Elliott Green
@elliottdgreen.bsky.social
Professor of Development Studies, LSE | Research: Ethnicity, Nationalism, African Politics, Political Economy of Development | Ealing, UK resident but Evanston, IL native | website: https://personal.lse.ac.uk/greened/
Reposted by Elliott Green
Our next APEG seminar on Thursday, 11 Dec., will feature Dr Chikane (www.wsg.ac.za/people/dr-re...) from the Wits School of Governance. His talk is titled "The Hidden Architecture of Elite Power in South Africa." Please join us in person or online.
December 4, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Our next APEG seminar on Thursday, 11 Dec., will feature Dr Chikane (www.wsg.ac.za/people/dr-re...) from the Wits School of Governance. His talk is titled "The Hidden Architecture of Elite Power in South Africa." Please join us in person or online.
Note the complete lack of any discussion of immigration here - which is as it should be. Labour will do well focus its energies on generating growth and stop talking about immigration as much as possible, as it is a topic which will never help it win any elections.
Rightly lots of debates about growth this weekend - rightly because it was low productivity growth that saw wages entirely flatline during the 2010s.
December 1, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Note the complete lack of any discussion of immigration here - which is as it should be. Labour will do well focus its energies on generating growth and stop talking about immigration as much as possible, as it is a topic which will never help it win any elections.
Reposted by Elliott Green
Don't Panic: Britain is not broken. The UK can do better, but we shouldn't be too gloomy about things. If you look at the stats, there's a lot to be happy with (including how happy we are): adamcorlett.com/2025/11/30/d...
Don’t Panic: Britain is not broken – adamcorlett.com
adamcorlett.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Don't Panic: Britain is not broken. The UK can do better, but we shouldn't be too gloomy about things. If you look at the stats, there's a lot to be happy with (including how happy we are): adamcorlett.com/2025/11/30/d...
Reposted by Elliott Green
Sought and found asylum in the UK
R.I.P. Tom Stoppard, playwright most famous for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain at the age of eight. He later discovered all four of his grandparents had died in the Holocaust.
Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain at the age of eight. He later discovered all four of his grandparents had died in the Holocaust.
Sir Tom Stoppard, playwright famed for his wit and depth, dies at 88
Winning an Oscar for the screenplay for Shakespeare In Love, he captivated the hearts of audiences for more than six decades.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Sought and found asylum in the UK
Ok but if we want to discuss bad writing then the far more important problem these days is the weaselly continued use of the passive voice, particularly in journalism. "Food aid is blocked from getting into Gaza", etc. etc. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
Against We - Marginal REVOLUTION
The excellent Hollis Robbins: I propose a moratorium on the generalized first-person plural for all blog posts, social media comments, opinion writing, headline writers, for all of December. No “we, “...
marginalrevolution.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Ok but if we want to discuss bad writing then the far more important problem these days is the weaselly continued use of the passive voice, particularly in journalism. "Food aid is blocked from getting into Gaza", etc. etc. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
Reposted by Elliott Green
Homeland Security doesn’t grasp the fact that the first Thanksgiving was about making “room at the table” for European “invaders.”
November 27, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Homeland Security doesn’t grasp the fact that the first Thanksgiving was about making “room at the table” for European “invaders.”
Reposted by Elliott Green
The BBC is accountable to its viewers & listeners not foreign electoral autocracies. Everyone should a complaint, otherwise nothing will happen. www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comp...
November 25, 2025 at 11:55 AM
The BBC is accountable to its viewers & listeners not foreign electoral autocracies. Everyone should a complaint, otherwise nothing will happen. www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comp...
One thing I continue to be unable to understand as an immigrant is the British obsession with the working class. Surely the goal of policies promoting growth and development is to shrink the working class as small as possible and lift people into the middle class?
November 25, 2025 at 10:48 AM
One thing I continue to be unable to understand as an immigrant is the British obsession with the working class. Surely the goal of policies promoting growth and development is to shrink the working class as small as possible and lift people into the middle class?
Reposted by Elliott Green
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
For me this is more reminiscent of Mark Rylance's utopian tech CEO character from Don't Look Up, specifically his plans to make money and save the world at the same time
"At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Create the Torment Nexus"
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
www.politico.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:39 AM
For me this is more reminiscent of Mark Rylance's utopian tech CEO character from Don't Look Up, specifically his plans to make money and save the world at the same time
There is a clear over-representation on the far right in the Anglosphere of white South Africans (e.g. Musk, Thiel and Kruger, both of whose parents are South African), which doesn't get enough attention in the media. [You could also possibly throw Ranulph Fiennes into this mix]
‘America is British’. Heaven is ‘a socialist state’. David Attenborough is ‘anti-human’ – the startling theories of Reform MP Danny Kruger
‘America is British’. Heaven is ‘a socialist state’. David Attenborough is ‘anti-human’ – the startling theories of Reform MP Danny Kruger
He was a Conservative party big-hitter who wrote speeches for David Cameron and worked with Boris Johnson before he suddenly jumped ship. He talks family, flags and why Nigel Farage is ‘top dog’
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:14 PM
There is a clear over-representation on the far right in the Anglosphere of white South Africans (e.g. Musk, Thiel and Kruger, both of whose parents are South African), which doesn't get enough attention in the media. [You could also possibly throw Ranulph Fiennes into this mix]
A reminder that this is the same country in which a state legislature almost passed a bill defining pi as 3.2 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana...
November 21, 2025 at 9:27 PM
A reminder that this is the same country in which a state legislature almost passed a bill defining pi as 3.2 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana...
I've long been an admirer of Tyler Cowen, so it's been sad to see his slow but steady detachment from reality over the past few years, with this post as the most obvious and latest example. I blame his continued use of X/Twitter among other factors. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
American democracy is very much alive, though not in all regards well - Marginal REVOLUTION
The Democrats who won in the November elections are all going to assume office without incident or controversy. The Supreme Court is likely to run against at least major parts of the Trump tariff plan...
marginalrevolution.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:38 AM
I've long been an admirer of Tyler Cowen, so it's been sad to see his slow but steady detachment from reality over the past few years, with this post as the most obvious and latest example. I blame his continued use of X/Twitter among other factors. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...
I put the probability that Trump knows who Mamdani's middle comes from at roughly 0%
Trump says he’s meeting with “communist” Mamdani at the White House on Friday
November 20, 2025 at 7:34 AM
I put the probability that Trump knows who Mamdani's middle comes from at roughly 0%
This is one of those days where the combined effect of UK and US politics - in this case Shabana Mahmood's cruel asylum policy and Larry Summers's Epstein emails - is incredibly depressing. Sadly there have been far too many days like today since 2016.
November 17, 2025 at 9:15 PM
This is one of those days where the combined effect of UK and US politics - in this case Shabana Mahmood's cruel asylum policy and Larry Summers's Epstein emails - is incredibly depressing. Sadly there have been far too many days like today since 2016.
Isn't this exactly the same argument that Priti Patel made while Home Secretary in 2020 - 'I couldn't possibly be racist because someone called me a racial slur when I was younger'?
Asked about Tommy Robinson supporting her asylum plans Shabana Mahmood replies that "Tommy Robinson doesn't even think I'm actually English, so he will certainly not be supporting anything I've got to say."
But he is supporting what she's got to say. That was the point of the question
But he is supporting what she's got to say. That was the point of the question
November 17, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Isn't this exactly the same argument that Priti Patel made while Home Secretary in 2020 - 'I couldn't possibly be racist because someone called me a racial slur when I was younger'?
Spotted outside Goldhawk Road underground station
November 6, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Spotted outside Goldhawk Road underground station
The only people who make fun of goat meat are those who've never tried it. It is far superior to lamb in taste and texture!
"All hot dog stands will be replaced with goat meat stands."
hold up. tell me more about that
hold up. tell me more about that
This guy
November 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
The only people who make fun of goat meat are those who've never tried it. It is far superior to lamb in taste and texture!
Reposted by Elliott Green
So why does the BBC label the academic and economist Faiza Shaheen an "activist" but refuse to do the same for the former academic, turned anti-migrant activist Matt Goodwin?
October 30, 2025 at 11:06 AM
So why does the BBC label the academic and economist Faiza Shaheen an "activist" but refuse to do the same for the former academic, turned anti-migrant activist Matt Goodwin?
Just to make this clear for those who don't know African history, Amin's expulsion of the Asians is possibly the greatest act of self-harm in the history of Uganda. Uganda had one of the sharpest declines in GDP/capita in modern world history from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s.
The way to answer "has anybody done this since Idi Amin in 1972" would be for Conservatives to name a democratic government that revoked permanent settlement to remove legal rights & then deported, expelled those people.
Important they get asked to give the counter-example to "since Idi Amin"
Important they get asked to give the counter-example to "since Idi Amin"
Essential @sundersays.bsky.social thread on Katie Lam.
Ms Lam is proposing policies last used by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972.
Ms Lam is proposing policies last used by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972.
October 21, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Just to make this clear for those who don't know African history, Amin's expulsion of the Asians is possibly the greatest act of self-harm in the history of Uganda. Uganda had one of the sharpest declines in GDP/capita in modern world history from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s.
One can only imagine the chances of RJ showing up in a 100% white community (say in SW England, where this is not uncommon) and similarly complaining that there was a lack of integration as he didn't see a single non-white face
The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth
October 7, 2025 at 8:35 PM
One can only imagine the chances of RJ showing up in a 100% white community (say in SW England, where this is not uncommon) and similarly complaining that there was a lack of integration as he didn't see a single non-white face
One of the key changes over the past several decades that so many have not completely understood - including myself at times - is how the old mainstream media sources have been completely hollowed out. Newsweek/Time/NYT/WP/etc. still exist but are a hollow shell of their former selves
Media orgs don't seem to think there is much harm to censoring their own content. But it is still a (reasonably) free media ecosystem, and it seems like they could suffer considerable losses if people come to perceive them as government mouthpieces.
Jarvis: I hate to say this to my friends here at CNN, mass media is dying, so they're taking the last of these vestiges of institutions that matter and they're trying to turn them into propaganda organs under threat from the head of the FCC
September 18, 2025 at 8:10 PM
One of the key changes over the past several decades that so many have not completely understood - including myself at times - is how the old mainstream media sources have been completely hollowed out. Newsweek/Time/NYT/WP/etc. still exist but are a hollow shell of their former selves
Reposted by Elliott Green
Swalwell: There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. To the FCC chairperson and anyone in involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room answering questions
September 18, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Swalwell: There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. To the FCC chairperson and anyone in involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room answering questions
I find it incredibly disturbing that both the PM and FS have taken to social media to condemn the killing in a foreign country of a foreign national who had no relationship with the UK. This now sets a precedent whereby silence on other such killings abroad indicates political bias from the govt.
Keir Starmer has expressed his condolences re: Charlie Kirk, USian far-right social media personality. He could have just said nothing, but no.
September 11, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I find it incredibly disturbing that both the PM and FS have taken to social media to condemn the killing in a foreign country of a foreign national who had no relationship with the UK. This now sets a precedent whereby silence on other such killings abroad indicates political bias from the govt.