Thom Beckett
@thombeckett.com
Former human.
🇳🇴 Lærer norsk. Gjør sikkert masse feil. Lat som om det er sjarmerende. 🇳🇴
🇳🇴 Lærer norsk. Gjør sikkert masse feil. Lat som om det er sjarmerende. 🇳🇴
Reposted by Thom Beckett
Yes, fiscal credibility is important, but I am so fed up of this “headroom” fiction. www.ft.com/content/6198... Healey’s Budget will be ‘fiction’ without plan for £35bn hole in spending, IFS warns
Healey’s Budget will be ‘fiction’ without plan for £35bn hole in spending, IFS warns
Influential think-tank says a ‘do-nothing’ fiscal event on October 28 is not an option
www.ft.com
October 12, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Yes, fiscal credibility is important, but I am so fed up of this “headroom” fiction. www.ft.com/content/6198... Healey’s Budget will be ‘fiction’ without plan for £35bn hole in spending, IFS warns
This reads a little “you won’t believe how good the recipe section of Stormfront is”.
October 12, 2026 at 3:50 AM
This reads a little “you won’t believe how good the recipe section of Stormfront is”.
One thing about a new child is I’m seeing lots of bits of days I’m much less familiar with. Turns out watching the Lord of the Rings through the night with a tiny warm human snoozing on you is rather pleasant. (Although the cats are regularly shocked by his noisy farts).
October 11, 2026 at 6:33 AM
One thing about a new child is I’m seeing lots of bits of days I’m much less familiar with. Turns out watching the Lord of the Rings through the night with a tiny warm human snoozing on you is rather pleasant. (Although the cats are regularly shocked by his noisy farts).
Baby update: we had a baby! He’s very cute! No pictures here because obviously, so you’ll have to take my word for it as an entirely impartial parent but I’m pretty sure everyone in the hospital could tell he’s the best one.
October 9, 2026 at 6:07 PM
Baby update: we had a baby! He’s very cute! No pictures here because obviously, so you’ll have to take my word for it as an entirely impartial parent but I’m pretty sure everyone in the hospital could tell he’s the best one.
It's a lot easier to achieve from the Treasury though. Handful of bad economic decisions and our defence spending could be at 3% of GDP within a day or two.
John Healey’s elevation to chancellor comes with a hefty price tag: he quit govt last month arguing the UK needed to set out a deadline to reach military expenditure of 3% of GDP
At present Britain is only on track to reach 2.7% of GDP by 2030...
At present Britain is only on track to reach 2.7% of GDP by 2030...
July 20, 2026 at 5:36 PM
It's a lot easier to achieve from the Treasury though. Handful of bad economic decisions and our defence spending could be at 3% of GDP within a day or two.
It's new Prime Minister day! Days like this don't come every year, just pretty much every year.
July 20, 2026 at 5:17 PM
It's new Prime Minister day! Days like this don't come every year, just pretty much every year.
It's going to be a while before the politics I'm interested in has happened, so I'm going to deactivate again for a bit. See you later when things have progressed!
May 18, 2026 at 9:52 AM
It's going to be a while before the politics I'm interested in has happened, so I'm going to deactivate again for a bit. See you later when things have progressed!
Probably the least objectionable thing so far that a Reform councillor has had to quit for.
Reform Councillor quits after LBC investigation reveals his double life as porn star
www.lbc.co.uk/article/refo...
www.lbc.co.uk/article/refo...
Reform Councillor quits after LBC investigation reveals his double life as porn star | LBC
A Reform Councillor has resigned after LBC revealed he was living a double-life as a hardcore porn star.
www.lbc.co.uk
May 15, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Probably the least objectionable thing so far that a Reform councillor has had to quit for.
Reposted by Thom Beckett
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
According to this BBC article, the audit recommended £1.12m, the total amount repaid was £1.46m but some MPs got repayments on that figure
According to this BBC article, the audit recommended £1.12m, the total amount repaid was £1.46m but some MPs got repayments on that figure
MPs expenses: Repayments totalled £1.46m
MPs repaid expenses totalling £1.46m in 12 months before the 2010 election - but some got cash back, it has emerged.
www.bbc.co.uk
May 15, 2026 at 8:39 AM
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
According to this BBC article, the audit recommended £1.12m, the total amount repaid was £1.46m but some MPs got repayments on that figure
According to this BBC article, the audit recommended £1.12m, the total amount repaid was £1.46m but some MPs got repayments on that figure
Reposted by Thom Beckett
#BBCNews - 'Millions' of pounds saved by replacing Palantir tech in refugee system
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK saves 'millions' of pounds by ditching Palantir for refugee system
The government said its in-house IT system was
www.bbc.co.uk
May 15, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Thom Beckett
People are really down on AI but in a few short years we’ve created software that’s smarter, more reliable, and more ethically aware than the President of the United States and the world’s richest man.
May 14, 2026 at 10:13 PM
People are really down on AI but in a few short years we’ve created software that’s smarter, more reliable, and more ethically aware than the President of the United States and the world’s richest man.
People are really down on AI but in a few short years we’ve created software that’s smarter, more reliable, and more ethically aware than the President of the United States and the world’s richest man.
May 14, 2026 at 10:13 PM
People are really down on AI but in a few short years we’ve created software that’s smarter, more reliable, and more ethically aware than the President of the United States and the world’s richest man.
Reposted by Thom Beckett
heard a guy say "you have to access it through the portal" and i was momentarily struck by how sad it is that what he said is so boring :( "accessing it via the portal" should be wonderful. we deserve that at least. it should be cool to access it via the portal and instead it sucks shit
May 12, 2026 at 11:00 PM
heard a guy say "you have to access it through the portal" and i was momentarily struck by how sad it is that what he said is so boring :( "accessing it via the portal" should be wonderful. we deserve that at least. it should be cool to access it via the portal and instead it sucks shit
Starmer may well not be the right person to take Labour into the next election. But surely neither's Streeting? He's unlikely to keep his seat besides anything else.
May 13, 2026 at 10:15 AM
Starmer may well not be the right person to take Labour into the next election. But surely neither's Streeting? He's unlikely to keep his seat besides anything else.
Reposted by Thom Beckett
Stop! It is necessary for you to see graphic designer extraordinaire Margaret Calvert’s 90th birthday cake. Perfection.
May 13, 2026 at 6:49 AM
Stop! It is necessary for you to see graphic designer extraordinaire Margaret Calvert’s 90th birthday cake. Perfection.
Think I'm going to deactivate in a bit. It's been nice being back and seeing social media, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that it's not for me.
Oh, and one last thing before we go that'll be more relevant for those who know me: we're having a baby in September, so that's nice!
Oh, and one last thing before we go that'll be more relevant for those who know me: we're having a baby in September, so that's nice!
May 8, 2026 at 8:23 AM
Think I'm going to deactivate in a bit. It's been nice being back and seeing social media, but I'm increasingly of the opinion that it's not for me.
Oh, and one last thing before we go that'll be more relevant for those who know me: we're having a baby in September, so that's nice!
Oh, and one last thing before we go that'll be more relevant for those who know me: we're having a baby in September, so that's nice!
While I'm back, I thought I should provide you with some content™, and none of my content does worse than niche facts about music artists, so let's do that.
May 7, 2026 at 12:49 PM
While I'm back, I thought I should provide you with some content™, and none of my content does worse than niche facts about music artists, so let's do that.
Since there's an election on, I thought I'd pop back to say hi. Everyone doing OK?
May 7, 2026 at 8:06 AM
Since there's an election on, I thought I'd pop back to say hi. Everyone doing OK?
Just before sunset, Wivenhoe.
October 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Just before sunset, Wivenhoe.
Back, for now. Here’s my lovely cats all curled up together.
October 3, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Back, for now. Here’s my lovely cats all curled up together.
Think I’m going to take a little break from here. You’re all a delight of course, well, the ones I follow and interact with, but a post escaped containment, I had a few Nazis to block and I could just *not* be sharing my silly thoughts? Anyway, be back soon, will temporarily deactivate in a while.
September 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Think I’m going to take a little break from here. You’re all a delight of course, well, the ones I follow and interact with, but a post escaped containment, I had a few Nazis to block and I could just *not* be sharing my silly thoughts? Anyway, be back soon, will temporarily deactivate in a while.
Reposted by Thom Beckett
Shot, chaser
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
September 14, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Shot, chaser
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
Since we’ve set the bar for proscribing an organisation so absurdly low, we should start with Tommy Robinson and all his fascist groups and move on to proscribing X and Tesla for facilitating and funding him.
September 14, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Since we’ve set the bar for proscribing an organisation so absurdly low, we should start with Tommy Robinson and all his fascist groups and move on to proscribing X and Tesla for facilitating and funding him.
Reposted by Thom Beckett
Please don't forget, and don't let anyone else forget, they did this openly.
Brian Kilmeade endorses euthanizing homeless people: "Involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill them."
September 13, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Please don't forget, and don't let anyone else forget, they did this openly.
Reposted by Thom Beckett
We’ve been living through 72 nonstop hours of this exact tweet
September 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
We’ve been living through 72 nonstop hours of this exact tweet