William Neal

He has written several books. His causal claims live in a sectoral real income redistribution analysis, sitting behind that, he points to a set of institutional configurations that explains those redistributions. IMHO you are reading him backwards (but tbf l haven’t read your critique anywhere )

IMV I don't think he is. I think Pettis is saying whatever the causal chain is, it will end up agreeing with the ex-post accounting identity, as it functions as a kind of constraint, not a causal driver. His rhetoric sometimes compresses the causal chain and makes the constraint sound causal

Aye, it finally loosens the knot that was tied around Starmer‘s hands. Not convinced that the ‘sensible middle path’ *itself * will stem the haemorrhaging support to the greens though. We will see l guess bsky.app/profile/will...

The more Trump rails on the UK, the more things look up for Starmer IMV

A bit more on the circumstances around the mass resignations

If Al music takes off (a big if), the costs are no longer linear, and the maths start mathing

Greens Win Gorton We discuss the implication of the Green Party's historic win in last week's Gorton and Denton by-election. We cover the meaning of Manchester, making Britain normal and the ordinary charisma of new Gr...

Here is the long-awaited emergency podcast from me and @profafinlayson.bsky.social on the Gorton & Denton by-election.
You can find this in any app by searching for Culture, Power, Politics.
culturepowerpolitics.org/2026/03/03/g...

Lots of core team members of Alibaba Qwen are resigning publicly on X.

The gaping hole that Qwen imploding would leave in the open research ecosystem will be hard to fill. The small models are irreplaceable.

I’ll do my best to keep carrying that torch. Every bit matters.

bsky.app/profile/will...

Today's chapter of Agentic Engineering Patterns is some good general career advice which happens to also help when working with coding agents: Hoard things you know how to do https://simonwillison.net/guides/agentic-engineering-patterns/hoard-things-you-know-how-to-do/

Key 122 question -- Would a big $ depreciation exacerbate rather than alleviate US difficulties. This depends on a) currency composition of debt b) FX impact on key inputs - energy c) size/composition/FX elasticity of tradable sector d) inflation passthru. IMO US better off than any other country.

Credit market problems can emerge from a variety of conditions - aggressive aggregate increases in leverage that make the system vulnerable to shock; over-exuberance around a particular sector/theme; sudden changes in rates; loss of access to primary market/secondary market liquidity squeeze etc.

James Butler · ‘Need a lord on the board?’: Mandelson and the Lobbyists Why​ did a man whose political expertise was acquired in the departed era of broadcast television maintain such...

Well worth a read. Ties up a lot of the threads (and so makes more visible the black hole at the centre that is exerting gravitational force on our political culture). www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

China is not dumping US Treasuries Ignore the amateur geopolitical strategists talking eloquently about the end of dollar dominance

Brad Setser says that "China is not dumping US Treasuries". This isn't likely to be nearly as exciting as an article that claims that "China is dumping US Treasuries!", but the math, the data and the reasoning are much better.
www.ft.com/content/9ea5...

Pixel Agents

A VS Code extension that turns your AI coding agents like Claude Code into animated pixel art characters in a virtual office. It shows what the agent is currently doing with animations. You can also customize the virtual office however you want.

Repo: github.com/pablodelucca...

Labour battles disaffection in crucial three-way by-election battle [FREE TO READ] Activists fear coming third to Greens and Reform, which have both run energetic and populist campaigns

My dispatch from the by election trail. Had a lot of conversations that wont have been comfortable ones for Labour

as.ft.com/r/b2cf4c07-5...

Congratulations! You can now buy unreasonably large skeleton next time Halloween roles round

Even my family are taking the piss

Although better than the British Paralympic strategy which involves participating actively in American foreign policy

So what will we call the offshore euro system? Dollareuro, euroeuro, continental, xenoeuro, exoeuro?

Morocco to open Africa's first wind blade factory

I see a role for Chinese owned factories in the near abroad as part of European supply networks www.renewables-rising.com/p/morocco-to...

Re: wind, the economics differ between onshore/offshore (latter turbines lower % of project cost). European OEMs not fully onboard with being Airbus like IMV as they operate with thinner margins and cheaper Chinese component support margins

Exclusive | Cold shoulder? China, EU in diplomatic stand-off ahead of Munich showdown Annual security conference could provide rare venue for high-level EU-China talks as top diplomats Wang Yi and Kaja Kallas attend.

Exclusive

Cold shoulder: China, EU in diplomatic stand-off ahead of Munich

Beijing has frozen out the EU’s envoy & snubbed its biz lobby, EU quietly boycotting China’s envoy in return, Wang Yi is Munich-bound with no locked‑in meeting with Kallas

Europe is chasing the wrong fix for its growth crisis The continent’s old growth model no longer works in today’s world. And EU leaders need a plan that matches the scale of this shift.

EU Leaders meet tomorrow to discuss measures to lift Europe's anaemic growth rate. But the summit risks turning into a nothing burger.

EU Leaders have cherry-picked a macroeconomically meaningless simplification agenda from the Draghi report

New oped.

1/

www.politico.eu/article/euro...

Graduates are paying more and getting less Jim Dickinson traces how a student loans system once sold as cost-sharing has become one where graduates fund everything – and where Labour has quietly reversed promises to make things fairer Jim Dick...

I expect to spend today staring at this: ‘we’ve gone from government suggesting that the state would subsidise undergraduate student loans by about 45p in the pound, to making a profit on them for that cohort’.

A *profit* on student loans: everyone should read this. 🤯
wonkhe.com/blogs/gradua...

Breaking | EU launches probe into Chinese wind turbine maker Goldwind Investigation will focus on claims that state subsidies from Beijing illegally boosted the company’s position in European markets.

BREAKING: The EU has launched an in-depth investigation into Chinese wind turbine maker Goldwind.

This is under the foreign subsidies regulation, which the commission uses to weed out subsidies distorting the single market (rather than trade flows)

I used to think the Spice Girls were being paid off by Cuba because they kept singing about how they really, really wanted a bigger cigar

‘Whoa Black Betty...’

I guess reciprocal graduate tax treaties? Except for the fact that most degrees in Europe are cheap/free?

The debt keeps growing even if you do pay in the UK 😓 The student loans company in the UK are pretty good at hunting you down IME. I have to provide proof of my income and agree on a repayment schedule... though TBF I did update my details which makes me easier to find!