Our young people are our future. They are smarter, kinder, better than I was at their age. And they will help us meet this moment. My alumni address at the Kings College London graduation last week.
Ewan McGaughey
@ewanmg.bsky.social
🎓Law Professor @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, CBR, Cambridge + @granthamlse.bsky.social 🌹Labour law, enterprise law, pensions, corporations, human rights 🌍Cares about stopping inequality, climate damage + war 🕸️ https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/ewan-mcgaughey
I really hope the courts see sense and TfL win their £1 billion claim against auto-makers, because it’s not just about the money. European auto manufacturers have been driving lung deaths, climate damage and their own competitive demise by failure to go electric. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
TfL brings case worth up to £1bn against carmakers over Ulez compliance
Transport for London claims polluting diesel vehicles had been able to enter clean air zone without having to pay
theguardian.com
TONIGHT! Compass Members can join our Deputy Director, Lena, as we get into the nitty gritty on a topic incredibly close to Compass' heart: public ownership of water. With @cathobbs.bsky.social and @ewanmg.bsky.social!
How can labour rights boost real economic growth - by which I mean real household wealth (not just GDP)? Find out in my new Industrial Law Journal article - open access. It's how we reverse British history's worst wage cuts since 2008. Hint: more worker voice...👇 academic.oup.com/ilj/advance-...
Economic Growth and Labour Rights: The Case of the Employment Rights Act 2025
Abstract. How do labour rights affect economic growth, and what may we predict from the Employment Rights Act 2025? The UK government says its first missio
academic.oup.com
"From July 1, 2026, households in New South Wales, South Australia, and southeastern Queensland can access at least three hours of free electricity each day through a new initiative called the Solar Sharer Offer" via No One Cares
'More than half of the free school meal pupils in inner London had entered higher education by age 19, compared with just 18.4 per cent in the south-west of England.' (Research Professional News, 8 am Playbook) Great time to cut course provision in the south-west of England, then.
Widening participation in higher education: 2026
Annual statistics on participation in higher education by pupil and study characteristics.
gov.uk
German efficiency you say? Never with @deutschebahn.com! Here is a whole carriage blocked off because AC isn’t working, yet it’s 19 degrees outside and the carriage is hotter than the others, and 41 minutes late and counting. A basket case of privatisation ideology and bureaucracy.
Just another morning with @deutschebahn.com - nearly every train massively late by time it’s due to leave from Berlin Central Station DB was broken up into over 2000 entities before a planned privatisation and is among the most incompetently operated in the world - always late.
My new article, Executive control of labour rights: the dangerous path of the Employment Rights Act 2025, is open access! We have too many Henry VIII powers to change workers' rights. It poses big risks from an extremist govt, like Reform or post-Truss Tories.👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Excellent to see now two Ministers, more Labour MPs, and departments boycotting X - a conspiracy, union busting and Nazi salute laced Pravda project for the world’s richest K-Hole. Next every Minister, university, trade union, journalist and civil society group. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...
Lisa Nandy quits X over fears Musk-owned site pushes ‘abuse and misinformation’
Culture secretary says her department will stop using platform, citing concerns over far-right content fuelling violence and division
theguardian.com
Excellent to see now two Ministers, more Labour MPs, and departments boycotting X - a conspiracy, union busting and Nazi salute laced Pravda project for the world’s richest K-Hole. Next every Minister, university, trade union, journalist and civil society group. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...
Lisa Nandy quits X over fears Musk-owned site pushes ‘abuse and misinformation’
Culture secretary says her department will stop using platform, citing concerns over far-right content fuelling violence and division
theguardian.com
If companies can't run data centres without polluting our air and water, pushing up energy bills, abusing workers' rights, harming local communities or wrecking the climate – then they shouldn't be allowed to run them A safe climate and healthy environment are necessities – tech bro profits aren't
EU weighs weaker data centre climate rules in win for Big Tech
Past proposals for strict rules on renewable energy certificates have been dropped after heavy lobbying, draft shows
ft.com
I remember a pledge for public ownership of Royal Mail, instead of selling it to a Czech multi-billionaire.
Prem Sikka@premnsikka.bsky.social · last mo.Royal Mail boss’s pay package triples to £6.9m. Cost of postage stamps rocketing RM hasn't hit delivery target for 1st-class post since 2017, 2nd-class mail since 2020. Ofcom continues to reduce targets. Bosses rewarded for fleecing people.
EXC: Britain's biggest trade union endorses Ed Miliband for chancellor. Others expected to follow. Sets up an inter-union battle, with GMB and Unite opposing Miliband. (Side note - have we ever had explicit union endorsements for chancellor before?) t.co/MtmtZJMFtv
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/25/unison-endorses-ed-milband-chancellor-andy-burnham-government
t.co
Did you know that the UK has among the worst paid holiday rights in the OECD? And that the US has no right to paid holidays at all? We have just 28 paid holidays a year - but no right to paid leave on public holidays. Spain does best with 44 paid holidays a year (incl. 14 public holidays).
Did you know that the UK has among the worst paid holiday rights in the OECD? And that the US has no right to paid holidays at all? We have just 28 paid holidays a year - but no right to paid leave on public holidays. Spain does best with 44 paid holidays a year (incl. 14 public holidays).
Tory Victoria Atkins on #Newsnight spouting nonsense that taking Thames Water into public ownership costs up to £20bn. Her own ex-government was going to cut up to 40% of debt - before the scale of the £23bn repair costs were clear. Wall St vultures deserve £0. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Thames Water nationalisation plan could move bulk of £15bn debt to state
Exclusive: Under Whitehall blueprint for water company some lenders could lose up to 40% of their money
theguardian.com
Exc: First Government department quits Twitter over racism and violence concerns Richard Hermer sent a directive to staff last week saying the Attorney General's Office would be coming off the platform observer.co.uk/news/politic...
First government department quits X over racism and viole...
Concern about the spread of misinformation from right-wing figures prompts Richard Hermer to pull Attorney General’s Office off platform
observer.co.uk
One thing's for sure - it's not going to cost £100 billion. Closer to zero for failed companies like Thames Water, where reckless Wall Street vulture funds have run up £20bn in debt, left £23bn in repairs + profited with shareholders £23bn since 1989. www.ft.com/content/8288...
How could Thames Water be nationalised?
[FREE TO READ] Intervention by UK environment secretary has raised prospect of utility entering government’s special administration regime
ft.com
New rule: we call it “Fifa corruption break” instead of hydration break.
“DEFRA est the cost of nationalising the entire water sector at approx £100bn ... Common Wealth challenged this figure, arguing the ‘true cost in law’ is closer to 0” Our work by @ewanmg.bsky.social on bringing water into public hands in New Civil Engineer 👇 www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/repor...
Reports Thames Water a 'step closer to nationalisation' | New Civil Engineer
The utility provider is the country's largest water and wastewater provider. While the government has viewed nationalisation as a last resort, the
newcivilengineer.com
Meanwhile @ciaranm.bsky.social has written a brilliant column why the British government (let me take this opportunity to make the same case for the German government) to stop using X. Just leave. There is life after Twitter. I should know. www.thetimes.com/article/e895...
If ministers fear X fuels disorder, they should stop using it
The government voices concern about the social media platform spreading hate but has hundreds of accounts that help make it a success
thetimes.com
Universities need to take these KPMG hallucinations on board on multiple levels, including the use of consultancies to plan for their future shape, size and operations and their approaches toward embedding AI into research, learning and assessment. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
KPMG report contained AI hallucinations on benefits of . . . AI
Bogus case studies on UBS and transit systems exaggerated adoption of the technology
giftarticle.ft.com
"France passed a single law and instantly unlocked 11 gigawatts of #solarenergy — without using new land. In 2023, France's government mandated solar canopies over all car parks larger than 80 spaces. The scale was enormous: There are 400,000 parking areas across France #ActOnClimate #Renewables
📢Abstracts are invited for the European Journal of Industrial Relations Special Issue on 'Quantifying the Global Business Environment.' Papers welcome on B-READY, labour indicators, the World Bank in international/domestic labour policy etc. Deadline: 29th June. Further info: shorturl.at/mE8tT
Laos bans petrol and diesel vehicle imports till end of 2026. As EVs become cheaper upfront - and are dramatically cheaper to charge up compared to petrol/diesel - why should we keep harming business, consumers + public long-term by selling more obsolete cars? www.eco-business.com/news/laos-su...
Laos suspends fuel-powered vehicle imports in drive to accelerate EV adoption
A ban through end-2026 aims to reduce fossil fuel dependence, control EV prices and expand charging infrastructure as Southeast Asia’s electric vehicle market grows.
eco-business.com
Last year, we shared a paper showing that Labour's accommodation of the radical right did not work. We now have a new version of the paper online: osf.io/preprints/so...
Q: How do you get "growth" without innovation, and how do you get innovation without funding public research? A: You don't. The UK has the worst public funding for uni + skills in the OECD, pay for starting lecturers down 25% since 2010, and that's why we are losing to countries abroad.
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 2mo agoBreaking: Government set to cut strategic priorities grant. The government is on the cusp of cutting public funding for higher education teaching, the head of Universities UK has told MPs, placing institutions under even more financial pressure. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...