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Jeegar Kakkad

@jeegarkakkad.bsky.social
1.1K followers 358 following 38 posts

Economics, politics, boxing. Defence, tech & Industry @ PF Global. ex-TBI, ADS, JLR, MakeUK, SMF, Brookings. Views my own.

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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Yes I'm grumpy about Burnham's speech. UK needs govt to be successful. I just worry that "state control + devolution + hope" over the next 3 yrs doesn't add up to prosperity, leaving Labour exposed & its promises to be bold in the future unfulfilled. The UK needs boldness now, not just tomorrow.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Not sure about that speech. The sugar rush of vibes will wear off, exposing the promise of tough-ish decisions in four years as meaningless today. In the meantime, its rinse & repeat on technical education, EU resets, state control, british jobs for british workers, forgotten towns and vibes.
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
quick, mega obvious post about how the US economy is crowding out others gileswilkes.substack.com/p/a-short-di...
gileswilkes.substack.com
a short, disturbing thought on AI overbuilding and US fiscal laxity
irresponsibility spreads across borders
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A very insightful person suggested to me recently that Andy Burnham is, in many ways, really just continuity Theresa May. That thought is now living rent free in my head.
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Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
🚨Is Big Tech bond issuance to blame for higher US Treasury yields? www.ft.com/content/6354...
ft.com
Are Big Tech bonds crowding out the US Treasury?
Probably not
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PoliticsHome @politicshome.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The Defence Investment Plan isn't enough – but Burnham should make do and mend ✍️ @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/news/article...
politicshome.com
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Yes, the UK needs to spend more on defence. But defence needs both investment and reform. Without it, the UK risk buying a deterrence that doesn't provide the protection we need. www.arguably.uk/p/why-britai...
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PoliticsHome @politicshome.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Healey's replacement, Dan Jarvis, inherits the same three pressures: investing heavily in national security, demonstrating a domestic political dividend, and staying within the fiscal rules The job is impossible until the government decides which one comes first, writes @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social
politicshome.com
Starmer failed to choose between political, security and fiscal imperatives – the consequences will outlast him
John Healey's job became impossible because the government refused to make a choice.
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World Bollard Association™️ @worldbollardassoc.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Only a bollard is brave enough to stop a burning runway car. WE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN. #WorldBollardAssociation 🇮🇳
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Posted on X before Healey resinged: HMT thinks Defence is a lemons market but it's acting like a low-information buyer that can't tell the bad from the good eg reports it will treat GCAP like HS2. Instead, it should work w MoD to fix market failures in defence. jeegar.substack.com/p/the-treasu...
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Asylum hotels don't work: they erode domestic/local support & aren't good for migrants. But to view the issue through narrow lens of devolution is silly. I get v frustrated when policy becomes a binary choice bt centralisation & devolution as it ignores system-level thinking on solutions.
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No Sacred Cows @nosacredcows.media · 05/06/2026
Britain knows the world is becoming more dangerous. The question is whether our politics is prepared to admit it. This week, @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social joins the herd as we ask what a serious programme of national resilience might look like. Listen now everywhere! nocows.substack.com/p/time-for-n...
nocows.substack.com
Time for nation building?
Public First's Jeegar Kakkad joins the herd to challenge the assumption that Britain can meet growing security threats without making difficult political and economic choices
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Increasingly think the UK’s problem isnt a failure to embrace abundance in the face of scarcity, but the persistent myth of its own affluence/abundance in the face of (semi) permanent scarcity. Creates a set of luxury beliefs that have adversely affected infra, energy, pensions & fiscal policy.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Today’s Spring Statement has echoes of Rishi Sunak’s on 11 March 2020. If the war in the Middle East persists, there’s a strong chance the CHX will be back with fiscal measures within 6 weeks.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
While I embrace the intent (and very much how I spent my youth), I feel this fails to engage with where kids are, how they have lived or how they connect. Taking BlueSky away from us wouldn't encourage us to engage more with humans IRL.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
I wrote this 3.5 yrs ago on how AI is changing discovery & the formation of youth culture. It feels more true today. I'm not saying we shouldn't ban social media for kids. More that it'll feel like we're banning discovery for them: medium.com/@jeegarkakka...
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
"But how are we supposed to find anything?" a 15 y/o on banning social media for kids in the UK. Can't stop thinking about this as the rush to introduce a ban will feel like a ban on discovery of news, music, culture, identity, community… Kids won't replace TikTok w/ google, so where will they go?
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I've been wondering why there isn't a Panama Papers style consortia of journalists doing forensic analysis of the Epstein files. I've been told its partly the volume of docs & the significant threat of legal action by US admin figures.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
For those keeping score, Bellingcat, The New York Times Visual Investigation Team, & Washington Post's Visual Forensic team have all published analysis showing the ICE shooter wasn't in the path of Renee Nicole Good’s vehicle when he shot her, contradicting statements by the President & his cronies
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I haven't been on BlueSky in weeks/months. I pop on today and this spicy take is worth it.
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Antonia Bance MP @antoniabance.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Workers have every right to withdraw their labour. But for the life of me I can’t see the industrial theory of change behind the actions of the BMA. Union leaders must lead rather than take dictation: there comes a point where they must bank what they have achieved and stand down their members
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
I’m old enough to remember when people said this site was the place for a more civil, informed discourse. smh.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
that's not what my okr's say.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Tesla cannot make an airplane. SpaceX, absolutely. Tesla, not a chance.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
So, yes, more funding for defence is good. The focus needs to shift now to reform & modernisation, not endless debates about the amount of funding and how to finance it.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
To do this at pace requires Whitehall to operate differently on -budgeting (annual budgeting drives costs up, not down) -procurement (it was broken 20 yrs ago) -intl collab (UK must learn from Ukrainian def capabilities) -military recruitment & logistics -deployment (from Ukraine to Red Sea)
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
The UK needs a defence industrial strategy that prioritises 3 areas: 🫡 rapidly scale capabilies that can be deployed to defend UK interests, inc in the Red Sea ⚙️ modernisation of the traditional defence sector, inc automating production 🤖 deeper engagemnet w defencetech cos
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
The announcement of additional defence spending today is good, not least because it is an important international signal of the UK's commitment to it's security and values. But additional spending alone is not enough...the way it is spent matters far more...🧵
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Two things shock me about that Signal leak: 1. That this US admin is still willing to defend laregly non-US shipping lanes in the Red Sea; and 2. Nothing in the EU Defence Readiness 2030 Whitepaper suggests the EU is willing to defend its own shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Is there any one on here that is critical of Labour's Employment Rights Bill?
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
No. Bc just like Kamala Harris, his online fandoms were just too niche.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
In a world where online fandoms are everything (yes, even in politics), being an offline PM will prove problematic.
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Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Idea that Labour can’t govern austerely is ahistorical - as long as that fiscal conservatism has a morel purpose beyond looking “credible” www.economist.com/britain/2025...
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Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Labour’s credibility trap www.economist.com/britain/2025... from The Economist working link
economist.com
Labour’s credibility trap
Who can believe Rachel Reeves?
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Growth idea for the UK government: Accelerate the Planning & Infrastructure Bill and delay the Employment Rights Bill.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
What are the reasons any Government wouldn't implement the Jay report recommendations in full?
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
One thing becoming more apparent to me today are the divides between government departments on international issues. Always been an issue, but with the upcoming need to formulate policy on US, EU, China - probably now a bigger challenge.
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 13/12/2024
They should be offered the opportunity to avoid the fine by handing back the Postcode Address File to the government.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
I wonder if the UK could give up its golden share in Royal Mail in exchange for liberating the postcode address file.
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Also, the NESO assessment that says 2030 is achievable will be out of date as soon as the government publishes the AI Opportunities Review
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Two things have made me grumpy today, one of which I can call out: Ed M and his team have absolutely backtracked on their clean energy target. This should be welcomed. But for them to deny it - given the grief they gave anyone who critisised the 2030 target - takes some f*cking chutzpah.
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Whenever I hear people say the policies are fine, the only problem is the communications, I feel like re-upping my tweet from peak Truss-ocalypse
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Hollywood writers: Ai couldn’t possibly do what we do. Also Hollywood writers shoving out yet more sequels and remakes: aRE YoU nOt eNTErtAiNEd!?!?!
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Some thoughts on Labour's renationalising of England's railways. The big argument is that renationalisation gets better services and/or more state revenue. But it ain't necessarily so.
ft.com
Renationalising England’s rail may not overcome hard realities
Bringing franchises into public ownership is risky given some routes are just harder to run well and face legacy issues
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John Myers @johnrmyers.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
The UK could accelerate the path to net zero and cheaper energy with better nuclear power policy and regulation. An impressive new report from @tonelangengen.bsky.social @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social at al is featured in today’s Guardian. institute.global/insights/cli...
Report entitled “Revitalising nuclear: the UK can power AI and lead the clean energy transition”screenshot of The Guardian website. Article title “Blair thinktank criticises unfounded nuclear fears after Chernobyl“.
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Christian Odendahl @codendahl.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
“Steve Akehurst of Persuasion UK has tested a number of “green jobs” arguments as a way to “sell” climate action, but they all tend to fall pretty flat with the public.” on.ft.com/4fH0nKE
on.ft.com
Why the public doesn’t buy the idea of a ‘green jobs’ bonanza
People understand that transitions are hard — politicians need to as well
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
This is such a damning take:
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Jeegar Kakkad @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Last summer I spent time w people in Whitehaven who were being offered coal jobs.They didn’t want Labour to oppose coal jobs w vague promises of green jobs. They wanted specific/tangible action for their community. Why the public doesn’t buy the idea of a ‘green jobs’ bonanza on.ft.com/4fIETgp
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Juergen is speaking now. Surprise him by adding 1000 followers by the time he stops... He's the boss of Great British Energy and always has interesting stuff to say. #CBI24
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FT Alphaville @alphaville.ft.com · 25/11/2024
One is a antediluvian leviathan that can't evolve so is lumbering towards extinction and ... oh do your own jokes. www.ft.com/content/4c30...
ft.com
Barosaurus fined after dropping challenge over tar-pit payments
FCA says the dinosaur’s conduct 145mn years ago was ‘reckless and lacked integrity’
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