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Simon Wren-Lewis

@sjwrenlewis.bsky.social
8.8K followers 154 following 1.1K posts

Emeritus Professor of Economics, Oxford University.

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Reposted by Simon Wren-Lewis
James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 3h
Wall-to-wall praise for the policy in today’s papers but they either don’t understand it or don’t care. We’ve been here before, of course. Bexit, Boris Johnson, Truss… all bigged up by the media despite, all obviously awful.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 9h
I'm sorry if this is obvious but the Tory proposal to exempt family homes completely from IHT will lead to 1] pensioners buying the biggest houses they possibly can 2] pensioners refusing to downsize which can only be bad news for younger families trying to buy family homes
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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧🇬🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
John Barnes debuted for England in 1983. Sitting MP Norman Tebbit talked about his “cricket test” for Afro Caribbean and South Asian people in 1990.
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Tories on Tuesday: "we'll spend £10bn on a missile system we don't understand". Tories on Wednesday "we'll cut taxes!" These are not serious people.
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Y'days post: Misconceptions following Burnham’s speech mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/10/misc... Saying the speech didn’t talk enough about economic growth misses the fact that a substantive realignment towards the EU on trade is the most assured pro-growth measure the government could take.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Misconceptions following Burnham’s speech
The Prime Minister’s conference speech was a week ago, but there is still plenty of confusion about how it should be interpreted. Indeed t...
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Mark Jones @mgjones.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"The bit of honesty that has so far deserted all our politicians is that taxes on income have to increase." 👇
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
New post: Misconceptions following Burnham’s speech mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/10/misc... Saying the Triple Lock pays for a national care service is clever politics. Unfortunately, as the OBR make clear, the Triple Lock itself was not sustainable without additional taxes or spending cuts.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Misconceptions following Burnham’s speech
The Prime Minister’s conference speech was a week ago, but there is still plenty of confusion about how it should be interpreted. Indeed t...
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Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
1. So this touches indirectly on something that is poorly understood. Rees-Mogg pere and Davidson's book, The Sovereign Individual, is held by some to be a blueprint for the reactionary politics that is unfolding today. In fact the book is drenched in disgust and scorn for nationalist populism ...
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Well, the Green Party wouldn’t miss me, but I’m thinking of leaving. Can’t see myself going anywhere else. They just gave Burnham a massive gift. Why can’t we have nice things?
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Politics UK @politicsuk.com · 03/10/2026
🚨 NEW: Andy Burnham has officially scrapped Keir Starmer’s plans to limit the use of jury trials [@Independent]
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This week's post: Populist tendencies on the UK left, and the puzzle that never was mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/popu... One of the first decisions Victor Orban took was to abolish Hungary's independent Fiscal Council. Its hard not to see attacks from the left on the OBR in a similar light.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Populist tendencies on the UK left, and the puzzle that never was
Don’t shoot the messager The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) has just published a report on the Office of Budget Responsibility, the ...
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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A great post. "The whole point about delegating technical decisions to independent bodies ... is about making evidence based decisions, rather than finding evidence to justify politically motivated decisions."
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Ben Chu @benchu.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Thinking about the impact of the triple lock on the state pension can be confusing as there's a number of interacting moving parts (earnings, inflation, 2.5%). 🤷‍♂️❓ But here's a visualisation that hopefully might help...1/5
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a rare photo of sean connery signed by roger moore @steamedhamms.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
i know a lot of people have been long invested in the idea that andy burnham is a bit crap at politics, and with the caveat I know polling this far out isn’t the whole thing, but taken together with his electoral record is there a chance he’s maybe alright at it
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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Most TV is just this now.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Y'days post: Populist tendencies on the UK left, and the puzzle that never was mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/popu... The OBR just provides a fiscal forecast. It help make evidence based decisions, rather than finding evidence to justify politically motivated decisions. Is that undemocratic?
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Populist tendencies on the UK left, and the puzzle that never was
Don’t shoot the messager The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) has just published a report on the Office of Budget Responsibility, the ...
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Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The BBC news summary this morning went seamlessly from "critics warn PM scrapping triple lock would be electoral suicide" to "critics ask if PM has nerve to make tough decisions" and I don't think it's a particularly pro Burnham stance to suggest he might not be the entire problem here.
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Sean Jones KC @seanjones.org · 29/09/2026
The rush to speculate that asylum seekers are responsible for every crime in the news is a sort of opportunistic informational terrorism. Until it’s disproved it stokes fear and hatred. When it is disproved there are no adverse consequences and they know that they only have to be lucky once.
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New post: Populist tendencies on the UK left, and the puzzle that never was mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/popu... The OBR provides a fiscal forecast, and nothing more. It help make evidence based decisions, rather than finding evidence to justify politically motivated decisions.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Populist tendencies on the UK left, and the puzzle that never was
Don’t shoot the messager The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) has just published a report on the Office of Budget Responsibility, the ...
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Jo Michell @jomichell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good post. At some point we are going to have to confront the fact that those who live materially comfortable lives may have to cut back a bit on what are effectively luxuries (even if they are now regarded as necessities).
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good for her.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Rayner is correct: these proposals are economically damaging and politically counterproductive. Pretty clear that view is now almost universal in the Cabinet/Labour Party and the informed public. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Angela Rayner condemns Labour’s migrant visa crackdown
Speaking before the party conference, the housing secretary says Shabana Mahmood’s immigration plans would affect care workers
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This week's post: How should the government meet its Golden Rule when debt interest increases? mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-... If your mortgage payments increased, would you cut back on visits to the doctor and help for an elderly relative, but leave all your other spending unchanged?
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
How should the government meet its Golden Rule when debt interest increases?
As you are almost certainly aware, the government is having to pay much more in interest on its debt than it used to do. Here is a chart b...
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 23/09/2026
I always get a lot of grief online when I write that the solution to America's problems cannot be "Democrats win every election forever." That's not democracy. The solution is having at least two parties where the major center-right and center-left parties accept liberal democracy.
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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If only there was some way of knowing why Nigel Farage is so against a new national centre to tackle disinformation and deepfakes from hostile states such as Russia
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Chris Rivers @chrisrivers50.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Simon Wren-Lewis: “I don’t think saying the level of public spending is ‘just a political decision’ is good enough. To put it very simply, governments should provide roughly the amount of, say, education spending that the private sector would choose if these were not public goods”
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Y'days post: How should the government meet its Golden Rule when debt interest increases? mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-... Why it makes more economic sense to raise taxes rather than cut spending in the first intance.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
How should the government meet its Golden Rule when debt interest increases?
As you are almost certainly aware, the government is having to pay much more in interest on its debt than it used to do. Here is a chart b...
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
New post: How should the government meet its Golden Rule when debt interest increases? mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-... Why it makes more economic sense to raise taxes rather than cut spending in the first intance.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
How should the government meet its Golden Rule when debt interest increases?
As you are almost certainly aware, the government is having to pay much more in interest on its debt than it used to do. Here is a chart b...
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This week's post: Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns' mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/raci... The encouragement of violence against opponents by senior Reform politicians suggests they have the potential to become a fascist party. Perhaps we should call Reform proto-fascists.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns'.
During the 2010 election campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was questioned by a member of the public about immigration. Shortly afterwa...
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William Ellis @willellisecon.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
1/ The Bank of England held rates today, as expected. But the bigger story is buried. QT (QE’s scarier evil twin) has been fundamentally rewritten. I’ve read the minutes so you don’t have to. Strap in for a dive into these key changes and what they could mean: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6...
bbc.co.uk
Bank of England holds interest rates at 3.75%, but governor says high energy costs may lead to increase
Six members of the Monetary Policy Committee, which makes the decision, voted to hold the rate - while the other three wanted an increase to 4%.
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This morning's must-read.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Good straightforward reporting from the Wall Street Journal on Musk's promotion of Restore/Rupert Low/civil war in the UK. Lots of detail, no polemics. The BBC could and should do this. Why doesn't it? archive.ph/eTOS5
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KS_1968 @karenroberts.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Very good. 👇
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David Beech @davidbeech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My god this woman's simple truth telling and refusal to be silenced for it should shame the current leadership of Labour. Total respect for her.
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If the govt doesn't call this (& higher gilt yields) the Trump tax, then it is simply failing. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UK inflation pushed up by petrol and diesel price rises
Summer holidays and disruption to global oil supplies by the Middle East conflict stoked price growth.
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
New post: Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns' mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/raci... What politicians and the media do today is like describing Mosley’s blackshirts in the 1930s as protesters with legitimate concerns about the government letting in too many Jewish refugees.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns'.
During the 2010 election campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was questioned by a member of the public about immigration. Shortly afterwa...
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Dr Nick @nmwilkinson.eurosky.social · 15/09/2026
could there be a more perfect political enemy than balaclava clad blackshirt mobs of wife beaters and criminals openly dedicated to domestic terrorism? and yet Labour have somehow decided to appease the herrenvolk araeholes and make enemies of their own natural base instead, it's bonkers
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Mark Jones @mgjones.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"Not only is Labour’s passivity on recent developments morally wrong, it is also bad politics." 👇
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PhilMoore @philmoore66.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I was a teenager in the early 1980s, and I don’t recall the right wing press and BBC worrying about the legitimate concerns of skinheads and football hooligans.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Reform Party might go to the European Court of Human Rights - the court it wants to leave To challenge retrospective legislation ("not the British way") - but retrospective legislation (loss of indefinite leave to remain) is the core of its immigration policy
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
New post: Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns' mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/raci... When politicians/media describe groups like those in black wearing masks as protestors against asylum seekers in small boats, they presume the motive is 'legitimate concerns' rather than racism.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Racism and xenophobia are not 'legitimate concerns'.
During the 2010 election campaign, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was questioned by a member of the public about immigration. Shortly afterwa...
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
As if you were ever in doubt, the Conservative party shows in whose interests it works for.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The UK now needs to introduce political spending limits across a parliament, not just for election campaign years. Otherwise, its election spending rules could fall over. Current rules: parties have a limit (about £34m) for 12 months before an election - but no limits outside the 12 month period.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Reform has basically been bought by two crypto bros As @philbrickellmp.bsky.social told me, Burnham needs to act, urgently and amend Elections Bill “It’s incumbent on the government to move at pace... safeguard our politics from the funding arms race now staring back at all of us.”
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This week's post: Understanding long term interest rates movements over the austerity period and today mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/unde... As higher interest rates particularly benefit wealth holders, it makes sense to raise taxes on those who save rather than those who borrow.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Understanding long term interest rates movements over the austerity period and today
The first section explains some basic ideas, and those familiar with arbitrage and the natural real rate of interest can skip to the auste...
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Simon Wren-Lewis @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This week's post: Understanding long term interest rates movements over the austerity period and today mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2026/09/unde... As higher interest rates particularly benefit wealth holders, it makes sense to raise taxes on those who save rather than those who borrow.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
Understanding long term interest rates movements over the austerity period and today
The first section explains some basic ideas, and those familiar with arbitrage and the natural real rate of interest can skip to the auste...
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In case you missed it 👇
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Martin Anota @manota.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"Le boom de l'IA lui-même tend à accroître le rendement du capital, ce qui, toutes choses égales par ailleurs, entraînera une hausse généralisée des taux d'intérêt à long terme" Ma traduction 👉 annotationsbis.blogspot.com/2026/09/comm...
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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
There are several things which made my blood boil about this rancid Hurrah for the Blackshirts piece, but probably the worst is the attempt to enlist the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as supporting the idea that people are widely being falsely granted asylum.
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