Politicians and media often fixated on the perceived cost of welfare for the 'lower orders', but not so much this kind of welfare.

Look at the image, and then read the headline. There needs to be massive global reckoning within the entire media industry on why they're trying to promote deadly fossil-fuelled disasters as fun in the sun, good times had by all

Do you have expertise in the sociology of work & expertise in technology (broadly defined)? Would you like to become and Associate Editor of New Technology, Work and Employment? We are seeking new Associate Editors at the journal, full details here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

"If Downing Street does fall into the hands of Nigel Farage and his fellow travellers on the far-right, then the truth is that Starmer and his own moral failures will have played a significant role in that fall." ✍️ @adambienkov.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2026/06/22/k...

What has the decline of collective bargaining meant for worker power in precarious sectors? From a 2,000 person survey with follow up in-depth interviews, we found just how little voice workers in these sectors feel they have. Read our full report➡️ buff.ly/3xOPY6g

Israel has killed over 260 journalists and media workers in Gaza and 28 in Lebanon since October 7, 2023. Irish filmmaker Seán Murray investigates Israel’s killings of journalists in his new feature documentary Journacide: The War on Truth.

The most dangerous thing about AI is not that the machines might one day think. It is that we are being trained, by men with enormous financial gains riding on our acquiescence, to stop thinking for ourselves.

Its a shocking indictment of UK media that people don’t understand what Farage’s policies will inflict on the country - if they did support would quickly melt away youtu.be/KxOQRt8PQys?...

"... we spend less than virtually every other major country in Europe on social security" Well done to @fisherandrew79.bsky.social for challenging the narrative that we have a generous welfare system

If you work part time, please consider taking our short survey where we explore what it is like to work part time in the UK today. app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ljmu/part-... Shares are appreciated to widen reach.

Tomorrow’s Independent front page:

The American taxpayer is responsible for making Musk a trillionaire: without the billions in public funds that have repeatedly bailed out and kept afloat his multiple failing businesses, he'd be just another serial bankrupt. His fortune was built on OUR backs. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Exactly @highpaycentre.bsky.social: "current model of exceptionally high pay comes at the expense of the broader workforce, undervaluing the workforces’ contributions and ensuring the persistence of low pay for staff" #Inequality highpaycentre.org/high-pay-cen...

Reason #1,000,000,000,000 why we should tax the rich.

Reform UK vowed to scrap the Equality Act, and its MPs voted against the Employment Rights Act - that's what you would get if you vote for Farage's party.

Oh I forgot to say the book is called We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work and you can buy it here www.penguin.co.uk/books/462159... And if you would like to hear me talk about the book, I'm appearing at Conway Hall on Sunday to do just that! www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/eve...

🚨 Economist Mariana Mazzucato on Brexit: "What both Farage and Johnson did... was to lie and lie again, and still have not been held accountable for such a problematic policy."

Engaging the public in humanities & social sciences feels more important than ever. So we are offering £8k grants for researchers to work with galleries, libraries, archives, museums or performing arts organisations to do this. Please help spread the word! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Re-sharing this essay by @neilwarner.bsky.social that we published in @renewaljournal.bsky.social in January, because it's one of the sharpest things I've read about how the left should respond to the current form of far-right politics, and its analysis has really shaped my thinking:

📢JUST LAUNCHED 🗣️“The #RightsIndex26 shows that the crisis for workers’ rights is no longer confined to the margins - it is now at the heart of democracies. Governments are failing to protect working people & in many cases are actively undermining them.” @luctriangle.bsky.social 👉 buff.ly/ykzBtQw

www.wsj.com/finance/stoc... Even the Wall Street Journal observes the massive inequality between corporate and shareholder profit/wealth and worker pay.

Predictable. Follow the money...

Today is the launch party for my book Unpaid: The Past, Present and Future of Wage Theft with @versobooks.bsky.social It’s been a collective effort and I am so grateful to everyone involved. There are five events in different places from London to Birmingham to Dundalk. See: mattcole.work

I wrote a paper on the goal of work time reduction, drawing on some old ideas and reflecting critically on new possibilities for change in the future. Link below and open access www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Public support for nationalising utilities is largely unchanged since the last election, though in some cases has increased significantly since 2017 % saying should be in public sector Water: 82% (+23 from May 2017) Railways: 76% (+16) Energy: 70% (+17) Buses: 67% (+17) yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

We can't do 'good' in the economy, without a theory of what 'good' looks like. The how matters as much as the what. How we relate to each other, how we value each other, how we work together, how we govern our economy are not secondary questions. They define if we actually reach collective goals.

At How To Academy next week discussing my new book, The Common Good Economy, with Matthew d'Ancona. Tue 2 June | 19:00-20:15 BST | St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London | Buy tickets: howtoacademy.com/events/maria...

Employees who embrace ‘corporate bullshit’ make worse decisions

Much poor policy-making in the UK is down to the idea that the government just can't afford to spend what the UK needs. And often based on the claim that the bond markets would not allow it. @vincentgomez.bsky.social and I have just written about it. 99-percent.org/an-800-pound...

This is very good news for workers and unions. I’m not a lawyer and I’m sure the lawyers will clarify exactly what it means in the UK setting very soon. But in the meantime - let’s celebrate the wins. They don’t come often enough.

A Reform voter tells me: "[Farage] cares about working people. He will make this country great again.” Such devotion, such faith in one so unworthy. It does my head in.” You and so many of us @yasminalibhaibrown.bsky.social Disgusted by the man and the abject failure to hold him to account iPaper

🟥 Byline Times #86 – A Warning from a Republican: 'There's Still Time to Stop Your Trump' Will Britain walk the 'MAGA' path? Urgent warnings, cutting analysis, cultural insight and much more in our forthcoming edition. Not subscribed? Get 30% off with code: NEWREADER30 👉 subscribe.bylinetimes.com

Many working-class, largely white areas in the Midlands and the North flipped to Reform in last week’s local elections. Is progressive politics dead in England’s deindustrialised towns? Our new report says no — quite the opposite. 🧵👇 www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

He might have got £5 million - but you and your family have been left poorer and with fewer opportunities. He has sold the country down the river. https://www.bestforbritain.org/brexit_made_uk_poorer_while_farage_claims_he_was_rewarded

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

This review of the University of Birmingham from 2021-22 academic year says "We contribute £4.4 billion every year to the UK economy - more than the West Midland's car manufacturing industry (£3.562B)" UoB supports nearly 20,000 jobs - around 1 in 50 jobs in Birmingham.

Can I just ask, #r4today, as you seem to be very keen to talk about and investigate Polanski’s council tax issue, why not the same feverish scrutiny over the far more troubling and glaringly corrupt £5M bribe Farage took from that crypto billionaire, Harborne? We can hear your strings being pulled.

Decent work must be for all workers, everywhere. Yet almost 58% of workers worldwide are in informal employment. Addressing informality is essential to advancing social justice and #SDG8. 🗨️Read our new blog: https://ow.ly/g0Aa50YXxq2

Keir Starmer knows public ownership is popular - so he talked about British Steel But what about Sewage in rivers Energy bills out of control The NHS still privatised Letters not delivered Public transport not working Profits leaking from care On our side? END PRIVATISATION

So great to see @yolandadiaz.bsky.social promote the message from our report on Democracy at Work in the wider world. It's a new frontier indeed, and the rest of us better catch up with her, and with Spain.

After 45 years of neoliberalism the UK isn't self-sufficient in food, energy, drugs, auto, steel, bricks, cement, semiconductors, and more. The state cannot guarantee clean rivers, safe wastewater disposal, affordable energy, timely healthcare, good housing, decent roads. Taking back control?

Fantastic to see our archives at the fore in this BBC article on the General Strike in our local area Our digitised sources (and interactive map) can help to reveal what was happening town by town, city by city, during the Nine Days in May warwick.ac.uk/services/lib... #GeneralStrike100

Farage is a fraud, so why does he seem to get a free pass? Updated article 👇 open.substack.com/pub/harryecc...

Collective Rights & the Employment Rights Act 2025: Continuity and Change in the British Labour Constitution - an important article by Prof Ruth Dukes, asking whether the Act lives up to the policy commitments made by the Labour government. Read it here: www.ier.org.uk/news/collect...

One of the most remarkable achievements in modern political history has been the emergence of "anti-establishment, anti-elite, people's army" parties - committed to "bringing back the nation-state" - that are led, directed & financed by the richest, most privileged & most mobile people on the planet

Channel 4 News can reveal how the estate owned by the King offered the land at market value to Wigan Council - despite knowing it was heavily contaminated. 📩Read our latest newsletter:

What happens when someone who is not very interested in politics becomes prime minister? We are finding out. A piece by me for @theconversation.com on Keir Starmer and his latest difficulties. theconversation.com/mandelson-ve...

Another excellent edition of @bylinetimes.bsky.social Tells us what the mainstream media don't about the problems with Reform.