James Ball
@jamesrball.com
Tech, policy, politics.
Political editor @ The New World
Opinion @ The i Paper
Fellow @ Demos
PhD researcher @ UCL Laws
newsletter @ techtris
Latest book: The Other Pandemic – How QAnon Contaminated The World. 🏳️🌈
https://www.jamesrball.com/
Political editor @ The New World
Opinion @ The i Paper
Fellow @ Demos
PhD researcher @ UCL Laws
newsletter @ techtris
Latest book: The Other Pandemic – How QAnon Contaminated The World. 🏳️🌈
https://www.jamesrball.com/
Pinned
James Ball
@jamesrball.com
· Aug 11
Techtris | James Ball | Substack
A weekly(ish) newsletter on technology, policy and society, from James Ball. Click to read Techtris, by James Ball, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
www.jamesrball.com
Enjoying my posts? (If not: sorry..?)
I have a newsletter here, plz do subscribe: www.jamesrball.com
Details of books I’ve written here: www.jamesrball.com/p/books
And all my writing for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social is here: www.thenewworld.co.uk/contributor/...
I often pop up elsewhere, too.
I have a newsletter here, plz do subscribe: www.jamesrball.com
Details of books I’ve written here: www.jamesrball.com/p/books
And all my writing for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social is here: www.thenewworld.co.uk/contributor/...
I often pop up elsewhere, too.
Reposted by James Ball
The left conviction that you don't need broad based taxes to support public services is a giant problem not only in Britain
My pre-budget take for the LSE Politics blog is up:
Labour are unable to articulate any vision or sense of purpose.
Much of the left has convinced itself that government spending can be maintained without broad-based tax increases.
Not a great budget backdrop.
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Labour are unable to articulate any vision or sense of purpose.
Much of the left has convinced itself that government spending can be maintained without broad-based tax increases.
Not a great budget backdrop.
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
Wealth tax and looser fiscal rules won’t save the Budget | British Politics and Policy at LSE
The narrative on the left that a wealth tax and looser fiscal rules would solve the Chancellor's 2025 Budget headaches has got out of hand.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 5:19 PM
The left conviction that you don't need broad based taxes to support public services is a giant problem not only in Britain
“Notably, during a 90-minute long evidence session, Prescott was at no point asked to explain why his own dossier traduced a Trump quote at least as seriously as the Panorama episode to which he referred.
“But this was just one missing question among many…”
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
“But this was just one missing question among many…”
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
Michael Prescott: the BBC assassin’s woeful day in Parliament
The man whose report got rid of the BBC’s boss faced MPs yesterday, along with a group of senior BBC executives. Their appearance raised more questions than it answered
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
“Notably, during a 90-minute long evidence session, Prescott was at no point asked to explain why his own dossier traduced a Trump quote at least as seriously as the Panorama episode to which he referred.
“But this was just one missing question among many…”
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
“But this was just one missing question among many…”
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
Reposted by James Ball
Every American should have this in their wallet:
November 25, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Every American should have this in their wallet:
Reposted by James Ball
When can you declare an emergency over?
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
November 25, 2025 at 4:23 PM
When can you declare an emergency over?
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
The 5p “emergency” petrol tax cut was introduced in March 2022, to offset a spike in prices
They are now about 30p down on that month, & about 50p down on the absolute peak
"To the obvious frustration of MPs, Shah responded to even basic questions with five or ten minutes of waffle, sometimes losing his own thread to the extent that he had to ask the MP to repeat their question."
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
Michael Prescott: the BBC assassin’s woeful day in Parliament
The man whose report got rid of the BBC’s boss faced MPs yesterday, along with a group of senior BBC executives. Their appearance raised more questions than it answered
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
"To the obvious frustration of MPs, Shah responded to even basic questions with five or ten minutes of waffle, sometimes losing his own thread to the extent that he had to ask the MP to repeat their question."
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
Reposted by James Ball
A good time to revisit @jamesrball.com's provoking piece on why the child benefit cap strikes at the heart of the big questions: who are the Labour party, and what is politics for?
What’s the point of politics?
Labour’s feud over child benefits points to a deeper question: how to balance strategy with doing the right thing
newhumanist.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 3:33 PM
A good time to revisit @jamesrball.com's provoking piece on why the child benefit cap strikes at the heart of the big questions: who are the Labour party, and what is politics for?
Reposted by James Ball
BBC DOSSIER UPDATE 🔔 Michael Prescott endured a grilling so light it could barely be called a defrosting, and yet he still seemed confused and largely out of his depth
✏️ @jamesrball.com
✏️ @jamesrball.com
Michael Prescott: the BBC assassin’s woeful day in Parliament
The man whose report got rid of the BBC’s boss faced MPs yesterday, along with a group of senior BBC executives. Their appearance raised more questions than it answered
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 2:05 PM
BBC DOSSIER UPDATE 🔔 Michael Prescott endured a grilling so light it could barely be called a defrosting, and yet he still seemed confused and largely out of his depth
✏️ @jamesrball.com
✏️ @jamesrball.com
Reposted by James Ball
11 days apart. Brutal.
November 25, 2025 at 11:27 AM
11 days apart. Brutal.
Reposted by James Ball
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
Billionaire Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, pardoned by Donald Trump, has been accused of facilitating millions of dollars’ worth of payments to Hamas in the wake of its attack on Israel on October 7 2023. Zhao also financed the Trump family's entrance into the cryptocurrency market.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao accused of facilitating payments to Hamas
Crypto tycoon pardoned by Donald Trump faces US court complaint from families of victims of October 7 attack
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Cannot overstate how, from my perch as a national-security reporter, this would have been an earth-shattering scandal in a prior era.
Reposted by James Ball
This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre.
I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2
I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
This sentence was taken out of a lecture they commissioned, reviewed through the full editorial process, and recorded four weeks ago in front of 500 people in the BBC Radio Theatre.
I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2
I was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC. /2
Reposted by James Ball
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
Reposted by James Ball
Since Labour won power, an insidious little phrase has been popping up constantly in the media: "tax raid".
So I looked into this for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social
And it turns out it once meant something completely different.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/phil-tinline...
So I looked into this for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social
And it turns out it once meant something completely different.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/phil-tinline...
Why the right wing media keeps screaming ‘tax raid’
This isn’t journalism, it’s propaganda that reframes tax policy as assault and a democratically elected Labour government as thieves
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Since Labour won power, an insidious little phrase has been popping up constantly in the media: "tax raid".
So I looked into this for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social
And it turns out it once meant something completely different.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/phil-tinline...
So I looked into this for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social
And it turns out it once meant something completely different.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/phil-tinline...
The BBC makes itself *extremely* hard to love with this stuff. I’ve worked in more than one small newsroom that’s discovered to its immense frustration that the country’s biggest news org has stolen its work with no credit whatsoever.
I guess it’s a compliment that the top story on BBC London’s TV/online output today is a direct lift of a month-old London Centric story? But once again the BBC is consistently the worst news outlet for actually remembering to credit others.
November 25, 2025 at 8:20 AM
The BBC makes itself *extremely* hard to love with this stuff. I’ve worked in more than one small newsroom that’s discovered to its immense frustration that the country’s biggest news org has stolen its work with no credit whatsoever.
Correct take. It's a well-executed salvage job on what was clearly an absolute *mess* of a movie, but because the final 20 mins is good it gets forgiven for more than it should.
Andor is superb but that doesn't change Rogue One being…okay, at best.
Andor is superb but that doesn't change Rogue One being…okay, at best.
rogue one is bad folks. i have believed this since i saw it in theaters and no subsequent rewatch has changed my mind. basically a chop job until the final sequence, which is good (for star wars)
November 24, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Correct take. It's a well-executed salvage job on what was clearly an absolute *mess* of a movie, but because the final 20 mins is good it gets forgiven for more than it should.
Andor is superb but that doesn't change Rogue One being…okay, at best.
Andor is superb but that doesn't change Rogue One being…okay, at best.
Reposted by James Ball
My “We’re not ENRON” press releases are raising a lot of questions already answered by the press releases.
In the memo, “Nvidia also responds to claims that the ‘current situation is analogous to historical accounting frauds (Enron, WorldCom, Lucent) that featured vendor financing and SPVs [special purpose vehicles.)’”
@barrons.com $NVDA
@firstadopter.bsky.social
www.barrons.com/articles/nvi...
@barrons.com $NVDA
@firstadopter.bsky.social
www.barrons.com/articles/nvi...
November 24, 2025 at 10:24 PM
My “We’re not ENRON” press releases are raising a lot of questions already answered by the press releases.
Reposted by James Ball
Imagine praising "Latino parents are now so afraid to be seen out and about that they have a rota to walk the Latino children" and not wondering where your humanity went?
Trevor Philips in the Times, calling for a Trump/Miller-style of random deportations based on skin colour.
archive.ph/RlXPj
archive.ph/RlXPj
November 24, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Imagine praising "Latino parents are now so afraid to be seen out and about that they have a rota to walk the Latino children" and not wondering where your humanity went?
Reposted by James Ball
Gibb; “ I had no editorial role whatsoever at the Jewish Chronicle”. Lee Harpin, reporter at the paper; “RG made a habit of calling into the office on print days to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view’”
November 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Gibb; “ I had no editorial role whatsoever at the Jewish Chronicle”. Lee Harpin, reporter at the paper; “RG made a habit of calling into the office on print days to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view’”
Reposted by James Ball
Toby Young, self-appointed king of free speech, is speaking in Hungary tomorrow about UK “censorship”.
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
Toby Young to Address Orbán-Backed Group on UK ‘Censorship’
Conservative peer and right-wing commentator Toby Young is due to deliver a talk tomorrow (25 November) at the in-house think tank of Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán. Young is being interviewed by Mat...
www.desmog.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Toby Young, self-appointed king of free speech, is speaking in Hungary tomorrow about UK “censorship”.
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
He’ll be addressing a group funded by Viktor Orbán’s autocratic regime, which has seized control of the country’s media, judiciary, and routinely harasses its critics
Reposted by James Ball
I've said since Trump picked on Mahmoud Khalil that he was picking his political martyrs poorly.
But this one...
But this one...
November 24, 2025 at 6:56 PM
I've said since Trump picked on Mahmoud Khalil that he was picking his political martyrs poorly.
But this one...
But this one...
Reposted by James Ball
This is not, however, a ruling on Comey's other motions to dismiss — which are before Judge Nachmanoff — and which could be with prejudice, if granted.
November 24, 2025 at 6:16 PM
This is not, however, a ruling on Comey's other motions to dismiss — which are before Judge Nachmanoff — and which could be with prejudice, if granted.
Reposted by James Ball
BREAKING: Judge rules Lindsey Halligan's appointment was not valid, thus, she had no authority to present the James Comey or Letitia James indictments and the indictments are dismissed without prejudice.
November 24, 2025 at 5:47 PM
BREAKING: Judge rules Lindsey Halligan's appointment was not valid, thus, she had no authority to present the James Comey or Letitia James indictments and the indictments are dismissed without prejudice.
Robbie Gibb is asked if he was aware the Prescott report was going to leak. "Absolutely not," he replies.
November 24, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Robbie Gibb is asked if he was aware the Prescott report was going to leak. "Absolutely not," he replies.
Seems fairly clear BBC chair Samir Shah still thinks that the week of delays in the BBC response to the Prescott dossier – delays which led to the corporation's two top executives quitting – was the right thing to do, to get the "right" answer.
November 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Seems fairly clear BBC chair Samir Shah still thinks that the week of delays in the BBC response to the Prescott dossier – delays which led to the corporation's two top executives quitting – was the right thing to do, to get the "right" answer.
Reposted by James Ball
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
With Rachel Reeves reportedly set to apply a new tax on tuition fees paid by overseas students, most Britons support such a move at the previously mooted level of 6%
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Support: 57%
Oppose: 18%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 24, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I'd like to see the response to this if the question added "if that that means universities have less money to spend on UK students".
Reposted by James Ball
Not really germane to the matters under discussion but does anyone know who the bloke sitting behind Prescott in the pinstripe jacket is who is nodding or shaking his head sagely (and sadly for/to me slightly distractingly)?
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Not really germane to the matters under discussion but does anyone know who the bloke sitting behind Prescott in the pinstripe jacket is who is nodding or shaking his head sagely (and sadly for/to me slightly distractingly)?