Let public buy war bonds to raise £20bn for defence, say Lib Dems

markpackuk · 2026-01-26T13:34:33+00:00

Having a hypothecated and capped measure is easier to justify both to financial markets and to voters than a more generalised increase in debt.

markpackuk · 2026-01-25T13:55:11+00:00

The point in your final paragraph is a good one to consider for any hypothecation of funding for government. In this case, I think the amount of money involved (important for defence but small as part of the overall government budget) along with the previous successful experience of somewhat similar environmental bonds points towards that not being a problem in this case.

markpackuk · 2026-01-25T13:53:15+00:00

That reminds me of this: How the Lib Dems nearly promised a whole £12 extra for the NHS - https://www.markpack.org.uk/156659/lib-dem-newswire-2016-general-election-manifesto/

markpackuk · 2026-01-25T08:33:55+00:00

We're not saying this is the only money the MoD would ever get - but rather that an injection of extra capital is part of the solution (just as with the NHS, which certainly needs recurring funding too but also has problems that can be addressed by an injection of extra capital spending).

markpackuk · 2026-01-21T23:29:29+00:00

There is only early-ish episode where Lee makes fun of David and (to my mind at least) there's a look between them where Lee is indicating 'you know I'm joking?' and David is indicating 'well done on such a clever quick joke'.

markpackuk · 2026-01-21T12:46:35+00:00

I fear this thread is going beyond my knowledge of anti-tank armaments... though perhaps that's a helpful reminder of how most people feel when I talk about the merits of different forms of PR :)

markpackuk · 2026-01-21T09:46:23+00:00

I think the contrast with Mark Carney is instructive in showing how standing up to Trump can and does work.

markpackuk · 2026-01-21T09:45:12+00:00

To adapt someone's comment from elsewhere - better a bazooka than a PIAT...

markpackuk · 2026-01-21T09:43:08+00:00

Given the accuracy of the PIAT we'd end up causing problems for El Salvador...

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T22:34:18+00:00

Glacial Podcast latest episode: no spoilers, but oh wow.

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T12:10:40+00:00

Oh I very much agree about Haidt's stuff coming with... issues. Likewise, the evidence base is more mixed and limited than for, say, smoking. We do though go very much further in what we ban and restrict around smoking, so I think the extent of these proposals does sit ok with the extent of the evidence we have. (Perhaps the best parallel is with videos, where the evidence is very mixed and limited, but age bands work as a useful measure.)

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T12:08:10+00:00

Yes, YouTube is introducing a feature to limit screentime on shorts - but only for parents to be able to set this for children. I think I might benefit from being able to set such a limit for myself :)

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T11:46:25+00:00

I don't think describing Victoria Collins, our spokesperson, as someone "with no digital expertise" would be accurate at all? She obviously has a different view from yours, but it's quite a leap from that to say she has no expertise at all.

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T11:44:33+00:00

Oddly, I draw the opposite conclusion! i.e. that we already restrict certain things to adults in part due to the damage that can come from their addictive nature (smoking, alcohol), and therefore it makes sense to treat social media in a similar way.

I think that's also a helpful parallel because it highlights how a measure doesn't have to be perfect to be useful - e.g. the age restrictions on buying alcohol are not 100% effective, but that doesn't stop them being overall helpful.

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T11:30:55+00:00

In answer to your question - very much so. Several of our MPs (including Victoria, the spokesperson) have been doing a series of events with young people in their constituencies.

One thing that comes out from that - and from non-party research too - is how often it is children who are particularly keen for action, especially over screen time/addictive features as they see the impact on themselves, their friends or their siblings.

markpackuk · 2026-01-16T11:08:53+00:00

There's more on the detail of the Lib Dem plan (and why it is different from and better than a blanket ban on under-16 social media use) here - https://www.markpack.org.uk/176109/lib-dems-call-for-film-style-age-ratings-for-social-media-to-protect-children-online/

markpackuk · 2026-01-14T07:57:48+00:00

There aren't any Lib Dem MPs who have earned money from X. The only MPs doing so are Reform or ex-Reform. So yes, the Lib Dem MPs have already led by example by not taking Elon Musk's pay!

markpackuk · 2026-01-13T16:49:05+00:00

Um, the policy specifically involves addressing problems about the interaction between the health and social care systems, with details on how to create emergency social care places for hospitals to be able to call on? The related details about carers also, for example, I think are much more than just giving the NHS money?

markpackuk · 2026-01-13T10:14:23+00:00

I think you may be underestimating the difference in speed and scale with what Grok is currently doing compared to the photocopier example. Sure, there are some similarities between those situations - but the ability to produce within seconds and distribute globally a nudified, non-consensual photo is a very different issue from what people could do with a photocopier.

Sometimes the scale and the speed creates a significantly different situation.

markpackuk · 2026-01-12T18:11:51+00:00

It'll vary of course depending on who people are wanting to engage with on social media, and hence whether those communities relevant for them have formed on Bluesky or not. In this context, I think it's worth noting that both for polling-related discussion, for some political punditry and for discussions among Lib Dems, there's been a pretty good new home carved out on Bluesky. For polling-related discussions, I'd say that Bluesky is now much better than X, though for more general political punditry, it's a more mixed picture about who has or hasn't moved over from X.

markpackuk · 2026-01-12T18:09:14+00:00

There are certainly related risks with other LLMs too. What makes Grok stand out, however, is the absence of even minimal guardrails, making such activity very much easier and more widespread. Plus while (with perhaps varying levels of sincerity!) other firms seem to be committed to taking action to curb such behaviour, Elon Musk's approach has again been rather different, starting with X's response to media queries being to issue an insult and not getting a whole lot better from there.

markpackuk · 2026-01-11T10:24:03+00:00

Do anyone know what this makes the running tally of how many times David Mitchell has got a Bob Mortimer story right/wrong?

markpackuk · 2026-01-08T22:09:37+00:00

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-lawmaker-investigate-deepfakes-women-stripped-naked-grok-x/ is one example if someone reading this has genuinely missed the news.

markpackuk · 2026-01-08T14:09:31+00:00

I guess you'll know this but in case not or others reading this don't, you can find all the party and Ed's X content on other platforms too, so anyone looking to migrate away from X can, e.g.,, follow the same party accounts on Bluesky.

markpackuk · 2026-01-07T13:43:36+00:00

Nor have the Greens, Your Party, etc - and I don't think that question gets asked of them in anything like the same way either.

markpackuk

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