Month: December 2025
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UK Politics 2025, but for Young People (apparently.) Child benefit cap removal, VAT on private schools, voting at 16 and rejoining Erasmus+ suggest that Westminster might have noticed that the votes of a currently unenfranchised generation will vote in 2029 could be up for grabs for very little effort, or money. Christmas is not usually…
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FREE THE CHRISTMAS FIVE! It is rare for the US Department of State to amuse the rest of the world for Christmas, but in 2025 they unveiled the funniest Doublespeak announcement ever. It currently leads the all-time entries for the “No Thought Involved Here” prize by announcing the cancellation of visas for five Europeans who…
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ERASMUS RETURN, NHS STRIKES, UNION TENSIONS. The government agreed a deal for the UK to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ student exchange programme from the 2027/28 academic year. The UK’s will pay £570 million for that first year or involvement, almost double its pre-Brexit annual payments. A 30% “discount” was agreed for the first year. The…
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THE UK WILL REJOIN THE EU’S ERASMUS+ SCHEME which supports undergraduate students to undertake international internships from 2 months to a full academic year across the EU and other member states (now including the UK again!) The agreement covers, at least at first, only one year (2027/8) and comes with a £570m price tag, but…
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PEERS, NHS FLU PRESSURE AND A FLICKER OF YOUTH MOBILITY SCHEME HOPE. A Joke at the House of Lords’ expense. On Wednesday HMG announced 34 new Lords, including 25 Labour peers, five LibDems and three Tories. The list includes a slug of second rank (aka “failed”) Labour advisers, including Matthew Doyle, Katie Martin and Carol…
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SIZE CERTAINLY COUNTS FOR SOMETHING Donald, but does not necessarily always win. Britain, June 1941: alone, but unbowed. Transcript of Donald Trump interview with Dasha Burns, Washington DC, 8th December 2025
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REEVES CLINGS ON SHAKILY, Lammy shatters ancient constitutional protections casually, Badenoch shows signs of life superficially – the political climate feels very fragile. Rachel Reeves remains in post, although with less authority than Downing Street would like to project. The aftershocks from the Office for Budget Responsibility leak continue, alongside accusations that she oversold the…
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“IT WAS INEVITABLE that we would always have to raise revenue so there’s no “misleading” there.” Keir Starmer. Enough said. Because if you are going to have to raise revenue there’s no reason why you would have to be honest about it? Or is it that if you think that you are going to have…