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Martin Elliott

@spxme.bsky.social
106 followers 215 following 35 posts

Physicist and "Honorary Senior Research Fellow" at Cardiff University. Likes: quantum mechanics, music, nature and things.

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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Austerity and trickle down. Two sides of the same coin.
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
IDS has always been a *******. But on the same day, the news reported that two people who petrol bombed a restaurant (not terrorist, just 'random' apparently) and caused terrible life-changing injuries to customers got 10 years.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
UK Chancellor can easily increase income tax personal allowance by £3,000 a year. It will boost basic rate taxpayers by £600 a year. Millions will be helped. Benefit to higher rate taxpayers can be clawed back. The cost of £30bn can be met by ending bank subsidies, £100bn over the last 3 years.
leftfootforward.org
This is how the Chancellor can increase the personal allowance and lift millions out of hardship
Sustained economic growth can’t be achieved without a major boost to the purchasing power of the bottom 50% of the population
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The Guardian joins the campaign to abolish the state pension triple-lock. Portrays it as a old v young, social security v defence spending issue. Silence on corporate welfare, tax perks of the rich, maldistribution of wealth, low govt spend on state pension, how future retirees will survive.
theguardian.com
Britain needs cash and everyone knows we should break the pensions triple lock. Where is the courage? | Gaby Hinsliff
The issue cannot be avoided any longer. Andy Burnham and his chancellor must face the fear of a pensioner backlash, and find a fair solution, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
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Patrick Ness @patricknessbooks.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I ran a marathon to raise money for MSF. Attacks on MSF and RNLI and Amnesty are what fascists literally do. They want to devalue all humane effort, all care for fellow man. These are dangerous, dangerous times.
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We Own It @weownit.org.uk · 04/09/2026
The idea that private is better is pure propaganda. That's all it is.
Screenshot of Guardian headline that says "Britain is OK with public ownership, but only by foreign powers. Why?"
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It’s odd that we make all these films about aliens coming to Earth and potentially attacking/eating us, when the evidence suggests it would be the other way round. That seems to be what we’re doing with all the octopus arriving here (the closest thing to alien life we’ll ever meet).
bbc.co.uk
Octopus bloom may stay, Marine Biological Association says
The Marine Biological Association says the invasive species has successfully bred in UK waters.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Royal Mail once again missed its letter delivery targets. Regulator lowers targets, RM still doesn't meet them. Price of 1st class postage: £1.80, 2nd class 91p. When privatized in 2013 by Tory and LibDem Govt: 1st class 60p; 2nd class 50p. Worse service for higher price.
bbc.co.uk
Royal Mail misses delivery targets again but hails 'encouraging' signs
The struggling firm said it had improved its performance but missed regulator-set delivery targets.
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
So Richard Tice, should farmers just "enjoy" low crop yields? Should the thousands who've died from the heatwaves just "enjoy" their premature deaths? What about the families whose homes have burned down in the wildfires? Charlatans with their heads in the sand. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform’s Tice says people should stop fighting climate crisis and ‘enjoy’ heat
Deputy leader says it is ‘arrogant’ to try to halt global heating, despite UK being left reeling by summer firewave
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
JP Morgan CEO warns UK chancellor not to hike taxes on banks, could raise £19bn. Says it would lose jobs From an industry that has closed bank branches, profiteered, taken bailouts, sold dud financial products, engaged in frauds, facilitated illicit financial flows. People must prevail over banks
theguardian.com
JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon warns UK chancellor not to hike taxes on banks
Billionaire CEO of world’s biggest bank says any windfall tax on sector’s bumper profits could harm jobs in City
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
In drought stricken UK More and more Data Centres are being approved that in their immediate vicinity push up temps by an average of 2C, and as much as 9C And use up to 5m gallons water a day, equivalent to consumption of up to 50,000 people. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
As AI guzzles water and energy, we are already facing a choice: datacentres or homes? | John Harris
Whitehall wants to triple their number in the UK. Yet in Slough, I saw the impact they’re having on communities, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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Nigel Pugh @nspugh.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Wales won a moratorium on Fracking Wales. @llyrgruffydd.bsky.social @anthonyslaughter.bsky.social Data centres when you country is on fire? #Wildfires
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
First time I tried this. I hadn't realised it would work so well.
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The AI-produced images are a little ... well, "amiss"?
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Shell shifted billions in profits to tax havens, leaked files reveal. Complex corporate structures, intragroup transactions used to shift profits to the Bahamas and Switzerland. Taxes dodged in many countries, including the UK. Govt inaction is protecting secret subsidies. archive.ph/Cqq2L
ftm.eu
Shell shifted billions in profits to tax havens, leaked files reveal
Leaked financial reports show how Shell moved profits through tax havens such as the Bahamas and Switzerland – potentially depriving developing nations of hundreds of millions of euros. While some of ...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
BP quarterly profits up from $2.5bn to $5.73bn as Iran war sends oil prices soaring. Shell doubled its net profit to almost $10bn. High bills fuelling poverty and misery for households and businesses. Boon for execs and shareholders. Must levy 100% windfall tax on oil, gas, energy companies.
theguardian.com
BP profits more than double as Iran war sends oil prices soaring
Energy company’s $5.73bn quarterly profits come after Shell posted second highest quarterly earnings on record
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
AstraZeneca in talks with Bristol Myers Squibb on $400bn (£300bn) merger. Concentration of economic power. Bigger ability to hold people/govts to ransom. AstraZeneca CEO already threatened to withhold drugs from NHS unless it paid more. Govt capitulated. Promised UK investment didn't materialise.
theguardian.com
AstraZeneca holds talks with Bristol Myers Squibb on $400bn merger
Tie-up would be one of the biggest-ever pharmaceutical deals and create the world’s fourth-largest drugmaker
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Shell’s quarterly profits up from $4.3bn to $9.8bn, jump in price of oil/gas due to wars . Customer bills hiked, industries crippled, economies damaged, planet burns from fossil fuels pollution, corporations profit from catastrophies. Another $3bn share buyback. Must levy 100% windfall tax.
theguardian.com
Shell’s profits more than double after jump in oil and gas prices
Environmentalists renew calls for windfall tax to support households after Q2 earnings rise to almost $10bn
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
When the story of why humanity didn't stop climate change is written, it will feature front pages like this. Even as the skies blacken with climate change-induced wildfires, right wing media continue their relentless crusade against measures to tackle it.
The Times: Net zero risks blackouts. Below a photo of French wildfires.
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Quite so. And it shows a fundamental ignorance of what motivates those who want to do research, particularly at universities.
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Spain. Good.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
England & Wales water firms lose 2.87bn litres a day, 20% of all water pumped through network. Hosepipe ban would save 577m(4%) litres a day. Violating hosepipe ban is a criminal offence, potential penalty of £1,000. No water execs fined or prosecuted. No new reservoirs built since privatisation
theguardian.com
Water firms in England and Wales ‘leak five times what hosepipe ban would save’
Greenpeace UK says 2.87bn litres lost daily, a fifth of all water pumped through network
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Private Equity Is Taking Over Your Veterinarian. PE devouring town centers, housing, healthcare, dentistry, care homes, pet care. Business model: high debt, price hikes, staff/wage cuts, monopolies built, low investment, tax abuse. PE owns 2000+ UK vets, little competition. Regulatory silence.
jacobin.com
Private Equity Is Taking Over Your Veterinarian
Private equity is taking over veterinary services, driving up prices, and putting the pets we love at risk through its relentless pursuit of financial extraction.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Too often a crucial question goes unasked: is Palantir value for money for Britain? Me in the @theguardian.com on latest investigation from @lucasamin.bsky.social and I on the problems with Palantir in the UK www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
I investigated Palantir’s foothold in the British state – and what I found should worry us all | Peter Geoghegan
Paid-for political access and threadbare regulations have helped to embed the US tech firm in the NHS – and beyond. But there is a way to free ourselves, says Peter Geoghegan of Democracy for Sale
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
There's a simple, fair and effective means of funding politics, which ensures that voters count and money doesn't. MPs: please stop messing about with proposals for donation caps, and press for a proper, democratic funding system. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Political donations are poison to our democracy – but there’s an easy antidote to that | George Monbiot
As revelations about Reform UK’s donors emerge, it’s clear that increasingly complex forms of patronage can’t be regulated effectively. We need a clean sweep, says columnist George Monbiot
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
With jokes like that you should be behind baas.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Private equity controls large parts of UK economy & public services. It is opaque, lacks transparency and accountability. PE conceals ownership, uses complex structures, financial engineering: shifts profits offshore, engages in tax abuse Little information Company law is not fit-for-purpose.
theguardian.com
‘In stories like this, the data and the methodology are key’: when private equity meets public service journalism
A team from across the Guardian set out to investigate the full extent of private equity’s stake in Britain’s public and essential services. The scale and opacity posed many challenges
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I'm probably not the only person in Wales who did!
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
The force is mediated by morons I presume?
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Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Govt strategy has always to been to underfund a public service until it breaks, then offer privatisation as the answer. Privatisation always provides a worse service at a higher price. Eg: we have most expensive trains in Europe & public subsidy is far greater than when trains were nationalised.
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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
static.klipy.com
Lotr Treebeard in the Ancient Forest
ALT: Lotr Treebeard in the Ancient Forest
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” —Thomas Jefferson
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Heather Burns @heatherburnstech.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
It is stunningly appropriate that Starmer is announcing the “Australia plus” ban on youth internet access nearly 10 years to the day of the Brexit referendum, because the online regime _is_ the purest legal and political embodiment of Brexit. As I said. internet.exchangepoint.tech/the-dog-that...
internet.exchangepoint.tech
The Dog that Caught the Car: Britain's 'World-Leading' Internet
Billed as a “world-leading” child-protection law, the UK’s Online Safety Act has instead normalized surveillance and ID checks. “Tech policy wonk" Heather Burns writes that the model is spreading acro...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Curse of Tory Privatisation. UK faces deindustrialisation without relief from high energy cost. Energy companies profiteer. Thousands of jobs at risk. Discount schemes passing cost to other customers isn't the answer End profiteering. Nationalise energy.
theguardian.com
Britain ‘faces deindustrialisation’ without relief from high energy prices, survey warns
Make UK says manufacturers’ feedback shows sector at risk of collapse as it calls on Treasury to take action
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
For those outside HE, please be aware that the TEF is a disaster, and no real measure of anything useful.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Lib Dems propose energy price discounts for all UK households. Don't need gimmicks. Just end energy company profiteering. Decouple price of gas produced electricity from the rest. Abolish VAT on domestic fuel. Move all evies to general taxation. Nationalise energy.
bbc.co.uk
Lib Dems propose energy price discounts for all households
The party estimates savings of £100-a-year on average for every household under the scheme.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Since 1980, under the Thatcherite policies, 2.8m social homes sold, 1.9m in England for £51bn. In 2024, England homes were worth £430bn. Councils didn't receive full sales proceeds, couldn't replenish housing stock. Vital depts closed. Social homes down from 6.8m to 5.4m. Huge housing crisis.
leftfootforward.org
The housing crisis is manufactured. We can end it.
Wage cuts and the right to buy are to blame
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Reeves examines using private sector funds to build new towns. It is PFI renamed as public-private partnerships (PPP). The state guarantees corporate profits for decades. £1 private investment results in £6 govt repayment. Cheaper for govt to borrow. It can issue public bonds.
theguardian.com
Reeves examines using private sector funds to speed building of new towns
Chancellor in talks with banks and investment funds about public-private partnerships to build infrastructure
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Natalie Bennett @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
"Will they ever learn? A demonstration of the intellectual bankruptcy of this government in Rachel Reeves reportedly considering a return to Blair-style private finance initiative (PFI schemes, an approach still costing the NHS and many schools dearly."
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Billionaire Trump donor, private equity boss in line to make millions from Thames Water bid. Attempted to fund Robert Jenrick’s bid for Tory party leadership. Wants exemptions from sewage dumping fines. Will extract returns, customers will be fleeced. Privatisation of essentials has failed.
theguardian.com
Billionaire Trump donor in line to make millions from Thames Water bid
Paul Singer is founder of a leading creditor in the hedge fund consortium locked in talks with the UK government
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Arnab Dutt @arnabdutt.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
This is nuts, the talk around carbon fuels powering AI data centres is utterly ignoring the findings of climate science. Data centres should only be built to use renewable energy. That's it. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
More than 100 UK datacentres plan to burn gas to generate electricity
Requests for gas connections by operators amount to more than 15 terawatt hours per year, endangering climate targets
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
So much life gone Industrial-scale fishing has removed “substantial biomass from the ocean’s twilight zone” for several decades These organisms that live in the mesopelagic zone, which is about 1,000-2,000 meters below the surface, have disappeared www.seafoodsource.com/news/environ...
seafoodsource.com
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution finds evidence of heavy fishing in largely uncovered “twilight zone”
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution finds evidence of heavy fishing in largely uncovered “twilight zone”
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Martin Elliott @spxme.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Very funny
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Marcus Chown @marcuschown.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Top tip for Starmer; Sort out ONE thing that is f***ing annoying everyone: Water. Stop the water companies paying their shareholders ever more and charging the rest of us ever more while filling our rivers and sea with shit. And do it quickly.
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Curse of Private Equity Modella Capital to close up to 150 former WHSmith shops. Business model: high debt, asset-stripping, staff/wage cuts, restructuring to avoid paying unsecured creditors, little/no long-term commitment. Same owners gutted Claire's, The Original Factory Shop, Hobbycraft.
theguardian.com
Up to 150 former WH Smith stores face closure, putting thousands of jobs at risk
Modella Capital, which rebranded shops as TG Jones, unveils radical restructuring plan, including rent holidays
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Corporate Welfare In the last 3 yrs UK Govt gave £100bn subsidy to banks in the form of interest on central reserves. Practice started in 2009 after govt created QE. It was supposed to compensate for ultra low interest rates. EU mostly stopped such payments in 2023 What would you do with £100bn?
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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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Next CEO pay rose from £4.9m to £7.4m, could hit £9.27m this year. Company changed CEO pay formula because it didn't give directors enough. Non-exec directors to get higher pay. Most shop workers toil on/around minimum wage. Govts preach pay restraint to workers but no curbs on fat-cattery.
theguardian.com
Next chief Simon Wolfson paid record £7.4m – and could get far more this year
‘Sustained outperformance’ merits pay rise, says company after it ups profit guidance to £1.2bn for year to January 2027
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Corporate Welfare Drax claimed £999m subsidy for burning trees in 2025 to produce electricity. £8.7bn since 2012, more to come. Its electricity is the most expensive. Company made operating profit of £947m in 2025. Biggest single polluter in the UK.
theguardian.com
Drax claimed record £999m in subsidies for burning trees in 2025, thinktank says
Company has received about £8.7bn in renewable energy subsidies since 2012, despite claims wood pellets are not sourced sustainably
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
£64bn is the cost of UK capitulation to pharmaceutical companies and Trump. Secret deal commits the NHS to pay higher price for new and existing drugs No debate in parliament. Govt can tax the rich, cut other services, let people die, start manufacturing drugs and become self-reliant.
thebureauinvestigates.com
Inside the £64bn pharma deal that could cost more lives than Covid
With the NHS on its knees, the UK has struck a secretive new drugs deal. But how was it made – and what will it really cost?
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Trump has stated that he is not only going to mine the nodules, but also hydrothermal vents and metal-rich crusts on seamounts He is essentially going to nuke the deep sea ocean and nobody cares He is not only going to mine USA waters but also international waters
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