Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 20hThis reminds me of one of my favourite papers ever: Werner Troesken on snake oil sellers: www.nber.org/system/files...nber.org 033
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 22hAn under-appreciated fact is the extent to which our preferences are shaped by what we perceive to be available. This matters for (among other things) debates about social mobility, immigration or the state of the public sphere. 0102
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 23hThis is naive of Burnham. If ADUG's investments in Manchester were profitable, somebody else would have made them. And if they're not, it's reputation laundering. Luckily, there's no precedent for there being any corruption in urban regeneration. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukAndy Burnham 'really concerned' if Man City owners sell up after rule breachesThe prime minister compares the allegations against Man City to the plight of his own club Everton. 0236
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I said yesterday that "treating the triple lock issue as one of pensioners vs non-pensioners is silly identity politics". The Tories always live down to expectations. 0124
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Praise for Burnham's speech is OK; it was better than Healey's vacuous drivel. But it misses a key point about politics - that we over-rate words & under-rate power, interests, administration etc. 24211
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026If these are the arguments for keeping or scrapping the TL, then gawd help 'us, coz they're abysmal. 4134
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Treating the triple lock issue as one of pensioners vs non-pensioners is silly identity politics. The qn is: how do we best prepare for our retirements, & should we sacrifice some of this preparation to pay for social care insurance? I need convincing. 24816
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026True. Labour should be calling higher petrol/diesel prices & higher bond yields the Trump tax - which is far more accurate than saying that Truss crashed the economy. 24519
Reposted by Chris DillowEwan McGaughey @ewanmg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026My report on fixing the water system is out with @cmmonwealth.bsky.social: 💦transfer the leakiest, polluting companies to public hands for £0 🌊audit the rest to gauge repair costs, and public ownership is likely to cost £12bn, saving up to £1.4bn in 3 years www.common-wealth.org/publications...common-wealth.orgCrystal Clear: the Solutions for Clean, Running WaterThe clearest and most cost-effective route to genuine public control of England's water is through public ownership. 0106
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026New substack: nobody wants free markets any more: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/who-wants-...chrisdillow.substack.comWho wants free markets?Support for free markets has died, partly for bad reasons. 0128
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The problem of social care is largely one of a missing insurance market. The obvious solution is to pay for care via general taxes, treating these as if they were insurance premia. Cutting benefits or the triple lock are bad alternatives. 45923
Reposted by Chris DillowWill Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I'm increasingly disillusioned with the (policy) ideas ecosystem in the UK - it seems like underlying (social) scientific research is less and less influential and there's increasing dominance of PR and pseudo-research. 2422834
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 22/09/2026£17bn is absurdly over-precise. But the general message is OK if you want to attract Tory waverers: "if you want tax cuts, we need to rejoin the single market." www.theguardian.com/politics/202...theguardian.comEd Davey promises £17bn income tax cut if Lib Dems are electedGrowth created by rejoining EU single market and customs union would fund change, Davey tells the party’s conference 292
Reposted by Chris DillowSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Here's a chart from the post.... quite a change in a single generation. 2735991
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Good thread. Marx called it commodity fetishism - the process whereby a relationship between people looks like one between people and things: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/marx-on-aichrisdillow.substack.comMarx on AITechnical change is an issue of what capitalism does to workers. 0237
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 19/09/2026This whole issue is framed wrongly. As I've written: "Worrying that some migrants won’t pay their way is a displacement activity - an attempt to blame migrants for the failings of British capitalism." chrisdillow.substack.com/p/on-the-fis...chrisdillow.substack.comOn the fiscal costs of immigrationAre immigrants a drain on the tax-payer? It's a silly question. 2289
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 19/09/2026The only thing we learn from this is that Adam Smith anticipated the BBC: the "disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful...is...the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukBillionaire Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in UKIneos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells the BBC he thinks the country is "on the slide" and calls for more investment in the North Sea. 224864
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 18/09/2026It wasn't caused by a bug, but by a human failing to fix the bug. 150 years after Marx pointed it out, people are still guilty of commodity fetishism. 0176
Reposted by Chris DillowMark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 18/09/2026I mocked this earlier but the hyper intelligent cat historians of the future will pinpoint this as the moment that the very concept of "government" died in the UK. 33315
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 18/09/2026"Many on Labour’s right, it seems, would rather “bash the Trots” and get a well-paid job after leaving parliament than actually win the next election." chrisdillow.substack.com/p/the-stupid...chrisdillow.substack.comThe stupidity of politicsNo sane person would run a household or business with the lack of thinking that the government devotes to its affairs. 1187
Reposted by Chris DillowFrances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026After the recent spate of attacks on disabled people in the media, I wanted to write this week’s Press Access newsletter on how we might fight back. Includes anecdotes about how many British columnists I’ve insulted in print (amongst other things). frances336.substack.com/p/how-to-cla...frances336.substack.comHow to clap back against the British media’s attacks on disabled peopleAnd why the long game is sometimes the best 03518
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 16/09/2026“Because half a dozen grasshoppers...make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst 000s of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field" - Edmund Burke 08519
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 16/09/2026If the govt doesn't call this (& higher gilt yields) the Trump tax, then it is simply failing. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.ukUK inflation pushed up by petrol and diesel price risesSummer holidays and disruption to global oil supplies by the Middle East conflict stoked price growth. 04829
Reposted by Chris DillowSimon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026New post: Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns' mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/raci... When politicians/media describe groups like those in black wearing masks as protestors against asylum seekers in small boats, they presume the motive is 'legitimate concerns' rather than racism.mainlymacro.blogspot.comRacism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns'.During the 2010 election campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was questioned by a member of the public about immigration. Shortly afterwa... 48843
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 15/09/2026New substack: You can marginalize Marxism, but you cannot marginalize the facts. chrisdillow.substack.com/p/marx-on-aichrisdillow.substack.comMarx on AITechnical change is an issue of what capitalism does to workers. 63726
Reposted by Chris DillowJames O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 14/09/2026Sorry for sounding like a mad libertarian about this but this is a solution to something that literally isn't a problem. 10303
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 13/09/2026If Labour had any sense, it would spin this as "Tories want an extra £9bn of taxes on working people". Trouble is, it's not obvious that politicians understand opportunity cost. 1428
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 12/09/2026This thread reminds me of the need for any student to be aware that different disciplines need different approaches. Eg deduction from axioms is OK in maths, not the social sciences; creating clarity OK in engineering, less so in literature. Beware of professional deformation. 071
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 12/09/2026We might ask: what is the value of a democracy in which a dodgy billionaire can buy so much influence? Luckily for our politicians, few people (and fewer still in the legacy media) are curious enough to ask this. 14024
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 11/09/2026In a different world, doctors would give morphine overdoses to dying patients who sincerely & freely wanted to die & police would turn a blind eye. The ADB was an attempt to replace this discretion with a rule. Trouble is, the state lacks the legibility to enforce such a rule well. 6183
Reposted by Chris DillowLeonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 11/09/2026The myth of the Norman Yoke as requested by @danherb10.bsky.social in the latest of my what do you want to know about the Normans? posts. The Norman Yoke is about legal matters, particularly obligations of tenure, right to plead in various courts and their preceived oppressive nature 1/ 13814
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026This thread has given me an ear-worm, albeit a great one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-AM...youtube.comDavid Bowie - Saviour MachineYouTube video by maxpoweresp 130
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 09/09/2026What exactly is the mechanism whereby AI could kill all humans? Coz I suspect there's quite a few humans in that particular loop. 14459
Reposted by Chris DillowThe Institute for Fiscal Studies @theifs.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Are business rates to blame for the decline of the high street? 🎙️ @helenmiller.bsky.social and Stuart Adam explain which businesses are affected by business rates, and what the consequences would be of lowering them, in our podcast. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: ifs.org.uk/articles/how... 052
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 08/09/2026McFadden is secretary of state for work & pensions. Israel/Palestine is none of his business. He should be running his department, not spouting off like a random talking head. (This is obvs a complaint about the general process, not him personally or the view on Israel). 161
Reposted by Chris DillowRobert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/202690 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵) 4123741266
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Difference between 30s & now: then, capitalists & centrists supported fascism as they thought it the alternative to communism. Today, though, fascism is not in the interests of capital - which makes it odd that so many journos & politicians are appeasing it. 11274
Reposted by Chris DillowGiles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Perhaps you are wondering what to make of Chancellor John Healey's speech this morning? Well, wonder no more www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/john... Tl;DR - there was no need for a brand new theory, and we are getting a small taste of what delivering on it means, compared to Starmer.instituteforgovernment.org.ukJohn Healey’s speech: continuity is no crime | Institute for GovernmentThe summer’s Reeves to Healey switch was more continuity than change. 194
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 07/09/2026New substack: how good technocratic policies can lose votes and bad ones win them: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/good-polic...chrisdillow.substack.comGood policies, bad politicsPolitics is not about good policies; it’s about winning clients. 21212
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 07/09/2026"Social-Democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism" - Stalin www.marxists.org/reference/ar.... Yes, Labour has sunk so low as to make Stalin look plausible.marxists.orgConcerning the International Situation 0163
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Excellent. Now do the same for the Mail, Telegraph, Times, Express. Treat them as what they are - enemy propaganda. 0196
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 05/09/2026This (plus the failure of the police to keep order on Teesside) poses qns. Is this incompetence due merely to lack of resources, in which case we have a gazillionth reason to despise Tory austerity? Or is it due to bad management, in which case there's a strong case for reforming the police? 43013
Reposted by Chris DillowChris Terry-Enescu @cjterry.bsky.social · 05/09/2026One thing Labour really needs to get through its head is that government has huge agenda setting capability. If the prime minister or home secretary calls these people what they are that will form parts of headlines and the like. We saw this under Starmer when the correct response finally came 625564
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I agree with this, but would base the case for tax rises not upon longer-term fiscal forecasts which are unreliable, but upon the need to reallocate labour to the NHS, care work, housebuilding, decarbonization etc. Such reallocation requires that consumer spending be restrained. 32810
Reposted by Chris DillowAdam @adamcobb.bsky.social · 04/09/2026The core BBC bias is one against understanding. It’s not that Chris Mason is a Reform plant, it’s that the whole organisation has decided that explaining things is BORING and policy is DULL and everything drifts down from that. 710224
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 04/09/2026An under-appreciated line in that Channel 4 expose of Reform is Orr saying "We just don't have British resident donors...that would support us" (10'35" in). Reform's policies are not in the interest of huge sections of UK capitalism. www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXut...youtube.comGoing undercover to expose Reform's secret donations plotYouTube video by Channel 4 News 26624
Reposted by Chris DillowMoyeen Islam @moyeen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Quite a startling admission from the BOE here - that level beats slope on inflation. That’s an intrinsic credibility problem. bankunderground.co.uk/2026/09/03/m...bankunderground.co.ukMonetary policy transmission: it’s all in the curveSofia Carollo and Natalie Burr While monetary policy sets short-term policy rates, households and firms borrow at varying time horizons. How a policy decision reshapes the whole yield curve therefo… 1174
Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Interest rate crowding out doesn't happen only when public spending crowds out private. It can also occur when private spending crowds out public. Insofar as the AI boom is raising global yields, this is an issue for the UK. 0207
