Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 2h

Changes afoot in UK. Mere weeks ago, the Prime Minister referred to the wealth tax campaign as selling 'snake oil'. But today, the Chancellor says taxes on wealthy will rise, echoing the campaign's debunking of the millionaire exodus myth (lobbyist "bleating"!)
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Rachel Reeves says higher taxes on wealthy ‘part of the story’ for November budget

Chancellor hints at rises and calls out past ‘scaremongering’ over VAT on private schools and changes to non-doms

www.theguardian.com

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ICIJ @icij.org · 10h

Corruption doesn't respect borders — and neither should accountability.

Join ICIJ's Director Gerard Ryle and Ambassador Susan D. Page for "Systems of Secrecy: Journalism, Power and the Policy Gaps that Enable Corruption" on Monday at @umfordschool.bsky.social.

Register:

Systems of Secrecy: Journalism, Power and the Policy Gaps that Enable Corruption

Ford School professor of practice Ambassador Susan D.

buff.ly

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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 10h

Will the US economy crash because of:
i. AI bubble
ii. Financial market malpractice/misregulation again
iii. Tariffs
iv. Authoritarian corruption

Select all that apply. For bonus points, indicate what share of the world economy will be affected, and how badly.

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Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 10h

Making beneficial ownership data public, making sure it is used and realising its value: what we can learn from the example of the UK which has made its beneficial ownership data publicly and openly available for nearly the last decade?

medium.com/@stephenabbo...

#beneficialownership #opendata

Making beneficial ownership data public, making sure it is used and realising its value

Knowing who really owns or controls entities such as companies or trusts is a crucial part of anti-money laundering investigations…

medium.com

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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 14h

Some 17 press freedom and journalists' organisations are calling on Malta to set up a national action plan on media freedom and journalist safety on the eye of the eighth anniversary of the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia cpj.org/2025/10/call...

Call to action in memory of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia - Committee to Protect Journalists

On the eve of the anniversary of the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, CPJ joins 17 press freedom and journalists’ organizations to call on Malta to set up a national…

cpj.org

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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 11h

Also, don't invest in tulips.

Reposted by Alex Cobham

PEN International @peninternational.bsky.social · 13h

#Malta: In memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia, press freedom and journalists’ groups call on authorities to adopt a National Action Plan on Media Freedom and Journalist Safety.

Read more ⬇️

www.pen-international.org/news/malta-i...

Malta: In Memory of Daphne. Media reform public consultations must lead to National Action Plan — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide

15 October 2025: On the eve of the anniversary of the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, press freedom and journalists’ groups are calling on the national authorities...

www.pen-international.org

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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 11h

Apropos of nothing, I very much appreciate the great work of @edzitron.com and @davidgerard.co.uk on the absolute fragility of AI claims, companies, CEOs, assorted fluffers etc.

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 1d

🎥 #ClimateforChange2025 keynote highlight:
Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and #ClimateChange, unpacks how tax reform, #HumanRights, and #ClimateJustice must align for a truly #JustTransition.

👉Watch now youtu.be/J4kznisyAis

#TaxJustice #COP30

Tax Reform, Human Rights and Climate Justice - Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur

YouTube video by Tax Justice Network

youtu.be

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 1d

“Oil & gas giants shift nearly a 3rd of their profits to tax havens, draining billions from developing countries, money needed for climate adaptation, health, & education. They must be taxed where profits are made, not where they’re hidden. A #UNTaxConvention can make that real.”

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 1d

📣Final keynote speaker of #ClimateForChange2025 starts soon: Charting just transitions beyond fossil capital - Sabrina Fernandes, Head of Research at the @alameda.institute & Senior Research Advisor Tide

Watch live online: 🔗https://bit.ly/4msXBLi

#ClimateFinance #COP30 #ClimateJustice

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 1d

“The fossil fuel industry is still being rewarded for driving the climate crisis. We must end fossil fuel tax subsidies, reform international tax rules, & strengthen transparency. Our opponents are powerful — we can’t afford to be divided.”
@zorkamilin.bsky.social @factcoalition.bsky.social

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 1d

“Epithets like “f----t,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined”

If you ever had any doubt that the youth wing of the GOP is fully radicalized and proudly racist these days:

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 1d

📣🌱🌎Up next: Carbon Conversation with José Antonio Ocampo @icrict.bsky.social

🔗 Register now to watch live: bit.ly/4q92wnT

#ClimateFinance #COP30 #ClimateJustice #JustTransition

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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 1d

Without paying much attention (long time since I had to read Aghion & Howitt), I vaguely imagined the Nobel economics panel had decided to go for something less controversial than last year's dubious treatment of colonial growth dynamics. But it turns out they're continuing the theme with Mokyr...

Dave Andress @davidandress.bsky.social · 1d

The thing about Mokyrism isn't just that it chooses to ignore the active role of violence and oppression in the generation of Western wealth, but that it actively denies it. In so doing, it actively promotes a fundamentally reactionary view of modern history.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 1d

Nice piece from @antonhowes.bsky.social on @britishacademy.bsky.social Fellow Joel Mokyr who won the economics Nobel. As Anton brings out, it’s great to see the prize recognising economic history, especially that which comes out in books
www.worksinprogress.news/p/what-makes...

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 1d

⏰There is still time to join us for day 2 of #ClimateForChange2025

Join us tackling #ClimateJustice through fair & progressive taxation. Together, we’ll push for the funds and policies needed for a #JustTransition.

Sign up & watch live🔗https://bit.ly/4msXBL

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Tax Justice Network @taxjustice.net · 2d

“#TaxJustice is inseparable from the history of colonialism. Wealth taxes must act not only as economic tools, but as reparative justice, essential to decolonising the global economy & meeting historic responsibilities for the #ClimateCrisis.”
Ohene Yaw Ampofo-Anti, SAIFAC

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Critical Takes on Corporate Power @criticaltakes.bsky.social · 2d

A must-read here for NGOs which engage with big business.

How corporations work to capture multi-stakeholder initiatives and play them off against each other.

Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 2d

new article in @reggovjournal.bsky.social that examines how corporations engage in 'venue hopping' as a means to advance agendas in multiple spaces and at multiple levels

This riffs off Baumgartner and Jones' notion of venue shopping, but adapts it for an increasingly multistakeholder world

Corporate Power in a Multistakeholder World: Venue Hopping and the Multilevel Politics of Ultra‐Processed Food

The regulation of business is increasingly characterized by “soft” governance regimes that blur the boundaries of public and private authority, as signaled by the rapid proliferation of multistakehol...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Karen Dalton Beninato 🐦 @kbeninato.bsky.social · 3d

Just one more thing...
#IndigenousPeoplesDay

Columbo saying, "Just one more thing... When you were 'discovering' America, was there anyone else there at the time?"

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Nick McGeehan @ncgeehan.bsky.social · 2d

In advance of tomorrow's match between Italy and Israel, here again is my and @antoineduval.bsky.social piece in @josimarfootball.bsky.social on the serious governance failures that mean Israel is still allowed to compete. And no, the peace-plan changes nothing josimarfootball.com/2025/10/06/m...

More political theatre while Gaza burns - josimarfootball.com

Uefa and Fifa’s failure to sanction the Israel Football Association is a moral and political failure.

josimarfootball.com

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Sumi Madhok @sumimadhok.bsky.social · 2d

Coloniality 101: “…we have a crime without criminals, a genocide without génocidaires, a wretched population who…must be fed and watered while the world works out what to do with them.

And now an explicit rejection of Palestinian self-determination…again ”.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

While the perpetrators of Gaza’s genocide pose as its saviours, survivors return home – to a wasteland | Nesrine Malik

Western leaders attending the Sharm el-Sheikh summit have enabled and sponsored this slaughter. They are in no position to build a Palestinian future, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com

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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 7d

Great keynote from Dr @faizashaheen.bsky.social, executive director of @taxjusticeuk.bsky.social, setting out the challenges and opportunities of the UK context and raising questions for Tax Justice Scotland's approach now

Dr Faiza Shaheen of Tax Justice UK speaking online to the inaugural event of Tax Justice Scotland, 8 October 2025

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oxfamscotland.bsky.social @oxfamscotland.bsky.social · 7d

'We as a movement are small, but powerful, because we are right. You have the power to change the narrative in Scotland. I want to see people not complaining about the next crisis, but how to fix it, and that starts with tax'

@alexcobham.bsky.social
tells the #TaxJusticeScotland conference

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Alex Cobham @alexcobham.bsky.social · 7d

Panel finishes with some great Q&A on how we can make sure people are proud to pay tax, and what 'fairness' should mean in respect of the contributions of the highest income and wealth households; and how reform of (shockingly bad) Scottish property taxes can be made central to the next election

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oxfamscotland.bsky.social @oxfamscotland.bsky.social · 7d

'Tax is our social superpower' says @alexcobham.bsky.social of the global @taxjustice.net tells the #TaxJusticeScotland conference.

'Every second I've been talking, the equivalent of a nurse's salary is lost to a tax haven'

Think of what that money could do globally.

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