James @JamesBalliol Twitter profile

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

We're actually at a point where telling people to shop around and buy cheaper groceries and consumables in order to budget better is both meaningless and patronising. What's the point trying to save 25p on a cheaper Meal Deal when you're paying £1,500 a month in mortgage/rent!?

Darcys’Wickham

@DarcysMick

2 months

Renting a place that was worth at most 120 grand back in 1999. Now worth at least 800k

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

When you hit your 30s you quickly notice the big boost family wealth gives to those of your friends fortunate enough to have access to it. House deposits, family holidays, wedding costs, school fees etc. Your 30s will really open your eyes to the difference family money can make.

Marie Le Conte

@youngvulgarian

4 months

equally as serious IMO is that I just don't see how you could financially afford to just fuck about for a few years anymore, and being able to generally fuck about without any family wealth is something everyone should be allowed to do while young

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

I love the "just move away from London" responses to this 🤦‍♂️ Realistically, how many high-paying private sector jobs do people think there are outside the capital? UK has no equivalent of Dallas, Phoenix or Atlanta amongst its regional cities.

Jesse🇻🇦

@jess777j0

28 days

@JamesBalliol FT comment section is the biggest wake up call ever This guy and his girlfriend did everything right and is still getting done in

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

Sorry, but you're just being willfully ignorant now if you're still trying to pretend the majority of people are buying houses without family money. Your colleagues and uni friends are almost certainly lying to you: they've *all* had significant financial help from family.

James 🚄

@TypeForVictory

2 months

If you're wondering what £100k will buy you in Hunt's constituency, this is the cheapest three-bed in Godalming. 773sq ft. Yours for £435k, which = a £43.5k deposit and a £2358pcm mortgage, requiring a minimum income of £98k. Cute, but hardly an "upper middle class" lifestyle.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

It's still amazing how for so many members of the boomers/Gen Z generations the words "foreign holiday" are still erroneously synonymous with wealth and opulence when, for the median Brit, a "foreign holiday" is actually a way of saving money.

andy

@heyitsandy_

2 months

it’s because you can book an all inclusive holiday in the caribbean for the same price it costs you to stay 10 days in cornwall

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James

@JamesBalliol

29 days

@BernoulliDefect It's easy to wonder where you sit sometimes when you see salary discussion threads but the data is mostly out there and public: I.e. £60k is a top ~10% salary in the UK!

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

Lots of people surprised by this. This is why it's almost certainly the case that almost *all* of your work colleagues and Uni friends are using family money to afford their home in or around London. Many won't admit to it, but it's true.

James

@JamesBalliol

29 days

@BernoulliDefect It's easy to wonder where you sit sometimes when you see salary discussion threads but the data is mostly out there and public: I.e. £60k is a top ~10% salary in the UK!

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

North Sea oil and gas tax revenues have gone and they aren't coming back for the UK. Underappreciated how much this money contributed to the UK state from the late 1970s until recently.

Aaron Bastani

@AaronBastani

1 month

In the 90s you’d get home visits from GPs (including on a weekend if it was urgent), the high street was 100 times more vibrant than today and buying a house was cheap. University was free! It’s genuinely extraordinary how much we’ve lost.

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James

@JamesBalliol

6 months

The answer is, of course, because British real wages have stagnated and seen no real terms growth since this date so most households have seen disposable incomes squeezed and thus had less money to spend refurbishing their kitchens and dining rooms 😏

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@JamesBalliol

3 months

The deal with British Overseas Territories just seems bizarre for the UK taxpayer, no? The UK pays for their defence and security as well as some diplomatic services and they, erm. . .provide an incorporation address for our biggest companies to avoid paying tax to our Exchequer?

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@JamesBalliol

2 months

This recent video is a good reminder that food inflation is still very much around in Britain and that it would appear to disproportionately hit those shopping at the lower end of the groceries market hardest. Aldi is also reportedly Britain's cheapest supermarket!

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James

@JamesBalliol

5 months

This is what 15 years of stagnant real wage growth does to a country

Rob Boyd, Esq

@AvonandsomerRob

5 months

Morrisons are running out of cheese, as canny shoppers fill "salad bar" trays with half a KILO of grated cheese as part of the £4 meal deal 🤣

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

Really is lots of low hanging fruit available for the UK Government to encourage (not just un-ban) more onshore wind development in England. Look at the contrast with Scotland!

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

It's still amazing to me that no centre-right think tank has put their head above the parapet and suggested that a future Conservative government should consider reducing student loan repayment rates/increasing thresholds and framing it as an effective tax cut, which it would be.

Glen O'Hara

@gsoh31

3 months

I wonder why productivity is so low when there's a marginal tax rate of 87% for some people who earn £50k. God, it's a massive mystery isn't it.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

The more cynical take is that Wetherspoons owes much of its 'success' (if that's what you call 3.6% profit margins) to effectively monopolising a big share of *both* the pub market (alongside Greene King) and the 'third spaces' market which austerity hugely dwindled down.

Harry Wallop

@hwallop

2 months

JD Wetherspoon – few companies in Britain are so successful, yet so divisive. What's its secret? How come 21.4 million visited a Spoons over the last 6 months? But why have people campaigned to stop one opening in their town? I spent 24 hours in one to find out...🍺🧵

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

So that's Steve Edginton off to America as well, to join Douglas Murray, Richard Littlejohn and Douglas Carswell, amongst others, already over there. You're a mug if you spend any time listening to any of these people's views on Britain when they're all so desperate to leave.

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James

@JamesBalliol

12 days

The Virgin candidate, rushing to secure a Tory seat ahead of the election. Vs. The Chad candidate, spending the election laying the groundwork in Richmond and North Yorkshire ahead of Rishi's seat becoming available when he resigns as MP 2-3 months post-election

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

North Sea oil and gas decline. Discovering and having these resources was a huge cheat code for Britain versus other Western European nations. But as output now continues to decline, what do we have to show for it? Where's the legacy? Can we seriously say we invested this well?

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

@echetus He also uploaded this which is apparently the only picture of the book in physical format so maybe he's 2-tone?

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

@JackTindale It's almost as if most health outcomes are predetermined by the genes we inherit and have little influence over! 😀

James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

Reminds me of the life of Walter Breuning, an American man who lived to be nearly 115 years old. He smoked daily cigars until stopping at 103 years of age because of their cost before picking the habit up again 5 years later.

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

@Ariel_Adam @jess777j0 They are with an undergraduate and postgraduate student loan.

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James

@JamesBalliol

19 days

Working in politics in the UK is a terrible career choice for most people: Councillors: very low pay. MP staffers: low pay + no career advancement. SpAds: Good pay but terrible job security. MPs: Good pay, pension, and perks but too few jobs.

James Austin

@JamesDAustin

20 days

'Why don't you work in politics any more?' Because, fundamentally, it's a shit business to work in

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

Regional high pay private sector jobs in the UK are incredibly limited. Outside of being the owner of a moderately successful family business based in the regions the options are few and far between.

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James

@JamesBalliol

29 days

@m1ha313 @IainFletcher8 @BernoulliDefect I've said for a while the whole shtick of "get back to the office or they'll outsource your job" is incredibly outdated; Brit salaries compared to Californian ones mean we already *are* providing the outsourced/offshore labour.

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James

@JamesBalliol

18 days

Sorry to have to pick on John here, but the idea backbench MPs have equivalent roles and responsibilities to senior leaders of FTSE companies is laughably absurd. What do you seriously think the median backbench MP is doing today, for example?

John Paddington

@padders123

18 days

@JamesBalliol I agree, but MPs have good and bad pay. Good compared to average of the country, bad compared to those with equivalent roles and responsibilities - e.g. Senior Leadership of FTSE companies who earn millions.

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James

@JamesBalliol

5 months

What is comical with the Seb Payne grift is how utterly shameless he is about *only* wanting a safe seat. There are dozens of more marginal seats that have had limited applications, and he hasn't even gone near touching them.

@Tomorrow'sMPs

@tomorrowsmps

5 months

🔵I retweet this Twitter feed purely for the historical record, but it seems a bit cruel to me. I'm sure he'll get one eventually.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

Journalists - you might not have realised it, but one of the most significant developments in the recent history of your industry happened this past week: A tech wonk at News UK managed to find a way of blocking the archive[dot]domain paywall bypass method for The Times website.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

Another one of those outdated truths that has been incorrect for decades but never seems to shift from a certain generation's public consciousness for some reason.

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

I still don't feel the British public, and maybe even the Westminster bubble, fully grasp just quite how astonishingly wealthy Sunak is now via marriage. Totally different level of wealth to all PMs in recent history. Big implications for his actions after leaving Downing Street.

James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

Sunak's best and most consequential life/career decision by far was marrying into the Murt(h)y family. Nothing else comes close.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

A great irony in astronomical housing costs making budget supermarkets less attractive as they just don't make a dent in your housing finances. Something positive to be said for just accepting early on you'll never be able to afford a house and never trying to save for one.

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

It's simple for me as for why the US has better economic outcomes than anywhere else: 1) World's reserve currency. 2) World's biggest single market. That's it.

Derek Thompson

@DKThomp

4 months

Theory round-up time: Why is the US economy crushing the rest of the OECD? - Japan's in a recession - The UK is pathetic - Germany's economy minister said things are "‘dramatically bad" Is it immigration, productivity growth, the IRA, consumer resilience thanks to stimulus?

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

This "I'm resigning but staying on until my successor has been chosen" schtick needs to be called out and scrutinised more. Becoming too common in UK politics. End result is no set departure date and a 'farewell' tour where millions £ are wasted on securing politicians 'legacy'.

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James

@JamesBalliol

12 days

On the "Sunak just wants to get to California ASAP" takes: Yes, he does. But if you seriously think a man with his wealth will be filtering spreadsheets for Google in Silicon Valley, you're crazy. At best, he might take some non-exec Directorships on AI boards, but mostly 👇

James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

I still don't feel the British public, and maybe even the Westminster bubble, fully grasp just quite how astonishingly wealthy Sunak is now via marriage. Totally different level of wealth to all PMs in recent history. Big implications for his actions after leaving Downing Street.

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James

@JamesBalliol

5 months

@JackTindale Urgh. I believe their most profitable stores by far now are airport and intercity train station shops so wonder if the thinking is this will be easier to create a brand with a more international/cosmopolitan demographic? Still a downgrade though. cc @WHS_Carpet

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

You could maybe become a Partner at the regional office of a blue chip corporate in accounting, law or audit. But even then pay and career opportunities would be limited compared to your peers in the London HQ. Your chances of becoming a Director or joining the board are unlikely

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

And before anyone mentions fracking for shale: almost all objective informed industry experts (so not including Telegraph op-ed writers) in that field concede likely UK reserves of shale gas are pitiful in relative terms.

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James

@JamesBalliol

6 months

@georgeeaton What in fact doesn't get the attention is the students with postgraduate student loans. Very common courses now, far worse repayment terms than undergraduate and much more frequently ignored by even commentators sympathetic to graduate tax rates such as yourself.

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@JamesBalliol

2 months

If I recall correctly, Sophia actually spent her 20s working and writing for the UAE-owned propaganda sheet called The National. A state-owned rag used to prop up the authoritarian regime over in The Gulf.

James Bloodworth

@J_Bloodworth

2 months

Definitely ‘up by the bootstraps’ this one

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

There are still some holdout finance jobs still in Edinburgh, but even there the long-term trend has been for them to slowly migrate to and centralise in London. Jobs in North Sea oil are also becoming fewer and fewer and don't pay as well as people often assume.

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James

@JamesBalliol

7 days

This is yet another reason why politics is a bad career choice. You could be a local councillor for 20+ years, volunteer, build a strong name for yourself, and, in the end, your plan to become an MP is derailed by an NEC stitch-up in a dark room!

@Tomorrow'sMPs

@tomorrowsmps

7 days

🔴 So, the final big Labour selection fix will unfold over next few days, as Starmer's henchmen Morgan McSweeney & Matt Faulding, helped by series of NEC panels (sub-committees) slot in who they want as MPs into the remaining 11 safe seats (& any others that arise).

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

@duncanrobinson How will we all possibly survive without Martin advising us all to spend 5 hours comparing prices of utility providers in order to save £6 a year!?

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

@duncanrobinson Very much a deano-ism but one of my Uni friends who benefitted most from family money had a dad from up North with little career but who had bought about a dozen ~£50k terrace houses as buy to lets in the early noughties and seen their values boom. Right place, right time etc

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

Wetherspoons image as a suburban Red Wall place of worship is a misnomer. Greene King pubs, of which there are over 3x as many as Wetherspoons pubs (h/t @lukas_ohl ), are the real Kings of British suburbia with many Wetherspoons actually located in town and city centres.

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

@constans So where exactly are the high paying private sector jobs in the UK outside London? Suggestions welcome.

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James

@JamesBalliol

9 months

Former Adam Smith types have expended more energy on twitter today attacking the RSPB than they have calling out the Tory Ministers in charge of the department they accuse of failing the country in recent years. Tufton Street's finest 🙄

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

@IronEconomist From my anecdotal expereince even in cities like Manchester (note: not Greater Manchester) and Bristol too, people are relying on more family money than they admit to. Glasgow has historically had a lot of city-core tenement housing but South Glasgow and West End still expensive.

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

"Small family businesses are good for small families, they are not good for employees" h/t @constans There might be opportunities for executive positions in small family businesses in the UK regions but productivity and career progression in those firms can be poor, at best.

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@JamesBalliol

6 months

Come Dine With Me interior decor stagnation as a metaphor for Britain's real terms relative drop in GDP per capita would have made a good leading intro paragraph for a Bagehot column (cc @duncanrobinson )

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

@AdamLBrown3 Fair. Under 21 and over 30 are where the differences are most apparent from experience. Everyone lives similarly in their 20s except the super rich.

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@JamesBalliol

1 month

American shale gas revolution was just an absolute cheat code for that country, wasn't it? As if a country had won a lottery rollover prize overnight. 'Chelsea FC being bought by Abramovich' levels of wealth.

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James

@JamesBalliol

22 days

It is one of the great mysteries of our age how sugar-free zero calorie energy drinks are treated akin to Class A drugs whilst ~400 calorie Starbucks coffees are treated like the height of civility. …

Tom Harwood

@tomhfh

22 days

Alcohol now means caffeine, according to M&S

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

"Between 2019 to 2022, NO2 levels in the Greater Manchester urban area – home to 2.8 million people – increased by 17%. Over the same time period, the level in the Greater London Urban Area decreased by 42%, owing to the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone"

Nine UK Areas Breach Legal Pollution Limits as Manchester Tops League

Campaigners say the most polluting vehicles must be taken off the roads to save lives

bylinetimes.com

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

@JackPCarrington I think that's fair, yes, but it's a bad indictment of UK governance that we have to accept these trade-offs.

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@JamesBalliol

1 month

@JAHeale Ted Brocklebank wrote a good largely balanced piece on the impact of North Sea oil for the Scottish Daily Mail 3.5 years ago including how it basically funded Thatcher's premiership. Can't find it online but seems to be available here on PressReader:

Fifty years of BLACK GOLD | Scottish Daily Mail

It’s given to few to be present at the making of history. And history was the last thing on my mind that evening in October 1970 exactly a week after I’d moved to Aberdeen to join Grampian tV...

www.pressreader.com

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@JamesBalliol

3 months

Every time one leaves these shores for America, remember that they will have spent at least the previous 18 months begging people over there for a job and tapping up contacts. Just think how much they will have written in that time about what's "best" for Britain.

James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

So that's Steve Edginton off to America as well, to join Douglas Murray, Richard Littlejohn and Douglas Carswell, amongst others, already over there. You're a mug if you spend any time listening to any of these people's views on Britain when they're all so desperate to leave.

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@JamesBalliol

4 months

It's an utterly disgrace that the UK Foreign Offfice allow this man to regularly treat vulnerable young British women like this. Indeed, they even appear to go out of their way to protect and cover up for him.

The Times and The Sunday Times

@thetimes

4 months

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed has reignited a row with Surrey villagers thanks to a series of building projects at the historic Longcross estate near Chobham, which he bought in the Nineties ⬇️

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@JamesBalliol

3 months

"Britain should pay £10billion for a new aircraft carrier to protect and defend the British Virgin Islands and allow them to continue helping Russsian oligarchs hide their beneficial interest in millions of pounds worth of British property". Doesn't sound a convincing argument.

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@JamesBalliol

6 months

Context: Gove has called in and/or cancelled the M&S Marble Arch redevelopment and the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and has rightly been called a NIMBY as a result. In response, Gove's SpAds have been briefing friendly reporters such as Tom trying to talk up his YIMBY credentials instead

Tom Harwood

@tomhfh

6 months

The Sphere is totemic. It's an economic litmus test. If you would allow the sphere, you're a booster. If you would block the sphere, you're a doomster. Politics is less and less about left and right. And more and more about growth vs managed decline.

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@JamesBalliol

3 months

American tourists coming to Britain and throwing cash around like Monopoly money is another thing that will become increasingly common as the wealth gap grows. Some Edinburgh hotels are now catering exclusively to Americans for months at a time.

Patrick Chovanec

@prchovanec

3 months

I've made a booking to fly in a Spitfire when I go to London in May. It all depends on weather, of course, so fingers-crossed.

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@JamesBalliol

1 month

A quite underscrutinised aspect of the elected mayoralties, particularly outside of London, is that its very possible many of those elected could stay in office for decades on high salaries with little if any serious scrutiny or threats to their positions.

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@JamesBalliol

4 months

Almost all PMs have grown up with privilege to an extent. But traditional images of Eton College "posh" etc often associated with Dave Cameron/Boris Johnson dont do justice to Sunak's wealth and he shouldnt be grouped with them. This is a different stratosphere of money entirely.

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@JamesBalliol

4 months

All those Guido blogs bitching about the money the Tony Blair Institute has sloshing around? Just wait. You haven't seen anything yet. A Sunak/Murt(h)y foundation will have funding on a totally different level.

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@JamesBalliol

3 months

The Great Wealth Trasfer™️ means that you'll have colleagues in the same job on the same renumeration sat next to each other in the same office and living totally different lives as one still has a ~£300k mortgage to pay off whilst the other has zero debt thanks to inheritance.

David Sturrock

@David_Sturrock

3 months

The great wealth transfer is coming. Trillions in wealth will be passed on to younger generations in the coming decades. Who will benefit? I updated some of our @TheIFS for @Robert_Booth and @guardian .

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@JamesBalliol

5 months

Jack McLean implied murdered Glasgow schoolgirl Diane Watson was responsible for her own death, writing in The Herald. His 'reporting', published on the day of her funeral no less, lead to Diane's sibling later committing suicide. Jack's writing was raised at the Leveson Inquiry.

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@JamesBalliol

1 month

@jamesrbuk That's why it was often said Guido's blog was a story laundering machine: right wing hacks who couldn't stand up a story or get it past their Editor gave it to Paul Staines and they could then report the follow up as "according to reports"/"it was reported last night", no?

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@JamesBalliol

4 months

Nothing makes me feel more out of touch with the British public than learning there are grown adults paying to attend a Matt Chorley stand-up show. It just isn't possible I live on the same island as these people. I refuse to believe it. Who are they!?

Matt Chorley

@MattChorley

4 months

Well done Birmingham and Hemel Hempstead. The rest, you’ve really let yourselves down… 📊Bristol Mar 1 @henandchicken 📊Swindon Mar 2 @wyverntheatre 📊Salford Mar 3 @the_lowry 📊Maidenhead Mar 7 @nordenfarm 📊Hemel Hempstead Mar 9 SOLD OUT 📊Birmingham Mar 13 SOLD OUT 📊Chorley

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@JamesBalliol

1 month

I've said before, for all the fear-mongering about Americans wanting to 'privatise' the NHS, the worst thing America could do to it would be to recognise UK doctor qualifications. The majority of British doctors would cross the Atlantic overnight, and the NHS would collapse.

Nigel Farage

@Nigel_Farage

1 month

More than 15,000 NHS doctors left Britain last year. It can cost up to £400,000 to train them. It’s only fair on the taxpayer that new doctors and nurses should stay here for a given period of time.

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James

@JamesBalliol

5 months

I've just remembered we all missed the 30-year anniversary of this iconic article/headline last month

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

Our Prime Minister, as far as I'm aware, still hasn't made public whether his kids have US passports. Sunak himself forfeiting his US Green Card means nothing when he has the money to purchase a US investor visa at a days notice.

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James

@JamesBalliol

24 days

WhatsApp groups like this are like the switch from physical mail to emails in workplaces. They don't actually improve efficiency in any way and end up generating more work and hassle through unnecessary communications. What could be sent in one letter is now done over 5 emails.

Fesshole 🧻🚽

@fesshole

24 days

We have 3 kids, there are parent WhatsApp groups for each of their school years, football, swimming, cricket, ballet, cubs, and so on. Then there are the groups for play dates, birthday parties, trips etc. Managing my children via WhatsApp is more involved than my full time job.

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James

@JamesBalliol

8 months

My thoughts go out to both of you.

Olivia Lever

@Liv_Lever

8 months

Today is one hell of a depressing day to be a Tory Party member under the age of 30.

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@JamesBalliol

4 months

@duncanrobinson I remember him telling me a story about using high LTV mortgages and prices rising so fast at that time that he bought 4 properties in 2 years and 12 months later went to remortgage and with rise in value had effectively enough new equity to get a 5th house for "free".

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@JamesBalliol

2 months

Unimportant is stretching it, but probably the best ~£30 the median person can spend on their health is buying an electric toothbrush.

Felicity Hannah

@FelicityHannah

2 months

What’s a tiny, relatively unimportant modern innovation that has made an outsized improvement to your life? Mine is audiobooks - I have so much less time to sit and read as an adult but I soak up books on the go instead.

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@JamesBalliol

2 months

@DarcysMick Yep. In the office 3 or 4 days usually. Up at 6am, leave at 7am, not home until 7pm at night after demanding days and long(ish) commutes. On day(s) i work from home I can go for a run and do home workout in free time that would be wasted in an overpriced coffee shop near office.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

An erroneous assumption implicit in many foreign commentators analysis of Saudi in recent years has been that MBS is some sort of grand strategic thinker willing to play the long game when, in fact, every piece of evidence we have shows he's impulsive, short sighted and impatient

James O'Malley

@Psythor

2 months

Neom? "Scaled back"? Who could have predicted that?

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James

@JamesBalliol

4 months

You can bet for sure, right now, the likes of Policy Exchange, Onward think tanks etc are being very cautious of criticising his government knowing they will want access to, say, a donation from his future hypothetical "foundation" for a fellowship in "AI Policy" etc.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

Reminds me of the life of Walter Breuning, an American man who lived to be nearly 115 years old. He smoked daily cigars until stopping at 103 years of age because of their cost before picking the habit up again 5 years later.

BBC Merseyside

@bbcmerseyside

2 months

Liverpool-born John Tinniswood is officially the world’s oldest man at 111 years and 223 days according to @GWR The previous title holder died in Venezuela on Tuesday aged 114.John who lives at The Hollies rest home in #Southport attributes his longevity to his Friday chippy tea!

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

Another one of those "outdated truths" is when I hear colleagues here in Britain worrying about their jobs being off-shored. Most British tech and finance jobs exist because we *are* the off-shoreing. We're much cheaper to hire than Americans!

VB Knives

@Empty_America

3 months

Africa went from those horrible scenes with the starving babies and the vultures, Sally Struthers ads, to having obesity deaths. Yet many still think they are "all going to starve" in the near future. Zero sign of this happening.

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James

@JamesBalliol

8 months

Phil Walkability🇺🇸

@PhilWalkable

8 months

The mystery of the missing bedrooms: as boomers retire in place, they stay alone in large 4-5 bedroom homes, in effect taking 3-5 bedrooms off the market. Multiply this by millions and get a housing shortage.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

It's hard to overstate just how big an influence Terry Deary's writing has been on an entire generation of British millenial/zoomer's understanding of history.

Bantership Potemkin

@Bonesdrawstuff

2 months

Managed to find this, genuinely if this was released today you'd be having calls to get it banned for being "woke"

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

The Times have generally led the way on countering paywall bypasses, so it's quite likely other sites will eventually catch up with this method soon as well. The industry of journalism is saved! Your jobs are safe, for now! Milk and honey for all!

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James

@JamesBalliol

28 days

🙃

Jesse🇻🇦

@jess777j0

28 days

@JamesBalliol FT comment section is the biggest wake up call ever This guy and his girlfriend did everything right and is still getting done in

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

This is an astonishing fact and if you don't give consideration to this when discussing MP pay you really are missing the wood for the trees.

bernoulli_defect

@BernoulliDefect

3 months

The pension is so brilliant that if a 22 year old MP can stay for just one run of parliament (~5 years) they’ll accrue an index linked £10,750/year when retiring, basically doubling their state pension by the time they’re 27

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

With respect to people living there, I really hope that when this period of Conservative government ends the fetishism of North East England as a political region also ends with it. The area has become a British Ohio for politicians/commentators and I'm tired of hearing about it.

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James

@JamesBalliol

9 months

Interesting to see a new BBC journalist who formally worked for The Times under Tony Gallagher now analysing political events by referring back to his old Times articles (accessed via a paywall, of course). Can't see any issues arising here, nope. 🤔

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

@duncanrobinson Same energy:

Manchester United

@ManUtd

10 years

David Moyes says #mufc must improve in a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending.

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

@tompeck Or pay for Schillings legal firm and Russell Brand's PR company

Guy Adams

@guyadams

4 years

Baffled colleagues report that Captain Tom is now being represented by aggressive libel firm Schillings and a celeb PR outfit that also works for Russell Brand. Lord alone knows why.

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James

@JamesBalliol

6 months

Dr Dyks 🇺🇦

@LukeDyks

6 months

Latest add on Twitter. Well done Elon, you’ve turned this site into a disgusting cesspit.

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James

@JamesBalliol

6 months

@PaulSkallas Lance Armstrong would often aimlessly fly around in a private jet for no reason other than it was a valid reason for not being surpise tested by anti doping agencies.

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@JamesBalliol

5 months

Amazing how it's less than 4 years since Boris proposed building a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland and now we can't even afford to finish HS2 🙃

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

Kuenssberg has never been the brightest (only one in her family who failed to get into Oxford etc). But it's still bizarre how she *still* hasn't realised the reason her successor Chris Mason gets so much less flak is because he simply avoids posting rash tweets on social media.

Laura Kuenssberg

@bbclaurak

1 month

What's going on in the London Mayoral race? No votes have been counted yet, so hold on to your hats.. but it is clear tonight that the race is much much closer than some polls had suggested...

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James

@JamesBalliol

2 months

I'm hearing Ned Donovan is planning a coup against his father-in-law, the King. He's assembled an infantry unit in Wadi Rum and is planning on installing a technocratic government with Sam Bowman and The Economist's Mike Bird earmarked for Cabinet jobs.

Anna Jacobs

@AnnaLeaJacobs

2 months

Saudi concerns about Jordanian “stability” are growing

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James

@JamesBalliol

18 days

The median MP on this Friday will be dictating an email to their 24 year old staffer in response to a constituent angry that the council have forgot to collect her rubbish bin. They run a glorified Citizens Advice Bureau/therapy service as the main part of their day job.

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

The most trendy, hipster, elite-coded status accessory to have in Britain right now is a US Green Card / passport. Nothing comes close.

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James

@JamesBalliol

12 days

[Seb Payne entered the chat]

James Heale

@JAHeale

12 days

There’s about 150 seats right now without a Tory candidate, most will go Labour but a few are safe. Going to be a lot of parachuted candidates!

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James

@JamesBalliol

1 month

Honestly (tin hat at the ready) I sincerely think it's time for producers/reporters to move on from John Curtice. I've actually found John's views/'analysis' on the SNP since around 2014 and Labour since Starmer became leader to be quite questionable/suspect in some regards.

Scott Bryan

@scottygb

1 month

Professor Sir John Curtis was up all night for the local election coverage, then back on BBC News in the afternoon, and then on Newsnight last night. Honestly, the stamina of the man.

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James

@JamesBalliol

29 days

Biden initiated student loan repayment freezes and debt wiping in America, now Albanese follows in Australia. Yet, here in Britain, it's not even entering the farthest corners of the discourse. No think tanks are seriously raising it. No columnists suggesting it. Silence 🤐.

Anthony Albanese

@AlboMP

1 month

We’re making student loans fairer and cheaper. We’ll cap how your loan is indexed so you’ll pay less over the life of the loan. And we’ll deliver $3 billion in HELP loan credits to relieve some of the cost that came with last year's inflation spike.

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

Yes, lots in New York and America as well. I've said before, banning dual citizenship for British passport holders would be the biggest attack imaginable on the upper/middle classes right now. Would cause far more outcry and devastation than any tax hike.

Will Solfiac

@willsolfiac

3 months

Think how many children of dictators there are in London right now, just 'studying' or living their lives. Probably the highest concentration in the world.

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

It might be the easiest low-hanging fruit for a Conservative party in opposition to at least try and win back some millenials/zoomers.

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James

@JamesBalliol

3 months

Personal finance discourse is funny. You get people publicly boasting about spending 6 hours on price comparison websites in order to save £9 on their car insurance whilst, at the same time, paying thousands in divorce lawyer fees and monthly child maintenance payments.

Darren McGarvey

@lokiscottishrap

3 months

Nobody: Martin Lewis: Save 7p a year by following 10,000 simple steps

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