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John Springford

@johnspringford.bsky.social
19K followers 1.8K following 8K posts

Economist and occasional politics dabbler. Working on a project to improve labour markets. Associate fellow, Centre for European Reform. Visiting fellow, Institute for Policy Research, Bath University. Accusations of bad faith or lying = block.

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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 54m
Reading round the op-eds on Burnham's speech, there's little engagement on the substance. Should we fund social care with tax? Has the triple lock done its job? Is electoral reform needed? Is the current Brexit deal good enough? Who knows
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 4h
❤️ @duncanrobinson.bsky.social, who I'm guessing wrote this, but I think Burnham setting out his stall in this manner makes it hard to backtrack on.
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Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 5h
If Reform did something like this with mosques we might think they were a bit racist. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Jewish Greens face sanctions for belonging to ‘Zionist’ synagogues
The Green Party rejected an amendment to protect Jewish members attending self-declared ‘Zionist’ organisations from reports of racism
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Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 9h
🚨 French bond spreads. Eek www.ft.com/content/e7c0...
ft.com
Bond investors 💔 OATs
Sacré bleu
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I think an enquiry into the Brexit options is a good idea. Suggested it to Nick Thomas Symonds in his valedictory CER event this summer. It would help if the civil service did some reports on its effects.
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Again though: National care service, ‘tough choices’ on triple lock, electoral reform, devolution, more public control of utilities, reopening red lines on Europe and (hopefully?) avoiding silly tax commitments is a good & coherent manifesto. But it should have been the 2024 manifesto.
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Joël Reland @jreland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
What's that Andy? You want to look at the different options for the UK's relationship with the EU? If only someone had set them out already... ukandeu.ac.uk/introducing-...
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Would be a huge achievement if all these broadly sensible proposals happen. But the theory of growth is quite vague: devolution plus an attempt to find national consensus on a closer EU relationship. As ever, the question is the EU's view on that consensus ...
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Worth a read. Alt title could be 'How I learned to stop worrying and ignore AI people' martinrobbins.substack.com/p/the-ai-apo...
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You can ask that question about a lot of things. Leave the ECHR, stop the local solar farm or data centre, freeze fuel duty, etc.
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Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And the data about GDP and balance of payments in 1976 were later revised to be much less concerning… we didn’t need the IMF. Imagine the alternative histories based on revised statistics.
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sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“The rate of ectopic pregnancy deaths in states with abortion bans is nearly double that in states where abortion is legal.” That stat should shame every anti abortionist in the world.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New, even more absurd depths
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
@alanbeattie.bsky.social on why a UK-EU customs union is a poorly targeted way to deal with the EU's China shock www.ft.com/content/6b21...
ft.com
Why the EU fears Britain becoming a back door for Chinese cars
Brussels is urging UK tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, but it might take more than that
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 28/09/2026
Maybe if we destroy the creative sector then in 2066 a Labour chancellor will make a speech about how great it was when we had it.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Adding my name to the Cassandra list. The post-pandemic rise had cyclical/one-off drivers - it happened in many other developed economies too. Making immigration for work permanently harder will inevitably mean tax rises and spending cuts.
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Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Monday morning plug for my essay in the new IPPR Progessive Journal: How Britain can escape its energy trap
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Institutional decay in the US means no one is even talking about fiscal tightening, despite it being so obviously needed. www.ft.com/content/bcf0...
ft.com
Soaring bond yields ‘not even close’ to cooling red-hot US economy, investors say
Rising borrowing costs so far show no sign of putting a brake on activity in world’s biggest economy
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The question for living standards is what sort of leave is being taken. Switching leisure or caring for work can be good, or bad if people are doing so because they hate their job. Illness is always bad.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It's moving part of the M25 in the middle of 20-mile stretch where three other motorways join it, isn't it
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Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I have a new essay in the newly relaunched IPPR Progressive Journal. It’s intended as a sober assessment of the political economy of Britain’s energy challenge, as we move from the old, dying fossil fuel system to the new world of electrification onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Screenshot of journal article How Britain Can Eacape Its Energy Trap: Heat and Light at the End of the Tunnel
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 25/09/2026
it's been less than a year, and already the socialists are forcing people to go to the opera
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
European Commission officials arguing that a customs union is the best way for the UK to avoid 'Made in Europe' barriers. But the issue seems to be Chinese investment in UK plants, not rerouted Chinese imports. www.ft.com/content/5453...
ft.com
EU urges UK to raise tariffs on Chinese cars to avoid ‘made in Europe’ barriers
London has lobbied intensely to secure equal treatment for British products but continues to rule out a customs union
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Ben McWilliams @bmcwilliams.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Since start of summer, Ireland, Italy and the UK stand out for high wholesale electricity prices. Expensive gas still setting the price in more hours than neighbouring countries. european-clean-tech-tracker.bruegel.org/s/Qm-ysQ
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Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
France's Haddad notably open about rejoin chatter on a visit to London. "It would make all of us stronger... Macron was quite blunt, the EU was stronger when the UK was in it. There's no ambiguity." But he warns it would be "much more fraught" if Britain sought sui generis membership.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Mortgage payments.
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I think this would be a real mistake. It’s essentially a hope that something will turn up and make things easier in the months ahead. And maybe it will. But there’s a larger chance it doesn’t and then we have months of confidence sapping speculation ahead of the Spring Statement.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
One for those of us who believe finance is the main driver of housebuilding, not planning rules
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Raises the question why the Conservatives are against the reset, which would mean rejoining the single market in agrifood and electricity.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Long read on leftish economic policy thought around Burnham. What's missing is analysis of the main drivers of Britain's economic performance - financial, technology, trade and energy shocks. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
theguardian.com
Labour’s last chance? The people shaping Andy Burnham’s grand plans for Britain
The long read: The new prime minister has declared he wants to end 40 years of neoliberalism. But is he really prepared to be that radical?
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Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 08/09/2026
There is perhaps no car manufacturer more than Volkswagen where Germany’s erratic approach to electrification is having a greater impact.
electrive.com
VW ID. Polo sold out for months ahead - electrive.com
In Europe, a waiting list is apparently forming for the VW ID. Polo even before the start of deliveries — at least for individual configurations. The waiting
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It's a fair question, worth unpacking. The OBR 4% forecast is on the lower end of the post-Brexit estimates of the costs. That translates to about £40bn in lost tax revenue.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Non-white cricketers made a concerted effort to be recognised as English. academic.oup.com/book/60799 Similar efforts will be deployed against racists like Carswell, and we will win
academic.oup.com
Windrush Cricket: Imperial Culture, Caribbean Migration, and the Remaking of Postwar England
Abstract. It is generally understood that cricket was of major historical importance in the anglophone Caribbean, that it was a form of cultural imperialis
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Net zero was political consensus, now it isn't. It has become somewhat less popular as the right has turned against it, but support is still strong. So dismissing the role of the right, including the media, seems parti pris at best.
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Sam Lowe @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Canada will struggle to deepen economic ties with the EU for the same reasons the UK failed to break them. New MFN: mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/gravity-al...
mostfavourednation.substack.com
Gravity Always Wins
Alas.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Just finished Sarah Hall's Helm. A truly great novel. Highly recommended
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Definitely not extremists
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Matthew Syed's claim that the AfD is not extremist is laughable. www.thetimes.com/comment/colu... In 2017, Bjoern Hoecke said of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial that ""Germans are the only people in the world who plant a monument of shame in the heart of the capital".
thetimes.com
Angela Merkel was the true extremist of our age
History will judge hyperliberals as the vandals who dissolved our borders and ignored Putin’s threat
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Depressing chart.
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Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Oi Canada! Cosying up to the EU and pushing UK to the back of the line? my new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk blog on the Carney-VDL love-in in Strasbourg www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/carn...
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Carney, Canada and the EU: Will the UK’s Brexit hopes fade further from view? | Institute for Government
Fresh EU thinking on Canada may not give the UK more post-Brexit options.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The local hotel I worked at as a teenager had airs and graces and used to do silver service. It really wasn't a posh restaurant, as demonstrated by having teenagers do it. My worst spill was meat juice all over a customer's silk dress.
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Simon Usherwood @simonusherwood.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This UK-EU relations are a function of how UK wants to engage with the world in general
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Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
One might call it the "gravity model"
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Take cars. Should Canada adopt EU auto standards, and make car components for the European market? This would be an enormous shift that would end the US-Canada-Mexico supply chain.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Interesting piece. Given the primacy of EU law for members, the rules of a broader grouping will inevitably be subordinate to that. Which means rule-making in areas outside EU competence, or softer forms of co-operation.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Good piece. On the Telegraph/Times being misled about Reform/Verbatim paying for the poll. If someone came up to me and said I've got a poll and I'd like it to form the basis of some research, my first question would be 'why' and my second would be 'who paid for it'.
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Adam Bell @adambell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
AI is superb at rapid generation of complex mathematical models, making it dead handy in quant spaces like energy modelling. The role of the human becomes machine QA, but that is much more productive than writing in a spreadsheet yourself, and also requires more expertise.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
My view is individual concerns, legitimate or not, are only a basis for government action if the social costs exceed benefits.
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Back in the US for a bit. In the spirit of Noah Smith, the American mind cannot comprehend labour- and time-saving border control measures, ANPR to tackle awful driving, and public transport as a solution to congestion.
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Jill Rutter @jillongovt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Interesting double act at Policy Exchange from Alex Burghart and Victoria Atkins throwing down gauntlet on EU partnerships Bill and SPS deal. Arguing for UK to be more similar to US. Burghart argues membership preferable to dynamic alignment.
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