Will Cooling
@willcooling.bsky.social
Writes & Hosts the It Could Be Said substack & podcast; https://itcouldbesaid.substack.com/
Has contributed to a variety of outlets on politics, sport or pop culture
Contact email is w.cooling[at]gmail.com
All opinions his own & not of any employer
Has contributed to a variety of outlets on politics, sport or pop culture
Contact email is w.cooling[at]gmail.com
All opinions his own & not of any employer
I really don't think people appreciate just how bad Reeves's first year as Chancellor actually was
A surprisingly bad set of labour market stats this morning. The story I was prepared for was "some weakening, but the shake out from the early part of the year is behind us". But it's worse than that - payroll jobs falling again, unemployment now up at 5%.
Here is our PN
Here is our PN
November 11, 2025 at 9:09 AM
I really don't think people appreciate just how bad Reeves's first year as Chancellor actually was
Reposted by Will Cooling
Robbie Gibb issue is just one case where Labour has left in place people appointed by the Tories : Arif Ahmed at OfS, Kishwer and Reindorf at EHRC. Real self-sabotage.
November 11, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Robbie Gibb issue is just one case where Labour has left in place people appointed by the Tories : Arif Ahmed at OfS, Kishwer and Reindorf at EHRC. Real self-sabotage.
Some people still claim that Starmer's handling of Trump is one of his successes.....
Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for $1 billion over the documentary about him.
Trying to control a media outlet by bullying. Worked in the US where all the craven media capitulated. Will it work in the UK?
Trying to control a media outlet by bullying. Worked in the US where all the craven media capitulated. Will it work in the UK?
BBC Trump scandal - latest: US president threatens to sue for $1 billion over misleading speech edit - Yahoo News UK
The BBC has apologised for an "error of judgement" that led to the resignation of two senior executives.
uk.news.yahoo.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Some people still claim that Starmer's handling of Trump is one of his successes.....
Reposted by Will Cooling
Just somebody get a restraining order to stop this mental nazi going anywhere near the Cenotaph. I'm openly begging now.
November 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Just somebody get a restraining order to stop this mental nazi going anywhere near the Cenotaph. I'm openly begging now.
Reposted by Will Cooling
The two child cap is a test of the government’s seriousness: if you are serious about child poverty, you lift it, and if you are serious about not wasting money, you don’t fritter away cash on dumb things like vouchers to try and manage the PLP.
If the government chooses to keep the 2 child limit and spend money on vouchers and parenting programmes instead, child poverty will rise and this will be a conscious and deliberate political choice in defiance of all the evidence
Scrapping the cap entirely is both good policy *and* good politics.
Half measures will "save" some money short-term, but will piss *everybody* off and still leave very large numbers of children suffering from a policy designed to make them poorer.
inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Half measures will "save" some money short-term, but will piss *everybody* off and still leave very large numbers of children suffering from a policy designed to make them poorer.
inews.co.uk/news/politic...
November 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
The two child cap is a test of the government’s seriousness: if you are serious about child poverty, you lift it, and if you are serious about not wasting money, you don’t fritter away cash on dumb things like vouchers to try and manage the PLP.
Reposted by Will Cooling
This isn't a revolutionary government. But as a Labour government, it does need to be the people's representative to the system. So far it's acted as the system's representative to the people - "no, you can't have that, tough choices". And time is running out to deliver outcomes by the election
November 10, 2025 at 8:36 AM
This isn't a revolutionary government. But as a Labour government, it does need to be the people's representative to the system. So far it's acted as the system's representative to the people - "no, you can't have that, tough choices". And time is running out to deliver outcomes by the election
Worth noting that the Biden administration could have found some pretext to stop the sale, especially when Musk was begging for it to be stopped, but instead just stood there drooling as a key social network was turned over to the hard right
I don't think this is hyperbole btw.
Things are spinning out pretty badly across multiple nations, obviously including the US, at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Twitter and elite whatsapps clearly key drivers.
Things are spinning out pretty badly across multiple nations, obviously including the US, at a time when the stakes have never been higher. Twitter and elite whatsapps clearly key drivers.
twitter being bought and turned into a propaganda machine for fascism, which is directly pumped into every journalist in the world's brain, is one of the worst things to happen in the last few years. we might not survive it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Worth noting that the Biden administration could have found some pretext to stop the sale, especially when Musk was begging for it to be stopped, but instead just stood there drooling as a key social network was turned over to the hard right
Reposted by Will Cooling
We've been told for decades that 16 year olds are super prepared for the vote - overflowing with knowledge, enthusiasm, and electoral vim.
Now they're about to get it, it'll all be about training, citizenship classes, outreach programmes and the rest...
Now they're about to get it, it'll all be about training, citizenship classes, outreach programmes and the rest...
'Votes at 16' is coming, but how prepared are young people?
Next Thursday, join Hattie Andrews @politicsproject.bsky.social, Emma Connolly @uclspeechlab.bsky.social and Hans Svennevig @citizenshippgceioe.bsky.social @ioe.bsky.social at this in-person event with @uclspp.bsky.social.
Sign up 👇
Next Thursday, join Hattie Andrews @politicsproject.bsky.social, Emma Connolly @uclspeechlab.bsky.social and Hans Svennevig @citizenshippgceioe.bsky.social @ioe.bsky.social at this in-person event with @uclspp.bsky.social.
Sign up 👇
Votes at 16: Is Citizenship Education up to Scratch?
The UK is lowering the voting age to 16, but how prepared are young people to take part in elections?
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:14 AM
We've been told for decades that 16 year olds are super prepared for the vote - overflowing with knowledge, enthusiasm, and electoral vim.
Now they're about to get it, it'll all be about training, citizenship classes, outreach programmes and the rest...
Now they're about to get it, it'll all be about training, citizenship classes, outreach programmes and the rest...
Lot's of Panoroma fans at the ball game
November 9, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Lot's of Panoroma fans at the ball game
Reposted by Will Cooling
European officials and colleagues who hanker after a world in which America returns to its pre-2015 centrist "normal" are kidding themselves
November 9, 2025 at 9:41 PM
European officials and colleagues who hanker after a world in which America returns to its pre-2015 centrist "normal" are kidding themselves
Reposted by Will Cooling
Reposted by Will Cooling
Davie's resignation statement suggests he'd just had enough rather than feeling he had to resign over this particular issue.
November 9, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Davie's resignation statement suggests he'd just had enough rather than feeling he had to resign over this particular issue.
I think it's time to apologise to Liverpool fans who's freak out over Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving has been thoroughly vindicated
That's the worst I've seen Liverpool play in a long time. So weird how good teams can just suddenly stop working.
November 9, 2025 at 5:40 PM
I think it's time to apologise to Liverpool fans who's freak out over Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving has been thoroughly vindicated
Reposted by Will Cooling
I genuinely think there is a case that anyone using an AI product of this kind should face a short prison sentence. It's vandalism, just like painting on a wall or smashing a bus stop.
And you don’t even need an actually good bit of tech, which “Objector” may or may not be, to do this! If you just ask the free version of any genAI to do something plausible it still louses up everyone else’s productivity to work out it is bollocks!
The automated problem factory!
November 9, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I genuinely think there is a case that anyone using an AI product of this kind should face a short prison sentence. It's vandalism, just like painting on a wall or smashing a bus stop.
Reposted by Will Cooling
Black American soldiers literally dug these WWII graves. Traumatic. To acknowledge that fact at a cemetery they helped construct is something the Heritage Foundation cannot accept. As Veterans Day approaches, never forget that this country both compels and disrespects Black military service. Always.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Black American soldiers literally dug these WWII graves. Traumatic. To acknowledge that fact at a cemetery they helped construct is something the Heritage Foundation cannot accept. As Veterans Day approaches, never forget that this country both compels and disrespects Black military service. Always.
Okay this won't apply to the other three nations, but I do think the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Euros (up to disgraceful scenes at and after the final) recaptured that spirit in England
I was reflecting earlier - having rewatched the Mr Bean section of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony (which is perfect in many ways) - how Britain really hasn't experienced much of a sustained, unifying feelgood factor since then.
November 9, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Okay this won't apply to the other three nations, but I do think the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Euros (up to disgraceful scenes at and after the final) recaptured that spirit in England
Reposted by Will Cooling
Having driven this country to the most pronounced political age polarisation it's ever seen, the boomers now act shocked that the average junior staff employee is noticeably to the left of the average voter.
Above all, it's just this continuing conservative/reactionary fury across multiple creative industries that the people who produce the stuff they want to consume do in fact sometimes have some say over that production.
November 8, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Having driven this country to the most pronounced political age polarisation it's ever seen, the boomers now act shocked that the average junior staff employee is noticeably to the left of the average voter.
Reposted by Will Cooling
The OpenAI CFO comments about a government backstop are of potential concern-OpenAI is heavily leveraged with $1.4T in infrastructure commitments and for now $20B in annual revenues. Unless revenues climb dramatically not clear how they pay their debt.
There is no fail without AI
There is no fail without AI
Why OpenAI went into crisis PR mode Thursday | CNN Business
OpenAI, the world’s leader and ChatGPT parent company, went into panic mode on Thursday over what it said was a very public misstatement.
www.cnn.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The OpenAI CFO comments about a government backstop are of potential concern-OpenAI is heavily leveraged with $1.4T in infrastructure commitments and for now $20B in annual revenues. Unless revenues climb dramatically not clear how they pay their debt.
There is no fail without AI
There is no fail without AI
The personal allowance is still too high. Should be around £8000-£9000.
"Waah we're taxed enough already, they've frozen the personal allowance for the past few years" OK, but what happened to the personal allowance in the ten years before that. And also what happened to income tax rates in general in the thirty years before *that*
November 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
The personal allowance is still too high. Should be around £8000-£9000.
Reposted by Will Cooling
I think it’s worse than the 70s because then it was a bottom up phenomenon, and while their response was often inadequate, there was at least a sense that the elite were pushing back. Now it’s much more top down and the attitude of elite liberal circles is “leave me alone, I CBA to deal with it”
November 8, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I think it’s worse than the 70s because then it was a bottom up phenomenon, and while their response was often inadequate, there was at least a sense that the elite were pushing back. Now it’s much more top down and the attitude of elite liberal circles is “leave me alone, I CBA to deal with it”
Reposted by Will Cooling
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme.
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I made a “how do you do, fellow kids?” joke to someone in their mid 20s who, it turns out, was too young to have heard of that meme.
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
So “how do you do, fellow kids?” is now an example of “how do you do, fellow kids?”
Great post from Sam. Hard to square the picture he paints with Mahmood having been promoted in the last reshuffle for having got the department under control
New post just out:
Why the criminal justice system should be top of No. 10's "shit list".
No part of the public sector is more broken or brings with it greater political risk. As we saw these past two weeks.
It desperately needs a new approach.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/f...
Why the criminal justice system should be top of No. 10's "shit list".
No part of the public sector is more broken or brings with it greater political risk. As we saw these past two weeks.
It desperately needs a new approach.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/f...
Flashing Red
Why the criminal justice system should be top of No. 10's "shit list"
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Great post from Sam. Hard to square the picture he paints with Mahmood having been promoted in the last reshuffle for having got the department under control
Reposted by Will Cooling
This would be a more convincing argument if Keir Starmer had not himself made a whole series of promises which he then declared completely undeliverable as soon as he became leader www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Greens’ ‘undeliverable’ promises will let voters down, says Labour minister
Exclusive: Darren Jones says Labour has to convince young people it is ‘modern party of the future’
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM
This would be a more convincing argument if Keir Starmer had not himself made a whole series of promises which he then declared completely undeliverable as soon as he became leader www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Burn. It. With. Fire.
Jesus Christ
It said it was sending him a real person to help and then went LOL no just kidding I can’t do that
It said it was sending him a real person to help and then went LOL no just kidding I can’t do that
November 7, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Burn. It. With. Fire.