As Charley Sands (editor of Forge Press, USheffield's student newspaper) points out:

'Our generation voices its opinion & needs constantly, however it is very rare that we are listened to. The protestors across Europe have identified that this form of expression is a lot resort & may actually make the government listen. I wouldn't be surprised if we follow the initiative. As a generation, we are running out of options, so what' the harm in trying'...

#politics #protests
h/t Observer

A number of people have pointed this out in my timeline over the last months but I wanted to reiterate:

the defence - 'they were just a few bad apples', misses the actual point of the aphorism:

a few bad apples in a barrel, actually corrupts the entire barrel, unless removed (very)( quickly.

users of the phrase may defend that use by saying they acted quickly to avoid the corruption; but as they never really do, the original use - the corrupting effect *of* the bad apples, stands!

#politics

This week, the proscription of Palestine Action will (again) be tested in court;

despite some shift in the mood music (remarks from Ed Miliband), it seems that the Needy Disappointer's Govt. will line up strongly behind the proscription;

optimists might wonder whether this is because they expect the court to find against them & so have no need to 'climb down', or that this just confirms the Needy Disappointer to be continuity-Starmer....

#PalestineAction #AndyBurnham #politics
h/t Observer

Is the PHP vulnerability event, hacked by AI/LLM & then websites taken down to 'repair' the vulnerability, the start of a wave of such vulnerability exposures (and the work required to close them off)?

Matthew Green (John Hopkins U) says we're discovering 'the whole internet is dry tinder & the only thing keeping it from burning is the fact teenagers have't found the matches yet'... as AI/LLMs reveal vulnerability so the wreckers will leap in.

Grim if true!

#AI #PHP #technology
h/t Observer

The arrests of peaceful protestors demonstrating against the proscription of Palestine Action continued in London today;

The problem is now that the Met. have decided Sarah Helm's post did not meet the criteria for police action, others are using that form of wording (although as pointed out previously the thresholds for on-line & public statements are different).

So, are the Police being 'over-zealous' of *just* doing the Govt.s bidding?

#protest #PalestineAction
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/31/protest-against-palestine-action-ban-outside-us-embassy-in-london

Many charity shops chains are in crisis, delivering diminishing (or in some cases no) returns to their respective charities.

This crisis has been driven by the development of online platforms that have shifted the expanding market for 2/h items on-line (from EBay to Vinted).

Of course, some might argue that the decline of charity shops could force commercial landlords to develop a better model for retail spaces that could be used to revive High Streets?

#retail #charities #politics
h/t FT

Meanwhile in its (welcome) shift to a more 'aggressive' stance on the tax affairs of the ultra-wealthy, HMRC has established a list of 200 UK-based billionaires who will now be invited in for (formally) voluntary meetings (accompanied by their tax advisors) to discuss the shape of their tax submissions, ahead of filling.

Each will also be allocated a compliance officer who will focus on the 'complex' tax affairs & should develop deeper knowledge of their dealings.

#tax #politics
h/t FT

So, if you were following the money in the budget, you'll see a lot of it went to the Ministry of Defence... and rather than equalise capital gains tax & income tax rates, John Healey has given an even steeper discount on CGT to 'founders' (for their lifetimes). One in the eye for workers who are being told in no uncertain terms they aren't as important as 'entrepreneurs'.

I'll need to digest more later, but mostly this initially looks like a 'holding pattern' budget...

#Budget #LINO

(Especially for my USA-based followers)

One of the ways that the Tangerine Tyrant may try to skew that mid-terms in favour of the Republicans (and indirectly himself) is through the claim of 'wide-spread' fraudulent voting.... so here's @BBC Verify setting out the claims and the *actual* evidence. Like so much else Trump is in no way a reliable witness on this.

#USPol #Trump #politics

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckeq3vezxlx1o

Good morning.

Its budget day, and finally we'll find out what John Healey & Andy Burnham's real priorities are.

But as I've said before, while we'll hear (as always) lots of pious words, this time focussing I expect on this being a 'no harm' budget, what you really will need to do is:

FOLLOW THE MONEY

That will tell you who has been successful at influencing the chancellor & the PM, whether Healey has already been 'captured' by the Treasury & who they want to please....

#Budget #politics

Why won't politicians countenance major increase on taxes for the most wealthy?

Tax Justice UK interviewed a range of MPs & concluded that 'the barrier to taxing extreme wealth is a deeply entrenched pattern of political fear, economic uncertainty, institutional capture & parliamentary self-preservation'...

But, it may also be possible to shift the dial; we need to make it much more 'costly' for our political class *not* to raise the rich's taxes!

#politics #tax
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/27/mps-tax-super-rich-wealthy-voters-reform-budget-burnham

Each time someone claims the UK's fiscal problems are caused by the triple-lock on state pensions, or wealth hoarding baby-boomers' are behind UK inequalities,, I see a major programme of political distraction.

The UK's problems are not primarily linked to generational difference(s), they are the result of an ongoing programme of class warfare by the rich, which they are seeking to camouflage as a generational issue... it is not!

The wealthy are the only dangerous minority here!

#politics