Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Is protest democracy in motion, and not a crime?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 14h

People are marching against Trump’s authoritarianism in the USA, Macron’s failures in France, and the cruelty of Gaza policy in the UK.

Everywhere, governments are asking 'how to stop protest?' when they should be asking 'why people feel the need to protest?'

youtu.be/CE4vwdSfdcY?...

How big might the crash be?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

How big might the crash be? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10... Very big, is my answer. The question is, have we got a big enough government to deal with it?

I have already noted that the cryptocurrency market is crashing this weekend. The risk of contagion into other financial markets is high because: The risk of Trump imposing unsustainable tariff ra...

I have long suggested that the crypto market is all based on hype and has nothing to do with reality. I have also suggested that the crypto market is massively overvalued and due for a crash. Yester...

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Is the crash happening? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10... Cryptocurrency markets crashed yesterday. More than $800bn was wiped off values. With stock markets massively overvalued at present, will the same thing happen there this week?

Is the crash happening?

The Quantum Essays: The quantum difference between work and speculation

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Have you always thought that some work, whether making, caring, or educating, must be more valuable than shuffling wealth to make a short-term profit? If so, it turns out you're right. Quantum theory can explain why. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

This is another in the Quantum Essays series. Like most of the others, this one arose from discussions between my wife, Jacqueline, and me. This one is, I think, one of the most important so far. In...

Where I still find hope for deomocracy in the UK

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Where I still find hope for deomocracy in the UK www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

A reader called Ellie Comber wrote this comment on the blog overnight: I admit to being very frightened that democracy will be annihilated and that evil and greed will get the upper hand. Democracy is...

What Happens If The Economy Crashes Again?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

The FT has asked whether the global economy can survive another shock. That’s the question of our time. In this video, I explain why that’s a dangerous illusion, how neoliberal policy has made us fragile, and why only courageous governments can prevent systemic collapse. youtu.be/a8qtW9by3Wk?...

Is Britain's inequality really decreasing?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 2d

Right-wing commentators claim inequality in Britain is falling. It isn’t. In this video, I expose the real story behind Britain’s growing inequality and why official data is misleading, as well as suggesting what we need to do to tackle this issue. youtu.be/WhFPzDWOQzk?...

Nigel Farage’s declaration of war on teachers is a war on compassion, empathy and kindness

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 3d

Farage is saying all teachers are Marxists. They're not. They just teach that we should care for one another. But that offends his fascist instincts. The result is he is turning on a profession that teaches about compassion and empathy - because he loathes it. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

According to The Guardian, Nigel Farage, speaking at an event at a private Christian college in Michigan, USA, has accused teachers in the UK of “poisoning our kids” and predicted that they would go o...

Why government lost its courage — and how we get it back

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 3d

Why government lost its courage — and how we get it back youtu.be/ipwqMPMbBsI?...

In 2011, I wrote The Courageous State — a call for governments that act with purpose and confidence, not cowardice.

Fourteen years later, it’s time to reclaim the language of democracy

Japan is teaching us the lesson that without serious levels of inward migration we’re going to be in deep trouble

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 4d

Japan is teaching us the lesson that without serious levels of inward migration we’re going to be in deep trouble www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

What happens in a country that has insufficient inward migration and a massively declining birth rate (as many, including the UK, are now at risk of having)? The FT has the answer in the case of Japan...

Is it now game over for the Tories?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 4d

Is it now game over for the Tories? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

This is another morning when I have to struggle with the question of whether comments made at the Conservative Party conference are worth noting here, and where I succumb to the temptation to do so pr...

What if the UK admitted it uses MMT and turned that into its superpower?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 4d

What if the UK admitted it uses MMT and turned that into its superpower? youtu.be/ufst9cxbyZA?... What if the UK government admitted it already uses modern monetary theory? Would markets panic — or would we finally have the power to rebuild Britain?

Inequality is not falling

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 5d

Right-wing politicians are claiming that inequality is falling in the UK based on a tiny change in one national statistic. This is not the case in reality. Inequality is rising. In this post, I explain why and what we can and should do about it.
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

The background The claim that inequality is falling is a claim that is often trotted out by right-wing commentators, backed by selective income statistics. It happened in a comment on this blog in t...

AI is killing the graduate job — now what?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 5d

AI is reshaping work faster than universities, employers, or governments can adapt.

In this intergenerational conversation, I talk with my son Tom about how artificial intelligence has destroyed the old promise: work hard, get good grades, and you’ll get a good job.

youtu.be/tKw-U_fMHbs?...

Progress towards a police state

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 6d

Progress towards a police state www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10... The US is heading for civil war unless Trump suddenly changes trajectory. How far behind are we in the creation of a police state?

As the FT notes this morning: Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy troops to American cities, intensifying a stand-off with Democratic-led states resisting his ...

What happens when £47 billion disappears from Britain’s economy?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 6d

What happens when £47 billion disappears from Britain’s economy? youtu.be/tFwmfxMP1hs?...

Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride wants to take £47 billion out of the UK economy — mostly by cutting benefits for migrants and those with mental ill health. That isn’t prudence. It’s managed decline.

Tory plans to cut aid are racism in action

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 7d

Tory Mel Stride wants to slash the UK’s overseas aid to 0.1% of national income. That’s not just cruel, it’s racism dressed up as fiscal prudence.

Cutting aid means condemning millions to poverty, fuelling migration, and destroying economic stability.

youtu.be/eOzRnwaxFjM?...

Richard Murphy: How long until support for independence is made a terrorist offence?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 7d

Richard Murphy: How long until support for independence is made a terrorist offence? www.thenational.scot/politics/255...

THERE are moments when I would dearly love to return to writing about the Scottish economy in more detail, exploring how it works and how it might…

www.thenational.scot

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 7d

The Economist has claimed Britain is trapped in a “debt doom loop.” But they’re wrong. The UK does not face a government debt crisis. What we really face is chronic underinvestment, inequality, and an elite media pushing austerity to protect the wealthy.
youtu.be/myNUVF_Kl7o?...

Britain isn't in a debt doom loop, whatever some people say.

Why do we have so much stuff but don't meet needs?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 8d

Why do we have so much stuff but don't meet needs? youtu.be/sPMKp1MkAiA?...
John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society asked a question that still matters: how can we live with private luxury alongside public squalor?