Chris Muellerleile

ISRF Newsletter – November 2025 This month's newsletter features a Director's Note unpacking the UK government's latest White Paper on higher education. Also included: upcoming ISRF events, Fellows news and our latest blog posts.

"Closures and mergers [of universities] are Labour policy, not a problem Labour policy wants to solve."
ISRF Director @cnewf.bsky.social explains the logic behind the current UK University funding crisis and why it will be counterproductive mailinglist.isrf.org/p/isrf-newsl...

Margaret Thatcher Is the Mother of Conservatism’s Crisis Three of Margaret Thatcher’s dresses encased in glass boxes and a stall that invited attendees at last week’s Conservative Party Conference to “ask the Iron Lady” to opine on contemporary politics. A ...

It's Thatcher's fault.
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

While we’re at it.

Canvas & Blackboard are now both owned by Private Equity giants in the “data integration space,” meaning they harvest & monetize our identity & intellectual property…& our students’

We should be asking, what do these LMSs do that a $20/yr password-protected WordPress site can’t?

The Father Pursues Trump’s Diplomatic Deals. The Son Chases Crypto Deals. While Steve Witkoff travels the world as Middle East envoy, his son Zach is pitching foreign deals for his cryptocurrency venture with the Trumps.

3/3 www.wsj.com/finance/curr...

2/3 This article (WSJ paywall) highlights the involvement of the Witkoff family including entanglements with CZ and Binance, diplomacy in the Middle East, the Pakistani state, influence over crypto regulation, mineral deals, real estate, and so forth. And this can of worms is barely opened!

1/3 The intensity of conflicts of interest, nepotism, and cronyism related to World Liberty Financial is shocking even for this administration.

On Tariffs and the Ends of International Economic Law For decades, the rules of international trade helped cement U.S. firms at the top of global value chains. Should Trump's unapologetic embrace of tariffs be understood as part of a broader loss of…

@ntinatzouvala.bsky.social brilliantly employs Veblen's concept of capitalist sabotage to explain the political economy of U.S. tariffs lpeproject.org/blog/on-tari...

China Orders Halts to Boeing Jet Deliveries as Trade War Expands China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing Co. jets as part of the tit-for-tat trade war that’s seen US President Donald Trump levy tariffs of as high as 145% on Chine...

*CHINA ORDERS HALT TO BOEING JET DELIVERIES AS TRADE WAR EXPANDS www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Horse imports could take a beating.

Horse imports could take a beating.

Tariffs on goods may be a prelude to tariffs on money Capital inflows could be the Trump administration’s next target

Capital controls next? It would be another boon for crypto- finance, which is clearly the Trump family's current obsession. I suspect Trump's desire to weaken the USD is not disconnected from his promotion of the crypto sector.
www.ft.com/content/b1bf...

From London to New York via Switzerland: the booming trade in gold bars Fears that Donald Trump could impose tariffs on gold imports have upended the market

Nice description of the technical details and frictions in the physical gold trade between NY-LON & Switzerland. Good photos too! FT paywall...
www.ft.com/content/2289...

Agghh...I didn't know. What a loss. Completely agree. He was an inspiration.

If inflation spikes, we'll see if Trump attempts price controls. I might then be convinced of an end point for neoliberalism.

Yessir! There's obviously serious upheaval, including favoritism etc... but nevertheless intense reliance on markets as both distributive and governance mechanisms. If anything, it sounds more like (as you have nicely pointed out) neo(il)liberalism.

Banks and fintechs join ‘stablecoin gold rush’ Bank of America and Stripe target market for payments in cryptocurrencies

Stablecoins are eurodollars. www.ft.com/content/d033...

On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities You may never have considered yourself to be one. Why would you? But if you’re reading this, there is more than a likelihood that you are one. If you’re a

The Rise of Bullshit Jobs in UK Universities
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Palantir predicts windfall from Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting Chief executive says government efficiency department will be ‘very good’ for data analytics group

Musk's cuts will be good for Thiel's Palantir. www.ft.com/content/b9f0...

You know you're in trouble as a critical scholar when you're waiting for capital to discipline the authoritarian.

Nice. I've got one. It works!

Rad. Well deserved. Congrats.