On the day America celebrated the IPO of its biggest space company, Britain found out its government is banning underfloor heating. The decline of our country is not inevitable, it is the choice of the rotten political class.

Individual responsibility is a hard pill to swallow. Envy and victim mentality sell much easier. That’s exactly why we get populist movements convinced circumstances can’t change or are only someone else’s fault. They turn responsibility into oppression instead of empowerment.

I realise this is now a deeply unpopular notion, but I just think people should be able to have as much money as they can make, so long as the means for making it are legal. I don’t think it is inherently immoral to own a lot of stuff.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask for people to acknowledge that: 1) Some kids are more advanced intellectually than others. And: 2) Those children have every much of a right to an education in which they are challenged and are situated around children of similar abilities as other children have a right to a proper education that suits their particular pace.

This week the most advanced AI model on the planet got switched off by a foreign government. British researchers were studying it. British companies were testing it. British hospitals were piloting it. Not any more. This isn't an AI story. It's the story of every industry we used to lead. Britain has some of the best AI talent in the world. DeepMind was built here. Our AI Safety Institute writes the rules other countries follow. We have the researchers, the universities, the standards. What we don't have is the power stations to run the data centres, the planning system to build them, or the industrial base to make the chips. So the work happens here and the value lands somewhere else. We invent. Others build. Others decide. Then we read about it on Saturday morning. Same story as the kit our soldiers don't have. Same story as the factories we used to. I spent nine months in government making this argument inside the room. I'll make it louder from outside.

Fair point

The key issue - identified acutely by @ShippersUnbound - the treatment of veterans is *indefensible*

The next war won't be won by armies, navies or air forces alone. It'll be won by the country whose 19 year olds can code, whose factories can build drones in weeks not years, and whose grid stays on when someone tries to switch it off. Industry. Society. Economy. That's the fight now. We're not ready. And we're not being honest about what getting ready will cost.

Quel surprisé!! #EducationNotTaxation

Taxpayers are subsidising union members.

In fact, taxpayers are subsidising the Labour party. A good point well made @ClaireCoutinho @LauraTrottMP @SuellaBraverman @worstall @maxwell_marlow

But there are clear economic benefits in getting 'high functioning' SEND kids through childhood in one piece to be healthy working adults.

I went to independent school with numerous 'high functioning' autistic kids. The number of them I know who dropped out without any GCSEs and are living on PIP is zero. Now I am quite sure there is more to it than just type of school...

Worth bookmarking the next time a Labour MP, or one of their grimly spiteful supporters ‘Trots’ out the repugnantly successful lie, that private schools are subsidised. (Parents of children at private schools save the taxpayer £millions every year. Unlike Labour MPs.)

When people argue for equality, it’s worth noting that in most cases it results in a lower standard of living. The easiest way to create an equal society is to remove the wealthiest and leave the poorest poorer. Wealth inequality in itself is not a problem if everyone’s standard of living is improving. If 1000 billionaires relocated to the UK, hired 500k people, invested and paid tax’s the inequality would be beneficial. If the remaining 150 billionaires in the UK leave and then the few thousand £100m go too then we will have more equality but we will be poorer for it. The real focus should always be on raising living standards. Watch out for those who get angry at this idea, they are ideologically opposed to wealth creation and driven by envy.

Saves the taxpayers £5k to £8k a year. Why's that not a good thing?

The strength of our legal system has always rested on one principle: merit. Judges and lawyers should rise on ability, integrity and excellence, not on anything else. If we start eroding meritocracy within our legal institutions, we risk undermining the very foundations of public confidence. And if we do that, we will cease to be world leaders in the rule of law. Justice must be blind, and opportunity must be earned.

Paying for your child’s education *and* for a child you’ve never met to be educated as well? Sounds like a decent charitable act to me.

I suspect they are a rare example but perhaps consider a very wealthy minister of state, or even PM, with a spouse working full time and 2 children, easily pulling in way more than a middle class family who attend private school. Why should they receive £16,000 subsidy each year? I’m sure none of the current Gov are in that situation, are they?