the world @dorianlynskey.bsky.social @iandunt.bsky.social @pimlicat.bsky.social @sturdyalex.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 6:31 AM
I fear the slow collapse of the Remainiac's car sticker and the Peace, Love and Understanding one might be an unsubtle comment on the state of the world @dorianlynskey.bsky.social @iandunt.bsky.social @pimlicat.bsky.social @sturdyalex.bsky.social
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
This is an excellent, level-headed, informative piece. I'd kill for a government which could discuss the issue with the same sense of objectivity and calm.
Here's this week's column. Please - please - can we stop talking about migration in a way that's completely detached from the facts? www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Net migration is plummeting. Why can’t Labour say so? | Heather Stewart
An honest debate is needed on this polarising topic as sectors such as social care struggle with recruitment
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 12:48 PM
This is an excellent, level-headed, informative piece. I'd kill for a government which could discuss the issue with the same sense of objectivity and calm.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Again, just Glasman's fundamental belief that working class means, very specifically, a man with the appearance and views of Lee Anderson but who actually is a miner not playing one on TV.
November 30, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Again, just Glasman's fundamental belief that working class means, very specifically, a man with the appearance and views of Lee Anderson but who actually is a miner not playing one on TV.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Everyone should read this terrifying thread about Hegseth’s published views wrt war crimes. It’s pretty fucking radical …. We needed to hear about this in his confirmation hearing.
A chapter in Hegseth’s book is literally titled “More Lethality, Less Lawyers.”
It’s almost as if there were signs!
It’s almost as if there were signs!
November 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Thing is, we DID hear about it at his confirmation hearing.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Every single senator who voted to confirm Hegseth knew he held these views about the laws of war.
They voted to confirm him anyway.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Even a decade ago I'd have far sooner predicted that the US would succumb to authoritarian rule than that it would become a state where vaccines were unavailable.
But if we don't throw RFK Jr. out on his ass, we're headed there fast.
But if we don't throw RFK Jr. out on his ass, we're headed there fast.
RFK Jr. is overhauling the program that helps preserve Americans' access to vaccines
A Kennedy adviser said he wants to preserve the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The health secretary's anti-vaccine allies prefer it collapse.
www.politico.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Even a decade ago I'd have far sooner predicted that the US would succumb to authoritarian rule than that it would become a state where vaccines were unavailable.
But if we don't throw RFK Jr. out on his ass, we're headed there fast.
But if we don't throw RFK Jr. out on his ass, we're headed there fast.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
The deranged madman now threatens to blow up commercial airliners flying in and out of Venezuela.
November 29, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The deranged madman now threatens to blow up commercial airliners flying in and out of Venezuela.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
November 29, 2025 at 5:08 PM
'We have historically high welfare spending.' No we don't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
'We have a historically high proportion of working-age people not actually working.' No we don't.
'The number of Britons emigrating is skyrocketing.' No it isn't.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
This is genuinely big news. Shldnt be but is. Republicans are challenging Trump now because he seems weak. No one wantst to back a weak horse. Trump looks like the weak horse.
November 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This is genuinely big news. Shldnt be but is. Republicans are challenging Trump now because he seems weak. No one wantst to back a weak horse. Trump looks like the weak horse.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
November 29, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
So how exactly are they meant to get to them? Many are placed in areas without accessible transport links. They can't afford to pay for journeys themselves because of how little support they get.
Yet again Labour choosing to pander to Reform than think of consequences.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Yet again Labour choosing to pander to Reform than think of consequences.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Government to ban asylum seekers from using taxis
The ban is set to come in February and any exemptions will have to be signed off by the Home Office.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 7:47 AM
So how exactly are they meant to get to them? Many are placed in areas without accessible transport links. They can't afford to pay for journeys themselves because of how little support they get.
Yet again Labour choosing to pander to Reform than think of consequences.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Yet again Labour choosing to pander to Reform than think of consequences.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
‘Remigration’ is a term that comes out of the European far right. Its use by the DHS account is a sign of democratic and epistemic collapse
November 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
‘Remigration’ is a term that comes out of the European far right. Its use by the DHS account is a sign of democratic and epistemic collapse
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Welfare spending is currently 1.2% of GDP *lower* than in 2012-13.
Abolition of two-child cap is best viewed as a correction than an increase.
Abolition of two-child cap is best viewed as a correction than an increase.
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️
buff.ly/s5mz97u
Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️
buff.ly/s5mz97u
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Welfare spending is currently 1.2% of GDP *lower* than in 2012-13.
Abolition of two-child cap is best viewed as a correction than an increase.
Abolition of two-child cap is best viewed as a correction than an increase.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Also the Romans literally had a welfare system that included cash transfers for poor children. (And subsidised grain for low income workers...).
There was no state. Who does she think crucified him, an anarchist collective?
November 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Also the Romans literally had a welfare system that included cash transfers for poor children. (And subsidised grain for low income workers...).
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Come for the thread, stay for the description of Badenoch as a "SparkNotes ideologue".
I say this as someone who is very much anti-intellectual - few politicians in this country did more to make anti-intellectualism central to political communication than Tony Blair
He wasn't anti-intellectual himself, but New Labour was very self-conscious about cultivating a "common touch"
He wasn't anti-intellectual himself, but New Labour was very self-conscious about cultivating a "common touch"
November 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Come for the thread, stay for the description of Badenoch as a "SparkNotes ideologue".
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
If the U.S. was at war, Pete Hegseth's order would be a war crime, a military lawyer said. Instead, it might just be murder. wapo.st/49KbUJ1
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:07 PM
If the U.S. was at war, Pete Hegseth's order would be a war crime, a military lawyer said. Instead, it might just be murder. wapo.st/49KbUJ1
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
the fact that the news media isn't blasting across every front page of the country how completely unhinged the president is on a 24/7/365 basis, tells me that the news media is completely complicit in Trump's regime.
November 28, 2025 at 5:13 AM
the fact that the news media isn't blasting across every front page of the country how completely unhinged the president is on a 24/7/365 basis, tells me that the news media is completely complicit in Trump's regime.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
November 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
70% of the additional spending from removing the two-child limit will go to families who are in work. This is targeting support for low-income working households who are being priced out of a decent standard of living despite doing everything asked of them.
November 27, 2025 at 4:38 PM
70% of the additional spending from removing the two-child limit will go to families who are in work. This is targeting support for low-income working households who are being priced out of a decent standard of living despite doing everything asked of them.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
Having watch child poverty rise like a slow-motion car crash since the two-child limit was introduced, sat in meetings up and down the country, in foodbanks, in schools, to work out how to get child poverty down, the idea that this undoing this policy is 'PLP management' is a joke.
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Having watch child poverty rise like a slow-motion car crash since the two-child limit was introduced, sat in meetings up and down the country, in foodbanks, in schools, to work out how to get child poverty down, the idea that this undoing this policy is 'PLP management' is a joke.
Reposted by Lavenham Teacher
What folks need to realize about "peace talks" is that this is all theater for Washington. Ukraine knows that Russia has no intention of stopping the war, and the Russians know the Ukrainians know that. So this is just all a performance for Trump, hoping he blames the other for the lack of peace.
November 26, 2025 at 1:24 PM
What folks need to realize about "peace talks" is that this is all theater for Washington. Ukraine knows that Russia has no intention of stopping the war, and the Russians know the Ukrainians know that. So this is just all a performance for Trump, hoping he blames the other for the lack of peace.