Writer - Progressive Pragmatist 🏳️‍🌈🌹

Hertfordshire
Joined March 2012
BBC Chairman Richard Sharp criticises Emily Maitlis for ‘liberal bias’. Sharp donated £400,000 to the Conservative Party. thetimes.co.uk/article/bbf40…
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Scott Funke retweeted
EXCL: Andy Burnham has told officials to rip up their plans for how to fix Thames Water and present him with more radical options for what to do with the stricken company. In an early test of his promise to bring “the essentials of life” under public control, the PM is urging his advisers to go back to the drawing board and create a new list of policies for the utility. One option being looked at is to convert about £100m of outstanding fines into a government stake in the company, saving its creditors money but giving ministers some say in how it is run. With @kiranstacey & @jessicaelgot theguardian.com/politics/202…
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Perceptions of Andy Burnham's political identity have strengthened since entering Number 10. Prior to becoming PM only 37% thought it was clear what he stood for. However, since he's become Prime Minister this has jumped to 57%. 👉 tinyurl.com/89pmr7n6
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NEW: France has dropped its opposition to the UK being included in the EU’s “Made in Europe” legislation as long as the British government aligns with the bloc’s position over tariffs on Chinese EVs. In a breakthrough for Andy Burnham, Paris on Thursday came round to backing Germany, which has always supported the UK’s calls to be designated European for the purposes of the Industrial Accelerator Act. The legislation, which is in its draft stage, is designed to protect domestic manufacturing from cheap Chinese competition. According to a joint Franco-German paper seen by the Guardian, the two countries are now proposing that for the car industry specifically the UK could be included in the "Made in Europe" scheme. @lisaocarroll reports theguardian.com/world/2026/o…
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Watch the Grand Theft Auto VI Launch Trailer, featuring the debut of “Flower in a Hurricane" from original score composers Justice feat. Tame Impala, SZA, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Grand Theft Auto VI arrives November 19: rockstargames.com/VI/ps5
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Scott Funke retweeted
Annualised UK GDP growth so far in 2026, with two-thirds of the year gone, is 2.7-2.8% Is expected to slow in q4, but that was also expected in q3. And q2. City economists (eg Pantheon) say “we have to shift from describing UK growth as resilient to calling it strong”.
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Scott Funke retweeted
Britain: a rising power? The IMF just released its latest economic data. The UK is set to overtake Japan next year in terms of GDP. The last time Britain’s economy was larger than Japan’s was in the 1960s. The UK is also gaining on Germany – it could easily be No. 4 by 2040...
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Why do I think Labour's result in Holborn was good? Winning aside, Governing parties usually get hit hard in by-elections (not always Hartlepool was a clear exception). But the drop in Holborn was below the average for defending a seat of by-elections in any post-war parliament.
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‼️ Labour HOLD Holborn and St Pancras Labour: 45.0% (-3.9) Green: 32.7% (+22.3) Conservative: 7.0% (-0.2) Reform: 5.9% (-0.2) Liberal Democrats: 3.4% (-2.4) Restore: 2.5% (+2.5) Workers: 1.1% (+1.1)
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Holy shit an insane turnaround for Labour
Not looking good for the right, especially the Tories.
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"There is no political figure in Britain that gets a better press than Kemi Badenoch right now. "The Tory press are manifesting a Tory recovery. They're desperate for it to happen," says @lewis_goodall. Is a Badenoch bounce real, or has the right wing media made it all up?
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Although the Conservative conference has featured speculation the party could win the next election, just 10% of Britons currently see Kemi Badenoch as the most likely victor of the next general election Andy Burnham: 37% Nigel Farage: 13% Kemi Badenoch: 10% Someone else: 9%
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In our latest voting intention, Labour hit 29% their highest since 2024, Reform move to 2nd & Greens fall to lowest since August 2025 🌹 LAB 29% (+2) ⏩ REF 24% (+3) 🌳 CON 21% (-1) 🔶 LIB DEM 10% (-1) 🟢 GREEN 7% (-2) ⚫ RES: 4% (-2) N 2,088 | Dates 3-5/10 | Change w 29/09
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Scott Funke retweeted
🚨 Westminster Voting Intention: 🌹 LAB: 27% (+3) ➡️ REF: 22% (-3) 🌳 CON: 20% (+1) 🔶️ LDEM: 11% (-1) 🟢 GRN: 11% (=) From @YouGov From 4th - 5th Octiber Changes with 28th September
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🚨 Latest Opinium @ObserverUK poll 🚨 Labour hits 30% for the first time since November 2024, opening up a 5-point lead over Reform. 🌹 LAB 30% (+2) ➡️ REF 25% (+1) 🌳 CON 17% (n/c) 🌍 GRN 11% (+1) 🔶 LD 9% (-1)
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Scott Funke retweeted
🧵On Thursday night we held a focus group of 2024 Labour voters many of whom had become disillusioned under Starmer to find out how Burnham's conference speech had gone down. Have written it up for @guardian and it was the most positive feedback for a politician in a long time.
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what the actual fuck
US road rage killer's sentence quashed because AI video of victim was shown in court bbc.in/4rGHDS4
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The sentence was thrown out because an appeals judge ruled that the video should not have been shown in the original trial. BBC misleadingly implies that the sentence was quashed because of the persuasive impact of the video itself. bbc.com/news/articles/…
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Scott Funke retweeted
It's up to Suella Braverman whether or not she regards herself as English - but she certainly can't tell me that I'm not. For the @Independent 👇 independent.co.uk/voices/sue…
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Scott Funke retweeted
NEW: How does Burnham’s conference speech land with voters when they see it it? In short, very well it seems. A quick thread on some new video testing of the PM’s speech among voters by @Persuasion_UK. Top line findings and some caveats below! 🧵👇
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Scott Funke retweeted
First finding: all clips we tested raised Burnham’s NET favorables by a lot, essentially doubling them. But the public control/ownership themes in particular really smashed it. This is, once again, Burnham’s best performing bit imo. See it consistently in qual and quant.
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Scott Funke retweeted
I listened to Ed Davey on the @BBCr4today this morning, and frankly, I think he missed the point. The idea that we're keeping the triple lock to help millennials is at best for the birds, and at worst downright insulting. I say that as a millennial. The case for the triple lock is a worthy one - stopping pensioner poverty. I want that as much as anyone. But pensioners are now less likely to be in poverty than children or working age adults. We talk about fairness, yet our answer is to give the same increase to every pensioner, treating the one choosing between heating and eating exactly the same as the one with millions in the bank. I can see no moral or fiscal case for above inflation rises for millionaires. That money should go where it's needed most - to everyone in poverty, not just one group. It could help fund free personal care, a policy that would disproportionately benefit older people. Ed is right that we shouldn't pit one generation against another. But intergenerational inequality is already one of the defining injustices of our time, and this would further entrench it. Worse, it gaslights an entire generation into believing it's for our benefit. Telling millennials we're keeping the triple lock to help us in 30 years' time is nonsense. We're on course to be the first generation worse off than our parents. We're locked out of the housing market, paying higher taxes, repaying student loans that never seem to shrink, and putting off having children because of the cost of living. I joined this party because I care about fairness and tackling inequality, and that has to include inequality between generations. This line, and this decision, fails on both counts. Ed needs to think again.
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