AJ Thomas

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Really worth noting that even in Red Wall constituencies which backed Leave, most *Labour* voters back rejoining the EU. Over 90% of Labour considerers back rejoin - opposition to EU membership is mainly coming from non-Labour voters in these seats. Was on Times Radio yesterday making this point.

Amazing how many Labour MPs do not understand this quite basic point.

Freya Bell ruled out of Wales' second WXV Japan Test www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-unio...

My dad died a few years ago so it was a nice treat today to spot a yoghurt pot with the logo he designed as a favour for a farmer friend. The distribution is small so they don't often reach me.😊

This is at least an interesting error by Truss. She's mistaken bureaucratic convention (the fiscal rules & OBR forecasts, which are v.criticisable) for reality. The fact is that you shouldn't have big tax cuts in inflationary times, whatever the fiscal framework - as every A level student knows.

Remembering Red Roses legend Linda Uttley, one of rugby's great characters www.englandrugby.com/follow/ne...

🦠 Hear Dr Anthony S. Fauci deliver the UCL Prize Lecture in Life and Medical Sciences, where he will explore the scientific and policy challenges of infectious diseases. 📅 Monday 2 November, 5:30pm 🎟️ https://bit.ly/4svCJbg

Ilona Maher's rugby return imminent as Eagles Sevens name preseason squad www.rugbypass.com/news/ilona-m...

Interesting change, details covered well in the article.

What’s that you say? Liz has a new book out which even the Telegraph is saying is even more unhinged than the last one? Wonderful, I’ll post this then.

So. There you go. It’s a failure of a Bill. It won’t work on its own terms, it won’t work on any reasonable sense of justice, it will simply move the queue for victims, and the underlying stats are laughable. Please. Do enjoy your debate today. ❤️

Don’t get me started on some fraud trials randomly losing juries. What’s that even about? Juries aren’t stupid. They understand dishonesty when they see it.

Oh, and ask the government if they will ensure those subject to these new powers and new provisions will definitely qualify for Legal Aid so a lawyer can assist them and be remunerated at a rate commensurate with the seriousness of the offence. Honestly. Ask them that twice.

I honestly think in the most simple of cases it would be quicker to hear the case again than wade through the transcript of the entire thing, the arguments, the law, the exhibits, and draft a response.

And will these applications for appeal be concisely drafted by experienced lawyers or will they be wheelbarrows full of handwritten dossiers and letters to MPs and AI slop because not everyone in the Mags will qualify for Legal Aid?

When is a Circuit Judge going to find the time to watch CCTV, or ABEs, or consider legal argument from the summary jurisdiction? When are they going to write their reasons for allowing or refusing leave to appeal?

And Crown Court Judges can’t speak publicly on this issue - and I don’t seek to speak for them - but if I were sitting as a Judge tasked with determining ‘leave to appeal’ applications from the Magistrates’ Court I would be very worried:

Fifth, just don’t get me started on the diversity of the Magistracy. They can run all the expensive (!) recruitment campaigns they like - but no one is fixing this:

Fourth, do you really think this is going to speed things up? The Mags backlog is huge and growing. The Crown Court backlog is showing signs of stabilising AND a whole host of measures have arrived recently that will begin to bite. They’re moving one queue to another.

Second, have a think if Magistrates (respected, trained, advised) should be locking citizens up for up to 2 years. Honestly, just think about it. It’s ok to say it out loud. I’ll go first: Volunteers - even trained and experienced and respected ones - should not be doing that.

Stop what you are doing and look at this lovely story. A photography student in the 80s took pictures of punks and mods on the street in Preston. He’s now tracked them down and photographed them again. The pictures and stories are really ❤️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In fact I will say the Earnest and Pious Charismatic Ethnic Minority political figure (AOC, Mamdani, El-Sayed) has been a pretty good bet for the American left so far, whereas the Disaffected Gruff White Guy Showcasing True Masculinity (Fetterman, Platner) has been a worse bet. Just an observation.

I didn't initially realise this was meant to be a negative thing, but when you read the piece it obviously was. Their attempt at a political hit job is quite literally to tell you that Mamdani is baller, and to connect him in your minds with Knicks' victory. Astonishing stuff, let's see how it goes.

A sensible move for Labour would be to pivot towards a housing target of 300,000 a year - which isn't impossible in a few years time if they sort out some of the policy costs and manage to see a fall in interest rates.

This has been inevitable for some time - Government has done a lot of sensible stuff on planning reform, but economic headwinds were against them (& costs of policy change they mostly inherited).

This is the problem you'd be aiming to solve - not the only barrier to building, but a big one bsky.app/profile/jame...

Some could be social housing, but if some are rented at market rates you have an asset you can potentially sell during a boom

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?

This is when you know an organisation is screwed. The company is collapsing and the boss blames the staff.

Not a good start to your career to have to deal with this shit.

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...

This is just the maddest argument. These people would trap us in poverty to keep a decade old commitment, which no one ever actually made, to an electorate which no longer exists.

Please God get rid of Netanyahu. I know the alternative isn't great but it's better than more of him with Ben Gvir and Smotrich.

I take it he doesn't know about Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail and the world's fastest camera? Moungi Bawendi and quantum dots /"artificial atoms"? Never read Naguib Mahfouz or Hisham Matar? Racists just go through life missing out on a lot of cool stuff.

According to the laws, a full red card should be awarded for ‘deliberate and dangerous acts of foul play’ - so not just out and out thuggery. Two South Africans received full reds last autumn for similar. If I were really cynical, I’d suggest Jones and Monye are being deliberately provocative …

Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend. To the fans who loved him for so many years, thank you. He loved you too. Rest well, my dear friend. Keep navigating a steady course. – George

My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today. Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man.

I dunno if I can oversell the transformation of Oxford Street here. This was a place I went to twice a year out of obligation and it is now one of the ROOMIEST and least-crowded bits of central London. You could arrange to meet up with friends here!

"Not all psychopaths are destined for prison; some may even be in top executive positions." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I'd have a bit more time for this MattyY take if I wasn't 99% sure that had the result gone the other way he be all over Twitter smugly claiming there are important lessons for leftists to learn from Lula's failure (be more conservative, do not fight for anything ever).

A new survey of 1,000 American adults found that the strongest supporters of transgender sports bans are not the people who admire women most: they are the people who hold the most hostile views about women. www.helenwebberley.com/news/transge...

Here’s last night’s story about the rising prominence of extremist beliefs within the Republican Party, what it has to do with the upcoming elections, and why being 31 years old is one of the least cute ages you can possibly be. https://youtu.be/SnsBI4YxwIs

Just being reminded how hard it is for an old person to manage the modern world if they don't have a passport or driving licence, so online doesn't work. Can't sort it out over the phone when you can't speak much English. Can't do things in person because no one has an office anymore. Sucks hard.

Sorry, let's just get this out the way. YOUR CHANCELLOR SIGNED THE FECKIN LETTER APPROVING THE BOE'S QT DECISION, LIZ. THE. DAY. BEFORE. THE. MINI-BUDGET. Jesus Christ.