Jonathan Eley

Friend of my daughter is being deported shortly, on a technicality (uni provided incorrect details on visa app) Masters degree. Speaks three languages. Home Office won’t entertain appeal Never been more ashamed to be British

@duncanrobinson Alas there are no photographs of Rishi alongside Antoinette Sandbach, who at 6' 5" is apparently is the tallest woman ever to be an MP I had no idea until I came across her at a select committee hearing where she towered over Rachel Reeves

Rishi is exception because he was perfectly proportioned so the smallness snuck up on people

@duncanrobinson Ed Miliband had same issue (in addition to bacon sarnie problems…) Ken Livingstone avoided focus on his adenoidal whine by saying outrageous things, so people talked about them instead

Voice privilege is real. Good Janan on it (iirc)

It’s hardly FDR either…

What could end the cycle? Maybe we get lucky, growth picks up, inflation falls? Maybe a politician with a backbone emerges ? Maybe we elect a ReformUK govt, with economic policies that make Liz Truss look sane, then call in the IMF 18 months later? I honestly dunno

The UK's problem in a nutshell Voters don't want to hear about the hard choices needed to restore sanity to public finances The political class lacks any incentive to present them with such choices So we stumble on with "kiss it better" government ft.com/content/0fe4b4…

@PJTheEconomist For more on the mind-blowing sums of money that companies had to tip into these schemes during the zirp years, see this piece: ft.com/content/239363…

Did you notice £2.3bn giveaway in Budget to small group of public sector pensioners? Another transfer from young to old. After years of companies pouring hundreds of billions into DB pensions the companies, not pensioners, should benefit from surpluses. thetimes.com/article/0b38ed…

@afneil I find these bottle-tops as irritating as everyone else, but it is true the directive wasn't "imposed" It had to be approved by the elected parliament first (Also true that the EU does a terrible job of explaining all this and then wonders why no-one votes in Euro elections)

So why are all plastic caps now tethered to their bottles in Poland and everywhere else in EU (even Brexit Britain has fallen in line)? Answer: EU Directive 2019/904 imposed just over six years ago. Illegal to ignore in EU. Just a modest example from many to refute his denial

Er... Cyril Smith? Lord Rennard Neither was prosecuted but the stench was powerful

Dunno how many times I have to say this, but the @British_Airways website is just an utter embarrassment How do they fly planes when they can't even write code?

Important point A lot of what was in the manifesto has been done or is in the works Contrast with Sunak, who passed relatively little legislation during his 20 months as PM

Meanwhile the "Trump bump" in crypto has completely unwound... ft.com/content/f01842…

This vote completely passed me by amid the Mandy furore Only really noticed when my feed filled up with the usual "why am I paying taxes to subsidise feckless procreation" commentary

@duncanrobinson Process over outcome seems to be the mantra of every public service in the UK "Well the patient died but all the boxes were ticked so nothing to see"

An indictment of bullshit process: they did due diligence on Mandelson, which reversaled the obvious problems, and then went ahead anyway and now say “hey we did a process”

@SophyRidgeSky I’ve never covered politics but have no doubt this is true. Thing is, the corporate world is absolutely no different People get to the top by being ruthless, unsentimental and transactional bastards

Peter Mandelson is obviously a very charming man. Funny, well connected, gossipy, you hear a lot of people talk about him with affection in Westminster. My own stand out memory of him is a little different. The first time I met him was at my first ever Labour Party conference, I was a trainee reporter in my early twenties.  In other words, I had no status or any connections really at all. And I guess the best way to put it, is that Peter Mandelson was dismissive rather than charming. The reason I'm saying this is because I think it goes to the heart of Westminster's problem, a problem that I believe is deeply connected to the Epstein scandal (in Epstein’s world status - connections - and money - was everything.) Because people who look at Westminster - in the same way as they might look at Washington - and think, this is a closed group of elites, who all know each other, who go to the same parties, and share the same in jokes... well, to a large extent, they are right. There are too many people in Westminster who look over the shoulder of the person they're talking to see if there's someone more important in the room. Status is everything... what stories can they give me... how can they further my career? The personal and the professional become blurred.  And Peter Mandelson is the embodiment of that. Charming, well connected, gossipy. In the inner circle.  If we're honest with ourselves, that's the reason he's been allowed to fail and then be rehabilitated so many times. It's the reason he was given the best job in politics - US Ambassador - despite being friends with a paedophile. And it's the reason he's had a softer landing than many others would have in his position.  A softer landing... until now. Because after the latest dump of Epstein emails, there really is no coming back. Not even for the most charming man in Westminster.

“An FT obsession” Karma…

@Victoria_Spratt Is that like a Fens version of the Docklands development corporation?

In other news - this is pretty big The Govt would like to set up a centrally led development corporation for a key growth area

@julianHjessop The vibes thing is explained with a bit more intellectual rigour in this piece Still can't quite see how you get past the usually calamitous impact on short-term supply though theatlantic.com/economy/archiv…

"Rent controls are coming to the UK - but they're not a guaranteed win for tenants" Well balanced piece featuring people who think rent controls are a 'good thing', based on vibes, and those who know they are not, based on evidence... 🤓 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

There's a load of economic and societal reasons why this is...people commute more, work longer hours, drink less, more women work, far more leisure options, cheap supermarket booze plus wine tastes same at home (unlike draught beer), plus a fair few pubs are drab and smelly

@HenryPryor I certainly didn't know that!

Essential advice for anyone holding crypto. ⬇️