Hi Josh, sounds like an interesting opportunity! Can you open your DMs or is it best to reach out another way?

The article was published on my newsletter, Sower, in November. I took a social media break at the end of the year so just sharing this now, but do sign up to support my work and ensure you receive articles as soon as they're live.

In the article, I referenced @oisinmcgann.bsky.social's excellent essay where he makes the case that basic income for artists is a stepping stone to a wider basic income scheme for all – I recommend checking it out as well!

oisinmcgann.com/working-for-...

One of the most salient points was that you need to support people creating art, otherwise 1) the well of talent will run dry and 2) only the already wealthy will have the means to develop an art practice and succeed.

A basic income scheme is an investment in good culture and media.

All of the artists I spoke to had an overwhelmingly positive impression of the scheme, but there were some critiques: disabled people on the scheme lost other benefits, people in full-time employment got slots on the scheme, and not everyone loved the lottery system which decided who got it.

For every euro spent through the scheme, there was a 1.39 euro benefit to the economy.

For most of the artists themselves, however, the main benefits were more time to focus on their art, improved mental health and alleviating imposter syndrome.

Yeah, news stories on bird flu (and antimicrobial resistance etc) have a real habit of not mentioning intensive animal farming, even though we know the H5N1 strain emerged on a commercial geese farm three decades ago.

Happy to hear you found it interesting! If you're able to repost it and get some more eyeballs on it it'd be much appreciated 🙏

and big thank you to @ruxandragrrr.bsky.social as always for her edits!

Hi @georgemonbiot.bsky.social, I'm a long-time reader of your food systems work, and I've not seen you mention any of this before to the best of my knowledge. I think you might find it interesting!

Tagging some food systems people who might find this interesting @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social @rob-percival.bsky.social @mbolotnikova.bsky.social @slowfoodhq.bsky.social @foodrise.bsky.social @johngimi.bsky.social @whitneybauck.bsky.social

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