The Iranians are telling people that they will never give up their nuclear material for American security guarantees because Trump is not honoring the security guarantees that America made to Ukraine when Ukraine gave up their nukes.

Not sure it's the fault of Bluesky or anyone on it that some people/institutions chose to stay on the fascist hellsite long after they should have, sensibly, left it. Likewise I don't particularly care if the rest of the world acknowledges this place exists, I'm here for the hangout with my pals.

Yep. I didn’t leave X the day Musk bought it, though I considered doing so. But it quickly became apparent that there could be no “stay and fight to win.” It was more like “stay and fight, cook your own brain in slime, probably end up significantly less mentally well than you were, and still lose.”

When I was on Twitter it showed the number of views on your posts (a feature BlueSky lacks unless I’ve missed it). Shortly after Musk took over, my viewing numbers crashed, even though my posts were as witty, wry, and wise as before. Seemed pointless to stay as the fight was stacked against us.

Just spectacular. Exactly the same threat the guy tried pulling on Alastair Darling in 2009. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Fundamentally, a lot of the problems in British politics comes from a political generation being forced to do something they think is a bad idea, to appease voters they think are wrong with beliefs they don't really understand.

Of course he did.

It is ridiculous to pretend X moved to the right because people left and not because it got bought by a neo-nazi who deliberately runs it with the overt goal of promoting his views and suppressing those he dislikes.

It's publication day for Moral Economics. You can buy it now at American bookstores, and you can still pre-order it in England at a discount, from independent bookstores #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/05/mora...

When the last person I want to hear about is also the largest presence on the platform, why the hell would I stay?

Running out of ideas are they? I am going to rename my campaign to get the elder daughter to eat fruit "Operation Fruithammer". I expect much from this

In case you have wiped 2019 from your brain, remember that every week was ‘this is the week that Theresa May is doomed’ for about five months straight. And then she was.

I think it's easy to avoid this conclusion because it's kind of made up. We are saying that <1m posters per day spread across the entire world, has worsened US politics? Come on.

One Linkedin hack I can recommend is to avoid accepting a connection with someone with a clearly AI-enhanced headshot. The pitch for their app or program or consulting will come immediately upon acceptance.

Sony has acquired a 45,000-song music catalog. Residents in Barcelona are protesting a new urban plan. Saudi Arabia launched strikes on Iran. The Bahamas is holding a snap election today. OpenAI has purchased an AI consultancy firm. Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke has died at age 29.

It's hard to believe, but this really is the official position of our country's Very Serious Financial Analysts: "it would simply be too horrible if the strait stays closed, so ... [closes eyes tight, taps heels together] ... it won't!"

Forthcoming in the AER: "Talent Hoarding in Organizations" by Ingrid Haegele.

The only problem with changing the leadership is that it might lead to another []onomics. I don't think I can take that.

NEW: Rhun ap Iorwerth is officially the new First Minister of Wales, for Plaid. Huge moment for them, for Welsh Labour and for Wales. First non-Labour FM since devolution in 1999.

Apparently Labour MPs got an email from Tony Blair sending them a link to this story: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

Providing evidence that presumed-consent laws increase organ donation only when strictly enforced and family veto power is limited; weak opt-out regimes show negligible or even negative effects, from @alex8chan.bsky.social, Ayush Gupta, and Yetong Xu www.nber.org/papers/w35169

my god what is happening in there

It’s about attacking up either wing and being swift in transition on the counter

"yes it's a beautiful 7 bed Grade II listed Manor House situated on the River Avon and enjoying 54 acres of gardens and grounds" "just one question" "no you can't change the village name" www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/8...

The cost of living crisis and our low growth are two symptoms of the same problem: an economic structure that hasn’t been working for a long time. We need to take on the root causes of those costs.

This was the episode when I think the penny dropped for many people

New NBER WP on California fast-food minimum wage. Link in next post.

UK JUNIOR MINISTER JESS PHILLIPS RESIGNS

Clowns. Fiscal credibility matters. We might have more if MPs knew the difference between percentage points and basis points.

Driving tests for Lime Bikes and e-scooters.

CityAM’s Mauricio Alencar reports that Andy Burnham has been spotted on a train to London…

This has ended up as an art installation. I guess better than being scrapped.

The most obvious indication that no Starmer relaunch will ever work is that he's had several opportunities to use normally unprecedented global events as a platform to reframe the government's agenda and has refused to do so.

Talking of too weak an unambitious…

This is all just so utterly stupid. Reform losing councillors hand over fist, Labour in a nervous breakdown, Tories utterly craven and useless, Greens just anti-environmentalism and posturing, Lib Dems AWOL, SNP about as popular as anthrax. It's all just so... stupid.

Starmer had an opportunity to be strategic with the EU in 2024 with his landslide majority. He had another opportunity this year, given the total geopolitical madness of the Trump Administration. He's squandered both. Let's hope his successor will be braver and go further

Starmer digging in: told cabinet at start he is carrying on & cabinet must get on with job. He said no (formal) leadership challenge had been made. Meaning: over to you, Streeting. Put up or shut your people up. More resignations expected soon

I can sort of imagine Starmer, in a very procedural way, making the cabinet go through the pre set agenda today. Followed by a lively any other business discussion.

Anyway Starmer can’t resign as we’ve got too many podcasters already

Wes Streeting is already facing growing calls to stand down as PM

Civil society is gonna have to start punching back at the far-right bullies in politics and the media, and a big part of that is having a government that gives people confidence that it will side with them as they stand up for social liberalism rather than try to appease its political enemies

Beyond magically taking us back to an imagined 1953, Starmer gave Blue Labour everything they could have wanted. And still they wanted more. And now they turn on him as he had the gall to make the case for a microscopically closer relationship to the EU.

Step 1: Run regression of [scary Y] on [trendy X] using observational data Step 2: Magically "adjust" for the 20 bajillion imperfectly-measured confounders Step 3: Wait for a credulous journalist to write it up as causal www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

3 actual quotes from this piece: “Can I afford the tax? Yes. Is it going to deter me? No. But I think it’s shameful. I provide a lot of money to people who are blue-collar workers who work for me, servers in restaurants." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan: UK should rejoin EU through an election, not a second referendum. “Inward investment is lower than it would be, trade is lower… In London our economy is about £30bn smaller than it would otherwise be, the average Londoner is about £3,400 poorer because of Brexit.”

The upside of all this is that the chance of Keir Starmer putting in an appearance at the next Bluesky drinks evening is going up.

If anyone needs new examples of correlation vs causation for their fall syllabi www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Seriously? Does anyone think that sounds reasonable?? This is a preposterously strong claim to draw from an observational study. Arts consumption is correlated with SES and - despite what the authors might claim - you can't magically "adjust" for things that are measured imperfectly!

Roberts dropping that “we’re not political actors” quote and doing this 96 hours later is nasty work