tonybarrett.bsky.social
Ex-Bloomberg editor, Pontypridd Observer reporter and NCP carpark ramp sweeper.
365 posts
479 followers
1,239 following
Active Commenter
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Link should be
@hugoreasoning.bsky.social
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Small study. Self-selection. Flipside: Fits w/ idea humans can maintain epistemic vigilance, outlined by @hugoreasoning and Dan Sperber, when presented with info by others. I *guess* this may be even more case for dating/mating w/ biological fitness implication
www.dan.sperber.fr/wp-content/u...
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It’s not perfect. What is? But it’s helped prevent a collapse into US-style partisanship. If it’s a choice between not falling into competitive authoritarianism & not achieving your anarcho-syndicalist dream, then there is no choice. Failing to save even an imperfect democracy means all bets are off
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In any other world this would end Glasman but in any other world this guy wouldn’t be worthy of a New Yorker profile
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Stevenson, even
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This makes me feel Gary Stephenson-level sad
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I don’t know enough so excuse ignorance, but my understanding was this is when developers hold non-residential (farm) land in hope of value uplift if they get permission for change of use. Makes no sense to build homes & not sell or rent. Capital at risk, zero return is quick route to bankruptcy
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Adam. You won’t score goals by kicking my ankles. The ball’s over there.
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‘If you say “the solution is supply”, that means you’re willing to consider murder’ … is a weak argument
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Congrats on decking that straw man
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Just change it from houses to Mars Bars and think whether what you say makes sense.
“I make Mars Bars. There are loads of people who want to buy Mars Bars for a quid but screw it, I’m going to charge 300 quid and let them sit in the corner shop taking up space. Please invest in my business.”
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It doesn’t make much sense.
‘They will be bought by real estate investors. These investors will leave them empty because they like negative returns on their investment.’
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The guy’s name is Al
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My fav, near the British Museum. Tbf, not bothering anyone
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I would just never stop laughing
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The mayor of Rhondda many decades ago told me in an interview that his mother gave directions with the churches and his father with the pubs
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Problem with these arguments, incl Kahnemann’s, is that they fixate on rational or irrational individuals when we’re social animals. We’re *all* biased but by arguing amongst ourselves, we’re greater than sum of parts. That’s a feature not a bug. See Dan Sperber, Hugo Mercier.
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‘Here’s a Marvel script written in the style of Seamus Heaney while you sit in your own excrement’
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Sounds like the entire book is just the title and footnotes
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‘We must destroy NATO to stop Trump destroying NATO’
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‘Let’s tax the rich out of existence… oh, hang on’
More seriously, I fear a perhaps understandable failure to be honest with voters about trade offs means we’ll end up just thrashing around looking for bigger and better liars
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*Everyone* is going to have to pay more tax if they want to keep the same level of public services, not just “other people”
taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/05/08/t...
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My guess is that part of the reason for the popularity of a “wealth tax” for the left is that it has the word “wealth” in it (and no one thinks that’s them or theirs)
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Yeah, I’d never take out a 30-year mortgage if the bank was offering to pay to give me money. That would be nuts… oh, wait.
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bsky.app/profile/sund...
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Reminds me of when a (great writer) colleague wrote a good-faith feature article pre-Brexit, interviewing people on a train journey from Inverness to Penzance. Came away thinking Brexit won’t happen. Nice story angle. Problem was the train. Should’ve taken the bus.
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The riverside is so good
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Just a suggestion but it’s not a biggie. Just kind of jumps out to someone who was a former member of that Bloomberg cost centre…
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Financial information covers it nicely
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Yeah, definitely people pay for the terminal because of the data and the messaging app more than the news, though none of it is disintermediated
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“Michael Bloomberg, who made his billions from putting computer terminals with business news on people’s desks…”
The news division is how Bloomberg loses money, not how he makes it.
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I can’t get my head around this “debate” and I don’t need to understand everything in the world but, as a naive observer, the comments under the post by the Guardian, which also published a counterpoint op-ed on the ruling, are pretty grim
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Bond villain backstory
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It’s going to be Truss Social, isn’t it
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Fair
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Hasn’t he been open to, or advocating for, this for a while? He hasn’t been Washington consensus for a long while as far I remember
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Signalling
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FFS. Always use butter for hinges
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Not even just minorities. You piss the wrong people off, you can’t catch a train or go to the pharmacy.
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Whoops!
“Five Below opens its new Victorville store on April 11, 2025, following a slight delay after its originally expected February launch. Celebrate the grand opening with festivities, free giveaways, and budget-friendly finds”
www.vvng.com/after-delay-...
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Pure signalling. Otherwise looks like you’re wearing granny pants.
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“The Art of the Seal.”
- What? You’ll get my coat?
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Thanks for transcript. Great read. I have questions, though, if the U.S. really steps back from being the world’s consumer of last resort. See recent @michaelpettis.bsky.social comments
bsky.app/profile/mich...
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Not so much anecdata as anecdatum
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I’m prolly blabbing at best 2nd/3rd order effects; I think of my Tory g’dad hating ‘barrow boys’ getting rich without going to night school like he did or becoming respectable middle class, but very happy with thatcher’s authoritarianism
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Turn to rad right not due to eco insecurity but splitting RW alliance of nationalist authoritarians & global mkt liberals contained in Thatcherism. Centre L & R converge on global mkts; nationalists balk; plus GFC
bsky.app/profile/mari...
bsky.app/profile/mari...
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@michaelpettis.bsky.social has been posting on beggar thy neighbour suppression of local demand in trade surplus nations like China & Germany, & effect on US/UK, for long time