stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd
@stephenboydippr.bsky.social
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stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 2d
"Now Scotland can claim to some of the great thinkers of yester-year. The country of Adam Smith, the father of conservatism"

ok, who's gonna break the news about Edmund Burke to Russell Findlay?

www.conservatives.com/news/scotlan...
Scotland’s future in the UK
Leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland Russell Findlay MSP outlines Scotland's Future in the UK
www.conservatives.com
Reposted by Stephen Boyd
alanbeattie.bsky.social
Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 2d
OK, let's take this seriously. I had an odd half an hour and via Apple Books had a quick look at the three claims I knew most about - two re the post-Brexit bilateral preferential trade agreements replicated from the EU versions and one about cheaper bananas. All are wrong or wildly implausible. 1/n
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stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 2d
“Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren’t"

Tempting to laugh but, frustratingly, such delusions about public sector spending/reform are very widely shared across political parties.

on.ft.com/4mNVKkw via @FT
Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters
Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending
on.ft.com
stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 3d
Essential @abenewman.bsky.social thread on an important - and hopefully catalytic - speech

bsky.app/profile/aben...
abenewman.bsky.social
Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 3d
1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy
“We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.
defenddemocracy.eu
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
abenewman.bsky.social
Abe Newman @abenewman.bsky.social · 3d
1/Striking speech by Macron: The future of European democracy depends on taking back its digital information space. A remarkable turn from Silicon Valley as source of enlightenment to being a purveyor of slop. And the stakes aren't just ad revenue but the nation.
defenddemocracy.eu/macron-democ...
"Europeans, let's wake up!" — Defend Democracy
“We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks.” President Macron on the occasion of German Unity Day, 3 October 2025.
defenddemocracy.eu
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
paulnightingale.bsky.social
Paul Nightingale @paulnightingale.bsky.social · 3d
This is great. Cory D nails the business model in all its dismal detail. He had consistently been excellent doing a job, that let's be honest, professors in business schools should have done.
hetanshah.bsky.social
Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d
This is so good from Cory Doctorow on all the tricks Amazon uses to get both consumers to pay more, and how businesses on the platform end up paying it 45-51 cents on every dollar.

Plus he rightly calls for regulatory change, not just individual consumer action
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?
Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...
www.theguardian.com
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stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 5d
"It'd be a hugely welcome developmnt to discover that we have not merely reached social media saturation point but that the experience has been degraded to such an extent that it's shocked people out of their stupor...causing them to pivot to healthier uses of their time"

www.ft.com/content/a072...
Have we passed peak social media?
As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away
www.ft.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
johnspringford.bsky.social
John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 6d
It's just not true that "the active interventionist and redistributive state policies that would be needed to tackle regional and household inequalities, insecure labour markets, and hard-pressed public services appear unavailable to governments aiming to remain globally competitive."
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
davehaslam.bsky.social
Dave Haslam @davehaslam.bsky.social · 12d
New article - Guy Steven’s, taste-maker extraordinaire (just ask Pete Townshend, The Clash, the Stones, Steve Marriott).

Here - davehaslam.substack.com/p/a-half-for...
A half-forgotten hero of British music
DJ Guy Stevens - let me tell you his story...
davehaslam.substack.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
reidfoundation.bsky.social
Jimmy Reid Foundation @reidfoundation.bsky.social · 13d
One week to go before the Jimmy Reid Memorial Lecture with Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah talking about the Gaza crisis. For further details and ticket information: reidfoundation.scot.
The Jimmy Reid Foundation – The website of the Jimmy Reid Foundation.
reidfoundation.scot
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 12d
1. This piece by Roge Karma is absolutely worth reading - www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch... . If the Supreme Court allows Trump to fire Lisa Cook, the consequences are likely to be disastrous. key points:
Trump Is Getting Closer to Having an ‘Infinite Money Pit’
If the president takes over the Federal Reserve, he will have extraordinary power to reward his friends and destroy his enemies.
www.theatlantic.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
katie0martin.ft.com
Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 17d
Fucksake, this #discourse AGAIN?
Yes this platform is smaller, very observant. But I don't spend all day being force fed Nazi slop or getting harassed by Nazis on a Nazi platform specifically engineered to amplify Nazis. It's not a hard decision, let's all just move on.
shadihamid.bsky.social
Shadi Hamid @shadihamid.bsky.social · 20d
One of the biggest mistakes left-of-center pundits and influencers made was decamping to Bluesky. They made themselves irrelevant, shrunk their audiences, and dramatically lessened the positive impact they could have on our public debate at the precise time we needed it most.
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stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 17d
this important, highly topical @benbgeiger.bsky.social blog deserves to be very widely read

bsky.app/profile/benb...
benbgeiger.bsky.social
Ben Baumberg Geiger @benbgeiger.bsky.social · 21d
Are out-of-work benefit claims at a record high? My new post open.substack.com/pub/inequali... , and also my take on More or Less this morning at www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Are out-of-work benefit claims at a record high?
The official statistics are wildly misleading - I've now made some new estimates that show just how wrong they are
open.substack.com
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stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 18d
"Britain’s attitude to paedophilia—obsessive, yet careless—is dragging Westminster to a dark place"

www.economist.com/britain/2025...
How Westminster became obsessed with paedophiles
Nonce politics is not confined to the fringes
www.economist.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
ipprscotland.bsky.social
IPPR Scotland @ipprscotland.bsky.social · 21d
We're delighted to be a part of the Scottish Transport Summit organised by @transportscotland.bsky.social. After excellent talks by Cabinet Secretary @fionahyslop.bsky.social and Cllr Gail MacGregor, IPPR Scotland director @stephenboydippr.bsky.social gives a keynote lecture on transport & economy.
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
elyobo.bsky.social
El Yobo @elyobo.bsky.social · 21d
It’s like they read @davidsligar.bsky.social’s excellent article and decided that they really like means testing. Not surprising really, you’d expect nothing more from them, it’s more surprising how popular it is with Labour.

westernsydneywonk.wordpress.com/2021/06/05/m...
Means testing is a dog of a tax and it will destroy the welfare state
This is started as an essay on the basic economics of means testing. It veered into speculation on means testing’s function in the Australian political economy. Economically, a means test is …
westernsydneywonk.wordpress.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
peteapps.bsky.social
Pete Apps @peteapps.bsky.social · 21d
In Edinburgh on October 7 with
@lighthousebks.bsky.social
for anyone up there. There is a lot of commonality between Edinburgh's housing crisis and London's, so I'm looking forward to a good discussion

lighthousebookshop.com/events/homes...
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
scotfisccomm.bsky.social
Scottish Fiscal Commission @scotfisccomm.bsky.social · 22d
We have published our Fiscal Sustainability Perspectives paper considering how climate change mitigation could affect the Scottish Government’s fiscal sustainability. Read it here: bit.ly/46hZaFV
This thread summarises some key points from the report. 1/4
The words “We’ve published analysis on how climate change mitigation could affect the Scottish Government’s fiscal sustainability” alongside the cover page for our publication.
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
dsquareddigest.bsky.social
Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 24d
A more complicated and sophisticated economy needs more complicated and sophisticated regulatory structures. You can't prove anything with a chart like this.
tejparikh.ft.com
tejparikh.ft.com @tejparikh.ft.com · 24d
Check out the latest edition of my @financialtimes.com newsletter. (1/2)

Advanced economies are getting submerged under an ever-growing heap of red tape: on.ft.com/3VdOlQn
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
gabrielmilland.bsky.social
Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 24d
The absurdity of castigating Musk while continuing to provide him with free content is glaring btw.
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stephenboydippr.bsky.social
Stephen Boyd @stephenboydippr.bsky.social · 25d
"And I saw how deeply conspiratorial and dug in he was and equally how uninterested he was in the actual science. He couldn't care less about the science of autism"

Science under seige - fascinating/disturbing conversation between Krugman, Mann and Hotez

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Science Under Siege: A Talk With Peter Hotez and Michael Mann
Lysenko comes to America
open.substack.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
bengoldsborough.bsky.social
Ben Goldsborough MP @bengoldsborough.bsky.social · 29d
This @zoecrowther.bsky.social article shows how a payment for results system has turned X into a machine for monetising division. Those who shout loudest, push extremes, or declare Britain “broken beyond repair” are the ones who profit. 2/7

www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe Has Earned £40k For Posting On X
Independent MP Rupert Lowe has earned nearly £40,000 from posting on Elon Musk’s social media platform X since his election last year, far surpassi...
www.politicshome.com
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
pseudoerasmus.bsky.social
Pseudoerasmus @pseudoerasmus.bsky.social · 26d
I was going to tweet this last year but somehow I was impeded…

“When [economic] growth does, and does not, reduce poverty”

www.bii.co.uk/en/news-insi...

— A great literature review by a team including @paddycarter.bsky.social and @paulsegal.bsky.social
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
satwatr.bsky.social
Satwat Rehman @satwatr.bsky.social · Sep 6
Just spoken with Ahmad as I was worried. He is finding the current situation overwhelming with no end in sight. He’s emotionally exhausted & is asking for our friendship and support at this time. Please do donate/share his campaign, & let him know we’re here for him. Thank you
gofund.me/2b0c549bf
Donate to Ahmad & Samar: A Future Beyond Gaza's War, organized by Fatima Ayub
My name is Ahmad Johar, a 25-year-old, Palestinian from Gaza. I have lived throu… Fatima Ayub needs your support for Ahmad & Samar: A Future Beyond Gaza's War
gofund.me
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Reposted by Stephen Boyd
ipprscotland.bsky.social
IPPR Scotland @ipprscotland.bsky.social · Sep 3
📢NEW BLOG📢

🫀People living in the most deprived neighbourhoods in Scotland are less able to lead healthy lives, and this has serious consequences for their cardiovascular health.
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