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Why does the government tackle benefit fraud and ignore tax cheats? Could it be prejudice?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 1d

Why does the government tackle benefit fraud and ignore tax cheats? Could it be prejudice? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

The National Audit Office issued a report yesterday on efforts being made by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to tackle benefit fraud, and the rate of errors being made in payments of what I ...

www.taxresearch.org.uk

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KirstenInCamden @kirstenincamden.bsky.social · 4d

Electoral reform takes centre stage at Labour Party conference electoral-reform.org.uk/electoral-re... Electoral Reform Society – ERS

Electoral reform takes centre stage at Labour Party conference

electoral-reform.org.uk

What do you do when the target’s wrong?

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 5d

The 100 lowest-paying US corporations spent $644B on stock buybacks from 2019 to 2024.

Buybacks artificially boost share prices and inflate CEO pay.

The typical worker at these companies earned $35k last year.

Meanwhile, the average CEO was paid $17.2M

See the problem?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 7d

The Bank of England is missing its 2% inflation target, but so what when the target is harmful? Isn't it time we had better economic policy rather than spending time fretting about missing goals set in the 1990s for reasons that no one can now recall? www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/10...

As the Guardian noted yesterday: Bank of England rate-setter Catherine Mann has warned there is “very clear upside evidence” that UK inflation could remain above the central bank’s 2% target for lo...

www.taxresearch.org.uk

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 7d

The Tory media's shift from hysterically claiming that Starmer *did* intervene in the China spy case to hysterically claiming that Starmer *should* have intervened in the China spy case is a thing to behold.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 8d

Sometimes I think: perhaps Brexit is only the second-worst thing Boris Johnson did to the country. Perhaps introducing the word 'dead cat' to people who are addicted to savviness was the worst.

My colleague Jim Pickard reveals that Reform have had to reject almost £200k (a huge amount of money in British politics) of unlawful donations. Someone replies with 'While they return £200k, millions go unnoticed. This sounds like a perfect dead cat!

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The London Economic @thelondoneconomic.bsky.social · 8d

With Cabinet ministers finally admitting Brexit’s economic damage, the ground is shifting...

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 8d

Britain’s property addiction: how politics has built a broken market youtu.be/PvkHfM9tsQg?...

Britain’s property addiction: how politics has built a broken market

What’s the harm of trying? When everything’s failing, why not change course?

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 9d

What’s the harm of trying? youtu.be/aCpbDQ-hIpw?...

In this off-the-cuff, spur-of-the-moment video, I ask a simple question: What’s the harm of trying something different? Why not invest? Why not tax wealth? Why not admit that government spending creates money?

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/gov...

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The London Economic @thelondoneconomic.bsky.social · 9d

Government finally acknowledges 'severe' economic impact of Brexit

It looks like Keir Starmer's government is finally acknowledging one of the main reasons behind the UK's malaise: Brexit.

www.thelondoneconomic.com

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The London Economic @thelondoneconomic.bsky.social · 9d

About. Time.

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 11d

Neoclassical economics is built on myths — and none is more absurd than the idea of homo economicus: the perfectly rational, fully informed, self-interested human who supposedly drives all economic decision-making.

youtu.be/jvn2yzT0C6Y?...

The biggest lie in economics: why “rational man” or "homo economicus"never existed

The Dutch can tell us something about managing extremism

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 15d

I sometimes worry I exaggerate the collective madness of our media but the people who cheered Brexit, Boris Johnson & Liz Truss's mini-budget are now applauding Kemi Badenoch's speech. 'Parallell universe' doesn't come close. I suppose her not falling over is a win of sorts for them at the moment.

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Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 21d

Britain’s electoral system can now give a majority to a party backed by only a third of voters. In the Netherlands, their proportional system limits power to a true majority. Time we learned a lesson?

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social

The UK and Netherlands have similar politics, but very different ways of managing it. What might we learn from across the North Sea?

eastangliabylines.co.uk

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 20d

Fascism is an ideology that divides humanity into “superior” and “inferior” groups — with catastrophic consequences. In this video, I explain what fascism really means, why its essence is exclusion, and why true democracy depends on equality and respect for all. youtu.be/H7pjd_G3088?...

What is fascism really about?

Strong support for fair votes and jubilant mood at Lib Dem Conference

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KirstenInCamden @kirstenincamden.bsky.social · 20d

10 minutes today is all it takes to vote for your favourite Electoral Reform Society Council members. I voted for Pablo John, Sarah Lewis, Sandy Martin and Shaun Roberts. They are our best chance for helping a new and fairer voting system across the line.

I have just returned from a very sunny weekend in Bournemouth at the annual Liberal Democrat conference.As is usually the case at the Liberal Democrats annual meeting, the mood was jubi

electoral-reform.org.uk

JustGiving pays £25.8m dividend to American owner

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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 22d

The very uncharitable profits of JustGiving which takes fees, a cut of gift aid, and then asks donors for a tip! bit.ly/4nzZpDV much better to give directly to the charity, but if you do use JG always set tip to zero. But you can’t stop it snaffling some of the Gift Aid

The charity platform made the payment to the Nasdaq-listed Blackbaud after revenues rose by 9.7 per cent to £64.5m

bit.ly

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BremainInSpain @bremaininspain.com · 23d

Some honesty at last

Labour MP blames Brexit for Rachel Reeves’ tax-hiking Budget last Oct, adding that he hopes Britain rejoins the EU in his lifetime.

Andrew Lewin said leaving EU left Britain £40bn poorer per year, adding that “were we still members… there would not have been a single tax rise”

Brexit to blame for Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes, Labour MP claims

Andrew Lewin has said ‘not a single tax’ would have had to increase if Britain stayed in the EU

www.independent.co.uk

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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 23d

Ignore the nonsense of a 2% rise in domestic energy bills from today.
ELECTRICITY standing charge UP 4.5%, units UP 2.41%
GAS standing charge UP 14.12%, units DOWN 0.63%
%ages differ for people who pay quarterly. Stand Charge now £16.33/month electricity and £10.35/month - more for quarterly

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 26d

Burnham v Starmer: it’s not hard to decide www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/09...

Burnham v Starmer: it’s not hard to decide

The Guardian's editorial today begins with a long evisceration of Keir Starmer and his caution, before noting: Andy Burnham, sketching a different course. His “Manchesterism” sees national control of...

www.taxresearch.org.uk

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KirstenInCamden @kirstenincamden.bsky.social · 27d

Norway’s election shows how multi-party politics doesn’t have to mean random results electoral-reform.org.uk/norways-elec... Electoral Reform Society – ERS

Norway’s election shows how multi-party politics doesn’t have to mean random results

Norway went to the polls on 8 September for their general election. The Scandinavian country has now used proportional representation for over 100 years and the outcome of the election i

electoral-reform.org.uk

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KirstenInCamden @kirstenincamden.bsky.social · Sep 19

After six years, my time as Board director at the #ElectoralReformSociety is coming to an end. Voting is now open for my replacement. I am voting for #PabloJohn, #SarahLewis, #SandyMartin, #ShaunRoberts. All have proved to be formidable operators on and off the #ERS Board and we need them there!

The eight ignored risks that could crash financial markets

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Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 29d

The eight ignored risks that could crash financial markets youtu.be/lp0YlAowKNw?...

Financial markets are at record highs. Politicians, economists, and financiers tell us everything is fine. But it isn’t. In this video, I explain eight major risks to markets that are being ignored.