"Over the past decade healthy life expectancy (HLE) has dropped by around two years to just under 61 for both men and women." Yet, many (comfortably off) commentators suggest that as 'you've never had it so good' the declining vote share of the two main parties must be down to 'vibes'. Hmm

1/5 "Instead of seeing financial crises as arising from an unavoidable vulnerability to external shocks they are better seen as a mirror of the societies in which they occur, reflecting their political structures, vying constituencies, and blind spots." www.nber.org/papers/w35101

Unfortunately the corporate predation of the NHS is already underway thanks to Streeting's power grab over NICE and Starmer's disastrous trade deal with the US which allows Big Pharma to charge inflated prices for drugs at the expense of patient care. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"Liquefied natural gas, once framed as a flexible commodity, begins to function as a strategic asset embedded in geopolitical relationships." geoeconomic.substack.com/p/us-is-maki...

Redistributionists.

"they'll be chaos with a progressive in power" WHAT HAS THE LAST DECADE BEEN!?

Found it!

Denmark's coal-to-wind transition is one of the most dramatic energy transformations of the past three decades. In 1990, coal provided 90% of Danish electricity. Today it is under 3%. Wind now covers roughly 60% of electricity generation. The last coal plant is scheduled to close by 2028.

Our car-dependent status quo is the result of political choices that have steered decades of financial-, spatial- and design decisions. It is time to repoliticize these decisions and reshape our public spaces.

Holy crap, guys. His approval rating is down 300%.

A metric for those who think it's just 'vibes' (the inference being that losers are just irrational). At the other end of the scale, what/who do winners (who already possess all the goods they want) buy with their money?

Congratulations to the ladies of the Georgia tennis team!!

As technocracy must be true by definition, you use TINA arguments to *prevent* debate. But how do you explain policies that defy theory? The alternative is worse or it'll work this time, honest? Rather than messaging, its fallacious claims that prevents parties from explanation.

Superb from Tooze on global imbalances & international political economy. Almost everything we hear about "foreigners acting like leeches sucking out our bodily juices" and "trade wars are class wars" etc is largely caused by one of these domestic forces. adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

Congratulations to the Georgia Women's Tennis Team!

Europe's electricity: 29% fossil fuels in 2024, down from 53% in 2005. Progress. But transport is still 92% fossil. Buildings: 71%. Industry: 61%. And 95% of EU oil and 88% of gas imported. Switching suppliers doesn't fix this. Electrification and efficiency do. More here: rdcu.be/feOjc

The worst of the worst

A picture is worth a thousand words....

Chelsea to be awarded FIFA Peace Prize after stopping shooting altogether #fpl

The Fairness Foundation‬ @fairness.bsky.social‬ does really important work. It was a privilege to get to talk to them about asset manager power and rent extraction in housing and infrastructure www.faircomment.co.uk/p/a-brief-hi...

Palantir in the NHS is linked to Mandelson Mandelson is linked to Wes Streeting Wes Streeting is defending Palantir’s involvement in the #NHS Nothing to see or everything to see Palantir must be removed from the NHS

"Your Party MP Zarah Sultana suspended from parliament after calling Starmer 'barefaced liar'". Out for five days, and will miss the next game.

Very sorry to hear about this. Shortly after I finished reading his brilliant three-volume biography of Keynes, perhaps 15 years ago, I met him at a conference in Brazil. We became friends after that and met several times, mostly in London but also in Beijing. www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

"Starmer says it is 'unforgivable' officials let foreign secretary say usual vetting procedure was followed"

Burkean liberals. "This temperament is one of deep ambivalence. An ambivalence that knows what it wants—liberty, equality, justice—yet dreads the implications of their arrival. It desires emancipation but fears upheaval. It preaches change but practices delay" adamtooze.substack.com/p/the-stealt...

Not saying all cruise operators are ambivalent about exploiting staff, but... www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operati...

Turturro Was Right About Everything

Apparently the Pope has read Baudrillard.

1/2 BBC: "In a letter to Spaniards posted on social media, Sánchez said the mass legalisation sought "to acknowledge the reality of nearly half a million people who already form part of our everyday lives"." bbc.com/news/article...

The title of Will Self's latest "The Quantity Theory of Morality" reminded me of this👇. If the opposite also applies is it any wonder that the US running 'greed is good' for 40yrs has meant it now resembles the Stanford prison experiment? wearenotdivided.reasonstobecheerful.world/empathy-is-a...

As a Catholic, woohoo! One down...

👏 How it will work in practice is another matter...

Agreed. At it's best, liberalism thrives on uncertainty and creative destruction.

“Strategy is all Starmer and his allies cared about” So if the game is to 'win' elections (not govern) you persuade voters you're better than the other mob. Say/do nothing, blame others etc. It's political 'strategists' who shaped the void that is Starmer. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

In the grand scheme of things the cost/benefit of free buses is a no brainer, but it will be really to see how it pans out. 🤞

To translate, 'rules is rules and imposing austerity on Greece was unavoidable (to protect German banks). But now we're in an economic hole, what's massaging the conditions of the debt brake between friends?' www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I also note McSweeney was at the scene of the crime again. Ministers addressing the blob, 'why can't you lot be like Morgan or Olly, can do men who "get things done''' Ministers after the train crash, 'Oh b-b-but I didn't know' 🤷‍♂️.

The World Bank grudgingly concedes that the earth may be round. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

It was great to have this as a Ralph Miliband lecture at the LSE a few weeks ago, where @isabelleferreras.bsky.social, @mathewlawrence.bsky.social and me spoke about the possibilities for economic democracy

"....a single raindrop could generate a potential difference of 110 V, sufficient to power a small portable device." interestingengineering.com/energy/spani...

incredible that the lifelong Catholic in this specific situation is The Pope

If the Pope requires advice on theological matters, or if Simone Biles would like to know what she is getting wrong with her backflips, Vance's door is always open. www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

The World Bank chief economist recently acknowledged that three decades of its advice against industrial policy "has the practical value of a floppy disk today." This shift in thinking is significant. New piece for @foreignpolicy.com on what a progressive multilateralism requires.

So once again a man started a wildly successful harassment campaign against a female celebrity who didn’t actually do anything and the internet swallowed it full throated, and the whole thing is revealed to be concocted horseshit he can’t muster anything more than “sorry that happened I guess”

This! *Banks do not lend savings or reserves and governments don't need to tax in order to spend.* In other words, the money multiplier of text books is a myth.

"We end up with a general disenchantment: a belief that those who benefit from globalization are indifferent to their compatriots who feel wronged...exacerbated by the elites’ belief that they are a meritocratic elite who deserve to be at the top." branko2f7.substack.com/p/asias-rise...

Trump is leading the world toward EVs, solar and wind power... although he's too stupid to know it. US gas is not going to be a winner. Countries, especially in Asia where US LNG exports were going to grow, are instead electrifying their economies fast and reducing gas imports.

This is what *everything* boils down to.

“It just feels like it’s the whole market, right? Look at, like, Nancy Pelosi and her stock portfolios outperforming everything, it’s really hard to say where the insider trading stops” What's the difference between inside knowledge and trade gossip? www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Cracking subway ad in Tokyo.