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Will Dunn Profile
Will Dunn

@willydunn

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Business editor @NewStatesman

London
Joined February 2011
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 days
Do join me over at it's basically the same website but nicer
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
A short thread about a ship: this is Magnus, currently entering the English Channel off the Kent coast. There is a lot we don't know about Magnus...
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
More than twice as many people are killed by bees and wasps per year than by cyclists. Also, bees can travel at up to 32km/h. Number plates on bees!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
This is the trade that pays for Putin's war. It sails within spitting distance of our coast on almost a daily basis. How did this dark fleet appear? With the help of shipbrokers, lawyers and insurers in the City of London.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Brexit futility update: almost 3 years after Britain left the EU, 81% of businesses cannot name a single piece of "red tape" they want to get rid of.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
But there are British companies making good money (tens of millions in additional profit, in some cases) from this still-growing fleet. Here's how it happens.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
What we do know is that Magnus is carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of Russian oil, loaded at Primorsk on the Baltic coast. Magnus is one of nearly 600 "dark fleet" ships that take Russia's oil to refineries in Asia.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said yesterday that he trusts the company's policies and tech to allow for “broad debate... within the lines”. It took me less than an hour to find someone denying the holocaust on Spotify.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
Who would pay to clean hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from English beaches? Liberia? Russia? Not likely. And the companies running these ships are little more than a stack of bearer shares in a safe somewhere.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
What are the consequences? The big one is that in 2022 Russia had a budget surplus of $222bn. Its military budget for the year was $75bn. But we should also ask what would happen if Magnus ran aground or struck another vessel.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
This isn't all that unlikely because dark fleet ships are old (Magnus is 17, and did almost 140,000 miles last year) and do risky things like turning off the transponders that show others where they are.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
We don't know who her beneficial owners are. We don't know if she is insured. She sails under the flag of Liberia, but this is a fiction - she was not built in Liberia and may never have docked there.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
7 years
Reporter: but ethanol boils at 75C and pastry cooks at 180C, so I don't see how th... Editor: Are you saying you're not hungry? Lot of hungry graduates out there.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Dogs are 3.25 x more lethal than cyclists. Some species can top 70km/h. Number plates on dogs!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Cliffs can move at up to 1.5 metres per year, which is admittedly not that fast but they are 6.4 x more lethal than cyclists. Number plates on cliffs!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Sorry this is actually 86%! Even more futile than previously reported!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
7 months
In 2007, Gary took some routine advice from his accountant. Over a decade later a letter arrived asking for more than £300,000. This is his story:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
In one piece, I could only talk about a fraction of the work that @Bitfinexed and @MikeBurgersburg have done exposing crypto's shady undercurrents. If you want to know more, follow them - their work is accessible and fascinating.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
When so many people decided to take the money and ask no questions, a handful of independent researchers saw the crypto boom for what it was – and decided to do something about it.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
A search today for controversial material on Spotify uncovered far-right politics, holocaust denial, bands that are associated with neo-Nazism and pandemic misinformation. Joe Rogan is the tip of the iceberg:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
Nigel Farage has done a great job of demonstrating the value of retained EU law. The right to access your data, the responsibility to protect other people's data - the EU's GDPR is a gold standard that we have rightly kept as UK regs.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
I accept that it would be hard to listen to and approve millions of episodes. But it is trivially easy to search for prominent holocaust deniers and see if they're being uncritically interviewed on your platform.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
I have tried to report the episode in question to Spotify but the reporting function didn't work for me. I have reported it to Apple as it is available through the Apple Podcasts app.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
The Brexit delusion is now the growth delusion, and investors aren't buying it. With thanks to @shjfrench and @t0nyyates for their very smart and strident thoughts:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
I asked Ofwat CEO David Black if it was a problem that so many Ofwat employees end up in well-paid jobs at water companies; he called it a "cheap allegation". Thames Water is now run by... former Ofwat CEO, Cathryn Ross! What are the chances!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
At the heart of the leasehold system is a set of dodgy calculations, which academics and surveyors say hand hundreds of milions a year to landowners. For over a decade, one surveyor has been fighting them:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
Two years, 76 multinational companies and 25,000 employees told professor Vijay Pereira and his colleagues what you have long suspected: this meeting could indeed have been an email.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
7 months
It's also the story of tens of thousands of other people affected by the same policy, many of whom have been helped by Gary and people like him.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
A driver who delivers for Amazon told me in the xmas rush, he - regularly delivers >300 packages a day - has been threatened & chased on his route - is tracked by AI apps - pees in bottles - makes “less than minimum wage” after expenses on some days
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
In the US, 70 per cent of all adults are Prime members. It's this scheme that has allowed one company to become all companies:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
A question I think hasn't properly been asked about the XL Bully is why it has spread so quickly. Have thousands of people suddenly decided it would be fun to own a nine-stone fighting dog? Or is it about the money?
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
I'm biased, but this is an extremely fetching magazine.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
I could read Avi Loeb for weeks on end. What a fascinating person. I don't think I've quite done justice to his book, which I highly recommend
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
As they sat down Sunak took off his jacket; given the conversation that followed, I’m surprised he didn’t offer to buff Musk’s shoes with it. ⬇️
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
In 10 years, - half the UK's record shops closed - 1000s of high st shops went under - the UK lost £200m-£300m a year in tax - a small number of people got very, very rich - officials: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's a long story, but I hope you find it interesting
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
Imagine working for decades to pay off your mortgage, only to be told that your home was never really yours - it belongs to a faceless company, and they can charge you as they please. @Anoosh_C reports on the people fighting the leasehold system
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Not sure why this was allowed to happen: I've written an account of the next 30 years of #TheQueue , in which almost everyone in the UK joins and rejoins #TheQueue until all of British society is arranged into a permanent, ongoing procession.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
At the recent round of xmas parties, one broker couldn't resist boasting about all the money he'd made selling tankers to shell companies that he, and everyone else in his industry, knows have one purpose: to ship Russia's oil, price cap or not.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Kwarteng has handed a benefit worth almost 5 times the median income to a group of people who on average help themselves to almost 100 times the median income. (The only reason why this would be lower would be if they were avoiding tax already.)
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
5 years
The WHO has warned that the US could become the epicentre of the pandemic. I spoke to @Laurie_Garrett about how the world's largest economy threw away two decades of experience and preparation
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
The British pig industry leads the world in the humane treatment of its livestock, but it is now on the verge of disaster and ministers have so far done very little to help. My thanks to Zoe Davies ( @Mrs_Pig ) for a frank and forthright interview
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
11 months
Bob Pickard saw up close how important people like David Cameron and Danny Alexander are to China's economic programme. I asked him what he thought of Cameron's new job:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
While Germans get a month's travel for €9 and Spain offers free trains, UK govt policy has led to 674,452 train services being cut from timetables in the last five years.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
5 years
In 2012, five MPs wrote a book that described the British as lazy and addicted to benefits. Four of them are now in the cabinet. @georgeeaton on the libertarians now running the country -
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
I'm very proud to have been given the chance to write this week's @NewStatesman cover story on the current debate over profits and prices. Thanks to @albertedwards99 and @PDonovan_econ for sharing their expertise
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
11 months
On Monday morning I established the progression to Friday as the top priority of the working week. Today, we have delivered on that pledge.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
As @sguriev explains here, Russia can create inflation in the West but not without damaging to its own finances. Many apparent gains, such as the high rouble, are in fact the morbid symptoms of a huge economic gamble.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
The witholding of OBR reports is important; UK financial stability relies on investors having confidence in buying our debt. Would you buy a car without a log book? A house without a survey?
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
I'm proud to have a piece in the latest @NewStatesman alongside these superb writers: @Anoosh_C reporting from Port Talbot @SEMcBain explores virtual reality and paranoia @pippa_bailey interviews Crystal Hefner @annaleszkie on Sheila Heti's book of life On newsstands today
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
5 months
I asked Nobel prize winner and former chief economist of the World Bank, @JosephEStiglitz , about the UK's low tax on wealth (which Labour has "no plans" to change). He told me this is "inexcusable":
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Brexit, a cut-price NHS, an aversion to wind turbines and an obsession with house prices – the principles of Conservative policy have left the UK uniquely exposed to stagflation.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
Huge waste of my time - I went all the way to Berkshire to join what I thought was a book group, turned out it was just a bunch of people who love Reading.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
5 years
Tom Watson "delivered the death blow" to Tony Blair, helped take down Britain's best-selling newspaper and successfully sued the government over mass data surveillance. This excellent in-depth profile by @georgeeaton asks - what does he want now?
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
The same people who claimed Brexit was a great economic play are the same people advocating Trussonomics. They may be clever, they may even be right, but investors do not believe them.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
7 months
EU leaders condemned Russia's "pseudo-election" but as @robin_j_brooks told me, Russia's oil trade - which uses ships from the EU and insurance from London - is bringing in so much money that it looks like Russia is having to hide its real income.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
6 months
Great question from Ed Conway here: "have you ever met Andrew Bailey?" (the answer, incredibly, is no)
@EdConwaySky
Ed Conway
6 months
Liz Truss blames @bankofengland Governor Andrew Bailey for her downfall (and a few other things besides). Raising a question: why didn't she summon him to Downing St & stop him? I asked the former PM in our interview. Her answer is... striking
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
8 months
Good clear analysis of the Russian oil problem
@Channel4News
Channel 4 News
8 months
The West has tried to contain President Putin by sanctioning his oil industry - imposing a $60 a barrel price cap on its key export. The UK government says this has cost Russia hundreds of billions of dollars: but how effective has it really been? @heliaebrahimi explains.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
10 months
If you're a multinational company, you might get a deal from HMRC to save a few hundred mil on your tax. If you're a nurse who's been scammed out of your pension, HMRC will pursue you to the very letter of the law.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
This is probably the most moving review of a belt sander I've ever read.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
COP28 will be chaired this year by an oil company CEO. When did it lose its way? In 2021, the UK had a chance to set standards for legitimate, productive business input. We didn't:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
9 months
Just went through some Hansard searches to see how many times Patel has mentioned the Horizon scandal or Fujitsu in the Commons since 2010. I could only find one instance - yesterday's debate. Quite the battle!
@pritipatel
Priti Patel MP
9 months
I was pleased to pay tribute to the brave sub-postmasters whose fight for justice has captured the nation. Since I was elected in 2010 I have fought their cause in Parliament because for me this is personal. Post Office and Fujitsu must be held to account.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
As the EU announces all devices will use USB-C, Jacob Rees-Mogg unveils England's new connection standard
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
If you think this sounds pessimistic then do read the World Bank report from yesterday, which contains 15 mentions of food shortages and 13 of social unrest.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Heatwaves are not just an inconvenience but a long-term risk to the supply of food and water, as @PhilippaNuttall explains in this excellent piece:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
Inflation remains persistent at 8.7%, with core inflation rising to 7.1%. Why? Some economists believe it's pushed by what the Bank of England calls “rebuilding margins”. As the margins of workers continue to collapse, there's another word for that...
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Today, a PM who was the 1st choice of just 50 MPs will impose a huge increase in debt on the UK that markets have already forecast will keep debt rising & inflation elevated, possibly for a decade. You've paid for forecasts confirming this, but you're not allowed to see them.
@NewStatesman
The New Statesman
2 years
Mel Stride: “The Treasury, I’m sure, is sitting on a forecast that it would be valuable to have made public.” @willydunn reports:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
10 years
Just bought the new @deliciousmag for the beautiful cover, lovely work @deliciouseditor @lelliprelli http://t.co/zc7gSJqlE6
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
On Sunak's defence of the British motorist:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Number of votes that put each PM in office Johnson - 13,966,454 Truss - 81,326 Sunak - 193 Excited to see where this trend takes us!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
11 years
I've found the real @MrBButterfield , not to mention the recipe for an exceptional night out: http://t.co/iznM766Wxs
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
50-year mortgages are the latest in a list of bad ideas - interest-only deals, "ninja" loans, subprime. The more the housing market relies on desperation, the closer it gets to a correction.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
8 months
Here's a spreadsheet you might find interesting. It details a group of companies, the number of invoices they've sent the government since 2016 and how much they've been paid by the state. They're connected...
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
€6bn a day in share trading has left the UK for Europe, 7,000 jobs have left and the BoE has warned that the EU is effectively excluding the UK from financial markets. @CourtneyFingar on how the Brexit deal left the City in the lurch:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
The Children: this is a fun toy! Let's just enjoy it without examining its economic, psychological and cultural significant for three thousand wo- Me:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
Sorry to report that I have done the maths and if Rishi Sunak filled up that Kia Rio from empty (45l tank @ 164p/l) he more than doubled the day's take-home pay of the Sainsbury's worker (£11.05/hr) who owns it.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
7 years
I am hugely proud to be part of this brilliant anthology from @thefictiondesk
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
Thank you to @dannydorling for indulging me when I asked: if you wanted to crash the housing market, hwo would you do it?
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
Thank you to Albert Edwards ( @albertedwards99 ) for some fascinating conversations about the Great QE Bubble, the madness of austerity, and what's next for the economy:
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
Subscribe to the UK's best political newsletter, and @stephenkb will send you a pun of this quality every morning of the week.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
If you're on the average UK salary, save 25 per cent of your take-home pay and never dip into it, you'll be as wealthy as Jeff Bezos is now in just under 34 million years.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
Brexit's long shadow: trade figures may look optimistic, but a gathering storm of "structural issues" could dog the UK economy for years to come.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
6 years
The front page of the BBC News website currently features three stories on Love Island. There's a good report by @pressgazette on what commercial publishers make of this here -
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
3 years
Proud to have a feature in this absolute belter of an issue, with superb pieces by @JeremyCliffe , @sarahmanavis , @stephenkb , @oscwilliams , @SEMcBain and many more. And now with two crosswords!
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
10 months
In recent weeks I've spoken to people who lost their life savings to scammers, only to be told they owe the taxman even more. “The treatment of the victim by HMRC,” one told me, “is actually worse than being defrauded.” Report ⬇️on a “national scandal”
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
4 years
Directors at Brakes and Bidfood are getting MBEs for their work on the food box programme. Sandy got 72 tins of tomato soup. @Anoosh_C @JolyonMaugham
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
8 months
For this week's @NewStatesman I spoke to someone with a fascinating story: Richard Werner, the economist who first proposed QE in a Japanese newspaper in 1995, and watched as his idea shaped the post-crash world.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
11 months
🚧 Schools built as recently as 2021 are being evacuated because they might come down in a strong wind. 🚧 DfE refuses to release details requested under FOI. And it goes beyond schools. The greed and irresponsibility are mind boggling.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
1 year
A couple of weeks ago I wrote some near-future satire in which Rishi Sunak rejects a Meat Tax. It was supposed to be a joke, I did not expect it to come true that quickly
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
6 years
Very proud to have a feature in the @NewStatesman 's magnificent beast of a Christmas issue, which includes a short story by Kate Atkinson, Matthew Engel on trains, Helen Macdonald, William Boyd, Laura Kuenssberg, Andrew Marr, Jonathan Coe and many others.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
A quick roundup of some of the PM's contributions to the "anti-maths mindset".
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
2 years
The UK's egg shortage is not due to avian flu, as some have claimed. Farmers are caught between rising costs and fixed contarcts and without help, many will struggle to stay in business.
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
11 months
Things Jeremy Hunt didn't say in his #AutumnStatement : "We're raising taxes by a projected 4.5%!" "Transport, prisons etc will be cut by £19.1bn a year!" "We'll only raise inflation a little bit!"
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@willydunn
Will Dunn
8 months
I'd elect a thousand-year-old man who communicated exclusively in musical riddles, if it meant the UK had the kind of economic growth the US currently enjoys:
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