@[email protected] has moved

Economists & theories are rooted in an econoworld - a world which has never existed but is easily mathematically modelled - often it seems economists are not trying to describe the economic world but rather trying to get policy makers to make it look more like econoworld

2026-06-01 13:10:37 UTC

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Head trauma is a much more widely experience life changer than is often appreciated (especially among those who have been in a relationship patterned by domestic violence)

2026-06-01 11:30:19 UTC

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ha ha, great comment

2026-06-01 11:26:42 UTC

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Well I have the feditips instructions.... I'll see how it goes; but I have heard similar stories

2026-06-01 09:06:10 UTC

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so it seems - the admin a/c has been apparently dormant for over a year (I didn't notice)..... and in any case I had been thinking of moving to a UK instance - so this was the prompt I needed, really

2026-06-01 09:04:45 UTC

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Indeed; the degradation of Wikipedia will be a global social tragedy of major proportions

2026-06-01 08:58:20 UTC

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yes, there's an old economists truism:
If it cannot go on forever, it won't

2026-06-01 08:57:00 UTC

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ha ha, me too....

2026-06-01 08:56:49 UTC

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The instance is about to go onto a ban list & to be frank I've been contributing a small subscription to help with moderation etc. & it now appears that money have been just pocketed (as the admin ac/c is seemingly inactive).... so I'd been meaning to change to a UK base instance anyway to rescue confusion & now seems like a good time to do it.

2026-06-01 08:55:00 UTC

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Aha, interesting; I don't really follow Norwegian politics so took the story at face value; but really appreciate the context & likely explanation for how the story appeared.

2026-06-01 07:42:23 UTC

Friends & colleagues, I have been advised that my instance has been over-run with Russian chatbots & so this afternoon will be transferring to a new instance.
As a result later today (and possibly into tomorrow) there will be a hiatus in posting while I work my way through the transfer protocol.
I will post from the new instance when the transfer is complete - you should find there is no need for you to do anything if you want to continue following my posts.
More on this later
#mastodon

2026-06-01 07:33:15 UTC

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indeed it is....

2026-06-01 07:32:52 UTC

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yes, I think that's the very real danger that we have seen again & again - extremist groups look to the lonely as key prospects

2026-06-01 07:31:34 UTC

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Agreed; part of the green transition has also to be a transformation in the way markets are governed

2026-06-01 07:30:41 UTC

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Indeed, its the old (and more general) problem of uncounted externalities - a perennial problem in capitalism that seeks to profit from exploiting nature & shoving the costs into the future (see climate change as the biggest example)

2026-06-01 07:29:28 UTC

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No, you're fine; you seem to have it all understood... we're on the same page

2026-06-01 07:28:09 UTC

This week I've been mainly reading, no. 307.
Sabahattin Ali's novella, Madonna in a Fur Coat (1943/2016) is a tale of obsession & retreat that may (I'm not entirely sure) be a metaphor for the relations between his native Turkey & Europe in mid-C20th. It purports to be mostly the found journal of a Turkish man who spent a momentous year in Berlin obsessed with a night club singer/artist. It is a melancholy story suffused with woe, but remains a compelling read.
#books #Berlin #Turkey @npub1v0q…ayns

2026-06-01 06:04:48 UTC

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Indeed; I have often referred to this as 'declaratory politics' and is widely evident

2026-06-01 06:03:30 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No. 3
'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 #economics #markets

2026-06-01 05:54:47 UTC

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and it wouldn't be the first time....

2026-06-01 05:53:33 UTC

As Nesrine Malik argues, whatever other problems there are with AI & its associated technologies, in the end one of its most corrosive aspects may be its destruction of trust in what people write;
the widening suspicion that AI has been used to write all sorts of things (previously penned/typed by humans) is leading to a decline in trust in communication more generally.... with who knows what long-term consequences?
#AI #communication #books #media
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/01/ai-meaning-humanity-political-moment-trust-humans-over-machines

2026-06-01 05:46:51 UTC

When is a ceasefire for negotiations not a ceasefire?
When both the US & Iran continue exchanging attacks while claiming such exchanges are not violations of the ceasefire!
On one level perhaps this merely reflects the old Humpty Dumpty aphorism that words mean what we say they mean... but on another its one more sign that political/diplomatic discourse is at best unreliable as a guide to actuality, and at worst intended to be deceptive (or at least distracting).
#diplomacy #Iran #USA

2026-06-01 05:42:17 UTC

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As noted at the bottom of the post, its a story in the FT... if you can get behind the paywall here's a link to the article.
https://www.ft.com/content/5c8a871f-9a49-45f4-9ac0-543a608a5a9d?syn-25a6b1a6=1

2026-06-01 05:35:14 UTC

Its no surprise that Wes Streeting appointed someone with a range of private healthcare investments & directorships to head up Department of Health and Social Care in April 2025;
while, as required she resigned from these roles & declared her interests, the fact that someone embedded in the private health sector was appointed to such a role will confirm the view that Streeting's interest was to shift the balance in the NHS further towards private provision.
#NHS #health #WesStreeting
h/t FT

2026-06-01 05:28:09 UTC

In another hint of the slow but sure pivot away from the US engineered by the Tangerine Tyrant, it looks like the Norwegians, having rejected membership of the EU twice, are again (seriously) considering a move to join the EU in light of the changing global political environment.
There is of course 'many a slip twixt cup & lip' but even the serious consideration of such a move tells us much about how the USA's position in the global political economy is changing!
#EU #Norway #politics
h/t FT

2026-06-01 05:24:14 UTC

For all its reputation as a country of rampant free market capitalism, the USA's corporate profitability may be in part (by some reckoning 50%) dependent on the deficit funding of the state;
which is to say that the US is actually a massive corporate welfare machine, pumping public money raised on international bond markets (through sales & holding of so-called T-bills across the world) into the private sector.
If so, US capitalism *does* look rather different!
#capitalism #USA
h/t FT

2026-06-01 05:13:31 UTC

While the argument that loneliness has a detrimental impact on health & well-being is well made, the Q. is whether this should then be the responsibility of the NHS to address?
While I agree that society *does* need to do more about loneliness, this seems me to be an issue for other agencies not to be added to an overstretched health service.
(Many may suspect that this is one more social harm that is caused by the expansion of social media use?)
#loneliness #society
https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2026/05/26/loneliness-cost-to-nhs/

2026-05-31 21:19:36 UTC

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yes, IFTAS contacted me directly trying to get to them to answer. I had no ability to contact them either.... so now waiting to see what the impact will be

2026-05-31 21:17:14 UTC

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Hmmm.... not so sure; without a cap on asset prices (housing & shares) actually as has happened over the last decades, surplus credit flows into these areas bidding up prices - as noted before this doesn't count as inflation due to a statistical anomaly (asset prices are outside the 'basket of good/services' used to calculate inflation)... so higher state credit creation without controls on asset prices would further increase inequality & command the housing crisis

2026-05-31 17:25:22 UTC

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Indeed, the yield on already existing bonds is only of interest in that it drives the interest rates (yield/pricing - a subject of a Bite Sized Economics pst in a few days) of new issues of bonds.... so while the state can refuse to issue new bonds at a specific yield/price, unless it then expands credit creation (itself driving up yields) then it needs to still sell bonds.
The key issue is whether the state can wean itself off bond sales & what the costs would be

2026-05-31 17:22:47 UTC

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Indeed, while in purely technical terms the Govt. doesn't *need* to sell bonds it could just create credit directly (and spend it into the economy), the bond route has remained useful because the bonds themselves have a very clear economic role & perhaps more importantly mask the inflationary impact of massive increases in credit (see earlier post on inflation & housing)....

2026-05-31 17:14:23 UTC

More criticism is coming Zack Polanski's way; mostly its statement he made which (shall we say) were optimistic about his interactions & practice with various people & organisations.
but nothing has appeared coming even near the sorts of scandalous behaviour revealed about the Fascist Frog or others from the Westminster Village.
This underpins an argument that he's no better than those he criticises which may account for a dip in his opinion poll ratings.
The Q. is: does it matter?
#Greens

2026-05-31 15:05:37 UTC

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Yes, there's an old saying: its expensive being poor... and in the provision of credit that is *so* true

2026-05-31 15:03:46 UTC

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Claire, could you expand on the last point - is that around the waterways act of the time?

2026-05-31 12:50:15 UTC

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There were advocates for 'people's QE' or helicopter money at the time, but they were often accused of being unreconstructed Keynesians - which seemed something to celebrate to me

2026-05-31 12:48:38 UTC

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yes, the very wealthy, for whom US healthcare is world class....

2026-05-31 12:48:04 UTC

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Is that so.... I was sure it was true

2026-05-31 12:46:46 UTC

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one of my favourite rhetorical moves... Skinner's remarks that day were just brilliant

2026-05-31 11:30:39 UTC

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I fear for some on the Left the Soil Association's politics have been (sometimes) in the past not been that welcome....

2026-05-31 11:26:01 UTC

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thanks, another one tomorrow

2026-05-31 11:25:40 UTC

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The key issue here is how the creation of credit impacts on asset values & their treatment in the recording of inflation.... so, we are sometimes told that QE (a massive creation of credit) didn't really cause any inflation, but actually it did in asset markets (and continues to do so) but these (housing & shares especially) are not included fully in inflation measures, hence obscuring the role of credit creation (I'm not a monetarist but the effects are also not trivial)

2026-05-31 11:14:34 UTC

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thanks... interesting

2026-05-31 09:59:12 UTC

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Sounds like the continual carping between Morecambe & Lancaster (joined together in a single authority for over 50 years)

2026-05-31 09:57:43 UTC

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Yes agreed, our dysfunctional food system is largely (although not only) a figment of market control by the supermarket cartel

2026-05-31 09:07:11 UTC

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Agreed, the system seems engineered to encourage recidivism

2026-05-31 09:05:07 UTC

As Sue Pritchard argues, what we really need to do in the UK is reduce farming's dependence on fossil fuels, and that requires some rethinking of how farming is organised... from diversifying crop rotation to feeding livestock on pasture, from better husbandry of soil to non-fertiliser approaches to crop support, there are plenty of avenues of development.
This might also contribute to a fairer more democratic food system, and so would be a win for us all.
#farming
https://observer.co.uk/news/opinion-and-ideas/article/british-farming-has-a-choice-bounce-back-or-bounce-forward

2026-05-31 08:55:00 UTC

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Well, we know from previous cases of domestic violence leading to murder that legal limitations on contact are often incomplete, and so the victims fears they would be again targeted do not seem unfounded....

2026-05-31 08:53:38 UTC

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Yes, the judiciary are of course by up-bringing & networks, embedded in the political class & thereby share their ideas & prejudices... the idea that they can in any way be socially neutral was always a stretch, even if the norm of the Rule fo Law actually does rely on a certain political disinterest.

2026-05-31 08:47:24 UTC

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I agree with your final point & also as noted earlier am not convinced incarceration is working in general, but as you point out 'victims must be given support and comfort, as well as knowledge that this won't happen again'... but this is not what seems to be happening here.

2026-05-31 08:42:56 UTC

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sadly, I have to agree... which pains me

2026-05-31 08:24:10 UTC

Rightly ReformUK Ltd's donations have come under scrutiny (not least due to the dependence on a couple of key donors to fund the company masquerading as a political party); but now, this financial scrutiny has also swing round to its expenditure(s) (and its predecessor Brexit Party) - what have they been spending their money on?
From their accounts its apparently not clear (with a large hole of unaccounted spending). The financial dodginess of ReformUK grows by the day.
#politics
h/t Observer

2026-05-31 08:14:51 UTC

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Yes, I agree; but the wider picture is how do we stop the proliferation of victims? by finding a way to rehabilitate offenders & also by changing the environment in which perpetrators criminal choices are reinforced

2026-05-31 08:13:32 UTC

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aha, thanks for that; very interesting (and boosted)

2026-05-31 08:02:23 UTC

While many of us are critical of the lack of custodial sentence for sexual assault by young perpetrators (given the seriousness of the crimes & the impact on the victims), this is not to argue that imprisonment of young offenders is working... it clearly isn't.
The care, offence, prison, reoffending cycle suggests that for a key group of young people whose circumstances are already dysfunctional, society is failing to extricate them from an environment that encourages criminality.
#politics

2026-05-31 07:39:39 UTC

Q. as Tony Blair says the public would back a 'rethinking of healthcare', we might ask why whenever a 'rethinking' of healthcare is proposed its always about how the private sector involvement can be expanded, not how we might better fund & support both existing public provision & the woefully underfunded preventative aspects of public health?
Its almost like politicians talking about health had already been bought up by private health care providers.... oh, hold on.
#NHS #health #healthcare

2026-05-31 07:33:47 UTC

On one level, as a long term supporter of electoral reform (proportional representation) I am heartened that it is gaining a lot of traction in political pronouncements & the media in the last months.... however, as someone who worked for Charter88 in the early 1990s (campaigning for constitutional & electoral reform), I am cautious about this renewed enthusiasm.
We've been here before, but once parties gain power via First Past the Post their interest in PR usually evaporates...
#politics

2026-05-31 07:15:28 UTC

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Bite Size Economics No. 2
'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 (at least 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

2026-05-31 07:05:51 UTC

Jana Ganesh (FT) makes an intriguing argument: the modern condition is to prefer a raised floor to a higher ceiling.
From technology (worse performing technologies are still pretty OK) to mental health (we're increasingly more worried about reducing people's low moments than pushing the joyful euphoric ones), his argument has a certain plausibility.
But its less true in the politics of pay; yes we're concerned with raising minimum wages, but now also in limiting extremely high pay.
#politics

2026-05-31 06:58:37 UTC

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Yes, I have a T-shirt with the slogan:
'The only dangerous minority are the rich'

2026-05-31 06:57:59 UTC

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Yes, the lack of rehabilitation (caused by the ongoing crisis in prisons & the capacity for non-security attention to prisoners) is clearly a contributory factor, I agree

2026-05-30 21:29:30 UTC

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Oddly enough the first time I'd thought about Soylent Green for ages (which I saw when it was on cinema release decades ago) was during Apple TV's Pluribus, for obvious reasons (to avoid an immediate plot spoiler).... a great, now little seen film.

2026-05-30 21:23:33 UTC

The Green Parry of England & Wales is being urged by its current & past leader(s) to listen to what those who are considering voting for ReformUK Ltd. are concerned about; as Zack Polanski says, its inequality, so the GPEW will stress
'when multimillionaires & billionaires are taking more money than ever before, the problem is not someone who is fleeing for their lives & might be travelling by small boat. The problem is flying above our head by private jet'!
#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/30/green-leaders-warn-party-it-must-listen-to-reform-voters-concerns-to-tackle-inequality

2026-05-30 21:17:06 UTC

As Alan Milburn's review of the employment prospects of young people in the UK continues to garner attention & commentary, its no surprise that the Right are trying to lay the blame at the feet of migrant workers;
so, Emma Monks takes a look at the Daily Express & its use of dodgy 'research' by the Centre for Social Justice, which seems to have moved from the realm of 'sensible Tory think tank' to rabble rousing if this report is anything to go by...
#workers #migrants
https://monkdebunks.substack.com/p/how-do-you-turn-10-brits-for-every

2026-05-30 17:29:58 UTC

After last week you likely don't need telling that the UK is getting hotter, but just in case you weren't sure here is Met Office data on the clear trend (although of course the variation around that trend line is also considerable).
So, are new houses being built in a way that will help residents cope with extreme heat?
Is the country seeking to reorganise itself to counter heat spikes?
No... of course not; we'll just complain about the weather & carry on regardless.
#heatwave #politics
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/664/697/707/021/888/original/9d9fdc9c7bdeb6d3.png

2026-05-30 17:17:35 UTC

Jess Phillips is rightly angry about growing number of cases where perpetrators' interests seem to have been prioritised over those of rape victims.
'We are essentially asking the girls in Fordingbridge, and now these new cases reported in the Guardian, to essentially suck it up for the sake of the perception of what is best for the perpetrators. I think absolutely this all needs looking at'!
#politics #SexualAssault
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/30/sexual-abuse-victims-children-jess-phillips-sentencing-guidelines

2026-05-30 11:56:11 UTC

Bite Sized Economics No. 1 (remix)
'interest is the price of risk'!
If a higher interest rate is being changed 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?
#BiteSizedEconomics #economics

2026-05-30 11:50:01 UTC

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Agreed... but of course not a popular view with the managers who think the staff are (essentially) stupid, unlike the managers who are highly skilled & deserving of bonuses

2026-05-30 11:48:41 UTC

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Ha ha, yes that *would* be refreshing... if ultimately depressing

2026-05-30 11:45:49 UTC

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I think it was meant to be 'many of us'... well, that's what I've corrected it to - as always much appreciate the typo spot

2026-05-30 11:43:18 UTC

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Likely so, but the key issue is the not in that having committed this horrible crime, the lads lives shouldn't be ruined by any just punishment, at the same time that the girls lives have been ruined is treated as something that they will just have to deal with

2026-05-30 11:41:24 UTC

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Here is a link to the article, and you can judge for yourself if you can get round the paywall...
https://www.ft.com/content/2205e2d0-50dc-4e80-9bf7-78d0272276c0?syn-25a6b1a6=1

2026-05-30 11:39:23 UTC

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Indeed, the long shadow of Thatcher has shaped what acceptable tax is....

2026-05-30 11:38:26 UTC

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Indeed, but in these cases, women

2026-05-30 08:30:18 UTC

Is the precarious character of contemporary work & economic life fort many the driver of political change?
Guy Standing has been saying this for a while in various ways, but you'll still find his latest for @npub1me6…lgcf a clear statement of a plausible analysis.
#workers #politics
https://www.opendemocracy.net/the-precariat-election-ignoring-class-and-insecurity-imperils-labour/?ref=weekly-newsletter

2026-05-30 08:28:03 UTC

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yes, when we stopped calling it personnel we were onto a losing streak

2026-05-30 08:27:33 UTC

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At the least....

2026-05-30 08:27:11 UTC

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agreed! (and boosted)

2026-05-30 08:26:30 UTC

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yup, sounds like what I saw when i was involved in HE/FE liaison

2026-05-30 08:25:41 UTC

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indeed, which is off ours another aspect of the same problem, as you imply

2026-05-30 07:56:08 UTC

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Its all about a balance of harms... & right now it looks like the arm to the girls/victims is being discounted

2026-05-30 07:26:27 UTC

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Well, that may be true, sadly....

2026-05-30 07:26:06 UTC

Just in case you thought the lamentable case of teenage rapists escaping prison was an isolated case of apparent disregard for the (lifetime of) harm done to their victims; The Guardian has found three more cases in the North East of England.
This emphasis (again) that there is something wrong in how the justice system tis weighing the plight of the victims in rapes against the 'damage' to the future of the young male attackers!
#SexualAssault #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/29/teenage-boys-rape-sentencing-youth-courts

2026-05-30 07:22:19 UTC

Bill Jackson (in a letter to the Guardian) neatly sums up why many - most? - of use would like to hear a lot less from Tony Blair!
'It is now more apparent than ever that Blair belongs very firmly to the right of the political spectrum, where the creation of wealth is prioritised in favour of an elite of which he is a part, with any attempt at a fairer society to be postponed until an indeterminate future date when we might be able to afford it'!
#politics
https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/116/662/317/024/318/606/original/0ea4f64518266b0d.png

2026-05-30 07:18:02 UTC

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Yes, politicians in Tehran a couple of months ago were citing the Ukrainian experience of security guarantees as a reason not to trust any assurances by the US....

2026-05-30 07:17:07 UTC

As we ponder the implications of Alan Milburn's report on youth employment & education, might the Dutch have a better way.
One of its key elements is the value put on technical education; of course, the UK has a perfectly workable technical & vocational education sector, but Further Education has been starved of funds for decades reducing it to a shadow of what it could be.
Certainly the UK's higher Education crisis is clear, but its FE crisis is even worse!
#workers
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/29/netherlands-britain-youth-jobs-crisis

2026-05-30 07:10:55 UTC

You'll be unsurprised the police & security services are trying to infiltrate Palestine Action... leading one to wonder whether other approaches were more successful...
Certainly both the police & security services have plenty of form (as one would expect) for such approach to protest group members... and so, of course, the publicity (handled for them here by the Guardian) does helpfully do the work of seeding mistrust into group members.
#PalestineAction #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/30/manchester-police-tried-recruit-spy-palestine-action

2026-05-30 06:58:25 UTC

It looks like the Green Party of England & Wales are looking to assemble a core of commitments that would remain non-negotiable in any future coalition discussions (i.e. after an inconclusive election).
For those who have recently joined (or now support) the GPEW on its reinvigoration under Zack Polanski, this may be a moment of considerable importance; for longer term Greens the fear may be what (if any) longer term environmental policies *don't* make into the core.
#Greens #politics
h/t FT

2026-05-30 06:53:26 UTC

Although he subsequently apologised for the phrasing, Bill Winters (CEO, Standard Chartered), has introduced the phrase 'lower-value human capital' in to public discourse....
If you ever wanted an example of the contempt that our executive business class have for ordinary workers, this would be it... in just four words, Winters summed up the way the top table in most firms seem to see their workforce.
The inhumanity of the capitalist class is not new, but increasingly brazen!
#workers
h/t FT

2026-05-30 06:49:26 UTC

The problem the Tangerine Tyrant has in extricating the US from his ill-advised attacks (in consort with Israel) on Iran, is whatever deal he offers (and the current one looks on one level quite 'generous') is that the leadership in Tehran just does not trust the US (and to be fair, with good historically based reason).
What the world may be about to encounter is the very real impact of the decline of residual trust in diplomacy that the Orange one has engineered.
#politics #Iran
h/t FT

2026-05-30 06:44:05 UTC

As another university (Sussex) bombards staff with at risk of redundancy notices, ahead of try to shed 200 staff, this summer looks grim for higher education.
The problem with the legal requirement to tell staff they've been allocated to the pool of potential redundancy, is that universities now seem to be using it as a disciplinary measure.
They could first do the work to decide exactly which roles are at risk rather than start from the position *all* academic staff are!
#universities

2026-05-29 15:04:03 UTC

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that's a pretty good quick tour of MMT.... the only thing missing (but also from MMT) is the constraints on public money creation (fiscal constraints) that while in theory can be ignored, practically cannot due to their knock-on effects.... but that (to me) has always been MMT achilles heel.
The model the credit creation can be non-inflationary (using QE as an example only works if one - like the ONS - ignores house prices).

2026-05-29 12:59:50 UTC

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Yes, I'd agree but certainly the G & the I are part of that eco-system even if they claim to be critical of it

2026-05-29 11:35:23 UTC

So looks like Bite Size Economics is a goer.... I'll need to organise it, but it will appear as a thread (thanks @npub1npw…t4lp for the suggestion/reminder) and with a # (see below) and will be regular (although possibly not daily). I'll get under way with it this weekend & thanks to all my Mastodon friends for all the positive feedback.
It will start this weekend with a remix for the interest as the price of risk post from yesterday.
#BiteSizeEconomics #economics #politics

2026-05-29 11:31:03 UTC

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actually Emeritus Professor of Political Economy (but I've always been friendly towards & influenced by sociology)

2026-05-29 11:20:55 UTC

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yes, leaving 'battered' in, i think 😀

2026-05-29 10:51:35 UTC

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Interesting issue; of course most 'new' jobs appear with small new firms, so that would make sense

2026-05-29 10:50:38 UTC

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The one future issue may be how long the GPEW will be to remain insurgents unsullied by Westminster as they gain more MPs....

2026-05-29 10:48:56 UTC

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Ha ha, just the easy requests, then

2026-05-29 10:47:55 UTC

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That may be the case; its a long time since the mainstream media battered with a straight bat on these sort of political issues - as it is I think I'm right in saying the local party will make the decision, I assume on the local political merits?