For those who think @rishisunak is a decent honest bloke and not a corrupt grifting Tory spiv, allow me to disabuse you of your Disney-esque illusions 🧵 Infosys, the company that is largely owned by Sunak's wife's family and that still does business with Putin's Russia enjoyed a 50% boost in gov't invoices in 2023. thelondoneconomic.com/politics/sunak…

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I've written recently about the iniquitous 'Charitable Status' and VAT exemption enjoyed by some of the UK's richest and most prestigious schools. One or two people have asked how they came to be charities .. well buckle up ... 🧵 Essentially, like many anomalies in the UK, it's a historical hangover. When the original Public schools (probably Eton, Charterhouse, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster, Winchester, St Paul's and Merchant Taylors') were founded they were genuinely 'public' (ie open to all).

#MrBatesVsThePostOffice I'm only getting through this gradually because the injustice is making me seethe with rage. I worked in IT for 35 years as a software developer, systems analyst, operations manager, project manager and programme manager. Anyone employed in this industry should understand the nature of software and comms bugs and anyone who says that a system is free from them is lying.

Every single post office auditor, manager and all the Horizon Fujitsu project managers should be prosecuted for the damage they have done to human lives. And every post office manager affected by this scandal should receive compensation for the damage done to them from the Post Office.

This is not a political issue and this happened under both parties. The gov't should put this right immediately and without any delay. Software developers know this old adage well:

99 bugs found in the code
99 bugs in the code
Take one down and patch it around
100 bugs in the code

The triumphalist delight exhibited by @nigel_farage and his supporters at Rose's resignation is both sickening and entirely expected. However, Tom Scott at @BylineTimes suggests that if anything, Coutts and Nat West were less diligent than they should have been in checking… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… @Nigel_Farage @BylineTimes Remember this word Farage; hubris.

Assuming she lives to be, say, 80 years old, Charlotte Owen now has a guaranteed tax-free income of £53.3k per year, for 6 months 'work' per calendar year, index linked, for 50 years. This is amount she can claim in her HoL allowance based on 156 sitting days per year. Oh and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… That is a monthly take home salary of £4441.

On #PoliticsLive there was a short discussion about slavery reparation and the fund set up by Laura Trevelyan. Having attended @HaileyburyUK College (also Clement Attlee's school) I know something about the Trevelyan family - so here's a 🧵 /1 The name Trevelyan is 'celebrated' at @HaileyburyUK, with a Boarding House named after Charles Trevelyan, created first Baronet of Wallington in 1874. Charles Trevelyan was the son of George Trevelyan who was handsomely compensated for the loss of hundreds of slaves /2

I've no doubt the Tories are in GE mode now. They've ordered their client journos and social media trolls to kick the usual scapegoats who are down but to do it on speed - refugees and the homeless, kids sniffing a bit of N2O, trans people and drag artists. #TorySadists The attacks on Starmer by CCHQ and the 'I'm madder than yow' ERG/UKIP/BNP Tory back benchers are whipping up the frothing rabid right-wingers who on being thrown this red meat are behaving like fox-hounds as they leap on it and tear it apart #toryfascists

Only in Florida .. The GOP/Right wing in the US are just philistines theguardian.com/us-news/2023/m… theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

This is the level of lunacy reached by fanatical NI unionists like @JamieBrysonCPNI. First he tweets a story claiming that Jeffrey Donaldson has been refused an invitation to the coronation as head of the DUP and that this is a conspiracy by King Charles

https://twitter.com/JamieBrysonCPNI/status/1640009269314564096?s=20

Then Bryson concedes the story is not true

https://twitter.com/UKNIUNIONIST/status/1639996229613395968?s=20

We've just had the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war that killed anywhere between 650k and 1m people depending on which sources you use. We now of course know that 1/4 The war's aims were that the US secure oil supplies and make a great deal of money for companies in the US industrial-military complex.

The Vice President Dick Cheney was the driving force behind the war and manipulated a compliant and unintelligent President 2/4

I'm genuinely interested in the psychology of @conservatives. What is it makes you think these things are right and proper?
1. Allowing Water companies to pump sewage into rivers and seas for the next 15 years while allowing bonuses and dividends to executives and shareholders? 2. Taking inflation-level pay rises for yourself as MPs have done for 13 years, but refusing them for key workers?
3. Whipping up hate for people seeking sanctuary in our country while trying to worm one's way out of humanitarian treaties like the ECHR and UNHCR?

Every economic woe we are suffering can be traced to the campaign lies that caused the catastrophe that is Brexit
1. Ukraine war. Would not have happened without Russian funding of Brexit, Russian, undermining of democracy in Poland, Hungary and Italy 2 Worst balance of trade since 1950 - caused by Brexit
3 Collapse of UK fishing industry, caused by Brexit
4 Collapse of British meat exports, caused by Brexit
5 Massive increase in export and import costs, caused by Brexit
6. Huge queues at ports, caused by Brexit

Watch the bond market immediately before the Chancellor stands up on Oct 31 - If I'm any judge, prices will fall like a stone while yields will rocket. If you want a good guaranteed rate of return for 2 or maybe even 5 years and have the dosh, I would buy bonds when he sits down PS, I hate that this is likely to be the case and this is not financial advice

When I and others suggest that today's Tory party is verging on fascism, some people say I am exaggerating. I'm not. I offer four examples that illustrate that today's Tory party has become so right-wing that classifying them as fascists is accurate /1 Firstly, scapegoating. In the 1930s, the German Nazi party blamed all the country's problems on Jews. They called them the Untermensch. In today's Britain, refugees who cross the channel to claim asylum because there is no legal route open to them are demonised in the same way /2

Life depends on trust. If you undergo a serious operation (as I have), you trust your surgeon and their team. If you're in the armed services, you trust your commanders and your mates and your sub-ordinates. If scientists tell you a disaster that's coming, you listen. /1 You trust these people because they are experienced and qualified and their interests are the same as yours - they have those interests at heart. This was once true of our politicians regardless of party. /2

One of most sickening aspects of privatisation and corporate buyouts that MPs and Ministers propose/approve is the devaluing of workers' pension schemes from Defined Benefit (Final Salary) to Defined Contribution (Invest in the Stock Market and hope) MPs and Ministers get a final salary pension that rises with inflation for life. If they die, their dependents get about half.

Before you believe @Edwina_Currie's nonsense about her being a pensioner and living on savings, know this: Her pension is final salary and rises with inflation. She's worth millions. She lives in a house valued at £850k in Oct 2021. She is paid for her TV work. She knows nothing of the financial crisis facing ordinary people in he UK