simontilford.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

The collapse of the rule of law in America feels a bit like 1989 but in a bad way. A reference point for decades just gone in weeks

submitted 14 hours ago • 5 comments

How much will the Immigration White Paper cost? About as much as we will save from the cuts to disability benefits. ukandeu.ac.uk/immigration_...

submitted 19 hours ago • 1 comment

This should be the end of Noem’s career in public life. It almost certainly won’t be, however, which is itself damning.

submitted 2 days ago • 776 comments

It pains me to say it, because for years I respected so much of what he had to say. But Ezra Klein is no friend to global climate action. His "Abundance" framing is just polluter-friendly Cornucopianism in new clothing.

submitted 4 days ago • 16 comments

Oooof. Those direct air capture machines built by Climeworks in Iceland, to pull carbon dioxide out of the air? Turns out ... they have generated more CO2 than they have captured.

submitted 4 days ago • 68 comments

Targeting networks centered around such noted “antisemites” as (check notes) George Soros, @jbpritzker.bsky.social and @sanders.senate.gov…

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Really interesting from @luketryl.bsky.social on whether Govt’s welfare policies are becoming its Achilles heel, because they run counter to voter concern about the cost of living and hardship & their expectations of a Labour government.

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

“The UK has now spent a decade unhappily chasing populists downhill. Leaning into voters’ concerns but with sober solutions is ultimately the only viable path for moderates. Still, I wish I was more confident it will work.” Genius para from @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on.ft.com/4jaJSXY

submitted 5 days ago • 5 comments

A long read on Labour's depressing new immigration rhetoric and counterproductive policy open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...

submitted 5 days ago • 8 comments

One of the less-stated reasons for why immigration has risen as a Most Important Issue since 2000 - the fall of the category it was competing with.

submitted 5 days ago • 6 comments

We despise immigrants for not putting down roots, even as we make sure that it is impossible for them to do so. We do this because we have no idea what we want. open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

submitted 7 days ago • 106 comments

In short, Starmer has taken a massive hit among Labour voters, for no gain elsewhere, while boosting Farage's popularity, including doubling his ceiling among Labour voters. I.e., the political scientists were right, Morgan McSweeney was horrendously wrong.

submitted 7 days ago • 76 comments

Enough. We demand rapid, safe, and unimpeded access to starving civilians in Gaza. We have a plan. We have thousands of trucks of food at the border. Let us in. Let us work. bit.ly/3S7M0oo

submitted 6 days ago • 8 comments

We stay winning. We've successfully found the most strategically brain dead idea in UK politics, everyone else can give up and go home.

submitted 6 days ago • 41 comments

In two important ways Labour empowered Nigel Farage and Faragism this week. Both were strategic mistakes. We’ve seen this story before. New writing from me. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

submitted 6 days ago • 53 comments

IEA battery demand forecasts consistently underestimate what is happening

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

“The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has lost access to his email, and his bank accounts have been frozen. The Hague-based court’s American staffers have been told that if they travel to the U.S. they risk arrest.” By @mollyquell.bsky.social

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

The speech & white paper together had a number of echoes, some less subtle than others, of far right rhetoric. Whether they were deliberate or not perhaps isn't the key point, since they're what inevitably happens if you're careless about language on this topic: you regurgitate the same old tropes.

submitted 8 days ago • 5 comments

“Our concern is that there is a huge imbalance between a handful of global players who are able to influence directly what No 10 is thinking about on policy, and the thousands of other businesses that make up the AI industry across the UK,” said Tim Flagg, the UKAI chief executive.“

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

WOW. The Trump admin said they will review social media and deny immigration benefits to people saying antisemitic claims. They're even trying to deport people with green cards on alleged claims of antisemitism. Anyway, here's a tweet from an Afrikaner they flew here on Monday.

submitted 8 days ago • 321 comments

"Imagine the auto industry without 3D printing. NSF funded that. Artificial intelligence? NSF. MRI machines that help doctors diagnose you? NSF. Doppler radar technology that makes aviation safer by conquering wind shear? NSF. Duolingo‘s underlying programming? NSF. The internet itself? NSF."

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

“We’re not Powell we are Wilson/Callaghan” is not really the clever defence Downing St imagine it to be when briefing BS the house magazine of Blue Labour. Wilson passed racially discriminatory legislation and betrayed the Kenyan Asians, leaving them stateless for decades

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

Very honoured to be shortlisted for the prestigious Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness for the second year in a row We shouldn’t still have to be reporting on homelessness in this country in 2025 - but as the crisis still exists, it is vital that we do.

submitted 9 days ago • 11 comments

Y'days post: Starmer’s Disgraceful and Damaging Remarks mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/05/star... As with austerity in the 2010s, if none of the main parties can be honest about immigration then the public debate will be equally dishonest.

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

"The government's argument sounds plausible. There's just one problem. It doesn't fit the facts. And the government knows it." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 9 days ago • 18 comments

This chart from Immigration White Paper illustrates quality of government's underlying "analysis." 1. Numbers are completely wrong (in fact non-EU employment in health/care rose by over 100K). 2. Doesn't say what time period this is. 3. Footnote to source says data is from OECD (it's from HMRC)

submitted 10 days ago • 18 comments

"I'm unhappy senior politicians are using language reminiscent of [Enoch] Powell and I'm sorry Starmer used some of those phrases." Lord @alfdubs.bsky.social on the "regrettable" language used in the PM's 'island of strangers' speech. @maitlis.bsky.social | @lewisgoodall.com

submitted 9 days ago • 14 comments

extraordinary that Thames Water executives are getting new bonuses, this time as a result of the £3bn rescue loan from the spring - which loads the company with interest rates of nearly 10% via me and Gill Plimmer www.ft.com/content/1f6d...

submitted 10 days ago • 56 comments

They detained an American citizen, questioned him about his beliefs and criticisms of Trump. This could be any of us who have public opinions the administration doesn't like.

submitted 9 days ago • 7 comments

Here's the most recent census data from the ONS, showing Bradford residents' country of birth. 80.1% report their country of birth as England. Robert Jenrick's dog whistle sounds more like a foghorn.

submitted 10 days ago • 26 comments

The claim by Yvette Cooper that there is a link between immigration and higher levels of inactivity (related to sickness and disability) has absolutely no basis in evidence or data. Just retrofitting the evidence to the policy...

submitted 12 days ago • 81 comments

"The UK’s regulatory story over the past ten years has been characterised by leaders unwilling to confront trade-offs and unable to set a clear direction of travel... adopting a clear strategy which [gov't] follows consistently is an essential prerequisite to success" ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/regu...

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

Genuinely shocked how far and fast the Conservative Party has fallen on climate change. They’re now at the accusing climate scientists of ‘bias’ and considering quitting the Paris Agreement stage of things. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

submitted 10 days ago • 27 comments

I love my adopted home city of Bradford, and its diversity is one of the very best things about it. This is something we can and should celebrate. We have incredible culture, a just-promoted football teams and the best curries in England bar none. Oh, and it’s @bradford2025.co.uk

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

Since July 2023, 21 of the last 22 months have seen global average temperatures 1.5ºC above the pre-industrial level, according to #ERA5 data - with July 2024 just 0.02°C below that mark. Read more about the latest findings in our #C3S Monthly Bulletin: climate.copernicus.eu/2nd-warmest-...

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

The Government’s top-ups to capital spending reverse steep cuts pencilled in by the previous Government. But, despite large top ups to capital budgets at the Autumn 2024 and March 2025 fiscal events, relative to 2023-24, public investment is still slightly falling as a share of GDP by 2029-30.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

My Dad died 15 months ago & spent last year of his life in a London nursing home. He was bed bound, blind, deaf, with dementia and various health issues. Almost all his carers & nurses were non UK born and they were all brilliant. They treated my mother like family (and still do to this day) 1/3

submitted 10 days ago • 47 comments

With immigration policy back in the political spotlight, it’s a great time to re-read @jdportes.bsky.social’s February article debunking the “outright lies and misleading statistics” which pervade this debate. www.prospectmagazine...

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Yvette Cooper repeatedly refused to give a straight answer just now on Today to straight Q “Will councils get more money to pay care workers more?” She repeatedly committed to higher carer pay but wouldn’t commit to money so councils can fund it. Think that speaks volumes about the mess we are in.

submitted 10 days ago • 76 comments

Once again, those who spout this stuff simply refuse to engage with what the data actually says about employment and earnings.

submitted 10 days ago • 5 comments

This is insane. Republicans have inserted language into the budget reconciliation bill that would ban states from regulating AI in any capacity for 10 years. from @404media.co www.404media.co/republicans-...

submitted 10 days ago • 304 comments

Excellent letter. Well said @tanjabueltmann.net . I deeply share your outrage and sense of betrayal.

submitted 10 days ago • 3 comments

"uncontrolled immigration" Lol you guys know how much you have to pay to apply for permanent residence in France? €225 Germany? €113 The UK? £3,029 PER PERSON. You are a family of three? that will be ten grand please.

submitted 10 days ago • 5 comments