Jim Pickard

Durham in the autumn

None of the targets set under the so-called 'missions' established in 2024 have survived contact with 2 years of Starmer/Reeves, as far as I can tell.

I wonder if there's a case for government acting as buyer of last resort, promising to absorb any new homes the market can't to create stability of demand?

kind of crazy to me that my parents escaped vietnam during a war and arrived in north america, where they labored as a janitor and secretary so they could save enough money to send me to college, where i received a higher education, and now this is what i use my brain for

“The auction winners were not Trump Jr’s only companions in the Mongolian wilderness this summer. He also spent two days with Umar Kremlev, a businessman with a criminal record who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal security service…” www.ft.com/content/f41f...

Andy Burnham’s government has privately given up on reaching Labour’s target of building 1.5mn new homes by 2029, and ministers will refer to the goal less and less, according to government figures www.ft.com/content/285a...

Solar has overtaken nuclear. A decade ago it supplied 1% of the world's power. In 2025 it met three quarters of global demand growth. Almost nobody saw it coming. I spoke to Jocelyn Timperley at BBC Future about why. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

And President of the EP, High Representative, President of the ECB - all women

"Of all the books I have ever reviewed that purported to offer a serious thesis, this is without question the most deranged."

And 39% of them are women. results.elections.europa.eu/en/mep-gende...

Nigel Farage, 62, on Brussels: "Do we want a bunch of old men who we can't vote for, can't get rid of in Brussels, making the big decisions?" (the average age of an MEP is 50)

I'm so okay with it this time.

I was having conversations with journalists just a few months ago about whether democracy was doomed. Look at this year: Orban defeated. Vukic defeated. Bolsonaro Jr defeated. Trump heading to likely defeat in midterms. That’s the beauty of democracy. Voters can respond. Don’t count it out yet.

the 52:48 ratio is alive and kicking www.ft.com/content/7585...

Serbia’s former president Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday, marking a dramatic fall from power for the strongman nationalist leader www.ft.com/content/546f...

This has all become so normalised and yet... this is not normal.

there’s a fine full moon above London this evening

This story went up late on Friday and got less attention than it otherwise might have done. A sentencing hearing on Friday was told three participants in the Tory election-betting scandal - dismissed at the time as "a flutter" - would have made nearly £50,000 if undetected www.ft.com/content/510e...

Thames at night

I may be splitting hairs but the peak is at 03:11 tomorrow morning

there’s a fine full moon above London this evening

currently reading Money Men, the definitive (and brilliant) account of the Wirecard scandal by Dan McCrum loving the final hard-arse missive from former FT editor Lionel Barber before they took down the fraudsters

Coffee. The biggest ad campaign of my teenage years seriously suggested that instant coffee was something that sophisticated urbanites offered their neighbours in the hope of getting them into bed.

Sunrise on Arthur’s Seat

immunotherapy a lot of cancer and rare disease care has improved immensely (I’m on an immune suppressing mAb and it seems quaint now)

When I was a child thousands of people died needlessly every year because seat belts were not compulsory.

Sir Keir Starmer’s former cost of living tsar has urged Andy Burnham to move the offices of the UK prime minister out of 10 Downing Street and turn the nerve centre of government for almost 300 years into a museum or flats. www.ft.com/content/72a7...

One. Bad. Apple.

Dogs with frickin laser beams on their heads…

this is barking

Rolls-Royce is closing in on a deal for British taxpayer subsidies of up to £200mn to help fund the development of a new engine for short-haul aircraft, with an agreement potentially being announced as early as next week www.ft.com/content/b0d4...

London Eye from under Westminster Bridge

London Eye from under Westminster Bridge

Parliament

it would be a strange political twist if Burnham, who promised a more "pragmatic" approach to North Sea drilling, ended up rejecting Rosebank - given his predecessor Starmer wanted it to go ahead

For a Party that bemoans the loss of free speech, this is quite the flex. Maybe they should consider how well Trump’s case against the BBC is going?

That was unkind, my brain couldn’t process it at first

Runaway AI poses a threat to us all. How humanity stays in control should be a priority for everyone Projection location: Slough, UK Narrated by @gavinesler.bsky.social

this gives me literally zero confidence

remember this next time you hear the phrase "Russia hoax"

it's almost as if France had revolutions long before immigration became a big thing

President Emmanuel Macron hit out on Wednesday at what he called “unacceptable and stupid” comments by foreign leaders, including Donald Trump, about the riots in France allegedly being carried out by migrants www.ft.com/content/57e1...

Reform also providing a new variant of the Streisand Effect…. making sure this story stays in the public eye.

fascinating that Reform's priority seems to be going to war with ITV over its documentary rather than cracking down on the root problem www.ft.com/content/3d67...