You say you're doing a), but then make strong implicit causal claims and ignore the disclaimer. Worst of all worlds!

Odd to recall that Starmer’s critique of the state has hitherto been that it is too slow, too risk averse, too procedural, too obstructive, too lacking in initiative.. “a cottage industry of blockers and checkers…” “you pull a lever and nothing happens..”

Again, evident that Starmer has done worse than his peers

Isn't that kind of conceding the point? Doing the job well means only half the country hates you? Not literally impossible to survive but extraordinary headwinds to get through.

Carney is different, but also newer.

Starmer has plunged much quicker than the others

Basically all of these people are quite unpopular?

yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

But given its population and historically low meat consumption, India's diet matters a lot for animal welfare and climate change - so I'm worried by this growing politicisation of the issue.

West Bengal election: Why politicians are campaigning with fish in hand In West Bengal polls, fish moves from plate to politics, symbolising identity and cultural pride.

Find this fascinating, and not just because I'm Bengali.

Interesting parallels with the politics of meat in other countries, for example James Talarico disavowing his meat free campaign team in the US. I once collated a list of British politicians pledging not to tax meat (none defended a tax)

So much for the theory. Iran should allow fertiliser to pass through the Strait of Hormuz; America should not blockade urea shipments from Iran. Tragically, neither shows any inclination to do so. High petrol prices make biofuel more attractive to farmers, not less. And rich countries are in a selfish mood. Failure to act thus looks baked in. In the face of an avoidable disaster, that is shameful.

Fair but depressing conclusion from @economist.com - we could avoid some of the worst of the hunger, but we won’t
economist.com/leaders/2026...

Hmm some perverse incentives there...

What is the pensions dashboard? Touted as a game-changer in how we manage our savings, the pensions dashboard initiative has been plagued by delays. So, what is it and when will it launch?

It's happening! Probably coming early next year: moneyweek.com/personal-fin...

Do they believe in asylum *at all*, and under what circumstances? I'm a little confused as to why they are proposing so much bureaucracy and legal process if they just want to functionally scrap the asylum system

What are Reform actually saying?

That asylum criteria have been too lenient, and that those who came irregularly (ie most asylum seekers) should not have been eligible? So they want to retrospectively review past asylum cases under their tighter restrictions?

This is on my reading list - would you recommend? What did you think of it?

Can giving planning permission to factory farms really be good for animal welfare? Maybe, but only if the new supply mostly displaces even lower welfare imports

Anyway, to illustrate the point, here's a piece I wrote on a question I've been going back and forth on: would relaxing planning regulations for farms be good for animal welfare:

aveekbhattacharya.substack.com/p/can-giving...

A lot of politics is about making calculated gambles, calling people's bluff and acting on complex systems you don't fully understand. I think civil servants sometimes finesse that uncertainty for politicians, and politicians definitely hide it from citizens.

Oh wow, I had no idea you were at SMF!

(Yeah, the boringness is the market opportunity)

Oh yes this is super annoying

I don't think they've bottled it, and I think it's bad football analysis to try and psychologise everything, even more so to moralise it.

The cost of markets Companies exist because it's expensive to rely on markets. But it's expensive for individuals too.

Significant overlap in these ideas with @chrisdillow.bsky.social's latest

chrisdillow.substack.com/p/the-cost-o...

The state should do its job and pool the damn risk instead of burdening ordinary citizens, most of whom don't want this. I don't know if the political economy exists to get us from here to there, but if lefties are so desperate to nationalise something, they might want to look at pensions

And then the price cap happened, and the energy price shocks of the 2020s and it became basically ridiculous to keep nagging (maybe that will change with green tariffs etc)

Saving for a pension is an invidious task (I don't know when I'm going to die, whether I'll need social care etc)

Committing Social Market heresy, but I think this is wrong. The great risk shift was bad, responsibilitising savers is bad. This feels a lot like 10-12 years ago when a lot of policy was geared towards poking people to be proper consumers in the energy market....

What do you think about the centre and left in France? Or other European countries?

Things are much easier with the deeply institutionally entrenched two party system of the US, and much trickier once parties fragment

Read/Watched/Listened/Ate 14: April 2026

Yes! Wrote about it here: aveekbhattacharya.substack.com/p/readwatche...

Also, it's just a better story

I am a neutral and I want Arsenal to win because I'm a utilitarian and winning the PL would make Arsenal fans happier

Flying out from London is great on the way out, ☠️ on the way back

This was basically my Easter Sunday - lunch in York, 3pm train to London for extra reading time. By the time my flight took off from Heathrow at 9.30, I'd finished David Runciman's History of Ideas, most of the Atlantic and a couple of podcasts.

Can giving planning permission to factory farms really be good for animal welfare? Maybe, but only if the new supply mostly displaces even lower welfare imports

Anyway, to illustrate the point, here's a piece I wrote on a question I've been going back and forth on: would relaxing planning regulations for farms be good for animal welfare:

aveekbhattacharya.substack.com/p/can-giving...