Ben Chu
@benchu.bsky.social
Policy and analysis correspondent, BBC Verify.
https://www.benchu.co.uk/
Author of "Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails", published May 2025
https://linktr.ee/exileeconomics
https://www.benchu.co.uk/
Author of "Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails", published May 2025
https://linktr.ee/exileeconomics
Pinned
Ben Chu
@benchu.bsky.social
· Oct 20
The Tax Conundrum - Episode 1: The Problem - BBC Sounds
What's wrong with our tax system?
www.bbc.co.uk
Why do we seem to find it so hard to have a rational conversation about how MUCH we pay in tax and HOW we pay it?
I'm exploring that in a new 3 part series for BBC Radio 4.
Episode 1 of The Tax Conundrum available here 🎧👇...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
I'm exploring that in a new 3 part series for BBC Radio 4.
Episode 1 of The Tax Conundrum available here 🎧👇...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Some context for the Yvette Cooper interview on Radio 4 Today this morning 👇
Will the Chagos deal cost the UK £3.4bn or £35bn?
My analysis on the BBC website...👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
My analysis on the BBC website...👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
January 22, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Some context for the Yvette Cooper interview on Radio 4 Today this morning 👇
Reposted by Ben Chu
Does EU and US trade account for a third of global trade?
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
January 21, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Does EU and US trade account for a third of global trade?
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
Likely source of Trump's claim the UK is producing a third of the total energy as it was in 1999: UK energy stats "Availability and consumption of primary fuels and equivalents" - 94k thousand tonnes of oil equivalent in 2024 vs 297k in 1999 (-70%)... www.gov.uk/government/s...
January 21, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Likely source of Trump's claim the UK is producing a third of the total energy as it was in 1999: UK energy stats "Availability and consumption of primary fuels and equivalents" - 94k thousand tonnes of oil equivalent in 2024 vs 297k in 1999 (-70%)... www.gov.uk/government/s...
Trump tells Davos "China makes almost all of the windmills and yet I haven't been able to find any windfarms in China"
IRENASTAT data shows China had 479GW of onshore wind capacity in 2024 & 41GW of offshore wind capacity
pxweb.irena.org/pxweb/en/IRE...
IRENASTAT data shows China had 479GW of onshore wind capacity in 2024 & 41GW of offshore wind capacity
pxweb.irena.org/pxweb/en/IRE...
January 21, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Trump tells Davos "China makes almost all of the windmills and yet I haven't been able to find any windfarms in China"
IRENASTAT data shows China had 479GW of onshore wind capacity in 2024 & 41GW of offshore wind capacity
pxweb.irena.org/pxweb/en/IRE...
IRENASTAT data shows China had 479GW of onshore wind capacity in 2024 & 41GW of offshore wind capacity
pxweb.irena.org/pxweb/en/IRE...
DonaldTrump tells Davos the US gas price is "now below $2.50 in many states, $2.30 in most states"
The latest data from the US EIA shows the US average was $2.779 on 12 Jan 2026: www.eia.gov/petroleum/ga...
The latest data from the US EIA shows the US average was $2.779 on 12 Jan 2026: www.eia.gov/petroleum/ga...
January 21, 2026 at 1:56 PM
DonaldTrump tells Davos the US gas price is "now below $2.50 in many states, $2.30 in most states"
The latest data from the US EIA shows the US average was $2.779 on 12 Jan 2026: www.eia.gov/petroleum/ga...
The latest data from the US EIA shows the US average was $2.779 on 12 Jan 2026: www.eia.gov/petroleum/ga...
Does EU and US trade account for a third of global trade?
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
January 21, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Does EU and US trade account for a third of global trade?
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
I’ve seen this claim made a couple of times and I snagged on it because it sounds high.
Having looked into it, I think that statement is potentially misleading.
Thread...1/
This section from Mark Carney's speech in Davos sums up perfectly the global trend I describe in my book Exile Economics: What Happens If Globalisation Fails... paulwells.substack.com/p/the-carney...
January 20, 2026 at 4:30 PM
This section from Mark Carney's speech in Davos sums up perfectly the global trend I describe in my book Exile Economics: What Happens If Globalisation Fails... paulwells.substack.com/p/the-carney...
Will the Chagos deal cost the UK £3.4bn or £35bn?
My analysis on the BBC website...👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
My analysis on the BBC website...👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
January 20, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Will the Chagos deal cost the UK £3.4bn or £35bn?
My analysis on the BBC website...👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
My analysis on the BBC website...👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp...
The UK-Mauritius deal over the Chagos islands is in the news again.
The focus is on its geopolitical/security merits - but here's some analysis on the costs of the deal we did last year 👇
The focus is on its geopolitical/security merits - but here's some analysis on the costs of the deal we did last year 👇
How much is the Chagos deal *really* going to cost the UK?
£3.4bn or £35bn?
💵
This is a complex one - but worth unpacking.
Longish thread..🧵1/22
£3.4bn or £35bn?
💵
This is a complex one - but worth unpacking.
Longish thread..🧵1/22
January 20, 2026 at 1:34 PM
The UK-Mauritius deal over the Chagos islands is in the news again.
The focus is on its geopolitical/security merits - but here's some analysis on the costs of the deal we did last year 👇
The focus is on its geopolitical/security merits - but here's some analysis on the costs of the deal we did last year 👇
Reposted by Ben Chu
Also @benchu.bsky.social very presciently wrote a whole book, Exile Economics, on this topic…
www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails
THE MUST-READ GUIDE TO THE TRADE WAR'A smart, vivid and…
www.goodreads.com
January 18, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Also @benchu.bsky.social very presciently wrote a whole book, Exile Economics, on this topic…
www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
Will more offshore windpower drive up household energy bills?
Watch my analysis here 📺👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...
Watch my analysis here 📺👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...
BBC Verify: Fact-checking Trump's claims about inflation and US economic growth
Latest updates from the BBC's specialists in fact-checking, verifying video and tackling disinformation.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 14, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Will more offshore windpower drive up household energy bills?
Watch my analysis here 📺👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...
Watch my analysis here 📺👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...
Many thanks to the Next Big Idea Club team for selecting my book, Exile Economics, as one of its monthly must-reads.
You can listen to me reading 5 key insights from the book here 🎧👇
nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/sho...
You can listen to me reading 5 key insights from the book here 🎧👇
nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/sho...
Why We Shouldn’t Give Up on Globalisation—We Just Need to Do It Better
Author Ben Chu shares 5 key insights from his new book, Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails.
nextbigideaclub.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Many thanks to the Next Big Idea Club team for selecting my book, Exile Economics, as one of its monthly must-reads.
You can listen to me reading 5 key insights from the book here 🎧👇
nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/sho...
You can listen to me reading 5 key insights from the book here 🎧👇
nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/sho...
Regarding Trump's 25% US tariff on any country "doing business with Iran" - here's Iran's top 10 export trading partners in 2023...
January 13, 2026 at 11:04 AM
Regarding Trump's 25% US tariff on any country "doing business with Iran" - here's Iran's top 10 export trading partners in 2023...
Regarding the debate on BBC Politics Live just now about the government's jobs market record, according to the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey it's the case that both unemployment AND employment have recorded as having risen since Labour took office...
January 7, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Regarding the debate on BBC Politics Live just now about the government's jobs market record, according to the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey it's the case that both unemployment AND employment have recorded as having risen since Labour took office...
How much will the watering down of the government's farming inheritance tax changes cost?
When it unveiled the original reforms in the 2024 Budget, HMT estimated they would raise £230m in 2026/27, rising to £520m in 2029/30...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b98...
When it unveiled the original reforms in the 2024 Budget, HMT estimated they would raise £230m in 2026/27, rising to £520m in 2029/30...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b98...
December 23, 2025 at 3:02 PM
How much will the watering down of the government's farming inheritance tax changes cost?
When it unveiled the original reforms in the 2024 Budget, HMT estimated they would raise £230m in 2026/27, rising to £520m in 2029/30...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b98...
When it unveiled the original reforms in the 2024 Budget, HMT estimated they would raise £230m in 2026/27, rising to £520m in 2029/30...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b98...
Reposted by Ben Chu
A short seven years (!) after I started writing the code, it’s great to see this paper published.
We use high-frequency NHS to data show that short-staffed, less experienced nursing teams deliver worse outcomes – with the largest mortality impacts for patients with sepsis.
We use high-frequency NHS to data show that short-staffed, less experienced nursing teams deliver worse outcomes – with the largest mortality impacts for patients with sepsis.
December 18, 2025 at 9:52 AM
A short seven years (!) after I started writing the code, it’s great to see this paper published.
We use high-frequency NHS to data show that short-staffed, less experienced nursing teams deliver worse outcomes – with the largest mortality impacts for patients with sepsis.
We use high-frequency NHS to data show that short-staffed, less experienced nursing teams deliver worse outcomes – with the largest mortality impacts for patients with sepsis.
Thanks to Simon Hunt of City AM for choosing Exile Economics as one of his top 6 business books of 2025... 👇
www.cityam.com/six-of-the-t...
www.cityam.com/six-of-the-t...
December 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Thanks to Simon Hunt of City AM for choosing Exile Economics as one of his top 6 business books of 2025... 👇
www.cityam.com/six-of-the-t...
www.cityam.com/six-of-the-t...
Many thanks @davidheniguk.bsky.social! This was a great event & introduced me to a lot of valuable new contacts
Starting a year in review with what I read - workwise the two best books were Apple in China showing how the US contributed to the growth of an economic giant, and Exile Economics by @benchu.bsky.social telling the story of inter-dependencies - I was happy to discuss this with him for @borderlex.net
December 15, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Many thanks @davidheniguk.bsky.social! This was a great event & introduced me to a lot of valuable new contacts
Reposted by Ben Chu
BBC Radio 4 / @benchu.bsky.social recently did a good series (3 episodes, called the Tax Conundrum) exploring, inter alia, precisely this disjuncture between how the UK's tax system actually works (income taxation has gotten much more progressive) and how most Brits think it works
I understand what marginal tax rates and how they work, but (with apologies for naive point) the fact that someone on a median income only pays this much tax - given the general state of the discourse on this - is surprising to me
December 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
BBC Radio 4 / @benchu.bsky.social recently did a good series (3 episodes, called the Tax Conundrum) exploring, inter alia, precisely this disjuncture between how the UK's tax system actually works (income taxation has gotten much more progressive) and how most Brits think it works
Reposted by Ben Chu
Did Rachel Reeves and the Government “mislead” people about the state of the public finances and the need for tax rises before the Budget?
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
December 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Did Rachel Reeves and the Government “mislead” people about the state of the public finances and the need for tax rises before the Budget?
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
People who heard the 8.10am Radio 4 Today interview with Dr Tom Dolphin of the BMA this morning might be interested in this explainer:
📺 👇
What's happened to resident doctors' pay since 2008?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
📺 👇
What's happened to resident doctors' pay since 2008?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
What’s happened to resident doctors’ pay since 2008?
Resident doctors in England say pay is at the core of their dispute with the government, but what’s actually happened to their pay over the past 17 years?
www.bbc.co.uk
December 2, 2025 at 9:31 PM
People who heard the 8.10am Radio 4 Today interview with Dr Tom Dolphin of the BMA this morning might be interested in this explainer:
📺 👇
What's happened to resident doctors' pay since 2008?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
📺 👇
What's happened to resident doctors' pay since 2008?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
Very sad news.
Andreas Whittam Smith was a very great man - and in my encounters with him while I worked for many years at The Independent an exceptionally nice one too.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Andreas Whittam Smith was a very great man - and in my encounters with him while I worked for many years at The Independent an exceptionally nice one too.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Andreas Whittam Smith death: Co-founder of The Independent, dies aged 88
The editor and media entrepreneur changed the landscape of British journalism over his decades-long career
www.independent.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Very sad news.
Andreas Whittam Smith was a very great man - and in my encounters with him while I worked for many years at The Independent an exceptionally nice one too.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Andreas Whittam Smith was a very great man - and in my encounters with him while I worked for many years at The Independent an exceptionally nice one too.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
In short, the answer to whether the government can fairly be said to have misled or not on the state of the public finances depends alot on which element of its communications we're talking about 👇
Did Rachel Reeves and the Government “mislead” people about the state of the public finances and the need for tax rises before the Budget?
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
December 1, 2025 at 1:08 PM
In short, the answer to whether the government can fairly be said to have misled or not on the state of the public finances depends alot on which element of its communications we're talking about 👇
Did Rachel Reeves and the Government “mislead” people about the state of the public finances and the need for tax rises before the Budget?
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
December 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Did Rachel Reeves and the Government “mislead” people about the state of the public finances and the need for tax rises before the Budget?
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
I think this is a rather complex question & the answer is not black and white.
A thread…🧵1/12
Thanks to @grattaninstitute.bsky.social for choosing Exile Economics as a recommendation for the Australian PM's summer reading list!
1/ Announcing Grattan’s Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List for 2025! 🎉
Here are the six books we think the PM and all Australians should read over summer. #auspol buff.ly/UbafIPQ
Here are the six books we think the PM and all Australians should read over summer. #auspol buff.ly/UbafIPQ
December 1, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Thanks to @grattaninstitute.bsky.social for choosing Exile Economics as a recommendation for the Australian PM's summer reading list!