"Whether we like it or not, the future of jobs lies in largely non-traded, labour absorbing activities such as retail, food services, hospitality, care and other personal services. The Left cannot evade this reality."

Dani Rodrik@drodrik.bsky.social · 7h ago

My thoughts on where Andy Burnham’s (and the Left’s in general) priorities on the economy should be futureoftheleft.substack.com/p/the-left-m...

New from me: Until recently, the gap between comfortably-off and just-getting-started could plausibly be crossed in a decade or two of hard work. Growth in asset prices means that’s no longer true: even a lifetime of striving doesn’t offer a realistic prospect of feeling you’ve “made it”.

This is a great move:

Andy Burnham to give English mayors share of income tax from 2028

New prime minister accelerates former chancellor Rachel Reeves’ efforts to move power away from Westminster

ft.com

My column in tomorrow's paper: Labour now have a leader who gives good advert. This is good for them, but the broader change it represents, much less so:

Burnham and the problem of politics by social media

The old tightly regulated party broadcast model is dead — for better and for worse

ft.com

Sobering to see in one chart how June temperature records have been broken this year in so many European countries www.ft.com/content/5f06...

Headline measures of wealth inequality haven't meaningfully changed since the 1980s, but it's harder to work and save your way up the ladder than it used to be. Meanwhile, inheritances are becoming ever more important. Me for this weekend's Observer: observer.co.uk/news/capital...

Everyone says social media needs to be regulated There's just one problem - it *already is* I've had a look at why regulation is failing, what we might do about it, and what the risks are - because nothing is ever as simple as it seems New post: chamindajayanetti.substack.com/p/how-do-you...

How do you solve a problem like social media? Part I

It's all well and good saying we should regulate social media. But social media is already regulated. So why is it failing? And what could we do in response?

chamindajayanetti.substack.com

I have a new post up at Nate Silver's site about UMich's sentiment survey. Please read it I think it's quite good. The upshot is that the survey is broken because it doesn't weight by party. If you're talking vibecession, get a different survey. www.natesilver.net/p/is-the-vib...

Is the vibecession real — or is the survey broken?

A shift to online polling and undersampling of Republicans are skewing America’s most-cited measure of consumer sentiment.

natesilver.net

I'll be discussing my book We Are Not Machines with the brilliant Cosmina Dorobantu at the LSE on Tuesday 21st July at 6pm! Tickets are free if you would like to come along :) www.eventbrite.com/e/sarah-ocon...

Sarah O'Connor. We Are Not Machines

The Future of Work Isn't What You Think

eventbrite.com

Very interesting @jburnmurdoch.ft.com piece this morning - how much value AI is creating is exactly the right question. The evidence from coders here suggests it’s so far creating a lot of extra output - 290% more files, 30% more software releases - but no extra valuable outputs (app downloads)

How much value is AI really creating?

Eye-opening changes to the speed and volume of work are not always translating into genuine productivity

giftarticle.ft.com

“It’s two or three times harder than pure translation work, and they have the barefaced cheek to pay you half as much.” - fascinating on how AI has changed translators' work @sarahoconnorft.ft.com and @jburnmurdoch.ft.com:

How AI has de-skilled translation

A specialist knowledge-work job has become fragmented and routine

ft.com

Woop!

Sarah Ebner@sarahjebner.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Thrilled that the final newsletter awards I entered when at the FT have come up trumps! FT newsletters won 3 regional categories at the Wan-ifra awards & The brilliant AI Shift, written by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com & @jburnmurdoch.ft.com just won best newsletter in the WORLD (!) It’s bloody brilliant 🎉

This chart is bonkers. I think there's two possible explanations for why the UK runs so far ahead of other European countries – neither of them good. And the annual April price jump speaks to a wider issue. For more detail, see my column in this weekend's Observer. observer.co.uk/news/busines...

HAPPY BOOK PUBLICATION DAY TO ME AND @chadpbown.com www.panmacmillan.com/authors/soum...

How to Win a Trade War by Soumaya Keynes

Find out more about How to Win a Trade War by Soumaya Keynes

panmacmillan.com

New from me: I had the pleasure of sitting in as host of BBC’s Radical podcast this week, and had an absolutely fascinating conversation with leading geneticist Sir John Bell, where we explored the quite astonishing medical breakthroughs of recent (and coming) years www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Radical with Amol Rajan - Healthcare, Reinvited: How Dramatic Medical Breakthroughs Are Quietly Changing Your Life (Professor Sir John Bell) - BBC Sounds

John Burn-Murdoch hears about the unheard revolution changing the world of healthcare.

bbc.co.uk

Science nerds of BSKY: Next week I’m interviewing Prof. Sir John Bell about recent medical breakthroughs, touching on - Gene therapies & cancer vaccines - Tech in healthcare more broadly - Ethics & regulation This includes a Q&A where I can field your questions. If you have any please post below 🙏

Making sure the benefit system is properly supporting young people who are dealing with ill-health is not about people "faking it", says @jburnmurdoch.ft.com 👇

At our event @jburnmurdoch.ft.com says an increasing share of young people in Britain are completely detached from the labour market. They'll need tailored, individual support otherwise they won't catch any tailwind in the labour market that has traditionally reduced youth unemployment / NEET rates.

The FT @financialtimes.com is hiring a new data journalist to join our US data and visuals team in New York. Great job, great team, great place to work. Apply here 👉 job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/financialtim...

If you're interested in the question of what happens to *demand*, which I list here as a key reason not to fear the Jobpocalypse, then also read @jburnmurdoch.ft.com here diving into it deeper www.ft.com/content/f55c... And @aleximas.bsky.social is worth a follow on Substack

What the AI ‘jobpocalypse’ narrative misses

Whether or not new technologies can perform a task is only a tiny part of the picture

ft.com

Giles Wilkes@gilesyb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I don't think AI will take all the jobs, just a note gileswilkes.substack.com/p/i-am-still...

Great piece (and graphics) by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com. PS This is exactly why @pauldwebb.bsky.social and I talked about 'the educated left-behind' when we wrote about the young people who'd followed Corbyn into the Labour Party - and who may well be following Zack Polanski into the Greens.

Why higher pay hasn’t made young adults feel richer

The aspiration gap has turned everyone into losers, especially graduates

ft.com

Tremendously depressing read. Also: proper reporting. open.substack.com/pub/londonce...

New Fed paper by Crane & Soto uses official labor force survey data and finds that 500,000 fewer coders are working than pre-LLM trends would predict. Hits entry level, not senior workers. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com piece: www.ft.com/content/b69f...

The AI job loss story is all about bundles

Evidence on white-collar work displacement is beginning to match the theory

ft.com

This is good from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on how AI will impact on the labour market - two different effects pulling in different directions. Which will be more powerful? www.ft.com/content/becb...

The combination of a political demand on the right for ICE-style deportation campaigns, and the woeful data-management of the Home Office, looks like a calamity waiting to happen. Windrush should cast a longer shadow than it does. www.economist.com/britain/2026...

How poor data hobbles Britain’s immigration policy

Gaps, errors and fiefdoms frustrate a clear picture

economist.com

In spite of all the talk of Claude Code and Codex meaning the end of humans writing code, software job adverts are actually going up, according to @jburnmurdoch.ft.com's crunching of millions of job ads for this week's The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/7325...

Need a break from all the madness? I really enjoyed this thoughtful series on how reading made us, with excellent contributions from @naomialderman.bsky.social and @jburnmurdoch.ft.com (amongst others) Available on BBC iPlayer, and for those out the UK: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/u... 🎙️📚

Understand

Politics Podcast · Series · NEW in Understand: How Reading Made Us Did learning to read rewire our brains and change the way we live today? And with reading on the decline, what does this mean for our...

podcasts.apple.com

Essential reading by @jimdickinson.bsky.social on why estimates of the graduate premium are almost certainly too high - and why government is overestimating how much of student borrowing will ever be repaid. wonkhe.com/blogs/the-gr...

The graduate premium has a long way to fall yet

Jim Dickinson explains how the student loans repayment prediction model distinguishes courses by subject and provider group, but not by delivery method – a gap that's about to become very expensive, i...

wonkhe.com

When I'm not doing other stuff I listen to an awful lot of radio. This, by @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social, is one of this week's (and, indeed, the next three weeks') absolute must-listens. Really fascinating - and one for fans of @jburnmurdoch.ft.com and @naomialderman.bsky.social too.

Understand - How Reading Made Us - 1. How Reading Made Our Brains - BBC Sounds

Did learning to read rewire your brain? With James Marriott.

bbc.co.uk

I think there is not enough appreciation to how good this FT visualization is the original is like this 👇