Alasdair Smith
@alasdairmsmith.bsky.social
Trade economist at Sussex (UKTPO and CITP); ex-VC University of Sussex; member of Competition Appeal Tribunal. So I have views on trade, and higher education (also fiscal sustainability, and pensions), but no views on anything to do with competition.
Support good teaching by incentivising research? How to identify research-intensive universities?
'The party would introduce caps on funded courses that consistently “lead to poor graduate outcomes”, allowing it to invest further in the “apprenticeship revolution” it started, it said. Remaining funding will be used to support high-quality courses at research-intensive British universities.' 3/3
October 8, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Support good teaching by incentivising research? How to identify research-intensive universities?
If London reduces the ‘affordable’ target, the price of development land will rise and there will be no boost to house building.
London considers lowering affordable homes target to spur house building on.ft.com/3Kn0QH2
London considers lowering affordable homes target to spur house building
Developers complain that 35% goal is too high and makes schemes unviable
on.ft.com
September 27, 2025 at 7:08 PM
If London reduces the ‘affordable’ target, the price of development land will rise and there will be no boost to house building.
September 10, 2025 at 8:07 AM
@dag How common is it for one party to get permission to appeal against the granting of permission to appeal to the other party? Could PA appeal to UKSC if Court of Appeal finds for the Home Office?
The government is fighting against Palestine Action's bid for a full judicial review of the decision to ban it as a terrorist group
The Court of Appeal has granted the Home Office permission to appeal the High Court’s grant of permission for the challenge and there will be a hearing on 25 September
The Court of Appeal has granted the Home Office permission to appeal the High Court’s grant of permission for the challenge and there will be a hearing on 25 September
September 5, 2025 at 12:58 PM
@dag How common is it for one party to get permission to appeal against the granting of permission to appeal to the other party? Could PA appeal to UKSC if Court of Appeal finds for the Home Office?
Why do “senior no 10 figures” spend their time briefing this sort of stuff? Doesn’t serve good government but maybe is self-serving?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Keir Starmer to release new peerage list in attempt to bolster Lords influence
PM hopes list of Labour allies promoted to upper house will rebalance numbers and drive through legislation
www.theguardian.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Why do “senior no 10 figures” spend their time briefing this sort of stuff? Doesn’t serve good government but maybe is self-serving?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
August 27, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Members of my family were tortured and killed in the Holocaust because countries like Britain said it wasn't their problem. Everyone said never again. And here we are. It's sickening beyond belief.
August 22, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Members of my family were tortured and killed in the Holocaust because countries like Britain said it wasn't their problem. Everyone said never again. And here we are. It's sickening beyond belief.
IKEA Brighton joins the metropolitan birdshit trend.
August 15, 2025 at 6:36 AM
IKEA Brighton joins the metropolitan birdshit trend.
As everyone says, a brilliant piece. But since Kenny Smith is from the east side of the Isle of Lewis, I would like to be sure he’s not related to my west-side Smith grandfather.
I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
My cover story for today’s FT Magazine
on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]
Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right
[FREE TO READ] What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled
on.ft.com
August 9, 2025 at 8:03 PM
As everyone says, a brilliant piece. But since Kenny Smith is from the east side of the Isle of Lewis, I would like to be sure he’s not related to my west-side Smith grandfather.
Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Hi all, just sent this out. Trump and Putin tried hard to corner Zelensky and put him in a terrible position. In return he has shown that the best way to deal with both bullies is to stand up to them and dont play by their rules. It’s a lesson Europe must learn now. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
The Right Way To Deal With Trump
What Trump and Putin Were Doing and How Zelensky Wrong-Footed Them
open.substack.com
May 13, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Hi all, just sent this out. Trump and Putin tried hard to corner Zelensky and put him in a terrible position. In return he has shown that the best way to deal with both bullies is to stand up to them and dont play by their rules. It’s a lesson Europe must learn now. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
Reposted by Alasdair Smith
16th April 2025, the day women in the UK got their rights back.
April 19, 2025 at 5:24 AM
16th April 2025, the day women in the UK got their rights back.
Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Because I'd worked with Truss I knew there really was nothing there at all. But it was so hard to get people to accept it. "She must have something because she's about to become PM". Nope, not at all. That's not how it works.
April 9, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Because I'd worked with Truss I knew there really was nothing there at all. But it was so hard to get people to accept it. "She must have something because she's about to become PM". Nope, not at all. That's not how it works.
Reposted by Alasdair Smith
"Trump tells the American people that tariffs are a tax on foreigners. However, his own USTR disagrees and assumes that a significant burden falls on American consumers." - Our latest blog examines the USTR's analysis accompanying Trump's tariff announcement:
www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
April 4, 2025 at 9:56 AM
"Trump tells the American people that tariffs are a tax on foreigners. However, his own USTR disagrees and assumes that a significant burden falls on American consumers." - Our latest blog examines the USTR's analysis accompanying Trump's tariff announcement:
www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
My take on what’s wrong with the USTR analysis of Trump’s tariffs: www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
What’s wrong with the USTR analysis of worldwide protection?
The analysis by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) that accompanies President Trump’s tariff announcement on 2 April is so profoundly wrong that one might (almost) feel sorry for the UST...
www.uktpo.org
April 4, 2025 at 9:45 AM
My take on what’s wrong with the USTR analysis of Trump’s tariffs: www.uktpo.org/2025/04/04/w...
Reposted by Alasdair Smith
Sussex’s VC has written for us about the “Kafkaesque” OFS finding that led to the uni getting a record fine
Vice Chancellor Attacks 'Politically Motivated' Investigation After University Gets Record Fine Over Free Speech Row
The vice chancellor of Sussex University has accused the higher education regulator of 'partisan scapegoating' after the university was fined over ...
www.politicshome.com
March 26, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Sussex’s VC has written for us about the “Kafkaesque” OFS finding that led to the uni getting a record fine
Must-read letter from Columbia academic lawyers about government demands:
open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...
open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...
Chartbook 362 What should be Columbia University's legal answer to the extortionate & unconstitutional demands of the Trump administration.
With thanks to my colleagues Andrias, Bulman-Pozen, Greene, Johnson, Kessler, Metzger and Pozen
open.substack.com
March 16, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Must-read letter from Columbia academic lawyers about government demands:
open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...
open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...
Not yet passed on, but in the Sunday Times which CCHQ does not read?
March 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Not yet passed on, but in the Sunday Times which CCHQ does not read?
Question for macroeconomists: spending from frozen/stranded assets does not increase borrowing or tax, so is it equivalent to monetary expansion?
March 2, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Question for macroeconomists: spending from frozen/stranded assets does not increase borrowing or tax, so is it equivalent to monetary expansion?
Someone should write a thesis on the use of ‘Australian-style’ to sell political proposals in UK
February 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Someone should write a thesis on the use of ‘Australian-style’ to sell political proposals in UK
Resisting the protection racketeers as well as the Russian aggressors.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to people with knowledge of the talks. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/15/w...
February 16, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Resisting the protection racketeers as well as the Russian aggressors.
Surely Ukraine’s real allies need to support it against this protection racketeering?
“Zelensky ‘felt he was being asked unreasonably to sign something he hadn't had a chance to read’.”
It’s all so embarrassing. Serious. But just so embarrassing. www.reuters.com/markets/comm...
It’s all so embarrassing. Serious. But just so embarrassing. www.reuters.com/markets/comm...
Ukraine hands over draft minerals deal to US, Kyiv source says
Ukraine has finished work on a draft minerals agreement and handed it over to the United States for review, a source in the Ukrainian delegation at the Munich Security Conference told Reuters on Friday.
www.reuters.com
February 15, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Surely Ukraine’s real allies need to support it against this protection racketeering?
Powerful pessimism from @rafaelbehr.bsky.social; especially the final sentence.
Column: In the Musk Revolution lessons from 20th Century history will be deleted www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
In the Musk revolution, lessons from the 20th century will be deleted | Rafael Behr
Democracy’s traditional defence against fascism doesn’t work against the new far-right hybrid coded in Silicon Valley, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
February 12, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Powerful pessimism from @rafaelbehr.bsky.social; especially the final sentence.
A good one-sentence summary of why universities’ response to the 2012 fee rise was a disaster.
'Too often universities have followed the “same playbook” of recruiting more students, hiring more casualised academics and constructing more buildings, says Thrift'. In Nigel Thrift, 'Here's another nice mess you've gotten us into', Transactions of the Institute of Royal Geographers (2025). 2/3
February 12, 2025 at 8:07 AM
A good one-sentence summary of why universities’ response to the 2012 fee rise was a disaster.
February 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM