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Abby Innes

@abbyinnes.bsky.social

3.3K followers 1.1K following 2.3K posts

Assoc. Prof. at the European Institute, LSE. Research and teach the political economy of the state. Optimist. Alarmed by people who lack self-doubt...

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Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · Jun 9

Governments ignore the science and prefer to just focus on climate change as an energy transition: as a spur to kick start a still completely unsustainable capitalism. We’re in breach of multiple planetary boundaries and they - and we - are deeply interdependent. It’s one hell of a category error.

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · Jun 9

‘Ticking timebomb’: sea acidity has reached critical levels, threatening entire ecosystems – study

- Ocean acidification has already crossed a crucial threshold for planetary health, scientists say

#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Ticking timebomb’: sea acidity has reached critical levels, threatening entire ecosystems – study

Ocean acidification has already crossed a crucial threshold for planetary health, scientists say in unexpected finding

www.theguardian.com

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Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 40m

If you tracked the Acts of Enclosure through the centuries you could get through a lot of tea and cake in the National Trust estates (a rather benign fate when you think about it…) 🫖🤔🍰

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Olly Benson @ollybenson.uk · 1h

"More than half of the young people involved said they would like to reduce screen time, but 46% felt “unable” to. And then came the kicker: “93% of young people who have attended a youth centre say it has made a positive difference to their lives.”"

Britain's youth clubs have been quietly decimated. What's most revealing is that few seem to care | John Harris

These vital spaces have been the first targets of cuts in a nation that favours age over youth – despite being the remedy for blights such as social division, polarisation and loneliness, says Guardia...

www.theguardian.com

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Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 1h

At tonight’s Dutch election debate, the sole statement that draws actual cheers from some in the audience is Timmermans’ statement that Netanyahu is a war criminal who should be judged at the ICC. This is the point to which Netanyahu has brought Israel’s image in Europe.

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sionnach @erica-w.bsky.social · 1h

"Scrapping nature protections won’t build 1.5m homes, it will just bulldoze public trust and the countryside".

Claire #FBPE ☘️ 🍉 🇺🇦 🇪🇺🐝 🦮🇮🇪🇧🇪 💙💚 @fbpech.bsky.social · 1h

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on Labour targeting nature: the problem isn’t snails, but a broken housing model | Editorial

Editorial: Rachel Reeves’s drive to speed up development is beginning to treat wildlife and the environment as expendable. Voters want homes built, but not at any cost

www.theguardian.com

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Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 1h

Trump appoints new Press Secretary …

youtu.be/QttUcKZ8NMU?...

El misterio de la macabra - Barbara Hannigan y la Sinfónica de Londres

YouTube video by Zamson Garcia

youtu.be

Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 1d

Actually the most perverse lesson of all to learn, given how much CEE had to deal with neoliberal economic remedies in the raw and was consequently the canary down the coal mine of today’s populism…something I tried to write in 2015…
www.jstor.org/stable/45319...

Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 1d

But Orbanism? the populist toolkit du jour? It’s another case of weird ambition that Conservatives in two of the historically strongest democracies now dream of being like Hungary, when even its national anthem begs God to pity the nation ‘that has suffered for all sins of the past and the future’ 🤔

Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 1d

💐 It’s these well founded solutions that will save us!

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Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 1d

Also: why is it so hard to imagine starting from where we actually are, diagnosing the biggest challenges and then, well, working on those? As if pretending we’re a totally different country with a completely different history would be easier…🤔 it’s such an odd impulse!

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 1d

What with all this the UK should emulate Dubai stuff, following hot on the heels of Singapore model, are there any other niche authoritarian city states we could go for? Brunei? Machiavelli’s Florence? Ancient Sparta?

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Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 1d

This is really interesting. Because Putin is not communicating a theory of victory, the war is becoming seen in Russia by some as one which cannot be won. Because, of course, it can't be won without doing things Putin cannot or will not do.

ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 1d

11/ "The current design of the Special Military Operation doesn't imply a final end point, such as "defeat Ukraine entirely," or "take Kyiv, or Odesa and Kharkiv." The Special Military Operation will continue until the command declares it over.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 1d

‘“Faragism” is neoliberalism at its most inhumane, more destructive even than [Thatcher’s] monetarism, and vindictive far beyond austerity.’

Good analysis by Gordon Brown - and why progressives should attack Farage on economics above all:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Don’t fall for the authoritarian hype – Reform and the hard right can be stopped in their tracks | Gordon Brown

From the US to Europe and Asia, grievances are being exploited to gain power. But moderate voices are still in tune with the majority, says former prime minister Gordon Brown

www.theguardian.com

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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 2d

I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The Dangers of using AI to Grade

Nobody Learns, Nobody Gains

substack.com

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 1d

Trump said he deserved a cut for brokering the TikTok deal, and at once there was agreement that his son Baron would have a top executive slot... though he hasn't asked for it, and has no apparent qualifications to hold it. This is how Trump 2.0 works. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Barron Trump tipped for top TikTok job

US president’s 19-year-old son could be appointed to the app’s board

www.telegraph.co.uk

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 1d

At least one senior Labour official seems to finally remember they aren't in Reform.
The changes won't just harm economy and country, they'll destroy families and force more people into becoming undocumented, leading to more deportations. They need scrapping not pausing.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Sir Sadiq Khan calls for pause on new immigration rules

The mayor of London said the changes had "moved the goalposts".

www.bbc.com

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 2d

Pay strict attention to this when considering forthcoming US elections.

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2d

Why has Dominion Voting Systems been settling defamation lawsuits with Trump allies who falsely claimed the company stole the 2020 election?

Because Dominion has just been bought by a company run by a former GOP election official.

Be warned.

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Tom Easton @tomeaston.bsky.social · 1d

Hop not Hate

Three protesters in Portland Oregon in inflatable frog suits. One holds a placard reading FROGS TOGETHER STRONG

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 1d

The world’s smallest man:

“The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called me and said that she was accepting it in honor of me.

“I did not say then "give it to me." I think she might have, she was very nice.

“I have been helping her along the way, they need a lot of help.

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Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 2d

Ooh. Toothless political revolving-door regulator ACOBA is being abolished on Monday.

Here's hoping the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards and the Civil Service Commission show more genuine anti-corruption grit
www.gov.uk/government/n...

ACOBA’s closure: the new process and contact details for applications under the Business Appointments Rules as of Monday 13 October 2025

ACOBA is no longer in operation. Applications for ministers should be sent to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. Applications for Crown servants should be sent to the Civil service Comm...

www.gov.uk

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Ann Pettifor @annpettifor.bsky.social · 2d

Why do I have this extraordinary sense of relief that finally, finally - a politician is challenging Reform? www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Farage's top aide in furious BBC Question Time clash over Russian bribe MEP

Reform UK's Zia Yusuf clashed with Green Party leader Zack Polanski on BBC Question Time over the conviction of ex-Reform Welsh leader Nathan Gill, who took Russian bribes

www.mirror.co.uk

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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 2d

Bank of England Andrew Bailey also warns about the the possibility of a 'sudden correction' in global markets ie a crash because AI tech firms are soaring ahead and the dollar may weaken further bit.ly/46M7KhV

Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst

Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee

bit.ly

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Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 2d

👌🌻appropriately terrifying!

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 2d

This is a timely, excellent and important report on how "arms length" bodies in UK are vulnerable to political manipulation.

Kudos @chrischirp.bsky.social and @martinmckee.bsky.social for putting this together.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 3d

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Abby Innes @abbyinnes.bsky.social · 2d

Wonderful! Thanks for writing this! 💐🌻