Graham Walker
@grahamwalkernrg.bsky.social
Research @ VaasaETT
Previously @ Petrologica
Alum University of Essex
Views inevitably my own.
Previously @ Petrologica
Alum University of Essex
Views inevitably my own.
Interesting that it focuses on the objection side - surely there is a similar potential issue on the application side?
November 14, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Interesting that it focuses on the objection side - surely there is a similar potential issue on the application side?
Used to live a mile or so from St Mary's Lawford, nice to see
This was such a fun piece—which we syndicated on @wired.com from Chris's own excellent newsletter, the Reengineer. I wonder where else in the world such moves are being made.
www.wired.com/story/let-th...
www.wired.com/story/let-th...
British Churches Are Putting Their Faith in Heat Pumps
Ancient buildings and old bones aren’t getting in the way of the transition.
www.wired.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Used to live a mile or so from St Mary's Lawford, nice to see
The parallels drawn here are with mortgage-backed securities, canals, fibre optics etc. but I think a more useful parallel bubble missed is fracking through to around 2016. Fracked wells have the same short lifetime as chips #energysky #greensky
so @matteowong.bsky.social & I wrote on data centers: arguably the most important buildings in the world & are, in a way, holding the economy hostage. Byzantine financial instruments, private equity, depreciating tech, hype, $trillion valuations. it’s all there. an ai crash prob starts here.
Here’s How the AI Crash Happens
The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.
www.theatlantic.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:25 AM
The parallels drawn here are with mortgage-backed securities, canals, fibre optics etc. but I think a more useful parallel bubble missed is fracking through to around 2016. Fracked wells have the same short lifetime as chips #energysky #greensky
My "only Labour can stop Reform" billboard has a lot of people asking questions already answered by the billboard.
"As I drove into Caerphilly for the count there was a giant electronic billboard that read “only Labour can stop Reform”.The last minute attempts to suggest that a vote for anyone other than them was a vote for Reform was divorced from reality"
open.substack.com/pub/willhayw...
open.substack.com/pub/willhayw...
Plaid smash Reform to win in Caerphilly
These are the key takeaways from a massive night in Welsh politics
open.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 8:31 AM
My "only Labour can stop Reform" billboard has a lot of people asking questions already answered by the billboard.
Anyone with the first understanding of collective action problems will realise pitting the media literacy of individuals up against campaigns leveraging the best insights of experts will only have one winner, with the same result as "willpower vs tobacco or gambling companies"
In schools, media literacy will be embedded across subjects through the ongoing curriculum review. New guidance will cover AI, deepfakes, social media manipulation, and online misogyny.
October 17, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Anyone with the first understanding of collective action problems will realise pitting the media literacy of individuals up against campaigns leveraging the best insights of experts will only have one winner, with the same result as "willpower vs tobacco or gambling companies"
Only one letter away from being statistician and eugenicist Karl Pearson's census entry ("random walker") en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Pe...
October 13, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Only one letter away from being statistician and eugenicist Karl Pearson's census entry ("random walker") en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Pe...
Playing this as a busking opener is not only that it is hugely recognisable, but also surely a function of its first note being a gliss
Multiple simultaneous correct guesses! It was in fact "Careless Whisper." This must be universal among saxophonists, no?
October 10, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Playing this as a busking opener is not only that it is hugely recognisable, but also surely a function of its first note being a gliss
I mean this is in line with my priors of course (we were expecting a slightly earlier peak of shale pre-COVID than is actually happening), but I would also point out that the Dallas Fed survey is full of terrible takes, so should really just be ignored.
Now we have oil execs admitting this obvious truth.
"We have begun the twilight of shale...The U.S. isn't running out of oil, but she sure is running out of $60 per barrel oil. $100 per barrel? $150 per barrel? Price likely must cover for less-than-optimal geology over time."
"We have begun the twilight of shale...The U.S. isn't running out of oil, but she sure is running out of $60 per barrel oil. $100 per barrel? $150 per barrel? Price likely must cover for less-than-optimal geology over time."
Oil and gas activity slips again on elevated uncertainty, higher costs
Activity in the oil and gas sector declined slightly in the third quarter of 2025, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey.
www.dallasfed.org
September 25, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I mean this is in line with my priors of course (we were expecting a slightly earlier peak of shale pre-COVID than is actually happening), but I would also point out that the Dallas Fed survey is full of terrible takes, so should really just be ignored.
Also most likely not economic, so there's that.
"Neither the companies nor the administration has shared the science backing the claim that recycling nuclear fuel at commercial scale using current industry techniques is safe or practical."
Trump’s nuclear ‘renaissance’ rests on risky plan for radioactive waste
The administration goes all-in on recycling spent fuel, despite a history of spectacular mishaps, including an unintentional atom bomb.
wapo.st
September 23, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Also most likely not economic, so there's that.
I guess the other side of this, from political science, comes down to a basic question: what are politicians for?
Communication and agenda-setting is usually considered in their basic skillset, notwithstanding that the press can be hostile.
Communication and agenda-setting is usually considered in their basic skillset, notwithstanding that the press can be hostile.
My most centrist dad take is that most governing politicians deserve sympathy because almost every policy that's actually any good for the country is unpopular, and almost every popular policy is probably bad.
Johnson's Brexit approach was far worse than Chequers IMHO but 20ppts more popular 1/
Johnson's Brexit approach was far worse than Chequers IMHO but 20ppts more popular 1/
September 16, 2025 at 8:35 AM
I guess the other side of this, from political science, comes down to a basic question: what are politicians for?
Communication and agenda-setting is usually considered in their basic skillset, notwithstanding that the press can be hostile.
Communication and agenda-setting is usually considered in their basic skillset, notwithstanding that the press can be hostile.
Canadians have called this genre "Norwailing" when applied to the failure of Alberta/Canada to create a sovereign wealth fund.
in this week's newsletter! if you would like to know how my trip to Oslo went, please know I've titled the piece "notes on a Scandisaster": youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/continenta... [free to read!]
September 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Canadians have called this genre "Norwailing" when applied to the failure of Alberta/Canada to create a sovereign wealth fund.
We read Dahl at @universityofessex.bsky.social under Anthony King in the 2000s. I had the privilege of being a TA on that course in the 2010s while he was still lecturing and Dahl was still the set text. Amongst the most mainstream theorists of democracy. If even he is considered "seditious"...
Robert Dahl is the most famous and respected scholar of American democracy of the mid-20th Century. "How Democratic is the American Constitution?" was his last book, published in 2001, when he was, I believe, 86. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
September 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM
We read Dahl at @universityofessex.bsky.social under Anthony King in the 2000s. I had the privilege of being a TA on that course in the 2010s while he was still lecturing and Dahl was still the set text. Amongst the most mainstream theorists of democracy. If even he is considered "seditious"...
Good to see that the Loneliness Party scored 14x the votes of the Communist party in the Norwegian elections. Hopefully they found some friends during the campaign.
September 9, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Good to see that the Loneliness Party scored 14x the votes of the Communist party in the Norwegian elections. Hopefully they found some friends during the campaign.
This is the face of a king who has just realised the opponent has mate in 5.
One of the Lewis Chessmen - currently on display at Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway. Found in 1831 on a beach at Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, the pieces date to the late 12th or early 13th century. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday
September 5, 2025 at 9:34 AM
This is the face of a king who has just realised the opponent has mate in 5.
....is Twitter welcoming?
Bluesky is shrinking rather than growing. It has no source of revenue. If it doesn’t grow, *it will die*.
Constantly making it unwelcoming, saying who you don’t want here, setting rules for what other sites people should and shouldn’t use, and the like, will kill it quicker.
Constantly making it unwelcoming, saying who you don’t want here, setting rules for what other sites people should and shouldn’t use, and the like, will kill it quicker.
September 1, 2025 at 10:40 AM
....is Twitter welcoming?
Did you honestly send a guy from Brisbane to Olkiluoto just to say how great nuclear is at saving emissions?
Olkilouto could power roughly 5 million Aussie homes each day - emissions free.
The first 2 reactors began operating in 1979 & 1982. For over 40 years they've been providing clean energy. Planned to operate until 2038, with plans to extend that further.
Nuclear offers decades of clean energy.
The first 2 reactors began operating in 1979 & 1982. For over 40 years they've been providing clean energy. Planned to operate until 2038, with plans to extend that further.
Nuclear offers decades of clean energy.
August 28, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Did you honestly send a guy from Brisbane to Olkiluoto just to say how great nuclear is at saving emissions?
Worth noting also that "Ei kivikausi päättynyt siihen, että kivet loppuivat" originates in the oil industry.
Entinen europarlamentaarikko ja autonkuljettaja Ari Vatanen otti lehtitietojen mukaan kantaa ylikulutukseen. Vatasen käyttämä esimerkki herätti luonnollisesti kivikaudentutkijan huomion. Kivikausi mainittu!
1/n
1/n
August 5, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Worth noting also that "Ei kivikausi päättynyt siihen, että kivet loppuivat" originates in the oil industry.
Nuclear has had political consensus backing it for 20 years (since Blair's 2005 "back with a vengeance"). Hinkley Point C has had its CfD in place for 12 years. Weird to say the UK has focused on "expensive" tech in offshore wind, but then say the solution was a *more expensive* bit of tech.
10/ So Britain has leant in to a fast energy transition, focused on an expensive piece of tech (offshore wind).
Even though solar was never a great option, nuclear power might have been—and could still be, if Britain can sort out its regulatory and political kludge there.
Even though solar was never a great option, nuclear power might have been—and could still be, if Britain can sort out its regulatory and political kludge there.
August 1, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Nuclear has had political consensus backing it for 20 years (since Blair's 2005 "back with a vengeance"). Hinkley Point C has had its CfD in place for 12 years. Weird to say the UK has focused on "expensive" tech in offshore wind, but then say the solution was a *more expensive* bit of tech.
New influencer fad diet just dropped.
This doesn't really mean anything, but out of curiosity, I calculated it.
If you could eat electricity, you'd only need between 3 and 4 solar panels to meet the recommended daily caloric intake.
If you could eat electricity, you'd only need between 3 and 4 solar panels to meet the recommended daily caloric intake.
July 3, 2025 at 11:46 AM
New influencer fad diet just dropped.
Conversations with me are already like this.
June 27, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Conversations with me are already like this.
All the people in this thread would love The Return of the Obra Dinn
I'm now obsessed with this image of sailors on the deck of a U.S. Navy gunboat during the Civil War. The guy with the banjo. The guy with the pipe. The guy reading the newspaper. The guy holding a dog.
catalog.archives.gov/id/526207
catalog.archives.gov/id/526207
June 26, 2025 at 8:17 AM
All the people in this thread would love The Return of the Obra Dinn
Reposted by Graham Walker
Hobbes: Human beings are naturally selfish.
Rousseau: Listen. You’ve only studied human beings in captivity.
Rousseau: Listen. You’ve only studied human beings in captivity.
June 26, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Hobbes: Human beings are naturally selfish.
Rousseau: Listen. You’ve only studied human beings in captivity.
Rousseau: Listen. You’ve only studied human beings in captivity.
I get the point and I broadly agree, but disagree that "it used to be OK, now it isn't" - democracy grew up in the age of hand bills and tiny news sheets. Democracy entrenched while magnates bought up all the papers.
🧵 I argue that we can understand the functioning of democracy through 3 core ideals, verification, deliberation and accountability. While no democracy fully achieves those ideals, this thread explains how MAGA destroys all three and inevitably results in democratic regression into authoritarianism.
The conditions that have led to what’s happening in the US today exist in democracies around the world.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
They are an inevitable outcome of our collective failure to adapt to fundamental changes in the information ecosystem on which our democracies were originally built.
June 11, 2025 at 7:27 AM
I get the point and I broadly agree, but disagree that "it used to be OK, now it isn't" - democracy grew up in the age of hand bills and tiny news sheets. Democracy entrenched while magnates bought up all the papers.
Reposted by Graham Walker
The key to winning at both politics and elections is realizing that future opinions — "latent opinion" — is different from what we can measure about public opinion using polls _today_. Future opinion is downstream of both what leaders do *and* don't do today. The future is not exogenous
May 27, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The key to winning at both politics and elections is realizing that future opinions — "latent opinion" — is different from what we can measure about public opinion using polls _today_. Future opinion is downstream of both what leaders do *and* don't do today. The future is not exogenous
Interesting thread from @ketanjoshi.co - graph in the bottom left certainly shows seasonality to nuclear output, albeit especially low output this April. Something is not adding up with the "low prices" explanation just yet - the whole point of nukes is to run at high capacity factor.
#energysky
#energysky
My first Q was - how often does nuclear operate at such low levels in Spain?
The answer is kind of stunning: it has NEVER operated at such low levels, at least in ten years and I'd happily bet much more.
This happened **pre blackout** - for ~1.5 weeks
The answer is kind of stunning: it has NEVER operated at such low levels, at least in ten years and I'd happily bet much more.
This happened **pre blackout** - for ~1.5 weeks
May 7, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Interesting thread from @ketanjoshi.co - graph in the bottom left certainly shows seasonality to nuclear output, albeit especially low output this April. Something is not adding up with the "low prices" explanation just yet - the whole point of nukes is to run at high capacity factor.
#energysky
#energysky