Joel Budd
Journalist at the Economist, writing about life in Britain. Author of "Underdogs".
- In partial defence of Keir Starmer. His speech and foreword to the immigration white paper were both crummy. The stuff about "an experiment in open borders" is just as wrong as the liberal-baiting bits. But Powellite it wasn't. Mayite or Thatcherite, perhaps. www.economist.com/britain/2025...
- On the British government’s new immigration plan www.economist.com/britain/2025...
- All I will say about the plan to impose tariffs on foreign films is that it's unwise to mess with an industry that specialises in deception. This scene is set in Washington, DC, but may be oddly familiar to British employees of the Economist. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1ae...
- Teaching the world about urban form in a dry environment! Cities do indeed have very hard edges. www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/artic...
- Dumb Q for politics heads: if the growing importance of cultural issues is related to electoral fragmentation, how is it related? Is it that cultural issues cross-cut economic ones, giving us quadrants, or that more positions can be taken on cultural issues, or something else?
- Looking forward to this, next Wednesday backstory.london/products/7th...
- If people are especially despondent about small boat crossings at the moment, that could be because the numbers have been high. 9,638 people from Jan 1 to Apr 24, up from the previous record of 6,691 in the same period in 2022. Could be a weather effect; could also be that boat crossings are...
- This is why I never tidy my car www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Counterpoint: British people are pretty polite, on public transport and elsewhere, they don't shout into mobile phones as loudly as they did in the early years of those devices, and lots of us now carry noise-cancelling headphones anyway.
- Somehow I missed this. “The Levittowners” is still a great read. One of my favourite reporting trips was to the suburb (now Willingboro). www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/b...
- In case anybody was too busy with chocolate eggs last week... Americans: apologies. In addition to your other problems, my book is unavailable in your country.
- Ross Douthat is a terrific columnist. I’m not saying I agree with him. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/o...
- California conservatives can be just as nutty as California liberals www.latimes.com/california/s...
- UK political prognostications, 2019-2029: 2019: Tories to rule forever 2020: Tories to rule forever 2021: Tories to rule forever 2022: Oops 2023: Hmm 2024: Ah 2025: Farage to rule forever 2026: Farage to rule forever (Repeat until at least 2029)
- Interesting piece on Scottish polling on independence www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
- On the growth, near-death, and revival of a great British art form, and what it says about Britain's white working class. This is an edited excerpt from "Underdogs". unherd.com/2025/04/brit...
- Publication day!
- My book will be published tomorrow! A short thread about it...
