Notices by Emeritus Prof Christopher May (chrismayla6@zirk.us)

Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer points out:

There are places 'where the greed of short term let operators & buy-to-let landlords has destroyed any chance of local young people ever owning their own home.

Given the damage they’ve done to the housing market, there's absolutely no need for short term let operators to continue receiving massive tax breaks. Instead, they should pay a bit more in tax to fund the extra affordable housing... to solve the crisis they helped to cause'

#housing #politics

Carole Cadwalladr bid 'fuckity bye' the The Observer as it start its new life as part of Tortoise Media (having been essentially given away by the Guardian).

As yet we can't be sure how the new owners will effect the well established (left-ish) newspaper, but to say Cadwalladr is unimpressed is an understatement.

#media #news #politics

https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/fuckity-bye

What if when we find a civilisation in a distant galaxy its just as troubled as ours?

Rebecca Hendin (Guardian) poses (in cartoon form) a central existential question about the quest for extraterrestrial life....

#space #scifi

More evidence that we are heading back to the C19th as schools report that poor children are under-nourished & have resulting physical underdevelopment. Schools are (again) stepping in where other social services have failed to recognise (or do not have the resources to resolve) the problem(s) of the poor.

This was a key issue in late C19th politics (then tied to military recruitment) & drove much social policy in early C20th. How are we back here???

#Children #poverty
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/17/a-third-of-uk-school-staff-report-physical-underdevelopment-in-poor-students

How much tax does Big Tech avoid paying?

the Fair Tax Foundation has looked at average tax rates paid by US corporations & the effective tax rates paid the 'Silicon Six' & has concluded they've paid around $278bn less than they should have over the last decade.

So if you wondered how the big tech moguls become so rich, the answer in part is we've been subsidising them....

[I would be very surprised if the European tax situation varies much from the US]

#tax #BigTech
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/silicon-six-accused-of-avoiding-almost-278bn-in-us-corporation-taxes-over-10-years

The UK's University business model is now pretty stark.... fees from non-UK students, and drawing down reserves (and income from investments) are the only two things left to cross-subsidise the rest of universities' activities (research & the teaching UK students, both of which are 'loss-making').

This model cannot go on forever - international students are in a post-Brexit deciine reserves are by their character, limited!

The crisis in higher education is going to get deeper!

#universities

You'll recall the case of the Polish women denied the right to remain in the UK because she filled out the wrong (an online version rather than a paper form), well now the Home Office has relented.

Interestingly, the Home Office (no doubt instructed to be more business like) now seems to respond well to cases that are high-lighted by the media... just like commercial firms responding to consumer page complaints!

If only they could just be humane!

#politics #HomeOffice
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/11/polish-woman-stay-uk-home-office-u-turn-deportation

The reality behind Yves Klein' Leap Into the Void (1960) - the before and after, for this famous bit of performance art....

What happened on the day & the famous picture of Yves Klein's leap.

[from The Guardian Saturday Magazine's feature on pictures that deceive - there are much more serious examples, but I always liked the simplicity of Klein's 'deception']

#art

For those of you interested in the gender pay gap (which I'm assuming is most of you/us), here is the data for the countries of the EU.

For comparison in the UK (expressed differently) the GPG is around 13% which, would make it in these terms around 87% of male pay (the UK figure is the median pay rate for both genders).

To say this is a problem that still requires work would be an understatement

#sexism #inequality
#economics

@tomgauld.bsky.social on moving fast & breaking things...

#technology

Trump has now rescinded many of the Tariffs imposed on Monday (while leaving them in place for China & countries that retaliated quickly & seeing the general 10% tariff).

Which leaves this looking more like a gift to investors who buy on the dips, given the immediate revival of share prices on the news of the step back from trade war.

Whether or not he (re)introduces tariffs, its likely that countries will be more wary about how Trump is managing the US's international relations.

#politics

What will be the consequences of the sudden imposition of tariffs by the Tangerine Tyrant?

In this piece for @NWBylines (and building on some of my posts over the last few days) I suggest we may see:

the consolidation of regional trading blocs & the sidelining of the USA;

the shift to a new reserve currency (likely the €);

and an acceleration of reshoring & localisation of supply chains....

#politics #economics

https://northwestbylines.co.uk/politics/economy/trumps-tariffs-and-the-acceleration-of-structural-change/

Many of us will agree with Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer when she says:

'It’s a fantasy to believe that our long-term economic prosperity can be left in the hands of whether or not we are in Trump’s favour on any one given day. As such, we must prioritise securing a Customs Union agreement with the EU so that we regain the strength of being part of a larger bloc'!

Will Keir Starmer listen or keep on obstructing talks with 'concerns' about 'free movement' remains to be seen.

#economics

As the FT points out:

'In a matter of days [Trump] has undone trusted global relationships that have taken decades to build. The task of reviving such trust, even after Trump is no longer in office, will be gargantuan — if it is possible at all'.

What will happen when a global hegemon's 'leadership' crumbles. If we are entering an interregnum, will a new hegemon emerge or multipolarity (a series of regional blocs) will become the norm.

As you will know, I think the latter!

#politics

Tomorrow its Hands Off in the USA.... I wonder how this is going to play out?

To my American friends I say: good luck on the streets & standing up agains a bully (and tyranny) is never wring!

#USPol

https://handsoff2025.com

Really Keir Stramer has only one sensible strategic option after the Liberation Day tariffs:

Stop prevaricating & obstructing a rapprochement with the EU, quickly conclude a better trade arrangement & gain the UK better access to a major & wealthy neighbouring market.... regional trading blocs are likely coming quick & we need to be well-connected to the European one, not at the end of a string to a putative US economic zone...

Whether he does this is another matter....

#economics #politics

Three things about Trump's Liberation Day tariffs:

1. are they merely transactional? will concessions mean they'll be reduced/abandoned?

2. Trump is acting as if the US still controlled a large proportion of global trade; it doesn't, its around 13% of international trade (by value); which implies

3. If rather than retaliate, other countries' firms re-focus on regional markets (& states maintain free[ish] trade in those blocs], the harm may in the end be focussed on the US!

#trade #economics

Unsurprisingly Private Equity firms are lobbying Rachel Reeves not to increase the tax on 'carried interest' (how PE partners are often paid) by shifting from treating it as a capital gain, to treating it as income (albeit with some concessions on rates of tax & NI).

As some of PE executives are already being hit by shifts in inheritance tax & Non Dom tax treatment, they're claiming they won't come to/stay in the UK.

Good; we have have enough rapacious rentiers already!

#politics
h/t FT

So 'Liberation Day' has produced a general 10% tariff for all imports plus top up 'reciprocal' tariffs on trading 'partners' depending on their particular (taxation) circumstances... Trump is also going big on restoring (especially for Big Pharma).

So we are now entering a political economic experiment few of us signed up for, the consequences of which remain unclear (despite historical parallels) - but one things is sure:

buckle up its going to be a bumpy ride!

#trade #tariffs #politics

Daniel Lavelle sets out to explore whether the political concept of class might help him to understand his life better.

He ends with a great metaphor for class struggle in the UK (see below)

For a Left political economist like me class has never really gone away as an analytical category, but the more people find that it actually *does* illuminate their plight the better;

we live in a class patterned society & to deny that only helps the rich & powerful.

#politics

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2025/apr/02/my-life-in-class-limbo-working-class-or-insufferably-bourgeois