Diarmuid McDonnell
LightNews LightNews
diarmuidmc.bsky.social
Diarmuid McDonnell
@diarmuidmc.bsky.social
350 followers 1.1K following 16 posts
Reader in Social Statistics @UWS. Charities and social statistics, two daughters and a wife is enough to keep me going.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Diarmuid McDonnell
stephenkb.bsky.social
There's a comically common school of thought in the government which basically goes 'UK state doesn't do enough. Doesn't build enough. Doesn't have enough skilled teachers in certain subjects. Doesn't provide enough for Neets. Current level of money fine, and also can do this with fewer people'.
May 8, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Diarmuid McDonnell
jonnelledge.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
When the Labour Party returned to office in 1997, a shocking 27 per cent of British children were living in relative poverty. Three terms of carefully targeting benefits and tax credits later, that proportion had almost halved. By 2010, even though the number of children in Britain had increased, the number growing up in poverty had fallen by nearly a million. It was one of the Blair and Brown governments’ signature achievements. It’s been largely undone: by 2023, the figure stood at 22 per cent before housing costs, and 30 per cent after. Much of this reversal can be attributed to a single, ruinous policy: the two-child benefit cap, introduced in 2017, which stops families from claiming certain benefits for more than two children regardless of need. The Tories ostensibly introduced the policy to send a message to parents about responsibility, as if no family’s finances ever took an unexpected turn for the worse, or as if punishing children for the actions of their parents is OK. But everyone knew it was also there to save money. No British politician ever lost votes by punishing welfare claimants. Which is why, even though it’s widely agreed to be the single biggest step it could do to address child poverty and the generational problems that result, the government has absolutely no intention of scrapping it. “If they still think we’re going to scrap the cap then they’re listening to the wrong people,” says the inevitable anonymous source. “The cap is popular with key voters, who see it as a matter of fairness.” Note the way that decision is justified there. There is no attempt to push back on the argument – made by such hotbeds of social radicalism as Barnardo’s, Save the Children and Citizens Advice – that this will push a record number of kids into poverty right around the time the next election rolls around; no attempt to justify it as a policy at all. The cap is popular with “key voters”; that is enough. This isn’t governing. It’s campaigning.
May 8, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Diarmuid McDonnell
stephenkb.bsky.social
So much terrible policy about immigration comes from treating 'how many people does it take to run this thing?' as something you can answer separately from, or instead of, questions about your economic model, geography, etc. etc.
April 29, 2025 at 3:34 PM
diarmuidmc.bsky.social
Thinking narrowly about my own sector (university), is anyone in Government thinking through the likely size and shape of it in a couple of years time as a result of these policies? Hard to take them seriously when they saw growth is the main mission.
April 29, 2025 at 8:21 AM
diarmuidmc.bsky.social
Was teaching PhD students recently and felt incredibly stupid trying to navigate between German, Spanish, and American keyboard layouts on their personal machines.
March 27, 2025 at 3:28 PM
diarmuidmc.bsky.social
Don’t go crazy, a Short-Life Working Group will suffice.
March 13, 2025 at 9:08 AM