Matthew

[Matthew @Feures_]

So beautiful, clearly independence has been such a boon for Somalia😍

[Sagal Abdi-Wali @Sagal_AW]

Happy #SomaliaTurns60 🇸🇴💗😍

[Matthew @Feures_]

Only the brightest and best refugees come to Britain from all over the world to hold political office. You know, like socialists, communists, critical theorists and anti-racists. You might think they would choose a career that benefits everyone, and not just their own tribe. Welp

[Sagal Abdi-Wali @Sagal_AW]

Solidarity to @DawnButlerBrent. This shouldn’t be happening, but continues to because the system needs drastic reform. #BlackLivesMatter

[Matthew @Feures_]

It's almost like it is long overdue to have a conversation about political entryism that has been facilitated by the abuse of the asylum system (where is Somalia in comparison to Britain?), state-funded NGOs and mass media/harassment campaigns against anyone who speaks out.

[Zia Yusuf @ZiaYusufUK]

The front runner being foisted on the people of Holborn by Labour to replace the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer in our Parliament was born in Somalia.

Do you understand what’s happening?

[Matthew @Feures_]

Ah yes, the racism card. An insult considered so atrocious that now the conversation and debate ends, and is dismissed with prejudice.
When you have to resort to ad hominem attacks as opposed to arguments, it tells you that you're not dealing with politics, but religion.

[(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges]

This is simply racism. No other word for it.

[Matthew @Feures_]

So, Somalia is a racist country, and so is every other country on the planet that doesn't entitle me to stand in their elections? You would agree they are all racist, correct? "but dat duznt hav anytin to do wiv us!" It sure has a lot to do with the fallibility of your argument.

[Gordon @graphicgoggs]

And? So what?

Britain is not Somalia. British citizens are standing for election in Britain, to represent British voters, under British law.

Whether Somalia elects white British people has absolutely hee-haw to do with whether a British citizen of Somali heritage is entitled to stand for office here.

Political rights aren’t some international racial exchange scheme where we only let their people participate if they let our people participate.

If your objection to someone holding office begins and ends with where they or their family came from, then you’ve already told us what the real problem is.

[Matthew @Feures_]

And she's a socialist?! Sign me up!

[Zia Yusuf @ZiaYusufUK]

Somalian refugee tipped to face Polanski in Starmer by-election https://t.co/y6EFMkGYBK

[Matthew @Feures_]

"We can learn from 1920s Germany" is my favourite public-policy quote from this article. Not in a negative sense (ie what not to do), but in a positive sense (ie what to actually do). You know, because when I think about great success stories, I think about the Weimar Republic...

[Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM]

What if we treated Notting Hill Carnival not simply as an event to be funded, but as infrastructure to be invested in?

Its communities produce skills, knowledge, networks and innovation that endure long after the last sound system switches off.

That requires a very different conversation about public investment—and about who gets to shape Carnival’s future.

Seeing it that way changes the question from what Carnival costs to how public institutions can better support and govern the ecosystems that produce it. Our @IIPP_UCL project with @AlvaroBarringto links Carnival in London, Rio and Salvador to develop that framework.

Carnival Economics project ➡️ https://t.co/X6M95PgltD
Our @NewStatesman piece ➡️ https://t.co/sSS9QvGLEd

[Jesús Fernández-Villaverde @JesusFerna7026]

I strongly believe that knowledge is fundamental to running a society. We need economists who understand monetary policy in central banks. We need researchers who have studied history, strategy, and military affairs to help steer national defense. We need doctors and public health experts to design effective responses to epidemics.

But the public needs sound reasons to let these experts shape their future. Once that trust evaporates, we are all worse off. Unfortunately, the Jason Arday scandal is the perfect example of how these experts, and the institutions they run, are destroying that trust.

I do not find Arday’s tales extraordinary. Throughout history, there are thousands of examples of people spinning fantastic tales about their lives. He is just one more name on a long list of confidence men.

What is extraordinary is the massive institutional failure at every level. Liverpool John Moores University granting a degree for a Ph.D. dissertation that did not survive even basic scrutiny (including a grammatical mistake in its title). Cambridge University appointing him (full) professor at an unusually early academic age (eight years after his dissertation; in academia, this is what matters, not your biological age) and with a scholarly record that was rather thin. Hilary Cremin (@hilarycremin), head of the Faculty of Education, telling the world on television that Arday was “the best in the world in terms of the research that you do.” The BBC broadcasting segments about Arday, a most unusual decision for an academic appointment. Simon & Schuster paying him a large advance for his memoirs on the basis of a book proposal that defied common sense. And Amazon promoting his book, still this very morning, as an editor’s pick.

If I were a regular person, say someone driving a truck in the Midlands or working at a small shop in Sussex, how could I trust the universities any longer? How could I trust the BBC and the media? How could I trust the publishing industry? How could I trust Amazon’s editor’s picks?

Then, should we be surprised if the farmer or the shop owner votes for someone selling snake oil? Or if they refuse to listen to the case for policies that cost them in the short run but benefit them in the long run, such as the transition to net zero emissions? Or if they read books written by charlatans? Or if they deny basic scientific findings?

The universities, the media, the publishing industry, Amazon, and many of our other core knowledge institutions have a serious problem. Their response is to close ranks and avoid a serious discussion. No, sorry, this will not do.

The Jason Arday scandal should be a moment of reckoning. Unfortunately, I am afraid it will not be.

[Jesús Fernández-Villaverde @JesusFerna7026]

Why do many economists like markets? Because most markets, although not all, work well. There is bread in bakeries, cars at car dealers, and books in bookstores because the price system provides economic agents with incentives to ensure these outcomes. Of course, markets are never perfect outside economics textbooks. More often than not, we face inefficiencies such as limited competition or externalities.

The intelligent case for markets has never been that they are flawless, a proposition so obviously untrue that it is not even worth discussing (unless you are writing for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). The case for markets is that they usually work better than feasible alternatives.

Note that I used three words: “usually,” “better,” and “feasible.” The word “usually” tells us that, sometimes, markets fail. A market for national defense is unlikely to work because it is impossible for a private air force to defend my house but not my neighbor’s, who refuses to buy the service.

The word “better” reminds us that, even when markets do not work well, the alternatives may be worse. Flying with American Airlines is a ticket to an unpleasant experience. But those of us who have flown in government-run airlines understand that service can be considerably worse.

The final word, “feasible,” emphasizes that one should not judge market behavior against an idealized public service staffed by angels. Alternatives to market systems are run by humans, with their strengths and shortcomings, and, in particular, without the incentives provided by the profit motive.

You might disagree with my case for markets. But, at the very least, you need to understand what I am claiming. Otherwise, this is not an intellectual discussion; it is a brawl at a bar.

[David Blagden @blagden_david]

So, if NATO states - and Britain very much as a key target of Moscow’s ire among them - fail to invest in high-end defence, even as Russian proficiency grows and materiel is reconstituted, hostilities remaining ‘sub-threshold’ is not guaranteed…and the alternative’s much worse.

[Linda @Lindy_Loo15]

@drhingram Do they realise their Hi-Viz gilets are made from petrochemicals? I expect not.

[Matthew @Feures_]

Truth-seeking is the greatest virtue.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

"Now, most people hate to admit they're wrong, but it didn't bother Bill one bit. All he cared about was what was right, not who was right. That's what makes Bill very, very dangerous."

— Larry Ellison on Bill Gates

[Ed West @edwest]

https://t.co/NzCAqZ1xLm

[Yuan Yi Zhu @yuanyi_z]

RETVRN on having huge coats of arms on every new government office, however humble.

[Parisian Aesthetics @Parisianaes1]

Haussmann-style Tuesday

[Simon French @Frencheconomics]

I agree with Kallum (as I usually do!). The coiled spring here is significant.

As it happens I don’t think cutting nominal spending/ raising broad-based taxes are the biggest potential drivers of any bounceback. For me it is reducing the statutory costs of conducting economic activity so that a range of markets can clear at a lower price point. The textbook example has been a range of on-costs to house building that has raised the cost of constructing the average UK property by 50% over 5 years - almost 2x the rate of CPI inflation. Costs of trade with EU peers post-Brexit would be another example. Building out grid/ transport infrastructure is littered with examples.

An economic plan that centres on “control” sounds to a lot of observers as a path to higher overheads, not lower ones. The task for no.10 north (or south) is to show how such control reduces these overheads to a sceptical market. Otherwise the inflation premium ascribed to GBP assets (that has rationally grown steadily over successive parliaments) will persist.

If Healey wants to understand how to support growth I’d get in the UK housebuilders in and set them an exam question on how to take 25% off the cost of building a house. HBF have done the work! Then work out if he can (politically) do that. If he can’t, then he needs to tell the cabinet that spending cuts/ manifesto breach on tax will be the alternative(s).

[Matthew @Feures_]

One would hope so.

[Sophia Gaston @sophgaston]

Powerful speech from @USAmbUK Warren Stephens at the packed AUKUS reception in Parliament:

“The benefits remain clear to me, and to the United States. If you remember one thing from me tonight, let it be this: The United States of America is fully committed to AUKUS.” 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇦🇺

[Tirthankar Roy @RoyHistory1]

Repeat a crazy number long enough and it starts sounding true. Activist‑historians use this trick, turning polemic into pseudo‑scholarship. Their jargon, “unrequited transfer,” “tribute,” “drain”, has no analytical value. Nationalists coined these, which modern ideologues recycle

[Matthew @Feures_]

Interesting to note that his family emigrated to Rosh Pinna at the time of the British Mandate for Palestine too.

[Tom Jones @93vintagejones]

Benjamin Netanyahu's son now criticising Britain for bombing Germany during World War Two.

[Matthew @Feures_]

By the way this is quite possibly the most ludicrous and blindingly partisan piece of academic public policy work I have seen in a while. And that's saying something.

[Mariana Mazzucato @MazzucatoM]

What if we treated Notting Hill Carnival not simply as an event to be funded, but as infrastructure to be invested in?

Its communities produce skills, knowledge, networks and innovation that endure long after the last sound system switches off.

That requires a very different conversation about public investment—and about who gets to shape Carnival’s future.

Seeing it that way changes the question from what Carnival costs to how public institutions can better support and govern the ecosystems that produce it. Our @IIPP_UCL project with @AlvaroBarringto links Carnival in London, Rio and Salvador to develop that framework.

Carnival Economics project ➡️ https://t.co/X6M95PgltD
Our @NewStatesman piece ➡️ https://t.co/sSS9QvGLEd