Off-brand Joe Allen. I work at @The_TUC
Joined June 2018
- Tweets 6,042
- Following 764
- Followers 1,791
- Likes 16,206
1,223 Photos and videos
Joe Allen retweeted
Fiscal drag affects all taxpayers, not just pensioners. There's no good reason to treat working-age taxpayers like we're second class.
New: Andy Burnham will leave the triple lock untouched and consider a tax cut for pensioners paying income tax because of the freeze on tax thresholds, known as “fiscal drag”.
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Of these the uplift on teaching incentives is the only concrete decision, I think.
I'm preoccupied at the moment with how deference to endless consultation and review is playing out in Wales.
A party that has waited 100 years for power has made virtually zero decisions in their first month in government.
But obviously a huge issue at a UK level too.
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This is a good read and I didn't realise how much Northern Ireland has overperformed post-Brexit.
NI economic output up 12% since Q4 2019 vs 5.2% for UK.
Jun 12
Recovering from Thatcherism. > how Thatcherism left Britain the poorest country in Northern Europe, how a return to competition could fix it, and why "just crush the NIMBYs" is a really bad plan for boosting British growth. By me. Just now. tomforth.co.uk/recoveringfro…
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I'm preoccupied at the moment with how deference to endless consultation and review is playing out in Wales.
A party that has waited 100 years for power has made virtually zero decisions in their first month in government.
But obviously a huge issue at a UK level too.
Jun 12
Death by a thousand consultations – @martha_dacombe on how Starmer has deferred to a broken state at every turn. arguably.uk/p/death-by-a-tho…
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Joe Allen retweeted
Some Hockney favourites.
#1 Gregory (1978), coloured pencil on paper.
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Joe Allen retweeted
Jun 11
I still find it really strange that so many dog experts and dog charities went all in to try and deny the most obvious facts about dog breed behaviour, trashing their own reputations in the process. A fascinating psychological case study
Deaths due to dogs peaked in 2023.
The ban is working.
Despite the attacks from the RSPCA, the Dogs Trust and others, the data is clear.
Politicians and media shouldn't be listening to the same charities academics that would have kept this trend happening.
More to be done
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The adverts on business/finance podcasts are the worst of all podcast adverts.
I understand why all these investment firms etc want to sound boring. But they're so dull I find it hard to believe that they are effective.
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BBC: Farmers and Welsh Gov know where there's duplication. So why 9 mth review?
Minister's response doesn't really make sense. He says changing regs/law can't be done overnight.
But those actions come *after* the review - so can't be justification of a 9 month process?
Jun 12
A 9 month long review.
What new information will this uncover that would not be available if the government wished to make the decisions now?
This is not an issue unique to the new government. It is the political culture of punt and fudge that we've chosen since 1999.
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Again, this isn't a party political point. You could say the same thing about the 'listening exercise' that the last FM spent months on when she came in.
My question is why the default is to delay and delay when all the info necessary to make decisions is already there?
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Joe Allen retweeted
Jun 12
Bittersweet pictures & full video on this group’s You Tube page. Sadly 2-3 years on little development and sweet f.a. from what the owners promised to develop for the site of Howells. Will be an embarrassment to the city if not redeveloped by the Euros football in 2028. #Cardiff
Jun 12
We explore Cardiff’s abandoned House of Fraser, once Wales’ oldest department store. You can watch the video now here:
youtu.be/HX0OVQgb_10?is=B_Uu…
#abandoned #urbex #urbanexploration #photography
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Joe Allen retweeted
Jun 12
👀 Mae @Owain2026 yn dweud ddaru “Llafur colli’r plot” tuag at ddiwedd ei 27 mlynedd mewn grym.
Y Llafurwr sy’n ymuno y fi a Efan ar bodlediad Craffu360 i drafod beth aeth o’i le i Lafur Cymru yn yr etholiad, a beth mae o’n credu sydd angen digwydd nesaf.
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Jun 12
A 9 month long review.
What new information will this uncover that would not be available if the government wished to make the decisions now?
This is not an issue unique to the new government. It is the political culture of punt and fudge that we've chosen since 1999.
Jun 12
An independent review examining the administrative and regulatory burden facing Welsh farmers has been launched by the Welsh Government wp.me/p8Mk4U-1mOo
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Jun 11
Unsurprisingly there's push back from Labour on the claim that the public finances Plaid inheritied are worse than they appeared.
Would be useful to see what, if anything, is being suggested by Welsh Gov.
x.com/lynne_neagle/status/20…
Jun 11
This looks like an interesting scrap - claims that the last Welsh Government misled the public on their financial position.
Similar to the row at a UK level after the last general election.
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Joe Allen retweeted
Jun 11
This, if anything, underplays it.
Only Yemen, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Tajikistan and Syria have seen bigger drops in electricity use per capita since the year 2000.
Jun 10
This should be a wake-up call for the UK…
(Note that this is a per-capita chart)
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Jun 11
This looks like an interesting scrap - claims that the last Welsh Government misled the public on their financial position.
Similar to the row at a UK level after the last general election.
Interesting the FM here saying the WG faces and incredibly tight financial situation ‘worse than people would’ve imagine…’
Echoes a conversation this week with a Plaid source who also claimed previous Labour gov had made some unfunded spending commitments.
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Jun 11
On Welsh Gov's skills audit announcement:
Jun 11
Also today’s skills audit announcement. This isn’t launching a brand new audit from scratch, but reframing work already underway as part of a broader skills reform agenda, announced under the last WG in March this year.
gov.wales/agenda-item-2-skil…
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Jun 11
Too much denial about 1m Welsh speakers in 2050 policy.
% of pupils being taught in Welsh is meant to be 30% by 2031 - a 7pt leap. For Yr1 there's only been 1pt growth since '11.
In '21 Welsh Gov said 42 schools would move along the continuum. Only 8 even held consultations.
Jun 11
🏴#Cymraeg2050 set a target for a million Welsh speakers, which is now backed in legislation.
The education system will be pivotal to turning that goal into reality.
Read our article to learn how this might play out in the Seventh Senedd ➡️shorturl.at/Sq5uh
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Jun 11
This is fun.
Pretty sure (by which I mean I've run it through ChatGPT) that if you measured Wales seperately we'd rank higher - closer to Italy at 1.9.
Jun 10
Brazil produces world-class footballers by the hundreds — but mostly because it's a giant.
Strip out size and the real overachiever is tiny Uruguay: under 4 million people, more football greatness per capita than anywhere on Earth.
The new issue of The Atlas is out: why is South America so exceptionally good at men’s football?
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Joe Allen retweeted
We see the tower of Jesus Christ illuminated for the first time!
The light show, starting from the base up to the illumination of the cross, culminated with a composition of lights guided by drones that traced the figure of Gaudí and the phrase “first love, then technique”.
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