Andrew Leyshon
LightNews LightNews
banner
andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon
@andrewleyshon.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.1K following 290 posts

Economic Geographer. Co-author, The Rise of the Platform Music Industries (Agenda, 2025) with @allanwatson1.bsky.social & FinTech Capital (Zone, 2026) with @paullangley.bsky.social. Attended obscure Welsh Comprehensive of which even Elis James was unaware. .. more

Videos
Economics 60%
Business 14%
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 4d
Coming Soon! FinTech Capital, by @paullangley.bsky.social and me, accounts for the rise and ubiquity of fintech and its global transformation of everyday financial transactions. The book is out in July in the US, and in September in the UK. Available for pre-order here: tinyurl.com/bdz2pjn5
Fintech Capital
A thorough examination of the worldwide digital transformation of people’s everyday monetary and financial relations driven by the emergence of FinTech
press.princeton.edu

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 6h
What she actually says is, "Oh it's nothing, just about nothing,". Call me old fashioned, but I'd have followed that up to ask why? Is the nature of her contract? Does it mainly go the Jim Steinman estate? etc. Penny streams notwithstanding, 1B is still a lot.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of The Heart hits 1bn streams - but 'makes nothing'
The gravelly-voiced Welsh icon's hit is still loved by fans 43 years after its release.
www.bbc.co.uk

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 2d
Interesting. Fears in the early 1970s that US gold reserves were at risk lead to the end of the gold window and collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system. A former head of research at the Bundesbank advocates a 1960s Gaullist turn in Germany.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 3d
Little wonder: "Some investors tell me they are war-gaming pretty extreme scenarios from here, including even the remote but plausible chance that Trump might one day threaten not to pay back government debt to investors or countries he does not like." www.ft.com/content/5c1a...
The Taco trade has eaten itself
Tracking the Donald Trump show has become pointless for investors in the short term
www.ft.com

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 3d
'Flight to quality', volume 42.

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Gold heads for best week since 2008 as Greenland crisis rattles dollar
Price closes in on $5,000 per ounce and silver tops $100 as Trump’s shortlived tariffs threat sparks rush into precious metals
giftarticle.ft.com

Reposted by Brett Christophers, Andrew Leyshon, Felicity Callard , and 2 more

paullangley.bsky.social
Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 5d
Now available for pre-order and we're open for book talks to students, workshops and conferences, organisations etc.
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Reposted by Brett Christophers, Andrew Leyshon

will-davies.bsky.social
Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 5d
Fascinating piece by @cedricdurand.bsky.social . A key issue here - as per Microsoft’s recent laments - is the impossibility of forcing firms to adopt a technology that demoralises them and delivers no near-term profit. The limits of financial and cultural hype. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Cédric Durand, After AI — Sidecar
Legacies of the bubble.
newleftreview.org

Reposted by Andrew Leyshon, Paul Langley

fintechcapital.bsky.social
FINTECH CAPITAL @fintechcapital.bsky.social · 6d
Coming soonish! Now available for pre-order press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Fintech Capital
A thorough examination of the worldwide digital transformation of people’s everyday monetary and financial relations driven by the emergence of FinTech
press.princeton.edu

Reposted by Steve Peers, Andrew Scott, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 6 more

guardianheather.bsky.social
Heather Stewart @guardianheather.bsky.social · 6d
US trade secretary Howard Lutnick really not mincing his words here at Davos: "We are here to make a v clear point: globalisation has failed the West and the USA. It's a failed policy. It's what the WEF has stood for, which is, export, offshore, find the cheapest labour in the world."

Reposted by Jeremy Morris, Benjamin Braun, Andrew Leyshon , and 2 more

danielagabor.bsky.social
Daniela Gabor @danielagabor.bsky.social · 6d
Well well well. The Danes are weaponising firesales.

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 10d
Great event last night at NTU on mayoral leadership organised and chaired by Will Rossiter for the Centre for Economy, Policy and Place. Anne Green and Abi Taylor first compared UK and Japan followed by a Q&A with Claire Ward, Mayor of EMCCA, and Aki Takehisa, former Mayor of Setouchi City in Japan

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 27d
My wife and I shared a hotel lift with Phil Manzaneta the morning after we’d watched him play a Roxy Music gig at the O2. We’d bought last minute tickets, and were a long way back, and wife had no idea who he was until I identified him after we’d got out. She thought ‘he was surprisingly posh’.

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · 28d
I’ve stayed with Apple/iTunes. It’s not cheap, but the ability to make smart playlists means it’s a far better user experience. And some bands even claim they get more back per stream from Apple. www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
Spotify paid us 0.29p per stream, so we exposed its unfair model
Streamers are accused of making megastars rich at everyone else’s expense. Now the staunchly independent Los Campesinos! are laying out exactly what they earn
www.thetimes.com

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Dec 27
I have to that I’m pretty confident that UK physicist @briancoxtalks.bsky.social did not in fact use the word ‘math’ as a diminutive form of mathematics when addressing an audience in … *checks notes* … Redditch www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/w...

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Dec 15
Suggestion for a future IWWIW: the geographical anomaly of Welsh clubs playing in English leagues. As a Cardiff fan, I'd like more people to know about the reasons for their invitation, in the hope it might help reduce the tedious demands by other supporters to 'Get back to to the Welsh league'.

Reposted by Andrew Leyshon

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · Dec 11
Labour has quietly gutted funding for Britain’s struggling regions – it’s an economic and political disaster | Larry Elliott
Labour has quietly gutted funding for Britain’s struggling regions – it’s an economic and political disaster | Larry Elliott
A stark new report highlights the price paid in Britain’s former industrial heartlands for this silent demolition job, says Guardian columnist Larry Elliott
www.theguardian.com

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Dec 8
Yes, I used to take my son when he was briefly into Warhammer when he was a pre-teen. Luckily, we were local but some people would happily travel miles to get there.

Reposted by John Hogan

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Dec 7
Yet another example of what Michael Lewis has described as “an experiment in capitalism with too much money”. Searching for this kind of ‘spatial fix’ not new, as @quinnslobodian.com describes in Crack-up Capitalism.

www.ft.com/content/b127... Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
They want to escape from regulation and ‘failing’ democracy — but are they more opportunistic than libertarian?
www.ft.com

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Dec 2
Apart from the Truss/Kwarteng mini-budget, when in the last 50 years has a UK budget not factored in the likely response of the financial markets, given the open nature of its relatively small economy?

Reposted by Andrew Leyshon, Brandon Whitcher

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · Dec 2
The most misleading thing about Rachel Reeves’s budget? Who it was really for | Aditya Chakrabortty
The most misleading thing about Rachel Reeves’s budget? Who it was really for | Aditya Chakrabortty
Labour backbenchers have been cheering it as a win for the most vulnerable in socety. In fact it was aimed at the bond markets, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
www.theguardian.com

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 30
Would need a large cast over several seasons, funded by a deep-pocketed platform, clearly.

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 30
Well, he doesn't *have* to be in it, but if you twisted my arm I could see him as Tony Blair given that GJ was briefly a junior minister in the Department of Transport in the late 1990s before she fell out with him. MR could even talk to his mate Michael Sheen to get some notes on the role.

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 30
Enjoyed watching Netflix’s The Beast in Me, despite its many flaws. My key takeaway, however, was that if she can master the accent then Claire Danes would be perfect as the lead in a ‘Glenda Jackson: The Westminster Years’ biopic. Need to give the Dan Hodges role a bit more thought though.

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 30
That Nottingham is perceived as an unlikely location for all this is best revealed in the chapter on Games Workshop in Elizabeth Currid-Hackett’s book, Starstruck (2011), in which she recounts a train journey from London to interview a star game designer. It has strong Heart of Darkness vibes.

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 30
A Nottingham-based example of the financial returns possible from successfully leveraging affect: Games Workshop is now valued at over £5bn.

on.ft.com/3KpJycC How Warhammer won
How Warhammer won
The maker of the fantasy figurine game is now valued at £5.25bn. What keeps the battle raging on?
on.ft.com

Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin, Andrew Leyshon, David Merrett , and 2 more

writesbright.bsky.social
Sam Bright @writesbright.bsky.social · Nov 27
I'm constantly shocked (but not surprised) by how little we discuss the additional financial burden placed on young people by the Clegg-Cameron student loan regime.

@rmcunliffe.bsky.social is one of the few journalists who brings it up continuously - once again in the wake of the budget 👇
Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax
The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax
www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by Dave O’Brien, Fabián Muniesa

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 24
If you’re in or near @uonresearch.bsky.social tomorrow (Tuesday 25/11) then why not come along and see me present research, jointly undertaken with @allanwatson1.bsky.social, on music and platforms. The Music Dept is an important part of UoN’s research & teaching ecosystem: long may it continue!
Notice of a research seminar superimposed upon a photograph on a concert orchestra during a performance.

Reposted by John Hogan

andrewleyshon.bsky.social
Andrew Leyshon @andrewleyshon.bsky.social · Nov 24
A useful reminder that above all else financial capital hates inflation because it erodes the real value of wealth over time. Lots of useable quotes here. on.ft.com/488mVmh What big bond investors want from the UK Budget
What big bond investors want from the UK Budget
Gilt market players call on government to cut spending and steer clear of inflationary tax rises
on.ft.com