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TonyDobbins

@tdobbo.bsky.social
799 followers 891 following 152 posts

Interested in work and employment relations, and other things in life outside the world of work: hiking, footy (YNWA), cycling, nature, music. Plebeian origins. Greatest achievements: seeing a stoat in winter ermine, a badger 🦡and rescuing a hedgehog 🦔

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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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TonyDobbins @tdobbo.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Manchester City case shows us how the global mega-rich now expect to operate with impunity | Jonathan Liew
When transnational alliances have scarcely been weaker, the way the club was allegedly run offers a bleak vision of a world driven by brute power and wealth, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Those who think AI is going to largely automate white collar jobs in the next couple of years don’t understand the nature of work - @sarahoconnorft.ft.com nails it www.ft.com/content/4aad...
It is not obvious that AI agents could eliminate the need for this type of work, since it involves persuasion, contestation and the exchange of tacit knowledge and experience that is spread across different departments, and often exists inside people's heads rather than in a neatly codified handbook on the intranet.
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Ursula Huws @ursulahuws.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My latest blog post ursulahuws.wpcomstaging.com/2026/09/29/a...
ursulahuws.wpcomstaging.com
AI and the future of work: Utopia or dystopia, threat or promise?
Current debates about AI are taking me right back to the 1970s when I first started writing about the implications of technology for work and daily life. Making me sometimes want to yawn and someti…
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Ann Pettifor @annpettifor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In re-reading this - I must acknowledge that it's very good. The intro is too long, but the rest is brilliantly clear. If I say so myself. annpettifor.substack.com/p/its-time-t...
annpettifor.substack.com
Its Time to Ignore Defeatists on Both Right and Left
The Left must reject Neoliberal Political Framing. Taxes do not pay for government spending. Taxes are a consequence of spending.
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Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
When universities ask their staff to do more with less, is it really a test of individual fortitude? Rachelle McKay explains why we should stop praising endurance: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus… #Highered #Academicsky
timeshighereducation.com
It’s time to stop celebrating resilience
When universities ask their staff to do more with less, is it really a test of individual fortitude? Rachelle McKay explains why we should stop praising endurance
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thames Water has long passed its notice period. Labour can use its massive majority to nationalise it right now.
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Miaganga @miaganga.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Britain... It's a class act. 🎩 Privately Educated: Senior Armed Forces 63% Senior Judges: 62% House of Lords: 52% Foreign Office Diplomats: 53% Newspaper Columnists: 50% Political Commentators: 47% Leading Podcasters: 45% BBC Executives: 38% General Population: 7% elitistbritain.suttontrust.com
elitistbritain.suttontrust.com
Elitist Britain 2025
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"People are really mad and however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’
She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...
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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
James Orr. Peter Thiel. Race science. Tech authoritarianism. We've spent years tracing the networks behind Britain’s ‘Dark Enlightenment’. Help us launch an urgent new investigative project to follow the money and map how it operates. #LightUpTheDark subscribe.bylinetimes.com/lightuptheda...
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
#LightUpTheDark – Byline Times
Dark Enlightenment: The US Far-Right War on British Institutions Help Byline Times Fund aN URGENT New INVESTIGATIVE SERIES #LightUpTheDark What is the Dark Enlightenment? The extraordinary anti-DEI me...
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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
What I love about Western democracy is you can bung a political party £ 36 million earned from criminal activity & most media will continue to point at asylum seekers & migrant care workers with families as the barbarians at the gate we need to defend ourselves from 🙄.
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“The regime sees education, scholarship, enlightenment as its real enemies and attacks them accordingly.” Victor Klemperer Germany 1934.
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The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 10/09/2026
Water company profits are soaring as raw sewage is being pumped into our waters. The government must bring all water companies back into public ownership: end the unlawful dumping of sewage, and ensure profits are being reinvested back into fixing leaks and building new infrastructure.
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Work and Equalities Institute @workequalities.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Papers are being submitted for our next Fairness at Work Conference, so don't miss out on getting a place! Deadline is Friday 30th October ⏱️ More details and link to register here 👉 www.wei.manchester.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
wei.manchester.ac.uk
Events | Work and Equalities Institute | The University of Manchester
We run a wide variety of different events and activities, and collaborate with a range of local, national and global partners. Join us for an event.
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Tom Jenkins @tomoljenkins.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New public procurement Act opens the door to quality jobs in recognising the value of collective bargaining. @europarl.europa.eu must now ensure that companies that negotiate fair wages and conditions are given preference when contracts are awarded @etuc-ces.bsky.social www.etuc.org/en/pressrele...
etuc.org
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Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Class has stormed back into the language of both the left and right. I've written for @tribunemagazine.bsky.social on the return of political appeals to class. They raise pertinent questions over who the working class are, how they mobilise and who politically represents them?
tribunemag.co.uk
Return of the Working Class?
The rhetoric of class politics is everywhere, but only workers can make it a reality.
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Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has signed an executive order creating the country’s first city agency dedicated explicitly to helping workers organize. He spoke with Jacobin about how the new office will advance his affordability agenda.
jacobin.com
Zohran Mamdani Just Created an Office of Worker Power
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has signed an executive order creating the country’s first city agency dedicated explicitly to helping workers organize. He spoke with Jacobin about how the new office will advance his affordability agenda.
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Cold War Steve @coldwarsteve.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
rnli.org/support-us/g...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Wealthy want UK govt to ditch pensions triple lock, cut welfare spending. Silence on corporate welfare Oil/gas, water, energy profiteering HMRC not collecting £59bn last yr Poorest 20% paying higher proportion in income in taxes than the richest 20%. It is always about hitting the poor, old, sick.
independent.co.uk
Ditch pensions triple lock and cut welfare spending to calm markets, Burnham told
Bond market shock has ramifications for new prime minister’s first Budget, his former adviser warns
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
80 year-olds with pro-Palestine signs: arrested as terrorists. Greens planning to block a road, to highlight an existential crisis: sent down for years. Masked far-right thugs blocking roads and ports, using intimidation, obstruction & threatening behaviour: no arrests. The real two-tier policing.
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Juliet Schor @julietschor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Just in time for #LaborDay I debated Joanne Lipman about whether we're ready for the 4 day week. Absolutely! Like most policies that benefit employees, we'll have to fight for it. Watch on YouTube, Substack, Apple, Spotify or listen on NPR. Just released! opentodebate.substack.com/p/is-america...
opentodebate.substack.com
Is America Ready for a Four-Day Work Week?
Topis:
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Re-upping this...
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation. 🔗 Read the exclusive story on Substack:
channel4news.substack.com
Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations
Undercover footage verified by Channel 4 News reveals a secret plot by senior Reform UK figures to break the law on party donations. A leading legal expert is now calling for a criminal investigation.
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It's now extremely hard for Irish people to conceive what a wild tree even looks like, with mostly only domesticated, tamed versions remaining. This rainforest holly gives an idea. Rewilding is how we allow not only wild trees back, but the entire ecosystems of which they're meant to be a part.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Poverty is a policy choice. Concentrated wealth is a policy choice. Inequality is a policy choice. None of it is natural or inevitable. Remember: We have the power to build a system that serves the many, not the powerful few.
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Eurofound @eurofound.europa.eu · 01/09/2026
📣 Just published: Minimum wages in 2026: Annual review Over one year after the deadline for the transposition of the EU directive on adequate minimum wages has passed, this year’s annual review continue to take stock of what progress Member States have made. 📄https://ow.ly/gBHX50ZAS5i
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Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I've been wondering. And also heartbroken. I'm pure CUNY, but this hurts public college students too and leaves NYC worse off. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
dissentmagazine.org
What’s Left of The New School? - Dissent Magazine
Leadership at the iconic progressive university has declared war on its own workforce, fired tenured professors, and shuttered whole departments. But what’s happening to the school is an increasingly ...
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City-REDI @city-redi.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
NEW CITY-REDI REPORT‼️ New report by City-REDI Associate Professor Donald Houston examines the geographic inequalities in young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) across the UK. ow.ly/hLcA50ZFCM2
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The 99% Organisation @99organisation.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
‘Tough decisions’ has become almost synonymous with decisions which harm the UK, to enrich a tiny few. And yet there are ever-greater calls for more. We have been analysing the rhetoric and its impact. sh1.sendinblue.com/3gbd0ci2bglp...
An image illustrating the damage done to the UK population, to key public services and to the environment
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Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We are witnessing a shock redistribution from the many to the rich: The profit share is at its highest level since WWII. The first bump was sellers’ inflation which ushered in Trump. The second bump is Trump’s chaos casino designed to push up profits.
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Richard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Jaw dropping read (if you perservere to the end): "The Spreadsheet That Broke Britain" russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spread...
russincheshire.substack.com
The Spreadsheet That Broke Britain
The absurd error behind austerity, stagnation and the rise of populist rage.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
What is so important to the ultra-rich that they must seize and destroy the world's resources, hold down wages and crush organised labour, capture politics to reduce the tax they pay, fund the far right to stifle democracy? Here's an answer. A Hermes Birkin 35 Diamond Bag. On sale for £449,555.68
Hermes Birkin 35 Diamond Blanc Himalaya Matte Crocodile Limited Edition Bag
£449,555.68
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David Spencer @davidaspencer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Work-creating AI www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
AI flooding public bodies with complaints and requests
AI flooding public bodies with complaints and requests
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Mehdi Hasan's open letter to Louise Haigh: "Under Article I of the Genocide Convention – which the UK acceded to back in 1970 – “contracting parties” have a duty “to prevent and to punish” genocide. It’s a “binding duty” per the UN, imposed on every state party" open.substack.com/pub/zeteouk/...
open.substack.com
You Called Gaza a Genocide Last Year, Louise Haigh. So Why Not Act Now You’re in Government?
Mehdi pens an open letter to the most powerful woman in the British government on the need for action – especially sanctions – against Israel’s ongoing genocidal crimes in Gaza.
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FinUnions @finunions.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
A report commissioned by the Finnish Confederation of Professionals @sttk.fi found that shorter hours had improved employee #wellbeing at the organisations interviewed without reducing productivity. In some cases, productivity increased. www.helsinkitimes.fi/185-themes/w...
helsinkitimes.fi
STTK: Shorter working hours could support employee wellbeing
A report commissioned by STTK says shorter working hours could support employee wellbeing without reducing productivity when workplaces reorganise work and involve staff in planning.
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Cat Hobbs @cathobbs.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This ought to be a joke There is no "market solution" because there is NO MARKET We don't want new board members or "local representation" we want PUBLIC OWNERSHIP Let Thames Water go bust, slash the debt, take it back permanently www.ft.com/content/f160...
ft.com
Thames Water creditors plan board shake-up if utility avoids nationalisation
Move aims to reassure government there would be a change of leadership under their ownership
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New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Second, we must get off the rollercoaster of unreliable, expensive global fossil fuel markets and invest in the UK’s abundant, cheap, clean energy resources. Mass solar installation on UK homes could cut energy bills for 8 MILLION households (£250/year) neweconomics.org/2026/07/nati...
neweconomics.org
Nationwide solar panel scheme could lower electricity bills for 8m households with no upfront cost
Cooperation between government and Bank of England could save households £250 a year
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
We’re inviting ECR Members, Partners, and Funders together to celebrate turning five on Wednesday 30 September 2026 at the University of Birmingham. All the details and how to sign up are on our events portal: bit.ly/4xMnagy Not part of the ECRN? You can join today: bit.ly/3SNypqa
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Hardeep Matharu @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Since its founding 7 years ago, Byline Times has paved the way for fearless, independent, investigative journalism – that is truly outside the system. We couldn't do it without our subscribers. To support our mission, join us: subscribe.bylinetimes.com Or buy a copy of the print edition in shops 👇
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
Come Join Our Quest for Truth – Byline Times
subscription-funded investigations Byline Times’ exposé of the PPE scandal → Within weeks of the Coronavirus lockdown in 2020, we were reporting on what ended up being billions of non-compete contract...
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
What stage of Capitalism is this?
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TonyDobbins @tdobbo.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Privatisation is a danger to national security regarding provision of essential services.
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Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
What's most upsetting me as a journal editor is that many papers we receive where AI use is disclosed for editing and language refinement actually appear to have been ruined rather than improved by AI. We get what seem like promising underpinning studies, but totally obscured by over-complex text.
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Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Nine years after the Grenfell Tower fire, the company whose flammable product covered the building has yet to face meaningful accountability. Today, we’re publishing a new report on Arconic, corporate malpractice, and the role of law. 🧵
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Institute of Employment Rights @ieruk.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Eight simple measures the Govt could introduce in advance of the full implementation of New Deal for Working People. The IER and the @unionfreedom.bsky.social propose eight measures that Burnham's Government could introduce: www.ier.org.uk/news/eight-s...
ier.org.uk
Eight simple measures the Govt could introduce in advance of the full implementation of New Deal for Working People - IER
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Do your interests lie at the intersection of climate change, nature and human wellbeing? We invite researchers, policymakers, practitioners and independent experts to submit proposals for discussion papers on our new programme ‘Humanity, Climate & Nature’. Find out more: bit.ly/4hH2qlA
A colour block social media card promoting a call for discussion papers on humanity, climate & nature
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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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Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The Uberisation of water must be stopped. Profiting from scarcity in an essential of life is bad enough. But these companies helped create the scarcity. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
Water companies in England and Wales explore ‘surge pricing’ during drought
Suppliers could factor water scarcity into charges as part of Ofwat proposal to reduce consumption
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Richard Sambrook @sambrook.eurosky.social · 16/08/2026
BBC’s coverage of Reform’s welfare plans is frankly bizarre. Headlines in Ten, leading on some radio networks. Reform are not even the official opposition and the plans have less credibility than Count Binface. Will BBC News do the same for Lib Dem and Greens policy two years out from an election?
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