Steve Wotton
@stevewotton.bsky.social
Bleeding heart, pragmatic libertarian. Remoaner. Real food enthusiast. CrossFit. Lib Dem Cllr for Horley West & Sidlow. Promoted by RBLD, 77 Earlsbrook Road, RH1 6DR
Reposted by Steve Wotton
I don't understand what is written on the screen in this photo, but it gives me life. Is it Dostoevsky?
November 30, 2025 at 11:07 AM
I don't understand what is written on the screen in this photo, but it gives me life. Is it Dostoevsky?
Random poll where brits express their desire for some foreigners to pay for their stuff.
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Random poll where brits express their desire for some foreigners to pay for their stuff.
Incompetent clowns.
The facts are complicated, but here’s a summary of what appears to have happened based on the filings and today’s hearing:
NEWS: During a hearing in federal court in VA, prosecutors confirmed that the operative indictment in the case against James Comey was never shown to or voted on by the entire grand jury before it was presented in open court.
Defense counsel argued that’s a complete bar to further prosecution
Defense counsel argued that’s a complete bar to further prosecution
November 21, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Incompetent clowns.
Another example of where I think of France. If you live in France you are French.
🧵/ In Feb, Suella Braverman sparked debate with a column entitled "I will never be truly English", one which Rishi Sunak branded "slightly ridiculous"
Now a new YouGov survey looks at how white and ethnic minority adults in England see English and British identity
yougov.co.uk/society/arti...
Now a new YouGov survey looks at how white and ethnic minority adults in England see English and British identity
yougov.co.uk/society/arti...
November 12, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Another example of where I think of France. If you live in France you are French.
This applies as much to the private sector as the public, btw.
Just occurred that the BBC is the most literal example of Conquest's third law in that it is actually run by a cabal of its enemies.
November 10, 2025 at 8:42 AM
This applies as much to the private sector as the public, btw.
Just finished @samfr.bsky.social excellent “failed state”, it is a kind of modern Austrian critique, reminiscent of the “calculation” and “knowledge” problems. That a centralised stated (or central planning) cannot cope, indeed it is almost impossible to be successful.
November 4, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Just finished @samfr.bsky.social excellent “failed state”, it is a kind of modern Austrian critique, reminiscent of the “calculation” and “knowledge” problems. That a centralised stated (or central planning) cannot cope, indeed it is almost impossible to be successful.
It is still a democracy. The US does not lack for voting. It is the other stuff, the liberal and constitutional bits that are fraying. Those are difficult to understand, unlike “voting” which continues broadly unchanged.
Where America stands, one year after the election.
A fascistic movement controls the government; they are building an authoritarian state; but they have not been able yet to extend authoritarian rule across society. A democracy no more, but not a consolidated autocratic regime yet.
New piece:
A fascistic movement controls the government; they are building an authoritarian state; but they have not been able yet to extend authoritarian rule across society. A democracy no more, but not a consolidated autocratic regime yet.
New piece:
Escalation, Authoritarian “Normalization,” or a Democratic Turnaround?
One year after the election: What we can say with certainty about the state of the Trumpist assault, where uncertainty lies, and where America might go from here
steady.page
November 4, 2025 at 4:19 PM
It is still a democracy. The US does not lack for voting. It is the other stuff, the liberal and constitutional bits that are fraying. Those are difficult to understand, unlike “voting” which continues broadly unchanged.
I’m half way through your book, and here is an example of the dysfunction you describe. No doubt a lack of bandwidth means they don’t know what to replace it with, or have failed to meet a deadline and are running around with hair on fire.
Trying to imagine what the reaction would have been if the Govt had casually announced they were replacing A-levels with no details, as they have done with post-16 vocational qualifcations today.
Probably not total indifference.
Probably not total indifference.
October 21, 2025 at 9:36 AM
I’m half way through your book, and here is an example of the dysfunction you describe. No doubt a lack of bandwidth means they don’t know what to replace it with, or have failed to meet a deadline and are running around with hair on fire.
This is wild
And defections (or losses of whip) over the same period:
CON: 142↘ ↗14 (-128)
LAB: 140↘ ↗11 (-129)
IND: 58↘ ↗254 (+196)
LOC: 38↘ ↗16 (-22)
LDM: 18↘ ↗14 (-4)
RFM: 18↘ ↗94 (+76)
GRN: 5↘ ↗19 (+14)
SNP: 3↘ ↗0 (-3)
Pretty much neck & neck between LAB and CON.
CON: 142↘ ↗14 (-128)
LAB: 140↘ ↗11 (-129)
IND: 58↘ ↗254 (+196)
LOC: 38↘ ↗16 (-22)
LDM: 18↘ ↗14 (-4)
RFM: 18↘ ↗94 (+76)
GRN: 5↘ ↗19 (+14)
SNP: 3↘ ↗0 (-3)
Pretty much neck & neck between LAB and CON.
October 19, 2025 at 8:45 AM
This is wild
It is shaping up to be a great season on socialism. Also interesting to hear @iandunt.bsky.social hinting at the Austrian critique of socialism (the Economic Calculation debate) through the lense of the role of middlemen. It’s all about information.
🚨NEW EPISODE🚨
Welcome back to Season Eight: The Story of Socialism as @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social conclude the story of Karl Marx and the birth of Marxism. Listen here 👉 linktr.ee/originstoryp...
#marx #karlmarx #marxism #socialism #podcast #new #episode #originstory
Welcome back to Season Eight: The Story of Socialism as @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social conclude the story of Karl Marx and the birth of Marxism. Listen here 👉 linktr.ee/originstoryp...
#marx #karlmarx #marxism #socialism #podcast #new #episode #originstory
October 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM
It is shaping up to be a great season on socialism. Also interesting to hear @iandunt.bsky.social hinting at the Austrian critique of socialism (the Economic Calculation debate) through the lense of the role of middlemen. It’s all about information.
I wrote about growth for @libdemvoice.org. Cited @resfoundation.bsky.social and also
@bswud.bsky.social,
@scp-hughes.bsky.social, and @sambowman.co's UK Foundations Essay.
@libdems.org.uk
www.libdemvoice.org/what-is-the-...
@bswud.bsky.social,
@scp-hughes.bsky.social, and @sambowman.co's UK Foundations Essay.
@libdems.org.uk
www.libdemvoice.org/what-is-the-...
What is the Lib Dem vision for growth?
Before writing this article I searched Lib Dem Voice for articles on the economy, economic growth and the hot topic of “abundance”. I was surprised how little the economy seems to be discussed or writ...
www.libdemvoice.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I wrote about growth for @libdemvoice.org. Cited @resfoundation.bsky.social and also
@bswud.bsky.social,
@scp-hughes.bsky.social, and @sambowman.co's UK Foundations Essay.
@libdems.org.uk
www.libdemvoice.org/what-is-the-...
@bswud.bsky.social,
@scp-hughes.bsky.social, and @sambowman.co's UK Foundations Essay.
@libdems.org.uk
www.libdemvoice.org/what-is-the-...
Reposted by Steve Wotton
Elon Musk is a deeply irresponsible man and all party leaders should call him out.
September 15, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Elon Musk is a deeply irresponsible man and all party leaders should call him out.
That will be a long night.
September 15, 2025 at 8:48 PM
That will be a long night.
Frightening
Very, very bad stuff coming from leading right-wingers
September 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Frightening
Reposted by Steve Wotton
If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.
September 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.
Agree. So this morning @libdems.org.uk waffling on about how Reform’s plan would work, or not work as the case may be. Rather than just stating that is it cruel.
It's good when people interviewing Reform politicians about mass deportations and consigning vulnerable people to torture and death don't just ask "How would this work?" but "Isn't this immoral?" Like, the main issue with concentration camps isn't the construction logistics
August 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Agree. So this morning @libdems.org.uk waffling on about how Reform’s plan would work, or not work as the case may be. Rather than just stating that is it cruel.
Reposted by Steve Wotton
🚨OUT NOW🚨 Ed Davey’s reborn Lib Dems are on a 100-year high with 72 MPs and a shot at becoming the conscience of progressive Britain. So why do Reform get all the coverage? Listen to our conversation with the Lib Dem leader here 👉 linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...
August 15, 2025 at 7:55 AM
🚨OUT NOW🚨 Ed Davey’s reborn Lib Dems are on a 100-year high with 72 MPs and a shot at becoming the conscience of progressive Britain. So why do Reform get all the coverage? Listen to our conversation with the Lib Dem leader here 👉 linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...
Yes! This! It is such an obvious way to start to simplify the moronic level of complexity we have.
It would be more honest if national insurance was just rolled into income tax. I'd do it on a cost-neutral basis: retired people on higher incomes would pay more tax, but people of working age would see a tax cut.
August 12, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Yes! This! It is such an obvious way to start to simplify the moronic level of complexity we have.
Oh my gosh.
“My skill is keeping a straight face when someone tells me something, and inside I’m thinking: fucking hell.”
All the way down.
“My skill is keeping a straight face when someone tells me something, and inside I’m thinking: fucking hell.”
All the way down.
I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right
[FREE TO READ] What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled
on.ft.com
August 10, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Oh my gosh.
“My skill is keeping a straight face when someone tells me something, and inside I’m thinking: fucking hell.”
All the way down.
“My skill is keeping a straight face when someone tells me something, and inside I’m thinking: fucking hell.”
All the way down.
Just listened to @newstatesman.com “who really owns Britain’s houses”.
Disappointing that it was perpetuating the under occupancy myth. The UK has one of the lowest levels of empty properties and second homes in the Western World.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Disappointing that it was perpetuating the under occupancy myth. The UK has one of the lowest levels of empty properties and second homes in the Western World.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Who really owns Britain's houses? | Susan J. Smith interview
Podcast Episode · The New Statesman | UK politics and culture · 02/08/2025 · 43m
podcasts.apple.com
August 3, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Just listened to @newstatesman.com “who really owns Britain’s houses”.
Disappointing that it was perpetuating the under occupancy myth. The UK has one of the lowest levels of empty properties and second homes in the Western World.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Disappointing that it was perpetuating the under occupancy myth. The UK has one of the lowest levels of empty properties and second homes in the Western World.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Great article today. School makes you do things you are not good at and bases status on that, while also being a crucial formative period.
Also sprinkled with Ian's excellent self deprecating humour "I am shit at every sport. I mean genuinely every single one." LOL.
Also sprinkled with Ian's excellent self deprecating humour "I am shit at every sport. I mean genuinely every single one." LOL.
OK so feeling slightly apprehensive about this, which I suppose is kind of the point. This is an attempt at a progressive view on masculinity and on men getting laid. God help me. iandunt.substack.com/p/how-to-be-...
How to be a man
The right story narrative about male attractiveness is grounded in Social Darwinism and free market economics. Can progressives tell a better story?
iandunt.substack.com
August 1, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Great article today. School makes you do things you are not good at and bases status on that, while also being a crucial formative period.
Also sprinkled with Ian's excellent self deprecating humour "I am shit at every sport. I mean genuinely every single one." LOL.
Also sprinkled with Ian's excellent self deprecating humour "I am shit at every sport. I mean genuinely every single one." LOL.
Scores of murdered children haven’t changed anything. I very much doubt this will.
It’s a nightmare scenario that more workplaces are having to prepare for. How should you respond in an active-shooter situation?
Beyond ‘Run, Hide, Fight’: What to Do in an Active-Shooter Situation
More workplaces are having to prepare for the nightmare scenario. How should you respond?
on.wsj.com
July 30, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Scores of murdered children haven’t changed anything. I very much doubt this will.
Ossification. That’s the word.
Net result of this ossification of what should be an economically dynamic part of the UK is an economic and long term intergenerational disaster. And Britain with feeble, second tier infrastructure.
July 28, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Ossification. That’s the word.
Reposted by Steve Wotton
A UK wealth tax sounds simple: "tax the super‑rich, fund public services"
But it's not.
Our 16,000 word deep‑dive shows revenues are fragile, it puts growth, investment and jobs at risk, and there's no revenue before 2029.
Here’s the evidence:
But it's not.
Our 16,000 word deep‑dive shows revenues are fragile, it puts growth, investment and jobs at risk, and there's no revenue before 2029.
Here’s the evidence:
July 22, 2025 at 8:15 AM
A UK wealth tax sounds simple: "tax the super‑rich, fund public services"
But it's not.
Our 16,000 word deep‑dive shows revenues are fragile, it puts growth, investment and jobs at risk, and there's no revenue before 2029.
Here’s the evidence:
But it's not.
Our 16,000 word deep‑dive shows revenues are fragile, it puts growth, investment and jobs at risk, and there's no revenue before 2029.
Here’s the evidence:
Yes. Capitalism is about profit and loss. The loss is as important as the profit, to deter bad management and creditors lack of due diligence. For better or worse TW is in the private sector, so it must now face the consequences of insolvency.
Thames water is effectively bankrupt. Don't bail it out with public money. Let it go to the wall. The shareholders and bondholders will take a big hit for loading it with debt and then the public can buy the assets on the cheap.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Thames Water will take decade to turn around, says boss
The company's future remains uncertain as it posted losses of £1.65bn for the previous financial year.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 16, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Yes. Capitalism is about profit and loss. The loss is as important as the profit, to deter bad management and creditors lack of due diligence. For better or worse TW is in the private sector, so it must now face the consequences of insolvency.