My letter in yesterday's @yorkshirepost, on the failure of our politicians to support children and families in poverty, with a particular focus on #Bradford. With analysis from @EndChildPoverty @CPAGUK @ruthpatrick0 @KateAndersen_ @reader_mary @aaronsreeves @kittyjstewart

New statistics show that as of 30 April 2026, 504,710 people were receiving Adult Disability Payment. The benefit helps people meet the extra needs they have as a result of disabilities/conditions. Read more: bit.ly/ADPstats30April2026

City Hall #Bradford.

Crossing Ribblehead #YorkshireDales. @SettleCarlisle

Top Withens, Stanbury #Bradford. #brontecountry #yorkshire

Whernside and Blea Moor from Park Fell this afternoon. #YorkshireDales

On the idiocy of austerity, and so much more. I’ve spent the last few months, when I wasn’t looking after my newborn daughter (!), profiling economist Mariana Mazzucato. Her ideas influence how millions of people are governed: Starmer’s Missions, Biden’s CHIPS Act, Trump’s stake in Intel. It’s all Mazzonomics. For nearly two decades the Western centre left has existed in an oddly depleted intellectual condition. The old neoliberal settlement lost legitimacy after the 2008 financial crisis, but no consensus ever fully arrived to replace it. A politics once organised around redistribution increasingly found itself reduced to management: fiscal rules, institutions, process. This, in part, explains Mazzucato’s rise. She offers something contemporary centre left politics badly craves - not just policies, but a story about what governments are for. She offers a theory of capitalism that is moral, managerial, and patriotic. Radical enough to sound transformative, pragmatic enough to sit comfortably within state institutions. Whether that synthesis can survive contact with increasingly volatile politics, a worsening economy, and human self-interest is an open question. She also fed me wine at 11am. Listen to our conversation on The Exchange now, link below.

Disability benefits do not create comfort. They barely touch the costs disabled people cannot avoid. The real scandal is not that support exists. The scandal is how far below real disabled living costs that support now falls.

UK disability benefits are not generous. They are a partial refund on a life that already costs more to survive. Equipment, care, heating, transport, treatment, food, washing, repairs - disability turns ordinary living into a monthly financial crisis.

Or maybe it's because they've been repeatedly infected with covid and left with long term illnesses as a result. Just a thought. Gaslighting them that it's merely a psychological resilience problem will make things worse. x.com/i/status/2065175134260…

#r4today : #BenefitCuts do not magic up jobs, and those to the sick and disabled do not cure anyone. More of this is coming, ostensibly for #defence. Well, defence has not seen a penny of the cuts that there have already been. Ask #JohnHealey. And where has that money gone? davidaslindsay.blogspot.com/…

Valley Parade, #BCAFC #Bradford. #FloodlightFriday #blackandwhitephotography #bfdmonochrome

DWP deaths overshadow every other British scandal for decades, MPs are told #DWP #DWPdeaths @CommonsWorkPen disabilitynewsservice.com/dw…

Tangmere heading The Dalesman at Helwith Bridge, northwards on the Settle & Carlisle Railway #YorkshireDales. @SettleCarlisle @foscl @westcoastrail #steamtrain #blackandwhitephotography

This is really disappointing. At an event I was part of today, a youth worker reflected on the impact of sanctions on a young person's life. It means they can't eat. It consumes their life. How will that get them closer to employment?

Moody skies over Pen-y-ghent, @yorkshire_dales.

Stainforth, northbound on the Settle & Carlisle railway #steamtrain #steamSunday.

Saltaire #Bradford.

Milburn’s ‘participation-first’ NEETs report omits years of evidence linking DWP with deaths #Milburn #NEETs #DWP #BenefitDeaths disabilitynewsservice.com/mi…

We're launching a nationwide conversation to understand what matters to Disabled people today. We want it to inform our strategy and how we campaign for years to come! Have your say👇 Survey surveymonkey.com/r/DRUKstrat… Easy Read surveymonkey.com/r/surveyeas… BSL surveymonkey.com/r/strategyB…

Ribblehead Viaduct #YorkshireDales