Alex Varley-Winter
@avwinter.bsky.social
For realism, insight & transparency. Will boost those qualities where I find them.
On the AI boom, this comment has it in a nutshell. They are selling hammers, & will tell you that everything is a nail.
robertreich.substack.com/p/how-your-k... #AI
robertreich.substack.com/p/how-your-k... #AI
Victor Kamendrowsky on Robert Reich
Remember The Bridge over the River Kwai'? It's a good film, and it has an important message. The man who led the project was his own and his own people's worst enemy, but his ego was invested in the ...
robertreich.substack.com
September 1, 2025 at 6:01 AM
On the AI boom, this comment has it in a nutshell. They are selling hammers, & will tell you that everything is a nail.
robertreich.substack.com/p/how-your-k... #AI
robertreich.substack.com/p/how-your-k... #AI
As robots augment industries & eat jobs, will there be more pressure to give all citizens financial support? There are arguments for U.B.I. anyway: Could it reduce stress? Cut crime? Could it boost the economy? Prevent child poverty? … is Britain’s benefits system riddled with issues anyway? 🤷♀️
All it requires is political will, and public understanding.
May 17, 2025 at 6:02 PM
As robots augment industries & eat jobs, will there be more pressure to give all citizens financial support? There are arguments for U.B.I. anyway: Could it reduce stress? Cut crime? Could it boost the economy? Prevent child poverty? … is Britain’s benefits system riddled with issues anyway? 🤷♀️
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
Hard to believe they feel threatened by a child. Awful warmongering. This sort of behaviour was covered in the documentary ‘While We Watched’, which shows the creeping domination of the press by political interests. As well as, intimidation of those who sing a different tune.
youtu.be/yFoG42xk85U
youtu.be/yFoG42xk85U
While We Watched Trailer
YouTube video by MetFilm Distribution
youtu.be
May 9, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Hard to believe they feel threatened by a child. Awful warmongering. This sort of behaviour was covered in the documentary ‘While We Watched’, which shows the creeping domination of the press by political interests. As well as, intimidation of those who sing a different tune.
youtu.be/yFoG42xk85U
youtu.be/yFoG42xk85U
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
Prolonged austerity is SO damaging to UK economy. Cutting ONS budget is Treasury self harming... on.ft.com/4keKAEI UK statistics chief Ian Diamond quits
UK statistics chief Ian Diamond quits
Head of Britain’s official data agency cites ‘ongoing health issues’
on.ft.com
May 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Prolonged austerity is SO damaging to UK economy. Cutting ONS budget is Treasury self harming... on.ft.com/4keKAEI UK statistics chief Ian Diamond quits
A translation of testimony from a migrant being raped and tortured constantly by traffickers. The very worst of crimes. Traffickers’ motive is sometimes to extort a ‘pay to make us stop’ obscene toll from loved ones. Or they are simply sadistic because police ignore it.
#blm #blacklivesmatter
#blm #blacklivesmatter
I can't take it. During the time I stayed there they did so many things to my body. My back is filled with scars from getting beat up."
It isn't LIKE slavery. It IS slavery of the worst kind, like the terrible times in the 1800s when enslavers did this to Black people. But it is happening now.
It isn't LIKE slavery. It IS slavery of the worst kind, like the terrible times in the 1800s when enslavers did this to Black people. But it is happening now.
April 28, 2025 at 9:18 AM
A translation of testimony from a migrant being raped and tortured constantly by traffickers. The very worst of crimes. Traffickers’ motive is sometimes to extort a ‘pay to make us stop’ obscene toll from loved ones. Or they are simply sadistic because police ignore it.
#blm #blacklivesmatter
#blm #blacklivesmatter
True, this is a very big problem in online news.
The way the algorithms keep us hemmed into a handful of news stories has really been bothering me recently www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
Patrick Freyne: Returning home from Chad, I feel there’s a glitch in western empathy
The Sudan war is the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster, but it seems our human compassion is taken up by other conflicts
www.irishtimes.com
April 28, 2025 at 8:32 AM
True, this is a very big problem in online news.
There’s a name for the dominant climate strategy isn’t there?Fraud. 😶🌫️
Scientists’ plea as reefs turn white: “increase investments in clean energies and make it a reality. We need them to stop having it on paper and on the news, we need it to be real.”
- Dr Valeria Pizarro, coral expert.
Scientists’ plea as reefs turn white: “increase investments in clean energies and make it a reality. We need them to stop having it on paper and on the news, we need it to be real.”
- Dr Valeria Pizarro, coral expert.
From me - "It’s an ashen pallor": More than 80% of the world’s reefs now hit by bleaching during worst global event on record.
More than 80% of the world’s reefs hit by bleaching after worst global event on record
An ashen pallor and an eerie stillness all that remains where there should fluttering fish and vibrant colours in the reefscape, one conservationist says
www.theguardian.com
April 26, 2025 at 7:41 AM
There’s a name for the dominant climate strategy isn’t there?Fraud. 😶🌫️
Scientists’ plea as reefs turn white: “increase investments in clean energies and make it a reality. We need them to stop having it on paper and on the news, we need it to be real.”
- Dr Valeria Pizarro, coral expert.
Scientists’ plea as reefs turn white: “increase investments in clean energies and make it a reality. We need them to stop having it on paper and on the news, we need it to be real.”
- Dr Valeria Pizarro, coral expert.
The Monstrous Anger of the Guns, Pluto Press, covers the corrupting & often cyclical nature of the global arms trade. A good primer. At a signing, Corbyn urged everyone to keep big money out of politics & Feinstein sighed that they can’t update the book monthly, with Orange One in Oval Office.
April 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The Monstrous Anger of the Guns, Pluto Press, covers the corrupting & often cyclical nature of the global arms trade. A good primer. At a signing, Corbyn urged everyone to keep big money out of politics & Feinstein sighed that they can’t update the book monthly, with Orange One in Oval Office.
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
'Oil & gas billionaires just bought themselves an exemption from Trump’s tariffs.'
'While the rest of us have to deal with skyrocketing prices & rising temperatures, they’re sitting on their thrones and raking in billions.'
👏@sunrisemvmt.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
'While the rest of us have to deal with skyrocketing prices & rising temperatures, they’re sitting on their thrones and raking in billions.'
👏@sunrisemvmt.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Oligarchy’: Trump exempts big oil donors from tariffs package
Trump’s new 10% universal tariffs will not apply to many fossil fuel products in sign of his fealty, advocates say
www.theguardian.com
April 7, 2025 at 1:38 PM
'Oil & gas billionaires just bought themselves an exemption from Trump’s tariffs.'
'While the rest of us have to deal with skyrocketing prices & rising temperatures, they’re sitting on their thrones and raking in billions.'
👏@sunrisemvmt.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
'While the rest of us have to deal with skyrocketing prices & rising temperatures, they’re sitting on their thrones and raking in billions.'
👏@sunrisemvmt.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The case for the subsidy has also in part been marketing of wood burning on an enormous scale as ‘sustainable’.
www.desmog.com/2019/07/04/c...
www.desmog.com/2019/07/04/c...
April 3, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The case for the subsidy has also in part been marketing of wood burning on an enormous scale as ‘sustainable’.
www.desmog.com/2019/07/04/c...
www.desmog.com/2019/07/04/c...
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
🗞️ ARTICLE: Starmer axes UK payments watchdog as part of anti-regulation drive 👇
www.ft.com/content/4086...
@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/4086...
@financialtimes.com
Starmer axes UK payments watchdog as part of anti-regulation drive
Government says regulator’s merger with Financial Conduct Authority will reduce complexity and boost innovation
www.ft.com
March 26, 2025 at 11:56 AM
🗞️ ARTICLE: Starmer axes UK payments watchdog as part of anti-regulation drive 👇
www.ft.com/content/4086...
@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/4086...
@financialtimes.com
How & why did the police get a warrant to raid a student meeting? Quakers in Britain condemn it: “No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.
“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy."
“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy."
You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House
Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.
www.quaker.org.uk
March 30, 2025 at 8:59 AM
How & why did the police get a warrant to raid a student meeting? Quakers in Britain condemn it: “No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.
“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy."
“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy."
Many of the comments on poverty are headlining on Reeves, but as this thread notes, the statistics are on a lag, a picture of the crisis she inherited from Sunak. Extreme low income vs. high cost of living & housing. Is there not a more sophisticated way to address this, than what we’re seeing now?
🧵
1.
The new official poverty stats came out at 930
Astonishingly bad numbers confirm the UK is in the grip of a building crisis of penury
www.gov.uk/government/s...
1.
The new official poverty stats came out at 930
Astonishingly bad numbers confirm the UK is in the grip of a building crisis of penury
www.gov.uk/government/s...
Households Below Average Income: an analysis of the UK income distribution: FYE 1995 to FYE 2024
www.gov.uk
March 29, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Many of the comments on poverty are headlining on Reeves, but as this thread notes, the statistics are on a lag, a picture of the crisis she inherited from Sunak. Extreme low income vs. high cost of living & housing. Is there not a more sophisticated way to address this, than what we’re seeing now?
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
Interesting @theifs.bsky.social piece finding signs of weak data quality & uncertainty in the poverty stats - esp for earnings
Even with their broad confidence intervals, though, the squeeze at the very bottom on chart looks pretty clear
ifs.org.uk/articles/new...
Even with their broad confidence intervals, though, the squeeze at the very bottom on chart looks pretty clear
ifs.org.uk/articles/new...
March 29, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Interesting @theifs.bsky.social piece finding signs of weak data quality & uncertainty in the poverty stats - esp for earnings
Even with their broad confidence intervals, though, the squeeze at the very bottom on chart looks pretty clear
ifs.org.uk/articles/new...
Even with their broad confidence intervals, though, the squeeze at the very bottom on chart looks pretty clear
ifs.org.uk/articles/new...
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
This is not ‘Keynesianism’. Keynesniasm is management of financial & monetary system..from which fiscal policy flows. Fiscal without Monetary policy is asking for trouble.
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/g...
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/g...
Germany’s Incoming Government Has Embraced Military Keynesianism | by Tom Krebs & Isabella M. Weber - Project Syndicate
Tom Krebs & Isabella M. Weber warn that current plans to boost military spending will unnecessarily undercut other priorities.
www.project-syndicate.org
March 25, 2025 at 11:18 AM
This is not ‘Keynesianism’. Keynesniasm is management of financial & monetary system..from which fiscal policy flows. Fiscal without Monetary policy is asking for trouble.
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/g...
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/g...
1/4📝 Open letter to the Treasury Committee about the FCA's plans to delete emails after 12 months
Here’s what was sent on Thursday 20th March:
Dear Economic Secretary to the Treasury...
Here’s what was sent on Thursday 20th March:
Dear Economic Secretary to the Treasury...
transparencytaskforce.org
March 25, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
Today, @fightingdirty.bsky.social launches our legal case to stop the export of millions of UK tyres to unregulated Indian pyrolysis plants, causing massive pollution & suffering. Help us stop it by supporting our campaign stop-uk-tyre-exports.raiselysite.com Thank you 🙏❤️🌍
March 25, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Today, @fightingdirty.bsky.social launches our legal case to stop the export of millions of UK tyres to unregulated Indian pyrolysis plants, causing massive pollution & suffering. Help us stop it by supporting our campaign stop-uk-tyre-exports.raiselysite.com Thank you 🙏❤️🌍
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
📝 Steve Conley blog: Thinning the herd: how institutions quietly crush financial crime victims 👇
academyoflifeplanning.blog/2025/03/13/t...
academyoflifeplanning.blog/2025/03/13/t...
Thinning the Herd: How Institutions Quietly Crush Financial Crime Victims
What do you do when you’re the victim of a life-altering financial crime—only to find the very institutions meant to protect you are working against you? You’re not alone. And you’re not imag…
academyoflifeplanning.blog
March 24, 2025 at 1:28 PM
📝 Steve Conley blog: Thinning the herd: how institutions quietly crush financial crime victims 👇
academyoflifeplanning.blog/2025/03/13/t...
academyoflifeplanning.blog/2025/03/13/t...
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
Yesterday, we held a talk with Professor Steve Keen about David Graeber's idea of - Finance Is Just Another Word For Other Peoples' Debts.
Here is the full video: youtu.be/pxtjDvdX_Ok
Here is the full video: youtu.be/pxtjDvdX_Ok
Finance Is Just Another Word For Other Peoples' Debts - Steve Keen
YouTube video by Institute of David Graeber
youtu.be
March 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Yesterday, we held a talk with Professor Steve Keen about David Graeber's idea of - Finance Is Just Another Word For Other Peoples' Debts.
Here is the full video: youtu.be/pxtjDvdX_Ok
Here is the full video: youtu.be/pxtjDvdX_Ok
This highlights how online platforms aren’t just brands, they are information infrastructure.
It’s like in fairytales what would happen if a troll takes over a bridge. The bridge is still a bridge, it gets you there.
It’s like in fairytales what would happen if a troll takes over a bridge. The bridge is still a bridge, it gets you there.
Weird experience being asked a few times, during a short trip to Ireland, whether I’d consider leaving X/Twitter (in protest?), & having to explain I’ve been living in a country where it was the main source of information about where was about to be bombed. www.instagram.com/p/DCYgk3wMZ9...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
March 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM
This highlights how online platforms aren’t just brands, they are information infrastructure.
It’s like in fairytales what would happen if a troll takes over a bridge. The bridge is still a bridge, it gets you there.
It’s like in fairytales what would happen if a troll takes over a bridge. The bridge is still a bridge, it gets you there.
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
My latest story for @bylinetimes.bsky.social reveals that MPs say Labour has not properly tackled the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy properly leaving some 3 million people still living in unsafe and unsellable homes
Repeated promises to clean up the scandal of homes covered in highly dangerous flammable cladding are still not being met, warn MPs
Eight Years After Grenfell, the Government Still Doesn't Know How May Homes Are Unsafe and Has No Clear Plan to Fix Them
bylinetimes.com
March 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
My latest story for @bylinetimes.bsky.social reveals that MPs say Labour has not properly tackled the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy properly leaving some 3 million people still living in unsafe and unsellable homes
Reposted by Alex Varley-Winter
UNRWA Director General: Awful scenes of civilians killed among them children following waves of heavy bombardment from Israeli Forces overnight. Fueling “hell on earth” by resuming the war will only bring more despair & suffering. A return to the ceasefire is a must. #Gaza
March 18, 2025 at 10:07 AM
UNRWA Director General: Awful scenes of civilians killed among them children following waves of heavy bombardment from Israeli Forces overnight. Fueling “hell on earth” by resuming the war will only bring more despair & suffering. A return to the ceasefire is a must. #Gaza
Heads-up financial journalists, & investigative types with an interest in the UK’s watchdogs.
1/4 📺 FCA whistleblower employment tribunal hearing
Here’s link to watch TTF community member Ahmet Latif’s hearing:
meet.video.justice.gov.uk/go/6cc2765a-...
PIN: 9125
Here’s link to watch TTF community member Ahmet Latif’s hearing:
meet.video.justice.gov.uk/go/6cc2765a-...
PIN: 9125
Join HMCTS2369
meet.video.justice.gov.uk
March 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Heads-up financial journalists, & investigative types with an interest in the UK’s watchdogs.