Threatening the governor of the Banque de France with prosecution for treason for criticising his policy on French debt cancellation is wildly undisciplined stuff from JLM, six months away from an election he could actually make the second round for.

In this poll, Medicare for All has majority support when told it will eliminate all private insurance. As I keep telling people, it ain’t 2019 anymore. Find new talking points.

Something which makes me suspicious: People who are hyper-realist on some foreign policy issues and hyper-idealist on others. E.g thinking both 1) In the interests of peace, Ukraine should come to some compromise settlement with Russia, whether or not all their sovereign territory is returned (hyper-realist) and 2) The only acceptable outcome in the Middle East is a single secular Palestinian state where jews and Palestinians live peacefully side-by-side (hyper-idealist).

Tobias Rausch, the AfD candidate, has just been elected president of the parliament of Saxony-Anhalt - the first far-right figure to hold such a post in the history of the federal republic. Voting figures suggest he may have won some votes from CDU members, as well as AfD/BSW.

Senior British officials have made it clear to Israel that if the British Consulate in East Jerusalem is closed and British diplomats are expelled, the United Kingdom will respond by expelling 27 Israeli diplomats, along with their families, from Britain, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as stated in a @Jerusalem_Post . The consulate is expected to close on October 8, following an order issued by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. The move reportedly comes in response to economic sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom on Judea and Samaria.

Fifty European Union lawmakers, including 46 women, have been the targets of deepfake pornography, according to new research released today. vist.ly/5m4ia

Good thread. The part I’m unconvinced by is the implication that all forms of Zionism have to remain anchored in those historical (and still dominant) foundations - that some form of antiracist post-Zionism or cultural Zionism is by definition impossible.

This is how an Israeli minister responded to the statement "Zionism is racism". By being extraordinarily racist. You cannot make this shit up!

The China Shock research is: — Definitely not responsible for Trump’s views on trade (which are very eccentric) — Extremely influential in how the broader political class has responded to Trump

Hegseth: "Today, at my direction, I'm establishing the Office of Religious Affairs. It will report straight to the top -- a direct line to the secretary ... as Psalm 33:12 extolls us, blessed is the nation in which God is the Lord"

Finally, we independently tested the whole BBC News at Six TV package on the speech, since this sort of thing is how more voters would actually experience the speech in reality. All the major metrics increased significantly! Impressive.

How about voting intention? All videos pushed up Labour VI, but three stood out: economic power/control, water nationalisation and social care/triple lock clip, boosting it by 8-10 points! This is *genuinely impressive* for such a test, esp in an age of cynicism to politicians.

In the summer of 2021, the current Tory shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith called for the Triple Lock to be put to one side because it was delivering what he viewed as an excessive increase in the state pension. And he hoped “that we can build consensus on what should not really be a subject of controversy but a sensible and pragmatic response to post pandemic management of the economy.” Bit Burnhamesque all that conservativehome.com/2021/08…

In his speech, the Prime Minister talked about the two things in relation to each other. We showed respondents two excerpts as the main explanatory clips by the BBC yesterday, one on the National Care Service plans and one on the pensions lock adjustment. Instant reactions were positive from almost 7 in 10 respondents (69%), compared to 13% who had a negative response, a NET score of +56. 3/6

With the Triple Lock reform set out accurately and the savings hypothecated to a National Care Service, a clear majority back it: 64% support it and 15% oppose: net +49. Support outnumbers opposition in every age group, including those most affected: -> 55-64: 61% support, 16% oppose -> 65+: 55% support, 27% oppose 5/6

Ezra Klein asked Bill Gates whether normal corporate incentives are enough to handle AI risks. Gates doesn’t mince words:

The UK is so funny. Between low public pension spending/high senior poverty, and the insane triple lock policy, they've managed to get themselves in a position where their system is both currently inadequate and long term unsustainable.

Amusingly, Burnham actually proposed a much softer change to the triple lock than the one YouGov puts in his mouth - indeed part of its genius is that it’s probably impossible to summarise in a sound bite or a survey item.

While Ireland has a big issue with housing, today's Eurostat figures show very low levels of overcrowded homes. Irish homes being bigger than the EU average explains much of that.

This is an important analysis, but I beg to differ on one point. The UK would be ill-advised to challenge the closure order in an Israeli court. Serious questions remain about Israeli courts' competence to adjudicate matters in East Jerusalem. Still, even if they are duly empowered, there are more compelling and decisive reasons not to file suit. Israeli courts see East Jerusalem as an integral part of Israel, and not occupied territory. The UK's appeal will be heard by a court that sees itself as ruling exclusively under Israeli law, while international law is irrelevant. Under these circumstances, contesting Israel's outrageous decision to shut down the Consulate is best done out of court. theguardian.com/politics/202…