iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Two authors gave me copies of their new books this week. Many thanks to Sandy Nairn and Fred Samama. I now owe them reviews.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Writing speculatively about the possibilities for work in the time of AI. Preparing for the @EdinburghLoM’s Weekend of AI. robbiemochrie.substack.com/p/your-career-…

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This Is My Glasgow @thisismyglasgow.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is the second in my series of Glasgow-themed calendars for 2027, and it consists to 12 iconic images I've taken around the city. If you're interested, you can purchase it from my website at: www.thisismyglasgow.com/product-cate.... #glasgow #glasgowicons #calendar #2027calendar #scotland

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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Clyde-based Waverley, world’s last sea-going paddle steamer, marks 80th anniversary. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Waverley paddle steamer marks 80th anniversary since launch

The Waverley passed through London's Tower Bridge as part of the anniversary voyage on the Thames.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

“I reckon this Substack will be the basis of one the sessions of the Weekend of AI planned for the autumn. Watch this space!” David Clarke, @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social. From “Wouldn’t a Weekend of AI be a great idea?” to “Make it so” in one short leap. open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

open.substack.com

At the Library of Mistakes to discuss asset valuations in the time of AI.

Thinking about economic history to argue that we are most likely in a bubble - with observations about the challenges of changing culture.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

At the @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social for tonight’s debate on AI. Kaboom! Are the market valuations of AI nuts?

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Starting from evolutionary fitness, I think about the value of care in society, where it might fit in the practice of virtue, and why it's difficult to embed within an economic view of the world. A response to work by John Davis and Robert McMaster. robbiemochrie.substack.com/p/care-how-c...

robbiemochrie.substack.com

Care: how can economics help?

Or are we all too busy maximising our own utility?

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

One of the best Keynes stories came up at a conference on Adam Smith this week. Gives me the chance to explain more about the practice of economy of hope for Substack followers. open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

open.substack.com

Economy of Hope

A story for new subscribers

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

A great day at Panmure House’s New Enlightenment conference. A write up on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

open.substack.com

Towards a new enlightenment

Looking forward to the next 250 years of Smithian economics.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Back in the Balmoral for Panmure House’s New Enlightenment Conference. Too cosy?

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Working through what I heard at the Adam Smith Global Foundation’s Symposium on the Future of the Economy, which ended with Ed Balls and Stephanie Flanders interviewing Andrew Bailey. Curious that there was little on getting back to Adam Smith’s reasonable optimism and his faith in humanity.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

A delightful @scottishopera.bsky.social performance of “The Marriage of Figaro” had me thinking about “The Wealth of Nations”. Great entertainment with solidly bourgeois virtue. substack.com/@economyofho...

substack.com

The art of economy

Watching Mozart's joyful opera and thinking of "The Wealth of Nations"

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

New post from @ldfreedman.bsky.social "Putin's Crimea Problem" Taking over Crimea boosted Putin's popularity to record levels and was seen as a prize asset. But now it's become a huge liability and a logistical nightmare for the president. (£/free trial) samf.substack.com/p/putins-cri...

samf.substack.com

Putin's Crimea Problem

Ukraine's "Logistics Lockdown" is turning his prize asset into a liability

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Can't help feeling that @pickardje.bsky.social is being generous in his interpretation. I suspect that a lot of work will have gone into making it seem like an accident.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

"In the practice of economy of hope, we need confidence about the future, based on good reasons that it will be better than the present, even if the achievement of those goals will take time, effort and all our capabilities." Reviewing the development of practice. open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

open.substack.com

Anchored in hope

Adam Smith, Maynard Keynes and seeming despair

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

The importance of Erik Angner's "How Economics Can Save the World", considering economics' origins in moral philosophy, my thinking about Adam Smith, the Cambridge tradition of economic liberalism and disappointment with what passes as thinking about the economy. open.substack.com/pub/robbiemo...

open.substack.com

Arguing, as if economics matters

The subtle arts which a good - or even competent - economist should master

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

At the final of the Growing Future Assets competition at the Royal Bank of Scotland conference centre. 900 competitors, all school girls, thinking about asset management.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

When I work with the Library of Mistakes, its "small" scale never comes to mind. Agile is probably the currently fashionable word. But there's also openness to partnership working and boldness about seizing opportunities as they emerge. www.linkedin.com/posts/librar...

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Some facts: skeletal abnormalities from having to carry crushing loads; recourse to violence as a feature of piecework; child workers’ poor diets and reduced nutritional uptake given endemic hookworm. Summarising Morgan Kelly's James Watt lecture at @heriotwattuni.bsky.social's Panmure House today.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

@eoinaldo.bsky.social introducing Morgan Kelly’s James Watt lecture on the ‘mechanics of the Industrial Revolution’

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

At ‘the home of economic and social debate’. No political or philosophical inquiry?

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

On my way to @heriotwattuni.bsky.social’s Panmure House for today’s James Watt lecture. Passed the statue of its best known occupant. Wrong time for a good photo!

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Walking in Spring sunshine from Haymarket to Craiglockhart in Edinburgh. Ghost signs on Gorgie Road then spring at St Michael’s Slateford, Polwarth church on the Union canal and a bank of daffodils at Harrison Park.

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Mujtaba Rahman @mijrahman.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The U.K. Government is opting for the EU over Trump. They won't shout this from the rooftops, but this is the implicit political message from Rachel Reeves' Mais lecture today: “No partnership is more important than that between the UK and our European neighbours.”

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

How ideas about developed as they travelled from Scotland to the United States and back. Drawing on ideas from Adam Smith and other Enlightenment thinkers, the development of professional schools in the United States, and the nature of the liberal arts curriculum needed for the present time.

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Kenny Stewart @kennystew.art · 17/03/2026

Considering where things were, Sev’s analysis is definitely the more accurate.

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Trades Union Congress @tuc.org.uk · 17/03/2026

This is how to protest.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

As the former second city of empire shrinks and decays, it's physical structure becomes more fragile; its sense of place declines and there are frequent fires. The Glasgow disease of public health reaching into the city's fabric? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Why do Glasgow's historic buildings keep catching fire?

The fire that devastated a building on Union Street is the latest in a series of blazes to strike the city's historic sites.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Very interesting, and I'm wondering if the costs of adaptation (especially this early in a campaign) will be lower for a country which has had months/years to prepare for switching to asymmetric warfare. Especially given their opponents' record in countering it in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Wrapping up the #SmithConversations at the @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social with a post on why "The Wealth of Nations" became so influential, together with a synopsis of the conversations. A great celebration of a very great book. Hopefully more to come later in the year substack.com/@economyofho...

substack.com

Economy of hope (@economyofhope)

With the first celebration of Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” at 250 a great success, final thoughts for the moment on why we’re still talking about the book - together with a synopsis of the Smi...

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Out for my morning run. Gulls screaming. And then I came across one of these perched on a fence, being used to try and scare the gulls off the nest. Talking with its keeper, "I get paid £20 an hour just to stand about." But bemoaning gulls' protected species status. "They're her lunch."

commons.wikimedia.org

File:Harris' Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) (10684271643).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Pretty staggering that the FT Trump interview opens with ‘if NATO doesn’t help us sort this mess, there’ll be problems’ and ends with ‘Russia might be helping target American soldiers, but really that’s sort of fair enough - we started it’. www.ft.com/content/1ca6...

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Education in Scotland. A matter of importance for Adam Smith, former professor and professional philosopher, in writing "The Wealth of Nations". On Friday, the last Smith Conversation explored current weaknesses in Scottish education @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social substack.com/@economyofho...

substack.com

Economy of hope (@economyofhope)

Education was the perfect topic for the final Smith Conversation at Edinburgh’s Library of Mistakes in the week marking 250 years since the publication of “The Wealth of Nations”. Two themes to the di...

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

A flight taken by the FT over the estate (owned by Viktor Orban’s father) revealed what the roadside hides: carefully manicured gardens; pools cut into the sprawling grounds; a palm house and a chapel; and a grand main building with gleaming wings www.ft.com/content/1e44...

ft.com

The riches of Viktor Orbán’s home village

Hungary’s longtime leader is trailing in the polls ahead of April’s election, as the opposition alleges widespread corruption

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Mujtaba Rahman @mijrahman.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Incredible scenes from today's pro-Magyar, anti-Orban rally in Budapest. Only 4 weeks left until the most consequential election in the EU this year 🇪🇺🇭🇺

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

A link to this weekend's @phillipspobrien.bsky.social update. With some thoughts from Michael Green of @socprogress.bsky.social about the resilience of Ukrainian society. A relatively low income country with very strong social institutions for years before 2022. substack.com/@economyofho...

substack.com

Economy of hope (@economyofhope)

Reminds me of a comment by Michael Green of Social Progress Imperative during Monday’s #SmithConversation at Edinburgh’s Library of Mistakes. He claimed that Ukraine had scored very highly on social...

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

"I was not a great student in college. I liked learning, but not on someone else’s timetable. It was this story that woke me up and made me a scholar." @hcrichardson.bsky.social on Maine statehood, slavery oligarchs and the formation of the Republican Party. substack.com/@heathercoxr...

substack.com

March 14, 2026

March 15 is a crucially important day in U.S.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

The Second City of Empire crumbling with age, its Victorian buildings having lost their original purpose. The Glasgow effect in public health reaching its fabric. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Why do Glasgow's historic buildings keep catching fire?

The fire that devastated a building on Union Street is the latest in a series of blazes to strike the city's historic sites.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Starting the last of the Smith Conversations at the @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social on education. Starting from “The Wealth of Nations” and thinking about HE in Scotland today.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

At the @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social for #SmithonCapitalism with Alison Payne of @enlightenscot.bsky.social leading off on the challenges of the care economy - and Theresa May’s failure o reform this in 2017. Then back to Smith and the distribution of economic activity.

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

The @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social Smith on Wealth discussion. Morality to the fore. Care and nature as the basis for sustainability investing. The challenges of passive and index funds as well as prediction markets. But still grounds for hope. robbiemochrie.substack.com/p/looking-fo...

robbiemochrie.substack.com

Looking for hope as the world burns

Library of Mistakes - Smith on Wealth - and the social role of investment

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Robbie Mochrie @economyofhope.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

David Clarke introducing the panel for the @libraryofmistakes.bsky.social “Smith on Wealth” discussion. Then Andrew Milligan going straight back to Smith - and his successors.

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