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jamesrball.com
James Ball
@jamesrball.com
48K followers 1.1K following 6K posts
Tech, policy, politics. Political editor @ The New World, Fellow @ Demos, newsletter @ techtris, PhD researcher @ UCL Laws. Latest book: The Other Pandemic – How QAnon Contaminated The World. 🏳️‍🌈 https://www.jamesrball.com/
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · Aug 11
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.
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
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Reposted by James Ball
indexoncensorship.org
Index on Censorship @indexoncensorship.org · 10m
Earlier this summer, we questioned whether UK laws are too broad and ill-defined to protect our speech rights. Revisit the article ⬇️ 2/2:
www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/07/pale...
Palestine Action proscription and Afghan data leak test UK's commitment to free expression - Index on Censorship
UK laws, created with particular and legitimate purposes in mind, are too broad and too ill-defined to protect our speech rights
www.indexoncensorship.org
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Reposted by James Ball
indexoncensorship.org
Index on Censorship @indexoncensorship.org · 10m
A man has been arrested in London for holding a magazine which had on its cover a protest sign that read "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action." 1/2:
www.thenational.scot/news/2552722...
Pro-Palestine protester arrested for holding up magazine at train station
A man has been arrested for holding up a magazine cover amid pro-Palestine protests in London.
www.thenational.scot
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 1h
Affiliate marketing: it works!
karlbode.com
Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 2h
twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross
photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 2h
“The people who voted for Trump were willing, perhaps even happy, to shrug off left-wing and liberal outrage at many of his early actions at first, but increasingly the Trump administration is committing outrages even his desensitised voter base is finding difficult to ignore.”
Trump the peacemaker abroad appears a warlord at home - his supporters don't want this
The President's voters put him into office to make their lives better, not to sink them into chaos
inews.co.uk
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 2h
“If pictures of American troops in war zones overseas upset Trump voters, pictures of them 50 miles down the road are not going to do any better. When the culture war escalates into real-world street fighting, people rapidly lose their patience with it.” inews.co.uk/opinion/trum...
Trump the peacemaker abroad appears a warlord at home - his supporters don't want this
The President's voters put him into office to make their lives better, not to sink them into chaos
inews.co.uk
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
Dunno, I feel like yours makes the point more directly!
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
Your tax is double a typical annual return on investments. You’d see absolutely vast capital flight overnight. And even if somehow you didn’t, your wealth base would dwindle incredibly fast.
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
We’re basically on the edge of an economic black hole, and it’s not clear anything has got the force to pull us clear before it’s too late.
jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
It’s increasingly clear that unless something radical changes the next election won’t deliver a stable/rational government.

Bond markets will notice that, meaning our borrowing costs will steadily rise as the next election gets closer. Which will make life harder for Labour, which in turn…
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
It’s increasingly clear that unless something radical changes the next election won’t deliver a stable/rational government.

Bond markets will notice that, meaning our borrowing costs will steadily rise as the next election gets closer. Which will make life harder for Labour, which in turn…
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
Oh yeah there’s huge spending commitments too, because of course there is.

This is the kind of manifesto the Lib Dems and Greens can throw together, because no-one scrutinises the sums all that much because it doesn’t really matter. Badenoch is accidentally sending quite a big message here.
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
Given Kemi Badenoch has supposedly renounced Trussonomics, there’s an awful lot of multi-billion pound tax giveaways, predicated on *extremely* optimistic cuts and savings.

Almost as if she knows she’s never going to have to try to actually deliver any of this.
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h
She purrs like a pneumatic drill!
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Reposted by James Ball
thenewworldmag.bsky.social
The New World @thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 5h
🚨A Message from our editor-in-chief Matt Kelly

Read full story: buff.ly/dY1tJVa
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 5h
Ty!
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 5h
It genuinely is a compliment, it was admiring rather than sarcastic, I promise!
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 5h
Misread “metal-organic frameworks” in the latest Nobel citation as “metal-organic fireworks” and got briefly overexcited :(
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 5h
Absolutely loving this as a humblebrag. It might be the best one I’ve ever seen.
njdavies.bsky.social
Nick Davies @njdavies.bsky.social · 6h
Conservative conference was quiet this year. How quiet? Well, 5 months ago I gave a speech on procurement at the same venue that was better attended than Robert Jenrick’s keynote
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Reposted by James Ball
thenewworldmag.bsky.social
The New World @thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 6h
This government’s stupid criminalisation of peaceful protestors is a hole they keep on digging

✏️ @editormattkelly.bsky.social
Arrested for holding up a copy of The New World. How bloody un-British
This government’s stupid criminalisation of peaceful protestors is a hole they keep on digging
www.thenewworld.co.uk
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 7h
You've been hitting the gym more than me I suspect!
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Reposted by James Ball
thenewworldmag.bsky.social
The New World @thenewworldmag.bsky.social · 8h
🚨BREAKING: The metropolitan police
arrest a man for carrying a copy of our magazine. This is a threat to both journalism and freedom to protest
aaliyahxx.bsky.social
Aaliyah 🇮🇪🇵🇸 ‼️SAVE GAZA‼️ @aaliyahxx.bsky.social · 15h
Watch | A man was arrested in London for holding up The New World magazine, featuring the "sign of the times" with the words:

"I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action"
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 8h
Was partly involuntary but surprised myself with how easy it was. Non-alcoholic beer being decent now helps. I also have one drink every few months so it’s not *100%*
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 8h
Hah! It's the phoenix from the colonial logo.
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 8h
Thanks pal! (I would argue the two aren’t mutually exclusive ofc)
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Reposted by James Ball
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 16h
NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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jamesrball.com
James Ball @jamesrball.com · 9h
I have fulfilled my legal requirement as a journalist taking ozempic to write about it (and the Incident which prompted me to start taking it).

NB: it doesn’t fix your vision, alas, my glasses were just causing glare.
janinegibson.ft.com
Janine Gibson @janinegibson.ft.com · 9h
When judgy people like to judge Ozempic users, I always cite my pal James who was *not well* and now is. (Also he thinks he looks hot, no question) www.thetimes.com/life-style/h...
I’ve lost 4 stone on Wegovy. Now I look like a weedy nerd
At 38 James Ball was overweight, suffering from sky-high blood pressure. Fifteen months later, he’s buying a new wardrobe — and has no plans to give up his jabs
www.thetimes.com
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