Charlie Lawrie
@charlielawrie.bsky.social
Wanted to be a poet, ended up a technocrat. PhD student at Sussex where I research energy politics, shadow economies and state-cartel relations.
In the sacking of Davie and Turness, why is Michael Prescott being touted as an 'independent external advisor' to the BBC? He worked in senior roles at the Sunday Times for over a decade: hanovercomms.com/our-team/mic... This is a scalp for the Right, whether or not you like Davie's BBC record.
Michael Prescott
hanovercomms.com
Here's something that's not talked about enough The air pollution from burning fossil fuels kills an estimated 10 million people a year 1 in 6 deaths is caused by fossil fuels www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
If you missed the news last night, the Greens (in England & Wales) now have 100,000 members for the first time. At this rate - around 15,000 new members a week - they’ll very soon overtake the Conservatives. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Green party reaches 100,000 members for first time after Polanski becomes leader
Green party in England and Wales has had near-50% rise in membership since since Zack Polanski took over last month
theguardian.com
🌎New article! 🌎 Camillo Stubenberg and I have a new article out on why diesel generators are everywhere these days:
The Greens now have nearly 200 more councillors than Reform. This is not something you'd be likely to guess from all the copiously salivating media coverage of Farage & his crew of billionaire-backed far-right chancers.
Chris Williams@chrisw100.bsky.social · last yr.Another record year for the Green Party 👏 859 Councillors on 170 Councils in England & Wales Now join us to keep Greens growing and to take the fight to Reform join.greenparty.org.uk
In about an hour we have a Commons urgent question on Kneecap, submitted by Tory MP Mark Francois. I genuinely remember when we last had a proper moral panic about popular music. It must be a while.
when you have no idea how to govern on the macrofinancial front, you go 'brr, migration' even if the universe screams at you it wont actually do much for your miserable poll standings, driven by your failures on the economy front
This article says more about the state of the nation than it intends to, I think: (tldr: Londoners benefit from amazing facilities but get soaked for rent, then move to countryside to discover non-existent facilities thanks to decades of austerity) www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘I had rose-tinted spectacles’: UK city dwellers on relocating during the pandemic
As London once again becomes the most searched-for location on Rightmove, which is better, rural or city life?
theguardian.com
The fact that this monster can say shit like this and no one in the Euro-American governments say a word is a lasting stain on all our consciences.
Maryam Aldossari@maryamaldossari.bsky.social · 2y agoFar-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed on Monday to prevent the entry of “a grain of wheat” into the blockaded Gaza Strip. www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250407-smo...
Larry Fink's 2025 letter: we will solve distributional crisis of capitalism if you give me your savings so I can privatise every public good under the sun. We shall call this democratizing investment. www.blackrock.com/corporate/in...
Larry Fink’s 2025 Chairman’s Letter to Investors | BlackRock
Larry Fink shares how thinking on retirement can be reshaped, and how expanding access to capital markets can help build a more prosperous future.
blackrock.com
Diesel generators seem to be everywhere these days, chuntering on in the background. But *why* are they everywhere? Where do generators sit in our grand schemes for electrifying the world? Camillo Stubenberg and I have a new paper coming out soon that tries to answer these questions. 🧵👇 1/13
As I said to BBCBreakfast government *isn’t* proposing reform. It’s cuts. The DWP has a genuine plan for reform to help more people get support, healthcare & work when they can. Treasury is driving the opposite. Cruel & counterproductive cuts for short term savings.
Trussell@trusselluk.bsky.social · 2y ago🗣️ "We are very worried and appalled" Our Director of Policy, Research & Impact, Helen Barnard spoke to BBC Breakfast about the UK government's plans to cut vital disability support.
It's hard to comprehend the scale at which supertrawlers are murdering life in the oceans.
Doug Parr@dougparr.bsky.social · 2y ago6 supertrawlers collectively spent nearly 37,000 hours (or 4.2 years) fishing in 44 of UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas Trawlers have damaged marine habitats and fish populations, despite the UK govt having the powers to stop them www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/supertr...
They must have hacked his account, surely (surely?)
Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 2y agoWoke up to see Donald Trump sharing a video on Truth Social about turning Gaza into a holiday resort with a giant gold statue of Trump, ending with a final shot of Trump and Netanyahu enjoying the beach together. Absolutely unhinged. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post... Tariq Ali showing exceptional tankie energy here. It turns out that Assad was a key member of the Arab resistance (who knew?) and that Syrians are but pawns of the West unless they funnel arms to Hezbollah (the death of satire)
Tariq Ali, The Roads to Damascus — Sidecar
Assad’s fall from power.
newleftreview.org
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength
Adam H Johnson@ahjohnson.bsky.social · 2y agopretty impressive how Israel can do any land grab it wants, occupy any territory, even carry out what its own former Defense Minister calls "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza and US media always frames it as a "buffer zone". Unironically going to submit this to win Ad Age's marketing campaign of the Year
The media is reporting this story as 'scary jihadis' rather than as the liberation it is. I've written this text giving background on Assad's detention and torture state, to show what's at stake for Syrians. Please read, and share.
ISIS prisons museum - متحف سجون داعش@isisprisonsmuseum.bsky.social · 2y agoSyrian cities are being liberated from the Assad regime's rule, and so too are inmates from regime prisons. Hundreds of thousands have passed through these prisons, and tens of thousands have been killed within their walls. Here the IPM explains the background.
@nytimes.com’s Ben Hubbard on the latest in Syria: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/w... Includes my thoughts.
The personal estates of the King and the Prince of Wales are worth £1.8bn. Last year they made £50m profit. They are exempt from corporation and capital gains tax. This situation is unfair and costing the country millions in lost revenue. It must not continue. taxjustice.uk/blog/the-roy...
The royal family must be made to pay more tax
Every year the estates of the royal family make tens of millions of pounds, yet they pay no corporation tax.
taxjustice.uk
'Fascism doesn’t begin when people begin to shoot one another — it begins when the establishment of the state begins to discriminate against the Left in comparison to the Right.' tribunemag.co.uk/2024/11/anti...
Anti-Zionist Israeli MP: ‘I Will Never Surrender’
Ofer Cassif — currently suspended from the Knesset for opposing genocide in Gaza — discusses Israel’s descent into fascism, building the movement that can defeat Netanyahu, and why he will never give ...
tribunemag.co.uk
An academic short paper with the main experts survey findings from the World Bank "carbon pricing in the Global South" report that we published in September (see 🧵 below) is conditionally accepted at Environmental Research Letters. Find the paper here: federica-genovese.com/downloads/Le...
Federica Genovese@fgenovese.bsky.social · 2y agoExcited for this doc to be out in the wild 🌐 Our team (led by fab Michael Lerner) started putting together the materials for this World Bank report on the pol econ of carbon pricing in Dec 2022. Final product includes original surveys, dozens of interviews, '00s of papers reviewed. Check it out!
‘Child poverty has risen to 44% in single-parent households, but when children do receive maintenance it cuts the child poverty rate by 25%. Why does the state fail to collect on children’s behalf?’ New research from Gingerbread supported by JRF 👇 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Here’s one way to slash Britain’s rate of child poverty: stop dithering and make all fathers pay what’s due | Polly Toynbee
A new report shows a bad situation is getting worse. This really is a case for draconian action from the state, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
theguardian.com
The CBI complaining about increased taxes is laughable when you consider the extraordinary profits that UK businesses achieved during 2021-2023. We need to investigate and discuss seller's inflation much more in the UK context! @isabellamweber.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘We had no alternative’: Reeves to defend her budget to the CBI
Chancellor is expected to tell business leaders she stands by tax rises and point to Labour’s pro-growth policies
theguardian.com
Just incredibly bleak that when a Labour government is finally in power, disabled people still have to wake up to front pages calling them a blight on society.
