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Rob Ralston

@policyrelevant.bsky.social
5.4K followers 2.4K following 646 posts

Lecturer in Public Policy at Edinburgh Uni researching corporate power and planetary health - currently global plastics treaty | ‘most improved PhD student’ 2017-18 | part-time Kieran Tierney Ultra

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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Michael Kupperman @mkupperman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
There is no reason for Garfield to hate Mondays, as cats don't observe a schedule. The only possible answer is that Garfield deeply loves Jon and is saddened when he has to work.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
just rewatched the scene where Jack Black gets vaporised and it retains the cosmic horror element that I hated as a kid!
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
my dad rented Mars Attcks! for 11 year-old me thinking it was a fun, kids film those red skeletons were seared into brain for years
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
we might need to operationalise a multi-dimensional definition of ‘hotness’ to unpack this
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
this is spot on: no ‘actually existing’ hot dad would ever buy clothes from here, and normal dads would be too embarrassed to shop here.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
which is primarily that I own secondhand records that I’d never have found or listened to, had I not gone to a physical store for me, the value is not because it’s vinyl, it’s because I had to devote time and effort to finding it
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
to me, an important divide is not between format (physical / digital) but how people approach discovering new things there’s lots of people who just want a vinyl version of their favourite records (and that’s completely legitimate) but that’s different from how I would see the value of records
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
one perspective I feel is missing here, is simply that going to a decent secondhand record shop for a couple of hours is a nice way to spend a saturday morning an algorithm can't substitute for the serendipity / randomness of looking through record bins not knowing what you'll find
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Davis Allen @davisallen.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The climate crisis we face today wasn't inevitable, and we have the receipts.
The cover for a new report from the Center for Climate Integrity, "Climate Fraud 101: Big Oil's Climate Deception Explained in 101 Documents, 1957-2026"
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
every recommendation in this piece is a ‘nice to have’ when the sector is falling apart (I also disagree with the claim that some problems are ‘too big’ - surely that’s the point of academia?!)
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I think this is what economic sociologists call ‘fictional expectations’
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 01/10/2026
The reduction of politics to voting is part of the 50 year neoliberal project whose foremost goal is to make you think of yourself as an atomized individual and not as a member of a polity.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
that’s so depressing (and kinda sad to see academics bypass what’s meant to be a fun part of the job)
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
was this hangover text in the submitted manuscript?!
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
NEW The diabolical defending of Manchester City Understanding an aggressive litigation strategy By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk (Prospect paywall is down currently.) www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th... #MCFC
What can explain such an aggressive and counterproductive approach? To an extent the answer may be in the facts and the evidence. Perhaps the view was that the only chance of getting out of this was to be unhelpful as well as robust. In respect of an earlier dispute with Uefa, an internal communication at the club apparently said “Uefa doesn't respond to anything other than aggression”. Maybe the view was taken that this would work here too. Maybe the club still thinks it will work in the end, with the league being pushed into settlement on appeal or at the doors of the High Court.

But this does not offer a total explanation. What may work with Uefa may not work with other adversaries. The structure of the league’s investigation and the disciplinary approach meant that aggression would not only be unhelpful, but would count heavily against the club. An appeal on the law or procedure at the High Court in this sort of case only has a remote chance of success. It can be assumed the club was warned of all this.

There is a phrase in football punditry that “the defending is diabolical”. Here diabolical is, of course, a synonym for dreadful. But in its more literal sense, diabolical means bedevilled with wrongful purpose. And the strategy adopted by Manchester City in contesting this matter is also in this sense diabolical. The club will have known that it was unlikely to work, and that it would make things harder, but the club decided to do it anyway.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
great to see a communicado official with such prolific use of the term ‘sham’
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Center for Climate Integrity @climateintegrity.org · 28/09/2026
Alito’s recusal follows a recent investigation by @consumerwatchdog.bsky.social into his financial ties to the fossil fuel industry — and the warnings he received from ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 that climate deception lawsuits could adversely affect his investments.
climateintegrity.org
Watchdog group reveals Justice Alito’s financial, ethical conflicts in Big Oil lawsuit before the court | Center for Climate Integrity
Justice Alito must recuse from Suncor v. Boulder under the court’s own Code of Conduct, watchdog says.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
there must be a case of a team qualifying for Europe while getting relegated?
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
there must be a case of a team qualifying for Europe while getting relegated?
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
yeah, ideally you want them hovering around the relegation zone. I think you’d have to carefully calibrate it, based on squad value
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I would invert this - higher deduction for lower leagues to create some real jeopardy
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
no worries - thanks for checking!
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Jennifer Clapp 🇨🇦 @jennifer-clapp.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Was happy to speak with Swissinfo about the important topic of corporate power in food systems! Featuring new data too from @etcgroup.bsky.social and insights from Taarini Chopra! www.swissinfo.ch/eng/agribusi...
swissinfo.ch
How a handful of big agriculture companies have taken over food production
Just a few companies, including Swiss ones, account for a disproportionate share of the market for agricultural inputs like seeds, machinery and chemicals.
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 20/09/2026
Elite athletes, musicians, actors & more often use cultural importance as an excuse for why they're exempt from cutting their emissions. In this new analysis led by @manuelsuter.bsky.social, we argue the opposite: visibility and influence should raise the bar, not lower it! Read more:
nature.com
The climate responsibility of cultural influencers - npj Climate Action
In socially influential fields such as elite sport, music, and film, cultural relevance is often invoked as a special moral status that exempts them from genuine emissions reduction. We argue that vis...
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Manuel Suter @manuelsuter.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
People with cultural influence have a special responsibility to act on climate change. This is the central argument of a new Comment we published, together with Pascal Stegmann and @katharinehayhoe.com. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
nature.com
The climate responsibility of cultural influencers - npj Climate Action
In socially influential fields such as elite sport, music, and film, cultural relevance is often invoked as a special moral status that exempts them from genuine emissions reduction. We argue that vis...
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
actually really like the kitchen
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
some staggering quotes in this piece, including the claim by one IPCC scientist that sinply declaring funding from Saudi Aramco resolves any conflict of interest
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
is this in person only?
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 18/09/2026
‘Palantir was willing to spend more on securing political access than almost all of its British and Continental competitors. It made donations to London think tanks and hosted parties at Davos.’ @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and @lucasamin.bsky.social, from July: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
lrb.co.uk
Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin · ‘This looks absolutely rubbish’: Palantir and the NHS
A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds...
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Protect African Studies @ Edinburgh docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
Protect African Studies @ Edinburgh
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If I remember correctly, the first scene of the first episode uses a diegetic beastie boys track to highlight how lame Kendall is It’s clearly edited to be comedic!
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Solidarity we’ve had this threat for what feels like years now, and it’s absolutely horrible
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
spoke to @criticaltakes.bsky.social about plastic waste, corporate power and the upcoming round of UN treaty talks to address the enormous global challenge of plastic pollution podcast available via the link below criticaltakes.org/society-and-...
criticaltakes.org
Nearly half a billion tonnes of plastic
Rob Ralston talks to Critical Takes about the role of corporate power in the plastic waste and pollution crisis and the prospects for a global treaty.
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Andrew Simms @andrewsimms.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It’s not normal in a health & climate crisis to actively promote highly polluting products that make things worse. Congrats to Bristol - the latest city to end ads for things like fossil fuels, flights and SUVs. @badvertising.bsky.social @adfreecities.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Bristol becomes first city to ban fast fashion adverts
New rules prohibits the promotion of flights, cars and travel agents on council-owned billboards.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
one of the clearest cases of corporate capture you’ll find
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
all this depoliticization strategy is going to do, is tacitly legitimize the far-right and erode political engagement from citizens
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Reposted by Rob Ralston
Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In our new essay for the @financialtimes.com (you read that right), @astra.bsky.social and I link the extreme weather events we have all been living through to the rise of a new iteration of futureless fascism, wherein the rich and powerful plan for their bunkered survival behind fortressed borders.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Its some kind of alchemy that Pablo Torre Finds Out is both incredibly entertaining and serious public interest journalism
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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Nearly 5000 researchers applied for an ERC starting grand in the last round. Just over 400 (less than 9%) were successful. Many people applying are spending up to 12 months working seriously on their application. This is absolutely crazy. erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
erc.europa.eu
ERC Starting Grants: €705 million to back Europe's next generation of researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has today announced the winners of its latest Starting Grant competition. The funding, worth €705 million in total, will go to 421 early-career researchers across E...
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Philipp Golka @pgolka.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
How does assetization and assetmanagement inform social conflict? Join us for an online launch event for our NPE special issue "Asset Struggles" on Sept 17th 2PM (German time), featuring: @melindacooper.bsky.social, @jenmcarthur.bsky.social, @benbraun.eurosky.social ⬇️ Signup in post below ⬇️
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Arvind Ravikumar @arvindpawan1.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A geologist and a systems engineer walk in to a bar... ...and start arguing about whether we can actually pump enough CO2 underground to hit net zero. That's more or less how this paper got started with @hdaigle.bsky.social. Read on to find more: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
iopscience.iop.org
Can we sequester carbon fast enough? growing disconnect between models and reality
Can we sequester carbon fast enough? growing disconnect between models and reality, Daigle, Hugh, Ravikumar, Arvind P
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Yeah, I think as a ‘fix’ to the problem of waste. It allowed companies to position themselves as environmental champions and shift responsibility to citizens. It’s arguably as central to current corporate strategies as it was in the 1980s (albeit badged as the circular economy)
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I think you could make the case that recycling is the single most successful corporate strategy of the past 50 years
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
what I find interesting is how little attention has been given to waste as an environmental issue that petrochemical and oil companies were grappling with at the same time as air pollution
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I’m not a technical expert on chemical recycling, but I think that would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to achieve. I think the only solution is producing less plastics, though that requires confronting powerful interests
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
link to the doc: www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/all-industri...
industrydocuments.ucsf.edu
Industry Documents Library
Industry Documents Library: a searchable archive of internal industry documents to support research, education, and public interest.
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
been doing some archival research on recycling as a 'fix' to plastic waste and the parallels with climate delay are striking corporate actors knew that recycling was not a viable or environmentally sustainable solution in the 1970s, but spent millions persuading publics and govts otherwise
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I suspect that’s a dimension of AI use that would need to be addressed at school or institutional level. I guess more point is more bounded and engaging with reflections in the quoted thread
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
this is a very insightful thread that I think identifies the core issue with AI use in teaching: students have to be taught traditional research skills before they can assess how to use AI (if at all) in a way that is valuable
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
yes that’s definitely true in terms of budgets. I’m not saying that corporations are always efficient or successful, but lobbying has been used for decades which indicates that there is some strategic value in it on advertising, it could be that it also normalises certain forms of consumption
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