Ben Wood

this morning I have been thinking about Orlando Letelier, the Chiliean economist assassinated by Pinochet's junta a month after he wrote the famous The Nation critique of the Chicago boys funding by the CIA, and Milton Friedman's overt support for their shock therapy.

The health toll of economic sanctions Financing for global health is the main topic of discussion in 2025, especially since the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville earlier this month. This issue contain...

New research published by The Lancet finds that economic sanctions imposed by the USA and EU are associated with more than 500,000 deaths per year since 1970, five times more than deaths by war.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Carrots with(out) sticks: credit policy and the limits of green central banking This article considers the role of central bank interventions in credit and financial markets in support of decarbonization. Drawing on the critical macrofinance literature, we argue that central b...

The Treasury and Bank of England should instead be coordinating to develop credit policies to ensure more credit flows to SMEs and green transition and scale up the National Wealth Fund so it can fully support UK infrastructure, housing and green energy.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

It's hard to think about the institutions of the future when so many bad things are happening right now.

But let's have a go: what might corporate power look like, in the more just world that we all long to live in?

criticaltakes.org/the-corporat...

last week, I was in an expert hearing on housing at European Parliament.

I told MEPs that I worry the Commission's European Affordable Housing Plan, in partnership w European Investment Bank, may morph into another derisking vehicle for institutional landlords.

We are living through something closer to late oligarchy than late capitalism. Capitalism renews through crisis, whereas oligarchy in capitalist democracy seems to more and more undermine the conditions for accumulation.

YouTube video by Institute of Development Studies Transforming food systems: tackling inequality and redistributing resources

What would it take to transform the global food system?

For @philbakernz.bsky.social, redistribution of resources to enable more households to access healthy food is the key.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ4q...

What actions do you think are needed? #foodjustice #foodsystems

Another excellent & helpful paper from Jennifer Clapp & colleagues explaining why excessive corporate power in food systems (& beyond) needs to be addressed. Highly recommend! May be of interest @criticaltakes.bsky.social @katesievert.bsky.social @hfsaus.bsky.social

Another excellent & helpful paper from Jennifer Clapp & colleagues explaining why excessive corporate power in food systems (& beyond) needs to be addressed. Highly recommend! May be of interest @criticaltakes.bsky.social @katesievert.bsky.social @hfsaus.bsky.social

🇺🇳 Treaty on Transnational Corporations and their Supply Chains with regards to Human Rights 🌐 Global Campaign to Reclaim People Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity ✊🏽 https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org #BindingTreaty #StopCorporateImpunity #StopTNCimpunity

🇺🇳 Treaty on Transnational Corporations and their Supply Chains with regards to Human Rights

🌐 Global Campaign to Reclaim People Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity
✊🏽 https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org

#BindingTreaty
#StopCorporateImpunity
#StopTNCimpunity

YouTube video by IPES-Food THE NEW GEOPOLITICS OF FOOD | IPES-Food webinar

What is the new geopolitics of #food?

Rewatch our webinar for an enlightening discussion on how conflict, trade wars, aid cuts, & weak institutions are contributing to rising food prices, profiteering, ecological crisis, & hunger.

And the need for cooperative self-reliance.
youtu.be/bA7eAx_2g0I

This fascinating new research overturns longstanding assumptions. It finds that lower-income groups are more concerned about the environment and prefer environmental protection over economic growth, compared to higher-income groups. Data from the USA.

Entire Gaza population at risk of famine, says UN Latest warning on starving population comes as Hamas considers ceasefire proposal

UN: “100 per cent of the population of Gaza is at risk of famine.”

Food is a fundamental human right and denying it is a violation of international humanitarian law. Yet, here we are.

ipes-food.org/food-cannot-...

www.ft.com/content/0064...

3.3 billion people — almost half of humanity — live in countries that spend more on debt interest than on education or health.

The United Nations debt dashboard offers data & insights on key public debt & development spending indicators for 188 countries.

Explore the dashboard ▶️ ow.ly/kN1n50TaZho

To Unlock Pension Funds, We Need to Unlock the Pensions Review | Briefing | Common Wealth

The Pensions Review is a great opportunity to boost the UK economy & help savers — but it's being missed.

The state must use its fiscal might to enable better outcomes for both the economy & the public, while policymakers must be innovative & take risks.

www.common-wealth.org/publications...

Welcome and overdue.

But it isn't just the planning system.

Privatisation has led to under-investment and asset sweating of our water system.

REVEALED: Now There’s Proof That the Fossil Fuel Industry Uses Cultural Sponsorships to Block Climate Action BP, Chevron, Shell, and other oil majors back arts and community groups to protect their business models, subpoenaed documents show.

🔴 REVEALED 🔴

BP, Chevron, Shell, and other oil majors back arts and community groups to protect their business models, subpoenaed documents show.

✏️ @rebeccajohn.bsky.social‬ reports: buff.ly/ZQ1IaRF

It’s time to stop the great food heist powered by big business. That means taxation, regulation and healthy school meals | Stuart Gillespie The global food system has been captured by a few rapacious companies that profit from public ill-health. We need a radical overhaul

☠️"Our #foodsystem is killing us. Designed in a different century for a different purpose it is now a source of jeopardy, destroying more than it creates.

"1/4 of all adult deaths globally – 12M every year – are due to poor diets" writes @stuartgillespie.bsky.social
#UPFs #junkfood

UK ban on junk food adverts targeting children is delayed until next year Experts say delay from October to January after lobbying by food industry is huge setback for public health

"Junk food manufacturers are pressuring the government to adopt junk health policy, and the price will be paid in the public’s health."

my @thesoilassociation.bsky.social comment on the latest DHSC U-turn

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

It’s time to stop the great food heist powered by big business. That means taxation, regulation and healthy school meals | Stuart Gillespie The global food system has been captured by a few rapacious companies that profit from public ill-health. We need a radical overhaul

🔥Time to stop the great food heist

And we know what to do....

my new article for @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

📢 Announcing our WEBINAR | The New Geopolitics of Food: trade wars, hunger & the case for cooperative self-reliance

What happens when food becomes a pawn in global power struggles?

Join IPES-Food experts + @thinink.bsky.social
📆June 3
🕑14h CEST/8am EDT

REGISTER: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Looking forward to participating in this webinar with @ipes-food.org colleagues and moderated by @thinink.bsky.social on June 3! Do join us! Details below ⬇️

The informal governance of public-private partnerships in UK obesity policy: Collaborating on calorie reduction or reducing effectiveness?

I used a lot of FOIs for a research project on multistakeholder partnerships and the role of the FDF - hard to think of a trade association that’s been more effective at lobbying policy makers

www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publicati...

UK government dropped health push after lobbying by ultra-processed food firms Exclusive: Guardian investigation reveals guidance for retailers in England changed after campaign by global food firms

I spent the half-year working on this investigation. Extraordinary influence of UPF lobby behind the scenes.

'UK government dropped health push after lobbying by ultra-processed food firms' 👇

www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

Great to see this get the attention it deserves @theguardian.com @thesoilassociation.bsky.social @rob-percival.bsky.social @andrewgregory.com

Thames Water executives to receive bonuses from £3bn emergency loan Utility’s chair tells MPs that retention payments are needed to prevent rivals ‘picking off’ staff

extraordinary that Thames Water executives are getting *new* bonuses, this time as a result of the £3bn rescue loan from the spring - which loads the company with interest rates of nearly 10%

via me and Gill Plimmer

www.ft.com/content/1f6d...

Well well. More Labour warfare for welfare.

NEXT TUESDAY! Don't miss this online event with an elite lineup of speakers, as we explore the future of international cooperation.

Register here: zoom.us/meeting/regi...

When you’re the apex predator in the global financial food chain but forget that half your bulk is foreign money & that your service export is not rocket science and is easily re-shored.

Imho, private equity support for Trump bc of tax & dereg is a stunning case of elite delusion.
on.ft.com/42l7J28

🔥new commentary in World Nutrition

'Use your Power'

worldnutritionjournal.org/index.php/wn...