Richard Dubourg
@richarddubourg.bsky.social
Economist. Academic, then consultant, then UK government, then EU regulator, now consultant again. Environment, health, crime. Mostly chemicals these days.
Woke. Remain. Proportional representation.
Woke. Remain. Proportional representation.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
The term you use for this kind of pattern of behaviour is "death squads"
Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:38 PM
The term you use for this kind of pattern of behaviour is "death squads"
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Almost 95,000 - last spurt to reach the 100,000 mark. Can it be done today?
Almost 95,000 - last spurt to reach the 100,000 mark. Can it be done today?
Petition: Call a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy
We are concerned about reported efforts from Russia to influence democracy in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere. We believe we must establish the depth and breadth of possible Russian influence campaig...
petition.parliament.uk
November 29, 2025 at 9:21 AM
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
Almost 95,000 - last spurt to reach the 100,000 mark. Can it be done today?
Almost 95,000 - last spurt to reach the 100,000 mark. Can it be done today?
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
🚨BOOM! The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 80,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000 this weekend. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done!
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
November 28, 2025 at 9:19 AM
🚨BOOM! The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 80,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000 this weekend. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done!
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74...
This woman is stupid.
November 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
This woman is stupid.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
Mind the lag: Using assessed and list prices as proxies for housing market values
By Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Hans R. A. Koster and Tu Giang Vu
Read at: https://ow.ly/LSSc50XyyTS
By Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Hans R. A. Koster and Tu Giang Vu
Read at: https://ow.ly/LSSc50XyyTS
November 28, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Mind the lag: Using assessed and list prices as proxies for housing market values
By Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Hans R. A. Koster and Tu Giang Vu
Read at: https://ow.ly/LSSc50XyyTS
By Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Hans R. A. Koster and Tu Giang Vu
Read at: https://ow.ly/LSSc50XyyTS
"Looks pretty good.... Oh, maybe not..."
November 26, 2025 at 12:21 PM
"Looks pretty good.... Oh, maybe not..."
As usual, the truth is rather more nuanced than the graphic.
sites.harvard.edu/aakaash-rao/...
sites.harvard.edu/aakaash-rao/...
November 24, 2025 at 10:24 AM
As usual, the truth is rather more nuanced than the graphic.
sites.harvard.edu/aakaash-rao/...
sites.harvard.edu/aakaash-rao/...
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
Do we think what Farage said on Russia Today was *not* editorialised in advance?
And do we think that Farage was *not* paid to appear on Russia Today?
As the judge said yesterday, if your views are sincerely held, you don't need to be paid to express them.
So the difference is..?
And do we think that Farage was *not* paid to appear on Russia Today?
As the judge said yesterday, if your views are sincerely held, you don't need to be paid to express them.
So the difference is..?
November 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Do we think what Farage said on Russia Today was *not* editorialised in advance?
And do we think that Farage was *not* paid to appear on Russia Today?
As the judge said yesterday, if your views are sincerely held, you don't need to be paid to express them.
So the difference is..?
And do we think that Farage was *not* paid to appear on Russia Today?
As the judge said yesterday, if your views are sincerely held, you don't need to be paid to express them.
So the difference is..?
I read the 'plan' and couldn't quite believe how much it sounded like a stitch up. This thread makes clear I was right, and some. NATO is dead.
Some notable things in what's being called the "Trump peace plan" but which could not have been more clearly written in Moscow if it came with a 2 for 1 deal on tickets to the Bolshoi Ballet. 🧵
November 21, 2025 at 10:56 AM
I read the 'plan' and couldn't quite believe how much it sounded like a stitch up. This thread makes clear I was right, and some. NATO is dead.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
Finally, the Trump administration has turned the US into such an unreliable security partner that Russia is now treating it as a neutral arbiter between Russia and NATO (see above) so a Trump-era US guarantee modelled on Art. 5 would be entirely meaningless. www.axios.com/2025/11/21/u...
Trump peace plan for Ukraine includes NATO-style security guarantee
Trump would be committing the U.S. to defend Ukraine if Russia attacks again.
www.axios.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Finally, the Trump administration has turned the US into such an unreliable security partner that Russia is now treating it as a neutral arbiter between Russia and NATO (see above) so a Trump-era US guarantee modelled on Art. 5 would be entirely meaningless. www.axios.com/2025/11/21/u...
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
The plan says that "A dialogue will be held between Russia and NATO, mediated by the United States." This implies that both Russia and the Trump administration don't see the US as part of NATO in any real sense. That should deeply alarm every other NATO state.
November 21, 2025 at 10:06 AM
The plan says that "A dialogue will be held between Russia and NATO, mediated by the United States." This implies that both Russia and the Trump administration don't see the US as part of NATO in any real sense. That should deeply alarm every other NATO state.
Oh dear.
Does someone want to tell him?
Does someone want to tell him?
November 19, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Oh dear.
Does someone want to tell him?
Does someone want to tell him?
Haha hahahaha.
Shit. You couldn't make it up.
Shit. You couldn't make it up.
“Polls suggest the most probable result is a loss for the party’s candidate, a former government minister understood to have been handpicked by the PM.
“Among the reasons cited by analysts are frustration with Frederiksen’s hardline policies on issues such as integration and immigration.”
“Among the reasons cited by analysts are frustration with Frederiksen’s hardline policies on issues such as integration and immigration.”
Well..
November 18, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Haha hahahaha.
Shit. You couldn't make it up.
Shit. You couldn't make it up.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
New essay out today by me and @acjsissons.bsky.social - ‘Getting Britain out of the hole: a plan for the economy’. You can read the whole thing here getting-out-of-the-hole.uk
A chart mega-thread follows 🧵
A chart mega-thread follows 🧵
Getting Britain out of the hole
A plan for the UK economy
getting-out-of-the-hole.uk
November 17, 2025 at 8:00 AM
New essay out today by me and @acjsissons.bsky.social - ‘Getting Britain out of the hole: a plan for the economy’. You can read the whole thing here getting-out-of-the-hole.uk
A chart mega-thread follows 🧵
A chart mega-thread follows 🧵
Did they give gold to Hitler too?
"It was tough to beat Apple, but the Swiss did it." said one administration official.
How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Did they give gold to Hitler too?
Have you seen this photo? Apparently it's the pope in 1982 xxx
November 15, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Have you seen this photo? Apparently it's the pope in 1982 xxx
Not commenting on anything Corbyn related, but
'this fiasco, and the mess Starmer is making of government'
just says it all. You see it in black and white, and it's undeniable.
'this fiasco, and the mess Starmer is making of government'
just says it all. You see it in black and white, and it's undeniable.
Looking at this fiasco, and the mess Starmer is making of government, it’s looking more and more like the defeat of Corbynism was about its own limitations rather than the Machiavellian machinations of the Labour right
Three people who’d be expected to be Your Party bigwigs have largely walked away from Corbyn’s project: former NE mayor Jamie Driscoll, former Labour MP Beth Winter, and former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein.
I have some new intel on the fall-out, if you’re interested in that sort of thing… 🧵
I have some new intel on the fall-out, if you’re interested in that sort of thing… 🧵
November 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Not commenting on anything Corbyn related, but
'this fiasco, and the mess Starmer is making of government'
just says it all. You see it in black and white, and it's undeniable.
'this fiasco, and the mess Starmer is making of government'
just says it all. You see it in black and white, and it's undeniable.
It's true. It's become something of a faith.
Or perhaps they knew economically it never made sense for the country - it really was about "taking back control" - for themselves.
Or perhaps they knew economically it never made sense for the country - it really was about "taking back control" - for themselves.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, I can't think of a single politician who campaigned hard for Brexit who has since come out and said that they think it was a mistake. Surely, in their heart of hearts, literally one or two of them must know that. So is it that they can't admit it to themselves or just to us?
Read 'em and weep. (www.nber.org/system/files...)
November 15, 2025 at 11:09 AM
It's true. It's become something of a faith.
Or perhaps they knew economically it never made sense for the country - it really was about "taking back control" - for themselves.
Or perhaps they knew economically it never made sense for the country - it really was about "taking back control" - for themselves.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
Brexit has cut UK GDP by 6 percent to 8 percent by 2025. These negative impacts come from higher uncertainty, reduced demand, diverted management time and trade costs, from @nickbloom.bsky.social, Philip Bunn, Paul Mizen, Pawel Smietanka, and Gregory Thwaites www.nber.org/papers/w34459
November 14, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Brexit has cut UK GDP by 6 percent to 8 percent by 2025. These negative impacts come from higher uncertainty, reduced demand, diverted management time and trade costs, from @nickbloom.bsky.social, Philip Bunn, Paul Mizen, Pawel Smietanka, and Gregory Thwaites www.nber.org/papers/w34459
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
We are expected to flatter bigots in order to prove we are non-partisan?
Great writing by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in her book of essays, No Straight Road Takes You There.
Great writing by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in her book of essays, No Straight Road Takes You There.
November 14, 2025 at 12:55 PM
We are expected to flatter bigots in order to prove we are non-partisan?
Great writing by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in her book of essays, No Straight Road Takes You There.
Great writing by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in her book of essays, No Straight Road Takes You There.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
A familiar offence: how households shape juvenile reoffending
By Tobias Auer and Tom Kirchmaier
Read at: ow.ly/Xi5I50XreE5
By Tobias Auer and Tom Kirchmaier
Read at: ow.ly/Xi5I50XreE5
November 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A familiar offence: how households shape juvenile reoffending
By Tobias Auer and Tom Kirchmaier
Read at: ow.ly/Xi5I50XreE5
By Tobias Auer and Tom Kirchmaier
Read at: ow.ly/Xi5I50XreE5
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.
November 12, 2025 at 10:59 PM
This isn’t even the stuff they’re trying to actually stop from getting out.
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
To recap: Jeffrey Epstein offered a NY Times reporter photos taken in Epstein's kitchen of Donald Trump and girls in bikinis *and* implored the NYT reporter to put this information in the public discourse in 2015
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
“would you like photos of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?” -Jeffrey Epstein
November 12, 2025 at 8:05 PM
To recap: Jeffrey Epstein offered a NY Times reporter photos taken in Epstein's kitchen of Donald Trump and girls in bikinis *and* implored the NYT reporter to put this information in the public discourse in 2015
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
What did the NY Times editors know about this offer?
Reposted by Richard Dubourg
I just googled this man like 'ew who tf is this Tom Barrack guy' and the answer is the sitting, Donald Trump-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
November 12, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I just googled this man like 'ew who tf is this Tom Barrack guy' and the answer is the sitting, Donald Trump-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Turkey