Neil Schofield-Hughes
@neilschofield.bsky.social
Editor-in-Chief, Bylines Cymru.
Retired Civil Servant, choral singer, opera lover.
European, Cymro o ddewis, annibyniaeth 🏴🇪🇺
Retired Civil Servant, choral singer, opera lover.
European, Cymro o ddewis, annibyniaeth 🏴🇪🇺
When a Labour leadership that had weaponised antisemitism is proposing doing what NSDAP literally did to Jews.
Difficult to find the words really.
Difficult to find the words really.
The Sun has been told Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will on Monday propose confiscating jewellery, watches, necklaces from asylum seekers to meet asylum costs
This reflects the most controversial aspect of the Danish scheme - the Jewellery Law. The toughest Labour MPs thought this was OTT
This reflects the most controversial aspect of the Danish scheme - the Jewellery Law. The toughest Labour MPs thought this was OTT
November 17, 2025 at 8:50 AM
When a Labour leadership that had weaponised antisemitism is proposing doing what NSDAP literally did to Jews.
Difficult to find the words really.
Difficult to find the words really.
If you are paying a sub as a member of a political party appeasing the populist right’s desire to foment division, you need to take some personal responsibility.
If you carry a Labour Party card, you’re complicit. No more comforting stories about “Labour values”. This is who you are now.
If you carry a Labour Party card, you’re complicit. No more comforting stories about “Labour values”. This is who you are now.
Labour’s plan risks weakening protections for all of us. Human rights are universal - politicians may not always find them politically convenient but it shouldn’t fall to any government to say who those rights should and should not apply to. It’s a slippery slope to oblivion youtu.be/bl0Lm7v_T18?...
The government won’t achieve ‘decency’ over ‘division’ by trying to be Reform Lite
YouTube video by Peter Stefanovic
youtu.be
November 17, 2025 at 8:10 AM
If you are paying a sub as a member of a political party appeasing the populist right’s desire to foment division, you need to take some personal responsibility.
If you carry a Labour Party card, you’re complicit. No more comforting stories about “Labour values”. This is who you are now.
If you carry a Labour Party card, you’re complicit. No more comforting stories about “Labour values”. This is who you are now.
Your reminder that Labour’s planning policy has nothing to do with providing decent housing and everything to do with corporate profit.
This is what many of us have been saying. Part 3 of the Planning & Infrastructure Bill is based on a myth: that we don't have enough homes because wildlife and green spaces are protected. It will solve nothing, and inflict terrible harm on our remaining ecosystems
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Nature not a blocker to housing growth, inquiry finds
Commons committee report challenges ‘lazy narrative’ used by ministers that scapegoats wildlife and the environment
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Your reminder that Labour’s planning policy has nothing to do with providing decent housing and everything to do with corporate profit.
As with the “Island of Strangers” speech I expect the smirking adolescents in Labour’s organisational cadre know exactly what the precedents are. They know that even if they get called for it afterwards, the thought is out there. This is populism’s core methodology.
If the government really intends to seize jewellery and other valuables from refugees,
either
- it is staggeringly ignorant of the historical precedents
or
- it's aware of the precedents, and thinks, yeah, we'll have some of that.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
either
- it is staggeringly ignorant of the historical precedents
or
- it's aware of the precedents, and thinks, yeah, we'll have some of that.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
No 10 tells Labour MPs it expects support for tough new asylum policies
Some backbenchers already opposing planned immigration crackdown seen as ‘economically and culturally illiterate’
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:06 PM
As with the “Island of Strangers” speech I expect the smirking adolescents in Labour’s organisational cadre know exactly what the precedents are. They know that even if they get called for it afterwards, the thought is out there. This is populism’s core methodology.
Red Rosette Reform.
I tore mine up long ago, but I’m not sure what having a Labour Party membership card in your wallet or bag says about your character any more.
I tore mine up long ago, but I’m not sure what having a Labour Party membership card in your wallet or bag says about your character any more.
With the ending of permanent asylum, taxes on foreign students, two U-turns on income tax, a refusal to listen to business concerns about hiring costs, again I ask ‘who are Labour for?’ What is the vision underlying all these choices other than responding to last week’s polls?
November 15, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Red Rosette Reform.
I tore mine up long ago, but I’m not sure what having a Labour Party membership card in your wallet or bag says about your character any more.
I tore mine up long ago, but I’m not sure what having a Labour Party membership card in your wallet or bag says about your character any more.
Absolutely this. And it’s a question that should certainly frame any debate about the future of public service broadcasting.
Intelligent question: what, if any, social democratic policies might rejuvenate the economy & defeat the far right? Stupid question: should Streeting replace Starmer? The fact that the political class are discussing one rather than the other is the problem.
November 12, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Absolutely this. And it’s a question that should certainly frame any debate about the future of public service broadcasting.
Of course they did. Civil Servants, unlike Labour SPADs and organisers, are not stupid and are not trained to be obedient stooges placing loyalty above integrity. One of the reasons why Labour is so catastrophically bad at government seems to be that they haven’t noticed.
Advisers told ministers banning Palestine Action could make it more popular
Advisers told ministers banning Palestine Action could make it more popular
Briefing paper warned proscription could also heighten Muslim-Jewish tensions and be seen as favouring Israel
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Of course they did. Civil Servants, unlike Labour SPADs and organisers, are not stupid and are not trained to be obedient stooges placing loyalty above integrity. One of the reasons why Labour is so catastrophically bad at government seems to be that they haven’t noticed.
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
This morning I laid a wreath of red and white poppies at Bristol’s #RemembranceSunday service. Every November, I choose to wear both a red and a white poppy: red to help those who have been affected by war, and white to work for peace.
November 9, 2025 at 12:15 PM
This morning I laid a wreath of red and white poppies at Bristol’s #RemembranceSunday service. Every November, I choose to wear both a red and a white poppy: red to help those who have been affected by war, and white to work for peace.
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
🔥 Harrods: What do the survivors do now??
The courts, the redress scheme, the police — all form part of the same legal abyss.
◾ Survivors cannot access the courts, let alone for trafficking
◾ Harrods’ “redress” is run by the institution itself
◾ The Met refuses to name the crimes as trafficking
The courts, the redress scheme, the police — all form part of the same legal abyss.
◾ Survivors cannot access the courts, let alone for trafficking
◾ Harrods’ “redress” is run by the institution itself
◾ The Met refuses to name the crimes as trafficking
When power is untouchable: the legal abyss facing Harrods survivors
Survivors of abuse connected to Mohamed Al Fayed’s Harrods empire are discovering what “no one is above the law” really means
sussexbylines.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 9:41 AM
🔥 Harrods: What do the survivors do now??
The courts, the redress scheme, the police — all form part of the same legal abyss.
◾ Survivors cannot access the courts, let alone for trafficking
◾ Harrods’ “redress” is run by the institution itself
◾ The Met refuses to name the crimes as trafficking
The courts, the redress scheme, the police — all form part of the same legal abyss.
◾ Survivors cannot access the courts, let alone for trafficking
◾ Harrods’ “redress” is run by the institution itself
◾ The Met refuses to name the crimes as trafficking
New blogging: some thoughts on the lessons from John Kenneth Galbraith’s Age of Uncertainty, repeated by the BBC nearly half a century after it was first shown. What does Galbraith have to tell us in a very different world today?
open.substack.com/pub/neilscho...
open.substack.com/pub/neilscho...
The Age of Uncertainty revisited
The BBC is currently repeating John Kenneth Galbraith's monumental series on the history of economics. What can a programme made nearly half a century ago tell us about our modern economic plight?
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:44 PM
New blogging: some thoughts on the lessons from John Kenneth Galbraith’s Age of Uncertainty, repeated by the BBC nearly half a century after it was first shown. What does Galbraith have to tell us in a very different world today?
open.substack.com/pub/neilscho...
open.substack.com/pub/neilscho...
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
Oxfam Cymru has set out its vision for how the Senedd can fight injustice and inequality. How did a panel of Senedd politicians respond? | Neil Schofield-Hughes
Visions for a just Cymru?
Oxfam Cymru has set out its vision for how the Senedd can fight injustice and inequality. How did a panel of Senedd politicians respond?
bylines.cymru
November 5, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Oxfam Cymru has set out its vision for how the Senedd can fight injustice and inequality. How did a panel of Senedd politicians respond? | Neil Schofield-Hughes
Gruesomely accurate.
![Cartoon by Stephen Collins for the Guardian.
[Scene is BBC BREAKFAST with two presenters and a guest on the sofa].
1
PRESENTER:
Now - some disturbing new research has shown
2
PRESENTER:
that as many as 10 non-Reform political parties may currently operating ‘under the radar’ across the UK.
[Show on screen logos for Greens, Lib Dems, Conservatives
3
PRESENTER:
In the studio to discuss this, Nigel Farage
[We see the guest on the sofa is indeed Nigel Farage]
4
PRESENTER:
Nigel, what’s your view?
FARAGE:
Well I think this very worrying.
5
FARAGE:
And just another reason why we should ban all immigration.
6
PRESENTER:
I won’t push back on that
FARAGE:
Absolutely!
7
PRESENTER:
Funnily enough, this is what your new show’s about, isn’t it?
FARAGE:
Oop - plug time!
PRESENTER:
Ha ha
8
FARAGE:
Yes it’s a 12-part BBC documentary called ‘In Search Of The Political Parties That Aren’t My One’.
9
[Show on the TV screen Farage presenting a documentary series titled In Search Of The Political Parties That Aren’t My One. He is wearing his farmer's getup and looking dreamily at the UK from hillsides, visiting pubs and chatting with the locals, etc]
FARAGE:
It’s a really emotional journey
10
FARAGE:
with lots of dreamy footage of me looking relatable...
11
FARAGE:
as I answer the question:
*Am I the only option for Britain?*
12
[Cut back to studio]
PRESENTER:
I won’t push back on that
FARAGE:
Absolutely!
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreidseyojvyqngmitl76iafvvbvgg4a3i7a26642c2c3gacoi7pwtbi@jpeg)
November 5, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Gruesomely accurate.
And it’s what happens when cynical faux-progressives politicians inflame populist right sentiments by making speeches about an island of strangers.
November 5, 2025 at 10:36 AM
And it’s what happens when cynical faux-progressives politicians inflame populist right sentiments by making speeches about an island of strangers.
An election in which young people turned out in numbers to choose hope.
New York. Twinned with Caerffili.
New York. Twinned with Caerffili.
The entire right-wing propaganda machine came after Zohran Mamdani.
The president and his allies came after him.
Democratic leaders, by and large, did not have his back until the last minute.
He still won, turning out historic numbers and inspiring young voters.
His politics can win anywhere.
The president and his allies came after him.
Democratic leaders, by and large, did not have his back until the last minute.
He still won, turning out historic numbers and inspiring young voters.
His politics can win anywhere.
November 5, 2025 at 7:44 AM
An election in which young people turned out in numbers to choose hope.
New York. Twinned with Caerffili.
New York. Twinned with Caerffili.
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
Fascinating evening listening to politicians from four of Cymru’s parties responding to @oxfamcymru.bsky.social’s pre-Senedd election Vision for a Just Cymru, published today. Full coverage to follow.
November 4, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Fascinating evening listening to politicians from four of Cymru’s parties responding to @oxfamcymru.bsky.social’s pre-Senedd election Vision for a Just Cymru, published today. Full coverage to follow.
A reminder that we need to be deeply sceptical of the narrative that @plaidcymru.bsky.social as largest party in the new Senedd would have Welsh Labour’s support and votes in a progressive bloc against Reform. Welsh Labour will always obey head office’s instructions.
Lisa Nandy on the news saying Reform can't be trusted at all 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
November 4, 2025 at 11:29 AM
A reminder that we need to be deeply sceptical of the narrative that @plaidcymru.bsky.social as largest party in the new Senedd would have Welsh Labour’s support and votes in a progressive bloc against Reform. Welsh Labour will always obey head office’s instructions.
The problem with Rachel Reeves (one of them, anyway) was that her background was always going to make her a bankers’ Chancellor.
We’ve had bankers’ economics since 2008. It’s the root of our economic woes and our political crisis.
We’ve had bankers’ economics since 2008. It’s the root of our economic woes and our political crisis.
The Treasury-Bank of England-City nexus is central to understanding the class politics of this country. Of course Reeves was always going to let this happen.
Have City lobbyists been helping write Rachel Reeves’ budget? open.substack.com/pub/abolishw...
November 4, 2025 at 11:18 AM
The problem with Rachel Reeves (one of them, anyway) was that her background was always going to make her a bankers’ Chancellor.
We’ve had bankers’ economics since 2008. It’s the root of our economic woes and our political crisis.
We’ve had bankers’ economics since 2008. It’s the root of our economic woes and our political crisis.
And the things that Labour whipped its MPs to abstain on…
Reminder: Here's what Nigel Farage tried to take away from you this week...
October 31, 2025 at 1:31 PM
And the things that Labour whipped its MPs to abstain on…
I’d also ask whether Lisa Nandy understands that many of the most celebrated practitioners of the classical music and opera being so seriously defunded on her watch were from working-class backgrounds, especially here in Cymru. It’s the prejudice she encapsulates that drives “elitism” in music.
Hi Lisa Nandy! I’m a BAFTA winner from a small town. Instead of asinine questions like this, why not tell us how we can continue to make a living in the eviscerated creative sector over which you notionally preside?
October 31, 2025 at 1:23 PM
I’d also ask whether Lisa Nandy understands that many of the most celebrated practitioners of the classical music and opera being so seriously defunded on her watch were from working-class backgrounds, especially here in Cymru. It’s the prejudice she encapsulates that drives “elitism” in music.
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
![[Scene is the entrance cabin to a NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY AND GARDENS]
1
NATIONAL TRUST EMPLOYEE [inside cabin]:
Hello there
2
[A young family - two parents two kids - have arrived at the front desk].
DAD:
Hi - do you have an activity trail, for the kids?
3
NT EMPLOYEE:
Of course – you’re just in time for the Autumn Gammon Trail!
4
MUM:
That sounds fun, doesn’t it kids?
5
NT EMPLOYEE [handing an activity sheet and pencils to the kids]:
Every autumn, the Reform Trust gammons flock back to the National Trust for the AGM. Just follow the trail round the grounds, and see how many you can spot!
6
NT EMPLOYEE [hearing something in the gardens]:
Listen - that's their call
[Calls emanating from the landscape]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
7
NT EMPLOYEE [showing the family an apparently empty fenced enclosure with some bushes in]:
They are extremely sensitive and fragile...
But you can bring them out of hiding if you put a little sign down mentioning slavery.
8
KIDS [pointing]:
There they are!
[Some little red faced PEOPLE wearing Barbour jackets and gilets emerge cautiously from the bushes. They are creeping towards a TINY SIGN in the middle of the enclosure].
[Little people noises]:
woke-woke
tut-tut
woke-woke
9
[Close-up of the TINY SIGN - we can read that it says]:
Slavery had a bit to do with building this massive house.
[Noises from the little people again as they inspect the tiny sign]:
tut-tut
woke-woke
10
MUM [pointing]:
What's that one doing there?
NT EMPLOYEE:
Oh, that's so sweet…
11
[We see that one of the people is sat on a rock, with a little laptop open on a tree stump, and they are furiously typing away].
NT EMPLOYEE:
I think he's writing a column for the Daily Telegraph…
12
[We see close up to the little person’s screen, it is a word document reading]:
Are National Trust scones secretly WOKE?
[ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreib7lt736b6rmzinml5s7kxjdaapo2a36xp4d4lssypimx3taqicdm@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
This is very good. Reeves has form - allegations of plagiarism are not trivial. And from Vaughan Gething’s donations to Starmer’s suits to all those freebies, Progress Labour’s grubbiness in office is a gift to right-wing populists. She should go, but she won’t.
"What is the point of the spoils of office if you can't spoil yourself in office?"
"Inadvertent Errors"
Poor Rachel Reeves, she cannot catch a break. In today's news, the chancellor is having to defend herself against dodging payments due to S...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:03 PM
This is very good. Reeves has form - allegations of plagiarism are not trivial. And from Vaughan Gething’s donations to Starmer’s suits to all those freebies, Progress Labour’s grubbiness in office is a gift to right-wing populists. She should go, but she won’t.
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
Switching 2p from National Insurance to Income Tax could raise £6 billion while protecting workers’ pay packets.
Here's what you need to know 👇 👇 👇
Here's what you need to know 👇 👇 👇
October 30, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Switching 2p from National Insurance to Income Tax could raise £6 billion while protecting workers’ pay packets.
Here's what you need to know 👇 👇 👇
Here's what you need to know 👇 👇 👇
In a country with a falling, ageing population and a massive shortage of NHS/Care staff this is bad news. No doubt Starmer’s government will try to claim “credit” for it. That’s the kind of intellectual batshittery that appeasing right-wing populism leads to.
Net migration to the UK is falling rapidly. But how far will it fall? A new, detailed estimate by @jamesbowes01.bsky.social projects net migration in 2026 will be 70K to 170K.
This will have significant consequences, both economic and political.
ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
This will have significant consequences, both economic and political.
ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
October 30, 2025 at 12:37 PM
In a country with a falling, ageing population and a massive shortage of NHS/Care staff this is bad news. No doubt Starmer’s government will try to claim “credit” for it. That’s the kind of intellectual batshittery that appeasing right-wing populism leads to.
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
All four @plaidcymru.bsky.social MPs and the sole Welsh Lib Dem MP voted against Farage’s bill to withdraw from ECHR - but only two Welsh Labour MPs. Anyone from Welsh Labour care to comment?
October 30, 2025 at 11:26 AM
All four @plaidcymru.bsky.social MPs and the sole Welsh Lib Dem MP voted against Farage’s bill to withdraw from ECHR - but only two Welsh Labour MPs. Anyone from Welsh Labour care to comment?
Reposted by Neil Schofield-Hughes
