Brendan May

Entrepreneur, investor, board member & advisor on communications, sustainability & geopolitics to firms across the world. Pragmatist.

[Brendan May @bmay]

This morning’s chat with Claude hasn’t exactly filled me with confidence.

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

EXCLUSIVE:

Andy Burnham must “take the knife” to public spending in the budget or risk a Liz Truss-style crisis that will “crater” the economy and the government’s popularity, an ally of the prime minister has warned

Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England, said he feared the government would deliver a “mañana budget” that deferred the difficult decisions on public spending and “doesn’t speak to the urgency of now”

In an interview with The Times, he said that Britain was “close to being taxed out and maxed out in terms of borrowing”. He spoke of concerns that the government was failing to grasp how “precarious” the fiscal position was

He said that the government needs to cut the size of the state and reduce taxes if it were to “unleash the animal spirits and generate growth”

Haldane warned Burnham that he cannot “vibe-code” his way to growth, and raised concerns about the gap between the government’s rhetoric and the reality. He said that the government was effectively deferring the “day of reckoning”

He also said that the decision to increase taxes on banks could show that the government lacked the courage to cut public spending. He said the move was “penny wise, pound foolish” and sent a broader economic message that if businesses make profits “the taxman cometh”

Haldane said that while Burnham had the potential to be a “great prime minister” who could serve two terms, the economy was his “blind spot”. He said that the fiscal situation facing Britain was “precarious”

“The penny has not yet fully dropped, including in Downing Street,” he said. “You see that in us having the highest borrowing costs in the G7, despite not having the highest debts and deficits.

“It’s the old Hemingway [Ernest Hemingway, the author] thing, isn’t it? How do you go bankrupt? First slowly, then very quickly. The biggest risk to Andy not transforming Britain, to not serving two terms, to not being seen in the history books as a great prime minister, is not political risk.

“It’s not those who sit behind him. It’s probably not even those who sit opposite him in Westminster. Keir [Starmer] lost the dressing room. Andy’s biggest risk is that he loses the dealing room. And then that’s an even more painful way to go, as Liz Truss would tell you.”

Andy Haldane: PM risks Truss-style crisis if he dodges tough choices

https://t.co/a4Mx8QDtNC

[Kadi🇪🇪🌻 @TheFl0orIsLaVa]

I lost brain cells watching this.

[J @JustinB90072145]

When colleagues ask questions at 1:59pm during 1-2pm meeting

[Brendan May @bmay]

It’s the way she tells them. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[Brendan May @bmay]

Mental.

[Sachin Jose @Sachinettiyil]

Catholic bishops pray over US President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office

[Brendan May @bmay]

This seems bad

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

BREAKING: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley are scrambling after detecting unauthorized AI agents accessing customer bank accounts, contacting call centers, and reportedly attempting actions WITHOUT instructions from account holders, according to Axios.

[Martina Navratilova @Martina]

What a prick. She was raped as a child, this evil mother knew and did NOTHING!!!
The mother is the one who should be behind bars, frankly.

[Brendan May @bmay]

This is absolutely incredible even by Trump standards. He’s totally demented. Insane.

[Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins]

President Trump strongly defends Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring Amy Acton’s estranged mom. Trump: “That took a lot of courage to do but, essentially, what she was really doing was saving Ohio from making a truly horrible choice! The Press is trying to convince everyone that this Ad is bad, because it’s so good! Who wouldn’t use such an Ad? I would, it’s called, ‘hitting pay dirt.’”

[Brendan May @bmay]

Of course he will. 🥱

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham will appear on Channel 4’s Goggle Box tomorrow night with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram

[Brendan May @bmay]

They’re insane.

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

WHAT THE HELL.

Tim Scott stood on a stage in South Carolina and claimed, with zero evidence, that Abdul El-Sayed's mother was "part of the funding apparatus for Osama bin Laden."

Out of nowhere. About a Senate candidate in Michigan.

This is insane.

[Brendan May @bmay]

Perfect metaphor for the destruction of the Republican Party by the MAGA maniacs.

[Dan Lamothe @DanLamothe]

EXCLUSIVE: Pete Hegseth wanted Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s globe for his office. His staff broke it.

We have photos.

[Brendan May @bmay]

Christopher Hitchens in 1983 on Israel’s right to exist amidst tensions with neighbours and Hormuz closures. How little progress since then.

[Brendan May @bmay]

Nothing will prepare you for this.

[News to Remember @allchronology]

Episcopal Church's bishop of Europe, Mark Eddington, on JD Vance's explanation of the protests in Paris. Priceless.

[Brendan May @bmay]

This way this militant wing of deranged ‘green’ (nothing green about them btw) nut jobs is treating @CarolineLucas is absolutely repellent. They have lost all the civility she brought to any debate. Awful, awful spectacle.

[LBC @LBC]

Former Green leader Caroline Lucas says she's 'very upset' about calls for her removal over criticism of the party’s ‘Zionism is racism’ motion.

[Brendan May @bmay]

This is increasingly like the bunker scene in Downfall.

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Trump to a female reporter:

You don't know what you're talking about. You're a dummy. Low IQ person

[Marco Foster @MarcoFoster_]

Hillary Clinton: “The Republican Party is no longer a political party, it is a cult devoted to Trump and Trump’s power. The Republican Party needs a total transformation. If we’re gonna have a healthy government that actually gets things done and delivers for people, the Republican Party has to purge itself of everybody that lost both their conscience and their backbone over the last ten years and that’s most of them”

[Brendan May @bmay]

@TracyDawn68 Same

[Brendan May @bmay]

Amazing news. So glad this vital representative for humanity in a world governed mostly by the inhumane will continue unencumbered. He is the only Pope I can recall who connects deeply with the non religious.

[Vatican News @VaticanNews]

Pope Leo XIV’s doctors have confirmed that the tumor removed on October 13 was a lung adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized.

Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said on Wednesday evening that a subsequent oncological assessment has confirmed that “no further treatment is necessary.”

[Brendan May @bmay]

This piece is brilliant. I wish everyone would read it.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I wrote a new piece about women’s rights and whether or not I want trans people dead. (Spoiler: I don’t)👇
https://t.co/BfxVLo0AD1