Why is the low pay of nail technicians such a complex political story?

It's a microcosm of the problems facing policymakers as they try to solve business growth, high street decline, consumer spending and education/skills all at once.

I will immediately transfer all my bacon-buying pounds to whichever supermarket realises first that it takes 3 rashers to make a perfect bacon sandwich, and so packs should have 9, not 8, rashers

Tesco Sainsbury's Aldi Stores UK @LidlGB M&S Waitrose & Partners This is your moment

The latest on Thinking Around Corners:

Nailing it? On #nationalnailpriceincreaseday , a strange marriage of unionisation and self-employment open.substack.com/pub/thinkingar…

See also: UK universities, where exactly the same applies to Oxbridge/Golden Triangle.

That 'small state' conservativism in action:

Government knows better than you, and your doctor, whether you're ill or not.

Government will enslave you if it decides you are shamming illness or chronic pain.

They have some gall to bang on about a 'small state' #AutumnStatement

1% per year increase in resource spending is incredibly tight. If that's what happens a lot of public services will see cuts.

Here's one we prepared earlier. Another year of 1% increase means another year of cuts for many,

The willingness of a 'pro-growth' Chancellor to announce sustained real cuts to public investment, in an economy so starved of investment, against the backdrop of such glaring needs (net zero, crumbling public services, housing etc etc)....is just very bad news for the country.

NB - chancellor just announced a long term cash freeze in investment spending. That's a significant real cut of course.

We already have public sector investment well below that in most comparable countries. That is not good for growth.

Our November 2023 GDP forecast. Full forecast published after the Chancellor’s #AutumnStatement speech

The government has just pushed through a new regulation on election spending. At a single stroke it almost doubles the permitted spending in UK elections - with no debate, scrutiny or vote in Parliament.

legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1235…

🔴 It's all autumn statement talk today, but this week the government made it even easier for dark money, foreign influence and proceeds of crime to bankroll British politics.

The changes got almost no media attention - but I've dived in on my Substack
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-bri…

It's almost like there *is* bias in the Metropolitan Police, just... not the kind Suella Braverman thinks there is.

In more depressing but not surprising news, that slogan is back yet again. Obstinate refusal to consider the offence it causes isn’t really helping the marchers’ cause.

'Khayber Khayber ya yahud jaish al Mohammed sauf yaud' - is an antisemitic, anti-Jewish chant. It must be considered a hate crime

Where are all the Conservatives MPs coming out to condemn the far right, fascist thugs who are disrupting #ArmisticeDay2023 and fighting with the police today near the Cenotaph and in Chinatown?

Why the sudden silence?

.⁦HOPE not hate⁩ The moment far right thugs broke through (very thin) police lines. How was this allowed to happen? When people call out hate marches - this is it!