With just next week’s finale of #raceacrosstheworld to go, a few reflections on the current series … Firstly, I think the right 3 teams are there at the end. I have a slight preference for Zainib/Mobeen but I’ll be delighted for Ladi/Monique or Cathie/Tricia if they win too. I just want all of them to get to the end #raceacrosstheworld

Who had “lettuce becomes global media star” on their 2022 bingo card? See also “3 Prime Ministers in less than 2 months” #2022BingoCard

While his youth isn’t necessarily a barrier to being PM, it’s worth noting that Sunak is considerably less experienced than Blair & Cameron, and has never led his party:

Sunak: 7 years as MP
Cameron: 9y as MP, including 5y as Leader of the Opposition
Blair: 14y as MP, 3y as LotO

https://twitter.com/joetwyman/status/1584317355035103232

He’s going to need wise heads he can trust around him over the next few weeks. Never mind the Opposition, the biggest bear pit he faces is his own party, with Johnson likely to be stirring the pot quietly in the background. Hunt will be crucial, but also how he handles the ERG

While a 1% cut in basic income tax is welcome, it’s worth calculating what this means in real terms. If you earn under £12,570pa, nothing changes. If you’re on the median average salary of £25,971, you’ll be £2.58pw better off. At best (earning £50,279 or more), you gain £7.25pw Now compare this to someone on, say, £200k pa. (Obviously, many high earners are on *much* more.) They benefit from both the 1% cut in basic tax (£7.25pw) AND the 5% saving on the last £50k of their salary which will now be taxed at 40% - a further £9.62pw for a total of £16.87pw

A few observations on Elon Musk and Twitter …

(Disclaimer: not an expert!) Elon Musk has NOT bought Twitter yet, despite how many media outlets are reporting it.

He has made an offer and Twitter’s board is recommending it to shareholders.

There are 2 main ways the few could yet fall through …

@ADuvsLife He's ignoring everything, essentially. In the short-term, we're already seeing delays at the ports, which has a very basic impact on getting stuff into distribution centres in the first place. Every DC has a limited number of loading bays for in & outbound ... @ADuvsLife Trucks have defined delivery slots for drop-offs and pick-ups - think of it like a doctor's appointment list - they must be there in their 30-60 minute window, or else the haulier gets fined. And DCs operate 24/7. So if 10 trucks miss their slots because of a logjam at the ports

Most major economic shifts take years to happen. But what do you do when it happens suddenly in a matter of weeks and months? Th government has a choice: defend the Pret economy to the death or manage an effective transition 🤔 ft.com/content/d8eb62… Laptops, mobiles, high-speed broadband - all these key enablers of remote working took several years to become mainstream options. Home-working was imposed on office workers within a couple of weeks. No one has really had time to fully evaluate the long-term pros and cons

This is insanity. How this anyone think this is right or fair?

Let me frame it another way. You interview for a job. Would you want an algorithm rather than an interviewer to decide who gets it?

How about we let an algorithm rather than the PM decide which ministers to appoint?

https://twitter.com/doctor_oxford/status/1294733660772544512

And where does it end? How about we solve the backlog and chronic underfunding of our criminal justice system by replacing trial by jury with an algorithm too?

I mean, sure, a few innocent people would be found guilty, but look at the efficiency and cost savings!

Public schools and
A-level results: a thread. Can we please stop demonising all public schools and public school students? Half of what’s circulating on Twitter is of, shall we say, questionable accuracy. And remember it wasn’t them who changed the grades Also, despite the less than helpful contributions from idiots like James Bethell, not everyone who went to public school came from a position of privilege. I went to a public school - not Eton or Harrow but a minor one where non-white kids accounted for, I reckon, 30% of students

It’s maddening and saddening to see so many stories like this. Some unis have handled this better than others but don’t blame them for rejecting people. Blame the algorithm that created this situation. This is quite simply the education equivalent of racial profiling 🤔

https://twitter.com/sharlsssssxx/status/1294365763621605376

And don’t tar all unis - or even Oxbridge - with the same brush. Worcester College Oxford said they will honour all offers; they’re not the only one. Unis are in a tough spot: limited accommodation, social distancing considerations etc. They’re not the ones who changed the grades

Releasing bad news stories (such as adding France to the quarantine list yesterday) late in the evening is becoming a hallmark of this government. But why? Not that I’m a news expert, but I think it’s pretty simple (and cynical) really ... It comes down to maximising coverage while minimising scrutiny. By making news like this public at, say 9pm, it reduces the amount of detailed scrutiny that can be applied to it. It’s early enough to make the late evening news and morning papers, but only just

Note that this is not a surprise. Technical definition of recession is the economy shrinking quarter-on-quarter twice in a row. Q1 partially affected by recession, Q2 wholly impacted (the fact Q4 included Christmas spending doesn’t matter - seasonal influences are accounted for)

https://twitter.com/bbcbreaking/status/1293427577189785600

It’s the size of the drop that is most alarming - 20.4% in Q2, after a 2.2% drop in Q1. This compares with a drop of 18.5% for Spain (which locked down harder than the UK did), 10% Germany, 9% France. There’s no good way to spin this: it’s an absolute disaster

THREAD: Why does the government insist on pre-announcing new policy changes? A social media manager's view ...

https://twitter.com/thatchamdad/status/1274648765442527234

Why does the Tory government insist on announcing all their announcements 2-3 days in advance? Let me tell you about the concept of 'social listening', but first let's start by drawing an analogy with the tech sector

THREAD: I’ve done a little research into the social network Parler, so you don’t have to 👍 With Katie Hopkins’ permanent suspension from Twitter and the Forbury Gardens stabbings over the last 3 days, the social app Parler is suddenly in the news as many users (mostly supporters of far-right policies and ‘free speech’) abandon Twitter as part of the #Twexit movement

A short story - or a long thread.

Five Years Later by Georgina Andwell (or, Why George Orwell Got It Right But Was Just Out By 40 Years) It's December 2024. The UK General Election campaign is drawing to a close. Michael Gove is bullish about his chances of re-election, 3.5 years after he ousted Boris Johnson as PM

Thank God it’s Friday! I’ll admit it’s been a difficult week, despite it being shorter due to the bank holiday - and not just because it’s been half term. Anyone else feel the same? My last day in the office was Friday 13th March - 11 weeks ago. I’ve been working at home since. It’s now also 9 weeks since I last set foot in a shop, and 3.5 months since I last saw my elderly parents. What affects me most is not how long has passed - but how long still remains

THREAD: I had a bit of a heart-to-heart with our eldest Isaac (12 years old) yesterday about how he’s feeling at the moment. It’s made me reflect a bit more on my experience of lockdown and how it affects us all. I thought I’d share as I’m sure we’re not alone ... To start with, I must say he’s coped well with lockdown. His school switched to remote working earlier than others. Yesterday was exactly two months since his first ‘working from home’ day. Every morning he logs on at 8:30 works through to 3:30. He’s motivated and keeping up well

The UK economy shrank 2% in the first 3 months of 2020. And if you think that’s not bad (it really is), bear in mind things only really started to slow down from mid-Feb and this includes just 1 week of lockdown. Now imagine what Q2 will look like ... 😕 theguardian.com/business/live/… It’s hard to appreciate how catastrophic these numbers are, so let me try to add some context.

Caveat: While I have a decent understanding of macroeconomics, I’m not a professional economist. I’ll leave that to the other Twitter experts who know everything about everything 😉

It’s this kind of simple, level-headed, fact-based information that we desperately need. And not the diet of empty cheerleading platitudes we are constantly being served in the UK press briefings. Trust that people can interpret the data if it is presented to them in a clear way

https://twitter.com/benjalvarez1/status/1250563198081740800

Instead we get “Don’t do this, it’s bad. Do that, it’s good. Sciency-wiency, timey-wimey, we won’t trouble your pretty little heads with trivia like facts and explanations. Here, look at this shiny badge we’ve made.” 🤔

Thread: It’s been a tough week. But, without wanting to glamourise working from home (it’s anything but glamorous), there have been some positives this week. I thought I’d share mine - please brighten my day by sharing yours! To give me a clean separation at the end of my work day, I’ve gone out for an early evening run 4 days out of 5. Isaac and Toby joined me on Monday. Kara ran with me on Tuesday. I’m hoping we can keep doing this at least once a week 🏃🏼‍♂️🏃‍♀️🏃

Over the coming days, we’re likely to see government, retailers etc outlining new solutions. They won’t be perfect solutions for every at-risk group, but they will be much better than nothing. Applaud these moves for what they are rather than criticising them for what they’re not Frankly, we’re beyond the point where there is a one-size-fits-all solution where everyone wins. This is what it means when you have to prioritise scarce resources, whether it’s NHS beds or toilet rolls. Not everyone benefits equally. But any net gain is an overall win