Simon Marlow
@simon12.bsky.social
Labour market, health and work, econometrics, operational research, maths/physics, history and tennis. Leeds based.
Reposted by Simon Marlow
"Partition is a very complicated story. Many people have tried to tell it before, but this is far and away the best book I’ve read on Partition."
fivebooks.com/best-books/w...
fivebooks.com/best-books/w...
India, Ancient and Modern
The award-winning writer selects five books on India and says that the Mahabharata, eight times the length of the Bible, is one of the great works of literature of mankind - and every bit as good as…
fivebooks.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:00 AM
"Partition is a very complicated story. Many people have tried to tell it before, but this is far and away the best book I’ve read on Partition."
fivebooks.com/best-books/w...
fivebooks.com/best-books/w...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
Here's the planned BLS data release schedule for Nov 2025.
On Tues, it couldn't release Sept job openings, hires, layoffs and firings data.
This morning, it couldn't release 2025Q3 business Productivity and Costs data.
Tomorrow, it can't release Oct 2025 #JobsReport
www.bls.gov/schedule/202...
On Tues, it couldn't release Sept job openings, hires, layoffs and firings data.
This morning, it couldn't release 2025Q3 business Productivity and Costs data.
Tomorrow, it can't release Oct 2025 #JobsReport
www.bls.gov/schedule/202...
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
Reposted by Simon Marlow
It took just 8 minutes for thieves to steal the Napoleonic-era crown jewels from the Louvre. There weren't enough cameras and the ones there were there were facing the wrong way.
Could a 50-year-old maths problem have foiled the heist?
🧵
www.bbc.com/news/art...
1/9
Could a 50-year-old maths problem have foiled the heist?
🧵
www.bbc.com/news/art...
1/9
Where are the Louvre jewels now and can France get them back?
Experts warn that whilst the criminals may yet be caught, the gemstones they stole may never be recovered.
www.bbc.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:02 AM
It took just 8 minutes for thieves to steal the Napoleonic-era crown jewels from the Louvre. There weren't enough cameras and the ones there were there were facing the wrong way.
Could a 50-year-old maths problem have foiled the heist?
🧵
www.bbc.com/news/art...
1/9
Could a 50-year-old maths problem have foiled the heist?
🧵
www.bbc.com/news/art...
1/9
Reposted by Simon Marlow
NEW from me:
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
October 31, 2025 at 2:32 PM
NEW from me:
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Reposted by Simon Marlow
I took part in this ONS podcast on crime stats – *and it has a transcript!* sites.libsyn.com/397223/crime...
Statistically Speaking: Crime data: Numbers, narratives and nuance
In “Crime: Numbers, Narratives and Nuance” our host Miles Fletcher speaks with Nick Stripe, Joint Head of Crime Statistics at the ONS and John Rentoul, leading commentator on crime, policing, and the ...
sites.libsyn.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:43 AM
I took part in this ONS podcast on crime stats – *and it has a transcript!* sites.libsyn.com/397223/crime...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
September 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
🔥 Domestic wood burning is becoming a serious public health issue
Residential wood burning now contributes 11% of the UK’s PM2.5 emissions - tiny particles that can harm lungs, brain & heart
See how your area is affected with this interactive map from UCL:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9231...
Residential wood burning now contributes 11% of the UK’s PM2.5 emissions - tiny particles that can harm lungs, brain & heart
See how your area is affected with this interactive map from UCL:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9231...
Where are the wood burners in England and Wales?
Mapping the distribution of wood fuel heat sources using Energy Performance Certificates
storymaps.arcgis.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:50 AM
🔥 Domestic wood burning is becoming a serious public health issue
Residential wood burning now contributes 11% of the UK’s PM2.5 emissions - tiny particles that can harm lungs, brain & heart
See how your area is affected with this interactive map from UCL:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9231...
Residential wood burning now contributes 11% of the UK’s PM2.5 emissions - tiny particles that can harm lungs, brain & heart
See how your area is affected with this interactive map from UCL:
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9231...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Today (date), the Slender-billed Curlew was declared extinct. The first bird extinction on mainland Europe in 500 years — on our watch. Extinction is final. No going back. Think about that.
October 10, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Today (date), the Slender-billed Curlew was declared extinct. The first bird extinction on mainland Europe in 500 years — on our watch. Extinction is final. No going back. Think about that.
Reposted by Simon Marlow
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
October 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them
Reposted by Simon Marlow
🚨 New working paper alert 🚨
Missing summer — and the Tour de France? Don’t worry, we got you covered. 🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️
In this paper, we show that being on the route of Tour de France reduces far-right voting. osf.io/preprints/so...
Missing summer — and the Tour de France? Don’t worry, we got you covered. 🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️
In this paper, we show that being on the route of Tour de France reduces far-right voting. osf.io/preprints/so...
September 16, 2025 at 10:25 AM
🚨 New working paper alert 🚨
Missing summer — and the Tour de France? Don’t worry, we got you covered. 🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️
In this paper, we show that being on the route of Tour de France reduces far-right voting. osf.io/preprints/so...
Missing summer — and the Tour de France? Don’t worry, we got you covered. 🚴♂️🚴♂️🚴♂️
In this paper, we show that being on the route of Tour de France reduces far-right voting. osf.io/preprints/so...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
The Best Things I Have Found on the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Neural Networks
It may simply be that I am in a very unusual position with respect to what I know & what I don't, but I found these three videos from Welch Labs to be incredibly enlightening…
braddelong.substack.com/p/the-best-t...
It may simply be that I am in a very unusual position with respect to what I know & what I don't, but I found these three videos from Welch Labs to be incredibly enlightening…
braddelong.substack.com/p/the-best-t...
The Best Things I Have Found on the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Neural Networks
It may simply be that I am in a very unusual position with respect to what I know & what I don't, but I found these three videos from Welch Labs to be incredibly enlightening with respect to the unrea
braddelong.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 AM
The Best Things I Have Found on the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Neural Networks
It may simply be that I am in a very unusual position with respect to what I know & what I don't, but I found these three videos from Welch Labs to be incredibly enlightening…
braddelong.substack.com/p/the-best-t...
It may simply be that I am in a very unusual position with respect to what I know & what I don't, but I found these three videos from Welch Labs to be incredibly enlightening…
braddelong.substack.com/p/the-best-t...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Some personal news:
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.
I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.
substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Some personal news:
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Nice bit of research we supported through a @britishacademy.bsky.social innovation fellowship. By linking census data with health & education administrative data the research shows absences from school significantly contribute to children experiencing mental ill health
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
September 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Nice bit of research we supported through a @britishacademy.bsky.social innovation fellowship. By linking census data with health & education administrative data the research shows absences from school significantly contribute to children experiencing mental ill health
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Greater Manchester has been the fastest growing part of the country in the past decade – measured either by total growth or by productivity growth. I’ve had a look into the data to try to work out what is growing and why.
Below are some of the things I have found.
🧵 1/7
Below are some of the things I have found.
🧵 1/7
September 4, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Greater Manchester has been the fastest growing part of the country in the past decade – measured either by total growth or by productivity growth. I’ve had a look into the data to try to work out what is growing and why.
Below are some of the things I have found.
🧵 1/7
Below are some of the things I have found.
🧵 1/7
Reposted by Simon Marlow
📢 I've written the @financialtimes.com Free Lunch newsletter today on the rise of populism & its economic implications 📢
No surprise: populism makes for very bad economics, with clear negative impacts regardless of whether it is left-wing or right wing variety
Free-to-read link👉 on.ft.com/4fViP31
No surprise: populism makes for very bad economics, with clear negative impacts regardless of whether it is left-wing or right wing variety
Free-to-read link👉 on.ft.com/4fViP31
August 24, 2025 at 2:10 PM
📢 I've written the @financialtimes.com Free Lunch newsletter today on the rise of populism & its economic implications 📢
No surprise: populism makes for very bad economics, with clear negative impacts regardless of whether it is left-wing or right wing variety
Free-to-read link👉 on.ft.com/4fViP31
No surprise: populism makes for very bad economics, with clear negative impacts regardless of whether it is left-wing or right wing variety
Free-to-read link👉 on.ft.com/4fViP31
Reposted by Simon Marlow
For further reading on why North England is poor and why the UK government should probably stop pouring money into places that won't or can't grow like Oxford, Cambridge, and recently London. tomforth.co.uk/whynorthengl...
Why North England is poor.
And why Thatcher is partly to blame, but not in the way most people argue.
tomforth.co.uk
August 13, 2025 at 11:36 PM
For further reading on why North England is poor and why the UK government should probably stop pouring money into places that won't or can't grow like Oxford, Cambridge, and recently London. tomforth.co.uk/whynorthengl...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.
The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
August 18, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Crime and the perception of crime: @jburnmurdoch.ft.com via @stephenkb.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/9623...
August 1, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Crime and the perception of crime: @jburnmurdoch.ft.com via @stephenkb.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/9623...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
It wouldn't in the short run, because:
(1) electrification, positive because replaces burning near 100% fossil
(2) ending energy poverty in the world
(Total rich world energy consumption should fall somewhat, even with AI hype.)
We are getting there though: jaxroam.medium.com/past-the-pea...
(1) electrification, positive because replaces burning near 100% fossil
(2) ending energy poverty in the world
(Total rich world energy consumption should fall somewhat, even with AI hype.)
We are getting there though: jaxroam.medium.com/past-the-pea...
Past the Peak: Climate Control
From peak emission to peak population to peak car, we are about to enter a series of turning points. Our future depends on how and how fast…
jaxroam.medium.com
August 1, 2025 at 6:17 AM
It wouldn't in the short run, because:
(1) electrification, positive because replaces burning near 100% fossil
(2) ending energy poverty in the world
(Total rich world energy consumption should fall somewhat, even with AI hype.)
We are getting there though: jaxroam.medium.com/past-the-pea...
(1) electrification, positive because replaces burning near 100% fossil
(2) ending energy poverty in the world
(Total rich world energy consumption should fall somewhat, even with AI hype.)
We are getting there though: jaxroam.medium.com/past-the-pea...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Super interesting blogpost on population growth in England over the past few centuries!
We've done it: 60 blogs over our 60th Anniversary Year!
Check out all 60 #Campop blogs here www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/, and keep your eyes peeled for occasional blogs to follow in the same space!
@camunicampop.bsky.social
@camunigeography.bsky.social
@camhistory.bsky.social
Check out all 60 #Campop blogs here www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/, and keep your eyes peeled for occasional blogs to follow in the same space!
@camunicampop.bsky.social
@camunigeography.bsky.social
@camhistory.bsky.social
July 31, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Super interesting blogpost on population growth in England over the past few centuries!
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Interesting-looking new study from the UK finding that being hit by an SUV (as compared to a regular car) "considerably" increases the risk of death for children, and even more so for young children doi.org/10.32866/001...
July 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Interesting-looking new study from the UK finding that being hit by an SUV (as compared to a regular car) "considerably" increases the risk of death for children, and even more so for young children doi.org/10.32866/001...
Reposted by Simon Marlow
I will never not understand how a minority of people have decided that wind farms - significantly prettier than pylons, coal power plants, nuclear power plants, and almost certainly fusion power plants - are ugly. In terms of energy generation, what else are you hoping for that is better?
On holiday, I notice that there are wind turbines on the shore of Lake Garda, which very much makes me think that residents with a view of some incredibly mid Cotswold or other can put a sock in it.
July 28, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I will never not understand how a minority of people have decided that wind farms - significantly prettier than pylons, coal power plants, nuclear power plants, and almost certainly fusion power plants - are ugly. In terms of energy generation, what else are you hoping for that is better?
Reposted by Simon Marlow
My former IfG colleagues have written this excellent blog on lessons from the Turner Commission for the new Pensions Commission.
Let’s apply their top tips to another current “review”: the Mayfield Review into getting employers more active on health and work. How does that measure up? 🧵
Let’s apply their top tips to another current “review”: the Mayfield Review into getting employers more active on health and work. How does that measure up? 🧵
The original pensions commission is the single most effective independent inquiry of the last few decades. @jillongovt.bsky.social @gemmatetlow.bsky.social and I have written on what the new pensions commission announced this week can learn from the original
Lessons for the government’s 'revived' Pensions Commission | Institute for Government
What can the new commission learn from its 2000s predecessor?
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
July 24, 2025 at 4:35 PM
My former IfG colleagues have written this excellent blog on lessons from the Turner Commission for the new Pensions Commission.
Let’s apply their top tips to another current “review”: the Mayfield Review into getting employers more active on health and work. How does that measure up? 🧵
Let’s apply their top tips to another current “review”: the Mayfield Review into getting employers more active on health and work. How does that measure up? 🧵
Reposted by Simon Marlow
Scientists overwhelmingly recognize the value of sharing null results, but rarely publish them in the research literature
go.nature.com/450KElr
go.nature.com/450KElr
Researchers value null results, but struggle to publish them
Survey finds that fear of reputational harm and a lack of support and publication platforms are among respondents’ key concerns.
go.nature.com
July 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Scientists overwhelmingly recognize the value of sharing null results, but rarely publish them in the research literature
go.nature.com/450KElr
go.nature.com/450KElr