If our police officers do not have the confidence to pursue dangerous criminals on our behalf, it is the law-abiding public who will suffer. My question to the Home Secretary this afternoon 👇

‘To win support in places like Makerfield Labour needs to abolish Council Tax.’ The argument builds on the case that council tax remains tied to 1991 valuations and that reform could become a major cost-of-living and fairness agenda. @LabourList labourlist.org/2026/06/labou…

What Burnham would mean for your council tax – and how some could save £950 trib.al/M3t8J8X

Devastating. Just 19 years old. Rest in peace, PC Jess Turnbull 💙 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c621…

Extraordinary nugget in @ShippersUnbound’s excellent interview with Kemi Badenoch. Asked directly if she’d put Farage into No.10 if he fell short of a majority, she made clear the answer is yes. Seems very politically naive in both directions. Voters on the right now have one fewer reason to back the Tories over Reform. And in London and Lib Dem swings seats, the anti reform coalition just got a gift: “Vote Tory, get Farage.” No real upside to announcing this two years before polling day. Fascinated to see how CCHQ handle the follow ups….

RT @BettyBoochichi2: Yet another police officer doing what police officers do. Well done to both heroes 💙

Politicians keep talking about storytelling, but it more seems like a plea to talk about anything rather than what is going on in the country or a genuine strategy. Read more in latest Substack for Carlyle's Attic. 👇👇👇

The Left blames the rise of populism & race riots ~on false consciousness: "the media", Musk etc. sublimate (correct) anger at "austerity" or "capitalism" towards (incorrect) anger at migrants – that's the default progressive narrative. But boat crossings decades of mass low-skilled migration have become a symbol of state failure, systemic atrophy & broken political economy. If central government can't even stop 50k illegal undocumented arrivals/yr, then how can it be practically expected to "build socialism"? How can we create a "new economy" without weaning our low-waged, low-productivity services model off the import of cheap labour from abroad (which represents hard competition in wages, jobs, housing etc., esp. for people at the lower end of the income/wealth scale)? How can tens of thousands of British citizens suffer the indignity of homelessness while illegal migrants are put up in hotels/council properties/subsidised HMOs by local authorities with no £ to spend on non-discretionary services? There are 3 options now: A) The Labour government ( the wider Left) learn how to talk about these issues in a non-racialised, pragmatic way. Stop the boats, deport foreign criminals, and implement a system of managed, legal, mostly skilled migration based on the immediate needs of labour market & in line with a plan for domestic skills training housing provision. Frame the issues around fairness, control, security & ending free-for-all Deliveroo economics. Normie populism, not ethnic grievance B) A Reform/Reform-Tory coalition wins, plays on a kind of counter-woke politics of quasi-ethnonationalism, applies hard limits to immigration/stops the boats while imposing a private equity/hedge fund/crypto deregulatory bonanzo regime C) Nothing happens, boat crossings continue, social cohesion/the social contract continues to disintegrate & we come to expect the occasional pogrom every summer – the politics of Robinson/Restore gains startling ground...

Bit of context on stop and search… 2009/10, last year of Labour government - 1,400,000 searches 2017/18, decade into Tory govt - 280,000 searches Now Tories say we should triple it, plucking this out of the air to sound tough. Round and round we go…

Andy Burnham has said that the government needs to “go further” in stopping illegal migration as he pledged to make greater use of immigration detention centres The mayor of Greater Manchester said that people felt “the country isn’t functioning properly” He told BBC Radio Manchester: “It’s this thing about control, isn’t it? It feels like the country isn’t functioning properly, running things properly and the small boats issue completely speaks to that. People want it to be dealt with. We do need to go further. “We need to make greater use of detention so that people who have got no basis for a claim are not actually admitted into the country. “So that’s dealt with quickly and there’s a speedier return. It is something that has to be gripped and gripped properly. Because it is about trust in politics and it is one of those things that is fraying that trust to a degree.” thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…

I visited “Middle England” to find out how much they’re paying in annual property tax…

As an economist, former FT journalist and now Labour MP, l don’t think the bond markets have to fear a change of Labour leadership. The biggest problem for gilt investors and MPs alike is inflation – & it remains our common enemy. My @FT op-ed 👇 (1/5)

The momentum to scrap council tax is growing. Great to see support for property tax reform from a growing number of MPs! Patrick Hurley, @IanByrneMP, @JonathanBrash Afzal Khan, @ChrisWebbMP, @Jonathan_Hinder lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne…

Lancashire officers PC Daniel Secker, PC Hannah Nutter, PC Chloe Hopwood and PC Sophia Welsh, who tackled a spreading blaze and tried to save a man who was engulfed in flames, have been nominated for the National Police Bravery Awards orlo.uk/C0A9o #PoliceBravery

The police is not institutionally racist - against white or ethnic minority people. Rather, it is overwhelmingly full of brave professionals trying to protect all members of the public in difficult circumstances. There have been grave mistakes where lessons have to be learnt. But they are far outnumbered by positive and proportionate responses that happen on a daily basis, which hardly ever receive any coverage.

Which party for proper industrial socialism, rooted in solidarity and reciprocity? It was always Labour, and it can be again 🌹