Reg Hoare

Don't appease dictators, especially nazi dictators such as Putin and Khameini: youtube.com/watch?v=sDzDny…

More wonderful cultural enrichment.

Soft power; why a constitutional monarchy is always better than a presidency:

Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Mark Butcher rated Ollie Robinson as the best Test bowler in England, but admitted a return to the team depends on his relationship with the management 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #Cricket

It turns out that if you import millions of people who are taught to hate Jews their entire lives your country becomes less safe for Jews. Who could have predicted this?

As expected, the Bank of England's MPC voted by 8–1 to keep rates at 3.75% (Huw Pill wanted to hike to 4%). The consensus view is neatly summarised below 👇 In short, upside risks to inflation offset (for now) by the weakness of the labour market and downside risks to growth.

FWIW, the Bank of England expects CPI inflation to dip from 3.3% in March to 3.0% in April, then rise again to peak at around 3.5% in the autumn. That should be low enough to keep interest rates on hold, especially with unemployment forecast to pick up again too...

Nothing personal against @labourlewis, but this is yet another example of the ongoing economic illiteracy around energy policy 🙄 In particular... 1⃣ BP is not making "record profits"; in fact, the latest numbers are not that unusual for any global company of this size 2⃣ the market prices of oil and gas have jumped because of a supply shock - this is just economics 101 3⃣ we will continue to need some oil and (especially) gas for the foreseeable future; profits provide the incentive for companies to maintain investment and supply (as well as provide jobs, tax revenues and dividends for UK shareholders) 4⃣ it is clearly far better to source this oil and gas from the North Sea (for which we should be thanking BP, not demonising them) 5⃣ if you want someone to blame for the UK's relatively high energy costs, I'd start closer to home (hint: his first name is 'Ed')

ICYMI, this morning's Bank of England data show annual growth in broad money has remained subdued at around 4% 👇 This is much weaker than in the run up to the inflation spike in 2022 and another reason not to panic about inflation risks now... 🤞

Some better news for the weekend... ☀️ Final manufacturing PMI for April confirms the improvement in the flash data, with output, new orders and employment all increasing. But price pressures from the Iran war are building and input cost inflation is already taking off...

The list is long, but surrendering the Chagos Islands was one of the worst decisions Starmer made as PM. Defence spending has to rise. So today I’m announcing that we would spend that money on building British frigates faster. That’s how we build a Stronger Country.

This is driving the huge success of savings apps such as Moneybox, Plum, Chip, Emma etc - indeed @moneyboxteam just reported to shareholders (a mix of PE and the crowd) that it had Q1 inflows of £1.8bn). [I am part of said crowd]

The deleveraging of the UK household sector to become net cash is one of the more striking economic transformations of the last 20 years

@mragilligan points out that if one google’s ‘green candidate’ and clicks on the news button, it’s a veritable sewer of anti-Semitic idiocy.

Here's an "Israel-controls-Parliament" post from the vast back catalogue of Lambeth Green Party candidate Saiqa Ali. The Greens haven't just refused to disown Ali. Zack Polanski is in Lambeth this morning to campaign for her.

We’ve received 4 legal challenges to the motor finance scheme. An industry-wide motor finance scheme is the fastest, simplest route for consumers and the most efficient way for firms to put things right and give certainty to their investors. We'll defend the scheme robustly as lawful and the best way to resolve such a widespread, long running and complex issue. #CarFinance #MotorFinance #HelpingConsumers #FinancialServices fca.org.uk/news/statement…

The US airforce airlift to the Middle East this morning has again been massive with over 12 transport aircraft and many tankers airborne. Something is being prepared...

There's something deeply disturbing about the closure of one of the oldest schools in England, which goes back to AD 631, its roll of headmasters to 1114, and numbers Thomas Paine among its former pupils. Our national educational heritage, sacrificed for an ideological tax grab.

NB the community note. As any fule kno, the SNP has delivered precisely nothing for Scotland, not even independence.

From what I read Keir Starmer definitely is/isn’t safe from a challenge which definitely is/isn’t going to come from Angela Rayner who definitely is/isn’t going to call for him to go/accept a job in a reshuffle that definitely is/isn’t happening because she is worried Wes Streeting definitely is/isn’t about to launch a challenge of his own to head off Andy Burnham who definitely is/isn’t in a pact with a Labour MP to take a Commons seat. Hope that’s clear

An anti-Semitic terrorist was a 'martyr', the October 7 attack was a 'false flag' and Israel is a colony of 'rapists'... say the Green Party hopefuls running for election trib.al/5EvUTBs