Retired Professor of Political Economy
(Lancaster University, UK - retired 2021)
(also #ProfDJ across the Lune Valley)
Contributor: North West Bylines #NoBridge
I think Robert Shrimsley (FT) is right, for the Right of the Tory party, rather than now seek a leadership election, they have a job for Rishi Sunak - be the fall guy, so after the election, they can say (even though this makes no sense to anyone but themselves), that it was Rishi being too timid in his moves rightwards that lost them the election....
Indeed, after the election fantasy/deluded politics will be the game of choice for the Tories... which might turn very dangerous
When I read 'Little Bobby Jenrick' I (in my mind) immediately adopted a Southern US drawl.... and thought of him throwing something off the Tallahassee Bridge....
Michael Brenson's big & relentless biography, David Smith: The Art & Life of a Transformational Sculptor (2022) pulls few punches in revealing an artist who was part genius part (toxic) alpha male whose relations with women were very much pre- MeToo. Discussion of Smith's work(s) & his at times violent personal relations prompt a compelling if complex picture of the artist. Its not an easy read but comprehensive!
Rishi Sunak has suggested the prospect of a hung Parliament, while others are talking up a Labour landslide.
Paul Whitely (U Essex) suggests Labour might win but with quite a small majority (in his analysis, 10 seats).
For many who have expressed opinions in discussion in my timeline this would seem to be a good result; a majority to get tings done, but small enough to be a brake on (more) dilution of left policy?
Yup, but the low-turnout & different media landscape(s) in general elections have in the past made building on such results difficult for small(er) parties - that's not saying it won't happen, just that in the past its been hard to jump into second place via national FPTP... but we have less than a year to wait to find out
In some ways the green transition is already happening: it now looks like last year the world overall managed to supply around 30% of electricity through renewable energy (primarily wind & solar).
And solar continues to be the fastest growing renewable energy source, now (for the second year) being the most used source across the world.
This does offer some hope that (albeit late in the day) we are seeing a shift in energy generation!
Of course, no-one will be really surprised but after Rishi Sunak declared late last year that private finance would be found for the intra-London final stage of HS2 (a major tunnelling project), it now transpires that the state is about to bankroll this part of the project (too) for around £1bn.
So once again a Tory PM makes a high profile declaration of intent which is then contradicted by actual practice.
Tory declaratory politics continues unabated - but will/would Labour be any different?
Across the world certain stock price boomed as investors sought out firms that would prosper during lockdown(s).... but, what circumstances give, they can take away too.
Many of these firms have seen their share price(s) decline significantly. Perhaps the emblematic examples of this shift have been Peleton & Zoom, both very much investment darlings of the pandemic years, but now they are languishing.
Some investor who bought near the peak & retained stock, losses in value will have been big!
Today the FT argues there is little difference in economic strategy between Rachel Reeves & Jeremy Hunt (as it happens echoing much commentary here).
Leaving aside the facts of the matter, this looks to me like the FT coming out for Labour & seeking to reassure its readers that Labour can offer 'economic stability' to complement the offer of political stability in contrast to the chaotic recent years of Tory govt.
Just in case you weren't sure quite how far climate change has already gone, the EU climate monitoring service notes that for the 11th month running last month (April) was the hottest on record.
As Hayley Fowler, (NewcastleU), asks:
'At what point do we declare we've lost the battle to keep temperatures below 1.5? ... [I think] we've already lost that battle & we really need to think very seriously about keeping below 2C & reducing our emissions as fast as we can'!
Andy Burnham (still Mayor of Manchester) on social housing:
'One of the main reasons why the country has not built enough social homes for decades is because of the right-to-buy policy. Councils do not have an incentive to fund the building of new homes if they can be sold off cheaply & quickly. In the face of a desperate housing crisis, the existence of right to buy means we are in effect trying to refill a bath without being allowed to put the plug back in'!
A limitation on house ownership to (legally recognised) 'natural persons' would be an interesting move, as it would have little discernible impact on most people, but would transform the housing market.
You'd need exceptions for Housing Associations & Councils, and need to decide how to deal with Corporate residential landlords, but it would be an interesting law to try and formulate.
Yes, when I was writing about intellectual property as an academic researcher, I used to take that line on IP too... one clear resolution to some of the problems with IPs was to limit their 'enjoyment' to natural persons....
P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite received a £183k bonus to top up his salary of £325k in 2023 to over half a million... after laying off 800 sailors with no notice or consultation & replacing them with lower paid (£2.90 an hour) foreign workers.
He then told the HoC today that of course he couldn't live on such a low wage... then why does think anyone else should?!!!
The rank hypocrisy of it is staggering; Mick Lynch is right, he should be in jail!
Behind the decision to retain single term classifications of schools' inspection results lies one key requirement:
'To enable a centrally-run, a market-based education system to stand a chance of functioning, the government needs data. This means performance measures & an inspection regime which allows school status and performance to be viewed easily'.
Meanwhile in the Lake District, more evidence that the sewage discharge(s) already identifies across the country as ruining the UK's beaches & seawaters, are having similar impact inland - Lake Windermere is going green as more semi-treated sewage flows into the lake & feed the algae that turn the water green.
Yet more proof that the only people who gained from water privatisation were the investors - for the rest of us it looks like daylight robbery!
Here's an interesting point from Peter Taylor (Guardian letters) on the demographics of voting Tory....
rather than the old turning rightwards (as they supposedly have done in the past), he suggests its a survivors' bias - left (Labour) voters (from lower socio-economic classes) die younger, leaving more richer, older tory voters to vote into their old age.
While this cannot be the whole picture, he's right to focus on people not cohorts.
(any links to research on this?)
Inflation may be falling pretty fast, but few expect the sado-monetarists of Threadneedle St. to lower interest rates when the MPC meets on Thursday.
So, you might ask yourself, given that the original professed aim of interest rate policy was to 'tame' inflation, what reasons will they trot out for continuing the pain meted out on the working population...
Expect talk about 'underlying price pressures' & future dangers... but in the end this is class war by the bankers against the rest of us!
Interestingly, Friedrich Merz, head of the German Christian Democrats, believes that:
'The continental Europeans were not entirely blameless when it came to Brexit... We lost patience with the special role that Britain always played in European politics. We didn’t do enough to help them come to a different referendum result'!
Bittersweet for Remainers, but an indication that their/our own campaigning failings were compounded by complacency(?) in the EU about the referendum.
Thanks so much for this context, which is what I love about Mastodon - really interesting to read.
I always thought the left-leaning supporters of Brexit (Lexiters) were actually doing the EU a favour by removing one of the strongest advocates of he neo-liberal direction of EU policy - in this their criticism was misdirected, they saw the EU as 'naturally' neoliberal, whereas the UK had been driving it... in some ways it was an unacknowledged self-sacrifice for the Euro-left (?)
Yes, this is why I always had a problem with the term 'neoliberalism' and for years advised my students to use it carefully & sparingly - I always preferred corporate-driven capitalism, contrasting that with various forms of regulatory capitalism.... my view was always rooted in the varieties of capitalism literature.
Thanks for your engagement this morning which I've really found helpful/fruitful
On your last point; one of my last PhD students (who continues with another supervisor now I've retired), was unpicking the history of 'neoliberalism' entirely on this basis, that it was a betrayal of actual liberalism - he was heavily interested in the role of the Atlas Network, which he saw as being the locus of much of the ideological pivot.
To actually accomplish a green transition we (the world) needs to spend around $9 trillion a year.... well that's just not affordable, say climate sceptics.
You might say that, but lets have a look at the money we were prepared to pony up to deal with the pandemic.
While a more focused threat & certainly causing some fiscal issues, when required the money can be found.
(Don't get me started on fossil fuels subsidies!)
So its not the money stopping the green transition!
