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smithtonyd.bsky.social
#Networks with #government, #thinktanks etc for #Birmingham, one of the UK's great but dis-empowered #cities. I own my views but they are socially constructed.
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If you did so much better when in government, how come there is still a need for reform? 🤷‍♂️ Forecasts are not the same as actual savings. Pipe down a bit. #r4today

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

Here we go. Trump’s next steps towards fascism… #newsnight

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

I do wish the media would STOP framing the debate as cuts in benefits v no cuts. It’s such a narrow unhelpful approach. The problem is we spend a lot of money but get crap outcomes (employment, GDP, wellbeing and life chances) and a welfare system that is meaner than the rest of Europe. #newsnight

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams review – a former disciple unfriends Facebook www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Michael Lewis and John Lanchester: ‘Trump is a trust-destroying machine’ www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Apparently, according to #r4today, the context of all this spending on benefits is the flatlining UK economy. Alternatively, the context of poor economic performance is the number of people unable to contribute.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Welfare reforms: Webb and Mason managed to imply that the whole context is the need for savings. This is not true. It is also the appalling outcomes delivered by the spending - employment, wellbeing and quality of life. Worth noting that we also have one of the meanest systems in Europe. #r4today

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Whistleblower’s exposé of the cult of Zuckerberg reveals peril of power-crazy tech bros www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Amid all the noise about the UK’s ‘two-tier’ justice system, there is silence on class www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

It is mission critical that Labour repairs the contract between citizen and state www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Why is Donald Trump crashing the US economy? Because he’s high on his own supply of fake news - @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Its outrageous to bring up assisted dying in a discussion about how to make the social security system work better. We need a serious debate on this. #bbcaq

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

It’s very annoying having to listen to commentators from the previous government lecturing us on what needs to be done when they totally failed on the same challenges and left the public services in a mess. A little humility wouldn’t go amiss… #newsnight

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

We need to get away from an obsession with the size of the state which Thatcherism gave us. It’s not the size, it’s what it does. We need a preventative state that gives people better life chances and supports inclusive growth. #r4today

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

#newsnight

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Keep up Paddy. The row in the White House was two weeks ago tomorrow, not “a few days”. It’s ancient history the way things are going… #newsnight

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Appeasement is not peace. Capitulation is not peace. #c4news

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

There is no way the West can reconsider the whole security and sovereignty of Europe. To do so would be to abandon sovereign states and their right to choose their own allies. Putin must be told firmly that it’s not him who decides the future of free peoples across Europe - it is them. #c4news

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

Not to mention rogue cargo ships in the North Sea… #newsnight

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

It is a bit rich listening to Mordaunt holding forth on the benefits of a DOGE approach… #newsnight

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

It’s not just about technology. One way of making our state more efficient would be to reverse the massive centralisation. Central govt in expensive Whitehall has grown massively since Brexit while local govt has been hollowed out. You can’t make every decision efficiently from Whitehall… #newsnight

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

Why do debates about our ever growing social costs always come back to benefits? There’s a much wider problem: we are spending tens of billions as the price of failure to invest in prevention - across health, housing, skills, education. And the rising cost of social care dwarfs benefits. #r4today

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

1994 "The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom... and the United States... reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine." #r4today

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

We need to stop spending more and more on national failure which is what much of welfare spending represents. To do that we must tackle the source of the problem - poor public services and health and a labour market that does not provide security. Just cutting will only make things worse… #newsnight

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

submitted 9 days ago • 309 comments

The founding fathers baked reason, truth and free speech into the US. That’s all gone now www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

‘The pandemic reinforced existing inequalities – it was a magnifying glass’: how Covid changed Britain www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/32... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

UK housing associations accused of mis-selling ‘affordable’ homes as service charges soar by up to 400% www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Mastercard and Visa linked to illegal gambling sites accused of scamming UK customers www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

“This is a struggle of good against evil. We are counting on the world to help us. If you don’t understand what’s happening come here and we will take you on an excursion.” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments