Oliver Winters

Missing EUrovision 🥲

@seektruthfromfx @BenZaranko Oh I meant broadband

@Oliver_Winters @BenZaranko You can easily get rolling contracts as long as you buy your phone outright and then get a SIM-only contract. Buying your phone from the telco is almost always a poor option. It's like buying your house from your water company. If you do that, yes, the water will cost a fortune.

This chart is bonkers. I think there's two possible explanations for why the UK runs so far ahead of other European countries – neither of them good. And the annual April jump speaks to a wider issue. For more detail, see my column in this weekend's Observer (link below).

@TypeForVictory My vote would be Finlay Christie - he's very funny and was great when he appeared on it.

The format can work, but I'm afraid Merton and Hislop need to retire - they've had long enough. Simon Evans or Omid Djalili would be excellent, and I'm sure there are others who could help freshen it up a bit.

@Isaac2003_v2 Gotta be 4 - but does this mean I can't drive on the A5?

You just won a 2-week, all-expenses-paid vacation. But there’s a catch: you have to stay within one region the whole time. What region are you picking?

@samueljenkinson You mean French fry on their shoulder

Airconditioning seems to be the new seasoning on food status thing for Americans to go on about in some way to negate some kind of chip on their shoulders about Europeans.

@MDC12345678 @InstituteGC Ok explain this as I genuinely want to know - if the marginal price of electricity is set by gas, why would getting rid of renewables have a significant impact on the price of electricity??

One sign that Tony Blair @InstituteGC has won the argument is that none of his critics has identified the specific flaws in his reasoning. They simply assert that he is wrong and then double down. Starmer’s response essentially stonewalls Blair. Burnham similarly fails to address Blair’s substantive points and relies on a mix of fallacious arguments in his op-ed for The Times. None of this means that Blair will win immediately. His views remain a minority position within the Labour Party and much of the media. But that has no bearing on the truth or falsity of what he has said in his essay or the reports put out by his institute over the last year. That is why Blair is right to feel confident in escalating his confrontation with the Labour leadership. On energy, he is unequivocally correct. Government policy, not war, markets or geology, drives the UK’s high electricity prices. Those who argue otherwise are deliberately distorting the debate because they have an idealised view of a Net Zero energy system. They want a renewables-heavy system because they believe, as Ed Miliband argues in Go Big, that it will end our "300-year economic model".

@AllyFogg If true (probably isn't) it would almost certainly constitute discrimination on the grounds of sex and I would be pretty surprised if even the crappiest HR person would agree to this.

This is bogstandard Reddit culture wars squabbles, but what’s fascinating is how many Americans are saying ‘oh this is the UK so he’s probably Muslim’ They really do think we’re living under some subjected Caliphate. Brains absolutely fried.

@portraitinflesh Hard agree

A friend asked me what I think about Tony Blair's latest "intervention". I answered. I'd like to think I'm not the only person who feels this way.

@phil_tri @AdamLake Many things which we promised to do to boost growth (planning reform, infrastructure investment) are already being done, but there are few ways governments can boost short term growth other than inflationary budget deficits (one of the reasons the US is doing so well).

@phil_tri @AdamLake All those things, except the NI increase were in our manifesto. We removed green levies from bills. There is very little the government can do in the short term to deliver cheaper electricity absent subsidies that would be inefficient and unaffordable.

I read the Tony Blair essay last night. I thought it was a really clear articulation of the challenges faced not just by Britain, but the world. I found myself agreeing, strongly, with about 90% of it. I am stunned by the response today. Now living in the US, I'm significantly less connected to the UK vibe, but I'm pretty astonished at the blinkers so many supposed political leaders force on themselves. The main rebuttal seems to be that these global changes aren't as fun to talk about as traditional town hall politics. As Blair sets out, only utter irrelevance will come from this. In the US, there are similar challenges, and too often politicians look to simplify the global situation. The difference is the private sector in the US is so vast, the scale and speed is so strong in these emerging markets, that it doesn't hold progress back. The UK will never compete with the US or China on the AI revolution, but it is best placed to be a strong third. For the size of our economy, that should be seen as our number one pursuit. To say, "Why are you talking about AI when you should be focussing on the NHS and the cost of living" shows a level of naivety that is crushing. If those voices lead the conversation in the UK, its future is bleak. It is the flat earth equivalent. Whether you like it or not, that is the reality. We can embrace it and reap the benefits for society, or ignore it and forever be a poor follower.

@phil_tri @AdamLake Sure - but "delivery" was the mantra of Labour going into government, but despite delivering on many promises we are not getting cut-through. Not expecting miracles, normal to be unpopular at this point in term, but something is not working.

@Oliver_Winters @AdamLake Labour’s election manta was growth (and no spending not support by growth). - noble plan. Delivery was spending not support by growth (doctors etc) + Regs, NIC increases, NWM up all anti-growth by any standard measure Another plan was AI, delivery worlds most expensive leccy

@phil_tri @AdamLake Singapore is also not a democracy

@Oliver_Winters @AdamLake All politicians (particularly Labour) should read around Lee Kuan Yew. His model for 🇸🇬 success was simple “It’s not whether it’s left or right, it’s not whether it’s public or private, it’s what *works*” Delivery > ideology Eg 🇸🇬 has high public housing & private health

@JohnRentoul Of course - economic growth is good but I think it's sometimes held out to be much more important than it actually is.

@Oliver_Winters But if we are using gas (for decades more) we'd rather use gas produced by British workers paying British taxes

Tony Blair to Jon Sopel re Ed Miliband and net zero, part 1

@JohnRentoul Fine, but continuing to use gas won't actually bring down energy costs will it? And North Sea gas will make a negligible difference to gas costs. Not necessarily against developing what remains but not going to make a huge difference.

Tony Blair to Jon Sopel re Ed Miliband and net zero, part 2

@AdamLake Also rather surprised to see him appear to dismiss the importance of political leadership and communication. Arguably key to New Labour's success!

@AdamLake I don't think anything he said was necessarily bad, but just not helpful - none of it is new, and several of these items (e.g planning) are already on the government's agenda. The issue is the politics, for which he has no advice. Agree that the lack of a 'project' is a problem.

@Perky_43 Anyone can change their name by deed poll, there is no register of names, but if you want to get a new passport you obviously have to give your old name. Someone here has made a mistake. Also the Spanish equivalent of DBS has failed here. So not so well done in some ways...

🚨 Well done Spain 🇪🇸 Imagine if we had a legal system that actually gave appropriate prison sentences! ⚠️ INFAMOUS UK TEACHER RECEIVES 135 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IN SPAIN. A British teacher in Spain, David Rose, has had a prison sentence of 135 years upheld by Spain’s Supreme Court. Rose was originally arrested in 2020, accused of crimes against 36 children. Specialist police in Queensland, Australia had tipped off Spanish police about a “sexual predator” they believed was residing in their country. The Spanish court has now convicted him on dozens of offences, including child pornography, disclosure of secrets, and “crime against moral integrity.” Previously known as Ben David Lewis, Rose changed his name by deed poll in 2016 after receiving a two-year suspended sentence – and a ban on travelling abroad – for similar offences in St Albans, Hertfordshire. In August of the same year, under his new name, Rose received a passport and passed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks in order to start working with children in Spain. Though Rose is now behind bars, his case is, unfortunately, not unique. The name-change loophole has raised serious safeguarding concerns in the UK. Currently, campaigners are rallying for the laws involving name changes to be amended. “Existing laws are enabling offenders to work around the system, free to obscure their identity without being monitored,” the Safeguarding Alliance has said. In March of this year, the problem was brought to debate in the House of Commons. However, the government has yet to show significant steps to address it.

@LindaR39 @AndyBurnhamGM @tshep42 @InstituteGC What's the emoticon to say you have queries about a poll's methodology?

@AndyBurnhamGM @tshep42 @InstituteGC I wouldn’t waste your time if I were you. You just keep mayoring.

@PJTheEconomist The debate is framed wrongly - the fact that the benefits system is so stingy for those looking for work versus those able to work reduces the labour force and damages economic growth.

Spending on working age welfare has barely shifted as a fraction of national income in decades. True that spending on some incapacity and disability benefits is rising but others are being squeezed. Torsten is right. That is not what is pushing up total spending and taxes.

@samueljenkinson Was there ever a cogent explanation of how this insane thing came to happen? Will future historians debate the point for decades?

Still can’t get over her doing this