Ben Clift
@benclift.bsky.social
Political economist at Warwick University
Politics of economic ideas; IMF; climate politics; comparative capitalisms; politics of economic expertise
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5n4wvocAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Politics of economic ideas; IMF; climate politics; comparative capitalisms; politics of economic expertise
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5n4wvocAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Reposted by Ben Clift
With immense gratitude to @chris-clarke.bsky.social and @benclift.bsky.social for bringing to light this edited volume honouring the work and legacy of Timothy J. Sinclair. The contributions demonstrate that Tim’s research shaped understandings of finance and economic knowledge well beyond CRAs.
Just arrived:
The Social Foundations of Global Finance
edited by @chris-clarke.bsky.social & @benclift.bsky.social
Chapters by @johannespetry.bsky.social, @hozic.bsky.social, Randall Germain, Magnus Ryner, Matthew Watson & others...
#OpenAccess eBook available 👇
www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
The Social Foundations of Global Finance
edited by @chris-clarke.bsky.social & @benclift.bsky.social
Chapters by @johannespetry.bsky.social, @hozic.bsky.social, Randall Germain, Magnus Ryner, Matthew Watson & others...
#OpenAccess eBook available 👇
www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
September 26, 2025 at 9:55 PM
With immense gratitude to @chris-clarke.bsky.social and @benclift.bsky.social for bringing to light this edited volume honouring the work and legacy of Timothy J. Sinclair. The contributions demonstrate that Tim’s research shaped understandings of finance and economic knowledge well beyond CRAs.
Reposted by Ben Clift
🚨 NEW ISSUE: Issue 8 is out now, with the latest on #climatefinance, agro-pastoral #adaptation, the gap between #mitigation targets and #climatepolicy, the IMF's #climatepolicy approach, & more 💡
📣 Insights from @benclift.bsky.social @aliceclimate.bsky.social @lukemoffett.bsky.social & more ⬇️
📣 Insights from @benclift.bsky.social @aliceclimate.bsky.social @lukemoffett.bsky.social & more ⬇️
Climate Policy, Volume 25, Issue 8 (2025)
www.tandfonline.com
September 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM
🚨 NEW ISSUE: Issue 8 is out now, with the latest on #climatefinance, agro-pastoral #adaptation, the gap between #mitigation targets and #climatepolicy, the IMF's #climatepolicy approach, & more 💡
📣 Insights from @benclift.bsky.social @aliceclimate.bsky.social @lukemoffett.bsky.social & more ⬇️
📣 Insights from @benclift.bsky.social @aliceclimate.bsky.social @lukemoffett.bsky.social & more ⬇️
“DONALD IS FINISHED—HE IS NO LONGER “HOT.” FIRST THE HANDS (SO TINY) AND NOW ME—GAVIN C. NEWSOM—HAVE TAKEN AWAY HIS “STEP.” MANY ARE SAYING HE CAN’T EVEN DO THE “BIG STAIRS” ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE—USES THE LITTLE BABY STAIRS NOW. SAD!”
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heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe?ut...
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A newsletter about the history behind today's politics. Click to read Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson, a Substack publication with millions of subscribers.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
August 15, 2025 at 7:49 PM
“DONALD IS FINISHED—HE IS NO LONGER “HOT.” FIRST THE HANDS (SO TINY) AND NOW ME—GAVIN C. NEWSOM—HAVE TAKEN AWAY HIS “STEP.” MANY ARE SAYING HE CAN’T EVEN DO THE “BIG STAIRS” ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE—USES THE LITTLE BABY STAIRS NOW. SAD!”
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe?ut...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe?ut...
We are Hiring! We have a 3-year teaching fellow position in IPE. Come and work with an amazing group of IPE scholars and fabulous students in the Department of Politics and International Studies.
warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...
deadline is approaching - July 31st.
Please spread the word
warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...
deadline is approaching - July 31st.
Please spread the word
July 18, 2025 at 8:00 AM
We are Hiring! We have a 3-year teaching fellow position in IPE. Come and work with an amazing group of IPE scholars and fabulous students in the Department of Politics and International Studies.
warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...
deadline is approaching - July 31st.
Please spread the word
warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...
deadline is approaching - July 31st.
Please spread the word
Reposted by Ben Clift
It’s remarkable how rarely our “public service broadcaster” now asks serious questions about the “small boats crisis” that do not reflect Farageist framing
One is: how can refugees fleeing persecution actually get to the UK safely so that we can uphold our commitments under international law?
One is: how can refugees fleeing persecution actually get to the UK safely so that we can uphold our commitments under international law?
July 10, 2025 at 8:01 AM
It’s remarkable how rarely our “public service broadcaster” now asks serious questions about the “small boats crisis” that do not reflect Farageist framing
One is: how can refugees fleeing persecution actually get to the UK safely so that we can uphold our commitments under international law?
One is: how can refugees fleeing persecution actually get to the UK safely so that we can uphold our commitments under international law?
Reposted by Ben Clift
Extremely wise words and applicable widely!
Wishing someone in Number 10 put this above their desks
Wishing someone in Number 10 put this above their desks
The problem with "policy-consultancy-by-polling" is not that the public are stupid or uninformed ...
... the problem is *it's not their job*.
... the problem is *it's not their job*.
July 8, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Extremely wise words and applicable widely!
Wishing someone in Number 10 put this above their desks
Wishing someone in Number 10 put this above their desks
Reposted by Ben Clift
We are dismantling American higher education & scientific research & health care & all the other things to fund concentration camps
If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029:
- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.
- $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion
- $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million
- $8 billion for hiring/retention
- Billions more.
‼️‼️
June 28, 2025 at 10:11 PM
We are dismantling American higher education & scientific research & health care & all the other things to fund concentration camps
Reposted by Ben Clift
Great to host this workshop on Epistemic Politics with @benclift.bsky.social at Warwick yesterday
June 26, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Great to host this workshop on Epistemic Politics with @benclift.bsky.social at Warwick yesterday
Reposted by Ben Clift
Counterpoint: new Public First research shows every UK resident working adult (on a full time equivalent basis) is £466 a year better off on average as a result of international students. So let’s just publicise that instead of levying them
www.publicfirst.co.uk/calculating-...
www.publicfirst.co.uk/calculating-...
June 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Counterpoint: new Public First research shows every UK resident working adult (on a full time equivalent basis) is £466 a year better off on average as a result of international students. So let’s just publicise that instead of levying them
www.publicfirst.co.uk/calculating-...
www.publicfirst.co.uk/calculating-...
Reposted by Ben Clift
This level of ‘analysis’ from the Minister in charge of higher education does not fill me with enormous confidence.
Jacqui Smith: Levy on international student fees ‘would show value of foreign students’
Smith said that if the government went ahead with the levy, it would “really demonstrate that [contribution] in terms of money that could then…be reinvested”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Smith said that if the government went ahead with the levy, it would “really demonstrate that [contribution] in terms of money that could then…be reinvested”.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Jacqui Smith: Levy on fees ‘would show value of foreign students’ - Research Professional News
Skills minister says “there has been an over-dependence on international students” for higher education funding
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
June 24, 2025 at 7:37 PM
This level of ‘analysis’ from the Minister in charge of higher education does not fill me with enormous confidence.
Reposted by Ben Clift
How I'm thinking about gen-AI in a university context. Thoughts?
June 17, 2025 at 8:09 PM
How I'm thinking about gen-AI in a university context. Thoughts?
Reposted by Ben Clift
I'm on my way to the Senate floor to talk about the assault on my colleague, Senator Alex Padilla.
This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history.
This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history.
June 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I'm on my way to the Senate floor to talk about the assault on my colleague, Senator Alex Padilla.
This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history.
This is a horrifying moment in our nation’s history.
Reposted by Ben Clift
Maybe quit voting for their fucking bills then? Maybe quit confirming their nominees? Maybe shut down the Senate with the many procedural tools available to you? Maybe do something other than send sternly worded letters?
Sen. Padilla thrown to the ground, manhandled, brutally taken down, handcuffed
It's disgusting
Reeks of totalitarianism
Un-American
Not what democracies do
Sen. Padilla was in that building to ask questions of what's going on in California, doing his duty to his constituents
We need answers now
It's disgusting
Reeks of totalitarianism
Un-American
Not what democracies do
Sen. Padilla was in that building to ask questions of what's going on in California, doing his duty to his constituents
We need answers now
Senator Padilla’s office sends me this video of his take-down and detention at Sec. Noem’s press conference in L.A.
June 12, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Maybe quit voting for their fucking bills then? Maybe quit confirming their nominees? Maybe shut down the Senate with the many procedural tools available to you? Maybe do something other than send sternly worded letters?
Reposted by Ben Clift
Incredible
Sitting US Senator Alex Padilla forcibly wrestled to the ground and arrested by the FBI for attempting to ask a question of DHS secretary Kristin Noem.
June 12, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Incredible
Reposted by Ben Clift
When a cabinet member announces "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
June 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
When a cabinet member announces "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
Reposted by Ben Clift
We are marching to Senator Thune’s office. There must be accountability for the detainment of a Senator. This is not normal.
June 12, 2025 at 8:21 PM
We are marching to Senator Thune’s office. There must be accountability for the detainment of a Senator. This is not normal.
Reposted by Ben Clift
As a four-decade veteran of the daily journalism business, let me tell you: Every competent political reporter in this country knows that Trump is trying to establish a dictatorship. The industry's shame is that so few journalists will say so, and the ones who do lose their jobs.
June 12, 2025 at 8:19 PM
As a four-decade veteran of the daily journalism business, let me tell you: Every competent political reporter in this country knows that Trump is trying to establish a dictatorship. The industry's shame is that so few journalists will say so, and the ones who do lose their jobs.
Reposted by Ben Clift
US Senator Alex Padilla was wrestled to ground after raising questions during US Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem's press conference, in a dramatic escalation of tensions in California. www.ft.com/content/93f1...
June 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
US Senator Alex Padilla was wrestled to ground after raising questions during US Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem's press conference, in a dramatic escalation of tensions in California. www.ft.com/content/93f1...
I’m looking forward to presenting my research (co-authored with Sahil Dutta at City University) on the IMF and Climate Finance at Science Po in Paris this Thursday, 12.30-2 CET. Also on Zoom.
thanks to Matthias Thiemann for organising
You can register here:-
www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...
thanks to Matthias Thiemann for organising
You can register here:-
www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...
[Séminaire d'axe] The Disappointments of ‘Billions into Trillions’ & IMF Contradictions on Climate Finance
In 2015 the IMF and World Bank announced its ‘billions to trillions agenda’ a developmental framework which recognised that market forces alone would fail to build crucial infrastructure in Developing...
www.sciencespo.fr
June 10, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I’m looking forward to presenting my research (co-authored with Sahil Dutta at City University) on the IMF and Climate Finance at Science Po in Paris this Thursday, 12.30-2 CET. Also on Zoom.
thanks to Matthias Thiemann for organising
You can register here:-
www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...
thanks to Matthias Thiemann for organising
You can register here:-
www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...
Reposted by Ben Clift
“They are building a techno-authoritarian surveillance state. We can see that happening in real time. This is huge amounts of data on every single person in America that can and will be used in opaque & unaccountable ways—and it is terrifying.”
Must watch interview with @carolecadwalla.bsky.social.
Must watch interview with @carolecadwalla.bsky.social.
Carole Cadwalladr - Broligarchs, AI, and a Techno-Authoritarian Surveillance State | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
youtu.be
June 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
“They are building a techno-authoritarian surveillance state. We can see that happening in real time. This is huge amounts of data on every single person in America that can and will be used in opaque & unaccountable ways—and it is terrifying.”
Must watch interview with @carolecadwalla.bsky.social.
Must watch interview with @carolecadwalla.bsky.social.
Reposted by Ben Clift
They don’t fear questions.
They fear an end to the gravy train.
The only way to stop the rip off is to return water to where it belongs: public essentials run for public benefit.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Thames Water chair could face questions after comments to MPs on bonuses
Exclusive: Sir Adrian Montague told select committee paying bonuses out of emergency £3bn loan was insisted upon by creditors
www.theguardian.com
May 20, 2025 at 12:40 PM
They don’t fear questions.
They fear an end to the gravy train.
The only way to stop the rip off is to return water to where it belongs: public essentials run for public benefit.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Reposted by Ben Clift
Hear, hear once again, @johnmct.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
Why Labour shouldn’t shift right
The answer to these bruising election results is to govern as the party of social democracy.
www.newstatesman.com
May 15, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Hear, hear once again, @johnmct.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
Reposted by Ben Clift
The government is legitimising Reform with anti-migrant rhetoric while alienating long-time Labour voters by shifting to the right.
This won't defeat the far right, nor will it improve lives ruined by austerity - it's clearly a lose-lose strategy.
This won't defeat the far right, nor will it improve lives ruined by austerity - it's clearly a lose-lose strategy.
May 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
The government is legitimising Reform with anti-migrant rhetoric while alienating long-time Labour voters by shifting to the right.
This won't defeat the far right, nor will it improve lives ruined by austerity - it's clearly a lose-lose strategy.
This won't defeat the far right, nor will it improve lives ruined by austerity - it's clearly a lose-lose strategy.
Reposted by Ben Clift
This obsession is with “young men turning to the right” is everything that is wrong with the discussion about the far right.
It is not just an inadequate read of what is happening, and a bias towards the male norm, but it also normalizes the far right and obscures support for inclusive politics. 🧵
It is not just an inadequate read of what is happening, and a bias towards the male norm, but it also normalizes the far right and obscures support for inclusive politics. 🧵
May 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
This obsession is with “young men turning to the right” is everything that is wrong with the discussion about the far right.
It is not just an inadequate read of what is happening, and a bias towards the male norm, but it also normalizes the far right and obscures support for inclusive politics. 🧵
It is not just an inadequate read of what is happening, and a bias towards the male norm, but it also normalizes the far right and obscures support for inclusive politics. 🧵
Reposted by Ben Clift
Our programmes bring together students from around the world to explore global challenges. Be part of a diverse, dynamic, and inclusive academic community.
Find out more about Postgraduate study with us at buff.ly/4aZXoLO.
Find out more about Postgraduate study with us at buff.ly/4aZXoLO.
March 10, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Our programmes bring together students from around the world to explore global challenges. Be part of a diverse, dynamic, and inclusive academic community.
Find out more about Postgraduate study with us at buff.ly/4aZXoLO.
Find out more about Postgraduate study with us at buff.ly/4aZXoLO.