Emeritus Prof. Christopher May

https://mastodon.me.uk/@ChrisMayLA6

Retired Professor of Political Economy; now enjoying the fediverse.

Previous Lives: Record industry; bookseller; Charter 88
Interests: politics & economics, music, art
Previous Mastodon: This account was previously Emeritus Prof Christopher May (npub12pw…zvxn) but moved after that instance became compromised

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Last Notes

2026-07-17 05:37:19 UTC

There's a lot of speculation (here & elsewhere) about when the AI-related boom in the stock markets might be revealed to be an unsustainable bubble, leading to a financial crisis?
The key trigger will be an event that violently shifts the balance between investors' 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) and their (currently relatively down-played) view of global geopolitical risk(s).
Surprisingly, the US ongoing attrition against Iran hasn't done this, so what will?
#AI #geopolitics #politics

2026-06-15 17:28:47 UTC

As Timothy Garton Ash argues, if the British really do want to rejoin the European Union then they need to first actually understand what the EU is & does;
unlike last time, this time membership will not be a special affair in which we get to ignore aspects of the EU as we see fit; to rejoin we have to actually demonstrate why we should be members (again), and for our current political class that is going to be a bi of a challenge.
#EU #Brexit
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/15/britain-rejoin-european-union-needs-to-understand-it-uk

2026-06-15 17:19:31 UTC

As we pass the 10 year anniversary of Brexit & rejoining rises up the agenda, Jean-Claude Juncker (former president of the European Commission) tells the FT:
'I don’t think [rejoining] is possible. Because all of us, we are wounded to some extent by this . . . historic step the British have taken...
A majority of European governments would cold-shoulder this, because the British are very close to the US, whereas the US is not very popular for the time being inside the [EU]'.
#Brexit #EU

2026-06-15 17:15:49 UTC

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Yes, again as a saying has it: a loan of £1,000 is your problem, a loan of £10m is the bank's problem...

2026-06-15 15:12:25 UTC

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as the saying has it: its expensive to be poor

2026-06-15 14:57:19 UTC

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Indeed.... the banks love a wealthy borrower

2026-06-15 12:28:16 UTC

The Court of Appeal has found the proscription of Palestine Action is lawful, rejecting the (provisional) finding of the lower court, but likely pushing this up to appeal at the UK Supreme Court.
The key issue, apart from a claim the Secretary of State is best placed to characterise political groups, was the issue of PA operating in a 'covert' or clandestine manner.
The ban & arrests will now continue until the UKSC (also) has its say...
Not good news!
#politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gy927jx88o

2026-06-15 08:39:40 UTC

Q. given its practical difficulties & the growing realisation its actually a massive expansion of surveillance for the rest of the population, do we expect the Labour Govt. to deliver the social media ban for under 16s Keir Starmer has announced.
Or, is this just more declaratory politics that will see the 'ban' watered down as implementation difficulties become cleat, resistance on the basis of privacy & intrusion grows & the social media 'giants' pay for extensive lobbying?
#SocialMediaBan

2026-06-15 06:05:09 UTC

Yet more evidence of the Department of Work & Pension's inhumanity (should for some reason you need more evidence):
People with life long conditions (despite DWP 'guidance' to the contrary) are being given time-limited support & being required to endure successive Personal Independence Payment reviews... which is also adding expense for the DWP.
The callousness of the DWP lies in the embedded belief all claims are potentially fraudulent!
#DWP #disability #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/15/disabled-people-with-lifelong-conditions-facing-unnecessary-pip-reassessments

2026-06-15 05:27:58 UTC

The ongoing crisis engulfing the university sector, as Glen O’Hara (OxfordBrookesU) argues, is a lot less visible to general public than it could be:
'No one is going to do more than shrug as the university sector as we have known it slips beneath the waves. It has come to seem inevitable.... [But] just because something is not a story, that does not mean it is not important'.
The public will not miss a vibrant university sector until its gone.
#universities #politics
https://www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-collapse-of-british-universities

2026-06-14 21:41:30 UTC

So the first time round the Assisted Dying bill prompted a range of fraught discussions & disagreements and finally rain into the ground in the House of Lords.
Now, it is being resurrected as another Private Members Bill, this time sponsored by Labour MP Lauren Edwards.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out this time - people's positions have solidified, but will the cabal in the House of Lords be willing to block it *again*?
#AssistedDying
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/14/assisted-dying-bill-return-commons-lauren-edwards

2026-06-14 21:35:25 UTC

RIP Roy Hattersly.... who once famously said (and I'm paraphrasing):
'Without changing my views I seem to have moved from the right wing of the party to the left wing'....
One of the first to articulate the rightwards shifting of the Labour Party that has become increasingly clear since he said that many years ago, and despite also being part of the modernising, post-Micheal Foot grouping; which of course makes his observation even more notable.
#LabourParty #politics

2026-06-14 09:08:26 UTC

Good to see someone prepared to defend the (albeit truncated) reforms of employment law carried out by the Labour Govt..... but, can (will) Kate Dearden be able to push for more?
The clamour from employers that employment rights are too costly, even as executive pay rises & workers' are degraded by the threat (if not the actuality) of being replaced by AI, need to be resisted.
#workers #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jun/14/minister-kate-dearden-defends-uk-workers-rights-reforms-business-backlash-costs

2026-06-14 08:50:28 UTC

While the Govt. is lengthening the period before immigrants can gain indefinite leave to remain, it's also about to offer an 'invite only' programme by which leave to remain can be gained after only three years (two years less than current arrangements that stand, for now, at five years).
How do you get invited to go down that route? You need to invest a minimum of £5m in the UK (in a way acceptable to the Govt.).
Just to be clear:
we are selling UK residency rights to the rich.
#politics

2026-06-14 07:43:37 UTC

As John Naughton (Observer) points out there is no purely technological solution for establishing better online safety for young people;
as has been pointed out here (rightly & often), age-verification just ushers in surveillance of the entire population, while the products & services now regarded as harmful also have (very) significant social benefits for a range of young people using them to empower themselves or break out of the isolation of illness or prejudice.
#SocialMedia #politics
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/747/335/311/942/096/original/c62704be2f5c79bf.png

2026-06-13 21:38:44 UTC

Well, it looks like the arrival of James Murray at the Dept.of Health *may* have produced a deal which will end the on-going dispute with the Resident Doctors.
No more money this year but accelerated rises in forthcoming years (if kept to) may do it, and has led to next week's strike being called off.
Now much will depend on whether the RDs actually trust Murray more than Streeting?
#NHS #ResidentDoctors #health #SaveOurNHS
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9g1wgxng2o

2026-06-13 11:23:50 UTC

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Yes, of course: voting is terrorism = no elections... for whoever makes the connection (Labour now, or ReformUK later?)

2026-06-13 10:04:08 UTC

Some time ago I posted about Palantir taking Republik (a Swiss magazine) to court to force it to publish a series of counter statements (under Swiss law) to passages in the magazine's account of why the Swiss Govt. had repeatedly rejected the use of Palantir's technology.
Well, the court dismissed all but one of the claims & awarded the bulk of costs to Republik, noting that many of Palantir's proposed counterstatements in any case exceed what was permissible.
#palantir #technology
h/t FT

2026-06-13 08:46:47 UTC

The problem with having lawyers in the top tiers of politics (i.e. Keir Starmer) is by profession they're used to taking a brief & making the most of it, while pushing down (or even denying) any personal perspective(s) they may have...
But when you have a leader who is waiting to briefed on what direction to take, they become beholden to either the people who donate, or the people who speak the loudest (and/or exclude other speakers from the debate).
And that is where we are!
#politics

2026-06-13 08:08:29 UTC

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Which is also why I use the term 'AI & associated technologies'.... I'll be interested to see if we really are a generation away from AI sentience (25 years seems like a long time in technological development terms)

2026-06-13 07:32:20 UTC

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Yes, although the tech-folk here on Mastodon still mobilise some good arguments for why its overly alarmist....

2026-06-13 07:23:54 UTC

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Well, we're back to the Terminator meme, I guess....

2026-06-13 07:23:07 UTC

As Jason Okundaye argues (drawing examples from Northern Ireland's rioting this week), the Right has deployed images to stoke responses across social media in a ways that has so far received no clear counter strategy from the centre or Left.
Its certainly true that we live in an age of visual politics (and have done for some time), but while in this case its clearly advantaged the right, it doesn't to be that way, but we *do* need a better (visual) response!
#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/13/right-false-reality-toxic-images-riots-belfast-southampton

2026-06-13 07:16:01 UTC

And so it begins:
In Derbyshire a policeman has been discovered using AI * associated technologies to 'create evidential material in a number of cases'....
And you can bet across the UK's numerous police forces there are more cases of evidence manipulation & generation by AI that have gone un-noticed or been quietly ignored.
This may not be new (Police have fabricated evidence in the past) but AI makes it much easier & more difficult to detect!
#AI #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/12/police-officer-under-criminal-investigation-over-alleged-use-of-ai

2026-06-13 07:07:46 UTC

How do we know the Right is worried about the Green Party of England & Wales?
Because the Torygraph is telling more lies about Zack Polanski.
And just in case you think that's an exaggeration, here's Emma Monks doing her debunking on the claim Polanski said 'Food is too Cheap'... actually he said a lot of interesting things, but focussed on the cost-of-living & workers' pay in the light of our current supermarket dominated food system.
#food #greens #Politics #media
https://monkdebunks.substack.com/p/no-zack-polanski-didnt-say-food-is

2026-06-13 07:03:46 UTC

Four Palestine Action activists have been sentenced not on the basis of the convictions for criminal damage (through a jury trial) but on the basis their crime *really* was terrorism (a subsequent decision by the presiding judge).
This not only violates the sanctity of jury trials (the jury was not informed of this possibility), it also is a retrospective legal decision, essentially violating the Rule of Law.
Its a direct attack on civil liberties!
#politics #protest
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce950111xk7o

2026-06-12 14:52:12 UTC

The UK is in many ways a rich country, but it seldom feels lie that to most of, rather other experiences of the UK's political economy are more that its a poor country with a concentration of very rich people.
Stewart Lansley agues that this is because there's been 'a shift from democratic & social control over the economy to elite & unaccountable financial institutions & individuals' who help shape the economy *for* that rich elite!
#economics #inequality #politics
https://progressiveeconomyforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/01-SteeringTheShip-DIGITAL.pdf

2026-06-12 10:05:54 UTC

RIP David Hockney
David Hockney has died aged 88 (smoking until the end no doubt).
Few artists have managed to bridge the art world & popular culture so well as Hockney; his work was often both innovative *and* popular.
He will be missed, but his work will live on and be enjoyed by future generations.
I salute a truly great experimental artist.
#art #painting #DavidHockney
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/736/564/579/523/654/original/6c508ddc0fe9bf46.webp

2026-06-12 06:08:18 UTC

As a political idea, social mobility is based on an acceptance of hierarchical depiction of society.... which builds into its politics almost inevitable resistance.
In a hierarchy, for people to move up (upwards social mobility), others must by definition move down (relative downwards social mobility) to make 'room' for those rising.
People & families have always moved downwards in such hierarchies, but resistance to an accelerated (forced) fall can hardly be unexpected!
#SocialMobility

2026-06-12 05:57:02 UTC

A key element to the social sentiment(s) that keep capitalism working is a belief that hard work will be rewarded.... it also underpins consumer sentiments about spending (which drive 'effective demand').
But when young people increasingly don't believe this central (ideological) claim of the capitalist system, trouble for the economic status quo is coming!
If the young see no future for them in capitalism, then capitalism's future will change.
#capitalism #economics
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/12/young-people-fear-long-term-unemployment-work

2026-06-12 05:43:55 UTC

More the DWP undermining disabled people;
its management of the Access to Work scheme (which pays for support to help disabled people gain & maintain employment) has a massive backlog of claims, leading many applicants to either lose job offers, or finding that previously funded support has been effectively withdrawn (again causing loss of work).
As usual, the underlying problem is the DWP treats *all* claims as potentially fraudulent delaying processing!
#disability #politics
h/t FT

2026-06-12 05:37:49 UTC

A KPMG report intended to show how businesses were successfully adopting AI, was partly written with the aid of AI, and (yes you know this was coming) included a range of fictional case studies that emphasised the success of AI adoption based it would appear on AI 'hallucinations' not spotted by the report's human authors.
This seems emblematic of the problem we may have increasingly with AI; it tells us about how successful it is by degrading the information on which we rely.
#AI
h/t FT

2026-06-12 05:11:09 UTC

More evidence of the Department of Work & Pensions 'management' of disability support & its role in the deaths of disabled people.
As I've suggested before, its difficult to know whether callous, inhumane people are drawn to work in the DWP or the DWP inculcates them into a lack of compassion & humanity (or, of course, both).
The DWP is need of major reform, but our political class see the disabled as the *problem* not the DWP!
#disability #politics
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwp-deaths-overshadow-every-other-british-scandal-for-decades-mps-are-told/

2026-06-11 17:43:01 UTC

Here's the testament of a long-time NHS nurse on the current crisis that is engulfing the health service... as she says, it doesn't have to be this way & up to ten years ago really wasn't.
Of course, we know this crisis was engineered by the last Govt,, against background conditions that made it almost inevitable inherited from previous Govt.s.
But the key thing is to *actually* listen to NHS staff & not assume politicians have the answers!
#NHS #health #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/11/accident-emergency-long-waits-nurse

2026-06-11 08:10:31 UTC

As Roy Lilley (NHSManagers.net) points out:
'Patients do not experience separate targets. They experience one NHS.
Success should be measured by whether it becomes easier & faster for patients to move through it'.
This is right on the button; while seeming to offer a strategic handle on the NHS actually targets often distort & compromise the patients' actual experience of health care.
Too often targets are used to obscure a lack of understanding to the real problems!
#NHS #Health #politics

2026-06-11 05:52:04 UTC

Hmmm.... so in the BBC's quite useful overview of the Makerfield constituency ahead of next week's by-election, it is unsurprising that Andy Burnham (the Labour candidate) and ReformUK Ltd get the most coverage;
but in a lengthy survey only including ONE sentence on the Green candidate Sarah Wakefield hardly seems really to serve the interests of 'impartiality' or political balance (given the Green Party of England & Wales surge in national polling)?
#greens #politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg4dywykjeo

2026-06-11 05:41:24 UTC

Often when we talk about NEETs (young people Not in Employment Education or Training) as a 'problem' they are treated as an amorphous group (although we likely all know young people in this broadly defined group).
So, here is a series of case studies of a range of *actual* NEETs if you have the time & inclination to read; its a story fo a generation betrayed by austerity, technological shifts & (often) practical political indifference.
#workers #NEETs #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/11/young-ambitious-out-of-work-unemployment

2026-06-11 05:31:11 UTC

You'll be unsurprised that Tory & ReformUK Ltd MPs have increased their use of X (formally Twitter) while Left of centre MPs (including Labour MPs) have been moving to Bluesky; although interestingly Zack Polanski (the newish leader of the Green Party of England & Wales) has actually increased his posts on X.
Many would like to see the Left use Mastodon more but the issue here may be scale of audience (for MPs we likely represent a minor constituency).
#SocialMedia #politics #Mastodon
h/t FT

2026-06-11 05:15:45 UTC

What has been the result of the attrition against unions in the last half century?
Well, one clear answer seems to be that wages have declined as a share of GDP, which is the background to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis across many countries' workforce(s).
Some might argue the decline of unionisation is a correlation, not a cause, but if so they need to identify other major structural shifts to explain the reduction.
#workers #unions #economics
h/t Ian Hutcheon/LinkedIn (for chart)
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/729/741/730/210/202/original/7908e9632cfb02f6.jpeg

2026-06-11 05:06:20 UTC

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Enclosure of energy?

2026-06-10 21:27:10 UTC

As women voters are identified as a key group disenchanted with Labour & trying out the Green Party of England & Wales for size, aspiring MP & Labour Party Leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has come out backing the WASPI women's claim for recompense for the accelerated change in pension age which caught them out (costing significant shortfalls in expected pensions).
The only Q. is while this is easy to say before he's even an MP, would he actually spend the £10bn once in power?
#politics
h/t FT

2026-06-10 17:27:44 UTC

Normally, there is a clear norm against retroactive application of the law.... but the Q. is whether this also can be regarded as applicable to sentencing?
Four Palestine Action activists who have been convicted on criminal damage will find out on Friday whether the judge has decided that their actions had a 'terrorist connection' that should be reflected in sentencing (a possibility not revealed to the jury in the trial).
#politics #RuleOfLaw #PalestineAction
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/10/four-palestine-action-protesters-terrorists-constitutional-threat

2026-06-10 17:21:55 UTC

The New Economies for Eradicating Poverty website is a useful resource for the rethinking of economics.... which has been gaining quite a lot of attention.
This is (rightly) predicted on the idea that poverty is a choice (see earlier post of @npub1qeq…58yu latest blog), and a such offers a very different way about thinking of economics from the one that sees poverty (ultimately) as an economic incentive (on the poor to work harder).
#economics #politics #inequality
https://www.neep-poverty.org

2026-06-10 10:00:02 UTC

as @npub1qeq…58yu concludes:
'To a considerable extent levels of inequality & poverty are what societies choose them to be. But in democracies inequality & poverty are rarely major election issues, so perhaps it is more accurate to say that levels of poverty and inequality are what political elites and their influencers want them to be'!
Our political class have chosen this level of inequality - it is *no* accident!
#economics #politics #inequality
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/06/trends-in-uk-inequality-and-poverty.html?utm_source=follow.it

2026-06-10 06:13:53 UTC

Whatever is happening in Belfast, we can be sure that the Far Right has its hands in it one way or the other.... I'll leave it to others with more knowledge of NI to comment on the underlying issues & links to other local political tensions, but the very fact that is happening anywhere in the UK seems to me to be a warning about how ReformUK's increasingly malign influence on our lives will play out.
#politics #Belfast
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr47x99k5n6t

2026-06-10 06:04:09 UTC

Bite Size Economics No.9
'Corporate legal personality is a privilege not a right'
The origins of corporate legal personality (CLP) lie with the development of monasteries with a legal existence separate from their transitory members. CLP was granted by the state in exchange for a perceived public good.
This bargain has become obscured with CLP now seen a right; really it should be seen as conditional with an option of removal. Now that would be interesting!
#BiteSizeEconomics #corporations

2026-06-10 05:46:47 UTC

As Zoe Williams argues the World Cup is already revealing (or perhaps confirming) the pathology of the Tangerine Tyrant's administration and specifically its attitudes to non-US citizens....
Having a world look at how you deal with an international event like the World Cup may in the end be less positive than Trump hoped?
Not that many of us will be surprised!
#WorldCup #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/09/football-world-cup-pathology-trump-regime

2026-06-09 21:08:04 UTC

It time to say again:
THE ONLY DANGEROUS MINORITY ARE THE RICH
#politics #inequality

2026-06-09 20:25:12 UTC

Natasha Walter's column for The Nerve this week takes the Labour Party to task for their lamentable willingness to crack down (further) on protest.... and their habit of presenting this as a response to 'intelligence' they cannot share with us.
The current Govt.'s attitude to protest is one of the key aspects of the Labour Party's threat to democracy & one of the reasons their support is swiftly ebbing away.
#politics #protest #democracy
https://www.thenerve.news/p/natasha-walter-column-protest-palestine-action-sentencing-terrorist-connection-elbit

2026-06-09 17:34:49 UTC

Anyone who is the primary carer for a relative will have some recognition of the despair that drove Stefania Glowka to kill her mother (now convicted of manslaughter with diminished responsibility).
The pressures of full time primary care are sometimes almost unbearable, and while not condoning her actions, I have a lot of sympathy for why Glowka thought this was the only way out (she also attempted suicide).
Carers need better support, before this point!
#politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8re26zl7do

2026-06-09 17:25:09 UTC

As you can see Amazon is running rings round the UK tax authorities, maximising tax reliefs for building the infrastructure it actually needs to function, while also channelling much of its service income to off-shore divisions of the business (using perfectly legal, I should add, transfer pricing protocols).
So, of course they are price competitive; they're paying a lot less tax than your local retailers or even UK based on-line businesses....
#Amazon #tax #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/09/amazon-uk-arm-tax-credit-profits-tech-company

2026-06-09 17:07:19 UTC

Perfectly logically, but perhaps unpredicted by the virtual economy boosters, a range of construction & equipment corporations are seeing a real bump in their share prices as investors realise that.... yup, someone has to actually build all those data centres!
And so, once again (like the cloud) the services & technologies of the information age, are (of course) grounded in physical infrastructure and investors want a bit of that.
#infrastructure #investing #politics #AI #DataCentres
h/t FT

2026-06-09 11:47:23 UTC

Meanwhile in Makerfield a range of claims are being made by & about candidates seeking to win the by-election...
@npub1gpm…ajeu looks at some of these and quickly debunks them.
A small (but vital) service to democracy
#politics #Makerfield
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/fact-checking-makerfield-by-election-campaign-statements/?fsp_sid=4668

2026-06-09 10:19:03 UTC

As Labour considers a ban on social media use for the under-16's, so @npub1uqn…lhdy points out:
'A prohibition in & by itself is not a policy. It may be part of a (wider) policy, alongside the allocation of resources, administrative priority, guidance & “soft” law, publicity, and political leadership.
But to make a law against something is often just as effective as casting a spell against something'!
Its just Declaratory Politics (my term)
#politics #SocialMedia
https://theemptycity.com/blog/2026/06/law-is-not-magic-and-prohibitions-are-not-spells/

2026-06-09 06:02:08 UTC

Hyper-local intensive support for those 'some distance' from the job market seems to be having some positive improvement in the areas in which 10 pilot schemes have been run.
While this sort of intensive support is useful when done properly, what experience tends to suggest, is as (or if) this programme is rolled out, the level of funding will decline (as will its effectiveness as support is likewise scaled back) undermining its claimed benefit(s).
#unemployment
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/09/pilot-hyperlocal-job-support-scheme-jobsplus-england

2026-06-08 21:38:31 UTC

Nationwide is having a bit of trouble keeping its reputation as customer focussed, mutually owned building society in the face of the ability of its top executive to nearly double her salary while holding the regular staff's wages rises to under 4% this year.
Of course this is justified by bonuses & incentive payments, but once again is a disappointing picture of a management elite who over-emphasise their contribution to success & care little for inequality.
#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/08/nationwide-ceo-pay-package-bonus-debbie-crosbie-virgin-money

2026-06-08 17:29:00 UTC

The thing about free speech is that if you don't support it for your opponents then you have no argument for free speech...
While free speech should not be absolute (as is often noted there is no right to erroneously shout 'fire' in a crowded cinema) but it you think the limits are drawn by (and around) your own beliefs then you are not interested in free speech, you are interested in oppression & are no democrat (with a small 'd').
Without free speech there is no democracy!
#politics

2026-06-08 17:17:07 UTC

Last week, President Javier Milei of Argentina announced he plans to allow AI (non-human) corporations legal personhood, allow them to hold property & enter contract(s) as a legal individual (as 'normal' corporations now do).
Its already pretty clear that corporate legal personality (originally a privilege extended to enterprises contributing to the pubic good, but now seen as a business 'right') should be constrained not expanded, so, this is a worrying development!
#corporations #AI
h/t FT

2026-06-08 08:44:28 UTC

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yes fair comment; but if (and this is a big if), AI turns out to be a general purpose technology (like electricity), then these prospective advances will be further in the future as it will not be existing industries that harvest them but rather new (as yet unknown, or at least unexpected) businesses that actually find the 'real' productivity up-step

2026-06-08 06:14:11 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No.7
'intellectual property imposes scarcity'
Material property rights recognise & legalise an existing physical scarcity, allowing ownership to be recognised & transferred, but IP rights *construct* a scarcity that doesn't exist, to allow economic exploitation.
This means that without the law markets in IP really don't exist, but this also confirms the facilitative role of law in markets more generally. No law, no market (see also BSE 3)!
#BiteSizeEconomics #economics

2026-06-08 05:53:23 UTC

Be prepared for the Labour Party's approach to expanding military expenditure in response to a changing external security environment; we may be swinging from a form of Military Keynesianism to a more explicit Military Austerity.
It seems to jump-start the Govt.'s delayed plan(s) to expand defence expenditure, other state depts are being required to cut budgets (further).
Which just confirms that austerity will deepen not ease as this Govt. continues in office.
#austerity #politics
h/t FT

2026-06-08 05:42:33 UTC

Unlike previous technological revolutions, the AI 'revolution' is not just immediately impacting low-paid workers; while the evidence remains unclear there is a widening suspicion among the professional cases & service workers that AI is coming for their jobs.
This may shift the politics of regulatory response as politicians see more of their voters demanding some insulation/protection from the onslaught of AI & its associated technologies.
The AI backlash may be coming?
#AI #politics
h/t FT

2026-06-07 21:40:26 UTC

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If anyone does Branko Milanovic might....

2026-06-07 17:44:36 UTC

More evidence the Labour Party is heading down a cul-de-sac appealing to ReformUK Ltd voters (and sympathisers) as actually Labour is losing many more votes to the Left (and to the Green Party of England & Wales).
Of course, the notion that the Labour Party might tack left is now a damp squib, as even if they did, few would see this as a genuine attempt to reconnect with its past positions, but more a pragmatic (Starmeresque) manoeuvre to be reversed later!
#politics
https://theconversation.com/the-leftwing-vote-is-splitting-we-looked-at-who-is-moving-to-the-greens-and-what-they-care-about-284466

2026-06-07 07:01:29 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No.6
'Corporations are collective capital'
Economists reveal their bias against collective labour (unionisation) by presenting it as distorting labour markets & allowing workers to exercise (some) power over working conditions (and pay); seen by economists as 'inefficient'.
But, of course, this is exactly what shareholder capitalism does; limited companies are collective capital exercising power over investment.
But *this* is acceptable.
#BiteSizeEconomics #economics

2026-06-07 06:30:23 UTC

As Eva Wiseman points out in today's Observer:
'The question we should be asking is not who is allowed to use public toilets, it is: what are there so few of them? Why are local authorities underfunded? Why has a toilet break become a luxury? Why are we be distracted from the realities of life in a body, sa summer approaches fast? People just want to piss in peace'!
What we really should be arguing for is *everyone's* right to have more access to public lavatories, not less!
#politics

2026-06-07 06:20:10 UTC

Young people particularly distrust the police (more than their overall distrust of the institutions run by older people). Its also seems to be a particularly British problem;
while it may be difficult to get to the root cause of this distrust its likely to the way policing appears on social media alongside young people's own experiences of actions like stop & search.
But, if policing needs to be consensual then this looks like a major problem!
#policing #politics
https://www.police-foundation.org.uk/2024/06/the-police-have-a-problem-with-gen-z/

2026-06-06 21:30:11 UTC

Each time I hear US politicians claiming the UK is being 'swamped' by a flood of immigrants, I am wryly amused that they have no idea about (or refuse think about) how the USA was founded.... by a swamping of immigrants who destroyed the native (indigenous) population - immigrants driven by religious persecution & often seeking to better their family's economic circumstances.
Still why would US politicians be concerned with their country's own history?
#USPol #politics #migration

2026-06-06 21:23:22 UTC

Alison Downham Moore is writing about Australia, but this is widely true:
'When women report feeling herded into procedures they did not fully understand, or later discovering that pathology did not support the scale of intervention undertaken, this should not be dismissed as anecdotal dissatisfaction. It raises the question of whether medicine has relinquished one of its oldest habits – of treating patients not as persons but as units in a population quantum'!
#health
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/07/medical-misogyny-women-experiences

2026-06-06 12:03:28 UTC

Andy Burnham is casting round for ideas for how to fund a major increase of spending on social housing, within the current (albeit modified) fiscal rules set by Rachel Reeves;
A while ago, I proposed a social hosing bond (not unlike a war bond) that would direct savings & investment towards the sector from people looking for stable investments (and who perhaps want to see a rise in social housing).
While not fully developed you'll get the idea.
#housing #politics
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/opinion/could-social-housing-bonds-be-part-of-the-answer-to-the-housing-crisis/

2026-06-06 11:23:09 UTC

Here's a great idea for the North of England; a tap-in/tap-out arrangement across a range of transport networks, with fares caped at the cheaper level available for users.
One of the key issues across the North of England is transport (availability & price!)... if this raised use & thus demand for services (while capping costs) this would be an excellent benefit for the region's economies.
Lets hope this gets somewhere....
#transport #NorthOfEngland #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/05/oyster-card-north-of-england-transport

2026-06-06 06:33:42 UTC

Nearly a quarter of century ago I wrote a book that argues the information society (or information age) as it was generally termed, was not a new form of economy but rather would just intensify aspects of capitalism (specifically around worker exploitation & the abuse of property rights) that were already pretty familiar.
My view's not changed; the so-called 'new economy' was nothing of the sort; it was just an intensification of a form of US capitalism that stokes inequality.
#politics
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/701/763/163/054/331/original/b84f1f483c31ec54.jpeg

2026-06-06 06:27:40 UTC

Meanwhile in Makerfield Andy Burnham is focusing his public pronouncements (those reported in the media) on the Labour Party leadership & what he would do if he won the contest to replace Kier Starmer.
If anything was engineered to reduce turnout, I would think it would be the general lack of interest in the locality as anything other than a mechanism for national political ambition.
Of course, this is not unusual but does seem particularly strong in this by-election.
#politics #Makerfield

2026-06-06 06:02:20 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No.5
'The rich don't spend enough'
The reason 'trickle-down economics' doesn't work is that while workers spend most of their income (a multiplier effect then passes money from hand to hand maintaining economic activity), the wealthy 'invest' much of their money in assets (mostly property of various sorts).
This 'investment' takes money out an economy, tying it up in speculative asset markets, with no multiplier spreading it around!
#BiteSizeEconomics #wealthy #economics

2026-06-05 20:26:14 UTC

So, once again universities having been forced into a business model which sees them now dependent on foreign students are finding the Govt. is working against them....
Keir Starmer has apparently offered up a reduction in university fees for EU students as a sweetener for the ongoing negotiation around the EU/UK reset... it may work for Starmer & the EU, but for universities its one more bit of attrition on their budgets & will further deepen the crisis.
#universities #politics #EU
h/t FT

2026-06-05 18:28:23 UTC

We live in a society where carers are kept on the margins, not central to how maintenance of the wellbeing of the *whole* population should work.
'The problem for both feminism & capitalism is that mothers must routinely combine paid work & caring responsibilities in order to make a living.... women are navigating systems that position care as a disruption rather than an important and valued form of work and identity'...
Care is central to the future.
#politics
https://theconversation.com/more-joy-less-juggle-why-workplaces-should-get-on-board-with-the-value-of-care-280179

2026-06-05 18:18:40 UTC

Akiko Hart (Liberty) argues,
'In the run-up to the 2029 general election, we can expect to hear that the UK is in a ‘free speech crisis’. This narrative has long been peddled by those who want to lay the groundwork for repealing human rights laws & removing legal restrictions in a way that would effectively decriminalise hate speech'.
Protecting free speech is not easy; it is not an absolute & often interpreted in a partisan manner. But we should do better!
#politics
https://www.opendemocracy.net/government-must-defend-free-speech-consistently-or-risk-deepening-division/

2026-06-05 17:21:12 UTC

Once again it looks like politics is being *done* to the disabled, not seeking their engagement & views about shifts in the regulatory environment meant to protect them & support them to live their best lives.
Its a pattern; the political class always think they know best, even when those representing a group (here the disabled) suggest that listening before acting might be better!
Deprivation of liberty safeguards cannot just be wished away!
#disability #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/05/supreme-court-ruling-severely-disabled-people-deprivation-of-liberty-safeguards

2026-06-05 17:10:39 UTC

Nearing the ten year anniversary of the #Brexit vote, Jonathan Freedland has hope....
'it took the leavers 41 years, from 1975 to 2016, to reverse our first vote on EU entry. Rejoin is already the settled preference of a majority of Britons, 56% to 35% at the most recent count – and besides, politics moves twice as fast now. If that calculation is right & it will take 20 years to overturn the verdict of 2016, we should not lose heart – after all, we’re halfway there'!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/05/britain-lies-disinformation-brexit-bus-economy-vote

2026-06-05 07:56:29 UTC

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Indeed, so called 'fiscal drag' even worse among less obvious tax allowances (some of which have not shifted for decades) is a clear mechanism for raising taxes while nominally keeping them the same.... given how much else in Govt. *is* index-linked, its a pretty dishonest bit of policy 'inertia'!

2026-06-05 05:51:44 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No. 4
'When inflation is falling prices are still rising'
It's widely assumed that when there is a fall in inflation, prices are dropping but that would be 'deflation'. Inflation is a rate of increase, lower increases are still increases.
Moderate inflation allows nominal prices to shift & change in relation to each other (due to market & technological shifts) with less disruption than if prices were held steady! Moderate inflation is fine!
#BiteSizeEconomics #economics

2026-06-05 05:03:37 UTC

You'll be unsurprised that I concur with Jostein Hague's argument. He concludes that the:
'de-politicisation of economics has had unfortunate consequences. When economic decisions are presented as purely technical, this runs the danger of camouflaging politics as science... Economics is fundamentally political — it has never been, and never will be, a value-free science'
Which is why I remain a self-avowed political economist!
#economics #BiteSizeEconomics #politics
https://www.theglobalcurrents.com/p/economics-is-fundamentally-political

2026-06-04 05:59:00 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No. 3 (repost)
'markets are never free'
The idea that in some ideal world markets can be free misunderstands how markets work; they are dependent on property & contract laws shaped by the state (or in earlier times the local political authority).
Historically markets have operated without formal laws, but even then community trust & local authority set the norms for market interactions.
All markets are regulated the issue is how & by whom?
#BiteSizeEconomics #markets

2026-06-04 05:55:58 UTC

Meanwhile the US military extra-judicial killings of (supposed) 'narco terrorists' in the Eastern Pacific (and Caribbean) continues, with scant evidence that those killed are actually drug runners.
Yet more evidence confirming the long standing accusation that the US really is a Rogue Nation...
Moreover, as the real drug runners are using land routes, these attacks look more like theatre to obscure a failure to constrain drug supplies into the US!
#politics #drugs #US
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/03/us-boat-strike-eastern-pacific-ocean

2026-06-04 05:45:39 UTC

Picking up a common theme here, Aditya Chakrabortty criticises the long shadow Tony Blair casts across UK politics:
'More fool the people who treat [Blair] as a sage. But then what a sad, backward-looking government this is: led by a man with the political nous of Rishi Sunak, still scared of the ghost of Liz Truss & strangest of all beholden to Blairites, who themselves lived in the shadow of Margaret Thatcher'....
We need to step out of this shadow!
#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/04/zombie-blairites-british-politics-in-their-grip

2026-06-03 20:58:17 UTC

Many suspect that young people seeking employment have been hit by a reduction in 'starter' (entry level) jobs; research now suggests that adverts for these first jobs have halved in the last five years (with much of the reduction taking place in junior 'professional' jobs).
When employers have used up all mid-career workers with experience, this lack of early work for young people will be a future problem; a shortage of experienced 30-40 year olds.
#workers #politics
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/news/young-people-face-jobs-drought-as-starter-vacancies-fall-by-half-in-last-decade

2026-06-03 17:17:13 UTC

As Jason Okundaye argues, 'Nowak’s case could be pulled into [the] long history of policing failures; instead it has been spun as a nativist tale that represents the threat that immigrant & minority communities present to white British people'....
Both the Fascist From & Labour Frontbenchers are distorting this case for their own reasons, leaving the tragic death of young man a cypher for fictional narratives of 'two tier' policing.
#police #politics #HenryNowak
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/03/henry-nowak-britain-political-class-policing

2026-06-03 06:07:48 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No. 2 (repost)
'Money is trust'
Money is usually seen as a store of value or a means of exchange but these functions depend on its manifestation of trust.
We trust money is acceptable to others (in the form we want to use from paper money to digital payments); we trust its value is (in the medium term) relatively stable.
When our trust declines so does money's stability (inflation, barter exchange). So, without our trust money cannot work!
#BiteSizeEconomics #economics

2026-06-03 05:59:19 UTC

In the end Labour's problem with ReformUK Ltd may come down to commitment.... as John Curtice points out, ReformUK Ltd's voters are more likely to turn out to vote that Labour supporters, partly because they are eve invested in the Fascist Frog's political agenda.
Given the disenchantment with Labour's recent performance in Govt. this reticence to vote will likely only grow... the Q. is can the Green Party of England & Wales fill the space so vacated?
#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/03/andy-burnham-labour-brexit-reform-voters-britain-eu
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/684/639/540/646/048/original/9615e9c4600a2f92.png

2026-06-03 05:50:59 UTC

Henry Nowak's murder looks like a perfect case for the Right to further their claims for 'two-tier policing' egged on, of course, by the Facist Frog & Stephen Yaxley-Lennon;
The irony is the Southampton protestors would seem to be the sort of people who would have disliked him when he was alive; a final tragedy/indignity, is his death is being appropriated for political views that were unlikely his.
But, its also clear the Police acted very badly!
#police #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/02/keir-starmer-far-right-exploit-henry-nowak-murder

2026-06-03 05:36:47 UTC

Less than 10% of retirees will enjoy a 'comfortable' standard of living (£45k annual pension), with most of the rest reaching a minimum standard (around £14k) while a fifth may reach a 'moderate' level of income (just over £32k).
As debates continue about the triple lock perhaps the key thing is to be clear the notion pensioners in the UK are doing all right is a Westminster Village fantasy, driven by our political class' lack of engagement with the real population!
#pensions #politics
h/t FT

2026-06-03 05:16:34 UTC

The backlash against Palantir is widening, following organic resistance in the NHS against its software, the London Mayor's halting of a Met Police contract with the firm and publicly expressed concerns by commentators, yesterday the House of Commons technology committee joined the calls to reduce the use of Palantir's products/services, with a call for the Govt. to enact the break clause in its contract with the firm in 2027.
Can we rid ourselves of this blight?
#politics #Palantir
h/t FT

2026-06-02 20:50:01 UTC

Here's a mea culpa from behavioural scientist about their role in 'nudge' approaches to political change letting corporations of the hook.
Ive always been suspicious of 'nudge', not least of all as in its call fr personal responsibility for change, it also managed to absolve corporations from *their* responsibilities;
(in case you're wondering whether they have responsibilities - yes they do, that's what incorporation is intended to be a 'reward' for.)
#politics
https://theconversation.com/nudge-theory-was-all-about-taking-responsibility-but-it-allowed-big-business-to-look-the-other-way-278357

2026-06-02 20:19:17 UTC

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yes, my remark on the price rise was in the context of the 25 years of the chart & the change in proportion over the last coupe of years.... but yes, the short-term oscillation are about money being called back I'm sure

2026-06-02 20:17:35 UTC

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Agreed; the single price suckers many commentators into identifying a single cause (which, of course, is unlikely - it is as the social scientist say 'over-determined')

2026-06-02 17:44:48 UTC

So we've been watching the gold price spike & one consequence of that is that as a proportion of global official reserves, the share of US Treasury bills in reserves has dropped to 22% - that said gold has also displaced other currencies.
The key issue is whether this is a flight to gold by Central Banks or merely the re-valuing of their holdings in a market where gold has continued to see its price climb.
It *may* also be a further hint of the pivot away from the US & $
#politics #gold
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/681/738/069/466/413/original/fbde990afb1c9f08.png

2026-06-02 17:21:47 UTC

Aha, so now Kier Starmer is admitting that he uses the disappearing message function on WhatsAp.... thereby usefully disrupting the record of communication (in this instance around the Peter Mandelson affair);
nothing dodgy going on there; as he points out many people use disappearing messages... Yes, but none of them are Prime Minister.
Even if in the end nothing important was lost, we only have Starmer's word for that & to be frank that's going to satisfy few people!
#politics
h/t FT

2026-06-02 09:51:04 UTC

@npub1qeq…58yu explores the link (or lack thereof) between immigration falls, political commentary & the media... concluding that when people's professed opinion on immigration fails to reflect the very real drops in net-migration, then its partly because parts of the media have no interest in telling them, and partly because the Govt. does nothing to counter the Right's narrative, indeed has often adopted it.
If democracy is about information we're stuffed!
#politics
https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/06/immigration-numbers-and-media.html?utm_source=follow.it

2026-06-02 06:16:20 UTC

Bite Size Economics No. 1 (repost)
'interest is the price of risk'!
If a higher interest rate is being charged there is more risk of non-repayment.
This is why some people are charged more for loans & why some 'investments' are offered with higher interest rates.
Knowing this helps make sense of loans & investments; and is a useful scam warning
If an interest rate is out of line, ask yourself, why?
#BiteSizeEconomics #economics

2026-06-02 05:59:55 UTC

Andy Beckett argues for too long the 'requirement' to appease bond market traders' views about economics in the quest for 'stability' has been the centrepiece of UK Govt. fiscal polices... leading to (continued) austerity & the rise of Right populism appealing to those disadvantaged & impoverished by such economic policies.
As he notes the Green Party of England & Wales is already clearly focussed on how to shift away from this model, but can (will) Labour?
#economics
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/02/uk-right-bond-markets-instability-austerity-populism