James Meadway

Economist and co-director of Verdant, a think tank for a just and green future. Views here my own.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

Some news! Delighted to say I’ve signed a deal with Penguin/Allen Lane for book on the end of economic growth & its consequences, out autumn ‘26.

I’m taking next 3 months out to finish it- meanwhile, @macrodosepod has an excellent roster of stand-in presenters over the summer…

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@OzKaterji @georgeeaton We could perhaps burn *less* imagine that

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@OzKaterji @georgeeaton £264m? So that’s 0.008% of GDP added…?

Meanwhile: alleged “savings” from not importing LNG for Jackdaw is only on supply chain. Accounts for c.2% of lifecycle of burn=minimal savings. And LNG not burned here is burned elsewhere on global market so net carbon saving is nothing…

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@drgerke1 @femsocialist Absolutely not. We don’t have time to spare “shifting the debate” for another decade or two. Le Pen could be French President next year. Bolsonaro II could be running Brazil next week. We *have* to raise our sights on the strategic challenges to confront here.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@AaronBastani This is very much a false dichotomy, (although one that tends to structure liberal political thought in general).

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

No, but they certainly do involve 264 million pounds a year added to the British economy by Jackdaw, rather than paying another country for gas we are going to burn whether we drill our own or not. But hey, I'm no economist, I look forward to seeing your numbers that argue that importing gas over the next 11 years is either an economically or environmentally a better policy than drilling our own. Take as much time with it as you need, the policy has been approved and nothing you say makes a bit of difference to it now.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

Why are we underwriting Microsoft data centre investments at all? Utter folly.

[UnHerd @unherd]

A little over a year ago, a deal was struck to underwrite Britain’s biggest data centre. Nscale, a company that builds and operates data centres on behalf of software companies, had made Microsoft its anchor tenant at a site in Loughton, Essex.

Last week, however, Microsoft pulled out of the data-centre agreement. The reason? Because it takes so long to build one.

Read @tomough on Britain’s data-centre blindspot

https://t.co/VF1SmvJDT9

[Daniela Gabor @DanielaGabor]

Bookmarking for the I told you so AI crash

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@OzKaterji @georgeeaton Get them when I get back home. Do your own numbers include the record breaking 27 jobs?

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@OzKaterji @georgeeaton I’m sorry the v v commonplace idea of “sunk costs” bothers you so much, and it worries me that you think “carbon lock in” is an “ideological fallacy” as a result. Google is your friend! Use it when a term confuses you 👍

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@OzKaterji @georgeeaton My argument is predicated on what I said: that the (not even especially long term) losses outweigh the alleged gains. Do the sums yourself if you like.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@wobblyclark I’m going to ask you to imagine a world where we *reduce* our dependency on gas

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

A bank windfall tax (£19bn per the Positive Money proposals) could have capitalised the “Energy Wealth Fund”, instead of tying us more tightly into insecure, volatile fossil fuel technology and adding to climate change.

[John Healey @JohnHealey_MP]

I want Britain’s energy wealth to spark a new wave of clean power.

Our decision to approve Jackdaw alongside the new Energy Wealth Fund means we invest in green transition and benefit from our existing natural resources.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@deplorabristol @DJM1865 "Won't somebody think of the international banks???"

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@deplorabristol angry little man 😘

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@OzKaterji @georgeeaton Sure: make it "whatever limited environmental gains you might claim at the margin are overwhelmed by the problem of reinforced carbon lock in and higher future emissions due to those technological choices", if you like?

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@deplorabristol triggered

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@deplorabristol @DJM1865 waa waa waaa

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@deplorabristol @AndycoleUk You don't understand the proposal here. It's only on UK operations.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

It’ll go higher… big driver is fossil fuel prices but that has yet to fully pass through everywhere. And we should expect food prices to start picking up into the new year as El Niño and some poor harvests start to play out.

[Office for National Statistics (ONS) @ONS]

CPI at highest annual rate since October 2025.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026, up from 3.1% the previous month.

Read more➡️ https://t.co/3lPEYS9mtQ

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

@AhmadYuhanna We don’t need a massive hyperscale data centre buildout for the “digital future”.