Will Hutton
@williamnhutton
Political economist, author, Observer columnist, President of the Academy of Social Sciences and host of the We Society podcast. All views are my own!
The government is listing badly in the water before a barrage of right wing attacks. ‘Pragmatism’ and ‘stability’ don’t cut it. Instead it must fight fire with fire. observer.co.uk/news/opinion-a…
I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It. nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opi… via @NYTOpinion
Feed the world, the famous Live Aid concert whose 40 year anniversary we celebrate. Today: vaccinate the world! As Liverpool emerges as a potential measles hotspot, the same applies to the UK. Children around the world face a death sentence because o... observer.co.uk/news/opinion-a…
14 million people, of whom 4 million will be children under 5, are expected to die over the next five years because of G7 aid cuts and anti-vaccine rhetoric. Shameful and avoidable. Children around the world face a death sentence because o... observer.co.uk/news/opinion-a…
Time to speak out in praise of vaccination and against the anti-vaccination crowd who will kill millions of innocents. observer.co.uk/news/opinion-a…
Wes Streeting makes a powerful case…. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
A powerful leader from the Economist on the purposeless, amoral disgrace that the continued onslaught on and starvation of Gaza entails. The continuation of the war in Gaza disgraces Israel (from @TheEconomist) economist.com/leaders/2025/0…
The Purposeful Company (which I co-chair) has been making the case for British utilities to incorporate as public benefit companies for ten years. Today’s water review recommending just that is a bit of a moment for us. Good arguments can make a difference. Now for every utility!
Surprisingly strong water industry review. Good on regulation, social tariffs & consumer protection. Right every company be a public benefit company with appropriate cash and capital, and new powers to block private equity. All welcome but 30 years late. news.sky.com/story/broken-w…
The 3 water companies with the worst record are all owned (or have been owned) by Private Equity. Replacing OfWat is an easy ‘win’. Banning PE is the real target. Water regulator Ofwat faces being scrapped as review looks at industry shake-up via @FT on.ft.com/44DsMOB
Just finished this extraordinary paean to the deep love between John Lennon and Paul McCartney that created such a fantastic canon of music. Gets under the skin of their music, those times and a male relationship like none else. The last para is one of literature’s greatest.
This is such a travesty of what happened that it takes my breath away. Anything to hit the Starmer government whatever the context, inherited roots of the scandal and the truth. Goodwin sinks to new lows - which in his heart he must know.
In the last 24 hours it has become crystal clear to everybody in the UK that the reason the state took winter fuel payments from British pensioners, raided British family farms, and piled taxes on British businesses was so it could spend billions secretly importing dangerous…
Agreed. It’s a form of ritual self-flagellation; the need to flay your own institution in public to prove your virtue, so wholly distorting news values.
I am loath to criticise my former BBC colleagues and I’m aware they weren’t in on the story. But the idea of a TV presenter losing his job being the top story on the website as opposed to Parliament being kept in the dark for two years about the Afghan data leak is risible.
He was once Prime Minister- wrecked his country and his party. Shakespeare’s fools tell underlying truths. Johnson can’t manage even that.
I’d say that with this article Boris Johnson has completely lost his mind, except that we all know that happened some time ago.
Housing wealth is strangling Britain and creating indefensible intergenerational inequality. Syed is right. Tory MP Tom Tugendhat has argued similarly. A taboo is being challenged. The property-owning class should take a big hit. Yes, that includes me thetimes.com/article/9fafa6…
Entirely agree. Refusal to introduce ID cards baffling. Britain in a deep sense is ungoverned.
The weird shadow of the mid-2000s debate on ID cards never ceases to amaze. With the need for reliable digital identification and the need to clamp down on the informal labour market, the case has never been stronger.
Allowing pension funds voluntarily to desert our country is an important cause of economic stagnation. The debate deserved more nuance than this incendiary, knee-jerk intervention. BoE governor opposes UK plan to mandate pension scheme investment via @FT on.ft.com/40aMfn5
Our service exports have done well. Without Brexit they would have done even better. Great research from the LSE. Don’t believe the myth: Britain’s services have been hit hard by Brexit via @FT on.ft.com/3IlOyxr
Brilliant stuff - great on causes of poor UK growth and productivity, illuminating about Bidenomics and above all a good listen ( as you might expect!)
In the final episode of Season 8 of the We Society podcast, @edballs, @annastansbury & Dan Turner join @williamnhutton to discuss their research into regional inequalities in the UK and the lessons we can learn from “Bidenomics” in the US. ➡️podfollow.com/the-we-society
Ed Balls is not only an ex politician and ex dancer but a formidable social scientist. Here he and team offer their research - and answers - into Britains appallingly low productivity open.spotify.com/episode/02NZEj…