Mike Harrison
@higheredactuary.bsky.social
Pensions, Higher Education, medieval history, running, diversity, climate change, grade 3 piano (2024). Partner @ Mercer. Actuary (both sides of the Atlantic 🇬🇧🇨🇦). Views my own.
Pinned
a cartoon minion is standing in the snow and waving .
ALT: a cartoon minion is standing in the snow and waving .
media.tenor.com
Put your virtual hand up (and pass it on) if you’d be personally happy to PAY MORE TAXES so we could have better public services, fewer benefit cuts and faster progress on climate change.
I’ll start…
I’ll start…
Facts.
The Chancellor has scrapped the two-child limit, benefitting more than half a million families.
More than half of the affected families have at least one member in work, and 88% had 3 or 4 children.
More than half of the affected families have at least one member in work, and 88% had 3 or 4 children.
November 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Facts.
Neat Budget summary from @resolutionfoundation.org.
🚨 Our initial Budget response is out now 🚨
Today's Budget will ease cost of living pressures next year – but it backloads the fiscal repair job to eve of next election.
Find out more 👉 buff.ly/PBAWLKZ
Today's Budget will ease cost of living pressures next year – but it backloads the fiscal repair job to eve of next election.
Find out more 👉 buff.ly/PBAWLKZ
November 26, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Neat Budget summary from @resolutionfoundation.org.
Do OBR stands for: “Oh blast!! Recall?!?”
November 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Do OBR stands for: “Oh blast!! Recall?!?”
When people say “technical error” they mean “human error”, right, or even just… you know… “error”?
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
When people say “technical error” they mean “human error”, right, or even just… you know… “error”?
Agreed - excellent news re the two child cap. 😃
Personally very happy about the two child cap being removed - the more children growing up in poverty, the fewer able to reach their potential - with long term impacts for social mobility - and with it the wider economy.
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Agreed - excellent news re the two child cap. 😃
Reposted by Mike Harrison
Free apprenticeship training for under 25s for SMEs is brill (and hopefully will help encourage the creation of more opportunities)
November 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Free apprenticeship training for under 25s for SMEs is brill (and hopefully will help encourage the creation of more opportunities)
Pensions news hot off the Budget press… though not as hot as the OBR’s press releases…
🔥
🔥
Strong welcome for indexation of pre-97 accrued benefits in PPF and FAS. Puts more pressure on other DB schemes to do likewise, with amendments to Pension Schemes Bill.
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Pensions news hot off the Budget press… though not as hot as the OBR’s press releases…
🔥
🔥
"The Parliamentary Labour Party is sprawling and naïve" one government figure says… presumably thinking this is a sensible comment to make that will win friends and influence people?
Rachel Reeves will be hoping this Budget buys her some time
Deep unpopularity in the country and jittery Labour MPs is the prism through which both the countdown to this Budget and its aftermath should be seen.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 11:35 AM
"The Parliamentary Labour Party is sprawling and naïve" one government figure says… presumably thinking this is a sensible comment to make that will win friends and influence people?
You’ve got to love a nice cathedral on a chilly morning!!
Anyone recognise this one?!
@curatorkate.bsky.social @susanabernethy2.bsky.social
Anyone recognise this one?!
@curatorkate.bsky.social @susanabernethy2.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 9:00 AM
You’ve got to love a nice cathedral on a chilly morning!!
Anyone recognise this one?!
@curatorkate.bsky.social @susanabernethy2.bsky.social
Anyone recognise this one?!
@curatorkate.bsky.social @susanabernethy2.bsky.social
😂
I hope someone checks in with these guys today to see how they’ll cope with the Budget
November 26, 2025 at 8:23 AM
😂
tell your mates.
and get yourselves checked, gents.
be like Dave.
x
and get yourselves checked, gents.
be like Dave.
x
Former PM David Cameron reveals he had prostate cancer
The former PM is calling for more men to be screened for the disease, which is the most common cancer in males in the UK.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 9:56 AM
tell your mates.
and get yourselves checked, gents.
be like Dave.
x
and get yourselves checked, gents.
be like Dave.
x
We need to STOP BURNING STUFF.
🌍 🔥 ♻️
🌍 🔥 ♻️
Burning fossil fuels causes the climate to change and many extreme weather events to become more severe. #fact
November 24, 2025 at 8:51 AM
We need to STOP BURNING STUFF.
🌍 🔥 ♻️
🌍 🔥 ♻️
There is hazelnut yogurt in the fridge.
What did I do to deserve this?
🤢
What did I do to deserve this?
🤢
November 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
There is hazelnut yogurt in the fridge.
What did I do to deserve this?
🤢
What did I do to deserve this?
🤢
“Do as I say and not as I do”… as my Mum used to say!
Excellent pensions reporting in today’s FT from @marymcd.bsky.social.
Excellent pensions reporting in today’s FT from @marymcd.bsky.social.
November 20, 2025 at 7:27 AM
“Do as I say and not as I do”… as my Mum used to say!
Excellent pensions reporting in today’s FT from @marymcd.bsky.social.
Excellent pensions reporting in today’s FT from @marymcd.bsky.social.
Repealing the two-child limit in full is the most powerful policy lever the Government can pull to drive down child poverty rates.
Read 'No half measures' now ⤵️ buff.ly/qVc9CWs
Read 'No half measures' now ⤵️ buff.ly/qVc9CWs
November 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
And the answer to this (albeit rhetorical) question is “NOBODY KNOWS… not even the government…”
So worth tuning in then.
So worth tuning in then.
What can we expect from the Budget?
Join us the morning after as we unpack what Autumn Budget 2025 means for the public, financial markets & cost of living
@ruthcurtice.bsky.social will discuss w/ @jamessmithrf.bsky.social @kamalahmednews.bsky.social Yael Selfin & Richard Hughes
buff.ly/drrsXC8
Join us the morning after as we unpack what Autumn Budget 2025 means for the public, financial markets & cost of living
@ruthcurtice.bsky.social will discuss w/ @jamessmithrf.bsky.social @kamalahmednews.bsky.social Yael Selfin & Richard Hughes
buff.ly/drrsXC8
November 16, 2025 at 5:27 PM
And the answer to this (albeit rhetorical) question is “NOBODY KNOWS… not even the government…”
So worth tuning in then.
So worth tuning in then.
This would be quite a niche interview question.
Can I be a fly on this pensions wall?
Can I be a fly on this pensions wall?
Whether the next Chief Economic Advisor to the Treasury should value their pension any more as a result of any increases in the employer contribution rate arising mainly from changes to the OBR's views on future productivity growth is perhaps a good question to ask at the interview stage...
November 15, 2025 at 9:43 PM
This would be quite a niche interview question.
Can I be a fly on this pensions wall?
Can I be a fly on this pensions wall?
November 15, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Local news. 🎅 🎄
Christmas markets and fairs in #Ilkley and #BenRhydding this weekend 🎄
November 15, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Local news. 🎅 🎄
Super exciting #medieval arrival from @blackwells.bsky.social!
Will put this away to go under the Christmas tree, @susanabernethy2.bsky.social!
Will put this away to go under the Christmas tree, @susanabernethy2.bsky.social!
November 15, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Super exciting #medieval arrival from @blackwells.bsky.social!
Will put this away to go under the Christmas tree, @susanabernethy2.bsky.social!
Will put this away to go under the Christmas tree, @susanabernethy2.bsky.social!
Fabulous stuff!
“Before LLMs, a good cover letter signalled both candidate quality and commitment. After LLMs it signalled neither.”
Basically we have prospective employees using AI to respond to an AI generated recruitment process and everyone becomes average. Real people optional!
“Before LLMs, a good cover letter signalled both candidate quality and commitment. After LLMs it signalled neither.”
Basically we have prospective employees using AI to respond to an AI generated recruitment process and everyone becomes average. Real people optional!
November 15, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Fabulous stuff!
“Before LLMs, a good cover letter signalled both candidate quality and commitment. After LLMs it signalled neither.”
Basically we have prospective employees using AI to respond to an AI generated recruitment process and everyone becomes average. Real people optional!
“Before LLMs, a good cover letter signalled both candidate quality and commitment. After LLMs it signalled neither.”
Basically we have prospective employees using AI to respond to an AI generated recruitment process and everyone becomes average. Real people optional!
You put your left wing in
You put your left wing out
In out, in out, you shake the OBR about…
You put your left wing out
In out, in out, you shake the OBR about…
What's behind Rachel Reeves's hokey cokey on income tax rises?
The bond markets selling UK debt, which the chancellor had spent months courting, reacted badly to her change of heart on income tax rises
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 8:56 AM
You put your left wing in
You put your left wing out
In out, in out, you shake the OBR about…
You put your left wing out
In out, in out, you shake the OBR about…
Gilt market live feed…
November 15, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Gilt market live feed…
It’s late and I read this as “gifts” not “gilts” and felt a bit sorry for Andy…
Very bad day for gilts. There's been a few this year.
Nowhere near as bad as Truss era ofc, but I think that insane time has skewed our perception.
For instance, a rise in 30yr yields such as happened today only happened once in 10 years pre-COVID.
And not once during the 10 years to late 2008.
Nowhere near as bad as Truss era ofc, but I think that insane time has skewed our perception.
For instance, a rise in 30yr yields such as happened today only happened once in 10 years pre-COVID.
And not once during the 10 years to late 2008.
November 14, 2025 at 10:45 PM
It’s late and I read this as “gifts” not “gilts” and felt a bit sorry for Andy…