Pete Malynn

Does comms, policy & public affairs | Loves: 🎮/📚/🫖

[Pete Malynn @p_malynn]

This is sound advice for the new PM from Theresa May (setting aside the initial sideswipe).

All the better coming from a PM who absolutely nailed the UK’s response to Russia’s novichok attack in Salisbury.

[Chatham House @ChathamHouse]

"To Andy Burnham, first of all, first piece of advice: running the United Kingdom is not the same as running Manchester. You need to understand that.

Second piece of advice: given his background, you need to get yourself up and running and understanding national security, defence, and foreign policy issues very quickly."

Former British prime minister Theresa May offers her advice to the UK’s new incoming prime minister.

Follow the conference ➡️ #CHLondon

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

Labour’s initial response to the treatment of Gaza caused huge hurt. We got it wrong and I am sorry for that.

[Lucy Fisher @LOS_Fisher]

Britain’s power problem

The UK’s hard and soft power have hit post-war lows, hit by budget constraints, Brexit and Trump’s bid to remake the global order

My Big Read in the @FT with @charles_clover

https://t.co/jfHFA19XmT

[Rob Powell @robpowellnews]

☹️

[Pete Malynn @p_malynn]

Please let me be living in this timeline. We all need this.

[David Maddox @DavidPBMaddox]

Betting odds slashed on @CountBinface to beat Farage in Clacton by-election
@Independent

https://t.co/Wl5CusYcHD

[Rachel Reeves @RachelReevesMP]

I will accept Nigel Farage’s request to be appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.

It is a farce and a desperate distraction, and the people of Clacton deserve better.

But if he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won't stop him.

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

Always worth knowing when bin day is.

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

It’s an issue that creates lots of noise and detracts from the domestic, motivated opponents far more than supporters. If the national security arguments for doing it are overwhelming do it very quickly, if not drop it quickly to pivot to laser focused on bread & butter concerns

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

One lesson the Burnham admin needs to do is avoid the noise that drowned out the Starmer govt. Labour complained lots of their popular announcements weren’t cutting through, but Chagos was an example of something (whatever the merits) that seemed to overwhelm the grid for months

[Pete Malynn @p_malynn]

Never been happier to see cloud cover in my entire life 😭

[Pete Malynn @p_malynn]

Fascinating read. Though infuriating as someone in a south-facing hot box flat which can’t have a permanent AC unit due to floor to ceiling / wall to wall windows 😭.

Crappy portable AC remains the only glimmer of salvation for now.

[Ed Conway @EdConwaySky]

🥵Why are so many Europeans/Britons unnecessarily sweating through a heatwave without cooling? Why are portable AC units so crap?
The answers are both interesting and maddening. My latest on air conditioning👇 https://t.co/pN5vH7FBS2

[Cindy Yu @CindyXiaodanYu]

I've noticed one conversation has come up repeatedly among my young, educated and mid-career friends in the UK, especially London.

"Should we move to a different country?"

Rent costs over half of our salary.

Houses are more than ten times the average salary and so are impossible to buy without a partner and/or generous parents.

Inflation is going up while real wages have barely grown since 2008.

The tax system punishes those who earn between £100k and £125k with a 62% (!) marginal tax rate

Things outside of London are better, but not necessarily (e.g. average house still seven times average salary)

As one lawyer friend who's moved to the continent put it, the country/London has become a 'high cost, low income' place

By comparison, salaries are much higher in the US, or taxes lower in Dubai, or work-life balance better in Australia

The net loss of 25-34 year old British nationals has increased five-fold since 2022.

Of course we all still love London, and Britain: for many cultural reasons it is still a wonderful place to live. Many of those who've moved may also ultimately move back.

But something is wrong when so many economically productive workers and taxpayers feel priced out of and punished by the system they pay into

[Geri Scott @Geri_E_L_Scott]

Excl: Senior community leaders, lawyers and academics in Britain have helped to advance the political priorities of President Xi through a series of Chinese state-linked organisations across the UK.

The organisations, often presenting themselves as cultural or business groups, have also in some cases functioned as “liaison stations” and “talent recruitment bases” for Chinese provincial governments and state organs.

An investigation by @thetimes draws on research from @ipacglobal, @ukctransparency, and extensive Chinese-language material.

The files, which include official Chinese government notices, archived websites, internal speeches, and freedom of information disclosures, indicate that prominent figures in Britain’s Chinese community held roles within organisations linked to the Beijing's United Front Work Department.

There is no evidence those involved believed they were acting for the Chinese Communist Party or have acted illegally, but the material illustrates the breadth of Beijing’s overseas influence networks.

https://t.co/jwg78aV9DU

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

Think Burnham’s foreign secretary pick is going matter more than usual. Part of getting Labour rehearing means convincing public he’s more focused on domestic than international in contrast to Starmer. But big international issues that dominated Starmer’s time don’t go away.

[NCSC UK @NCSC]

With our Five Eyes partners, we have published a joint statement warning organisations they have months - not years - to protect their systems from the accelerating cyber threat driven by frontier AI.🧵

To read the full statement⬇️
https://t.co/bxh0W4smpM

[Shakeel @ShakeelHashim]

New Five Eyes statement: "Frontier Al models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months."

[Yuan Yi Zhu @yuanyi_z]

Naz Shah MP: "My fear is simple: that abused, disabled and vulnerable women — already made to feel like a burden by those who control them — will be coerced into early deaths while the safeguards I fought for are quietly stripped away." https://t.co/1GdVvHdB3c

[Yvette Cooper @YvetteCooperMP]

Keir Starmer led the Labour Party from one of our worst defeats in history in 2019 to one of our most decisive election victories five years later. All the things this Labour Government has done and will do in the future to build a fairer, stronger country are only possible because of what Keir has done over the last six years.

Throughout, he has always shown great strength, dignity and determination to put public service and the interests of the country first. We saw that again in his words today.

Since taking Labour back into government, Keir has also decisively restored Britain’s credibility as an important and trusted voice on the world stage, and a driving force in solving every shared problem. This remains a vital time for global security and we must keep our focus on the pursuit of peace and stability, from Ukraine and Gaza, to Sudan and the Strait of Hormuz.

This has been a difficult time for the government and the Labour Party. As we move forward, we must come out of this process stronger, more united, and fully focused on building the fairer country that we promised the British people less than two years ago.

[Lewis Goodall @lewis_goodall]

Steve Bray blasting Ode to Joy, ruining nationally historic moments like this for us and posterity, is a complete disgrace. A yob.

[Paul Johnson @PJTheEconomist]

There is only one “change” that will work for Burnham. A genuine, relentless focus on growth.

Two decades without earnings growth. That’s why electorate is fed up.

Only growth will repair contract between generations and allow social ills to be tackled

https://t.co/2H68i2d0JG