@chrisp I think #AdamSomething isn't a pessimist, but a realist.
Even if you agree with the logic of Labour's plan for the benefits system (that's a big 'if'), taking the savings first (via large cuts) with the hope that improvements in the system will reduce the bill by 'encouraging' and 'supporting' more people back to work, is just lazy politics.
They want the easy win (budget reduction, diverted to defence) while the (really) hard work on delivering on welfare reform is kicked down the road & likely never completed properly or humanely!
As Fox News Floats Death Sentences, Terror Sweeps Across the US
Fox News has floated the idea of sentencing anyone prosecuting Trump to death. This as right wing terror is spreading across the US.
https://www.freezenet.ca/as-fox-news-floats-death-sentences-terror-sweeps-across-the-us/
Cost of Transparency | Sam Harris
Good summary here from Private Eye of the ongoing scandal of the South Tees Development Area - a so-called Enterprise Zone - where local Tory government and chosen business partners have combined to turn public assets and public investment into huge private profit in double quick-time.
As an example of pouring public money into private pockets with no visible intervening entrepreneurial risk, it takes some beating.
Latest from the always entertaining Jonathan Pie, covering some climate issues and having a pillock for a prime minister issues at the same time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAleHFLP03A
#JonathanPie #Climate #ClimateChange #RishiSunak #SevenBins #UKPolitics #UKPol #Poilitics #Comedy
I've been subscribing to Heather Cox Richardson's Letters to an American newsletter for some time now. A friend pointed out another newsletter, by Joyce Vance, who is a lawyer, law professor and legal analyst for NBC. I've only read one and it is very good.
It's also scary and depressing and I'm not going to subscribe to it. But if you are interested in US politics and have the stomach for it, do have a look.
For the second time in as many weeks, I’m skipping over what I’d planned to write about today to take on something that feels too urgent and pressing to avoid. I’ll flag some developments I had earmarked for our usual week-ahead piece over the next couple of days. Tonight I want to talk about developments that, despite being deeply disturbing, are largely being ignored. They’re important individually, but they have even more significance collectively.
Kevin Karhan 
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Freezenet
trndgtr.com
Alex Gallagher
Mark H
Keith Soltys
Dr. Maddkap, Werepsychologist