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Ewan McGaughey

@ewanmg.bsky.social

6.2K followers 2K following 250 posts

🎓Law Professor @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social + CBR, Cambridge 🌹Labour law, enterprise law, pensions, corporations, human rights 🌍Cares about economic democracy, reversing climate damage + making big tech safe 🕸️ https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/ewan-mcgaughey .. more

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 7d

Poverty: Made in Britain.

©️HM Treasury.

Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · 7d

Relative child poverty has remained stubbornly high over the last twenty years and has risen over the past decade.

Without action, levels will soon break records.

Scrapping the two-child limit in full would be the most targeted and cost-effective way of reducing child poverty.

chart showing Relative child poverty has
remained stubbornly high over the last twenty years and has risen over the past decade,
from 27 per cent in 2013-14 to 31 per cent in 2023-24. As things stand, child poverty is on
track to reach record highs within this Parliament

Reposted by Mark Robinson, Ewan McGaughey

Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · 7d

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Christopher McCabe, Ewan McGaughey , and 1 more Steve Peers, Christopher McCabe, Ewan McGaughey, Maria Sobolewska

Emiliano Mellino @mellino.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 Our new investigation out today reveals how thousands of people who've taken their bosses to employment tribunals & won, never got paid, even after they approached the government for help.

This has serious implications for the Employment rights bill.
www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Thousands of rogue bosses get away with not paying tribunal awards

The government scheme ‘enforcing’ money owed to workers has been unsuccessful in a staggering three-quarters of cases

www.thebureauinvestigates.com

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 9d

Eleanor Roosevelt, before the Equal Pay Act of 1963, said we needed a right to equal pay in law, but also to equalise child care duties.

Want to end the gender pay gap?
1. Paid parental leave, equal for mums + dads, 26 weeks
2. Universal free child care
3. Sector collective bargaining for fair pay

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 9d

The gender wage gap is widening again, and showing “worrying trends.”

Top of the list of reasons, to no one’s surprise: soaring child care costs.

Important read from @kedseconomist.com

Quote from article:
The first is that the gender wage gap widened for the second year in a row. Women’s earnings as a share of men’s fell to 80.9% in 2024, from 84% in 2022. There is no racial group or educational class within the working population in which women outearn men. The second is that the gender working gap is also widening. Women are leaving the labor force: 383,000 since January, for a 0.6 percentage-point decline in their participation rate, compared to an addition of 690,000 men, an 0.1 point increase. The overall employment picture is even worse: There are 499,000 fewer women working now than at the start of the year, compared to 368,000 more men working.

Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 9d

The gender wage gap is widening again, and showing “worrying trends.”

Top of the list of reasons, to no one’s surprise: soaring child care costs.

Important read from @kedseconomist.com

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 9d

Important work on inequality changing children’s brain structure from @divyangana.bsky.social and colleagues.

Best ways to reduce inequality:
1. Fair pay agreements for every sector
2. Abolish two child benefit cap, for universal social security
3. Fair tax.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains

Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’

www.theguardian.com

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 13d

Seems like you’ve got another big tech media takeover by the far right.

I guess that will be good for Republicans getting votes during elections.

Nancy Levine Stearns 🌎 @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 14d

🚨 Trump will sign an executive order today to hand TikTok over to his friend Larry Ellison. The White House confirmed that users' data will be stored at Ellison's Oracle and the algorithm would be "retrained."

www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

Trump expected to sign a TikTok deal Thursday

The proposed structure would comply with a bipartisan law passed in 2024 that sought to ban TikTok if the platform wasn't sold to U.S.-based owners this year.

www.nbcnews.com

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Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

Nancy Levine Stearns 🌎 @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 14d

Trump expected to sign a TikTok deal Thursday

The proposed structure would comply with a bipartisan law passed in 2024 that sought to ban TikTok if the platform wasn't sold to U.S.-based owners this year.

www.nbcnews.com

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 17d

Harmonising NICs, and raising income tax for the wealthy is essential.

The 2% difference in NICs between employees and the self-employed creates a big incentive for sham-self-employment, like Deliveroo and Uber carriers.

+ wealthier people should pay fair tax.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Reeves urged to take 2p off employee NI and add it to income tax in budget

Resolution Foundation says move could raise additional £6bn a year and ‘level the playing field’ on income tax

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

Free Representation Unit @freerepunit.bsky.social · 17d

A reminder: if you are an aspiring lawyer this fantastic experience is available to you.

Volunteering with FRU is a shortcut to gaining key legal skills.

The entry point is to attend our training. Places are still left on the social security training. Book here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fru-social...

Reposted by Thomas Piketty, Ewan McGaughey

World Inequality Lab @wid.world · 21d

Don't miss tomorrow's event with @thomaspiketty.bsky.social on global #inequality including preliminary results from the #GlobalJusticeProject.

📍In-person and online public event

🎟️ Registration www.lse.ac.uk/events/globa...
@lsepress.bsky.social

Thomas Piketty on global inequality | LSE Events

3.30pm Fri 19 Sept | Thomas Piketty | Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE

www.lse.ac.uk

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Reposted by Martin O’Neill, Ewan McGaughey

New Civil Engineer @social.newcivilengineer.com · 22d

The UK government has calculated that nationalising the water sector would cost around £100bn, but this has been disputed by analysts at @cmmonwealth.bsky.social who argue the government has powers to do it at a far lower cost

Full story: buff.ly/knWquLB

Defra calculates £100bn to nationalise water sector but ‘true’ figure could be much lower | New Civil Engineer

The circa £100bn figure comes from a technical assessment by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). This figure is based on the

buff.ly

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 23d

Wealthier democracies have mail, transport, energy + water in public ownership. We still don't. We can keep paying £bns to foreign shareholders, or we can have faster mail and transport, clean energy and water, for lower cost. But we can't do both.

👇
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

UK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of key industries since privatisation

Analysis reveals ‘privatisation premium’ of £250 per household per year paid to owners of water, rail, bus, energy and mail services since 2010

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Colin Murray

Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 24d

📘 Come to my inaugural lecture "Democratic socialism and the law", 6.30pm, 15 October: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inaugural-...

🌹 What role does the law play in democratic socialism? It rewires the defects of contract, property, corporate law + residual ‘capitalist’ elements of our law, and more... 👇

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Reposted by Melanie Simms, Ewan McGaughey

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 28d

To make sure AI serves workers—not just tech monopolies—we need bold action: corporate regulation, worker voice, and sectoral bargaining.

Read more from @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social on the scale of #AI concentration in a new blog w/ @eop.aspeninstitute.org ⤵️ www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/w...

Worker Power in the Age of AI Monopolies: Why We Need Structural Solutions Now

Elizabeth Wilkins

www.aspeninstitute.org

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Reposted by Steve Peers, Christopher McCabe, Tim Bale , and 6 more Steve Peers, Christopher McCabe, Tim Bale, Lesley A. Hall, Jenni Barclay, Michelle Everson, Michael H. Whitworth, David Murakami Wood, Ewan McGaughey

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 29d

"My school saves thousands of pounds every year from those solar panels." The TUC directly takes on Reform, a party funded by the fossil fuel Industry. Posted on IG by tradesunioncongress

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · Sep 9

New Mexico is getting universal pre school childcare, like the next NYC mayor promises.

Over 60 years since Eleanor Roosevelt called for it, this is key to ending the gender pay gap.

In the UK we now have 30 hours free, but lack public nurseries + proper pay for staff.
www.krqe.com/news/politic...

Governor announces New Mexico will now provide free universal child care

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico is becoming the first state in the U.S. to offer free early childhood education to every family in the state. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a universal ch…

www.krqe.com

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Reposted by Daniel Aaron, John Hogan, Ewan McGaughey

Kate Jackson @katejackson.bsky.social · Sep 9

One puzzle I’m working through is how authoritarian political movements impact civil society orgs. We’re getting more familiar with what authoritarianism will do to them when in power. It’s a top-down theory of change. But does the underlying political & social movement have an independent impact?

A Populist CEO in Corporate Law’s Court?

Recent amendments to Delaware’s corporate code have tilted the playing field toward powerful tech CEOs and private equity representatives. Beneath these reforms lies a deeper political shift — the…

lpeproject.org

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · Sep 9

I’m reading your argument carefully, much to go, but it strikes me that:

- Norway’s Labour just won re-election on keeping wealth tax
- reformed property tax is a subcategory of wealth tax, no?
- capital gains tax doesn’t tackle capital hoards

But what do you think would address wealth inequality?

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Simon Hix, Ben H. Ansell , and 59 more Jonathan Portes, Simon Hix, Ben H. Ansell, Jesper Strömbäck, John Drury, Will Jennings, Sara B. Hobolt, Brendan Nyhan, Gijs Schumacher, Scott L. Greer, Steve Peers, Ruth Dassonneville, Tim Bale, Dave O’Brien, Kai Arzheimer, Catherine E. De Vries, Ian Hall, Alexander Wuttke, Vincent Tiberj, Justin H. Kirkland, Lesley A. Hall, Efrén O. Pérez, Chris Hanretty, Fabián Muniesa, Jacob Montgomery, Paul E. Johnson, Alan Lester, Mary Corcoran, Erika Franklin Fowler, Michelle Everson, Ben Worthy, Meri Koivusalo, Aaron Sojourner, Toby S. James, Holger Nehring, Nazita Lajevardi, Simon Glendinning, Tom Griffin, Alessandro Nai, Markus Klein, Marina Costa Lobo, Jonathan Birch, Matthijs Rooduijn, Ben Rosamond, Glen O’Hara, David Murakami Wood, Christian Fisch, Paul Nightingale, Stuart White, Werner Krause, Simon Usherwood, Toni Haastrup, Greg Linden, Federica Genovese, Tom Louwerse, Daphne Halikiopoulou, Samuel Coavoux, Ewan McGaughey, Nick Clarke, Björn Bremer, Southern Africa, David Darmofal

Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · Sep 4

Petrol and diesel, gas and coal power stations, or toxic rubbish incinerators are leading causes of dementia.

So, we need 100% electric vehicles, all solar, wind and clean electricity generation, and for supermarkets to stop producing plastic waste.

Easy.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Air pollution can drive devastating forms of dementia, research suggests

Airborne particles cause toxic clumps of proteins in brain that are hallmarks of Lewy body dementia, study indicates

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Thomas Piketty, Benjamin Braun, Ewan McGaughey

World Inequality Lab @wid.world · Sep 1

What should be publicly owned, or privatised?

@ewanmg.bsky.social builds develops a theory of when public or private ownership leads to better outcomes, using comparative data from OECD countries in sectors such as water, rail, electricity, and telecommunications ▶️ wid.world/news-article...

Public ownership outperforms privatisation when an enterprise is a skill-based, natural, or network monopoly - WID - World Inequality Database

Public ownership outperforms privatisation when an enterprise is a skill-based, natural, or network monopoly This paper develops a theory of when public or private ownership leads to better outcomes, ...

wid.world

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · Aug 21

What should be publicly owned, or privatised?

We have a century of data on what works, so we should be able to get beyond ideology + build an evidence-based theory.

New paper from me looks at theory since Adam Smith + maps OECD outcomes. Download + please repost!👇

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · Aug 19

“In many ways water privatisation has been the greatest failure of the wholesale sell-off of govt utilities”. — @thetimes.com

But public ownership *doesn’t* have to “burden the Govt with a huge debt”.

@ewanmg.bsky.social explains how we can bring water back into public hands at a low cost 👇

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · Aug 13

Big news- the major Australian union body is calling for a 3 day weekend.

LabourStart @labourstart.bsky.social · Aug 13

AUSTRALIA: Australian Council of Trade Unions says it's time for a shorter work week to boost performance and reduce burnout www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Peak union body calls for four-day work week

The peak union group says a shorter work week would improve productivity and reduce burnout, adding workers should also be able to share in the spoils of the expected artificial intelligence boom.

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

LabourStart @labourstart.bsky.social · Aug 13

AUSTRALIA: Australian Council of Trade Unions says it's time for a shorter work week to boost performance and reduce burnout www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Peak union body calls for four-day work week

The peak union group says a shorter work week would improve productivity and reduce burnout, adding workers should also be able to share in the spoils of the expected artificial intelligence boom.

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · Aug 12

The public deserve real solutions — not temporary fixes.

When essential services are owned by the public, problems are fixed — not profited from.

The true cost of bringing water into public ownership is close to 0.

Our recent briefing by @ewanmg.bsky.social 👇
www.common-wealth.org/publications...

How to Clean Up Our Water: Why Public Ownership in Law Costs Zero

The Government has said it would cost £99 billion to nationalise Thames Water. The true cost in law is closer to zero.

www.common-wealth.org

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Reposted by Ewan McGaughey

Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · Aug 12

“If you want an advert for why private companies shouldn’t be involved in certain sectors, this is it.”

Privateers have run Thames Water into the ground.

This is delaying the inevitable.

Relying on the same model to fix what they broke is madness.

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Ewan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · Aug 11

We did the largest crowdfund in UK law history to stop pension cuts + divest fossil fuels from the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

We settled after the Court of Appeal - USS had folded and restored the pension.

But we lost on fossil fuels - here's the story 👇

www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminst...