Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org

Fascinating blog post by my #BartlettSchoolOfArchitecture colleague Prof Sophia Psarra on the configuration of the House of Commons and how Labour's supermajority might change the dynamics of the opposing benches political culture

http://con-figurations.com/2024/07/07/how-will-they-sit-architecture-and-politics-in-the-uk-commons-chamber-elections-2024-special-blog/

#archidons #SpaceSyntax #Architecture #parliament @politicalscience

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The book on "Parliament Buildings" includes a short chapter written by me on "Degrees of opposition and cooperation: how seating plans and parliament layouts reflect and give rise to political cultures"

In this, I compare visibility relations in the House of Commons and the German Bundestag, and analyse who sits next to whom in the plenary of the European Parliament in Brussels and how that shapes solidarities and political cultures

#SpaceSyntax #architecture #archidons #parliament

Trump’s tax law cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

What did corporations do with the money saved?

They didn’t invest it or raise wages.

They spent a record $1 trillion on stock buybacks the year after the law went into effect.

Nothing trickled down to workers.

'Stanford, the SIO’s institutional home, denies that it is dismantling the unit and loudly proclaims its commitment to independent research. On the other hand, according to DiResta, the university has run up “huge legal bills” defending SIO researchers from harassment by Republican politicians and conservative conspiracy theorists, and may have decided that enough is enough.'
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/29/closing-the-stanford-internet-observatory-will-edge-the-us-towards-the-end-of-democracy

Fun new video alert https://skepchick.org/2024/07/americas-looming-theocracy/

Economists: Spurring immigration increases growth and wages for natives

Greece: Nah, we'll just work 6 days a week

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/05/nx-s1-5027839/greece-six-day-workweek-law

A new post with comics and ramblings on Civil War (the movie), The Purge, and fun stuff like that.
https://mattbors.substack.com/p/this-is-war

Let us hope constitutional law can get back to being boring again. We will be a happier polity for it.

Just realised that this result happened despite the Tories redrawing all the constituency boundaries to favour them and despite their attempts at voter suppression through forcing ID at polling stations.

David Lammy leaves open the possibility of a return to the direct grant for BBC World Service. That would be a small but remarkable thing. Let no one in the UK forget that BBCWS has hundreds of millions of listeners each week!