Joel Budd
@joelbudd.bsky.social
Journalist at the Economist, writing about life in Britain. Author of "Underdogs".
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.
Testing the pop-culture fragmentation theory
October 5, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Testing the pop-culture fragmentation theory
I would happily pay double the licence fee if the BBC promised to stop reporting on itself
July 12, 2025 at 8:50 AM
I would happily pay double the licence fee if the BBC promised to stop reporting on itself
My clean, elegant, not at all crazy solution to the problem presented by portable air conditioners and British hinged PVC windows. Off to the patent office now.
June 30, 2025 at 6:51 AM
My clean, elegant, not at all crazy solution to the problem presented by portable air conditioners and British hinged PVC windows. Off to the patent office now.
I've been enjoying this very much, by @duncanweldon.bsky.social
It has told me lots of things I didn't know, e.g., why are northern English villages often laid out more logically than southern English villages.
It has told me lots of things I didn't know, e.g., why are northern English villages often laid out more logically than southern English villages.
June 12, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I've been enjoying this very much, by @duncanweldon.bsky.social
It has told me lots of things I didn't know, e.g., why are northern English villages often laid out more logically than southern English villages.
It has told me lots of things I didn't know, e.g., why are northern English villages often laid out more logically than southern English villages.
I also see lots of change in the modified-car scene, which was once overwhelmingly white, working-class and male but isn't today. Do you want a close reading of Max Power, a defunct magazine for car modifiers? You are in luck:
April 16, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I also see lots of change in the modified-car scene, which was once overwhelmingly white, working-class and male but isn't today. Do you want a close reading of Max Power, a defunct magazine for car modifiers? You are in luck:
I also think too much attention has been paid to a certain sort of grumpy middle-aged or old man (yes, almost always a man). This man does not represent the entire white working class. And others have bigger problems than he does:
April 16, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I also think too much attention has been paid to a certain sort of grumpy middle-aged or old man (yes, almost always a man). This man does not represent the entire white working class. And others have bigger problems than he does:
But in general I am quite optimistic. I have little time for the view that white working-class Britons are left behind, stuck in the past, unable to change, etc. People who make such arguments have, I think, not looked closely enough at Britain:
April 16, 2025 at 9:26 AM
But in general I am quite optimistic. I have little time for the view that white working-class Britons are left behind, stuck in the past, unable to change, etc. People who make such arguments have, I think, not looked closely enough at Britain:
I know that many politicians and commentators have argued, more or less explicitly, that white working-class Britons' problems can be blamed on liberalism, wokeness, metropolitan elites etc. My considered response to that account of modern Britain:
April 16, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I know that many politicians and commentators have argued, more or less explicitly, that white working-class Britons' problems can be blamed on liberalism, wokeness, metropolitan elites etc. My considered response to that account of modern Britain:
First of all, what the book isn't. "Underdogs" does not argue that white working-class Britons are exceptionally downtrodden or ill-treated:
April 16, 2025 at 9:26 AM
First of all, what the book isn't. "Underdogs" does not argue that white working-class Britons are exceptionally downtrodden or ill-treated:
My book will be published tomorrow! A short thread about it...
April 16, 2025 at 9:26 AM
My book will be published tomorrow! A short thread about it...
I do not say "mysterious" casually. This from @drjennings.bsky.social and Jamie Furlong's book, The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales. Blue = more Conservative-voting than one would expect.
April 16, 2025 at 8:10 AM
I do not say "mysterious" casually. This from @drjennings.bsky.social and Jamie Furlong's book, The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales. Blue = more Conservative-voting than one would expect.
Book of the Week, Radio 4, 11.45am. Today's episode is about modified cars. This is not an exclusively white working-class thing (it is also, importantly, a working-class Asian Muslim thing) but it provides a rare opportunity to lord it over middle-class people.
March 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Book of the Week, Radio 4, 11.45am. Today's episode is about modified cars. This is not an exclusively white working-class thing (it is also, importantly, a working-class Asian Muslim thing) but it provides a rare opportunity to lord it over middle-class people.
This is the BBC's Book of the Week next week, so do have a listen. Monday to Friday, 11.45am on Radio 4.
March 20, 2025 at 10:41 AM
This is the BBC's Book of the Week next week, so do have a listen. Monday to Friday, 11.45am on Radio 4.
My first book will be published next month! Desiring a simple life, I went for a subject that is not at all controversial, and doesn't cause people to lose their minds.
March 18, 2025 at 8:52 AM
My first book will be published next month! Desiring a simple life, I went for a subject that is not at all controversial, and doesn't cause people to lose their minds.
The Office for National Statistics has produced some new estimates of the UK fertility rate in future. They are startlingly low. In just a few years, the assumption has gone from "probably similar to France" to "more like Japan".
January 28, 2025 at 10:47 AM
The Office for National Statistics has produced some new estimates of the UK fertility rate in future. They are startlingly low. In just a few years, the assumption has gone from "probably similar to France" to "more like Japan".
I'm sorry. I know this means I am a bad person. But I have been driven to it.
January 5, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I'm sorry. I know this means I am a bad person. But I have been driven to it.
Possibly. I don't know much about emigration or emigration statistics. The trend is easier to see in the chart:
November 28, 2024 at 11:00 AM
Possibly. I don't know much about emigration or emigration statistics. The trend is easier to see in the chart:
When you buy a second hand book from Amazon and it turns out to have been owned by a legend*
(*in the not terribly glamorous field of British political science)
(*in the not terribly glamorous field of British political science)
November 22, 2024 at 11:08 AM
When you buy a second hand book from Amazon and it turns out to have been owned by a legend*
(*in the not terribly glamorous field of British political science)
(*in the not terribly glamorous field of British political science)
An extraordinary piece in The Indian Express by Sonalde Desai (***don't worry, parochial British Bluesky users--I will explain the relevance to our small isles in a moment***) x.com/SonaldeDesai...
Sonalde Desai runs the India Human Development Survey, a large social survey. Here she shows...
Sonalde Desai runs the India Human Development Survey, a large social survey. Here she shows...
November 13, 2024 at 9:02 AM
An extraordinary piece in The Indian Express by Sonalde Desai (***don't worry, parochial British Bluesky users--I will explain the relevance to our small isles in a moment***) x.com/SonaldeDesai...
Sonalde Desai runs the India Human Development Survey, a large social survey. Here she shows...
Sonalde Desai runs the India Human Development Survey, a large social survey. Here she shows...
Some people find this sort of thing juvenile. Those people should learn to drive.
October 31, 2024 at 12:30 PM
Some people find this sort of thing juvenile. Those people should learn to drive.