Deputy director at @IMFNews, working on comms, strategy, climate. Formerly at @TheEconomist in DC, Delhi, Nairobi, elsewhere. Writer on India and cricket
Joined October 2014
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9 Apr 2024
Some personal news. After two wonderful decades at @TheEconomist, I am off to help run external relations at the IMF. I am grateful for many wonderful friends and experiences in journalism - and excited to be joining one of the last bastions of global problem-solving. @IMFNews
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LIVE: Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills, California x.com/i/broadcasts/1OdKrXzeW…
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James Astill retweeted
7 Dec 2024
He was good at this stuff.
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James Astill retweeted
26 Nov 2024
A good corrective to the over optimistic view that extreme poverty will somehow vanish by itself because “everything is better than we think”…430 m live in extreme poverty in Africa today compared to 170m in 1980
26 Nov 2024
Your reminder that the global South is *not* catching up with the global North.
In fact, with the exception of China, the income gap between the South and the North keeps growing.
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James Astill retweeted
28 Nov 2024
A fascinating thread that shows what happens when you skimp on infrastructure investment
28 Nov 2024
We have a new report out today. Because we’ve found one weird fact that unites all four constituencies that swung Reform for the first time at the election.🧵
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21 Nov 2024
Thanks @Premkayan. I suspect I was right about the IPL’s impact on Test cricket… but hope I was wrong.
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Our #COP29 event on the long-term role of the Bretton Woods Institutions in climate action focused on the need for system-wide change, a climate-centric updating of economic models, and the power of public-private collaboration. Watch the full video here: youtube.com/watch?v=g9rPjMGX…
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James Astill retweeted
12 Nov 2024
Is limiting the temperature increase to 1.5°C still possible? Yes, but only in a model.
Some new commentary by Glen Peters (@Peters_Glen) provides a fitting swan-song for our now-unachievable ambition: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.…
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12 Nov 2024
A great conversation at #COP29Baku on the ideal, long-term role of @WorldBank and @IMFNews in climate action. Thank you @HMountford4, @DrAndrewSteer, @AmaleeAmin
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James Astill retweeted
2 Nov 2024
It is incredibly gutsy to release this poll. It won't put Harris ahead in our forecast because there was also another Iowa poll out today that was good for Trump. But wouldn't want to play poker against Ann Selzer.
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James Astill retweeted
3 Nov 2024
The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Kamala Harris picking up support from women to surpass Donald Trump in Iowa, a ruby-red state he has won twice.
Details: desmoinesregister.com/story/…
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1 Nov 2024
Chinese EVs leave other carmakers with only bad options ft.com/content/faa69e29-bc47… via @ft
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James Astill retweeted
New from IEA: "A single journey by a large container ship filled with solar PV modules can provide the means to generate the same amount of electricity as the natural gas from more than 50 large LNG tankers or the coal from more than 100 large bulk ships." iea.org/reports/energy-techn…
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James Astill retweeted
1 Oct 2024
How did the US invent solar power and dominate it for 60 years, before giving it up to China over the past decade?
The answer is, IMO, quite different to the stories we have told ourselves in recent years. And it has important lessons for the future.🧵
bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-…
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30 Sep 2024
Britain's last remaining coal-fired power station closes today. The last British coal mine closed 9 years ago. Here's an old column of mine on the last gasp of an industry that changed the world. economist.com/britain/2015/0…
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6 Sep 2024
“The most practically useful guide to politics I have ever read” - George Osborne likes Tony Blair’s new book
on.ft.com/3MxRAgS
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30 Aug 2024
Old column of mine on @KamalaHarris's unconvincing effort in 2020 to pretend to be a leftie. "She is a natural centrist. Why not say so?"
economist.com/united-states/…
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James Astill retweeted
29 Aug 2024
The US agrees to help build Ghana’s first small modular reactor project in a push to promote nuclear technology for African countries trib.al/ApXq53O
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26 Jul 2024
Very sorry to hear of Martin Indyk’s death. He was a fierce believer in Middle East peace, fiercely critical of all sides preventing it; also a very nice man.
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