Eoghain Leo Murphy

Brilliant

This is an astonishing fact from today’s Sunday Times. At least 224 out of 257 new Labour MPs elected in July 2024 came from either charities or communications/lobbying agencies, or were formerly “political employees”. It explains so much about Labour backbenchers’ priorities.

Provocative headline, serious analysis: Is Rachel Reeves actually to blame for the ‘Truss crash’? cityam.com/is-rachel-reev…

How on earth does the sacking of Scott Mills become the lead item on the BBC One O'Clock news. I know the BBC loves nothing more than to obsess about itself, but is this really a bigger news story than what is going on in Iran or energy prices?

“What is the secret to Southwark’s growth?” @RC_Southwark, one of London’s two dioceses, will receive 590 adults into the Catholic Church this year, a significant increase for the diocese. Archbishop John Wilson explains what is driving the rise in conversions. Article | ow.ly/FkeC50YAyrX

True Never seen it quite so devoid of buses Never seen it quite so tacky Never seen it quite so hard for those in wheelchairs to get around Never seen it quite so commercialised by brands that could have made it anywhere with nothing marking it as the nation's high street

@MarwanData Congrats Marwan!

I'm officially a home owner 🏠 🔑

@VoteTimBarnes @Lindt @Londonist Isn’t ‘chocolate kidney’ more of a thing than ‘chocolate liver’? 🤣

Welcome addition to the West End for chocolate livers! ⁦@Lindt⁩ open #Piccadilly Flagship Store via ⁦@Londonist⁩ londonist.com/london/food/li…

Councillor Surgery Sessions Have an issue or a problem you want to raise with me as your West End Councillor? Come to my monthly surgery. It's free. No need to book. Open to all residents and businesses from #Fitzrovia #Mayfair #Soho and East #Marylebone Sacred Grounds, 54 Dean St, Soho 10-11am, first Saturday each month. Next to @AnnesSoho Grab a drink and come chat! Want to know what surgeries are about? Click on the video! See you soon!

Welcome to the newest @CityWestminster Councillor, Martin Hayes! Delighted he joins the @westminstertory ranks after a wonderful victory, tonight, taking a seat from #Labour to represent Vincent Sq. Group Leader @paulswaddle looking pleased, too!

My column published this morning.

Here's my fuller take on today's UK GDP data...🤔 (TL;DR - "the Budget has undermined the foundations of growth in the private sector") The first official figures for the UK economy in the final quarter of last year may not have been quite as bad as expected, but it says a lot that growth of just 0.1% can be trumpeted as ‘good news’. The detail is also worrying. Output per head fell again for the second successive quarter, meaning that headline growth is still flattered by the increase in the population. Moreover, the only positive contributions came from higher government spending (financed by more borrowing) and a temporary boost from stockbuilding (as firms produced goods that they could not sell). Activity in the private sector actually shrank, led by a fall in investment, which is consistent with the gloom in the  business surveys. Even if the UK economy continues to skirt an outright recession, growth is likely to fall well short of the projections made by the OBR last year and baked into the Budget. Further tax rises are very likely, though not yet inevitable if spending can be controlled instead (obviously, a big 'if'). Crucially, the 'fiscal headroom' depends on the path of GDP over the whole of the OBR's five-year horizon, not just the beginning. The OBR might still revise up its forecasts for the later years, as the Bank of England has done. There are also many other moving parts including the assumptions about interest rates, though the OBR has already factored in a series of cuts. The outlook for the public finances is therefore still poor, and the risk of a 'doom loop' of weaker growth, more tax increases, falling confidence and further weakness remains high. Indeed, this process may already have started. In short, the foundations of growth in the private sector have been undermined by the increases in tax and other business costs announced in the Budget, as well as by more state intervention in the labour and energy markets. Fears over jobs are starting to weigh on consumer spending, despite rising real incomes, while business investment is being crowded out by the increase in government borrowing. Growth may recover a little over the course of 2025 as more of the boost from higher public spending kicks in. But the economy may be flirting with a recession all year - and the private sector is already in one.

Excellent interview, showing the simplest questions are often the best. If this chap is the boss of GB Energy, it’s doomed. And he repeats the canard that the more renewables and the fewer fossil fuels, the lower our electricity bills will be. If that was true we’d already have much lower fuel bills and America would have some of the most expensive electricity in the world.

Peter Sefton-Williams left 'mentally traumatised' by doctor after misdiagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease: 'I could have died on the basis of an error' gbnews.com/health/peter-s…

This is the consultation that was due to have COMPLETED last October until the Mayor dragged his feet on the timing... Good to see it, but my word, there was no need for the nine month delay.

We need action like this is @CityWestminster to take illegal and dangerous bikes off our roads and pavements! bbc.com/news/articles/…

Only two days ago the Labour Leader of @CityWestminster @leader_wcc promised that the lessons were being learned from the recently cleared #roughsleeper tents on #ParkLane after they had failed to learn the lessons of 2020. But there's already a new tent and signs of other activity! If they are not cleared immediately, it will be a real failing by the council and @TfL @westminstertory @paulswaddle

Downing Street confirms your council tax is going up. Another blow to working people.

Delighted to be able to speak in the homelessness debate at @CityWestminster Full Council this evening. I made that point that we need a specific strategy for dealing with the trafficked migrants and modern day slavery that sees so many rough sleepers in the #WestEnd specifically on Park Lane, Cavendish Sq and Oxford St. Sadly, no mention of this group is in the new strategy. The #Labour council didn't listen to those who have been involved in the past and have no plans on what to do about it in the future. So we are likely to be left with the aggressive begging, the human excrement and the wider criminality with neither the Labour-run council or the Labour Mayor of London having any clue what to do next. @westminstertory @CLWCA @MaryleboneAssoc @MayfairResident @sohosocietyw1 @FitzWestForum

This is one of the longest Private Members Bills ever but was only published last night. MPs will have only 5 hours to debate it. The promised safeguards do nothing to prevent the abuses we’ve seen in Canada. Vulnerable people need our protection. This bill is not the answer.