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)
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There's a tendency to imagine The Times is not as radicalised as The Telegraph. However, recently...
VERY funny that Labour are being pointlessly cruel and haemorrhaging support from their base and yet none of what they're offering is ever going to be enough for the people whose approval they're seeking, WHO could have predicted it
November 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM
There's a tendency to imagine The Times is not as radicalised as The Telegraph. However, recently...
Reposted by Indy
From @philipjcowley.bsky.social - thanks to a happy coincidence we have a much more rigorous than usual understanding of the impact of Keir Starmer's "Island of Strangers" speech. As Cowley puts it "It is not obvious this was the intended outcome"
November 20, 2025 at 1:27 PM
From @philipjcowley.bsky.social - thanks to a happy coincidence we have a much more rigorous than usual understanding of the impact of Keir Starmer's "Island of Strangers" speech. As Cowley puts it "It is not obvious this was the intended outcome"
People who might know (eg @whenisbirths.bsky.social @stephenkb.bsky.social ) - has iPlayer taken down a lot of old documentaries etc, or just made them impossible to find?
November 20, 2025 at 1:26 PM
People who might know (eg @whenisbirths.bsky.social @stephenkb.bsky.social ) - has iPlayer taken down a lot of old documentaries etc, or just made them impossible to find?
Reposted by Indy
Another reason why the underfunding of local government and the inexorable centralisation of decisions on housing is going to cause problems.
November 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Another reason why the underfunding of local government and the inexorable centralisation of decisions on housing is going to cause problems.
Interesting side-effect of the 2:20am start is that it's possible that many of us England cricket fans will never get even an hour of optimism about this series. By the time we wake up, things will already be pear shaped.
November 20, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Interesting side-effect of the 2:20am start is that it's possible that many of us England cricket fans will never get even an hour of optimism about this series. By the time we wake up, things will already be pear shaped.
Reposted by Indy
I don’t think it’s unrelated but I think the most significant shift is the Tories and Labour just offering absolutely no immune response. I don’t think Shabina Mahmood or Kemi Badenoch doubt for a second they themselves are British but they’re providing ample cover for those who do.
November 19, 2025 at 5:14 PM
I don’t think it’s unrelated but I think the most significant shift is the Tories and Labour just offering absolutely no immune response. I don’t think Shabina Mahmood or Kemi Badenoch doubt for a second they themselves are British but they’re providing ample cover for those who do.
One for @stephenkb.bsky.social - apparently now even looking at the calendar is too much work?
Kemi Badenoch tells Keir Starmer that he is leading "the first government in history to float increasing income tax rates only to then U-turn on it all after the actual budget".
Starmer: "The Budget is next week"
Starmer: "The Budget is next week"
November 19, 2025 at 12:09 PM
One for @stephenkb.bsky.social - apparently now even looking at the calendar is too much work?
Reposted by Indy
The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum.
UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours
No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands)
UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany)
Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.
UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours
No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands)
UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany)
Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.
November 19, 2025 at 11:52 AM
The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum.
UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours
No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands)
UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany)
Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.
UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours
No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands)
UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany)
Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.
Reposted by Indy
One of the many things that really depresses me about Labour’s current theory of racism is that it treats it as people simply wanting more of their own group and fewer of the Others around and so they believe there’s a formula where n= the number of deportations that will end racism.
November 19, 2025 at 11:45 AM
One of the many things that really depresses me about Labour’s current theory of racism is that it treats it as people simply wanting more of their own group and fewer of the Others around and so they believe there’s a formula where n= the number of deportations that will end racism.
The grimly funny bit is she denies it, but we all know it is coming. At some point the leadership will change*, Glasman will be repudiated and Blue Labour are going to move en masse to Reform.
*Why? Look at the polls, I don't see how this leadership group survives the local elections intact.
*Why? Look at the polls, I don't see how this leadership group survives the local elections intact.
Did Labour MPs ever imagine that they would be ending the first period of their first government in more than 14 years with their own Home Secretary feeling the need to publicly deny that she plans to defect to Reform?
November 19, 2025 at 11:19 AM
The grimly funny bit is she denies it, but we all know it is coming. At some point the leadership will change*, Glasman will be repudiated and Blue Labour are going to move en masse to Reform.
*Why? Look at the polls, I don't see how this leadership group survives the local elections intact.
*Why? Look at the polls, I don't see how this leadership group survives the local elections intact.
It may occur to the cynical that all the commentariat and Westminster tears shed over lack of integration were always just an expression of the desire to get rid of people. That the ever moving bar of "integration" was always meant to be an impossible hurdle.
Includes this titbit -
November 19, 2025 at 11:17 AM
It may occur to the cynical that all the commentariat and Westminster tears shed over lack of integration were always just an expression of the desire to get rid of people. That the ever moving bar of "integration" was always meant to be an impossible hurdle.
At some point this country will relearn that you get better results from being trustworthy and keeping to agreements. But it seems today is not that day.
November 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM
At some point this country will relearn that you get better results from being trustworthy and keeping to agreements. But it seems today is not that day.
Reposted by Indy
Again, the government sets us up on the path to denaturalisation by setting precedent.
November 19, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Again, the government sets us up on the path to denaturalisation by setting precedent.
It's interesting how even now, the feelings of Reform voters have to be mollycoddled, while everyone else apparently has to think about pulling together, being realistic what is possible, doing what is good for the nation, etc.
November 19, 2025 at 7:36 AM
It's interesting how even now, the feelings of Reform voters have to be mollycoddled, while everyone else apparently has to think about pulling together, being realistic what is possible, doing what is good for the nation, etc.
Reposted by Indy
I was just thinking the other day that it is mad that if this continues then the book I'm writing, about London 1560-1630, will contain basically no British Library manuscript material. Would have been unthinkable to me but there hasn't been a manuscript catalogue for two years now!
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I was just thinking the other day that it is mad that if this continues then the book I'm writing, about London 1560-1630, will contain basically no British Library manuscript material. Would have been unthinkable to me but there hasn't been a manuscript catalogue for two years now!
Reposted by Indy
In which @mrjohncrace.bsky.social sums up the Labour government in two sentences.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
November 19, 2025 at 7:22 AM
In which @mrjohncrace.bsky.social sums up the Labour government in two sentences.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Indy
New report: What should we do about mayoral scrutiny? www.mysociety.org/2025/11/18/m...
Mayoral scrutiny: building an ecosystem of accountability
New report: Building and supporting civic scrutiny of devolution
www.mysociety.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:39 AM
New report: What should we do about mayoral scrutiny? www.mysociety.org/2025/11/18/m...
Reposted by Indy
why can they not just fix it
![[Scene is MCcDONALDS PICKUP POINT but for the most part we can only see the close up faces of tha CUSTOMER and the McDONALDS EMPLOYEE at the serving point].
1
CUSTOMER:
Hi - I’m afraid this isn’t what I ordered
2
McDONALDS EMPLOYEE:
Number 187?
CUSTOMER:
Yes
3
CUSTOMER:
Maybe I pressed the wrong thing?
I just ordered one strawberry milkshake.
4
EMPLOYEE:
Oh - yeah sorry
5
EMPLOYEE:
The milkshake machine’s not working.
6
EMPLOYEE:
The only flavours we can do are vanilla, banana, and Labour Leader Pretending to be Nigel Farage.
7
CUSTOMER:
Is that a new flavour?
EMPLOYEE:
Yeah
8
[We now see that the employee has placed a gigantic milkshake cup on the counter]
EMPLOYEE:
If you look inside, there’s a Labour leader pretending to be Nigel Farage.
9
[Customer looks inside the cup]
10
[Show Keir Starmer dressed as Nigel Farage inside the cup]
CUSTOMER:
So there is
11
CUSTOMER:
Is that something people want, then?
EMPLOYEE:
No! No, not at all.
12
EMPLOYEE:
It just keeps happening when we press banana.
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreibbip5v2gcsv5j7kp6qm7lp6hpmaqcsanoobea2dxms7gxgrqk4qy@jpeg)
November 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM
why can they not just fix it
Part of the current government's strategic failing is that they are actually afraid to do the first bit here. They have been more comfortable dogwhistling support for the far-right and only come out against racism when public outrage dragged them to do so.
...otherwise the door would open to the far right (funny how history repeats). In this respect - combining stern sounding anti-racist rhetoric to mollify liberals with hardline immigration policies - Starmer really is the heir to Wilson, the PM he says he admires most.
November 18, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Part of the current government's strategic failing is that they are actually afraid to do the first bit here. They have been more comfortable dogwhistling support for the far-right and only come out against racism when public outrage dragged them to do so.
It's interesting to reflect on the idea that the WFP saga may have given the Greens an opening with pensioners.
“They went for pensioners, they went for the disabled, and now they’re going for people fleeing war and conflict. I am furious — this government should hang their heads in shame.”
Zack Polanski on Labour’s new immigration reforms on Newsnight.
Zack Polanski on Labour’s new immigration reforms on Newsnight.
November 18, 2025 at 10:54 AM
It's interesting to reflect on the idea that the WFP saga may have given the Greens an opening with pensioners.
Reposted by Indy
Labour’s “we have to do it, or racism will get worse” argument is striking. Any other public policy failures British ethnic minorities should be on the hook for? Can we be blamed en bloc for Rachel Reeves’ budget next week too? www.ft.com/content/37b0...
Defence of Labour asylum policy reveals backsliding on racism
Home secretary’s framing of failures is partly low politics, but also a result of ministers’ poor approach to race relations
www.ft.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Labour’s “we have to do it, or racism will get worse” argument is striking. Any other public policy failures British ethnic minorities should be on the hook for? Can we be blamed en bloc for Rachel Reeves’ budget next week too? www.ft.com/content/37b0...
As for "adult politics that addresses the real problems" - I know it's uncomfortable, especially for commentators* who decided to pander to fantasy in 2016 - but the adult thing would be to point out that asylum seekers are not in fact in the top 10 of problems we face.
*Don't make me name names.
*Don't make me name names.
November 18, 2025 at 10:30 AM
As for "adult politics that addresses the real problems" - I know it's uncomfortable, especially for commentators* who decided to pander to fantasy in 2016 - but the adult thing would be to point out that asylum seekers are not in fact in the top 10 of problems we face.
*Don't make me name names.
*Don't make me name names.
I've had a number of "just asking" people claiming the promised small number of safe route (a couple of hundred?) justifies the rest of the policy mix. It's interesting that they choose to concentrate on that justification, that they write off the impacts of the rest. 1/2
November 18, 2025 at 10:27 AM
I've had a number of "just asking" people claiming the promised small number of safe route (a couple of hundred?) justifies the rest of the policy mix. It's interesting that they choose to concentrate on that justification, that they write off the impacts of the rest. 1/2
Reposted by Indy
This from @stephenkb.bsky.social cuts to the heart of the matter. Does the government not understand how toxic this argument is? Do they think they can somehow weaponise it? The last governments at least had the merit not of making this kind of foul claim.
November 18, 2025 at 10:04 AM
This from @stephenkb.bsky.social cuts to the heart of the matter. Does the government not understand how toxic this argument is? Do they think they can somehow weaponise it? The last governments at least had the merit not of making this kind of foul claim.
Reposted by Indy
The fundamental point @stephenkb.bsky.social makes about the proposed asylum policy changes is exactly right - the government is baking “legitimate concerns” rhetoric into action in a way that permissions racist/xenophobic rhetoric while claiming to blunt it. And, worse, I think many know this.
November 18, 2025 at 10:22 AM
The fundamental point @stephenkb.bsky.social makes about the proposed asylum policy changes is exactly right - the government is baking “legitimate concerns” rhetoric into action in a way that permissions racist/xenophobic rhetoric while claiming to blunt it. And, worse, I think many know this.