Political sociologist: corporate influence, regulation, public health, environmental harm, financial crime.
Bristol, England
Joined August 2012
- Tweets3K
- Following771
- Followers757
- Likes1.7K
Gary Fooks retweeted
1/11) Manifestos are important. They are about gaining votes but also outline the most pressing problems as understood by different parties, their visions for doing better and the road map for how to get there. A thread and another picture! @chakrabortty
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
Gary Fooks retweeted
The UK gambling industry & the organisations it funds continue to promote youth gambling education programmes as a way to safeguard children and young people from gambling harms, despite limited evidence of their effectiveness. 🧵
Gary Fooks retweeted
Here's a short summary of the evidence we believe demonstrates that Barrowman's companies committed fraud, cutting to the key point, the false documents as quickly as I can:
Gary Fooks retweeted
new paper in @GlobalHealthBMJ on conceptualising the 'commercial determinants of health' with @Ellie_Brooks and @DrCGodziewski
We highlight a tendency to overlook the importance of political institutions in shaping the exercise of corporate power
gh.bmj.com/content/8/11/e013…
Gary Fooks retweeted
Important thread - not about NOVA per se, but about the power of big food to control what people eat. That power has been wielded unfettered throughout high income countries over the last 70 years, and at now at a frightening pace in LMICs. Governments need urgently to get a grip
Gary Fooks retweeted
Vicky Cann @vicky_cann
Which comes first, chemical-industry profits or health?
braveneweurope.com/vicky-can…
@GeorgistJoe @CatatonicUk @gemmakristina @PaulKnight85 @GaryJFooks @AnthonyLanglois @CitizeneM2 @QuantumAspect @AntoMuzzu @nicholaskiersey @jnewsham @_Truth_Matters
Gary Fooks retweeted
NEW PAPER OUT! Major food system reports make recommendations to transform food systems, but just how transformative are they? We assess their 'transformative potential' using leverage points and systems science concepts! sciencedirect.com/science/ar… @PhilBakerNZ @MarkLawrence_Oz
Gary Fooks retweeted
A thread for the ultra-wealthy.
If you are wealthy, you may think that if the U.K. switches from an NHS-model to a private model of healthcare it will either a) be better for you, or b) will not affect you.
Here is why you are wrong…
🧵
Gary Fooks retweeted
UK Govt fraud quadrupled under Rishi Sunak from £5.5bn to £21bn.
Covid money handed out without due diligence checks.
Losses due to ideological obsessions; high turnover of ministers & civil servants; cuts to staff.
How many Tory cronies became richer?
bylinetimes.com/2023/06/06/g…
Gary Fooks retweeted
In the early 1990s the wealth of the UK government was much larger than the wealth of the richest 200 families.
Today, the UK government has never been poorer, while the richest have never been richer. 4/7
Gary Fooks retweeted
COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis has not stopped rising wealth inequality.
Since the beginning of Covid-19, the wealthiest 200 families have seen their wealth increase in real terms by 22%. This increase alone is enough to give every family in the UK £9000. 3/7
Gary Fooks retweeted
Since the first rich list was published in 1989, wealth inequality has been on the rise: in 1989 a rich person had 6000 times the average person. Today it is 18,000 times. 2/7
Gary Fooks retweeted
New Report: The richest 50 families in the UK have more wealth than the bottom half of the UK population (33.5 million people)
@RafaelWildauer and I analysed UK wealth inequality using The Sunday Times Rich List (1989 to 2023)
Funded by @BritishAcademy_ & @LeverhulmeTrust) 1/7
Gary Fooks retweeted
UK Govt and bosses are blaming worker pay for high inflation.
Reality check - real wage cuts for workers, corporations profiteering, exec pay & dividends soaring.
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda doubled profits since 2019.
Have your wages/pensions doubled?
leftfootforward.org/2023/06/…
Gary Fooks retweeted
Britain’s Covid support for big business entrenched inequality.
Govt handed £1 trillion of QE + billions to business- huge wealth transfer from the public to the private sector.
Companies/Banks profiteered, exec pay & dividends soared, real wages cut.
opendemocracy.net/en/ourecon…
Gary Fooks retweeted
In 1989, Tories sold English water/sewage entities for £7.6bn, gifted £1.5bn to private companies = net price £6.1bn.
To date, shareholders have extracted £72bn in dividends + unknown billions through intragroup transactions.
Privatisation is a scam.
leftfootforward.org/2023/05/…
Build back better? The billions pumped into the economy during the pandemic have exacerbated economic inequalities. We looked at how this played out in the UK’s big companies. @michaeljswalker @AaronBastani @lukehildyard @HighPayCentre
Latest in "Covid is the great leveller":
🔴 @AstonUniversity researchers found govt Covid support schemes helped enrich senior execs & shareholders while small businesses buckled under debt;
🔴 Firms that took govt support have worst pay inequality.
opendemocracy.net/en/ourecon…
CEOs at 5 companies which did not pay back furlough grants received increases in pay above 99% from before the pandemic. The largest increase (260%) went to the boss of FirstGroup, which received over £50m under the furlough scheme.