iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 41m

The implication of the complaint is that politicians should just tell people to suck it up when things annoy them

000 0

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

Yes that would be good policy, but as you say bad politics

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

The ideal way to square the circle would be tax wealth more highly. We're still not quite sure how to do this without triggering damaging capital flight, but as the succession of short-lived Prime Ministers attests, piling the pain onto voters has reached its limit.

101 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

This leaves Labour in a tricky spot, since the tax burden falls disproportionately on their core voters, who are working age, whilst their ambition is to use public spending to further key policy goals. Reforming the triple lock is a small step to shifting the tax burden away from their supporters.

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

It helps, of course, that the highest earners these days tend not to vote particularly more to the right, as the Tories have increasingly become a party of the wealthy and the old. The triple lock gained them more seats than these tax hikes cost them, until the broader cost of living crisis hit home

100 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

The poorest decile have been ravaged by the Tory era welfare cuts, whilst a combination of Darling, Osborne and then Sunak/Hunt's tax rises on higher earners have increased the skew of taxes on income. Wealth holders - who exercise a different kind of power - have also emerged relatively unscathed

100 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

That explains why, even as Britain has entered a prolonged fiscal crisis due to its failure to grow, the tax rates on the average voter have not increased, nor have the most popular spending programmes been cut. Instead the poorest and richest have taken the strain

100 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

With population aging, public spending did keep going up, because the median voter will not accept cuts to pensions and healthcare, the biggest items in the public budget. And all that has to be paid for - by taxing the minority of voters who are net contributors to the public coffers even more.

101 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

That part of the story isn't quite right, in that at some point (not long after their seminal paper was published) public spending seemed to plateau in most rich democracies as neoliberals like Thatcher and Reagan tried to cut taxes for average earners. But there is a sting in the tail

300 3

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 5h

Another way of describing this chart would be Meltzer and Richard's revenge. The famous (at least for political economists) median voter theorem posits that floating voter power makes for constant increases in government spending, which benefit the majority of below average taxpayers

100 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 7h

Isn’t it more about losing childcare allowances

020 2

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

Aside from that, to have most taxpayers paying less than a decade ago in the middle of a fiscal crisis is, shall we say, suboptimal

000 0

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

That’s certainly the case in my industry

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

Three quarters of a million taxpayers lose their personal allowance. I would be interested to know what share of them earn significantly more than £125k. My guess a minority

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

Something to get your teeth into then!

010 1

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 8h

It's a great chart. But the big takeaway from looks to me to be that the large majority of people are paying a smaller proportion of their income in tax today, compared with 2009/10.

4707 70

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

Chris Giles @chrisgiles.ft.com · 8h

This is a masterpiece of a chart. Well done @theboysmithy.ft.com and @amyborrett.ft.com. Take some time to understand it. Jealous

2116551 165

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

We have a parking suspension in my street today and judging by the neighbourhood WhatsApp Burnham is on to something

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

I would like to see the numbers but for a lot of careers 100-125k is about as good as it’s going to get

000 0

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

I think it’s more like that most people are never going to earn that much more than 125k

200 2

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

Also someone needs to be writing a PhD on how the idea of the West became something like Putin’s Russia rather than European liberalism

180 8

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

Strangely the students whose teachers don’t show up and the young people paying more than their wages in rent do not have ‘legitimate concerns’!

1102 10

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 8h

Anything to deflect from the way robber barons like Murdoch are destroying the hopes of an entire generation

1193 19

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

The Onion @theonion.com · 21h

Protestors Criticized For Looting Businesses Without Forming Private Equity Firm First theonion.com/protestors-criticized-…

62128223973 12.8K

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

They just can't wait for an excuse to start cracking skulls, but the problem is their people are the only ones actually rioting

020 2

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

Nothing safer than bricks n' mortar

000 0

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

Finny P makes the commute sound more fun for sure

010 1

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

Europe Elects @europeelects.bsky.social · 19/10/2026

France, Elabe poll: Scenario: Attal (RE-RE) and Philippe (HOR-RE) run Presidential election Le Pen (RN-PfE): 32.5% Mélenchon (LFI-LEFT): 15.5% Glucksmann (PS/PP-S&D): 15.5% Philippe (HOR-RE): 13.5% ... Fieldwork: 14-16 October 2026 Sample size: 1,701 ➤ europeelects.eu/france

073 7

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

Rebecca Montacute @beckymontacute.bsky.social · 19/10/2026

In another life (about a decade ago) I was a lab scientist - this is a great explainer on why you should be (at least for now) relatively sceptical re AI allowing us to suddenly cure all diseases (or even a lot of them) - we don't have the info to give an AI. ahalflife.substack.com/p/why-are-so...

ahalflife.substack.com

Why are so many AI kingpins moving toward drug discovery?

Do they know something we don’t, or is it the other way around?

1237 23

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

The only place this ever happens to me is getting off at Finsbury Park. But it happens every time

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

There’s too much immigration! Also, most people can’t move abroad

000 0

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

I’m not sure I could name a single member of the Shadow Cabinet

100 1

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 19/10/2026

Late to this Bloomberg piece on Marc Andreessen. This is one of the key things. Andreessen is *angry* about how he has been treated, when any objective observer might note he has benefited enormously from the institutions he now purports to detest. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

One illustrious a16z-funded founder, who hails Andreessen as likely the “highest IQ” investor on the planet, says it never made sense why he seemed to hold such resentment toward the very institutions that helped him achieve the American dream. “It’s like, dude, you’ve made billions of dollars,” this founder says. “How can you think the government is f---ed up and everything is wrong with America when it’s obviously worked better for you than it has for all but maybe a dozen people in human history?”

922910597 2.9K

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

I wonder why young people are protesting and rioting across Europe? Maybe because if they get a job it will barely cover rent for a room in a flat share? Unless they inherit something they can AirBnB, of course

1134 13

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

Where I have to revise my priors is that just having a massive state doesn’t solve the problem. Riots in Italy too!

110 1

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

I’m sure pretty mainstream British Muslim views on Zionism will get an equal hearing

2162 16

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

Hanno Lustig (from the other side) had an interesting Substack showing how education spending is declining in France as pensions spending is going up…

120 2

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026

Just like almost everywhere else, it’s a system that works beautifully for a small number of people and leaves large numbers on the edge. And it’s all just too obvious to pass without some kind of reaction

120 2

Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.eurosky.social · 19/10/2026