Rachel Amos

🤣 stop the noise and the lights (oh and the commute) but be ready when I feel energised for hyper focus 😎

The great Paul Whitehouse is 68 years old today, which means I am obliged to post this (again!) - arguably the most majestically random but brilliant comedy sketch committed to celluloid for at least the last, what, forty, forty five years? Yes, forty, forty five years. Happy birthday Paul 🤘

James Murray, the new health secretary, voted in favour of assisted dying

Some corrections: You inherited 2% inflation. It doubled in 12 months after you became Chancellor. It is still 50% above the rate you inherited and 50% above target. It should fall to target 2% this summer. So two years to get back to where you started! What’s to boast about that? Interest rates have been falling everywhere. UK cuts, which you don’t control, have been fewer and smaller because of your inflation record. We still have highest interest rate in G7. The Bank has made some cuts for the simple reason the economy is flat on its back. Well done. Borrowing is slowly falling from a very high base. Almost six years after the pandemic-induced recession, we’re still borrowing around 4% GDP. And borrowing costs are the highest in the G7. Retail sales are up in recent months. We’ll see how long that’s sustained. But the hospitality and construction industries are in crisis. Plus our massive services sector is stagnant. UK fastest G7 economy? That’s simply a bare-faced lie. We grew by 0.1% in Q3 2025; and another 0.1% in Q4. End of.

Chuka Umunna (????) just walked into No 10

Huge news for #legaltech today, as @AnthropicAI goes all in on legal, releasing 20+ connectors to legal tech products and 12 practice area plugins, not to mention an explicit commitment to addressing access to justice. lawnext.com/2026/05/anthro…

In the name of public service, and as ex-economics editor of BBC Newsnight, I offer to do a zoom call, tonight, with any Labour MP who wants to understand why bond markets do not "fall into line" with governments. 1/

Our politics really is dominated by a bunch of know-nothing amateurs. Those urging Keir Starmer to announce a timetable for his departure don’t seem to realise the moment he does that he ceases, de facto, to be PM.

But the eternal question is what does he mean by “working people”. It’s a mystery.

Maybe Starmer and Reeves could concentrate on jobs for our young people and not making them too expensive to hire and too risky to rent to. 🙄

Keir Starmer doesn't get it. Appointments don't "accelerate cultural change". Actions do. On women's rights he needs to start by implementing the law on single-sex services: in his own government, and by laying the EHRC Code before parliament.

Wow. And not a good wow.

😂

I’ve signed it. Please do.

@ProfMarkTaubert I'm not sure @kimleadbeater would be my first port of call to learn anything about parliamentary procedure

5 of the 13 Bee-eaters at Hempstead in east Norfolk this morning. The largest group I have seen in the UK.

💯

“On Sunday May 10, we will gather in central London to stand against antisemitism. This is a hatred we must face down together.” Read the Chief Rabbi’s full article at thejc.com

@Helen_Fields @Dmdav1 @hselftax It’s so rubbish. I just persuaded my niece to go in person (in real life) into local law firms and ask and she’s managed to get some work experience. I think that’s an approach that can help.

@Dmdav1 @hselftax Thanks, and you're right. Yes, new application for each post, including changing his CV to make it more relevant, writing essays, being willing to go anywhere in the world. So pleased I'm not a new graduate right now.

Sigh. Son who is about to graduate from Exeter with a good law degree has sent off 150 applications for summer work, internships, experience. His CV looks good. Results are good. Very personable. Scrubs up well. Loads of mini pupillage experience. Some of the applications are for unpaid work. Most don’t bother replying. None give feedback. The opportunities for young people, even law graduates, just aren’t there. It’s heart-breaking.

@nicolelampert Same happened to me when I made the statement that I was a leading brain surgeon at Guys and Thomas’s. What I actually meant was that I drove past the hospital once. These things happen. People should be less judgy.