FWIW, I've written to the editor pointing out the links between African Brazil and David Ricardo's famous trade theory... will see if they print it

The @economist.com piece about Brazil's African heritage is good to see - but they fail to note the link to their hallowed free trade theory... www.economist.com/the-americas...

Great piece by @superwuster.bsky.social on how the UK became a digital colony of the US by believing the "dream of the 1990s" and "the logic of free trade and globalisation" h/t @unlearnecon.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

Last Friday, I got to meet Benjamin Lipscomb author of 'The Women Are Up To Something'. He's in London researching his new book on the BBC. We decided to meet up at philosopher Mary Midgley's childhood home in Greenford, Middx. - where we got a personalised tour from historian Peter Hounsell

A year ago today... www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

Love this story about the long evolutionary history of kissing - it's 21 million years old, don't you know? Helps to chip away at some of the more wild 'Nature red in tooth and claw' claims out there www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thanks for joining, Agnes! Pleased that analogy landed with you

I've been thinking about this today

This is tonight at 7pm (UK time). More than 60 people signed up already...

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten. "I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

Nice, new review of Ricardo's Dream "If you are interested in economics, history, politics and world affairs you should read this book" michaelcoblenz.medium.com/simple-econo...

I'm saddened by the hypocritical treatment of the BBC - and agree with Naomi Alderman that it's an institution worth protecting

Next Tuesday 18th Nov, I'll be giving a free, online talk on imagination, models, and the making of economic knowledge for @economicresearch.bsky.social Reserve a spot & find out more here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-econom...

Nice pushback on the corporate propaganda we're pushed daily...

The recording of my talk about the philosopher Mary Midgley and economics is already online. Thanks to the whole @inparenthesis.bsky.social team & to @philosophellie.bsky.social, @drelizabethmac1.bsky.social, @amytaggart.bsky.social, @iangr.bsky.social for joining! www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYNC...

I got to see the brilliant @lukewrightpoet.bsky.social perform in Bath last night. So full of energy, verbal dexterity and invention, and an excellent mimic too. Hard to do justice to the show 'Pub Grub' in a few words, but...

True

I'm doing an online webniar tomorrow at 3pm (UK) with the wonderful @inparenthesis.bsky.social team on 'Mary Midgley among the economists' Looking forward to joining the dots between one of our best recent philosophers and the critique of mainstream economics More info & zoom link below 👇

Chris has been doing amazing work highlighting carbon trading scams of all sort for at least the last 15 years. So it was a pleasure to speak to him about climate, forest-carbon markets, and the visions of free market economists...

I might write something about this kind of comment (left on @unlearnecon.bsky.social recent video). I see no value at all in 'proving' in a perfectly contextless world that countries A & B could benefit form trading X & Y. What makes anyone think this logic then maps onto reality?

NEW VIDEO: The Death of Free Trade youtu.be/XsOYGt7EKG8

Me talking about David Ricardo & comparative advantage on the excellent @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social pod

THIS IS NOT A DRILL! My actual book launch event - which is only 6 months late - is at LSE October 13th, you can sign up here: www.lse.ac.uk/events/why-w...

Good video essay from @unlearnecon.bsky.social riffing on Ricardo’s Dream, about politics & power relations that exist alongside “free” trade and profoundly shape commerce. And the recent, mysterious “rediscovery” 🙄 of this fact by previously dominant states. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsOY...

I've listened to a lot of Pitchfork Economics over the years so it was a real pleasure to be a guest on the show. Listen here: buff.ly/jQUTct6

I had to deleted Bluesky app from my phone again... just get too sucked in otherwise & it's not great for productivty or my mood.

All political tribes can be hypocritical but the right's current level of hypocrisy on free speech is deliberate. It's an assertion of power not a blindspot.

"Man is not adapted to live in a mirror-lined box, generating his own electric light and sending for selected images from outside when he happens to need them. Darkness and a bad smell are all that can come of that. We need the vast world, and it must be a world that does not need us; a world...

New paper on Susan Strange's concept of structural power @bhaggart.bsky.social - one for www.susanstrange.org

This deserves to have way more than 6k views It's beyond time to move from economic horror stories to stories for life www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Yr...

Yuval Noah Harari dropping some truth here about leaders who built their careers built on division & distrust

The assumptions do so much work: "standard economic models typically presuppose that the question of peaceful coexistence is already resolved at the micro level (rule of law) as well as the macro level (peaceful international collaboration)." - Jakob Kapeller

That three major British newspapers jumped on the poorly sourced (ATF to Steven Crowder to WSJ) line about the bullets having ‘trans’ symbols (actually a, wait for it, Helldivers 2 code) is such a tell on what they really care about. They really need to apologise (they won’t)

Midgley on ‘theory-induced blindness’

Remember: There is nothing natural or inevitable about extreme inequality; it’s the result of an economic system that values wealth and power over human dignity and justice. It doesn't have to be this way.

Enjoying Zohra’s quick burst of an English accent at the beginning here. Great message & comms as usual

This is infuriating. What is the point of a Marine Protected Area if trawlers are allowed to keep ploughing it? Yet again, the government has succumbed to commercial lobbying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Congratulations to 'Africonomics' and the other shortlisted works in the British Academy Book Prize! (Ignore photo below which is last year's list - books in link) @britishacademy.bsky.social www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/british-academy-book-prize/

Super excited for this! The first talk ‘Midgley Amongst the Economists’ is on the 22 October by @natjdyer.bsky.social

ICYMI - I guest hosted an episode of @macrodosepod.bsky.social over the summer on my book 'Ricardo's Dream' Links below. Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7nYq... Apple: podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/r...

One of my favourite quotes from any neoliberal economist

I’m reading (and really enjoying) Ricardo’s Dream: How Economists Forgot the Real World and Led Us Astray. And thanks for responding!

Two years ago today, I got to visit David Ricardo’s home, Gatcombe House Still impressive with a sense of power & prestige.

CEO pay is up 1,085% since 1978, while typical worker pay is up just 24%.  Why do we always hear "we can't afford to pay our workers more" but never "we can't afford to pay our CEO more"?

The use of the US Magnitsky Act to penalise the judge overseeing the Bolsonaro trial in Brazil is perverse & a new low. This legislation was meant to punish serious human rights abusers not judges conducting trials. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

One of my favourite quotes

I’m late to this but… Dopesick is one of the best political/human dramas I’ve ever watched. Even if it did rip out my heart & stamp on it a few times. (Streaming on BBC iPlayer for those in the UK)

Thanks Blayne!

I just spent £30 ordering a hardback, gilded edge copy of Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. I hope he'd be amused.

Thank you - Ha-Joon Chang! “I remain an optimist. Two hundred years ago, buying and selling people was legal in many countries. A hundred years ago, women were jailed for demanding the right to vote. Progress never comes easily. You can’t simply hope that societies will evolve in the right…