"The point of writing is to make something beautiful or interesting; the point of reading a book or a paper is, at least in large part, to make contact with another human mind that has strained to make something beautiful or interesting, whether or not the human mind has succeeded or failed."
Flawless, cathartic, and morally-wise screed that I am sincerely tempted to forward to everyone I've ever met.
Preserve your humanity! Eschew the godless bots!!
As I'm always saying: bring back the pamphlet!
There's a big space for non-fiction writing that sits somewhere between the long-read (c.5k words) and the full book (c.80k words).
My thoughts on the Home Sec's immigration speech @ippr.org
The Home Sec believes in control + compassion. It's the right ambition.
But her plans may struggle to tackle small boat crossings and risk making integration harder.
I make the case instead for a more focused approach to migration reform
Excellent column
Why is Dubai discourse so rich? Class identities all mangled and so everyone thinks they are punching up and letting rip. Full column 🫵 www.economist.com/britain/2026...
Substack on new research out today with @persuasionuk.bsky.social @38degrees.bsky.social - why are people leaving Labour for other left parties, what does it mean and what does it not mean?
strongmessagehere.substack.com/p/understand...
The earliest example I've found of the phrase "international order" in its contemporary IR sense is in this article from 1908: "codification of international law does not necessarily involve a reconstruction of the present international order": www.jstor.org/stable/2186595
Exclusive: Labour needs “progressive defectors” back to win general election
The number of Labour voters moving left outnumbers those going to right-wing parties in a majority of battleground seats
By @anooshc.bsky.social
The House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee just published their report on AI, copyright & the creative industries, and their conclusions could not be clearer.
🧵 1/5
NEW: After Gorton & Denton, how should we understand the threat to Labour's left?
Big new @persuasionuk.bsky.social report out with @38degrees.bsky.social on 'progressive defectors' - Lab 2024 switchers to Greens, Plaid, SNP, Lib Dems.
Who are they, who are they not & what's moving them? 🧵
BBC Verify has pieced together verified videos, satellite imagery and expert views after a deadly attack near a primary school in Minab, souther Iran, which suggest the area was hit more than once "by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
📣 "We no longer live in a two-party system, and if we continue to have an electoral system that doesn't acknowledge that fact, we will have, as Professor @robfordmancs.bsky.social says, elections that lead to even more chaotic and unpredictable results."
👇 @chriscurtis94.bsky.social
Chart showing lifetime average GDP growth for Brits by year of birth. 20-year-old Brits have experienced an average of 1.4% growth, compared with 2.4% for 75-year-olds
Part of the issue is a lack of growth. A recent study showed that cohorts who experience more GDP growth in their lifetimes are more likely to trust the government and have positive perceptions of their living standards. academic.oup.com/qje/advance-... In Britain, such voters are dying out
Great to join this important IPPR initiated discussion about the importance of nation building.
I think it's relevant also that McDonnell has always been quite friendly with various AWL members
That would be interesting if so! Especially since if McDonnell has shifted substantially, it would have to be a genuine conversion rather than a cynical move (there's political benefit to lots of FP position changes, but not to participating in the kind of solidarity movements he's been active in)
yeah exactly - and he's also been a reliable supporter of Hong Kong and Uyghur activists against the CCP (unlike Corbyn, and even more unlike Richard Burgon or Diane Abbott)
You can also (to get very niche kremlinological about this) see the difference in which Trotskyist groupuscules they are each willing to associate with / speak at the events of front groups for
Corbyn is a classic "anti-imperialist", who is (despite lip-service to democratic principles) sympathetic to most anti-western regimes
McDonnell has something closer to a "Third Camp" perspective - he's no less hostile to the US, but he's an outspoken critic of anti-western authoritarian states
I think this is wrong, and that Corbyn and McDonnell speak to quite different parts of the radical left on foreign policy - see for instance their wildly divergent views on Russia/Ukraine, or China/Hong Kong
Polling from More in Common shows that Greens and Reform win a higher share of voters who struggle to make ends meet, while Labour and the Conservatives win those who are most financially comfortable
Reform UK and the Greens are hoovering up financially insecure voters. My piece this week looks at the return of Britain's class politics (with a twist) www.economist.com/britain/2026...
"I am NOT a loser. Please do not put it in the newspaper that I am a loser."
Book launch 2. Andrew Smith's @smidbob.bsky.social ky.social Make Cheese not War. Transnational Resistance and the Larzac in modern France, 9pm, 5.30pm at @ihr.bsky.social in conversation with @alisoncarrol.bsky.social, @vbivar.bsky.social
& Sarah Farmer : www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
The post mortem of 2024 is a classic in only acknowledging the top line result, rather than thinking what par would have been for the starting position. Hemorrhaging votes in solid Labour areas should have been a massive warning light.
This map is so rich. Really feels like it taps into something about identity, cultural distinctiveness, "authenticity'. The blandness of the home counties, the difficulty of placing East Midlands.
On 26 March, the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social and @politicalquarterly.bsky.social will be holding a special event on "Inequality & the Future of London".
Join @rupahuq.bsky.social @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @sachahilhorst.bsky.social and Joe Fyans. All welcome!
www.eventbrite.com/e/inequality...
I find Alexander Armstrong a compelling figure - a genuine creative / acting talent, trapped forever making incredibly lucrative slop
