Tom Bailey

Work in HE; write occasionally for @wonkhe. Once researched digital skills for @UKDigitalSkills & comms at @1994group before that. Usual caveats apply...

[Tom Bailey @baileys72]

To misquote Reagan, the twelve most terrifying words in the English language for the UK higher education sector are: “I used to work for Theresa May, and I’m here to help.” My latest @Wonkhe article on the recent @ukonward report on international students: https://t.co/YLKWqfitxa

[Dan Neidle @DanNeidle]

This was stupid when the police were asked to investigate Zahawi and Rayner, and it's stupid now.

There's no evidence of dishonesty by Zahawi/Rayner/Polanski. The police should simply say that & not get drawn into these games.

Carelessly paying the wrong tax is not a crime

[Labour Growth Group @LabourGrowth]

This is for the people who do the work.

The nurses doing double shifts. The teachers who stay late. The plumbers, the carers, the small builders, the people running shops. The graduates trying to build a life. The founders who chose to build something here.

Britain has stopped being a country that backs them.

Over 40 years of political choices Britain has built an economy where owning things pays better than building them.

Holding scarce land. Holding protected market positions. Holding the right credentials. Holding the right postcode. Gaming process. Capturing public money meant for someone else.

These have become safer routes to reward than working, investing, teaching, caring, manufacturing or taking productive risk.

This isn't a conspiracy. It's the predictable result of a state that has lost the ability to build, decide, enforce and shape markets in the public interest.

The planning system rations land. The energy system rations power. Capital fails to scale British firms. Regulation protects incumbents and crushes challengers. Tax falls hard on work and lightly on position.

Government compensates people for the costs this creates. But in rationed markets, that compensation is often captured by the same scarcity that made it necessary. Public money flows through broken systems and strengthens the very interests that broke them.

Fiscal space shrinks. The state becomes more cautious, less capable, more dependent on the processes that created the failure. The loop tightens.

An Honest Day is a new economic settlement for Britain. The shift required is from a distributive state to a capable one. Support people now. Reform the scarcity that makes support necessary. Reward action, not position.

Read it now

https://t.co/Wluq39f59s

[James Wise @Jameswise]

It’s obviously a shame that OpenAI have paused some of their data centre investment here in the UK, and high energy prices need to be tackled for everybody - from household bills to heavy industry and AI.

But the UK, as is this case with many other countries, is not the natural home for many gigafactory-scale DCs aimed at huge training runs. While we must have this capacity to some degree ( and you can apply now to SovAI’s AIRR compute programme to access it! ), DCs of Stargate size are probably best suited to cold countries or areas with extremely cheap domestic energy supply, and perhaps one day space.

What the UK must do is be the best place for companies in areas of AI where we have abundant strengths to start and scale - novel chips, heterogenous compute systems, edge inference, photonics, new model architectures, frontier models in biology, chemistry, physical sciences, voice, embodied AI, advanced engineering in robotics, agent security. The list goes on.

I hope the companies building in those sectors get the same press coverage for each of their technical breakthroughs & commercial milestones as this OpenAI story has got!

[Henry Moeran @henrymoeranBBC]

Marvellous chaos to kick it all off.

Hurrah for the return of the Championship!

#bbccricket

[John Fingleton @JohnFingleton1]

I am pleased to see the government response to Task Force on Nuclear Regulation.

First, it has been published on time which sends a positive signal about priorities.

Second, the detailed and considered response shows that the Government is serious about reform.

Third, almost every recommendation is to be taken forward fully.

All of this should help bring about a substantial reduction in cost and delivery schedules for new nuclear. This should spur greater confidence for investors in nuclear in the UK.

A few recommendations will be taken forward in a different way that in our report, as we envisaged. The role of the Implementation structure will be critical in continuing to ensure that this is prioritised.

[Theo Bertram @theobertram]

It is notable that The Sun suggested to Trump - not the other way round - that the PM was ‘pandering to Muslim voters’ by not joining the offensive on Iran.

[Jason Brodsky @JasonMBrodsky]

Extraordinary piece in FT about the operation to kill #Iran's regime's supreme leader Khamenei.

Nearly all traffic cameras in Tehran were hacked by #Israel for years. They knew when members of the #IRGCterrorists Vali Amr Protection Unit (Khamenei's bodyguards) came and left work on Pasteur Street. And interestingly the CIA--not Mossad--had a human source which assisted with the effort.

https://t.co/Giqgb6d0dT

[Ben Judah @b_judah]

The public wants simple affirming answers about geopolitics, but geopolitics cannot provide that. This is the truth.

• Israel has committed great wrongs in Gaza but has been under a multi-front attack from an Iranian regime that is both seeking nuclear weapons and committed to its destruction.

• Iran has slaughtered tens of thousands of its own people amidst protests in recent weeks but a full regime change operation could open the door to state collapse or something worse.

• A limited American-Israeli decapitation strike could force a capitulation but only avoid a spiral into a months-long all-out war if they find someone in the regime to work with — like Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela — and come back to the table.

• What was true for so long, that Britain could be America’s best friend, fiercely anti-Kremlin and champion of international law, no longer stacks up. You have to choose or remain silent if you cannot. This is what the collapse of the rules based order looks like.

Welcome to the real world.

At a moment like this we must reject the dishonest and frankly unserious, social-media driven conversation that would make geopolitics a screen onto which me project our wishes at the expense of facts.

My essay for @thetimes on this moment: https://t.co/jmEC4raSkc

[David Lawrence @dc_lawrence]

There is no path to growth in Britain without fixing this.

[Sierra @Sierra_rak]

It’s not the Winter Olympics without watching this clip (sound on) at least a hundred times

Oh monsieuuurr

[Alex Wickham @alexwickham]

Here is what Marco Rubio said about the Chagos deal only seven months ago. Almost as if it’s not about Chagos at all and all about attacking Europe over Greenland.

“Today, the United States welcomed the historic agreement between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius on the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory—specifically, the Chagos Archipelago.”

“President Trump expressed his support for this monumental achievement during his meeting with Prime Minister Starmer at the White House.”

“Following a comprehensive interagency review, the Trump Administration determined that this agreement secures the long-term, stable, and effective operation of the joint U.S.-UK military facility at Diego Garcia.”

“We commend both the United Kingdom and Mauritius for their leadership, vision, and commitment to ensure that Diego Garcia remains fully operational for the duration of this agreement.”

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

A terrible idea. President Trump is completely wrong to announce tariffs on the UK over Greenland. People in both UK and US will face higher costs.

These tariffs will be yet another burden for businesses across our country. The sovereignty of Greenland should only be decided by the people of Greenland.

On this, I agree with Keir Starmer.

[David Lawrence @dc_lawrence]

Today I found out that Ofgem is spending £287 million – paid for by household electricity bills – to dismantle 10 pylons in Snowdonia & bury the cables.

That's more than twice the annual budget of *all* national parks in Britain (which have budgets of £135m pa). Rather than burying pylons, we could spend that money far more effectively to protect nature, while reducing energy bills.

Alternatively, about 3000 people live in the area. With the same budget, you could give every single one of them £100k, or pay for 3 years' worth of free school meals for every primary school kid in Wales.

Source: https://t.co/Y82FpWggyv

[Josh Glancy @joshglancy]

Fascinating piece by @megbaynes on how risk-averse British pension schemes are.

The £73bn universities pension scheme has been delivering an insanely pedestrian *1.7%* return for its members over the past 5 years

https://t.co/rKLV5VIqMK

[Joe Powell MP @josephpowell]

For those dismissing this as party politics, it’s more important than that. I’ve been raising the Chelsea money repeatedly since being elected. Roman Abramovich used to live in Kensington & Bayswater and still has frozen property here. Ukrainians want answers - and so do I.

[John Alty @JohnAlty1]

I’m not an expert on Government comms but might it not have been better to announce the U-turn on day one rights along with all the budget stuff rather than give it its special day in the sun ?

[Tim Leunig @timleunig]

Like all too many children in the UK today, I grew up poor. I am no longer poor, and I am delighted to pay higher taxes to reduce - or ideally eliminate - child poverty. 1/3

[Financial Times @FT]

If I asked you which country has the most progressive tax system in the developed world — where high earners hand over an especially large share of their income relative to the average worker — what would your answer be?

The answer is in fact Britain. https://t.co/BlW00DT2ja

[England Cricket @englandcricket]

Another one! 🙌

Usman Khawaja blown away by the Carse bouncer. Australia four down!

🇦🇺 3️⃣1️⃣-4️⃣