Профиль

Blimey, Amol Rajan really taking Daily Telegraph/ Reform UK talking points on net zero! #r4today

Interesting #r4today interview with Louise Haigh - but extraordinary for Dharshini to trash her argument in linking to the next item. Perhaps Today should ditch the guests & just give the presenters’ views.

Does anyone know if Badenoch, Farage et al have said anything about the extreme weather and what they'd do to prevent ever more extreme weather in the future? It should be one of the first questions interviewers ask.

When Kemi Badenoch, Claire Coutinho, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and all the other climate sceptics & climate deniers (spot the difference) read stories like this in the Telegraph, I wonder what they think. Mind you, the Telegraph story doesn't mention climate change at all. So that's all good.

#r4today seems to have become an arm of the defence industry (moonlighting for oil and gas on the side).

All this focus on sticking to Labour’s manifesto - was there as much talk about honouring manifestos in 1990 or 2007 or 2016 or 2019 or 2022 (twice)? I don’t remember it.

Advice to Spain: don’t now put ten men in defence.

Golden Boot for Saka?

Andy Burnham’s team’s signalling on N Sea oil & gas drilling is hugely disappointing (however much it pleases D Trump). If the rumours are true, it’s crucial that the new PM also commits to positive climate action (the ZEV mandate, heat pumps, home retrofit, public transport, adaptation etc etc).

As someone who also joined the Labour Party in the mid-80s, fired up by Neil Kinnock's oratory, it was good to hear Andy Burnham pay tribute to him.

What’s really bizarre is the idea that strong backing for net zero (a legally binding target ) is anti-business. It’s the one area of the economy that’s growing in the UK. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘Bizarre choice’: business and Labour puzzle over Shabana Mahmood as future chancellorThe home secretary, favourite to take over at No 11, has minimal economic credentials and many MPs would prefer Ed Milibandwww.theguardian.com

Good to see England win at our national sport (though of course, test cricket is the real test).

In defence of planning: my letter in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social. It baffles me that so many people on the centre left take their analysis of planning and the housing crisis from their ideological opponents.

As the impacts of climate change become ever more evident, more and more politicians and commentators choose to attack the policies necessary to address it. It really is fascinating, though I can also think of a few other words.

My first football memory was England losing to Brazil in 1970. #56YearsOfHurt. The least T. Tuchel could have done in Keir Starmer’s last week is bring on Bukayo Saka. Better than parking an inadequate bus. (But hey, I’m a Gillingham fan, so what do I know…).

“Her view is that while climate change may be real, there’s no point in trying to do anything about it” - John Crace sums up Kemi Badenoch’s position.

Kemi declares war on net zero – and what remains of her partyBadenoch’s ideological purge gathers pace as moderates are cast out and the Tories edge ever closer to political extinctionwww.theguardian.com

Letter of the week in the New Statesman: "There is no pleasing John Gray, is there? After decades of denouncing 'progressivism', the Enlightenment and any idea of human progress, Gray now has a US president who embodies the backwardness and nihilism he craves, and he still doesn’t like it..."

The Lower Thames Crossing is an environmental & financial disaster but the government has never seriously considered alternatives (as set out by @transportaction.bsky.social). Andy Burnham should scrap it. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

UK’s public spending watchdog to investigate Lower Thames Crossing projectExclusive: Campaigners voice concerns over rising costs of £11bn Essex to Kent road tunnelwww.theguardian.com

When will ministers & Labour MPs leave X? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, says Musk’s fatherErrol Musk says far-right activist is ‘a fine young man’ and held meetings with Russian business figureswww.theguardian.com

It's good to see this from Andy Burnham. Instead of uncritically fixating on the % of GDP spent on defence, we need to debate what we're defending & how, what the threats are & whether we're getting value for money (spoiler: we're not).