David Spencer

Vice-chancellor calls for review into student loans for those without A-levels Adam Tickell, of University of Birmingham, says money is loaned to people who ‘are not really capable of graduating’

My dad (a sheet metal worker) was made redundant in his 50s & went on to pursue a degree in the history of fine & decorative arts. His life was transformed as a result. Restricting access to HE for those without A-levels would deny others of the same opportunities www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Football’s converging moral panics hold up a mirror to our fractured world | Jonathan Liew From grappling at corners to VAR, the endless list of complaints reflects a wider sense of dislocation from ‘the product’

Football has become a useful support for capitalism (though like my fellow Leeds fans in this picture, I know it cannot last and that it will inevitably be replaced with something better, sometime in the future) www.theguardian.com/football/202...

From thermal underwear to ‘hairy’ jam: World Book Day titles take over UK book chart Jamie Smart’s Bunny vs Monkey: Total Chaos! was No 1 in the chart last week as the Top 10 was dominated by the charity’s discounted children’s reads ahead of annual event

On World Book Day, my thoughts are with all the many authors who have written books that remain unread (and unknown and unloved) www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Will petrol and diesel prices go up because of the Iran war? If oil prices remain high for some time, the knock-on effects could affect the costs of fuel and food

A reminder here that domestic inflation is largely driven by commodity prices and in that sense it is beyond the direct control of the central bank (despite what they might tell us) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

AI slop: Can players and football clubs do anything about it? There is an exponential growth of AI 'slop' involving players and football clubs. Is there anything that can be done to stop it?

Does AI slop extend to "moneyball" as applied to football? (and maybe VAR too?) www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

The skewering of the myth that "hard work guarantees economic success" is particularly noteworthy and impactful

Watch: 'Working hard used to get you something', says victorious Green Party candidate In her acceptance speech, Hannah Spencer said she was “no different from every single person in this constituency”.

Powerful speech not least due to its authenticity - who knew that addressing pressing economic concerns like the cost of living crisis would cut through with voters? www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

tbf Kalecki also outlined ways to overcome the political obstacles to full employment though these are likely to prove just as unpalatable to policymakers

Young people out of work, training and education edges closer to one million People at the start of their careers are particularly affected by the UK's weak job market.

Work isn't working, nor is training or education, would be one way of viewing this result www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Keen bosses, strange mistakes and a looming threat: workers on training AI to do their jobs Some say the technology is devaluing their work, while others reckon it is not yet – and might never be – good enough to replace them entirely

Few workers have the agency to train AI (the examples in this piece are exceptional) - rather, most have little say over what and how AI is used: this explains why it is perceived as a threat both to the quantity and quality of employment www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

ONS criticises hit TV series Industry over characters impersonating staff Head of statistics agency tells BBC that depiction risks undermining ‘delicate relationship’ with public

Television as a threat to survey data (a possible testable hypothesis if only we had reliable statistics) www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...

UK government finances better than expected in January The government took in more from tax receipts than expected, official data suggests.

Hard to read too much into one month’s data but a fiscal surplus does imply (dare I say it) “headroom“ for more government spending (including to counter higher unemployment) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

12-hour days, no weekends: the anxiety driving AI’s brutal work culture is a warning for all of us San Francisco’s AI startups are pushing workers to grind endlessly, hinting at pressures soon hitting other sectors

The nightmare with AI may not be a "world without work" but one where we continue to work the same or more - the AI startups that offer us a glimpse into a future of long working hours and intensive work www.theguardian.com/technology/n...

Farage expected to name Jenrick as potential future chancellor Former Tory minister one of a raft of likely appointments to counter accusations Reform is a ‘one-man band’

I anticipate a letter from 365 economists decrying his first budget www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

UK unemployment rate hits five-year high of 5.2% as wage growth cools ONS figures will hopes of further interest rate cut by Bank of England in the spring

A lot will be made of supply side factors (like a higher minimum wage, national insurance increases and the effects of AI) but weak demand remains a drag on the economy and a reason for higher unemployment www.theguardian.com/business/202...

UK ad agencies undergo their biggest exodus of staff as AI threatens industry Number of employees declined by more than 14% to 24,963 last year, with fall greatest among younger workers

If AI generated content is more effective at getting us to buy more stuff will the unintended effect of AI be that we all consume and work more? Forget a work-less future think of one where we remain on the same consumerist treadmill www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...

Reeves appoints higher pay advocate to fight skills shortages as chief economic adviser Labour market expert Prof Brian Bell has called for better pay and conditions in key sectors, particularly social care

Interesting appointment - the challenge will be to raise wages while the unemployment rate is rising but good to see advocacy of higher pay and better working conditions at the centre of govt www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Thomas Tuchel: England manager signs two-year extension Thomas Tuchel commits to two more years as England manager, which will take him through to Euro 2028.

He hasn't won the world cup yet... www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

UK economy grows by 0.1% despite uncertainty over Reeves’s budget ONS reports GDP growth increased in final three months of 2025 after 0.1% growth in previous three months

A positive spin on what is a poor outcome - 0.1% growth is consistent with continuing economic stagnation www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Scrapping REF should be ‘serious’ option, says Manchester VC - Research Professional News Duncan Ivison questions “usefulness” of “massive, bureaucratic” research assessment exercise

Wearing my economist hat, the opportunity cost of the REF remains high and its abolition might actually create more time for research www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Why Google just issued a rare 100-year bond | CNN Business Why Google just issued a rare 100-year bond

Will capitalism outlast the lifetime of the bond? edition.cnn.com/2026/02/10/b...

Rethinking Economics, the movement changing how the subject is taught Born of student disquiet after the 2008 crash, the group says it is reshaping economists’ education

Some universities (albeit a minority) were rethinking economics before the 2008 crisis (I would count Leeds among them). Whether economics teaching has changed fundamentally since the crisis is a moot point. But good to see this issue discussed www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A reminder that people may not be working for wages but still working very hard in other valuable though unpaid activities outside of the labour market

AI gold rush sees tech firms embracing 72-hour weeks In the race for AI, tech firms are asking for their staff to work long hours. But there are risks, experts say.

The irony is that AI is often sold as a way for us to work less in the future. The opposite may be true at least if the profit motive remains in place www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Global economy must move past GDP to avoid planetary disaster, warns UN chief Exclusive: António Guterres says world’s accounting systems should place true value on the environment

Good to see but when governments around the world are looking to accelerate growth it seems a forlorn warning. The growth fetish remains strong despite and indeed because of stagnant economic growth www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rightwing critics blame Mamdani as New York snow fails to melt Murdoch tabloid leads charge as big freeze persists – could the mayor please do something about the weather?

Non-melting snow - the Achilles heal of the Left www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

From growth to post-growth – lessons from Keynes | LSE British Politics John Maynard Keynes would have approved of the Government's growth goals. But Keynes didn't think economic growth should go on forever.

New blog in which I draw on Keynes to support thinking about futures beyond growth blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Price of average UK home passes £300,000 for first time, Halifax says Property prices in January rose 0.7%, the fastest rate since November 2024 increase of 1.1%

Higher house prices not only add to household debt but also increase the need to work for longer. We can’t imagine a future of less work while housing costs keep on rising www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Envisioning the Future of Work: From Ideas to Reforms Two different theoretical perspectives concerning technology and the future of work are examined. One is linked to mainstream economics, whereas the other is associated with critical (‘post-work’) di...

Very glad to see this paper is now published. I show how ideas shape our understanding of the effects of technology on work and how their reform is important in creating a better future of work and life (I'd be humbled if you read) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

From growth to post-growth – lessons from Keynes | LSE British Politics John Maynard Keynes would have approved of the Government's growth goals. But Keynes didn't think economic growth should go on forever.

💡New! From growth to post-growth – lessons from Keynes, by @davidaspencer.bsky.social

blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...