Best Of

One for the economics nerds- there's a growing case that Labour (Rachel Reeves) are generating a lot of productivity growth.

Currently some debate about where the growth is coming from. Is it AI? Is it fewer workers in retail/hospitality? But it looks real.

https://www.ft.com/content/161a60ae-130d-42e1-a5c9-886d98f28d3d?syn-25a6b1a6=1

I do worry that Andy Burnham may undo much of the economic policy which is starting to bear fruit.

Rachel has been quietly and steadily been overseeing genuine green shoots...but of course it's new the right wing nedia just dont want to report!

There's a lot in that imo.

But for now it is all about time - there's a race between when better times will become visible, when the Govt will communicate, and when Reform will implode and how far that will go.

My local prediction for Lee Anderson is that he will likely get and want one more term, partly because - notwithstanding from his outbursts and other problems - he has a good record as a long-ish term local Councillor, and is OK as a constituency MP. I have yet to ask local ethnic minority people what they feel about him.

Separately he needs his pension fund and, based on the 150k a year package from Westminster and 100k from GBNews at present, I think he will want a further term, to give him 15 years rather than 10 as an MP.

How much of the productivity increase is coming from the increasing unemployment of the most marginal workers who are being priced out of work by the increases in NMW and Employers NI? France has traditionally had much higher productivity than us per worker but most of it came from the fact that much of the casual, low skilled work that was available in the UK simply didn't exist.

Other than making employing people much more expensive it is not obvious to me what Reeves has done to help productivity.

This is a good point.
Almost enough to put me off ABBA.

I was listening (loudly) to Abba and like many, many years ago, I thought:
Why is Waterloo a synonym for defeat and not for victory?..
https://x.com/BrankoMilan/status/2064504289226035554

The answer is fairly obvious, however, when you consider the history and background; Napoleon’s global fame and notoriety and the long road he had ridden to arrive at that battle overriding any tendency to see things only from a British viewpoint.

In Italy, you will occasionally here a complete disaster described as “un bel caporetto”, after the battle of caporetto (kobarid) which turned into a route for the Italians in WWI, after extensive use of poison gas by the Austrians, for whom it was of course a great, if ultimately futile, victory.

The wars which Waterloo ended are known as the Napoleonic Wars. It's kinda obvious who the main character in the story is, and therefore why Waterloo is a synonym for defeat rather than victory.

Good morning, everyone.

Burnham's either disingenuous or a bloody fool.

Or both. In other words, Boris with a better haircut.

Given a choice between doing the right thing that will cause someone to argue back at them, and the wrong thing that keeps everyone happy for a bit, they both tend to choose the latter.

Some people call it "brilliant retail politics".

Not popular on PB, but compensation for the WASPI women gets a lot of support from the general public:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/majority-brits-demand-government-u-34459461?fbclid=IwY2xjawHventleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbBp9Op7rBNFkaaPhA38hcQaxDdMTUIoTlwQSjwhb0ip9bwa5FDIUhdfNw_aem_mNhFhrTxbTDgsVQDalcoXA

Popular yet stupid, provoking a nice headline yet harming the national interest, spending money we don't have on things we don't need.

Very modern politics.

One of the admirable things about Mayor Sadiq is that he has been prepared to push back against resistance to his policies, outer London ULEZ being the biggest example.

But also statements like this;

Complaining about nightlife when you *checks notes* choose to live in Soho is like living in South Kensington and complaining about the museums.

Or moving to Hackney and grumbling about creatives. Living in Richmond and hating green space.

It's all getting a bit silly, isn't it?

https://bsky.app/profile/london.gov.uk/post/3mnykmjfq3c2o

He has enough electoral buffer that it's much easier for him to do it than many others, but it's still refreshing to see a politician telling campaigners that he disagrees.

Khan pushed through the ULEZ against opposition and London has seen a large drop in air pollution as a result. Burnham caved to opposition and one assumes Manchester has not seen the same reduction in air pollution. It's not a great advert for Burnham being able to grasp the nettles of the problems facing Britain.

Good morning, everyone.

Burnham's either disingenuous or a bloody fool.

Or both. In other words, Boris with a better haircut.

Given a choice between doing the right thing that will cause someone to argue back at them, and the wrong thing that keeps everyone happy for a bit, they both tend to choose the latter.

Some people call it "brilliant retail politics".

Not popular on PB, but compensation for the WASPI women gets a lot of support from the general public:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/majority-brits-demand-government-u-34459461?fbclid=IwY2xjawHventleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbBp9Op7rBNFkaaPhA38hcQaxDdMTUIoTlwQSjwhb0ip9bwa5FDIUhdfNw_aem_mNhFhrTxbTDgsVQDalcoXA

So what.

Well, thats the Populism that you seek.

LOL.

That’s the populist approach I was criticising a couple of days ago in relation to another matter 🤡🤡🤡🤡

Populism is an irregular noun.

When it's things I support, it's obeying the democratic will of the people.

When it's things I oppose, it's craven politicians cowering from the mob.