James Conran

I know we should just ignore him but I find his ignorance and idiocy almost physically painful

All 3 of Netanyahu’s main opponents in the next election condemned him for surrendering to the US & agreeing to a “ceasefire” in Lebanon. They say he sold out & became a “vassal state” of the US. So if you’re thinking getting rid of Netanyahu makes Israel better - think again

Amazing IFS graph on distributive choices of Tory governments: tax increases for the richest, the poorest were absolutely hammered and gains for the electorally lucrative upper-middle deciles.

Veteran news anchor Jon Snow has shared that he’s living with dementia, speaking publicly for the first time to raise awareness of a condition affecting around 1 million people across the UK. Jon and his wife, neurologist Dr Precious Lunga, are supporting Alzheimer’s Society @alzheimerssoc and shared the story of Jon’s diagnosis in @DailyMail as part of our Defeating Dementia campaign with the newspaper. dailymail.com/tvshowbiz/arti… We’ve partnered with Jon, in association with @Channel4, on a powerful new documentary airing on 20 June. Jon Snow: A Last Big Story looks at how he’s navigating life with dementia, and how, when we all come together, we can change the story. Thank you to Jon and Precious for their courage and openness to bring much-needed attention to dementia 💙 @jonsnowC4 Photo credit: Cynthia R Matonhodze

NYC crime hits historic lows, with fewest murders, shootings in first 5 months of year nydailynews.com/2026/06/03/nyc…

@Ed_of_O Yes I’m sure that’s part of it though there is plenty of Islamophobia in the European countries that are most critical of Israel too. And Europe also seems a bit more critical than South America (perhaps just more salient in Europe)

They're consistently explained by the settlements and contact of the Islamic & Christian world. Greece, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Kenya, Nigeria, & Ghana are all explained by islamophobia & inter-ethnic conflict. Israel is a proxy. If I make a correlation to the Muslim percentage of the population, I betchu it's a good one. South Korea is likely a fundamentalist Christian story but would need to investigate.

More generally this data (fwiw), suggests there is no consistent "West vs Global South" cleavage on Israel/Palestine at the level of public opinion. Lots of Asian and African publics are more evenly divided on Israel than European (and even North American) ones.

The EU relies heavily (90%) on Chinese batteries, but China’s battery export machine also leans heavily on the EU. This is not just another destination for Chinese battery exports. It is "the battery export market".

"The workers have arrived!" Beijing 1989

While Israel displaces more and more Palestinians and builds more and more Jewish only spaces, it should be said that Israelis are not moving to occupied West Bank in large numbers, def not deep inside. Growth is mostly current population.

@fbermingham And where's that UK forecast coming from?

Why is Ireland missing?

June 4: this woman was arrested for gesturing 6 and 4 in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Only 23% of Germans have a favourable view of Israel, lower percentage than the UK or France

BREAKING: Four Palestine Action activists found guilty of criminal damage are applying to remove the judge in their case on the grounds of bias. Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson is expected to sentence them as terrorists – despite being convicted of an ordinary criminal offence – in a move kept secret from the jury

Some nasty capital flight from the economy of the world's 4th most populous country Prabowo: “The markets are not understanding me” 😬

@its_mccarthy @timgill924 Aka something on street level bureaucracy and something like this: x.com/rambletastic/s…

@its_mccarthy @timgill924 Might be an idea to offset the rather Theory-heavy recommendations with some stuff that gets more granular and takes seriously both the pathologies of bureaucracy but also the public policy problem of running effective and dynamic state agencies.

In the beginning stages of thinking about a grad seminar on "the state," what are your favorite books and / or articles?

L'Insee avoue avoir fait d'énormes erreurs dans ses estimations de croissance pour 2023 et 2024 : elle a été bien + forte qu'annoncée d'où les inexplicables créations d'emplois ces années-là. Dès lors, le narratif sur la baisse de productivité est biaisé ! lesechos.fr/economie-franc…

@its_mccarthy @timgill924 And then by contrast there’s rat choice takes like Barbara Geddes (the Politician’s Dilemma - do you fill the bureaucracy with loyal hacks or neutral/hostile experts?).

@its_mccarthy @timgill924 Also, orthogonal but not seeing anyone suggesting stuff from a developmental state pov so maybe Chalmers Johnson or Peter Evans or Alice Amsden.