Phil Free

Systems, not scapegoats We should spend less time looking for scapegoats, and more time thinking about socio-economic failure.

Systems, not scapegoats
chrisdillow.substack.com/p/systems-no...

The Man Who Would Be The Face of the Anti-Trump West Mark Carney has put himself forward as one of the sharpest Western critics of Trump’s neo-imperial order. What’s less clear is what he’s offering in its stead.

Mark Carney's Davos speech did offer a credible alternative to Trumpism, but Carney himself isn't willing to follow the logic of his own arguments. www.thenation.com/article/worl...

The right to complain can’t solve the housing crisis | LSE British Politics Awaab's Law gives tenants of social housing new powers against neglectful landlords, but amidst a housing crisis, those powers will have limited effect.

The right to complain can’t solve the housing crisis
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Reclaiming Democracy From the Market Michael J. Sandel & Daron Acemoglu discuss the breakdown of civic life and the need to restore trust in public institutions.

“That consumerist idea of freedom has its allure, but it also crowds out a deeper civic conception of freedom: I’m truly free only if I have a meaningful say in shaping the forces that govern our collective life.”

Reclaiming Democracy From the Market
prosyn.org/gIaaN1Z

How to Stop Worrying and Love the Bulldozer The mainstream environmental movement is unintentionally re-creating Dr. Strangelove, a cautionary tale about the perils of unexamined beliefs and one of the greatest films in cinematic history

“The great American scholar Lewis Mumford, in his book ‘Authoritarian & Democratic Technics’, wrote of the moral decline that comes when a society invests all its energies toward industrial production.” #degrowth

How to Stop Worrying & Love the Bulldozer
open.substack.com/pub/maxwilbe...

Enter “The Capitalist Hell” Where Harari contradicts his own anti-egalitarianism

“In other words, the system is sick, & it can’t be sustainably reformed into a friendly, fail-safe version.” #PostCapitalism

Enter “The Capitalist Hell”
open.substack.com/pub/marxandf...

Command-Shift-War War as Cliché

“In the past, propaganda served the purposes of war; now war serves the purposes of propaganda. But the blood remains real.”

Command-Shift-War - @lioneltrolling.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/johnganz...

The Economy for Life is ready to replace capitalism Some time ago I made a video with my top 19 alternatives to capitalism.

The Economy for Life is ready to replace capitalism
www.sufficiencywellbeing.com/p/the-econom...

World roundup: March 10 2026 Stories from Niger, Ukraine, Haiti, and elsewhere

World roundup: March 10 2026
open.substack.com/pub/fx/p/wor...

Profit Maximization in the Real World Chapter 5 from Rebuilding Economics from the Top Down

“The Law of Diminishing Returns is logically correct, given its assumptions, as is the shape of the cost curves derived from it. But it is also, to quote the humorist H.L. Mencken, ‘neat, plausible, & wrong’.”

Profit Maximization in the Real World
open.substack.com/pub/profstev...

Toward a sharing society? A theoretical model of the social conditions for sharing This article theorizes the role of sharing in the broader transformation of society toward sustainability. In a context where overconsumption prevails, adopting strategies that move away from relia...

“…we hope that the perspectives & insights developed in this article will contribute to discussions about #degrowth, #sufficiency, #circulareconomy, & more generally, the social conditions for sustainability transformation.”

Toward a sharing society?
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Citizens in a Democracy Must Be Allowed to Criticize Israel If you cannot say what is true about Israel’s horrific actions in the world, you do not live in a democracy, writes fascism expert Jason Stanley.

Citizens in a Democracy Must Be Allowed to Criticize Israel
open.substack.com/pub/zeteo/p/...

Up Shi’ite Creek…(Part One) in dire Straits of Hormuz....

Up Shi’ite Creek…(Part One)
open.substack.com/pub/mbmg/p/u...

Half of UK news articles about Muslims are biased, landmark study finds Study of 40,000 articles from across 30 media outlets finds 'Muslims are systematically portrayed through lenses of conflict, threat, and controversy'

Half of UK news articles about Muslims are biased, landmark study finds
www.middleeasteye.net/news/half-uk...

Sudan's RSF waged starvation campaign in siege of el-Fasher New report from Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab finds deliberate targeting of North Darfur agricultural communities

Sudan's RSF waged starvation campaign in siege of el-Fasher
www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudans-...

Ramadan Revolved Around My Grandma. Bombs Took Her House. Famine Took Her Life. Israel’s genocide in Gaza cut off my grandmother’s access to the nutrients and medications she needed to survive.

Ramadan Revolved Around My Grandma. Bombs Took Her House. Famine Took Her Life
truthout.org/articles/ram...

Striking Nurses From Coast to Coast Stood Up to Corporate Forces and Won Nurses in New York, California, and Hawaii claimed big contract victories after showing their power on the picket line.

Striking Nurses From Coast to Coast Stood Up to Corporate Forces & Won
truthout.org/articles/str...

Cut Out the Wall Street Middlemen From Our Pension Funds Pension funds are using average Americans’ retirement savings to fuel the financialization of our economy and concentration of oligarchic power in Wall Street’s hands. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Cut Out the Wall Street Middlemen From Our Pension Funds
jacobin.com/2026/03/wall...

America's Wealthiest Are Getting Even Richer The wealthiest 15 billionaires in America saw their wealth grow over 30 percent in 2025.

“Our analysis found that the number of US billionaires increased from 813 with a combined wealth of $6.7trillion at the end of 2024 to 935 US billionaires with combined assets of $8.1trillion.”

America’s Wealthiest Are Getting Even Richer - @inequality.org
inequality.org/article/amer...

Cory Doctorow - Facebook's fraud files - Brave New Europe An enshittogenic policy environment that rewards cheating, spying and monopolization will inevitably give rise to cheating, spying monopolists Cory Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, ...

Facebook’s Fraud Files
braveneweurope.com/cory-doctoro...

What is the Danish immigration model, and does it work? Denmark’s foremost professor of mobility studies decodes a policy that is increasingly touted as a model to emulate

What if the Danish immigration model, & does it work?
www.opendemocracy.net/en/what-is-d...

The dark history of the Telegraph's new owner... Analysis in the British press focuses on Axel Springer's attitude to Brexit but a closer look suggests its worldview is just Right for the Telegraph's existing editorial approach.

“Axel Springer’s history & worldview actually make it a fitting custodian of Britain’s most unhinged newspaper group.”

The dark history of the Telegraph's new owner... - @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/brokenbo...

Living System Theory Understanding Life: A Dynamic and Thriving Process of Adaptation and Regeneration

“Whether we’re managing ecosystems, businesses or global economies, the principles of living systems remind us that life thrives not in stasis but in dynamic balance—a dance of entropy & syntropy, decline & regeneration.

The question is: Will we join the dance?”
open.substack.com/pub/ernestop...

Bye-bye OBR, hello OER It’s time to replace the Office for Budget Responsibility with something better – an Office for Economic Responsibility.

“George Osborne said the OBR would stop governments fixing the figures to fit the budget. Fine. But Britain now has the opposite problem. Its politics is about not fixing the country to fit the figures.”

Bye-bye OBR, hello OER
open.substack.com/pub/frapacio...

“These are phantom investments,” said Cecilia Rikap, a professor of economics at University College London, who said similar things were happening around the world. “Big tech companies artificially inflate datacentres’ job creation and economic impact to please governments like the British one, which are desperate to claim they are making the economy grow.”

Uh oh.

What’s “essential” to Trump’s EPA? More mercury pollution. As thousands of EPA workers are sent home during the shutdown, the ones dismantling mercury rules for coal plants are still clocking in.

What’s “essential” to Trump’s EPA? More mercury pollution
open.substack.com/pub/heated/p...

David Lammy's deceptive diatribe Keir Starmer and David Lammy are attempting to abolish the right to choose a trial by jury for all but the most extreme cases, and Lammy's defence of this strategy is absolutely diabolical

“From his contempt for the presumption of innocence; through his citing of the trivial example of shoplifting to minimise the scale of the changes; to his absurd comparison of potentially facing years in jail to a scraped knee, it’s utterly appalling stuff.”
open.substack.com/pub/anothera...

Document: Homeland Security Warns of Iranian “Fatwa” U.S. military issues its own Fatwa

“President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon & mark his return to Earth.”

Document: Homeland Security Warns of Iranian “Fatwa” - @kenklippenstein.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/kenklipp...

The Hollow Man: Why Starmer is the ultimate neoliberal failure Keir Starmer is being urged to explain what he believes in to save his leadership. That misunderstands the problem. This video argues that Starmer’s failure is not one of communication, but of convict...

The Hollow Man: Why Starmer is the ultimate neoliberal failure
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2026/02...

Deepgrowth: Self-transformation towards harmonious being Profound transformations in human beings are necessary if we are to exist in harmony with ourselves, other beings and nature. Only if such transformat…

“Profound transformations in human beings is necessary if we are to exist in harmony with ourselves, other beings & nature. Only if such transformations take place, can the deep social changes that #degrowth proponents call for to come about.” #PostCapitalism
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...