ilmar

What were they thinking? My ConHome piece on the pro-Ukrainian British politicians who backed Trump in 2024 and how their tribalism got the better of them. conservativehome.com/2026/10/26/d...

Today's blog a reminder of how lucky we are right now. Have a read! 👇

One may note that the immediately joining the Euro and Schengen are not actually requirements of EU membership. Someone has been carefully briefed. bsky.app/profile/matt...

Some Budget tax reforms really are better than others - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... splendid from @danneidle.bsky.social on the bonkers bad ideas loved by lobbyists and cynical politicos

I'm being sued for $795m. By a fugitive fraudster. In Wyoming. Using an anti-Mafia law. The full strange story is here, with links to all the original court documents: buff.ly/uwnZCHY

Some thoughts on hybrid attacks, and why they're so hard for us to talk about properly. Short version: 1) they have no elegant or obvious solutions; and 2) influence ops imply that voters are influencable and may have been influenced in the past, which is an uncomfortable conversation.

The banks say they’re overtaxed. The TUC says they’re undertaxed. We did the sums across nine countries, and we're going to annoy *everyone*. The UK isn’t a high-tax outlier. There *is* a case for increasing bank tax. But it comes with risks - and could hit households. 🧵:

It’s very important to internalise that manufacturing has not been in decline since 1950, manufacturing *employment* has been in decline since 1950 and much of the decline happened when output growth was strongest.

Net zero is being blamed again for high energy bills – new post for Arguably on what that argument gets wrong and how renewables have saved us billions this year. www.arguably.uk/p/is-net-zer...

Humiliating and dangerous: Trump has now finally just made America an ally of the Kremlin and is aiding Putin in his war against an American friend and partner. Shameful betrayal of a US friend, and pathetic submission to a US enemy. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...

It is hard to read this without becoming enraged, but important not to look away www.economist.com/europe/2026/... From The Economist

In case it still needs saying, the tech-bros do not believe in "free speech". They believe in "power": power to lift themselves above any limits on or consequences for their own speech, and power to determine what speech can be seen or heard by others.

Apparently, while I was away Sanna Marin said what we should do to Russian planes violating EU/NATO airspace: shoot. Them. Down. MY CAPTAIN! www.corriere.it/esteri/26_ot...

We already have flying cars. They're called helicopters. They're really expensive and there are good reasons you have to have a pilot license and work with air traffic control to fly them. Putting jets on a sedan is not going to result in a better vehicle or transportation experience in any way.

Justin Webb should be sacked immediately. Incompetent, partisan and provides unchallenged propaganda airtime for foreign enemies of the UK.

substack.com/@gileswilkes... The results are in, and I'm declaring a winner in the battle between Vibes and Macro as a means of assessing the UK economy. Don't be surprised.

It's the Year of our Lord 2026 and people are still talking about "Not Poking the Bear" when it comes to Putin and the far right. I hate this idiom more than words can express, but I thought I'd write some words to express it anyway.

1/ Restoring Yandex's damaged data centres will take at least six months and cost billions. Disruption is already severe; Russian manufacturers and distributors face imminent disaster due to Ukraine's strikes causing the collapse of the state-operated goods tracking system. ⬇️

I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to tell you at the beginning of the month that the UK Kindle edition of How To Be A Domestic Goddess (the title is ironic or, rather, just camp, not a tradwife manifesto) is at the ludicrously low price of 99p all October! I’m afraid this applies just in the UK.

Thymos and American Foreign Policy open.substack.com/pub/persuasi...

Also, sham consultancy agreements were used to extract about $98m for Abramovich, who personally signed the documents. Read more here: www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

On Trump's Diesel Deal. Writing this as catharsis because I live in a rental and thus punching walls is off the table.

Russia's ally Iran has so thoroughly achieved what it set out to do against the USA that it has forced the USA to make a massive concession to Russia in its fight against Ukraine. I'm struggling to process how embarrassing this is. It's almost incomprehensible. Imagine if Biden, etc etc etc...

We're all drinking the kool aid, folks. Even the investors who don't like the stuff are struggling to figure out how to avoid it. 🎁:- as.ft.com/r/310cd6d8-3...

Let's celebrate the 25th anniversary of the GOAT sell-side research report!

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854

oh my god I was going to joke "he's actually centre-left" and turns out he IS

If she marries a hairdresser she can complete the almost impossible marriage triumvirate of rock, paper, scissors.

Kemi Badenoch wants to exempt the family home from inheritance tax. But that creates a perverse incentive for elderly people to *upsize* to save IHT. That could double the cost of the policy, and push £100bn+ from savings into housing. A 🧵 on bad tax cuts.

The immensely wealthy men who run the AI companies are forcing the economy to serve their dreams and crowding out everyone else's.

Hey folks. In total honesty my tour is NOT selling well. I’ve sold 30 tickets in a 400 seater in Birmingham, and not much more elsewhere. If you like musical comedy, if you like standup, then please come see my show! And spread the word! The Rachel Parris Songbook tour starts in Nov! Link in bio! 🎶

Column on Greens, anti-Zionism and why the people who pathologically hate something are not the most reliable people to define it accurately www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It’s Korvapuustipäivä in Finland and Kanelsbullens Dag in Sweden, which is to say Cinnamon Bun Day! I happen to have a recipe for Swedish Cinnamon Buns, so of course it has to be #RecipeOfTheDay www.nigella.com/recipes/swed...

In this piece I tried to tackle something that's been bugging me: If someone is demanding that immigration be cut because their kids can't find an entry level job, it is neither fair to say that they do not have a legitimate concern - nor that their position on immigration is one.

At least 21 members of my extended family were arrested and sent from Lithuania to camps or exile colonies in this 1951 act of repression by the Soviet occupiers.

#NUFC #ManCity

🎙️PODCAST! Discussing the Premier League's bombshell statement this week, Man City found guilty, the evidence presented, their ownership, lies & obfuscation, possible punishments, Guardiola's statement, fallout for other clubs & fans, & lots more with @philippeauclair.bsky.social p1r.es/arsecast895

Luxury retailers want taxpayers to fund a 20% tax break for foreign tourists. They paid consultancy Cebr to claim this will raise £2.6bn for the UK. That convinced Sadiq Khan and Kemi Badenoch. But it's false: a free lunch. Four basic errors mask a £600m loss. Thread:

This keeps happening. Public debate on tax is increasingly driven by reports from consultancies commissioned by lobbyists. These reports rarely disclose their methodology. They never disclose the terms under which they were written.

Groan. Haigh. Not someone I trust. There used to be a joke about "disgraced" Liam Fox on twitter. The same should be used about Louise Haigh.

Danny Tommo, Amodei, Man City fair play Piddington, Macklemore, Dolly ain’t alive no more Netanyahu’s iron dome, Meg and Harry coming home New cat, Clavicular COVID CONSCIOUS LESBIAN BAR 🎶 we didn’t start the fire 🎶

Liar. Small boat crossings peaked under Johnson in 2022 reaching 46,000 in 2022. In current year they are 18,565 and falling. Also prior to Boris Johnson's Brexit there were none.

JPMorgan and the broking fetish for conviction calls - and why William Butler Yeats would not have done well as head of research at an investment bank -great column by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/6862e493-c...