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Arun Kumar

@draykay.bsky.social
286 followers 136 following 160 posts

Reader in Global Development & Management, King's College London Disciplinary interloper | Reads widely, writes slowly Author, Philanthropy & Development of Modern India (OUP, 2021).

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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 3h
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Tell me this is a joke: www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Backlash as Indian oil heir made professor of sustainability by Newcastle University
Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In case you needed something to brighten your day.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
There is large scale disenfranchisement of eligible voters in India. Since 2025, 5,800,000 million voters have been removed from Delhi's voter list alone. thewire.in/government/d...
thewire.in
Delhi’s Voter Roll Today Is 37% Smaller Than in 2025
Delhi’s roll now contains 97,53,577 names. The number of people who actually turned out to vote last year was 94,88,376.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Jungkook's Archery Finals
ALT: Jungkook's Archery Finals
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
www.equator.org/articles/lea...
equator.org
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay • EQUATOR
It was hard to imagine that I might soon be in another country, away from this war
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Cut off your nose to spite your face 👇🏾
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
They are not centrists but right wing. Also, the centrists everywhere almost always punch left and rarely of ever right.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The minister of higher education, Uttarakhand state government has recently claimed that a new app is coming that will help move around monsoon rains by moving the clouds, especially if there is heavy rain in any one area. www.facebook.com/share/r/1BHd...
facebook.com
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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
"... there are rules around transparency linked to MPs so we the public know who is giving MPs money so that we understand who is investing in them.." Mustn't call them bribes. Lets call them investments!
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
We discuss how elite philanthropy works in three phases in the cyclical maintenance of capitalism. Firstly, by securing elite class interests through intergenerational wealth transfer (where philanthropy is used to socialise and discipline heirs) and accumulating wealth by creating new markets.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
This is re-writing historical record to mask Starmer's failings. It is time to retire the 'decent man, poor communicator' line of analysis, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do what he now counts as his biggest achievement - scrapping two-child cap.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
And very soon we will have even more higher education consulting firms
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
United Utilities CEO pockets £2.5m despite pollution targets saga, 79% hike. £830,000 bonus, not blocked by OFWAT. Bonus for what? For 175bn litres of water lost annually to leaks Sewage dumped for 327,000 hours. No new reservoir since 1989. Customers fleeced.
thisismoney.co.uk
United Utilities boss pockets £2.5m despite pollution targets saga
United Utilities has been attacked for illegally dumping millions of litres of raw sewage into Windermere, England's largest freshwater lake.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
For all the commentariat fawning over 'Starmer is a decent man' line, the sad reality is this.
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Ballot Box Scotland @ballotbox.scot · 22/06/2026
For many LGBT folk like me, and especially trans folk, Keir Starmer will be remembered in the same way as Margaret Thatcher: with deep contempt for having overseen a deeply hostile, queerphobic government, which rolled back human rights and set society back by at least a decade. Good riddance.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
This says a lot about Blair's elitism.
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Trinket @trinketbirdy.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Love this city. The racists are all stuck in a shit pub rn being yelled at by *checks notes* Fatboy slim?
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Also, why I never played Pokemon Go when folks raved about it: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Pokémon Go data trained AI that could assist military drones in war zones
Location scans from the globally popular augmented reality game have helped train AI to recognise and interpret physical spaces
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
One of the few rare joys of social media is how it lets you stumble onto really interesting work completely outside your own field and learn a great deal. Today I read about whale necropolis in southeastern Indian ocean. Read and enjoy: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A 5.3-million-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone - Nature
Researchers uncovered an enormous deep-sea accumulation of whale remains in the southeastern Indian Ocean, showing long-term, specialized ecosystems and an extensive fossil record that offers new insi...
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Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The expectation here that trans people will just quietly, politely, fuck off and never be seen again, is absolutely palpable.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
This is how Tony got that easy ride. There’s an old documentary where John Major says he refused Rupert Murdoch’s demands ahead of the 97 election. Smash-cut to Tony Blair bouncing up the gangplank on Rupert’s yacht, while Alastair Campbell solemnly explains that politics is about compromise.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
This is right on the money, and a problem not just with AI but capitalism in general which is increasingly producing more, but what it produces isn't useful to anyone apart from the tech broligarchy and the political patrons.
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
There is a small minority of English people who want this debate, unfortunately they are all columnists.
Polling showing an overwhelming number of English people do not regard whiteness as needed for englishness
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
True story.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
And the paper is open access - so no paywall or subscription required.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
It engages in scale-making; and increasingly works not with but on the state - as authoritarianism's rise in the 21st c. shows.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Thirdly, elite philanthropy engineers 'philanthropic fixes' (following Harvey) that create new fixes (both in the sense of addiction but also securing in place); but which create future assets/markets -- thus, supporting cyclical maintenance.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Secondly, elite philanthropy frames capitalism's crises and problems that can be solved by technomanagerialism. Thus, diverting attention and resources away from root causes and defending capitalism.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
We discuss how elite philanthropy works in three phases in the cyclical maintenance of capitalism. Firstly, by securing elite class interests through intergenerational wealth transfer (where philanthropy is used to socialise and discipline heirs) and accumulating wealth by creating new markets.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
UK politicians being shills for US broligarchs while constantly pulling wool over the voters' eyes and wanting us to believe they are acting in the public interest.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Absolutely nothing anywhere has become better in the longer-term : rail, water, electricity, healthcare, social care, education, higher education, police, fire services, prisons, charities, expertise, air travel, roads. Even the privatise but regulator better line has been a failure.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Wonderful, many congratulations.
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Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
In 2024 Labour won by being just acceptable enough to just enough people. Now they are unacceptable, for different reasons, to just enough people almost everywhere. The electoral valley of death.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Or maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have any values: www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Throughout, Labour has treated its own voters with nothing but contempt: not only taking our votes for granted but that if we disagreed, we were unable to comprehend what the 'real business of governing' involved.
theguardian.com
Starmer’s failure to demonstrate strong values ‘driving away progressive voters’
Report using research from senior Blair and Clinton pollster comes as Labour braces for dismal election results
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
More power to workers everywhere ✊🏾
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Especially when all your competititors are also busy coining fancy slogans claiming to be distinctive, isn't it? The cheaper option, all along, would be to not coin slogans at all and let academics get on with their job.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Now we have different ways of calculating percentages!
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Any Social Democratic party worth its name should stop chasing the far-right old white male voter and listen to the young female voter…
youtube.com
The Voters Progressive Parties Are Ignoring | Cas Mudde at GLOBSEC Forum 2025
YouTube video by GLOBSEC
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
This should be top of most political and policy debates in the country - but wouldn't be of course! And we all know why.
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Inderjeet Parmar @usempire.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaS3... 110 years since #EasterRising sent shockwaves across the world that empires days were numbered! Great song - and article links Irish freedom solidarity everywhere today against oppression m.thewire.in/article/hist... ✊🏽🤛🤝👊✊🏽
youtube.com
Sinéad O'Connor & The Chieftains - The Foggy Dew
YouTube video by Siobhán McCarthy
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Chandu Maheriya's razor-sharp essay on the ubiquitous chappals and its entanglements with caste. www.equator.org/articles/you...
equator.org
Caste and Chappals • EQUATOR
What leather footwear reveals about discrimination against Dalits
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
13.4m Britons, including 4m children, live in relative poverty. Median wage of an employee is around £31,000. Poorest 20% pay higher proportion of income in taxes than the richest 20%. 1% has more wealth than 70% of the population combined. No govt plan for equitable distribution of wealth.
bbc.co.uk
More than 13 million living in poverty, government figures show
The level rose slightly on the previous year while the number of children living in poverty has remained steady.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Where the 21st c. U.S. is headed.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
When you think there are no depths too low for him to fall down to, trust Blair to do just that. What a disgraceful ex-PM.
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CarolineJMolloy @carolinejmolloy.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Welcome to Reform’s front bench Yusuf, Hampton School, £29,916 per year Jenrick, Wolverhampton Grammar, £17,835 per year Farage, Dulwich College, £30,618 per year Tice, Uppingham School, £58,176 per year Braverman, Heathfield School, defunct private school The authentic voice of the working class
Left to right - Zia Yusuf, Robert Jenrick, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Suella Braverman
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
This from Clive Lewis is right on the money. If anything, Mandelson and McSweeney's departure should be the end of the New Labour project.
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Arun Kumar @draykay.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Write a substack, they said. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
theguardian.com
Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters
Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
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