Ben Gartside
@BenGartside
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Senior Reporter @theipaper | Previously @Telebusiness. Email me: [email protected].
Joined January 2013
Hello, I’m going to still share my stories here but will be using the other place more. Username is the same.
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There’s been a recurring question about why UK infrastructure seem to cost more than other countries. I’ve spent the week looking into a microcosm of this — how an elite golf club had a new £7.7m pavilion built for it by HS2 in exchange for £400k of land.
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Wow - Labour got more votes in the 2019 election (10,231,217) than they did when they won the GE in 2005 (9,552,436).
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I feel like moaning responses to planning rejections should be reserved to companies building needed housing, rather than a 320 foot advertising orb.
Company behind the Sphere *not happy* with Mayor of London's decision . “While we are disappointed in London’s decision, there are many forward-thinking cities that are eager to bring this technology to their communities. We will concentrate on those.”.
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NEW: Letter from Jennie Formby to Tom Watson, where all Labour MPs and Lords were CCed.
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Who could possibly say what planners and local politicians objected to
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It is three months since the Govt chastised P&O for using agency workers after sacking a unionised workforce.
EXCL: Ministers will this week change the law to allow striking workers to be replaced temporarily by agency staff. Too late for this week’s RMT strike but likely to be in force by mid-July .
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Scoop: HS2 cancellation will mean fares increase between London and the north to reduce travellers amid capacity problems. There will be 8% fewer seats on future trains after the high-speed line was scrapped, and prices are set to go up to reduce demand.
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I'm not sure how people will be convinced to take managed risk in order to work, while not being allowed to take the same decisions to see their friends or family.
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Bit galling to see MPs who voted down a virtual parliament yesterday use social distancing as a stick to beat the Black Lives Matter protest. Criticise both, or criticise neither - you can’t cherry pick.
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Me when I opened my a-level results and realised I got three Es.
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unflinching respect to the people having a 6-9am kebab.
4. Brits are most likely to eat a kebab between 6PM and 9PM. Despite its reputation, just 5% are most likely to eat a kebab between midnight and 3AM.
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Some personal news: I’ll be joining @Telegraph on the Graduate scheme from January! I’m very chuffed 🚨🚨🚨.
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Incredibly sad to announce that the M&S press office does not hold statistics for Mojito sales in comparison to previous years, so the commercial benefit of Diane Abbott’s influencer career can not be assessed.
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3 E’s at A-Level from a Mancunian state school, actually.
@FraserNelson No doubt went to public school, though.
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EXC: Nadhim Zahawi gave Kurdish President’s nephew a parliamentary internship as his oil firm negotiated extended drilling rights in region.
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I've just remembered this iconic moment from the 2015 Leadership campaign:
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Going to start arrogantly name dropping that I studied my degree in Hull (incidental; humble; deferential) in the same way Oxbridge grads do. Also going to ask everyone I meet if they studied at Hull or Lincoln. Got to speak the superiority into existence.
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In what can only be described as typically Marie, I regret to announce @youngvulgarian has been banned from twitter for 12 hours for calling an ex-MP “a thirsty bitch”.
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This is what the site actually looks like:
God forbid we build 3,500 new homes in what is quite literally one of the most unaffordable areas in Britain. It's anti-growth campaigns like this that deny young people any chance of getting on the property ladder 👇
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Imagine telling someone a couple years ago that 2020 would be the year Prime Minister Boris Johnson bans shagging.
Afraid to say this is correct. I can't believe I'm about to tweet this. From tomorrow sex between two (or more) people in a private place who do not live in the same household is a "gathering" between 2 or more people and is therefore illegal.
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I don’t say this lightly, but this is the most strained advertising segue I’ve ever seen.
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Some personal news: After two and bit years at the Telegraph, in June I’m joining the i as a senior reporter on the news team. Really excited for the new opportunity with a great team.
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Wish it were me.
BREAKING NEWS: A 6-year-old boy is floating away in a hot air balloon. Watch live: http://www.cnn.com/live.
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Wow! First time Di Caprio has supported anything that’s been around for more than 25 years.
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In other news water is wet.
A new report showed lower paid and younger workers in smaller, shared homes are often less happy about having to work from home than more senior managers, who tend to live in larger places that are better equipped for longer term remote working
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My favourite type of ‘progressive’ is the type that insinuates those who do bad at exams/formal education deserve less.
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In July, I reported that Labour were considering nationalising BT, which was denied by McDonnell and a Labour spokesperson at the time. The party has just announced they would bring BT back into national ownership. Read my piece from July here:
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"Rugged former soldier Johnny Mercer MP and former Generation Game host Jim Davidson go yomping over Dartmoor, as inspired by Pink Floyd."
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There isn’t a time I would turn down a vaccine, if you don’t have the supply or logistics ready please just say that rather than blame people again.
No 10 says Covid vaccinations could be delivered late into the night, but insists there's currently 'not a clamour for jabs after 8pm'.
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Some personal news: I’ve been promoted to a new role on Telegraph Business, covering Construction, Real Estate and Outsourcing. Delighted to be taking over such an interesting beat - email me on Ben.Gartside@telegraph.co.uk to chat stories, gossip and stats.
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Imagine if someone was on a celebrity gameshow, and the charity of their choice was the IEA.
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De Pfeffel: A new ITV crime drama about a Norwegian detective working on a murder case on an oil rig. Sunday, 10pm.
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I know a lot of people end up going to Hull by clearing - and I just wanted to say you won’t regret it. I can’t comment about the education quality, but my rent last year was £180pm inc bills - and it gave me wonderful opportunities like getting takeaway every night for 2 weeks.
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Don’t know about you but if I bludgeoned a fox to death in the early morning of a public holiday I would simply not tweet about it.
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Note the timestamps. 6,000 retweets and counting for utter nonsense lifted off a fake 'number 10 leaks' twitter account.
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Organisations which only have press contact forms rather than emails & numbers: please understand how hated this makes you.
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Obama putting Normal People and Fleabag on his end of year list means he is firmly in the “softboy whose dating life consists of consecutive medium length relationships with posh indie girls on hinge”.
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Memo to all graphics desks: Image of Sadiq popping the orb with a pen, and the orb has a sad face.
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Who knows, maybe building an education system where a significant chunk of your life outcomes is dependent on a highly pressurised six week isn’t the best anyway, and this was exacerbated by the pandemic.
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Labour leadership latest:.
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Pat Cummins making Narendra Modi’s look this sad is his own stadium is the most notable achievement of the AUKUS coalition so far.
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Who could have thought that the well charming posh boy who went to Eton and spoke Dari could possibly have worked in covert intelligence.
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As a former AsteraZeneca subcontractor (cleaner & coffee machine attendant for Sodexo [July - September 2017]) I’d like to register my delight for everyone still there, it’s so rewarding to have played a small role in such a development.
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Some personal news!.
I swear to god if May does her usual ‘nothing has changed’ act I’m going to become a Rugby League Correspondent, I can’t take it anymore.
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Unsure how the developers wangled this, but you know what: fair play
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Obsessed with Labour posting a video of Jeremy Corbyn to his Instagram ahead of tonight’s debate, in the same way mid-tier footballers do before a big game
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Exc: The centre point of the Nine Elms revamp sold less than 90 units in the first year of sales, with over 50% being related party transactions. In nearly two years of pre sales, the £3bn project has only made around £120m in revenue.
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Oh yeah the Rory Stewart candidacy is fun now, but for the next six months he’ll be demanding to debate the Bakerloo line extension with you at Borough Market in Swahili.
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Worth saying that even if Labour Students had survived the motion from Jon Lansman at the NEC this evening, at least 17 out of 42 uni clubs had already disaffiliated from the central organisation. Hardly the sign of a universally popular structure as some would like to make out.
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My new piece for The Times: The obsession with free speech at universities is a betrayal of ordinary students.
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In 2016 I was so depressed I had stopped attending sixth form, dropped out in all but name and got Es in all my exams. Things aren’t 100% perfect now, but if you’d told me things would turn around in 3 and a bit years I definitely wouldn’t have believed you.
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This crisis is becoming unbearable not because of the policies themselves but because of a pervasive culture of curtain twitchers, a nation of people overly eager to see the worst in their neighbours based off little information.
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I’ve had more specific Tesco delivery times than this.
We are expecting Peterborough to declare between 1am-5am.
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The diagram below, seen and reproduced by i, shows that HS2 to Birmingham helps capacity issues, but worsens between Bham and Manchester because of the cancellation. Insiders tell i it is “inescapable” a new line will need to be built soon.
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Access journalism at its worst. Diver is a former senior Waitrose employee (Bury St Edmunds deli counter 2013-15). If the public are to believe journalists, we need reform of arrangements like this.
NEW: Waitrose confirms there will not, repeat will NOT, be any rationing of Easter eggs because of coronavirus.
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GET HIM TO THE ROYAL WEDDING
#BREAKING Sergei Skripal has been discharged from Salisbury District Hospital.
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What an interesting perspective! I wonder what Professor Gethins’ job was between 2017 and 2019.
EXCLUSIVE: An international relations expert has said the UK is "unusual" in the way it restricts the role of devolved nations on the international stage . Professor Stephen Gethins said the UK does not seem "terribly comfortable in its own skin on the international arena"
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What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck is going on.
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Laura Kuenssberg is undoubtedly one of the best journalists around, but this bit characterisation of her is a bit galling:
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Exc: Michael Gove is preparing to overhaul affordable housing in the UK. The Govt is poised to scrap section 106, and replace it with a levy which councils can decide how to spend. The move could ramp up the building of council housing in the UK.
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BUT THE NARRATIVE.
Recent polls indicate that the north of England is significantly more pro-Remain than the south of England outside London. via @barnespa
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If you’re going to blast music from a stereo so the whole park can hear, please at least invest in Spotify premium.
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Jeremy Corbyn up for scoop of the year versus Colleen Rooney.
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Applications for Speccie’s internships ends soon — I left school one D + 2 E’s, including in economics, and 4 years later cover the economy for a national which wouldn’t have been possible without this scheme. Worth an application no matter your position
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Every major outlet (Telegraph, BBC, Times, FT, Guardian, The i, Independent, Mail, Sun, Mirror, ITV, Sky) has it as one of the top two stories, with the vast majority having it as the lead. Virtue signalling like this is pathetic and disrespects the memory of Lyra McKee.
I’m stunned at how little coverage there is on @BBCNews, @thetimes @Telegraph and other British media of the killing of a journalist, a British citizen, shot dead on a British street by a gunman attacking police. It was in Derry, not London. Metropolitan elite should be ashamed.
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Exc: Michael Gove has threatened to veto the planning permissions of developers who don’t resolve cladding issues by early March, with tax hikes and a ban from Government contracts also mooted.
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I've just realised, 10 months in from first sitting at the desk and putting it in my email signature, I put the wrong landline number and that's why no one had ever called me on it.
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Some personal news: Next week I’ll be joining @YahooFinance covering Brexit and Politics for the summer! Drop me a DM if you fancy a coffee and want to chat politics, policy and the Malthouse Agreement.
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Our letting agent keeps violating the contract by not notifying us for viewings. In return I’ve started telling house viewers our rent, so they know the property is being marked up by 13%.
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I’ll vote for any MP that pledges to stop clapping in the commons.
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*necks pint of charcoal* eee jusht cannit stand the wyind turh-bines, theh rewin me view of theh pits, a beht there aren’t aknee in ISLEHNGTON
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Why stop at a horseshoe legislature? We should make the new parliamentary chamber a sphere, that rotates in order not to give any legislator an unfair advantage. MPs should all sit in fighter-pilot style seats, while orbiting John Bercow. This is the only fair design.
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I believe this is what they refer to in detective shows as a modus operandi.
#ChickenNews Early this morning, awakened by alarmed squawking, I raced into the garden in Claire's kimono clutching a baseball bat to find. one chicken gone. I assumed a fox and was sad. However, said chicken has just been discovered alive and well in a basement walkway. Joy.
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We 👏 need👏 journalism👏 access👏 schemes👏 for👏 hacks👏 who👏 only👏 had👏 Deputy👏 High👏 Commissioners👏 in👏 their👏 family.
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Some news: I’ll be covering Business for The Telegraph over the next few months! . If you want to Zoom, get a coffee via Houseparty or send me tips via WhatsApp, drop me a line by DM or to Ben.Gartside@telegraph.co.uk.
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Paul Embery has misread this tweet and is currently writing a two thousand word piece about how Labour no longer represents the working class.
BREAKING: Duchess of Sussex has gone into labour with her first child.
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Turns out I've been mentioned as part of a House of Lords report into journalism and No CV internships. Worth again saying how brilliant they are and how more companies should do them. Write up in the i here:
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Christopher Chope (the MP that objected) also objected to the Alan Turing Pardon and the Hillsborough debate.
Wow! Upskirting Bill objected in the Commons despite Govt backing.
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Occasionally I wonder why people presume I’m gay based off my online presence then I remember it is nearly 1am and I’m tweeting about young Stephen Kinnock.
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Great look for the governing party to be making up rules as they go along in the competition to be the next Prime Minister.
A cull of the Tory leader candidates looms. 1922 executive to consider re-writing rules to reduce number of contenders.
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Why is Matt Hancock dressed like an undercover cop.
“I DON’T WANT TO SEE. any more division in this country. I want to see ART used to CONNECT us all”. Health, Art, Culture, Digital and Minister of Connection @MattHancock sings from the #ARTCONNECTS19 Festival hymn sheet @myrunwaygroup
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“Tony Blair wanted to Wimbledon FC to move to Belfast in the late 1990s…[with discussions of a] 40,000 seater stadium being built and changing its name to Belfast United”. In a crowded field, I think this is the most Tony Blair junked policy possible.
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Having a long hard think about the fact that Andrea Leadsom has taken more banned substances than I have.
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I can’t wait until Sir Graham Brady’s memoirs come out in twenty years, and it turns out at no point we’re there more than 16 letters.
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The lack of coverage of the Fianna Fáil & SDLP partnership, twinned with the treatment of the DUP as if they’re the only party that matters in NI is a complete indictment of political coverage in Britain.
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Socialising in London is just “you can see me NOW or in 7 weeks time. The choice is yours”.
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I see Tim Farron has decided to wave a massive red flag in front of the banter bull that is British politics (source: Playbook) -
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Met an American recently who said a defining trait of the British was that whenever you saw a goose on a walk, they’d immediately say it could break your arm.
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What, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the fuck is going on?.
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