Sometime this morning I celebrated (with a coffee) the moment when this blog had its best ever month in terms of traffic.
The previous best month was March 2023, when the blog was read 533,000 times. That total was exceeded this morning with the rest of the day's reads (likely to be an additional 10,000 or thereabouts) still to come.
Why note this? I think there are four good reasons to do so.
The first is to say thank you to those who support the blog.
The second is to note that there is an appetite for the alternatives that I talk about. Each article here might now be read as often as an economics opinion piece in a newspaper.
Third, it is because deep down I have realised that I am, above all else now, an educator. Of course I seek the reform of the society in which we live. In my opinion, any sane person should, given how debased and even depraved the ordering of that society now is. But, demanding change is not enough. Explaining how change might be delivered is key, and that requires explanation of the processes involved. Hence my relatively new perception of myself as an educator. If this blog is being read that goal of reaching out is being achieved, although new ways of doing this are, I hope, going to be explored in coming months.
Last, it would be wrong not to note a certain degree of personal satisfaction in achieving this. This blog has now been going since 2006. Not many have lasted that long. Its first full year was 2007, when there were 278,000 reads, in total. I never imagined that it might become as it now is. So thank you to all who read, comment on, like and donate to this blog. It wouldn't be what it is without you. It's my unexpected pleasure to host it. My hope is that it changes things, even a little bit.
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Thank you for all you do, Richard. You have certainly educated me! The fight now is not just for the mainstream ground of economic theory, it is about society’s understanding and values. As such, education is the way to win. That’s why we should all promote this blog wherever and whenever possible.
Thanks
Congratulations on the success of getting the message(s) out.
Can you clarify: In a given session of reading, if I read 5 articles on a given day, does this count as 1 or 5?
It is much more complex than that! It depends how long there are between visits – which is why I ignore the unique visits read as it is too random
Congratulations Richard
Your blog is the first thing I read every morning.
Always a good read as are the comments and contributions from the readership
It is usually a good start to my day informed and entertaining,
Let’s hope some of those half a million people are Labour MPs
Keep up the good work
So, measured by their digital subscribers, you have a bigger readership than The Times – and much much bigger than The Daily Mail ! – and with hardly any more subscribers, The Telegraph’s ownership battle nevertheless caused panic in the UK Government…
My figures are for a month – I think theirs are per day….
Always a good start to the day to check in here – congratulations.
Not sure there is anything similar – a unique combination of analysis and opinion – no idea how on earth you have the energy to monitor all the comments.
I can see that it must benefit your own work to have to have to articulate your thoughts on here every morning.
You should be a regular commentator on BBC (along with such as Mazzucato et. al.) as you would be if they kept to their own editorial guidelines ‘not to mislead’, and show ‘where there are a range of views’ etc.
Congratulations again – and thank you.
Thank you
I’m still waiting for a response from the Beeb, to my complaint about inaccuracy and lack of balance of contrary opinions, on 21 February – asking why they didn’t include (such as) you on the subject of ‘national debt’ in their backgrounder piece about government borrowing.
I shall complain again
Good luck with that
I find as a avid reader of your blog including all the comments you have give me the information to argue the case for a different type of society run in the interests of the majority. I have also noted over the past couple of years a number of political ‘left wing’ web sites who have substantial followings such as ‘Another Angry voice’ are now articulating the way forward using MMT as the economic model. I am sure most of it comes from your blog. I believe your influence stretches far beyond this site. Keep up educating us.
Thank you
My hopes are that it changes things a lot. Things that I thought might never change are changing (for example the belief that the Tories are good for defence and the economy). The biggest problem will be seeing the back of neoliberalism, economically and politically. This blog, you and the commentators, are showing us that there are different paths to follow.
All your effort is slowly turning the thinking in the UK about economic, monetary and political matters. At times it must feel your impact isn’t that great. It is hard to measure your influence but you have certainly established your blog as go-to site for progressive and analytical thinking. Thank you for your determination!
And thanks for your comments
Congratulations, Richard.
I heartily concur with my fellow posters.
I check in every morning and evening because you invariably catch the pulse of what is really going on.
Believe me when I say that those who attempt to troll you are either bad faith actors, disingenuously reckless, or mad.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Karl
May I echo the congratulations which you definitely deserve.
I am also pleased to see your posts on LinkedIn which I am regularly on and perhaps those reads and reposts are helping your stats.
About 6,000 views a week on LinkedIn now. Thanks
Well deserved. Since discovering your blog, it has served as a refuge for sanity and realism in the midst of ever-increasing misinformation, noise, and ‘clickbait’. It has done an excellent job of providing education!
Thanks
Ceteris paribus
Congratulations Richard!
Imagine what would happen if they all bought you a coffee though.
Poor old River Thames!
Thanks so much Richard, and remember that it is not just the readers and commentators, but like educating in schools, colleges and universities, it is the ripples that those readers pass on that will make the difference.
Thanks again,
That will be reflected 8n the next stage of the work
One of the very few places where one can comment on what passes for the affairs of the UK body politic.
Thank you Richard.
Thanks for your comments, Mike.
Congratulations. Thoroughly deserved. May the numbers continue to increase.
Craig
Thanks
A considerable achievement & that is an equally considerable understatement. Tongue in cheek: as for “educator” status I thought you already were an educator Professor.
The sentiment is genuine, but this is also essentially a test message as 6 attempts to communicate a response to your reply to me about e-mail I sent to Julia Patterson (EveryDoctor.org) & my idea about asking you your respondents en masse to help the cause mutual to all of us. All attempts have disappeared into the aether.
That idea was addressed to them rather than you – the last thing I would want is is to embroil you in even more work!
And talking of work, let’s see if this one works.
Alan
I have no idea why that happened – you are not blocked. This one got through.
If you want to forward something by email, I will. I know Julia
Richard
I echo others comments. I’m also glad to see you have, like most good vintages, mellowed a little in your ripostes to those who disagree with you (not the trolls).
Blogs like this always raise the question of how do we bring about the changes discussed. We can’t even get the Labour hierarchy to implement PR even after over 50 years of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, and also promising to get rid of the HoL for over 100 years. So what chance of the hundreds of changes we need to bring about a decent, caring and truly democratic political settlement?
I don’t imagine there is a demographic profile of visitors to the blog, but I suggest much of the commentariat are, like myself, of a “certain age” and not in the first flush of youth. The only way I can think of bringing about change is through the young people of today (who seem not to vote as much as the oldies). If we can energise them to become involved (and educated) and go into politics as a form of public service instead of a route to self-advancement and untold riches, there may be some progress, and bring about the euthanasia of the kind of totally unsuitable creatures who have captured politics today.
But even then, it will be hard because there are so many wealthy malign influences who will continue to capture, or try to capture, politicians to work in their interests and not in the interests of the 99% and especially in the interests of those most disadvantaged by the current system.
Congratulations Richard. You have certainly educated me, and, as an S.N.P member, and campaigner for Scottish Independence, I find your comments balanced, and ones my party should pay more attention.
Thanks
What a satisfying number to close the financial year! Congratulations.
So many recognise our democratic systems are out dated and broken, more know that inequality is growing. Change is needed and change will come. But to what? There is a vacuum of understanding. Unsurprising that people are seeking an education (or something else) to fill that space. Education provides the empowerment to make informed decisions. None of which is lost on populists politicians.
Congratulations Richard. However, I’m not in the least surprised you’ve now got this level of readership.
I’m on my way back in a overcrowded train from an Easter break in Cornwall, and the weekend showed just how much an alternative narrative to that we’ve had for decades is needed.
Going down on Thursday the train was over an hour late due to flooding. I’ve never seen so many waterlogged fields and brimful rivers on a journey in my life. And I’m looking at more now on a train which again is delayed.
Nearly all of the people in our group are left or left leaning Londoners including some who are in the labour party or pretty active politically re Gaza; the level of dissatisfaction with both this appalling government and labour is really strong.
And on Saturday we were a few miles from Tintagel where we were staying, in Camelford. Tintagel seems prosperous because of the tourist trade, but Camelford a few miles inland was not. Waiting to start our walk we saw a long line of people across the road outside a bank. They weren’t queuing for the bank though but for a food bank. In what is supposedly one of the worlds wealthiest countries! But despite this local property prices for both rent and buying were not far short of the mad SE England ones.
And lastly, I see signs that your message re government spending is getting through. Big arguments in BTL comments for, say, the Guardian, about this between the Starmerites and those who think as do you we need far more government spending and need to reject the neoliberal approach. I see Owen Jones has launched a crowdfunder to support independent and green candidates supporting a more left wing agenda now that he’s finally had it with labour. I’m tempted to contribute….
Alternatives need help right now
After my message this morning got through I then tried to send the previous post & it disappeared once again in the BermudaTriangle! I therefore sent it via e-mail justafter. I have just tried again here with the same vanishing resuly. Let’s see if this gets through.
It did.
I have your mail, but insufficient time so far today
One of the reasons I like what you do is you don’t just point out what’s wrong, you provide solutions.
Many others should learn from this.