Joel Budd
@joelbudd.bsky.social
Journalist at the Economist, writing about life in Britain. Author of "Underdogs".
This piece seems to conflate two things: businesses involved in crime, and businesses run by immigrants. The author describes Housam’s, a homewares shop on Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough, as “the only original store I could find”. Across the road…
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Why the next election will be fought on our corrupted high streets
Nigel Farage has spent years channelling anger about the rise of vape shops and barbers that suck the life out of town centres. Can his rivals catch up?
www.thetimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:41 AM
This piece seems to conflate two things: businesses involved in crime, and businesses run by immigrants. The author describes Housam’s, a homewares shop on Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough, as “the only original store I could find”. Across the road…
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
A good account of how and why a leading academic can go bad. I can think of a few parallels.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:56 AM
A good account of how and why a leading academic can go bad. I can think of a few parallels.
I have tried and failed to persuade the FT website to drop its obnoxious "this paragraph has been highlighted x times by other subscribers" feature. Will now engage in a campaign of highlighting the dullest paragraphs I can find until it desists. Who's with me?
November 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I have tried and failed to persuade the FT website to drop its obnoxious "this paragraph has been highlighted x times by other subscribers" feature. Will now engage in a campaign of highlighting the dullest paragraphs I can find until it desists. Who's with me?
Reposted by Joel Budd
Here’s my net migration model projected forwards two years (plus past figures). Net migration actually looks like hovering at about 300,000 in 2025 before coming crashing down in 2026. The government must avoid the temptation to cut immigration even further when they see these figures. (1/2)
November 7, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Here’s my net migration model projected forwards two years (plus past figures). Net migration actually looks like hovering at about 300,000 in 2025 before coming crashing down in 2026. The government must avoid the temptation to cut immigration even further when they see these figures. (1/2)
Reposted by Joel Budd
Great bit of reporting from Barrow-in-Furness - perhaps the last true manufacturing town in Britain, where a third of the population works in industry: www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Boom times in a British manufacturing town
But submarines are not enough
www.economist.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Great bit of reporting from Barrow-in-Furness - perhaps the last true manufacturing town in Britain, where a third of the population works in industry: www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Reposted by Joel Budd
Jordan Bardella is France’s most popular politician. His ideas would set 🇫🇷 on a collision path with not only EU institutions but with France’s main partner, Germany. For the RN leader, this seems to be the point
In @economist.com this week
economist.com/europe/2025/...
In @economist.com this week
economist.com/europe/2025/...
Jordan Bardella starts to lay out his plans
The 30-year-old French populist who is preparing for power
economist.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Jordan Bardella is France’s most popular politician. His ideas would set 🇫🇷 on a collision path with not only EU institutions but with France’s main partner, Germany. For the RN leader, this seems to be the point
In @economist.com this week
economist.com/europe/2025/...
In @economist.com this week
economist.com/europe/2025/...
Reposted by Joel Budd
The news that fans of the late Zambian president Edgar Lungu are singing David Baddiel/Frank Skinner's "Three Lions" because they want his body to come home from South Africa to Zambia is the funniest story I've read today: www.wsj.com/world/africa...
Why a Song for Sad English Soccer Fans Is at the Center of a Fight Gripping Africa
Supporters of a deceased Zambian president have appropriated “Three Lions” in their campaign to bring his body home.
www.wsj.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
The news that fans of the late Zambian president Edgar Lungu are singing David Baddiel/Frank Skinner's "Three Lions" because they want his body to come home from South Africa to Zambia is the funniest story I've read today: www.wsj.com/world/africa...
Reposted by Joel Budd
The electoral outcome most strongly linked to deprivation is not any party’s vote share, but turnout. Across almost all indicators, turnout is markedly lower in more deprived areas, with only barriers to housing & services and quality in the living environment showing weaker correlations.
November 3, 2025 at 8:41 AM
The electoral outcome most strongly linked to deprivation is not any party’s vote share, but turnout. Across almost all indicators, turnout is markedly lower in more deprived areas, with only barriers to housing & services and quality in the living environment showing weaker correlations.
‘Tis the season for Britons to complain about Halloween practices imported from America. There were no trick-or-treating when I were a lad, etc. But Americans think trick-or-treating is a British / Irish import:
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
The History of Trick-or-Treating Goes Back Centuries
From the ancient Celts to medieval English, the Halloween tradition precedes the costumed children who will soon swarm your block
www.smithsonianmag.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:19 AM
‘Tis the season for Britons to complain about Halloween practices imported from America. There were no trick-or-treating when I were a lad, etc. But Americans think trick-or-treating is a British / Irish import:
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
My rule for political scandals is that they have to be explicable in one sentence, without commas, e.g. “Boris Johnson partied during lockdown”, “Bill Clinton had sex with an intern in the White House”. I’m struggling with the Rachel Reeves rental story, though it’s simpler than the Rayner story.
October 30, 2025 at 8:16 AM
My rule for political scandals is that they have to be explicable in one sentence, without commas, e.g. “Boris Johnson partied during lockdown”, “Bill Clinton had sex with an intern in the White House”. I’m struggling with the Rachel Reeves rental story, though it’s simpler than the Rayner story.
Enid Blyton is the clear leader in this series (the first book that literary folk remember loving). Nobody else is even close.
www.thetimes.com/uk/get-brita...
www.thetimes.com/uk/get-brita...
The books that turned us into readers
From Nick Cave to Jacqueline Wilson, famous names reveal the book that turned them into a bibliophile
www.thetimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Enid Blyton is the clear leader in this series (the first book that literary folk remember loving). Nobody else is even close.
www.thetimes.com/uk/get-brita...
www.thetimes.com/uk/get-brita...
Reposted by Joel Budd
Column on the government’s Buckaroo! strategy - keep piling obligations and charges on certain sectors and hope they don’t kick you in the head. Housing, energy, pharma, immigrants…
economist.com/britain/2025...
economist.com/britain/2025...
Buckaroo! The British government’s favourite game
Heaping burdens on business works. Until business begins to buck
economist.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Column on the government’s Buckaroo! strategy - keep piling obligations and charges on certain sectors and hope they don’t kick you in the head. Housing, energy, pharma, immigrants…
economist.com/britain/2025...
economist.com/britain/2025...
I don't know how the British state would cope without Louise Casey. Like Reform UK without Nigel Farage, or the BBC natural history unit without David Attenborough.
October 22, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I don't know how the British state would cope without Louise Casey. Like Reform UK without Nigel Farage, or the BBC natural history unit without David Attenborough.
Reposted by Joel Budd
An opportunity to join the staff of The Economist
Wanted: a new finance writer
An opportunity to join the staff of The Economist
econ.st
October 22, 2025 at 12:10 PM
An opportunity to join the staff of The Economist
Reposted by Joel Budd
Brian Bell, chair of the migration Advisory Committee, says "the government would be in breach, very clear breach, of its manifesto commitment to reduce net migration" if it signed up to an uncapped EU youth mobility scheme. I don't think that's true. 1/n
www.politico.eu/article/brus...
www.politico.eu/article/brus...
Brussels’ Brexit reset demands put Keir Starmer in a migration bind
The European Union’s pitch for youth mobility is asking Keir Starmer to break his manifesto pledges on migration.
www.politico.eu
October 22, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Brian Bell, chair of the migration Advisory Committee, says "the government would be in breach, very clear breach, of its manifesto commitment to reduce net migration" if it signed up to an uncapped EU youth mobility scheme. I don't think that's true. 1/n
www.politico.eu/article/brus...
www.politico.eu/article/brus...
Fearless forecast: all the Louvre robbers will be caught. The reason this crime is receiving so much attention (apart from the fame of the location and the historical value of the jewels) is that it's an old-school craft crime. The reason craft crime declined, to be replaced by deskilled...
October 21, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Fearless forecast: all the Louvre robbers will be caught. The reason this crime is receiving so much attention (apart from the fame of the location and the historical value of the jewels) is that it's an old-school craft crime. The reason craft crime declined, to be replaced by deskilled...
Seen in Barrow. The country urgently needs to develop a more inclusive Eglish identity.
October 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Seen in Barrow. The country urgently needs to develop a more inclusive Eglish identity.
Latest evidence of state incompetence. The report lacks detail but is still pretty damning.
98% of homes with external wall insulation installed under the government’s ECO scheme require work to correct major issues that will cause problems such as damp and mould - our new @nao.org.uk report www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (full report www.nao.org.uk/reports/ener...)
Thousands of homes with botched eco insulation 'must be fixed'
Insulation programmes costing billions of pounds have led to widespread problems with damp and mould.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 14, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Latest evidence of state incompetence. The report lacks detail but is still pretty damning.
As James has observed before, EU migrants to Britain are also ethnically diverse—especially in the younger age groups.
October 11, 2025 at 11:37 AM
As James has observed before, EU migrants to Britain are also ethnically diverse—especially in the younger age groups.
This is nuts. Do read while eating.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Grisly recording reveals bat catching, killing and eating robin mid-flight
Before the Spanish study, some scientists had been sceptical about the mammals attacking migratory birds
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This is nuts. Do read while eating.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
This Briton scores 16/25. Any New Yorker who scores lower needs to leave immediately.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Are You a True New Yorker? Take Our Quiz
Think you know the landmarks, legends and lore of the city that never stops reinventing itself? See how well you measure up.
www.nytimes.com
October 7, 2025 at 3:01 PM
This Briton scores 16/25. Any New Yorker who scores lower needs to leave immediately.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Joel Budd
What’s notable about Tory don’t knows is how they’re just Tories. They look like loyal Tories, think like them, and don’t like any other party. The only point of distinction is liking Badenoch a lot less, but otherwise basically 1m easily win-backable votes for the party.
October 5, 2025 at 8:06 AM
What’s notable about Tory don’t knows is how they’re just Tories. They look like loyal Tories, think like them, and don’t like any other party. The only point of distinction is liking Badenoch a lot less, but otherwise basically 1m easily win-backable votes for the party.
Reposted by Joel Budd
The 10 year wait for Indefinite Leave to Remain will make the UK very unattractive for high skilled workers who often have alternatives. 2019 data (excluding the NHS and universities) shows that high skilled workers on visas are heavily concentrated in multinationals who can move jobs abroad (5/x)
October 4, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The 10 year wait for Indefinite Leave to Remain will make the UK very unattractive for high skilled workers who often have alternatives. 2019 data (excluding the NHS and universities) shows that high skilled workers on visas are heavily concentrated in multinationals who can move jobs abroad (5/x)
Reposted by Joel Budd
No more hippy punching. Starmer decides to stop punching its own voters in the face www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Labour has decided to stop punching its own voters
Sir Keir Starmer has embraced peace and love of the party’s hippy base
www.economist.com
October 1, 2025 at 8:50 PM
No more hippy punching. Starmer decides to stop punching its own voters in the face www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Reposted by Joel Budd
Aux armes, citoyens!
On Starmer's headspinning change of strategy, and a rather Macron-like attempt to force a showdown between liberal Britain and Farageism.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
On Starmer's headspinning change of strategy, and a rather Macron-like attempt to force a showdown between liberal Britain and Farageism.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Sir Keir Starmer declares a battle for the soul of Britain
The Labour Party takes aim at Nigel Farage and Reform UK
www.economist.com
October 1, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Aux armes, citoyens!
On Starmer's headspinning change of strategy, and a rather Macron-like attempt to force a showdown between liberal Britain and Farageism.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
On Starmer's headspinning change of strategy, and a rather Macron-like attempt to force a showdown between liberal Britain and Farageism.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...