Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 1d

This from Andy Haldane gets some basic stuff wrong, notably this:

"A £30bn will need to be filled in this year’s Budget,e ven though a stalled economy needs a 1% of GDP fiscal tightening like a hole in the head."

Just wrong. Not how the fiscal framework works at all.

www.ft.com/content/1c4d...

The UK’s failing fiscal framework is a Brexit tribute act

The path and peak of policy uncertainty over the past year eerily mimics sentiment at the time of the 2016 referendum

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Mike Harrison @higheredactuary.bsky.social · 17h

“I went to a policy conference last week about the Pension schemes bill where CDC wasn’t mentioned, it was run by a brilliant firm who forgot to include it!”

Starved of the oxygen of consultant bandwidth, does CDC really have any chance of survival in the UK pensions landscape?

Henry Tapper @henrytapper.bsky.social · 18h

"Fear of risk has has ruined the prospect of a real pension" - Pullinger henrytapper.com/2025/10/11/f... I am not prepared to see CDC confined to discussions between actuaries in City Conferences. I want CDC to work for everyone and be known as “wage in retirement pension schemes”

“Fear of risk has has ruined the prospect of a real pension” – Pullinger

Terry Pullinger and I are friends, frustrated by the failure of Government after Government to see policies over the line, content to make asset managers and insurers rich while millions of savers …

henrytapper.com

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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 1d

Johnson refused to answer specific questions or to provide factual denials to allegations of rule-breaking, while insisting all the rules had been followed at all times. His responses led Acoba’s chair, Isabel Doverty, to find him in breach of the rules.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Boris Johnson breached rules designed to stop abuse of contacts made in public office, watchdog finds

Johnson found to have breached rules after refusing to answer specific questions about allegations published by the Guardian

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 2d

🚨 One for the pensions geeks, and those who look to Canada as a model for the UK pension system. on.ft.com/4h0cXG6

FTAV Q&A: Michelle Ostermann

The UK Pension Protection Fund’s chief talks Canada envy, risk, reform, and public sector consolidation

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Adrienne Buller @adriennebuller.bsky.social · 2d

Looking forward to being in conversation with Andreas Malm at the Barbican in a few weeks!

Tickets are now live

If you're into sabotage / geoengineering / steam / Freud / etc., this one's for you!

The BREAK—DOWN @the-breakdown.bsky.social · 2d

*ON SALE NOW*

ANDREAS MALM in conversation with ADRIENNE BULLER

Marking the release of his book 'The Long Heat', Malm leads this vital discussion on the climate crisis and how we can act and come together for change.

@versobooks.bsky.social

TICKETS 👇

Andreas Malm in Conversation with Adrienne Buller | Barbican

Best-selling author and activist Andreas Malm leads a vital discussion on the climate crisis, exploring how we can act and come together with hope for change.

www.barbican.org.uk

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Soumaya Keynes @soumayakeynes.ft.com · 2d

How much revenue is on the line as the Supreme Court deliberates over the IEEPA tariffs?

from @bloomberg.com

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Transition Security Project @transitionsec.bsky.social · 2d

🚨 1 WEEK TO GO!
🎟️ 350+ tickets gone!

Join us to launch @transitionsec.bsky.social with a panel on the war economy, climate crisis & the geopolitics of the climate transition.

🎙️ @stephensemler.bsky.social @iliasalami.bsky.social @triofrancos.bsky.social
🪑 @lalehkhalili.bsky.social
shorturl.at/njU0q

War, Climate Crisis and the Economy: Transition Security Project Launch

A collaboration between Common Wealth and Climate & Community Institute to investigate the US and UK military industrial complexes.

shorturl.at

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Jennifer Churchill @redjen.bsky.social · 3d

“the unbearable tightness of credit spreads” on.ft.com/3J2AUjB Brace for a market melt-up

Brace for a market melt-up

Some say this is a ‘good’ bubble, but investors should remember that all bubbles burst in the end

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 5d

BBC accused of 'extraordinary' anti-Green bias after party say the Laura Kuenssberg Show scrapped a promised interview with @zackpolanski.bsky.social on Sunday.

Green sources say the show also refused to interview Polanski after he was elected as leader last month

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/06/b...

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Jennifer Churchill @redjen.bsky.social · 5d

Ah, the sad reality of local government
on.ft.com/4gVrLpv Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters

Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 7d

I think we’re really going to have to do a lot more of this. A massive deprogramming so that people can read more than ten words at a time without anxiety.

www.thetimes.com/uk/education...?

Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels

Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive

www.thetimes.com

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Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social · 7d

TAKAICHI WINS

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 8d

"I'm here to talk about what others won’t. To tell the truth about what makes our country great and what makes it not so great. While others thrive on creating scapegoats, I am here to tell you a different story."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Migration is Britain’s superpower. Our future depends on embracing that truth, not denying it | Zack Polanski

Labour has lost its nerve. At our party conference this weekend, we’re gathering to set things right, says Green party leader Zack Polanski

www.theguardian.com

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EconomicsInTen @economicsinten.bsky.social · Sep 2

In our podcasts we like to recommend books and here are some of our recommendations from our latest, including books by Nancy Folbre, Marilyn Waring, @devikadutt.bsky.social @ingridhk.bsky.social, @cacrisalves.bsky.social, @surbhikesar.bsky.social, @timjackson.org.uk & @clubofrome.org. #EconSky

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 14d

The thing that human beings seem to value above (almost) all else is other human beings paying attention to them. Put that in your algorithm and smoke it.

Richard B. Simon @rbsimon.bsky.social · 14d

A student told me Thursday that another prof had told the class to post their work into an AI LLM, to be graded and commented on by the AI. The other students were all offended. Which is good. They should be offended.

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 14d

While everyone is focusing on the Fabians the Co-Operative movement have free rein to plot their own conspiracies. Obvious black ops.

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Jennifer Churchill @redjen.bsky.social · 18d

All projects looking into just transition questions welcome - we are a pluralist and interdisciplinary group of economists with broad research method specialisms. Please spread the word.. @jomichell.bsky.social @csissoko.bsky.social

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Jennifer Churchill @redjen.bsky.social · 18d

Funded phd opportunity with Bristol Research in Economics colleagues at UWE Bristol. Message me if you want to know more www.uwe.ac.uk/research/pos...

Just transition to net zero - Studentship opportunities | UWE Bristol

An opportunity to apply for a full-time PhD in the College of Business and Law.

www.uwe.ac.uk

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Jennifer Churchill @redjen.bsky.social · 18d

on.ft.com/3Vsv7Xl UK pensions ‘lifeboat’ halts levy for defined benefit retirement schemes

UK pensions ‘lifeboat’ halts levy for defined benefit retirement schemes

Pension Protection Fund cuts participation charge to zero for this year after the government moves to lift restriction

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Zoe Drayson @zoedrayson.bsky.social · 19d

When a typo in your Google search leads to new and exciting philosophical positions

AI Overview: "Dental realism"refers to the philosophical debate about whether teeth exist independently of human perception, a concept rooted in metaphysical realism. While realism asserts an objective reality for teeth, idealist philosophies contend that teeth's existence is tied to our consciousness and perception. Philosophers use this idea, for example, to discuss the ethics of tooth extraction, examining whether a procedure impacts a real entity or merely a subjective experience.

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 19d

When the government is using *three* adjectives, it is a considerably weakness to have all three of them - "unrealistic, unworkable and unfunded" - being about how, rather than why. At least one or two of the three words should be fron the family of "unprincipled" or "extreme"

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 20d

Another concept in this book that makes me think thoughts: "Fallacy of pre-figuration"—Assuming that reality has well-defined parts and properties that exist independently of all conceptualization. Boils down to objects of our discourse being necessarily mind-framed. Chang goes on to distinguish his

Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · Aug 20

Reading Hasok Chang's Realism for Realistic People, I enjoy his concept of operational coherence (roughly, aim-oriented coordination of epistemic, or other, activities). It gives me a new perspective of replication studies as conceived in the reform movement. They're operationally incoherent...

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Reposted by Jennifer Churchill

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 22d

An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’

Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 25d

Bertrand Russell, at 89 years old, to Sir Oswald Mosley, a man most famous for founding, in 1932, the British Union of Fascists.

I'm all for civil discourse. But everyone can and should draw a line at who they will talk to.

Notice that Russell did not demean himself with incivility, either.

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Amnesty International UK @amnestyuk.bsky.social · Sep 11

Don’t whitewash genocide.

Collective punishment is a war crime and a key tactic in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

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Photo of Keir Starmer and Israeli President Isaac Herzog shaking hands outside Number 10 Downing Street on 10th September with a quote from Herzog from 12th October 2023 which says: “The entire [Palestinian] nation out there … is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved.”

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