Jack Kessler
@jackkessler.bsky.social
I write the newsletter, Lines To Take, bringing you one big story of the day, every day.
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I like human rights and French cuisine.
Sign up for free: https://www.linestotake.com/
I like human rights and French cuisine.
Try doing that at a Tesco Local self-checkout and the machine will beep and it will be a disaster.
November 11, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Try doing that at a Tesco Local self-checkout and the machine will beep and it will be a disaster.
It made sense in my head.
The anti-Angus Steakhouse
Why being too Instagram chic can backfire
www.linestotake.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:33 AM
It made sense in my head.
And how the place should either be less good and boost profit margins, or ditch the Wes Anderson aesthetic to help signal that people come for the food, not the content. Because at present, its efforts are wasted on one-off visitors.
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 AM
And how the place should either be less good and boost profit margins, or ditch the Wes Anderson aesthetic to help signal that people come for the food, not the content. Because at present, its efforts are wasted on one-off visitors.
It got me thinking about places that are obvious tourist traps / designed to look Instagram chic. And one in particular that I avoided for years for this reason but turned out to be... incredible?
November 11, 2025 at 9:28 AM
It got me thinking about places that are obvious tourist traps / designed to look Instagram chic. And one in particular that I avoided for years for this reason but turned out to be... incredible?
If only they'd been warned. ifs.org.uk/sites/defaul...
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
If only they'd been warned. ifs.org.uk/sites/defaul...
I'll stop recycling this subject line when they stop freezing income tax thresholds. It might be our only leverage.
November 10, 2025 at 8:49 AM
I'll stop recycling this subject line when they stop freezing income tax thresholds. It might be our only leverage.
But no more so than recycling old newsletter subject lines.
Rishi Sunak’s Fiscal Drag Race
Has Rishi Sunak cut taxes or raised them? TL;DR, he’s done both, but a heck a lot more of the latter.
www.standard.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:44 AM
But no more so than recycling old newsletter subject lines.
It's obviously a bit naff to tut about fiscal drag drawing more people into higher rates. That's the point of it!
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 AM
It's obviously a bit naff to tut about fiscal drag drawing more people into higher rates. That's the point of it!
Third, given everything, I lol'd at the Resolution Foundation, in its response to the 2022 Autumn Statement, warning against “relying to such an extent on stealthy threshold freezes".
www.resolutionfoundation.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Third, given everything, I lol'd at the Resolution Foundation, in its response to the 2022 Autumn Statement, warning against “relying to such an extent on stealthy threshold freezes".
Second, it's not just the top rate. This report from the IFS notes that a significant proportion of teachers and nurses(!) are set to become higher rate taxpayers. ifs.org.uk/publications...
November 10, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Second, it's not just the top rate. This report from the IFS notes that a significant proportion of teachers and nurses(!) are set to become higher rate taxpayers. ifs.org.uk/publications...
First of all, we really ought to retire the 'stealth' label. If frozen income tax thresholds were F-35s, they'd be shot out of the sky with such frequency they'd be instantly grounded by the RAF.
November 10, 2025 at 8:32 AM
First of all, we really ought to retire the 'stealth' label. If frozen income tax thresholds were F-35s, they'd be shot out of the sky with such frequency they'd be instantly grounded by the RAF.
Ask the captain to do an urgent announcement asking if there are any authors of histories of the British Empire on the plane.
November 8, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Ask the captain to do an urgent announcement asking if there are any authors of histories of the British Empire on the plane.
Anyway, passing laws I agree with is good.
November 7, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Anyway, passing laws I agree with is good.
Bush was a terrible president but simply impossible to imagine a Republican saying this about Pelosi or anyone else today.
George W. Bush-State of the Union Address (January 23, 2007)
YouTube video by MCamericanpresident
youtu.be
November 7, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Bush was a terrible president but simply impossible to imagine a Republican saying this about Pelosi or anyone else today.
That Congress very unpopular and the Dems got stuffed in the 2012 midterms. But the options are often pass laws and maybe lose or do nothing and also lose.
November 7, 2025 at 7:56 AM
That Congress very unpopular and the Dems got stuffed in the 2012 midterms. But the options are often pass laws and maybe lose or do nothing and also lose.
This doesn't even include climate and immigration bills that the House passed but stalled in the Senate.
November 7, 2025 at 7:52 AM
This doesn't even include climate and immigration bills that the House passed but stalled in the Senate.
It's not hyperbolic to say that the 111th Congress, which spanned the final few days of the Bush administration and the first two years of Obama’s presidency, was the most active in terms of passing laws that impacted Americans since LBJ's ‘Great Society’ of the 1960s.
November 7, 2025 at 7:50 AM
It's not hyperbolic to say that the 111th Congress, which spanned the final few days of the Bush administration and the first two years of Obama’s presidency, was the most active in terms of passing laws that impacted Americans since LBJ's ‘Great Society’ of the 1960s.
Why are the norms breaking down? Also ‘hello’ is violence.
November 7, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Why are the norms breaking down? Also ‘hello’ is violence.