Political Editor, The @spectator. Ex-Sunday Times, Mail, Sun Tel, Express. Author of the Brexit quartet. Order No Way Out and Out here: https://nitter.cf/t.co/nAm0rtHga4
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Joined September 2008
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Tim Shipman retweeted
Interesting knotty problem coming on devolution...
As the IFS briefing points out, letting mayors keep more of their tax receipts that means either...
A) Scotland / Wales / Northern Ireland getting less in Barnett Formula as those tax receipts aren't going into the Treasury then back out again any more
--OR--
B) Ensuring devolved nations still get the money... which means other parts of England not getting money from, say, a booming London and Manchester but Scotland / Wales / Northern Ireland regions benefitting.
Both can't be true. So either devolved nations lose out or other parts of England lose out.
Tim Shipman retweeted
Good to see the PM "recognising journalism not as a nice-to-have, but as part of the national infrastructure of a healthy country and democracy".
Just a shame it comes on the eve of him jetting off to a major summit and, for the first time, refusing to take a press pack...
Tim Shipman retweeted
The Spectator is a tiny outfit, still with an editorial staff smaller than a student newspaper.
To pull off a same-day Budget briefing of this quality - and televise it, complete with graphs - is an astonishing testimony to the quality of its people.
youtube.com/watch?v=M5RWj6Bq…
Tim Shipman retweeted
What a complete mess. I wish Martin Lewis would butt out of the energy debate. His obsession with the retail side of the market distracts attention from the structural problems caused by domestic energy policy.
Worse, by focusing so much attention on how bills are presented and how costs are distributed between consumers, he is helping to create political incentives to manage the symptoms rather than tackle the underlying causes. Ministers can claim to be helping households while leaving the policies responsible for driving up costs largely untouched.
'The least worst way to do it'
@MartinSLewis reacts to the chancellor's announcement that 20 million households in council tax bands A to D will receive a £100 energy payment
trib.al/WOFfeba @MarkAustinTV
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602
Tim Shipman retweeted
As they’ve been both in the news this week, a reminder that Martin Lewis and Liz Truss’s husband did battle at uni
Tim Shipman retweeted
Here's the real story of this Budget, the can being kicked down the road. This Labour government is apparently planning spending cuts on most areas of public service spending of 2.6% per year between 2028-29 and 2031-32.
Pull the other one. It's got bells on.
Tim Shipman retweeted
Superb interview by @ShippersUnbound
Essential viewing. Tim Shipman talks to Richard Williams about lawfare against the SAS youtube.com/watch?v=ye2pv3DT…
Tim Shipman retweeted
In 2022, five SAS soldiers shot dead two teenagers during an operation to detain an Islamic State target in Syria.
The Sunday Times has now revealed that the soldiers faced a three-year murder investigation before being cleared, which former SAS commander Richard Williams argues looks more like a public relations excercise than military judgement.
Watch in full | youtu.be/ye2pv3DTybQ @ShippersUnbound @williams_rje
Tim Shipman retweeted
On Wednesday 28 October at 7pm, The Spectator's editor, Michael Gove, political editor Tim Shipman, economics editor Michael Simmons and Harry Bell, director of financial planning at Raymond James, will give their unrivalled insights into the autumn Budget, just hours after it is announced.
Andy Burnham's first few months in Downing Street have produced a striking political turnaround. But today, Chancellor John Healey must confront difficult choices on tax, borrowing and public spending.
✍️ The Spectator
Article | spectator.com/article/livest… | @ShippersUnbound @michaelgove
Tim Shipman retweeted
Thankyou @ShippersUnbound and @spectator for the chance to discuss : SAS witch hunt: is Britain betraying its own special forces? shows.acast.com/68359028e1ab… via @acast
Those that willingly conduct and direct this damaging witch hunt against the SAS are acting in the interest of our many enemies. They weaken not just the Special Forces, but the whole of the national defence system and its essential ability to execute or threaten lethal force against those that seek to destroy or damage us.
It represents an act of national self-harm as damaging and serious as the suicidal act of unilateral disarmament would be in the face of actual military invasion. Utter madness….
Tim Shipman retweeted
On today's Coffee House Shots podcast: A week before the budget, and hours after ministers approved drilling at the Jackdaw gas field, Andy Burnham faced off with Kemi Badenoch at Prime Minister's Questions in what James Heale reckons was the PM's first win in the Commons since taking office.
James and Isabel Hardman join Tim Shipman to dispute the score, pick over what Badenoch missed on welfare and immigration, and work out why John Healey's budget may be smaller than expected.
Listen | spectator.com/podcast/drill-… @ShippersUnbound JAHeale
Tim Shipman retweeted
Anyone who has been around Brixton station of late will be aware that the area is covered in litter. Bins are overflowing, there is a severe homelessness issue and it's crackhead/anti-social behaviour galore. So, shall we check in on what Lambeth Council will be spending time discussing at its meeting this evening?
Well! Tonight Lambeth Council, led by a Green-Lib Dem coalition is due to discuss Motion 3 (Green Group): Palestine – End the Genocide, Complicity and Impunity. "This motion condemns Israel's actions in Gaza, calls for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages. It also calls on the UK Government to halt arms exports, impose economic sanctions, and provide evidence to the International Criminal Court. It further proposes that the Council review its contracts and investments to divest from companies complicit in violations of international law."
Note they haven't even been bothered to update the language still referencing hostages...
This is Lambeth Council's priority while some of the worst crime and antisocial behaviour in London is happening as we speak within its boundaries.
Tim Shipman retweeted
It often takes an outsider to see us most clearly. When I had breakfast with the ambassador of an EU country last week he asked me: 'What is the Burnham government's foreign policy? Because it seems to me there is only domestic policy conducted on the international stage.'.
Keir Starmer and David Lammy's approach was 'progressive realism'. Under New Labour, Robin Cook advanced an 'ethical foreign policy'. Andy Burnham, however, appears to have little interest, leaving the details to Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary.
As a Labour peer notes: 'We have Andy's vibes and Ed's conscience.'
But on Brexit, the Middle East and Ukraine, the Prime Minister has begun to discover the wisdom of the observation, often attributed to Leon Trotsky, that 'you may not be interested in foreign policy, but foreign policy is interested in you'.
✍️ Tim Shipman
Article | spectator.com/article/does-a… | @ShippersUnbound
Tim Shipman retweeted
Wow, Mahmoud Abbas Postponing Elections Day seems to come around earlier every year.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree postponing Palestinian legislative elections until September 2027, the same date he set for presidential elections. According to WAFA, the decision is a result of the current situation in the Gaza Strip and the absence of a non-Hamas police force.
Tim Shipman retweeted
New phenomenon where if you type bad English into Google, “is we getting”, it assumes you’re asking about free money from the state.
If you use correct English, it isn’t quite so presumptive.
This is obviously machine learning behaviour from many many interactions over time.
Tim Shipman retweeted
Excl w/ @daisyeastlake: Pro-Palestinian activists ran an organised campaign inside the Green Party to recruit members, secure influential party positions and reshape its policies from within, The Times can reveal.
More than five and a half hours of recordings of weekly Greens for Palestine meetings showed members speaking of “using the party” and attempting to ensure those supportive of their position gained key party roles.
In the meetings Animah Kosai, one of the co-chairs, said: “I don’t believe in serving the Green Party, and I think some people are going to hate me for this. I actually believe in using the party in order to reach certain goals. And in this case, for Palestine, for anti-imperialism.”
Lubna Speitan, one of the proposers of the “Zionism is racism” motion passed at the party’s conference on Sunday, said: “I’m going to knock on every door and just talk about Palestine […] It’s about the quality of membership and who we want to bring into this party.”
Shahrar Ali, a former deputy leader who is suspended from the party, accused the organisers of “internal political manipulation with scant regard for the integrity of democratic process”. He claimed it was “naked entryism that is corrupting the party beyond recognition”.
Another longstanding party member said there was “clear evidence” of “a highly organised campaign by a small number of infiltrators to take over the party’s key votes and committees”.
thetimes.com/article/0db0686…
Tim Shipman retweeted
After the Green Party's "Zionism is Racism" vote, the Leader of Haringey Council, which is controlled by the Greens, wrote to various Synagogues in the borough to "reassure" them.
I want to show you Highgate Synagogue's reply. I believe it is worth reading in its entirety.
Synagogue rejects Green council leader’s attempt to ‘reassure’ them after “Zionism is Racism” vote
jewishnews.co.uk/synagogue-r…
Tim Shipman retweeted
The Holborn by-election was Zack Polanski's big moment and he blew it, according to Tim Shipman, who says the Green party has been so eager to accelerate it's become a receptical for 'sandal-wearing, yoghurt-weaving traditional greens', enraged Corbynites, and Islamists.
Watch in full | youtube.com/watch?v=ouPgqr-J… | @ShippersUnbound