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Nick Gane

@nickgane.bsky.social
219 followers 231 following 24 posts

Sociologist at the University of Warwick.

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Reposted by Nick Gane
Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Private equity controls UK dentistry. Initial consultation fee up by 23%, tooth extraction up by 32%. Gross profit at private equity controlled companies rose by 20% year-on-year. Profit margins of 20%-30%. Govts handed dentistry to finance industry. Too many can't afford dental care.
leftfootforward.org
The finance curse is devouring the UK
Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward. Th...
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lucynoakes1.bsky.social @lucynoakes1.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Sat on a bench in the sun at Warwick today and found a plaque in memory of Meg Stacey. I remember Meg from arriving at Warwick as a student in 1990 but had no idea that she was the first woman professor at the University
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
www.theguardian.com/technology/2... To put this in perspective the average car emits 4 tonnes of CO2 a year
theguardian.com
Google’s huge new Essex datacentre to emit 570,000 tonnes of CO2 a year
Exclusive: Planning documents show impact of Thurrock ‘hyperscale’ unit as UK attempts to ramp up AI capacity
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Dependence on food banks is the new norm in the UK. In a rich country 14m people, including 3.8m children, food insecure. One in six households went hungry last year. Result of low wages/benefits, unchecked profiteering, govt indifference. 1% have more wealth than 70% of the population combined.
theguardian.com
Failure to tackle dependence on food banks in UK driving public discontent
One in six households went hungry last year, says Trussell, with Britain facing ‘new normal’ of severe hardship
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Tom Vaswani @tomvaswani.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
The Gillian Rose Memorial conference. London, 18-19 June. Swedenborg House. www.kingston.ac.uk/about/events...
kingston.ac.uk
The Gillian Rose Memorial Lecture Conference 2025
Rosean Futures: Promise and Perdition in the Thought of Gillian Rose
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Lovely obituary by Nickie Charles of Carol Wolkowitz who taught me at Warwick in the 1990s. She was a wonderful teacher who brought sociology to life @sociowarwick.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Carol Wolkowitz obituary
Other lives: Sociologist who examined how gender shapes our working lives
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Just spent 32 mins waiting for my call to be answered by Severn Trent before giving up. Given they make £300m in profits out of a former public utility you’d think they could do better
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Great to see Sam Burgum @samburgum.bsky.social today and very much looking forward to reading his new book
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Energy network owners have made £3.9bn from higher bills, says report
Citizens Advice believes Ofgem made flawed interest rate calculation for companies in Great Britain
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Mike.L.Farrier @blacksmithpro.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
When you find out your company is owned by a moron who plans to make you and all your coworkers unemployed while scraping every writer who's ever written for every publication in history to auto scribe new "content" based on whatever it is fed, from fellow auto generated content #AutoGenEchoChamber
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William Callison @williamcallison.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Just posting a four-year-long state of exception
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
The federal civilian worker payroll totaled $271 billion in 2022. The annual cost of permanently extending Trump's tax cuts that primarily benefited rich individuals? $400 billion. Keep this in mind as Trump and DOGE lay off thousands of federal workers.
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Waiting for a CrossCountry train at Bristol. 200 people on the platform trying to get into 4 carriages. Arriva owned by a private equity group with 40bn assets. Why do we put up with this?
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
UK govt data on annual median state pension. For retirees before April 2016 Male £11,436 Female £9,934 Post-2016 retirees Male £11,490 Female £11,467 Median state pension is less than 50% of minimum wage. 2m pensioners live in poverty. In 2022, 110,000 died in fuel poverty. What future?
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Cost of extending the expiring Trump tax cuts for the rich: $4.6 trillion Cost of cutting corporate tax rate to 15%: $1 trillion Both Trump proposals will explode the deficit and be used as an excuse to gut programs that millions rely on. It's reverse Robin Hood.
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Evgeny Morozov @evgenymorozov.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
All of which is to say that the only account capable of explaining the political and ideological power of Big Tech has to start with a thorough analysis of the global economy, and, well, capital. What passes for "techno-feudalism" is merely an effect of capitalism in crisis.
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Rowland Atkinson @qurbanist.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Word of the week - revanchism (and likely the next four years).
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
If you’ve ever published anything then this might be of interest www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Elon Musk-led group makes surprise bid of nearly $100bn for OpenAI
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO and co-founder, responded that he would not accept and offered to buy X instead
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Feeding frenzy: Army of advisers making millions from Thames Water. It has £19bn debt, wants another £3bn debt at interest rate of 9.75% in two instalments. Two-thirds of £1.5bn will end-up in the pockets of debt investors, professional advisers. As usual, customers will pay.
theguardian.com
Feeding frenzy: how army of advisers is making millions from Thames Water
Court case points to sizeable fees being racked up as firm seeks £3bn loan to try to avoid temporary nationalisation
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
UK gambling companies covertly track visitors to their websites and sending data to Facebook’s parent company without consent in an apparent breach of data protection laws. Meta uses the data to flood gamblers with ads for casinos and betting sites. Will Govt stand up to predatory corporations?
theguardian.com
Revealed: gambling firms secretly sharing users’ data with Facebook without permission
Betting companies secretly track visitors to their sites before sending data to parent company Meta
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
When is a fine not a fine? When it is levied on England's water companies. Aug 2024: OFWAT announced £168m fine on 3 companies. ZERO Paid. Dec 2024: £18m fine on Thames Water for paying unjustified dividends. ZERO Paid. Regulatory indulgence emboldens companies, encourages more abuses.
leftfootforward.org
The water industry shows how the state indulges corporations to the detriment of society
Since 1989, water companies have been the subject of over 1,100 criminal convictions, but governments are content for them to control the industry.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Tesla earned $2.3 billion in the United States in 2024. You'd think it paid a lot in taxes, right? Well it paid precisely $0 in federal income taxes last year. You want waste and fraud? Look at what some big corporations and the rich are getting away with.
truthout.org
Tesla Paid Zero Federal Income Tax in 2024, Despite $2.3 Billion in Income
This brings Tesla’s average tax rate over the past three years to 0.4 percent.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
The A&E Crisis Shows How the NHS Is Getting Worse and the Govt Has No Real Plans to Fix It’. It is a political choice, part of privatisation strategy. Govts that bailout banks & energy companies, fund foreign wars, hand subsidies & tax cuts to corporations/rich can relieve suffering.
bylinetimes.com
'The A&E Crisis Shows How the NHS Is Getting Worse and the Government Has No Real Plans to Fix It'
Politicians are refusing to take meaningful action to resolve the perma-crisis in our health service, writes NHS Doctor, David Oliver
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
NatWest Bank finalises £450m bonus pot, 25% higher than last year. CEO remuneration expected to hit £6.6m. Their profiteering is our poverty. Govt tells worker wage rises are inflationary, but that doesn't apply to exec pay, dividends, share buybacks. It's class war.
news.sky.com
NatWest finalises £450m bonus pot as return to private ownership looms
The bank's annual results will come with the government on the brink of no longer being its single-biggest shareholder after nearly 17 years, Sky News can reveal.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Barclays Bank tells customers to contact food banks as IT glitch disruption enters third day. It made £6.6bn pre-tax profit last year but can't produce a robust IT system. I bet no one told directors to go to food banks. news.sky.com/story/barcla...
news.sky.com
Barclays tells customers to contact food banks as IT glitch disruption enters third day
The bank has apologised as hundreds of customers complain about service disruption and missing funds.
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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
NEW: Last week Trump announced 'Stargate' a $500bn AI sci-fi inspired plan to boost US economy. This week, I turn the spotlight on the man who stood behind Trump, lesser-known tech bro, Larry Ellison, his special friend Tony Blair & how they're coming for the UK too open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
open.substack.com
Artificial Ignorance
Donald Trump and Keir Starmer star in a new version of Dumb & Dumber.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Corporations holding Govts to ransom. Astrazeneca demands subsidy or ... threatens to abandon UK investment plan. You can raze mountains, divert rivers, clear forests, but companies have no loyalty to any place. Time to revive the Corbyn plan - produce our own generic drugs.
bbc.co.uk
AstraZeneca ditches £450m investment in UK plant
The drugs giant blames
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Can anyone explain the importance of this in simple terms? www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
JPMorgan’s $4bn delivery of gold bullion adds to fears Trump’s tariffs will reshape global trade
US bank, world’s biggest bullion dealer, says it will deliver raw material against contracts that will expire in February
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Finance and Society @finandsoc.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
We are delighted to announce that our conference this year will take place at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, September 11-12. Keynotes speakers have been confirmed (Christian Borch, Fabian Muniesa, Vanessa Ogle) and the call for papers is now open! financeandsocietynetwork.org/finandsoc-co...
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Theory, Culture & Society @theoryculturesociety.org · 28/01/2025
Now available: Theory, Culture & Society's Annual Review 2024 featuring the Special Section - The Public Sphere, the Post-University and the Scholarly Apparatus. Edited by Mike Featherstone, Sunil Manghani, Tomoko Tamari and Rainer Winter. journals.sagepub.com/toc/tcsa/41/...
journals.sagepub.com
Theory, Culture & Society - Volume 41, Number 7-8, Dec 01, 2024
Table of contents for Theory, Culture & Society, 41, 7-8, Dec 01, 2024
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
After 30 years of thinking about it I’ve finally managed to write something about the work of Gillian Rose - my teacher at Warwick many years ago @gillianroseorg.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Donovan Miyasaki @dmiyasaki.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Interesting short piece by Gillian Rose on the Frankfurt School's interest in Nietzsche and Freud.
jacobin.com
How the Frankfurt School Used Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud
The theorists of the Frankfurt School wanted to promote a critical Marxism that wasn’t hobbled by one-dimensional economic determinism. In doing so, they also drew on the thinking of Friedrich Nietzsc...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Can't grow UK economy through regressive tax policies. Richest fifth pay 31% of gross household income in direct taxes; poorest fifth,14%. Richest fifth pay 9% of income in indirect taxes; poorest fifth, 28%. The poorest pay higher proportion of income in tax. leftfootforward.org/2025/01/labo...
leftfootforward.org
Labour hasn’t delivered growth or happiness. It needs an economic reset.
Successive governments have tailored economic and tax policies to impoverish the masses
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Luca Barlassina @barlassina.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
In case you want to buy a Philosophy Department
Picture Sheffield Philosophy Department building, with a "For sale" sign on it
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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Guessing that this in the US since in the UK the top would be 'redundancy'.
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Graham Mead @twillierod.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Critique of Varoufakis’ technofeudalism and libertarian Marxism. Capitalism is capitalism, not technofeudalism Nicholas Gane journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Reposted by Nick Gane
Theory, Culture & Society @theoryculturesociety.org · 23/12/2024
Available as Online First in Theory, Culture & Society: Nicholas Gane, 'Gillian Rose, Marxist Modernism' - a review of a lecture series by Gillian Rose on Frankfurt School critical theory, which was delivered at the University of Sussex in 1979. (Open Access) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Gillian Rose, Marxist Modernism - Nicholas Gane, 2024
This is a review of a lecture series by Gillian Rose on Frankfurt School critical theory, which was delivered at the University of Sussex in 1979 and is now pub...
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Nick Gane @nickgane.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
‘So immoral’: gig economy workers forced to pay fee to receive their wages
Retail assistants on low pay using YoungOnes platform docked cash or told to wait up to 30 days for earnings
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
England's listed water companies pay more in dividends than private ones United Utilities, Severn Trent Water, Pennon paid £3.6bn dividends since 2020, 61% of the total for water sector. Dents Ofwat claim that relisting of companies will improve performance Must nationalize water archive.ph/FVD4I
ft.com
Listed UK water utility dividends exceed private peers’ payouts for first time since Thatcher
First-time publicly traded companies pay out more than privately held rivals since privatisation
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Bank of England to further relax rules for banks and insurers. Most of the post-2008 crash reforms reversed. Insurers won't need regulatory approval for high risk investment. Bank risk reporting reduced. Bank/Insurers capital requirements reduced. Who will pay when it crashes? archive.ph/8uBUs
ft.com
Bank of England to relax rules for banks and insurers
PRA’s Sam Woods says burden can be eased without ‘race to the bottom’ on financial regulation
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Gary @garyh69.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Privatisation's thirst for profit will never be quenched. Time to take our water back. England's water industry controlled by organizations with over 1,100 criminal convictions, 90% foreign-owned. It dumps sewage, fleeces customers. Must end privatisation scam www.bigissue.com/opinion/wate...
bigissue.com
It's time to take our water back
Privatised water represents the most unholy of business models – all the while, bills go up, and sewage spews into our rivers and seas.
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Gary @garyh69.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
John Solomos things academics have stopped reading. This is an attempt to acknowledge the debt I owe him that can never be repaid www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Grace, books and diplomacy: a conversation with John Solomos
In this reflective conversation, John Solomos shares with Les Back something of his biographical and intellectual journey, in a career that has profoundly shaped the field of race and ethnic studie...
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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
It’s was lovely to publish a tribute to John’s many special qualities in Identities last year. He was boss for a long time and I learned so much from hi but we became friends and also published many books together. This photograph from 1990 taken by Syd Jeffers at the University to Warwick.
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Les Back @academicdiary.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Love this picture with The Boss - John Solomos. Taken at Rich Mix earlier in the year for the event in celebration of Michael Keith’s work organised by Hannah Jones.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
HMRC says it failed to collect around £500bn in tax since 2010. Others says £1,400bn. £570bn held by UK residents in financial accounts in tax havens. Tax dodged. Companies dodge taxes by profit shifting to low/no tax havens. No HMRC estimates. Govts hit the poor, don't upset corporations/rich.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
Human sacrifice is legitimised by UK govts and practiced in every town (see linked article). Thousands sacrificed to the gods of free markets, privatisations, austerity, fiscal rules, mustn't tax the rich. None of it delivers prosperity. Must change politics. leftfootforward.org/2024/10/the-...
leftfootforward.org
The power of finance and capital is maintained by sacrificing the lives of innocent people
The high priests of neoliberalism do not want to shackle capital or curb profiteering.
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