@43d7c4ea Badenoch has always been the real danger, not the daft caricature Braverman. Wish more people would see this. She's very capable of playing the smiling modern politician, but her intentions are extreme. And unlike Braverman, people in the party actually like her. 

 @b870d4c8 Sorry, I explained myself badly. Of course there have always been people on the left fighting for human rights across the board - I'm sorry, I really didn't want to deny that!

I was (in my brain) meaning to talk about mainstream left wing political parties, who have not always been anything like as progressive as many socialists on the ground.

Also, though I wish this wasn't the case, at least in the UK there was historically a *lot* of bigotry in trade unions. 

 @b870d4c8 You don't have to go back all that far in time to find very widespread homophobia in the UK left (depressingly, you don't have to go back at all to find transphobia).

The presumption that broadly-left economic and social views necessarily go together was an assumption of the 90s and 00s based on a few western countries.

Of course, I wish we could rely on all economic progressives to care about human rights too. But no point pretending that's reality. I see a lot of leftie bigots. 

 @134318c2 From my limited experience of travelling down this way, On Demand buses - as in what you were saying, you tell them you'll catch the bus and it will stop at your stop - seem to be very common in the south of France. It's a good system.

(Might be common in all of France, I just don't know, I only have experience of the south.) 

 @b870d4c8 I'm not middle class but I'm also not pretending when I say that The Singing Detective is what I most immediately remember him for. 

 @b870d4c8 In my case - perhaps others' too - the new burden for me is 'trying to figure out a way of saying no, there's nothing you can do right now, which doesn't seem rude and ungrateful.

Honestly, one of the best things for me is simply to be told 'I'm here for you any time'. Even though 99% of the time I won't end up saying anything. Just knowing that I could is a really big deal. 

 @43d7c4ea @264363cd That's a very interesting piece (I don't think I saw it at the time, probably wasn't following you back then!)

And I do believe that tax is an integral part of the social contract in a money-based society. I don't think there's any way around that which isn't extremely regressive. 

 @43d7c4ea I think there should be more said about what the tax actually achieves.

Because for all the loopholes, it still raises a fair chunk of revenue (although should be far bigger). Yet debate, unlike for basically every other tax, is invariably about whether inheritance tax is appropriate.

It should be said loud and clear: this person paying tax on a £2m inheritance means that school doesn't fall over.

Ask which is more important: inheritance for one rich person, or schools for all.