Nat Dyer

Westminster Meeting House raided by Metropolitan Police again. Statement: “For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable. Peaceful protest, prayer and nonviolent action are integral parts of many Quakers' religious life. Whilst we take the planning of criminal acts very seriously, we believe that this incident is a deliberate targeting of committed young people who want to make our country a more equitable place. This raid is part of a systematic stifling of dissent. That this is the second time in a year that the police have raided our meeting house dramatically illuminates the broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government. The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. It's a key part of how people make their voices heard between elections.” – Oliver Robertson, Head of Witness and Worship Quakers in Britain, 5 March 2026

Yesterday evening, for the second time in a year, the Met Police raided Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrested a number of young nonviolent activists.

STATEMENT: www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

This looks very interesting

Ricardo's Dream by Nat Dyer Book Launch

I'll be talking about economics, imagination, and 'Ricardo's Dream' at Goldsmiths Uni in London on 12 March at 4pm. Come along if you're in town! Cheers

@goldsmithsuol.bsky.social

www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id...

Great to see my friend, Dave, sign a contract for his first book on philosophy & aliens. Congrats!

As Trump reduces every economic forecaster in the world to a weeping nervous wreck…

The lens of history allows you to write a 'true story' of what's happening in the modern economy, whereas models often lead us astray - Stiglitz

I seriously have no idea how it does it... but The Guardian piece recently mentioned him not sleeping

How neoliberalism broke economics | Dr Abby Innes YouTube video by The Institute of Art and Ideas

This is very good on utopian economics as the 'governing science' of governments (right & left), banks, financial institutions, credit rating agencies, corporations & consultancies

@abbyinnes.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb07...

Not sure how they found it, but this is apparently @the-syllabus.bsky.social's video of the week 😀

FWIW, I've written to the editor pointing out the links between African Brazil and David Ricardo's famous trade theory... will see if they print it

The @economist.com piece about Brazil's African heritage is good to see - but they fail to note the link to their hallowed free trade theory...

www.economist.com/the-americas...

Very heartwarming video - thanks for sharing

Has Britain become an economic colony? The UK could’ve been a true tech leader – but it has cheerfully submitted to US dominance in a way that may cost it dear

Great piece by @superwuster.bsky.social on how the UK became a digital colony of the US by believing the "dream of the 1990s" and "the logic of free trade and globalisation"

h/t @unlearnecon.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

Last Friday, I got to meet Benjamin Lipscomb author of 'The Women Are Up To Something'. He's in London researching his new book on the BBC. We decided to meet up at philosopher Mary Midgley's childhood home in Greenford, Middx. - where we got a personalised tour from historian Peter Hounsell

Isaac Newton’s wealth ‘intimately connected’ with slavery, author says Scientist and banker benefited from gold mined primarily by enslaved Africans in Brazil, book claims

A year ago today...

www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

The cat one is new to me - but I like it. It's quite René Magritte

Haha. Exactly!

I came across that a while ago, but haven't dug into it in depth. My take away at the time was that I was much more wary of what models make disappear than him, but perhaps you'll be able to compare our takes when you've read the book

Great! Hope you like it

What timing!

and also bonding which is crucial to group dynamics and, for many animals including us, survival.

I am perplexed by the 'no obvious survival or reproductive benefits' line, though.

This is only true if you approach evolution & nature from a starkly individualistic pov - which has been challenged by biologists like David Sloan Wilson.

It seems to have pretty direct link to reproduction...

First kiss dates back 21 million years, say scientists A new study looks at how the mouth-on-mouth smooch came into being, and concludes that Neanderthals also kissed.

Love this story about the long evolutionary history of kissing - it's 21 million years old, don't you know?

Helps to chip away at some of the more wild 'Nature red in tooth and claw' claims out there

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thanks for joining and posting your thoughts. I plan to use my notes to write a piece on the central, and often overlooked, role of imagination in the creation of economics

That can help too!

Thanks for joining, Agnes! Pleased that analogy landed with you

If/when you get to it, let me know how it lands

Thanks for the shout out. Hope you can join later

Pleased you can join!

A sketch of the tree of life by Charles Darwin from his notebook circa 1837. The words 'I think' are above and A, B, C, D at different elements of the tree. They are all unified in the trunk of the tree where a 1 is circled - representing the universal common ancestor of all life (a radical idea then and still not fully assimilated into our worldview).

I've been thinking about this today