Glasgow had one of the world's best tram networks. When it was scrapped in 1962, the doomed trams rolled to their depot in a long ritual procession. 250,000 people came out to watch. 'Grown men wept and held their children up to touch them as they passed.'

Brexit is the ultimate sign of ‘years of rot’… with plenty to come. Restoring opportunities for Britons means undoing Brexit… starting with exchange programmes for young people, like Erasmus ! theguardian.com/politics/artic…

Dubai has had temps that ‘feel like 62C’ outdoors. Indoors, there’s a ski slope & cooled malls where you need a jumper. “The differing experiences of the well-off & the labourers…show how extreme climate risks entrenching & exacerbating inequality” on.ft.com/472DYnu

Making old age better is possible — and necessary on.ft.com/3AIY1ey | opinion

This is such a brilliant piece by Anne Applebaum As she says, the secret wealth and offshore tax havens kleptocrats use to enrich themselves are also a threat to democracy. Why don’t we just shut it all down? on.ft.com/4cLsKoz via @financialtimes

Part of the job of a progressive government is to shift the public narrative towards the idea that the state can improve people's lives. Pretending the govt budget is like a households', as in this economically illiterate video, reinforces the idea that it can't.

With a new push I might make this a better-read Lunch With The FT than the one with Keir Starmer. That one was fab, but for selfish and niche financial-dorky reasons I would love if we could give this a big push.

NHS queues forcing Britons to pay for healthcare. £3,200 on cataract, £15,075 on a new hip. 1m forced to go private. Only the rich can pay. Privatisation by stealth as govts appease corporations/rich by not hiking their tax but suppress wages. theguardian.com/society/articl…

A third of NHS staff are also #carers - much higher than in the general population. Caring responsibilities have a significant impact on someone’s ability to work. Female NHS staff and those aged 51-65 are most likely to be caring for someone. Read more: nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/what-…

Brussels seeks to overhaul €1.2tn EU budget to tie payments to reforms, in a revolutionary step thats pit the bloc’s top officials against many of its member states who see the cash as sacrosanct ft.com/content/555cd5… @ft w Paola Tamma

"The confiscation of a few yachts is no solution. What if, instead, we shut it all down?" my pitch to fight kleptocracy, in the Financial Times themes taken from AUTOCRACY INC ft.com/content/0876ef…

NEW: EU rules out loosening post-Brexit curbs on UK touring musicians — scoop with Andrew Bounds in Brussels. EU-UK reset battle lines are being drawn, driven in part by Labour red lines on single market/customs union. on.ft.com/3XsZDlx

New: #Russia built covert trade channel with #India, leaks reveal ft.com/content/101afc… via @ft

Big scoop from alicemhancock, who has Ursula Ursula von der Leyen’s blueprint for how to appease the EU’s angry farmers EU urged to overhaul €387bn farm subsidies regime - report to be released later this morning ft.com/content/967f6e… via @ft

Above the fold -- news you can use from Simon Hunt 's valedictory piece for The Standard -- there is a new phone frontier opening up in the City standard.co.uk/business/googl…

What should but probably won't change is the widespread idea in the UK that regulation is bad, costly, and shouldn't really happen. We need a new conversation about what regulations, how designed, then implemented. That recognises this as THE key function of government.

Govt crushes Tory attempt to make it harder for ⁦Rachel Reeves⁩ to “fiddle the fiscal rules”. Change could allow her to borrow extra £16bn / ten times more than saved by her painful £1.4bn cut to winter fuel payments. With ⁦Sam Fleming (FT)⁩ on.ft.com/3z8iCZq

The Grenfell tragedy exposed an entire industry’s lack of accountability, writes Barbara Lane, an expert witness to the Grenfell Inquiry ft.com/content/d76bee…

"Unquestioning faith in outsourcing, competition and efficiency have been three of the dominant ideologies of business and management for decades" interesting article. This Labour govt may think differently about using markets so much on.ft.com/3XfVPTp

A study concluded that hospitals that are privatised deliver worse quality care after converting from public ownership. Higher profits, cut staff & cleaning, more infections & avoidable deaths. Yet UK Govt plans to hand more healthcare to private sector. ox.ac.uk/news/2024-02-2…