Peter Williams
@petermwilliams.bsky.social
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📥 374
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Managing Editor, Prospect
reposted by
Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
5 days ago
Trump’s pooping fighter jet video conjures, as Freud put it, the opposite of civilisation: a fantasy of excretion without consequence, of the unfiltered id released from every restrain, writes Sasha Mudd.
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The politics of the potty
Trump’s defecating fighter jet is an emblem of a man in revolt against civilisation
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united-states/71453/trump-politics-of-potty
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
17 days ago
Zohran Mamdani became the Democratic candidate for New York mayor on a wave of enthusiasm for his left populist agenda. Atul Dev asks: why is the party’s establishment trying to stop him?
www.prospectmagazine...
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
24 days ago
“Description is revelation!” Oliver Soden reviews THE POEMS OF SEAMUS HEANEY, a vast new collection revealing a poet who got blood and mud under his fingernails.
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In the bogs with Seamus Heaney
For all the beauty of his work, a new collection shows that the Irish poet was rooted in darkness and mud
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/71227/the-poems-of-seamus-heaney-faber-review
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Peter Williams
Alex Andreou
about 1 month ago
It helps to be able to spell the country you say only you are competent enough to run.
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
about 1 month ago
In Jeremy Corbyn’s day, Labour conference was practically a lobbyist-free zone. “There was no point in going,” a veteran consultant told
@petergeoghegan.bsky.social.
But that has changed...
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Labour’s conference was thick with lobbyists
Public affairs firms, including those with ties to the party, were representing everything from oil and gas to defence contractors
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/labour-party/71214/labours-conference-was-thick-with-lobbyists
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Peter Williams
Tom Clark
about 1 month ago
A provocative & unsparing look at the difficulties of confronting national-chauvinism around the world by Ivan Krastev
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/lib...
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
about 2 months ago
A new ITV drama on the phone-hacking scandal, featuring
@arusbridger.bsky.social
played by Toby Jones, shows us journalism at its worst, but also how reporting can make real change.
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Me, Toby Jones and a timely reminder of why we need a free press
A new drama on the phone-hacking scandal shows us journalism at its worst, but also how reporting can make real change
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/phone-hacking/71100/me-toby-jones-why-we-need-a-free-press
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Peter Williams
Ben Ansell
about 2 months ago
In less jest - yes, it's good if universities can help students develop skills for the labour market. However, the pointless venom of the current government about one of the few world class sectors in the British economy is tiring, enervating and just plain sad. Get a grip lads.
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Peter Williams
dag
about 2 months ago
NEW Has the government overreached in using terrorism law against Palestine Action? A disclosed MI5 document indicates that the basis for proscription may be weak By me, at
@prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
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Peter Williams
Tim Bale
about 2 months ago
"Our country was founded upon the admirable principles of a moneyed elite spoon-feeding its beliefs to the ignorant and unwashed masses, and yet today that legacy stands in tatters....For too long, we have watched the God-given right to suppress free speech slip away."
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In Defense Of Mass Censorship
When The Onion’s editorial board convened to discuss the tumultuous events of the previous month, one conclusion became evident: The world stands at a crossroads. Two visions of our collective future ...
https://theonion.com/in-defense-of-mass-censorship-1848673776/
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
about 2 months ago
@arusbridger.bsky.social
will step down as Prospect's editor at the end of 2025. Our print & digital circulation grew 30% last year & he’s transformed Prospect into a flourishing multi-media company. Excited that acclaimed journalist Philip Collins will be our new editor.
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Acclaimed journalist Philip Collins to become editor of Prospect
Alan Rusbridger steps down following record circulation growth
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/press-room/71091/philip-collins-to-become-editor-of-prospect
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Peter Williams
Alona Ferber
about 2 months ago
Reupping this by
@petergeoghegan.bsky.social
in honour of Trump's visit
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/684...
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The ‘dark money’ linking Donald Trump and the British right
Some of the President-elect’s biggest donors have been secretly funding UK thinktanks
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/68486/dark-money-donald-trump-british-right-farage
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Peter Williams
Alan Rusbridger
2 months ago
The latest issue of Prospect is out today. A month’s worth of absorbing reads. Plus - to celebrate the magazine’s 30th birthday - we’re lifting the paywall for a couple of days. Feast yourself !
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New Prospect out now! With Zack Polanski the new Green leader
@benansell.bsky.social
asks is left populism the answe? Plus
@rostaylor.bsky.social
on the private school question, David Edgar on the far right's antisemitic ur-conspiracy, and
@susiedent.com
on the trouble with Scrabble
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
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Peter Williams
George Eaton
3 months ago
Clear pattern emerging: impact of new taxes on private schools, non-doms and large farms is far smaller than typically suggested.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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UK tax data reportedly suggests claims of non-dom exodus overblown
HMRC figures appear to indicate departure of high net worth people is in line with OBR predictions, report says
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/14/wealthy-non-doms-exiting-uk-overblown-hmrc
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
3 months ago
“I think [@alastaircampbell2.bsky.social and @rory-stewart.bsky.social] had maybe drunk their own Kool-Aid a little bit.” @theresthistory.bsky.social’s Dominic Sandbrook on Donald Trump’s election.
www.prospectmagazine...
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Dominic Sandbrook: “We’ll die before we run out of history”
‘The Rest Is History’ podcaster on why people don’t want miserablism—and what ‘The Rest Is Politics’ got wrong
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/history/70732/dominic-sandbrook-well-die-before-we-run-out-of-history
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Peter Williams
Alistair Green
3 months ago
New hotel EXPOSED! 😡 🦁 🏴
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Graham Thorpe, who would have been 56 today, is being remembered at the Oval, in support of Mind. I wrote on why the England batter meant so much to many of us and how he helped generations of cricketers to speak honestly about their mental health:
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/7074...
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Grace under pressure: the legacy of Graham Thorpe
He changed cricket—and many who watched him play—for the better
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/70742/grace-under-pressure-the-cricket-legacy-of-graham-thorpe
3 months ago
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Peter Williams
Dan Neidle
3 months ago
Henley & Partners’ wealth migration reports have been reported all over the world, both to prove both that there's a massive exodus of wealth from the UK and that there isn't. Our forensic review finds the data riddled with anomalies - and in key places looks fabricated:
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also, "it remains to be seen". any final sentence or paragraph containing that heap of nothing should be deleted whole.
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4 months ago
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
4 months ago
We asked former Labour minister David Blunkett and Big Brother Watch’s @rebeccajvincent.bsky.social whether digital IDs could modernise government—or condemn us to intolerable state surveillance.
www.prospectmagazine...
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Does the UK need identity cards?
We asked former Labour home secretary David Blunkett and Rebecca Vincent of Big Brother Watch whether digital IDs could modernise government—or condem...
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/70453/does-the-uk-need-identity-cards
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
4 months ago
As reports emerge that Ofwat, the water regulator in England and Wales, will be abolished, @oliverbullough.bsky.social investigates how privatisation left us with filthy rivers, soaring bills and broken infrastructure
www.prospectmagazine...
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How our water went to shit
Privatisation was meant to revitalise a public good. Instead, it left us with leaky pipes, sewage spills and rivers not fit to swim in
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/environment-news/70454/water-privatisation-river-sea-pollution
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
4 months ago
The UK’s filthy rivers are a national scandal and our water infrastructure is broken. Privatisation has failed, but why? @oliverbullough.bsky.social tells the sorry tale.
www.prospectmagazine...
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How our water went to shit
Privatisation was meant to revitalise a public good. Instead, it left us with leaky pipes, sewage spills and rivers not fit to swim in
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/environment-news/70454/water-privatisation-river-sea-pollution
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Prospect summer double out now! As per journalistic law, a double issue means a bumper issue. Highlights include
@oliverbullough.bsky.social
on the state of our water,
@isabelh.bsky.social
on the Dalai Lama,
@jamesbloodworth.bsky.social
on Matthew Goodwin plus Mark Gatiss, Brian Cox, and loads more
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4 months ago
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
4 months ago
As he approaches reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader has set up a fight with Beijing that will endure beyond death, writes Isabel Hilton.
www.prospectmagazine...
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The Dalai Lama’s last stand
As he approaches reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader has set up a fight with Beijing that will endure beyond death
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/70355/tibet-china-the-dalai-lamas-last-stand
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Peter Williams
Tony Iommi
5 months ago
Geezer and I on our way to the stage 🎸 Photo by Mark Weiss, ca. 1970s
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New Prospect out now! Highlights include Daron Acemoglu and Peter Hoskin on AI, Neil Kinnock on Labour's "paralytic caution",
@aloner.bsky.social
's extraordinary encounter with the deputy mayor of Jerusalem; and our new columnist
@benansell.bsky.social
on the state of the Rejoin movement
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Peter Williams
Sam Freedman
6 months ago
Looking at private school pupil numbers in the ISC census and they've fallen back to where they were in..... 2022. Not exactly the disaster many predicted....
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Peter Williams
Stephen Collins
6 months ago
What to Look For in Spring, with Kemi Badenoch
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
7 months ago
Long accustomed to moral and cultural ascendancy, liberalism must now defend itself against Trumpian values of hierarchy, dominance and submission to authority, writes Sasha Mudd.
www.prospectmagazine...
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What Nietzsche knows about Donald Trump
Maga isn’t mere chaos, but a new moral order based on hierarchy, dominance and submission to authority. To win again, liberals must remake the case fo...
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/philosophy/69647/what-nietzsche-knows-about-donald-trump
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Peter Williams
London Review of Books
7 months ago
‘It makes no sense for the government to subcontract its entire economic agenda to almost-certainly-wrong predictions by an external body.’ John Lanchester on the problem with the government’s overreliance on the OBR:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
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John Lanchester · Short Cuts: Labour’s Straitjacket
The Tories, in office, prepared a trap for Labour. It had a large sign on it saying ‘It’s a Trap’ and then next to...
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n07/john-lanchester/short-cuts
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In case you were looking for something different to get annoyed about,
@timsmedley.bsky.social
on water companies, sewage, executive pay etc
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7 months ago
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Peter Williams
The Alasdair Gray Archive
7 months ago
Huge thanks to
@danigaravelli.bsky.social
for her brilliant piece in
@lrb.co.uk
this was Alasdair’s favourite literary magazine to read so feels very special for the archive to be featured in it, link in bio to read the piece in full👆🏽
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
7 months ago
There are checks and balances to stop much of what Trump is doing. They are simply not being used by a compliant Congress, writes @davidallengreen.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...
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How Trump used emergency legislation for his tariffs policy
The constitution provides that it is for Congress and not the president to set the terms of trade
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69703/how-trump-used-emergency-legislation-for-his-tariffs-policy
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Peter Williams
James Ball
7 months ago
Trump’s abrupt firing of the two more senior officials in the National Security Agency – perhaps at the behest of Laura Loomer? – puts further strains on the Five Eyes alliance. But without it, everyone involved – including the US – is running blind.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united...
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New Prospect out now! Highlights include
@petergeoghegan.bsky.social
on the men funding Reform,
@rostaylor.bsky.social
on how Britain's universities were pushed towards penury,
@emmahaslett.bsky.social
on Maga pronatalism, and
@stephencollins.bsky.social
on Kemi Badenoch's unique leadership style
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7 months ago
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Peter Williams
Mike Galsworthy
7 months ago
Libraries are essential for many communities. But funding for them is constantly being reduced, and we are losing these places of knowledge.
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Our libraries are under threat
Libraries are essential for many communities. But funding for them is constantly being reduced, and we are losing these places of knowledge
https://northwestbylines.co.uk/news/education/our-libraries-are-under-threat/
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
7 months ago
"If America can threaten Greenland and Denmark—and Canada and Panama and Mexico—there is no inherent reason why it cannot also threaten us. Plucky independence ultimately means nothing to bullies who want to take things from you," writes DAT Green
www.prospectmagazine...
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Greenland: the first Brexit
How plucky Greenland escaped the European Communities only to end up threatened by the United States
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69608/greenland-the-first-brexit
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Peter Williams
Alona Ferber
7 months ago
"We don’t need rigid, arbitrary rules to determine acceptable levels of spending—real-world rules are already baked into the economy" Reupping
@samfr.bsky.social
's piece for
@prospectmagazine.co.uk
on fiscal rules after the Spring Statement
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/lab...
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Fiscal rules? What fiscal rules?
We don’t need rigid, arbitrary rules to determine acceptable levels of spending—real-world rules are already baked into the economy
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/labour-party/68338/fiscal-rules-what-fiscal-rules
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Peter Williams
Robert Colvile
8 months ago
If there is one chart that damns our fiscal establishment it is this. During a period of historically low interest rates we utterly failed to lock them in when issuing our national debt.
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Peter Williams
dag
8 months ago
Desperate stuff from US government, a last resort so as to escape from their own legal incompetence.
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
8 months ago
Growing differences in the way we eat reflect the polarisation of society, writes Julian Baggini.
www.prospectmagazine...
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Farming across the divide
Two very different events in Oxford are showing how to navigate our polarised world
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/business/industry-news/agriculture/69569/farming-across-the-divide
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Peter Williams
Tom Clark
8 months ago
Disability benefits: soothing words, frightening numbers New column attempting to cut through the spin
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pol...
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The devastating reality of disability benefit cuts
The government must face the consequences of taking support from the poorest, and try to find a better way
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/policy/welfare-state/69558/the-devastating-reality-of-disability-benefit-cuts
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Peter Williams
Alona Ferber
8 months ago
"It is surely worth at least pausing to ask whether this is a less harmful way to balance the books than, say, raising taxes in the way that the left would support, or reducing the formula for pension rises in a way that technocratic thinktankers might prefer"
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Peter Williams
Peter Geoghegan
8 months ago
Seems the Global Warming Policy Foundation loves Badenoch’s speech. BTW GWPF directors have given tens of thousands of pounds to Badenoch’s shadow cabinet And GWPF is funded by Tory donors Small world….
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/liz-truss-...
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Peter Williams
dag
8 months ago
NEW a fun piece by me What if… …Canada wanted to join the European Union? The law and politics of a hypothetical application by a country geographically outside of Europe At
@prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
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What if… Canada wanted to join the European Union?
The law and politics of a hypothetical application by a country geographically outside of Europe
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/the-weekly-constitutional/69530/what-if-canada-wanted-to-join-the-european-union
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Peter Williams
Alan Rusbridger
8 months ago
The fiercest advocates of free speech have a blind spot when it comes to pro-Palestinian speech. My take on the debacle at Columbia University and the Royal Television Society
www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/politics/fre...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/fre...
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Trump and Vance have revealed their hypocrisy when it comes to free speech
The shocking treatment of Palestinian protesters shows a double standard around freedom of expression in the US
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/free-speech/69534/trump-and-vance-have-revealed-their-hypocrisy-when-it-comes-to-free-speech
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"The legacy media is pure propaganda. You are the media now."
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8 months ago
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
8 months ago
“Emmy Noether is responsible for an idea so important that it ranks alongside Darwin’s concept of evolution.” Discover why this overlooked mathematical genius should be as famous as Einstein:
www.prospectmagazine...
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Emmy Noether: the genius who taught Einstein
Scientists are indebted to her today. So why isn’t she as well known as her frizzy-haired pupil?
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/69396/emmy-noether-albert-einstein-symmetries
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Peter Williams
Prospect Magazine
8 months ago
Rather than swallow the logic of Conservative pundits, Starmer should summon up the spirit of truly shared sacrifice that Keynes proposed, writes @tom-clark.bsky.social.
www.prospectmagazine...
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Rearmament doesn’t have to be on the backs of the poor
The PM and chancellor should ignore right-wing pundits and look back to Keynes in 1940 to see how to fund defence fairly
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/economics/69477/rearmament-doesnt-have-to-be-on-the-backs-of-the-poor
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