fifty four

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@RichardJDoxon @MattChorley It's almost always moving on up.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@stephenkb And aside from definition issues, could we just once, invent our own crap cliche term instead just stealing them from America and flogging them to death.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@eastcharle @racheljanetwolf @rcolvile Wait what? I don't really see what flexibility with principles is required. You just have to jump through whatever hoops are set in regard to forms and presence at a slightly silly social club on Sundays. If that got my kid into an appropriate school I wouldn't hesitate.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@dugdale1863 @stephenkb @APHClarkson @instituteforgov No, he wouldn't.

50, 100, 150, 200. These are nearly identical outcomes from Sunak's perspective.

Governements don't time elections to minimise losses. They do it to win, or because time ran out.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@JSkeaping @redhistorian No. It's not worse. As has been amply demonstrated by the consistently terrible outcomes of every party leadership race of every party since 1997.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@stephenkb @APHClarkson @instituteforgov Also people massively overstate how 'bad' it is to lose by 100 rather than by 50. To the current government it makes no difference at all if things get 'worse' than being 20 points behind.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@stephenkb @instituteforgov Congrats on not calling them out for calling May 2024 'early'.

Also though, this a lot of words to say 'elections happen when the givernment can win or time runs out, and time runs out in Jan 25.'

Sometimes it seems people are overcomplicating this to reach a word count.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@JohnRentoul Reading the responses, the fascinating thing that stands out is how certain everyone was that nobody in the UK could possibly accept an Irish Sea border, but even labour voted for it not much later.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@dowed22 @LeftieStats @YouGov I would guess that less than a third of voters know who ed Davey is.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@apsamuelson @IanDunt Just imagine if that sign, in that font, said 'cigarettes and booze sold here'.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@IanDunt Idk about flavours, but have a hard time believing the packaging isn't aimed at kids.

Maybe inadvertently.

Narrator : not inadvertently.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@philipjcowley @TheHouseMag Surely this is mainly driven by asking a teenage community, first time away from home, to live in each other's pockets for 3 years

If they didn't develop a community consensus, their own overton window, that would be surprising in itself.

Obv this is me guessing, not evidence.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@youngvulgarian She's right, but only if there is in fact a secret plan they are choosing not to share yet.

Now, this being the labour party, if they have a plan, what would the odds be of nobody inside the party being grumpy about it and briefing against it.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@rcolvile @JonnElledge Are we pretending Andrew Bailey's broad political views aren't known now?

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@levellertheory @rcolvile More.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@rcolvile They should be built by the state *as well* seems the position most appropriate to the situation.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@JohnHuwEvans2 @HugoGye @campbellclaret @theipaper @BMGResearch Possibly you mean they should be able to reclaim vat on good and services they have purchased? Sure. But that would add a lot of admin for the same net effect as just increasing their funding.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@JohnHuwEvans2 @HugoGye @campbellclaret @theipaper @BMGResearch Not really sure what you mean, schools don't charge vat, as they don't sell anything.

Charities don't have any special vat rules.

The reason independent schools don't charge vat is that education has never previously been a vat rated service.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@garyfleming14 @HugoGye @theipaper @BMGResearch But ... ever since income tax rate changes became a sacred cow in 1997, this is how both parties do tax.

Find a small group and hammer them, so everyone else can sagely nod about how wise this change that only affects other people is.

[fifty four @fiftyfloor]

@garyfleming14 @HugoGye @theipaper @BMGResearch Even if 1 in 10 drop out that's only a 0.7% increase.

This will devastate a small number of families genuinely stretching to afford fees, often because of absent SEND provision in state schools. But it's a rounding error both in revenue for and extra load in the state system.