R

R

@liburghal.bsky.social

Adopted Northerner ‖ AuDHD ‖ 🏳️‍🌈 ‖ he/him

163 followers159 following1.7K posts

Going to go out on a limb here and ask why the the drive to reduce standing charges has been such a mission? I agree that moving it onto the unit rate helps incentive cutting use, but there is a fixed cost of maintaining an energy network. Though I may be completely misunderstanding something.

Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social

Burnham promise to cut standing charges from gas bills is not straightforward: apparently they'll let energy companies recover same costs via the unit rate of gas rather than fixed fee consequence: low use - lower bills high use - even higher bills www.ft.com/content/8eda...

Suppliers might be taking the piss, I wouldn't know, but maintaining and upgrading the pipes and wires to my house costs the same regardless of how much I use. The gas main doesn't cost less because it is connected to a house with a single occupant.

What qualifications beyond "has an opinion" does former musician nd resident of London have on the "red wall" to justify his presence on Newsnight? Oh, his daddy owns GB News. Good thing the BBC mentioned this in the ribbon.

Matthew Holehouse@matthewholehouse.bsky.social

The "red wall" is not a term you hear often these days

Or maybe he just has these views because he is overheating due to wearing a jacket under studio lights and reduced blood supply to the brain with his tie done up that tight.

Where is the option for the correct answer of "What is the correct number of diagnosed?"

YouGov@yougov.co.uk

With much media coverage of a government report that ADHD and autism are being over-diagnosed, a claim which some experts have disputed, half of Britons now believe that the conditions are being over-diagnosed Over-diagnosed: 50% Under-diagnosed: 17% About right: 17% yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...

Completely acceptable to separate out into the "Standard Biscuit" and "Fancy Biscuit" categories. Anyone who says a "standard" biscuit outranks a "fancy" biscuit is lying. The same goes for crisps.

Stephen Collins@stephencollins.bsky.social

I asked you your favourite biscuit and you said 'oh a hob nob' or 'digestive' or 'bourbon' and you thought it would make me think you authentic and real but you should have said 'the poshest ones I can find for the posh ones are the best' as that is the truth you hide and now I know you are a coward

Thank you to AI for finally forcing people to take the "Does this really need to be connected to the internet?" question seriously.

Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social

The boss of a French supermarket chain targeted by cyber attacks that forced its fridges to overheat has described the incident as an “unprecedented” and “extremely serious” attack on the country’s food security www.ft.com/content/6908...

RS Archer Still in awe of the brainworms that he caused on FBPE Twitter

James C@iguandonjim.bsky.social

Weetman skull-measuring incident has reminded me of people who used to "be a thing" on twitter. It's inspired me to do an occasional thread. Feel free to chip in with suggestions/lore/questions.

Better off households will likely use significantly more gas per resident than poorer households. Subsidising them moving over to heat pumps will have a comparatively larger impact on gas demand, prices and carbon emissions. We live one big societal ecosystem, these things aren't isolated!

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Extracting the gas from Jackdaw would have done nothing for the local prices without some deeply problematic market manipulation. Though, what Jackdaw and Rosebank could have generated is an income stream that could have been hypothecated to spend entirely on lowering our reliance on fossil fuels.

My parents could have absolutely afforded to fit solar panels to the house back in 2010, they really didn't need the financial support that came from the boosted feed in tariffs. What those tariffs did was nudge hundreds of thousands to fit them. It was a policy success in that regard!

Better off households will likely use significantly more gas per resident than poorer households. Subsidising them moving over to heat pumps will have a comparatively larger impact on gas demand, prices and carbon emissions. We live one big societal ecosystem, these things aren't isolated!

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The argument over whether we should drill Jackdaw was largely about gas prices and the environmental impact of burning the stuff. I rarely heard a single person actually articulate why we are still in a position to need to extract gas.

Two of the three biggest geopolitical conflicts this decade have actively involved petrostates, and their confidence that comes from a suit of armour that is global reliance on fossil fuels. National security is as much domestic resilience as it is bombs and bullets.

Anthony Painter@anthonypainter.bsky.social

I don't really know what to say about the fact HM Treasury can't seem to get its head around the fact that heat pump grants are industrial policy not household subsidy. It doesn't signal great depth of policy thinking. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

For anyone complaining that it's weird that Ed Davey has fun, remember that this takes place in his constituency.

Mark Wallace@wallaceme.bsky.social

First time attending Surbiton Ski Sunday, where people strap blocks of ice to their feet and compete to ski down a soaped street. I love this country.

Is he pro-war or anti-war?

British Voter@britishvoter.bsky.social

I'm a White British non-religious man from Witham, in my thirties. My top issue is war. I can't remember how I voted in 2024. Today I'd vote Conservative.

I would have been fascinated by a poll, pre-GPEW Conference, of what the public thought "Zionism" actually describes, whether they consider it "racist" and whether they actually care.

My strongest belief is that if you are going to devolve decision making you should also be fine with the concept of devolving the ability to elect idiots who make stupid decisions. Devolution that doesn't allow idiocy is not devolution.

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Anyone who speaks of a strong desire for devolution shouldn't complain about "Postcode Lotteries". Devolution, by definition, generates postcode lotteries. People elect politicians based on different priorities and desires, so it isn't surprising that different areas have different outcomes

I have never once heard tuition fees or prescription charges being described as a "Postcode Lottery" despite it being exactly that, and a result of devolution Scotland and Wales. If regional devolution doesn't come with the same fiscal and policy freedom then what is the point?

My strongest belief is that if you are going to devolve decision making you should also be fine with the concept of devolving the ability to elect idiots who make stupid decisions. Devolution that doesn't allow idiocy is not devolution.

Burnham's biggest red flag on what he considers devolution was the £2 bus cap announcement when he became PM. This should be devolved so why is he making a central proclamation about it? Give local authorities the money to do it, but let them decide if that is what they spend it on!

Nothing has summed Kemi up better than Dead Ringers portraying her as a "Low Energy Weirdo"

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R reposted

I listened to Ed Davey on the Today programme this morning, and frankly, I think he missed the point. The idea that we're keeping the triple lock to help millennials is at best for the birds, and at worst downright insulting. I say that as a millennial.

Had someone describe Burnham's speech as "More Lib Dem than the one Ed Davey gave". Probably not a good sign for the Lib Dems then.

So Burnham has stated that both social care reform and triple lock reform will feature in the next manifesto. Has he not learnt from Theresa May circa 2017, or does he think that he has the skills to style it out?

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Putting stuff like this in a manifesto is so likely to be suicide that I am pretty sure that it won't happen. Do it now whilst you have the majority on it. The solid facts of implementation are far less electorally damaging than the scaremongering over hypotheticals.

Like, this is just a toss-up as to which one of these incredibly generic men has this incredibly generic name!

R@liburghal.bsky.social

"Generic White Man" is the most common cause of failure in this.

He will play the martyr card for fundraising regardless of whether he is arrested. So the simple answer is to just arrest him.

Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon.bsky.social

‘This is playing into his hands’/‘this will allow him to play the martyr card’/‘this will help with his fundraising’ are all really bad takes. Criminals should be arrested and charged with crimes.

@luketryl.bsky.social, a very intelligent and well spoken Lib Dem member asked at one of your fringe events about whether the Lib Dem policy platform is gimmicky and incoherent. Would be interesting to see numbers and focus groups on whether people connect "Lib Dem" and "Tax Cutting"

R reposted

The usual moral “I’ll support anything as long as the rosette is red” voids in the replies to this. The reality is that Sunak did take real political damage in sacking Braverman and taking the whip from Anderson. Starmer and Burnham both useless on this.

James Ball@jamesrball.com

I think it should be a source of deep embarrassment – and perhaps even shame – that Rishi Sunak has spoken out on this before Andy Burnham has.

R reposted

I think at this point I need convincing to remain a Lib Dem member because the number of reasons to do so are dwindling. I want to be in a party where there is a long-term aspiration to be the senior members of a left bloc UK government with double liberalism at its core.

Better ways of spending the money: - £1 bus fare cap - Expanding the availability of rail cards - Government rebates on public EV charging fees

R@liburghal.bsky.social

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If I am an educated, climate conscious 18-40 year old in the London commuter belt this announcement would put me off if seen in isolation or would make the party seem less trustworthy if I knew other policies and positions. How can anyone think that this is a good idea?

I can see their motive, grind out those few extra Tory voters in Dorset, Wiltshire and Surrey. Though, they need to ask themselves, if they didn't vote Lib Dem in the GE or subsequent LEs then will this policy actually change that?

Better ways of spending the money: - £1 bus fare cap - Expanding the availability of rail cards - Government rebates on public EV charging fees

R@liburghal.bsky.social

Yep, let's spend £5billion on juicing demand in a supply constricted market. The great thing about basic Supply/Demand economics is that they exist to balance the curve through behavioural change. I might think twice about driving instead of taking the bus with higher prices.

Then you get onto the logistics of it, who is actually going to check that places actually pass it on? How many places would reduce it by 5p, say that prices have risen again and pocket the profit? It's just Grade A stupidity all round. Politically, environmentally and economically thick.