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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍

@nickcowern.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1K following 617 posts

We're beginning to see the true sensitivity of climate to greenhouse gases, and it's bigger than almost anyone expected. A huge challenge to us all to avoid runaway climate. Energy transition, justice, sustainable buildings / agriculture / horticulture.

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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The annual State of the Climate report: the "Global Burn" begins. youtube.com/shorts/Xxctf...
youtube.com
The devastating reality of climate change explained
YouTube video by Channel 4 News
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Does anyone think this is the new normal? No, it's a step on the way to the new normal we may reach in a few decades (tipping points permitting) when fossil fuels are finally outlawed.
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
"Any plan for growth that does not put climate first... can only undermine the future it claims to protect" Ex-government chief scientific advisor Sir David King on how the "shattering" heatwaves are but a foretaste of what's to come if we don't meet net zero www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Europe heatwave live: Temperatures of 40C expected in Spain; rare warning for ‘extreme heat’ expanded across England
A former UK government scientific adviser warned amid the ‘shattering’ heat that worse is still to come
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This cute phrase "the new normal" used by everyone to describe our increasingly alien weather and climate may sound like a wake-up call. But it's a stupid, ill-informed platitude. The climate will worsen and increasingly threaten our lives and economies until fossil fuels are finally outlawed.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
🌍 A question for plant growth researchers. Do forests _REALLY_ stop storing carbon when above-ground growth stops? Or do arid conditions simply (& rather logically) switch growth from above ground (which increases demand for water) to roots (to supply more water)? www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Trees may store less planet-heating carbon than hoped, study suggests
Photosynthesis does not always result in wood growth, a key factor in carbon dioxide sequestration
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Look at the protests Jared Kushner has caused in Albania. This could be a shining light for Europe. Prof Lea Ypi, London School of Economics. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Look at the protests Jared Kushner has caused in Albania. This could be a shining light for Europe | Lea Ypi
The slogan ‘Albania is not for sale’ reveals a nation that respects itself, and will not sell its soul for investment, says author and academic Lea Ypi
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
The disaster of Brexit is a warning against simple solutions to hard problems www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Disaster of Brexit is a warning against simple solutions to hard problems | Richard Partington
Alan Milburn says youth unemployment has no quick fixes – an idea with an important lesson for those thinking about how to rejoin the EU
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Sad to say, Tony Blair (v 2026) is just another dummy waved around by legacy interests to protest progress towards our fossil-free future. What a sad way to wind up after three premierships.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Jeez, what a caricature of the old world fighting back. Well, sorry Tony, but a new one is (painfully) being born and there's nothing you or Trump with all his tin soldiers can do to stop it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to Trump
In highly unusual intervention, ex-PM says his party’s ‘almost infinite capacity for self-delusion’ makes it likely to lose next election
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Not my usual topic but this is such cool math - a beautiful piece of uni research with importance for space exploration. How to reach the moon with less fuel, optional parking orbits around the L1 point, and no heart-stopping comms break behind the destination world. share.google/Iwghog9C6JrD...
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Mathematical method calculates most efficient Earth-moon route yet
Researchers have developed a mathematical method that enables more precise calculations of the most economical travel routes between the orbits of celestial bodies. To demonstrate this method, they ca...
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Trump in a nutshell www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing this week knowing that Xi holds all the cards | Simon Tisdall
The US president will be counting on China to influence Iran and help him out of his latest mess. But the price may be high – including for Taiwan, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisd...
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Hope out of chaos: how the dark era of Trump is creating a new approach to global politics www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
Hope out of chaos: how the dark era of Trump is creating a new approach to global politics
There is cautious optimism that ‘a majority of multilateralists’ may be able to enduringly reshape global alliances
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Dependence on imported fertiliser is as risky as dependence on imported oil: it has destroyed the resilience and security of nations. The lesson, as with oil, is to eliminate reliance on these costly imports, in this case by shifting to regenerative agriculture. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Iran war may cause food shortages in Africa, world’s largest fertiliser firm says
Yara CEO warns of global auction that would leave poorest countries scrambling for supplies they can ill afford
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Nothing new here, except that almost nobody grasps it and it's the most important information in the world. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
A catastrophic climate event is upon us. Here is why you’ve heard so little about it | George Monbiot
Scientists say a crucial Atlantic system is set to collapse. But the billionaire death cult that steers humanity’s destiny just doesn’t do existential crises, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Amen to this spot-on analysis. The fossil era is dying in plain sight. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Who’d have thought a fossil-fuel shill like Trump would be the one to spark a green revolution? | George Monbiot
The US attack on Iran has made the need for renewable energy inarguable, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Are the Trump administration's actions in the Iran war driven by need to feed Trump's real power base - the US oil companies? That would imply an unholy confidence in the administration's ability to quash electoral resistance in November.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Study reported in Nature says historical emissions will cause TEN TIMES MORE damage in future than they have up to now. Damage caused by just ONE long-haul flight per year over the last decade will have caused $25,000 damages by end of century. Think about that the next time you consider flying!
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
On the social cost of carbon emissions. Stone cold language; horrifying numbers on the level of economic destruction that future citizens (currently our kids) are faced with. 'Quantifying climate loss and damage consistent with a social cost of carbon' | Nature share.google/GF2Eo9fksR3j...
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Quantifying climate loss and damage consistent with a social cost of carbon - Nature
A new framework links specific emissions to monetized, location-specific climate damages, showing that future harms from past CO2 emissions far exceed historical damages and that delayed carbon remova...
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Finally! This is great, but what's with the blind spot on farming and food? There's no national security without an adequately fed population. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
British suppliers to be prioritised for contracts in sectors vital to national security
Policy brought forward as Middle East war highlights fragility of global supply chains
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Robert Habeck: 'I had to deal with the energy shock in Germany after Putin invaded Ukraine. The solution now is the same: buy ourselves out of the fossil fuels trap'. This time, let's actually do it! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Like Putin, Trump is a megalomaniac. In Europe, we can shield ourselves, not look for rational motives | Robert Habeck
I had to deal with the energy shock in Germany after Putin invaded Ukraine. The solution now is the same: buy ourselves out of the fossil fuels trap, says Robert Habeck, former vice-Chancellor of Germ...
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I suspect we can say thank you Oh Great Orange One for instilling in us a fresh sense of right and wrong, and a strong impetus finally to do the right thing ourselves - get the f..k off of fossil fuels as fast as our skinny legs will carry us.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
In my experience, 'doing the right thing' on energy use has dramatically paid off. We got rid of our petrol cars for electric, took practical steps to cut heat loss from our house, and installed a heat pump in place of an oil boiler. Today we use no oil or gas for ANYTHING.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Instead of fighting over the Strait of Hormuz, let's engineer a radical, steep reduction in demand for fossil fuels. There are so many creative ways to achieve this that are currently being neglected through fear of the fossil-funded right.
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Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Europe spent years debating whether the energy transition was affordable. Spain quietly answered the question: gas now sets its electricity price in only 7% of hours. Strategic autonomy doesn’t arrive via summit communiqués. It’s built in advance — in wind farms, solar parks, and grid investment
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
'There’s nothing sinister about Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. As a bishop, I reject the right’s attacks on worship' Arun Arora, Bishop of Kirkstall, diocese of Leeds So should Kemi Badenoch, if she values what it is to be British above cheap nastiness. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
There’s nothing sinister about Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. As a bishop, I reject the right’s attacks on worship | Arun Arora
At a time when Britain has never felt more divided, we should draw on Christian values to reject hate and focus on what unites us, says Arun Arora, bishop of Kirkstall
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
BASED ON THE SUCCESS OF OUR PREVIOUS WORK, HERE'S OUR LATEST NOBEL SUBMISSION! 🇺🇲
theguardian.com
Ella Baron on Donald Trump’s predictions for the war on Iran – cartoon
The US president has delivered a vague and contradictory forecast for how long the United States will continue to fight in Iran
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
No Roosevelt. More a Capone. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Nicola Jennings on Donald Trump and Keir Starmer – cartoon
The US president launched a deeply personal attack on the UK prime minister, telling reporters: ‘This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with’
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Dusking: 'All you need is a chair and a view'. This is something we've done for the last couple of years from a quiet spot in our garden, most often in summer when evenings are long and warm. It's peace giving and revitalising after an active day. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
‘All you need is a chair and a view’: could daily ‘dusking’ make us healthier and happier?
An old Dutch ritual of going outside to watch the coming of night – or dusking – is having a revival across Europe. Fans of the practice say it’s a great way to disconnect from screens and find peace
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
A positive amongst the many scary negatives of climate change "A simple water shift could turn Arctic farmland into a carbon sink | ScienceDaily" share.google/ZkehnG7rqwgq...
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A simple water shift could turn Arctic farmland into a carbon sink
Deep in the Arctic north, drained peatlands—once massive carbon vaults built over thousands of years—are quietly leaking greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But new field research from northern Norw...
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Rain intensity has ALREADY increased by more than 20% after just 1.5°C of global heating - enough to cause the extensive, long lasting winter flooding we've seen. Imagine the effects of the 3°C and more that we face as climate deniers fight to slow our green transition. share.google/vzFiW8bMc7WQ...
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Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis?
Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Interesting! Ab initio modelling might offer us our first ever realistic assessment of climate impacts on economic (in)stability share.google/W1Td96NFOinz...
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Economics has failed on the climate crisis. This complexity scientist has a mind-blowing plan to fix that
Doyne Farmer says a super-simulator of the global economy would accelerate the transition to a green, clean world
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
All very well, but you need to listen to the indigenous people of the Pantanal, whose leaders have been urging you to cut your ties with the fossil-fuel corporations that are causing this destruction – stop taking money from BP and Adani. It's thoroughly immoral for you to be doing this.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Trump administration takes steps to gut protections against toxic chemicals in consumer products. Watch for the next step, when Trump is outraged that foreigners don't want to buy US-produced goods and the US balance of payments sags still further. Duh 🤔 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Republican House bill guts laws protecting US consumers from toxic chemicals
Bill limits type of science used to determine health risks and gives industry major role in chemical review process
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Finally, a rational analysis of the Mandelson saga and its impact on a leader seeking to act in his electorate's interests. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
There’s one argument Starmer could make to save his skin – but he won’t dare do it | Jonathan Freedland
Among those focusing on what the PM knew about Peter Mandelson are many who themselves knew plenty and chose to ignore it, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
An illuminating insight, especially for our current dysfunctional times. share.google/hkVO2FOXn0R4...
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A human tendency to value expertise, not just sheer power, explains how some social hierarchies form
Social inequalities emerge in every human society. New research into how these hierarchies form suggests ‘prestige psychology’ – the tendency to defer to expertise – is at the root.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
THIS 👇 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
We can reverse America’s decline | Bernie Sanders
It is not good enough just to criticize Trump. We must offer a positive vision that will improve the lives of Americans
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn
States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Addressing climate change without the ‘rules-based order’ share.google/04FhIaZ0E5Aj...
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Addressing climate change without the ‘rules-based order’
Everyone who cares about climate action must now grapple with how climate politics can function in a new world of uncertainty.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
The climate situation and its impact on future global stability is worse than we are told, and governments continue to fear to tell the truth. share.google/W77owfMJlbA4...
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A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried – a pattern we’ve seen many times before
Governments have been warned about climate change for 70 years. They’re still suppressing the worst news.
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Dave Breens @baldbreens.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
People have been trying to tell me for years that worrying about climate change is silly because I live in a first world country. These people have always been ignorant of the facts.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
America feels like a country on the brink of an authoritarian takeover. Francine Prose www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
America feels like a country on the brink of an authoritarian takeover | Francine Prose
This is the news we should be paying attention to. At least for the moment, everything else is a distraction
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
To paraphrase one veteran: "If you haven't served, at least have the balls to respect those who have" www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
‘If you haven’t served, respect those who have’: Nato soldiers on Trump’s slurs
For those who fought alongside US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, president’s remarks have cut deep
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Can any country in the world do any kind of "deal" with this lying and corrupt US administration? Of course not. The less we have to do with it, the better. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Video contradicts Trump’s claim man killed in Minneapolis was a ‘gunman’
Video evidence reviewed by Guardian shows Alex Pretti, killed by agents in Minneapolis, held a phone, not a gun
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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.
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Liam Thorp @liamthorp.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Can any country in the world do any kind of "deal" with this lying and corrupt US administration? Of course not. The less we have to do with it, the better. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Video contradicts Trump’s claim man killed in Minneapolis was a ‘gunman’
Video evidence reviewed by Guardian shows Alex Pretti, killed by agents in Minneapolis, held a phone, not a gun
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
One wonders how the USA can accept having such a contemptible man as its president and commander-in-chief.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
So obvious from recent events that Trump knows the Arctic will melt, knows the seas will rise, knows and effectively acknowledges that climate change is real. He just doesn't care. Cities can drown, agricultural land can turn to salt: he only wants to enjoy his blood money and power until he dies.
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
German study finds 96% of US tariff burden borne by itself; levies also weaken industrial competitiveness: expert - Global Times share.google/RcCNI6p5g3AD...
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German study finds 96% of US tariff burden borne by itself; levies also weaken industrial competitiveness: expert
A new study released on Monday (local time) by a German economic research institute shows that the vast majority of tariffs imposed by the US government are ultimately borne within the US economy itse...
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Prof Nick Cowern 🌍 @nickcowern.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Sure, Jeremy, but under the pressures we have now from big oil, the oligarchs' social media companies and their political wings, democracies also die gradually, then suddenly. BBC News - Bowen: Authoritarian regimes die gradually then suddenly, but Iran is not there yet www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Jeremy Bowen: Authoritarian regimes die gradually then suddenly, but Iran is not there yet
The regime's opponents will hope for more pressure to accelerate the process, writes the BBC's international editor.
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