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Paul Scholes

@misterp55.bsky.social
317 followers 279 following 560 posts

Looking to drag people out of 20th century BAU thinking on climate, nature, economics and inequality. Time to Look Up, do less and be more.

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Reposted by Paul Scholes
William Thomson @williameconomist.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Raising interest rates will not reduce inflation. So why does it seem impossible to challenge this long-established response to rising prices? Legitimate concerns exist about central banks' current response. Not only from #MMT economists like me. Thread. 1/8
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MMTUK Policy Research Group @mmtuk.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
MMTUK has launched We're a new, independent research organisation bringing Modern Monetary Theory to UK policy debates. Our first paper launches later this month: a fully-costed UK Job Guarantee proposal. mmtuk.org #MMT #UKPolitics
mmtuk.org
Home | MMTUK
MMTUK is an independent research organisation producing evidence-based economic analysis informed by Modern Monetary Theory. Explore our articles, education resources and community.
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Let’s keep this simple: “If taxes must be paid in the government’s currency, and citizens can’t legally create that currency, where does the money come from in the first place?”
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National Emergency Briefing @nebriefing.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Storms like #Ingrid are set to become more common and more intense. But experts warn the UK is not ready. Here’s Professor @hayleyjfowler.bsky.social at the National Emergency Briefing. #NEB2025
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
For 50 years we have been conned into thinking that wealth created by the rich will trickle down to us, that if we strive we can become one of them and that gov’t only does the bare minimum because it needs our taxes and to borrow from the rich. Time to stop, think and question.
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Once you understand that taxes do not fund public services it brings the other reasons to tax to the fore, eg to curtail unnecessary and damaging industries and activities the fruits of which accrue predominantly to the rich
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
It’s such a shame that evolution has yet to enable the inheritance of memories and experience. Government is there to plan and enable, it and we just need to remember that.
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National Emergency Briefing @nebriefing.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Please ask your MP to add their name to this Parliamentary call for Government to lead a prime-time televised emergency briefing to the nation. Experts are clear: climate and nature breakdown threaten the UK’s security, food supply, health and economy. #NEB2025 #NationalEmergencyBriefing
nebriefing.org
Parliamentary call for a televised emergency briefing
For MPs and Peers to express support for briefing the nation on the threats from climate & nature breakdown to the UK’s security, food supply, health and economy.
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Canada's National Observer @nationalobserver.com · 24/12/2025
A year ago, U of T’s Laura Tozer was adding climate policies to her lecture slides. This year, she’s deleting them, and asking Prime Minister Mark Carney to explain the rollbacks directly to her students. @cloelogan.bsky.social reports.
nationalobserver.com
This University of Toronto Professor wants Carney to answer to her students
Each year, University of Toronto professor Laura Tozer updates a slide deck that she presents to her graduate students on the state of climate policy in Canada. This year, she is deleting everything.
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
The People's Emergency Briefing www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-people...
crowdfunder.co.uk
The People's Emergency Briefing
To bring the National Emergency Briefing to the people.
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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Attacking councils for considering a four-day working week shows a failure of imagination from Labour. The evidence is clear: productivity rises, people are healthier, and skills stay in local communities. #FourDayWeek #FutureOfWork
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Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
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John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
These two stories are somehow connected. Apparently, if you lobby tirelessly for more pollution & ecological wreckage, that’s exactly what you get.
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Sam Bright @writesbright.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
🔴 REVEALED 🔴 The Institute of Economic Affairs – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group that "incubated" Liz Truss – was bankrolled by oil giants and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. 📝 Exclusive findings from @desmog.com 👇
desmog.com
The Institute of Economic Affairs Banked £640,000 from Oil Giants and Murdoch
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) – the anti-state, anti-climate pressure group – received more than £640,000 from fossil fuel companies and Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate between 1957 and ...
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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Shell is so heavily invested in the "LNG or bust" strategy we should not expect anything resembling truth out of them on the topic.
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Who would have thought? Someone tell Dale Vince
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
The Gov’t just funded £7.5k of my new heat pump. Subject to the availability of labour and resources, there is no constraint on them funding the whole cost, Learn #MMT www.bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p...
bbc.co.uk
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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Drax is scheduled to pocket £10 billion in subsidies. That’s public money funding deforestation and destruction. It is time to #AxeDrax
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Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
This is deeply serious. 'Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds'. Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds
Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout
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Modern Money Lab @modernmoneylab.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
To understand the money system is key to being an informed citizen. To change the world, we have to persuade people to take an interest & provide the info. in an engaging way. The Deficit Myth and Finding the Money did that. I hope so will these upcoming events. modernmoneylab.org.uk/events/
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Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
How can England possibly be running out of water? www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
theguardian.com
How can England possibly be running out of water?
While famously rainswept, climate crisis, population growth and profligacy mean the once unthinkable could be possible
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Lisa Nandy, the UK culture secretary, claims that #PalestineAction "wishes harm on the British people." That is simply false. It is yet another retrospective justification by this government for its unjustifiable ban on the group.
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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Wildfires rage across Southern Europe - fueled by #globalheating. Vote out politicians who downplay and ignore the climate crisis. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...
theatlantic.com
Photos: Wildfires Rage Across Southern Europe
Images from Portugal, France, Greece, and other places in the region where a searing heat wave and strong winds have spawned destructive wildfires for the past two weeks. Thousands of firefighters and...
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Gill Tavner @gilltav.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Imagine if BBC spent as much time on the dangers of climate collapse as they do on immigration. Imagine the public response when they realise what the real danger is to our children & who is causing it. Instead of anger at refugees there’d be anger at oil companies, media bosses, politicians & BBC.
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Ani @aninewforest.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Help bees and other insects during a heatwave: Leave shallow pools of water around- a rubbish bin lid will do. Add pebbles and sticks to create different depths and ramps so they can climb out. littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/mob...
littlegreenspace.org.uk
How to help wildlife in hot weather | Little Green Space
During periods of hot, dry weather, you can help mammals, birds and insects survive by providing water, shade and food
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 05/08/2025
Lord Dannatt urged ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at request of US firm
theguardian.com
Lord Dannatt urged ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at request of US firm
Police officer was concerned ex-army chief, a Teledyne adviser, sought to have ‘input’ into factory attack investigation A member of the House of Lords urged ministers to crack down on Palestine Action at the request of a US defence company that employs him as an adviser. Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British army, wrote privately to two separate Home Office ministers asking them to address the “threat” posed by the group after its activists targeted a factory in 2022. Continue reading...
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
I know there's a risk of amplifying the fascist horror show, but I think we need to be aware of just how far things are going, especially as this man is a Republican candidate for governor of California. All the old safeguards are being deliberately torn down, and the unspeakable normalised.
A post on X by Kyle Langford, with a composite photo showing him standing outside the gates of Auschwitz, and the caption: "My zero unemployment plan", with an emoji of factory chimneys.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Thames Water shareholder funds in 1990, £1.3bn; invested ZILCH since Extracted £10.4bn dividends Paid £13.6bn interest Now borrowing at 9.75% One-third customer bills service debt Pays £200m a year to consultants Billions would have gone into infrastructure, if not privatised. Must nationalise.
leftfootforward.org
Public ownership is the only way to save the water industry
Public ownership is the only viable alternative but is opposed by the government
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Dr Rebecca Warren @drrjwarren.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
Ah yes - the good old Bbc News service - politically biased, politically-driven and utterly shameful. Sadly, it brings the rest of the BBC into ill-repute too, however unfairly.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Nationwide CEO £7m pay package declared ‘obscenity’ during AGM. Members still approved it, probably by erroneously handing proxy votes to chairman. Govts tell workers wage rises are inflationary; do nothing to control exec pay, dividends, share buybacks; or secure equitable distribution of income.
theguardian.com
Nationwide boss’s £7m pay package declared ‘obscenity’ during AGM
Rise of 43% in Debbie Crosbie’s maximum payout approved at building society’s annual meeting despite criticism
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
NatWest to give further £1.5bn to shareholders weeks after UK govt sold the final part of its stake in the bailed-out bank. Govt bailed it out for £45bn. After rescue, sold shares at £10.5bn loss. Now bonanza for shareholders. City always wins. People get cuts higher taxes, benefit/service cuts.
theguardian.com
NatWest investors given £1.5bn weeks after full privatisation
Profits rise 4.4% at lender, which plans to distribute interim dividend of 9.5p a share on top of fresh £750m buyback
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Making killing and maiming more environmentally friendly www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...
lshtm.ac.uk
Being hit by an SUV increases the likelihood of death or serious injury | LSHTM
The likelihood of a pedestrian or cyclist being fatally injured is 44% higher if they are hit by a sports utility vehicle (SUV) or light truck vehicle (LTV) compared with smaller passenger cars, new
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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
The federal workers I've spoken with emphasize it isn't just their substantive work that's suffering - basic organizational functions like payroll and IT are breaking down. This comment from a recent NYT article haunts me. "It was only when he left that we truly realized his value..."
I’ve spent over 30 years managing large government operations. One lesson I carry with me comes from the retirement years ago of an employee most would have considered “obscure.” He was a quiet man — arriving each morning with his sandwich, working steadily, and leaving without much fanfare. To many, he seemed part of the furniture.

It was only when he left that we truly realized his value. Over the years, he had accumulated deep, almost invisible knowledge. He had taken on countless menial but essential tasks simply because he had the experience to do them well. He was, in many ways, the oil in the machine.

His departure forced us to scramble. We suddenly saw how many small, critical pieces he had been holding together — pieces no job description had captured, and no system had tracked.

Since then, I’ve often thought of him when I see organizations subjected to blind cuts. The true cost of such decisions is rarely visible on a balance sheet: it’s in the loss of quiet expertise, institutional memory, and the small acts of continuity that keep complex systems running.
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Modern Money Lab @modernmoneylab.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
In September, we have an anti-austerity conference in Bristol (2 days Fri/Sat) and are then planning MMT workshops in Amsterdam (1 Sunday pm + evening), Sheffield (2 days/weekend) and Vienna (2 days/weekend) I hope you'll come along & engage if you are even vaguely nearby We want to shift debates.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
It has been a long, slow decline. But this is the moment the BBC died as a public service broadcaster. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
theguardian.com
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack review – this crucial film is the stuff of nightmares. But the world needs to see it
The film the BBC refused to air shows the targeting, detainment and torture of medics in Gaza. Its relentless timeline of horrors will never leave you
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#CarbonReckoning (Andrew Boswell) @drandrewboswell.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
The government's plan to proscribe Palestine Action is part of a wider crackdown on protest. Instead of taking steps to prevent genocide, the gov wants to criminalise people demanding justice for Palestinians. Sign the petition to oppose this plan: palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk/NoProscription
palestinecampaign.eaction.org.uk
PETITION: Defend the right to protest: no proscription of Palestine Action
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Jason Hickel @jasonhickel.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
BREAKING: This new report by the UN Special Rapporteur @franceskalbs.bsky.social identifies the main corporations that are profiting from occupation and genocide in Palestine.
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Timothée Parrique @timparrique.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
New translation out! Today is the publication of “Slow down or die. The economics of degrowth” at Profile books, the British version of “Ralentir ou périr. L’économie de la décroissance.”
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Continuing Britain’s reputation as a magnet for fraudsters and tax evaders
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James Dyke @jamesgdyke.info · 03/07/2025
The UK has been steadily strangling the right to protest, and so curbing one of the fundamental rights that citizens are meant to have in a functioning democracy. Much of this has been achieved by criminalising 'nuisance'. We risk being a tinpot dictatorship. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Met police accused of ‘assault on right to protest’ after tenfold rise in nuisance law arrests
FoI requests also reveal that since 2019 less than 3% of those held under law in London were prosecuted
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Earl Russell LD @earlrussell.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
The study found that 87% of farmers have experienced reduced productivity in the face of recent extreme weather, 84% had suffered a fall in crop yields, and more than three-quarters had taken a hit to their income. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
More than 80% of UK farmers worried about climate crisis harming livelihood, study finds
Farmers warn of risk to Britain’s food supply as more than three-quarters take hit to income from extreme weather
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Italy court sends 11 executives at a chemical plant to jail terms of up to 17 years for polluting water, a total of more than 141 years. Puts UK to shame. UK buries corporate crimes - water, Post Office, Grenfell, infected blood, bank frauds. Govts/Regulators serve corporations, not people.
france24.com
Italy chemical plant execs jailed for pollution
An Italian court on Thursday sentenced executives at a chemical plant to jail terms of up to 17 years for polluting water used by hundreds of thousands of people with PFAS, or "forever chemicals".
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Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin @littleoffthetop.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Genuinely think this is the best option we have in the UK right now. He speaks clearly, ignores stupidity, moves onto the point. I like him a lot.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Before the recent partial U-Turn, the UK govt had stated that as a result of the benefit cuts extra 50,000 children would fall into poverty. Why is the govt content to increase child poverty? Now carefully watch and note the Minister's reply. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsGs...
youtube.com
House of Lords child poverty 23 Jun 2025
YouTube video by Prem Sikka
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Annie Leymarie @annieleymarie.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
New "damning report by the Royal College of Physicians": 99% of the UK population is now breathing in “toxic air”. Air pollution is killing 500 people a week and costing £27bn a year in ill health, NHS care & productivity losses.
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Paul Scholes @misterp55.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
I’ve just realised that my prime reason now for listening to, watching or reading what the #BBC puts out, is to pick up on, and throw back, its omissions and bias. Sad.
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
"Thoughtcrime" being, in this case, scientific research, in case that wasn't clear.
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
The Czech’s in post bit.ly/46lksUP after half a millennium there’s a new King at Royal Mail
bit.ly
Daniel Kretinsky appoints himself as Royal Mail chairman
The Czech billionaire is now chairman of Royal Mail following his £3.6 billion takeover of its owner International Distribution Services
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 26/06/2025
Zohran Mamdani has unleashed a political earthquake | Ben Davis
theguardian.com
Zohran Mamdani has unleashed a political earthquake | Ben Davis
Mamdani’s popularity represents the total collapse of a Democratic party establishment
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Timothée Parrique @timparrique.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Very excited to announce that my book "Ralentir ou périr. L'économie de la décroissance" is now available in English at Europa Editions! www.europaeditions.com/book/9798889...
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