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richardjmurphy.bsky.social
Economic justice campaigner. Professor of Accounting Practice, Sheffield University. Former chartered accountant. Political economist. Opinions all my own.
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Does Reeves care about real people who are suffering? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... No. I don't think she cares about Labour. Nor do I think she cares about people who're suffering in the UK. She gets her kicks from managing funds. The reality of life is not for her.

Many people on the UK's left promote wealth taxes. The trouble is that they would take years to deliver. Taxing income and gains from wealth more makes a lot more sense. youtu.be/vJRdnaJpWl8?...

The basis for a proper defence strategy www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... The new UK defence strategy makes no sense because it represents old ideologies that are being imposed on people who do not share them and who do not even want to be part of the UK. We have to do a lot better than this.

What would the world be like if we set out to eliminate the causes of war? We've tried it before. Why can't we try again? youtu.be/v0CWfJrXJS0?...

It is democracy that lost in Hamilton www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06...

Education that pretends the world isn't going to change serves no one. It's time we taught people how to change with the times. youtu.be/KKH26HuIwVo?...

No one talks about extreme centrists. They should, because they're the people who want to maintain the status quo when it's glaringly obvious that we need change. youtu.be/Dx6HxfAQYEA?...

What if Trump fails? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... Might Trump fail to get his Big Beautiful Bill Act passed? What happens then? Would his presidency even survive? The question needs to be asked.

Can bond vigilantes really hold governments to account? youtu.be/jUUGNyhuf0I?... The idea that bond vigilantes can set government policy suits the City and neoliberal politicians, who'd like it to be true. But is it?

President’s Policy Bill Could Add $2.4 Trillion to US debt www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06... Is that the biggest bung to the rich in history?

It’s complicated, and that’s the problem no one wants to face www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... Government decision-making is hard. And no one wants to admit it, hence the mess we are in.

Who's going to defend us from fascists? youtu.be/oZx5Ykx1nTM?... The obsession with Russia in the defence review is wrong. The real risk is from fascists wherever they come from, and Russia is a long way from being the only threat in that case.

Trump wants to use tax as a weapon in international trade wars. That could backfire horribly for him. youtu.be/8sL9hJwJ7Ho?...

If Keir Starmer understood this one blog post, he could transform the UK www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... If only Keir Starmer understood tax, he could transform the fortunes of the UK. But he doesn't, and he shows no sign of wanting to do so.

Panorama: an exercise in economic misinformation www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... Last night's Panorama on 'Is Britain broke?' on BBC1 got nowhere near finding any useful answers to the question it posed, and that was the result of our journalism.

Me, in The National, this morning. www.thenational.scot/politics/252...

Chat GPT – a word of warning www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06... It has admitted to me that it just makes stuff up.

Should big tech issue crypto? youtu.be/r_AtgPWRpd0?... If big tech can issue their own currencies for use around the world, what chance is there that macroeconomic control of the national economies of the world can be maintained? The threat of global meltdown is very real.

God bless America, because they need all the help they can get right now www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06...

The money Rachel Reeves needs is readily available. All that is lacking is the understanding on how to use it www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06...

It was a lack of understanding about the difference between risk and uncertainty that helped create the 2008 financial crisis, and that is being seen now in pension fund management, and probably elsewhere in the City of London. That is profoundly worrying. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/06...

Do you know where your pension fund is invested? Most people don't. So, are you being ripped off? youtu.be/yGkbZTdLwKQ?...

Trump is not delivering greatness to America: he's delivering chaos and decline, and people are beginning to notice. youtu.be/0a-F9cfku7U?...

The failure of Musk is not by chance www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05... Musk came, he saw, and he left, having wrecked the place, and that was not by chance. It was always the inevitable outcome, because he had not the slightest comprehension of the role of government.

Who will quit the USA? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05... Trump is intent on Making America Very Small Again. Many will leave it as a result. It's not a happy prospect for the country.

Interest rates in the UK and the USA are way too high, as a comparison with the Eurozone proves. That's because of their incompetent economic leaders. youtu.be/8xnNbA1DOI8?...

Neoliberal education is failing around the world www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05... A new study on education outcomes in 80 countries shows that education is not preparing young people for the world of work, not least because it prioritises an economic status quo that is fast disappearing.

Starmer and Reeves were going to be green: now they’re just trashing the planet www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

Rachel Reeves vs reality: The economics of the two-child cap youtu.be/b3GFjLR0Wjs?... The government claims it cannot afford to pay benefits for the elderly, children in poverty, and people with disabilities. That is nonsense. Simple economic analysis shows that these benefits pay for themselves.

Millions in the UK are one pay day from disaster youtu.be/6qm7lVRhgZg?... The UK is a country of massive wealth inequality, with all the stress landing on those the wealthy think to be the undeserving poor, which is most of us.

Labour has, in effect, cancelled most level 7 apprenticeships in England, saying we can't afford them as it has to spend on training to beat migration. That is complete nonsense. The money is available. Why are they so stupid? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

Labour is claiming that taking children and pensioners out of deep poverty will create economic collapse in the UK. That is total and utter drivel of the highest order. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

Uninsurable houses as a result of climate change will be a disaster for homeowners, banks, governments and the whole of society. Are we ready for the challenge? youtu.be/_x0x_SoGyec?...

The UK has GPs desperate to work, and Labour won’t employ them www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

NatWest’s return to the private sector is a story of opportunity lost www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

The world's financial system depends on the dollar, and the man in charge of it is mad, bad, or both. Where are we with the management of the world's reserve currency need in that case? youtu.be/V4Skn_0INaM?...

When Nigel says jump, Labour does www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

It is as if Labour hate children and most especially children with needs or those in poverty, and is intent on doing everything they can to make life as hard as possible for them and all those who care for them. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

How many poets does it take to change a lightbulb? It's more complicated than you thought, by some way, and worth thinking about. youtu.be/vjD7BLJ3MvM?...

The world has a glut of savings, and you might not think it, but that's not good news youtu.be/gii959E8f4o?... A savings glut creates global economic instability, and that's precisely the problem the world's got right now. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

The number of people from the USA applying for UK citizenship is growing rapidly. So, how are we going to treat those fleeing Trump's fascism? In the way we did the Jews in the 30s, which was abysmally? Or are we going to welcome them, as we should? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' ends US democracy. What happens next? youtu.be/JrpgSR0Y8Ms?...

Starmer’s J-turn www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05... Starmer's trying to get out of the deep hole he dug for himself on the Winter Fuel Allowance. It is not going to work, and he only has himself to blame.

Donald Rumsfeld got his famous quote on knowns wrong: he ignored the unknown knowns, and they are a huge issue in modern politics. youtu.be/FZGyluRmbIM?...

Inflation is up. That's down to government incompetence in permitting excessive price increases in regulated industries, and we'll all pay a price for that as the Bank of England keeps interest rates high. Incompetence on a grand scale is there for all to see. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

Starmer's no big deal youtu.be/qTbgahcj3aU?... Starmer wants us to think he's doing big foreign policy deals. He isn't. He's playing in the sandpit of international relations, and nothing is really changing.

Starmer’s insignificant deal www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05... When you base your policy on Europe within the context of the continuing stupidity of Brexit, nothing can make it credible. Starmer's deal yesterday has to be seen within that context.

Trump's Big Beautiful Budget is a declaration of war on everyone in the US but the very rich. youtu.be/JC3iObkiD8U?...

How we think matters. In this post, I suggest that the crisis we are in is the consequence of inadequate linear thinking. We need nonlinear thinking to change the world. But, will we get it when linear thinkers in government don't even understand what it is? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...

44% of the money invested by Labour in the UK Wealth Fund has been given to UK banks. You could not make something so absurd up. They already have perfect access to City capital markets, and yet Labour is bunging cash in their direction. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/05...