Should definitely get him properly vetted next time he’s appointed or this will happen again!

The clear lesson is that the *next* Labour government should really think twice before appointing Peter Mandelson. There are pluses and minuses to his mastery of the dark arts of politics.

Did… did an Arsenal fan write this

this, but in a good way

Private equity: the jobs and pay story Recent research shows employment and pay growth in PE-owned firms in the UK has lagged the private sector as a whole recently

For anyone interested in the data - in recent years job and pay growth in the UK private sector has been *lower* in PE-owned companies.

open.substack.com/pub/tompowdr...

BVCA was funding Progress at the same time it was supporting the introduction of employment tribunal fees!
I think I very senior Labour adviser went to work for the BVCA. I know everyone has to pay the rent/mortgage, but indicative that this probably doesn’t seem strange to many on the Labour Right.

💯
I was thinking exactly the same thing. The PE trade body the BVCA (now UK Private Capital) used to fund Progress & sponsor their ‘political education’ sessions.
They’ve successfully convinced some senior Labour people that being pro PE is “grown up” & only Trots and nutters think otherwise.

I would never normally post a LinkedIn link but this bit on private equity from Ludovic Phalippou is 👌

This is why I think Labour has totally lost its bearings trying to push pension funds to put more into private markets.

www.linkedin.com/posts/ludovi...

‘Misogyny with a marketing budget’: UK AI firm accused of sexist advert Narwhal Labs ad for ‘AI employee’ contains strapline: ‘She outworks everyone. And she’ll never ask for a raise’

I can remember a few years back a fairly prominent right-wing commentator wondering aloud why unions were remotely interested in AI

www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...

🚨BREAKING: New polling from ITV shows Birmingham Councillors must resolve the bins strike or face losing their seat
"Almost 60% said resolving the bins strike is one of their top priorities, and 63% said it will directly influence how they vote" @itvnews.bsky.social
cutt.ly/ptGN8yQ0

Some interesting stuff in Next's ARA. Talks about "natural tension" in wage setting - much more realistic than win-win arguments. "central mission" is growth in EPS - that isn't shareholders as residual claimants IMHO.
And the minimum wage stuff reads as we'd pay less if govt didn't set a floor.

Orban Was Bad, Even Though We Don't Have A Perfect Word For His Badness ...

Good bit, just because Orban gave up power after losing an election doesn’t mean “democratic backsliding” isn’t a real thing
www.astralcodexten.com/p/orban-was-...

Claude > ChatGPT > Gemini

Right?

So telling that this is your first comment on the result

Hungary election: Viktor Orbán concedes with opposition on course for landslide election win - follow live Hungary's prime minister has been ousted after 16 years in power, with Péter Magyar set to be the country's new leader.

Some good news for once

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Potential objection is that shareholders pay up front for their income stream, whereas workers pay as they go (with labour) hence limited compensation for lost income.
But workers have far more firm-specific risk. Skills often tied to industry or employer. Sorta sunk worker ‘investments’ in the firm

Redundancies as labour 'buybacks' at a discount When workers are forced to take a haircut

Developing this argument further here.
open.substack.com/pub/tompowdr...

To be clear the above comment is in the name of Tom Loves Content, not using the name Tom Powdrill, the use of which is now a brand owned by Stench’s Horse Manure.

Jo Malone hopes 'sense will prevail' in lawsuit over her name The British perfume designer and Zara are being sued by Estée Lauder over a collaboration.

This is quite a grimly fun story. I can’t use my own name in relation to my job because I’ve sold the use of it in relation to the work I do to someone else.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

⏱️The clock is ticking. Amazon must stop stalling and start negotiating with Amazon Labor Union.
@teamsters.bsky.social
#MakeAmazonPay

teamster.org/2026/04/amaz...

Also, as a mechanism, job cuts can function a bit like involuntary buybacks. The future income stream is terminated in exchange for payment (redundancy), but the value of the lost income is greatly discounted vs share buyback.

Just thinking about this some more, what I'm saying is that share price reactions are a bit like a scoreboard that only shows one team's points. And if those points increase some people will go "yay, we all win!" and "this shows why the CEO is worth their remuneration".

@tonyannett.bsky.social Hi Tony, I’m working on a project about worker & other stakeholder representation on boards. I am dimly aware of a thread of Catholic thought about economic democracy. I wondered if co-determination is part of your book? Also would love to talk some time.

The shadow price of labour What market reactions show - and what they don't

A bit on financial market reactions to events and the shadow price of labour

tompowdrill.substack.com/p/the-shadow...

ooohhh

“There are decades when nothing happens” encapsulates my experience of having to watch Last of the Summer Wine as a kid

Jamie Dimon warns private credit losses will be larger than feared JPMorgan chief raises alarm on weakening lending standards in annual shareholder letter

👀

www.ft.com/content/58df... Jamie Dimon warns private credit losses will be larger than feared

Just join the online ticket queue like everyone else

KKR Curbs Redemptions in Non-Traded Private Credit Retail Fund KKR & Co.’s non-traded business development company KKR FS Income Trust, a type of private credit fund for retail investors, curbed redemptions after receiving an increase in such requests, accord...

oh good, it had been at least a few hours since a private credit fund gated.