[Tubby Isaacs]

More in the same vein. There's actually some scope for Labour to reduce the headline rate, remove some of the allowances that only the very rich can use and still raise more money.

[Youngian]

There’s a belief that these measures are popular with those without a pot to piss in but still have dreams that ‘one day, Rodney.’ Pity Rishi’s told us the party’s over for aspiration Britain and we all have to pay.

Socking it to the elites

[Tubby Isaacs]

See how popular it is when Sunak has to tell them how he'll raise £7bn by taking it off them now.

[Youngian]

Rishi doesn’t believe tax cuts have to be paid as they’re self generating or something. He only has to look at himself to see how tax cuts make us all rich.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He didn't before when he was Chancellor, but as PM he might start believing that. Electoral Keynsianism will be very tempting, same as it was for Bozo.

He thinks he's found a tax cut here, predictably. I support fees because I think higher education is a special case in terms of public services being non-universal, non-needs based and very expensive and (mostly) financial benefits to the person. But that doeesn't mean that the government ought to put nothing in to it, which is what Sunak wants. For what the government puts in, it gets massively more back through foreign fee income, soft power, research, never mind having a more educated public. If there are some degrees that don't make people rich, that doesn't mean they're bad. My modern languages course at Oxford was terrible but got by on the university brand.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's happening. Or at least a speech is being made.

Doubtless a bunch of Red Wall backbench goons will cheer this on before later realising it's going to be the Oxford poshos chucked out of work. Though I wouldn't put it past Sunak contriving cuts to fall on London, Liverpool and Manchester.

At 3.30pm Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, will make a Commons statement on the plan to restrict student access to what are deemed low-value degreees. There are no urgent questions.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

After all, they don't vote Tory...

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Watchman]

Arbeit macht frei

[Bones McCoy]

Not a word about the cargo cult of NHS protective gear procurement.

[Youngian]

Keegan’s message appear at to be: Don’t bother trying to aspire, kids as all we’ve got to offer is low paid shit jobs you can’t climb out of, so fuck off.
Aren’t the interest rates on student loans now around 6% owing to a higher default rate and less jobs available to reach the threshold? Sounds like a self perpetuating death spiral for the system.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Keegan’s message appear at to be: Don’t bother trying to aspire, kids because those high paying jobs must go to the privileged Tory middle classes. Fucking know your place and wash my car.

FTFY

[Youngian]

Keegan’s message appear at to be: Don’t bother trying to aspire, kids because those high paying jobs must go to the privileged Tory middle classes. Fucking know your place and wash my car.

FTFY

For whom student debt is ‘an investment’ not shame and fear.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

What student debt? They pay it out of their trust funds.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Another one for John Rentoul whose interpretation of this is doubtless "Sunak does everything right but gets no credit".

[Tubby Isaacs]

Somebody manages to talk bigger shit than Sunak. The accountant speaks.

[Youngian]

Richard appears to immature with age. Is he aware economics is a social science as much as bean counting?

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's an internet influencer, he doesn't care. Like a leftwing Liz Truss, except he didn't get to be prime minister.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Obviously economics has to involve maths and models- how could it not? It would just be Twitter if it didn't, where anybody can just say their hobby horse "pays for itself".

Murphy's beef is that his own model, MMT, doesn't get much of a look in.

[Youngian]

From what I’ve read of MMT it is a round the houses form of Keynesianism to make the comrades feel a bit clever. Mario Draghi at the ECB operated a form Murphy’s People’s QE but markets trusted Draghi to turn the tap off.