The shallow and the insincere

Musk's X 'disgusting' for shunning meeting, says minister - as she vows more laws governing internet

The culture secretary has told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that more must be done to keep children safe online. She insisted the government was going to "step up".

The culture secretary has told Sky News it was "disgusting" for X to skip a meeting over recent social media attacks on the UK's lifeboat charity - as she vowed to keep introducing legislation governing the internet.  

Speaking to the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Lisa Nandy told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby that X boss Elon Musk did not send a representative to a recent summit discussing the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).


Something about Lisa Nandy attracts ridicule and a sense of weary contempt like iron filings to a magnet. Not that she's out on her own in that, but George Moore summed it up.


It is the shallow and the insincere that inspire ridicule and contempt,

George Moore - Mike Fletcher: A Novel (1889)

Why can’t Britain fix its roads?

Eamonn Butler has a depressingly familiar CAPX piece on the state of British roads and an equally familiar lack of official interest in sorting it out. Well worth reading as a reminder that this is unlikely to be something the Burnham regime tackles.

Why can’t Britain fix its roads?

• The AA estimated the total cost of repairing damaged vehicles at £645 million for pothole-related incidents in 2025
• After the 2011 earthquake, Japan rebuilt a 150-metre stretch of motorway in just six days
• Authorities should charge contractors through mechanisms like lane rentals so roadworks get finished quicker

When you drive through the potholes and your suspension gives out, or when you sit fuming at temporary traffic lights because of roadworks, it’s for a reason. It’s because the cost to you in delays and disruption doesn’t figure much in the council’s budgeting or the contractors’ work schedules. The familiar ‘I don’t give a **** about your problems, mate, it’s our tea break’ attitude.

You might think the roads are in an appalling state, and you’d be right. I’ve seen better roads in Kathmandu (albeit the ones that run past the Transport Ministry). Here, our own Department for Transport says that in 2022-23, for example, England alone underwent 2.2 million street and roadworks, causing travel disruption costs of around £4 billion. According to data obtained by Sky News, the 425,524 miles of UK roadworks in 2024 were equivalent to circling the earth 17 times.

Borrowed Failure

Leak from No 10 reveals how Starmer planned to stay in power - and the policies borrowed by Burnham

How much has Andy Burnham borrowed from Keir Starmer? Sam Coates reveals a leak from the heart of Downing Street which helps answer that question.

How much did Andy Burnham borrow from Sir Keir Starmer when he entered Number 10?

Today we reveal a massive leak from the heart of Downing Street which helps answer that question.

I've obtained the 50-page bundle of presentations, strategy ideas and policy submissions drawn up in April in an attempt to keep Sir Keir in power.


It is worth adding that Labour governments inevitably borrow failed policy ideas from the past, they are always constrained to operate within their traditional ideology. 

Even new developments are likely to be constrained within failed rationales from the past. It's what their voters vote for and in general it is what the UK government machine does best.

The things which weigh heavily upon my mind are these—failure to improve in the virtues, failure in discussion of what is learnt, inability to walk according to knowledge received as to what is right and just, inability also to reform what has been amiss.

Analects of Confucius

Or we could call it arrogance

Maybe Ed is keeping his powder dry

  

Burnham recommits to net zero as MPs warn phrase is 'toxic' with voters

Andy Burnham today gave vocal support to Net Zero and ploughed more taxpayer cash into reaching 2050 environmental targets today, despite MPs warning weary voters are increasingly turned off by it.


Energy bills could rise more than £400 next year, new forecasts warn

Household energy costs could rise by over £400 in the new year, forecasters have warned, as financial pressure from conflict in the Middle East continues to affect fuel prices.

Andrew Burnham's position as placeholder PM already seems fragile. He lacks the experience or ability to tackle any of our major UK problems, but presumably it wasn't supposed to become this obvious so soon. 

Even a few Makerfield voters must wonder what they have done, but unfortunately Ed Miliband will be watching the situation. Things could become even worse.

Frittering away

SNP handed stark wake-up call over frittering away £100m ScotWind revenues to balance books

John Swinney has been told to draw up a long-term plan for his flagship energy policy after a damning investigation by Scotland’s spending watchdog.

The Scotsman revealed in February that Audit Scotland had launched a probe into the finances around the ScotWind projects, with the findings highly critical of SNP ministers for a lack of transparency.

The investigation has also warned that Scottish government ministers plundering ScotWind funds to plug budget gaps risks “weakening budgetary control” and could exacerbate Holyrood’s fiscal crisis as Mr Swinney seeks to reform public services.

Scottish government ministers risk weakening budgetary control by plundering ScotWind revenues eh? What do we say to that?

HS2, Hinkley Point, Net Zero... 

It's how these things are done. Budgetary control isn't easy and in general the political class avoids anything which isn't easy. Plundering is easier, it fits their furtive nature, their political style.

Maybe Sadiq will tackle Godzilla

A Godzilla El Niño is coming — and London is on the front line

Scientists at Imperial College are leading efforts to monitor the oceans and protect our city

The climate is already wetter. Research shows the extra rain now falling across the UK each winter as a result of fossil-fuel-driven global warming would fill three million Olympic swimming pools. London is particularly exposed, facing flood risk from three directions: North Sea storm surges pushing up the tidal Thames; swollen rivers and tributaries; and intense rainfall overwhelming the drainage of a densely built city.

Sadiq Khan could impose ULEZ across London - Ultra Low El Niño Zone.