In our latest Centre for Democratising Work interview, Amelia Horgan spoke to @brunoleipold.com about his book, CITIZEN MARX, and Marx and republicanism. Read here: www.common-wealth.org/centre-for-d...

Levy review 👇

Any MP who was laughing about prisoners who are on hunger strike should use the Christmas break to consider whether this is who they want to be and how they want to spend their time on the Earth.

Only took three months for the US to weaponize the US-UK Tech deal: "British officials on Monday confirmed the US suspended the deal last week, with one saying the Trump administration was pushing for UK concessions in areas of trade outside the tech partnership." www.ft.com/content/afd4...

This is a since-deleted LinkedIn post from the marketing agency that created the since-deleted AI-generated McDonalds Christmas ad, and all I can think of is how the energy consumption must've been about on par with a small suburb or heavy industrial load to produce 30 seconds of slop everyone hated

Super cool (and important) work from Eleanor Shearer @cmmonwealth.bsky.social visualising-extractive-capitalism.common-wealth.org

Stuck on remand for over a year, political prisoners' demands for bail and a fair trial are concessions the government could make today. Yet it's entirely possible this callous government will risk the lives of those who are not convicted of a crime and who – unlike Elbit – pose no threat to anyone

Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature, is among the most clarifying books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Really enjoyed my conversation with @alybatt.bsky.social — we cover nature, value, feminist economics, existentialism, freedom and more live now!

"Google partnering with the government to explore how to refine its own Gemini model may or may not benefit teachers and pupils, but it will undoubtedly benefit Google.” 🔥 from @imogen-parker.bsky.social on UK government's new Google DeepMind tie-up www.ft.com/content/b20f...

Gave a talk this morning about how AI FOMO isn't a strategy and several Qs afterwards were asking if may be FOMO *should* be the driving force. But if 89% of the public think proven safety should come first, then it feels like a good idea to respect that

not to be a massive bore but in these times of A) received inter-gender polarisation and b) AI sloppified media/textual offerings it does feel insane to keep chiding men for... reading books www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

🎄All we want for Christmas is for AI regulation to work for people and society. Our new polling shows the UK public are concerned that tech companies’ needs are being prioritised over their own when it comes to AI regulation. Read the full findings ⬇️ www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/policy-brief...

"VC strategy thrives on rapidly scaling up growth for extraordinary returns... VC investment, especially in defence, comes with its own dynamics." Sharp analysis from @elkeschwarz.bsky.social on UK government's growing entanglement with US venture capital: transitionsecurity.org/venture-capi...

"This is the disaster of the the Starmer administration so far - preemptively absorbing the most simplistic account of conventional economics, so as to endlessly signal their conformity to what they imagine the lowest common denominator of conservative financial opinion to be..." - Adam Tooze

Submissions for ISSUE #3 – AIRBORNE, are now open! We are accepting pitches exploring the importance of air in the climate and ecological crises, its role in environmental history and activism, and its future on a transformed planet. More details 👇

This (from: www.ft.com/content/75ce...) is something you can *feel* if you are in the UK, especially if you've experienced living abroad. But infuriatingly successive governments and our entire media are somehow absolutely committed to suggesting anyone who wants to change this is the devil...

Remember integration? That thing voters "really, really" care about? Where's that in the latest plans? My column:

Ahead of the Budget, good to see this briefing from @acadsocsciences.bsky.social & @fairness.bsky.social, looking at how high levels of inequality hold back the UK economy. The briefing draws on the report on wealth taxes that Howard Reed and I published last month. 1/2👇 acss.org.uk/publications...

Another absolute banger in our war/climate/geopolitics series

turns out when you legitimate a taste for bigotry people gravitate to the parties that serve it as an entree rather than as a garnish

Is the Office for Budget Responsibility anti-democratic? blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

This Labour government are (frustratingly) making my work more and more relevant every week. Five years ago, I argued that temporary protection policies for refugees are grossly unjust, and here we are making things worse for them again. philpapers.org/rec/BUXJIW

With impeccable timing, "Labour Together" sharing analysis that shows that immigration only tops issue-polls because politicians won't stop banging on about it. What actually matters to people's lives is the soaring cost of living.

"The problem is this Labour government, in which Streeting is only a more compelling character with just as few ideas, competencies or materially defining projects." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Not everyone is unhappy about the Government's descent into anti-refugee politics

Join us!

Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...

Congratulations to @brunoleipold.com, whose book #Citizen #Marx has been awarded the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize which is given "for a book which exemplifies the best and most innovative new writing in or about the Marxist tradition". www.deutscherprize.org.uk/wp/

Absolute must read on the AI bailout-in-progress: apparently it's not enough that lifetimes of human ingenuity and creativity have been stolen and enclosed to create generative AI and balloon billionaire wealth - much more public looting is in store...

Terrific new role helping to develop Ada's research practice:

I got to write about our global waste problem for @lrb.co.uk, in dialogue with 3 really good books, by @alexclapp.bsky.social, Oliver Franklin-Wallis and John Scanlan. You can read it here:

It is really getting harder and harder to glibly dismiss the data centre driven growth of demand in the US, which is causing coal growth domestically and impacting the entire planet's emissions Yes you can present it with a huge denominator to make it look small but that doesn't change the dynamics

We @connectedbydata.org are planning a conference next year (early March, in Manchester) about people, power and participation in (public sector) data and AI. If you were coming, who would you really like to hear from as a keynote speaker to kick off the day?

Great collection -- with @halcyene.bsky.social editing.

For the latest episode of @the-breakdown.bsky.social podcast (we're back!), I spoke to @sabrinafernandes.bsky.social about Brazilian ecological politics, developmentalism and her essay "Lula's Dilemma" Listen below / wherever you get your podcasts 🌳🍃 www.break-down.org/lulas-dilemm...

Most of the discussion around America's AI strategy abroad has focused on the AI Action Plan - but perhaps more important was the Executive Order on exporting the AI stack. 🧵

A piece I wrote about the manufactured ‘impartiality’ panics that greeted Tim Davie’s arrival just over 5 years ago, when GB News was still a glint in Robbie Gibbs’ eye www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Legal experts, former government ministers and an ex-MI6 director criticise the process used to ban Palestine Action. An independent commission said the definition of terrorism was too broad and parliamentary oversight and judicial scrutiny was needed. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Journalists keep repeating the BBC is biased "in favour of trans rights". But: 1. Trust in BBC/wider media amongst LGBTQ+ people is low—scant evidence of pandering. 2. Transphobia largely a UK-US derangement. Should a global news org "both sides" rights on which there is a settled intl consensus?

I agree with @arusbridger.bsky.social about BBC governance. Although v hesitant about another rearrangement, the single corporate-style board is massively flawed, not least because there needs to be some distance for the governors/board members from editorial decisions

Oh no! Who’s going to snap at the doormen now?

Can't say how thrilled I am that this grant will allow @welpita.bsky.social @uditbhatia.bsky.social and I to properly investigate popular government at a moment when representative governments are increasingly captured by oligarchic elites

Evidence that being "gender critical" has nothing to do with listening to women. Women have made it clear that trans women are welcome in the ladies' pond at Hamstead Heath, and now a small group of transphobes is going to court to override them.

I'm on @macrodosepod.bsky.social alongside great peeps, for an episode on war, climate crisis, and the economy. My own remarks focus on the rise of state capitalism with a military-imperial twist, at the very heart of US empire open.spotify.com/episode/4un1... @campolis.bsky.social

The "why do you care so much about the NY mayoral election" takes strike me as pretty obtuse. The world's sole superpower is being taken over by fascists, and this was part of the struggle to define what the opposition to that will look like. That obviously has major implications for all of us?

“Data centers are like warehouses filled with machines and cables, and there's little need for workers”

Zohran Mamdani: "I am Muslim. I am a democratic-socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this."

Do not, under any circumstances, go short ontology.

New book supported by the @nuffieldfoundation.org on what philosophy can contribute to public life. Contributors include @jowolff.bsky.social @tariqmodood.bsky.social @lornographic.bsky.social @martinoneill.bsky.social @profclarechambers.bsky.social www.nuffieldfoundation.org/research/our...