Ollie Boote

The new build estates on the outskirts of Cambridge are truly shocking. Is it any wonder that people there hate the thought of expanding the city when this is what they can expect will be built?

This is the kind of politics I thought REFORM might be tentatively edging towards — a kind of syncretic, Big Tent national populism, as comfortable attacking “big capital” as it is attacking mass migration/liberal Eurocrats. (OFC with a side order of Orban-style cronyism/Russophilia.) Farage had signalled he would: 👉Nationalise utilities/steel 👉Remove 2-child cap for working British families 👉Take on BoE over QT/ commercial bank interest % 👉Implement industrial strategy focused on reviving manufacturing (inc. public equity stakes in strategically essential domestic companies) After the wave of defections this year, that trajectory seems to be going into reverse: they’ve reneged on public ownership, and committed to orthodox Tory boomer welfarism via their 3-lock promise (politically expedient but fiscally imprudent). At the next election, notwithstanding the “communitarian” and “post-liberal” influence of Danny Kruger, the economic nationalist Orbanite option (remember Roger Scruton was a Fidesz fanboy) will likely give way to the Meloni model: trad centre-Right political economy + anti-woke/anti-migrant rhetoric… The Conservative Party 2.0.

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Chelsea made a Premier League record loss of £262m in 24/25, beating the £197.5m made by Manchester City in 2010/11

Star Wars actor John Boyega explained why he doesn’t watch Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones in 2017: “There are no Black people in Game of Thrones,” he said. “You don’t see one Black person in Lord of the Rings. I ain’t paying money to always see one type of person on-screen. Thoughts?

The infamous note from Liam Byrne is actually an illustration of why you can't trust the Lib Dems. He wrote it as a joke for his opposite number in the Conservative Party, Philip Hammond, in the expectation that he would take up the post in government. If Hammond had received it, it would most likely never have seen the light of day. However, because of the coalition agreement, it was David Laws who received it, and who promptly revealed it to the world. The fact that Byrne was right doesn't mean he deserved to have this hung around his neck in perpetuity.

"Trust me, I'm an architect."