LonWon

LonWon

@lonwon.bsky.social

Curious about politics. Hoping for more than slogans.

309 followers617 following902 posts

If there's one thing the British people have been crying out for, it's making it easier for the countryside to be concreted over for vast data centres.

Adrian Ramsay@adrianramsay.bsky.social

I will need to review the details, but I worry that it will make it easier for data centres to be approved without proper consideration of their impacts on electricity and water supplies. Instead of empowering communities, this approach could do the opposite. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

Now that the climate change crisis has been averted, keeping the cost of motoring low HAS to be any rational government's primary goal.

Helen Barnard@helenbarnard.bsky.social

16 years of fuel duty being frozen. Cost around £120 billion in forgone tax revenue between 2010–11 and 2026–27.

This is excellent news for all those on the breadline who have £20k a year leftover from their salary after paying for essentials. They can add that £20k every year to the huge pot of savings that escapes tax. Socialism in action.

John Healey’s reversal of plans announced by Rachel Reeves to reduce the amount someone can save into a cash ISA has been welcomed by the financial sector

LonWon reposted

The world needed hope right now - and Brazil delivered it. After a wave of pro-American far-right candidates swept Latin America, Lula defied the odds. The world's fourth largest democracy has been saved from far-right authoritarianism. Here's to hope ✊

LonWon reposted

Bolsonaro's loss is not just a loss for Bolsonaro. It's a loss for Trump. For Musk. For Milei. For Netanyahu. For Farage. For Meta and Zuckerberg. For the meat barons, the fossil fuel corporations, and the rest of the neocolonial looters. And it is a massive win for humanity and the living planet.

LonWon reposted

Oh boy, are the Right excited by this graph recently published by The Economist! And of course none of them has bothered to read the article itself (TBF, it is behind a paywall!). So as always, let's add a little context and explain why these kinds of comparisons are so problematic 🧵1/25

LonWon reposted

As the dust settles we see Burnham is for all practical purposes Starmer with better marketing. Fiscal rules, callous immigration policy, more gas from Jackdaw, & continued arresting of grannys & clergy with signs. And meanwhile the Green party is imploding. I feel very homeless! #r4today

LonWon reposted

Approving the Jackdaw gas field solves none of our problems, while contributing to the existential crisis of climate breakdown. The government has privileged special interests above the general interest. It's a shameful, cowardly decision.

LonWon reposted

Sure, we should, if we can (many cannot). But as I keep pointing out, the government itself is making no provision at all. No stockpiles, no back-up, no alternative sources. It's individuating the response to a collective problem, and that never ends well. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.comEvery Briton should stockpile water and food supplies, government advisesBe Ready campaign aims to prepare UK for impact of climate crisis, technological dependency and threats by hostile state

LonWon reposted

Of course New Labour played a part too: rigid soundbiting minimised slip-ups & division, and hence the rise of Paxman, Neil, Robinson, et al. to generate heat rather than light.

Before its conference, the Green Party was powerfully positioned as recognising the genocide and apartheid, and demanding BDS. A bunch of well-meaning activists have now thrown away that clarity in favour of a simplistic bitter row about ideology that hinges on semantics.

Sian Berry MP@sianberry.bsky.social

My reflections this morning, some thoughts on how we build back better from here, and a message to members and constituents. 💚🙏

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Before its conference, the Green Party was powerfully positioned as recognising the genocide and apartheid, and demanding BDS. A bunch of well-meaning activists have now thrown away that clarity in favour of a simplistic bitter row about ideology that hinges on semantics.

Sian Berry MP@sianberry.bsky.social

My reflections this morning, some thoughts on how we build back better from here, and a message to members and constituents. 💚🙏

View full thread

Before its conference, the Green Party was powerfully positioned as recognising the genocide and apartheid, and demanding BDS. A bunch of well-meaning activists have now thrown away that clarity in favour of a simplistic bitter row about ideology that hinges on semantics.

Sian Berry MP@sianberry.bsky.social

My reflections this morning, some thoughts on how we build back better from here, and a message to members and constituents. 💚🙏

View full thread

Even now, they don't seem to understand why an English party demanding a particular settlement is imposed on the Middle East is a terrible look.

They seem unable to accept that "Zionism" is used in several very different ways, some of which are benign, some of which are colonialist, some of which are ambiguous.

Before its conference, the Green Party was powerfully positioned as recognising the genocide and apartheid, and demanding BDS. A bunch of well-meaning activists have now thrown away that clarity in favour of a simplistic bitter row about ideology that hinges on semantics.

Sian Berry MP@sianberry.bsky.social

My reflections this morning, some thoughts on how we build back better from here, and a message to members and constituents. 💚🙏

These activists are delighted with themselves, and self-righteously blame those who see the flaws in the "Zionism is racism" slogan for voters' negative perceptions of this motion.

It's not just the Palestinian cause which is damaged by this "We can't fight the genocide without fighting the ideology" claim: bsky.app/profile/lonw...

LonWon@lonwon.bsky.social

The simplistic conference motion has done much harm. It was also completely unnecessary, given virtual unanimity on the left about proposals to help stop the Gazan genocide & settler violence. It's a gift for the right-wing, distracting from climate, environment, cost-of-living, & public services.

LonWon reposted

The party of business and sound financial management? Give me a break Badenoch pamphlet seems to have made this ridiculous claim about net zero delivery by copying am erroneous spreadsheet from one of the right-wing junktanks www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.comTories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet errorExclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data

I don't share Dan's preferences for tax cuts favouring the wealthy, but his analyses are always fair-minded.

Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social

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.

LonWon reposted

Voting is open until 10pm in Holborn & St Pancras - and remember to take photo ID. Rent controls, water nationalisation, tackling the climate crisis - I'll be pushing on these issues from inside Parliament. Vote Green 💚

It's as if WW2 could be won by dutiful citizens closing their curtains during air raids, but the government neglecting to send up the RAF. The Government seems oblivious to the scale of the challenges facing us.

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social

The threats to our resilience are the same as the threats to our democracy: corporate lobbyists shaping policy, with dire consequences for our ability to withstand crises. Burnham seems to want to change this. But is he aware of scale of the task? My column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

LonWon reposted

The threats to our resilience are the same as the threats to our democracy: corporate lobbyists shaping policy, with dire consequences for our ability to withstand crises. Burnham seems to want to change this. But is he aware of scale of the task? My column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.comStockpile food – and wash your hands: is that really how to prepare for environmental catastrophe? | George MonbiotThe UK state is dumping its responsibilities on our doorsteps, while green-lighting policies that lead us closer to crisis, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

LonWon reposted

If people don't want to pay tax to make this country function and help out the rest of society and particularly those who need help most... then maybe they should move to Dubai and stop bleating about it. Really sick to death of it.

I say "naïve" because: 1. Thatcherites used the rhetoric, but the practice tended to privatised monopolies. 2. Nobody is arguing for the nationalisation of, say, tech companies, supermarkets, or builders.

3. The initial examples (cutting fuel duty, freedom to set tuition fees, registration of barbers, support for defence contractors) are compatible with free-ish market regulation. Better examples follow (Brexit, steel tariffs, immigration controls, Palantir), but "free" is always relative.

LonWon reposted

This is *not* the result of "the success of Mahmood's reforms", but of earlier measures/other factors. Her proposals could make it considerably *worse* in future years. A few other points linked below.. archive.ph/0psJ8

LonWon reposted

Replying to @rolandmcs.bsky.social

Very nice to hear a sane voice from Piddington. Serious respect to this woman, who is apparently already being othered by more bigoted villagers.

LonWon reposted

Fact is we can never compete with a tax haven and anyone minded to move to one - will do that anyway. We need a citizen tax, ensuring all UK citizens pay tax here wherever they live - the US does it like that.