'US heavy bombers are expected to reach UK bases at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and Fairford in Gloucestershire in the next few days' www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Today @mediareformuk.bsky.social launches its Alternative Green Paper; a compilation of proposals for radical BBC reform from civil society, campaign groups, media experts & members of the public. www.mediareform.org.uk/bbc-alternat...
Just Nick Robinson casually asking a guest on BBC Today if protests against the war 'should be allowed to go ahead' or 'ought to be banned in this country'.
The question any sane media system would be posing rn is what can be done to restrain the US & Israel.
Not seen this before. Thanks!
Not going to say it, but a lot of academics & left commentators now realising they shouldn't have been so dismissive of analyses of elite agency & networks.
I don't think the BBC should be funded by a flat tax, or thought of in consumerist terms, but if you subscribe to streaming services you are already paying a flat rate to fund programmes you don't watch.
Excellent detailed analysis on the future of BBC funding from Tom Chivers:
whosebeeb.substack.com/p/the-546m-q...
Labour Together’s Donor Network tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
Pat McFadden complained to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC that none of the media had raised the issue of Mandelson's relationship with Epstein after he was appointed. So why was it being so harsh on Sir Keir?
So, is that true? Well, for the most part, yes.
I identified 19 BBC reports & 185 national press articles mentioning Peter Mandelson in the month after his appointment was announced.
Of these 204 reports, only 13 (that’s 6.4%) mentioned Epstein.
New post on my website: Society From the Top Down: tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
Pat McFadden complained to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC that none of the media had raised the issue of Mandelson's relationship with Epstein after he was appointed. So why was it being so harsh on Sir Keir?
So, is that true? Well, for the most part, yes.
Finally got my copy at an event this evening.
This is exactly it. People presented Mandelson a certain way because they saw it in their interests to do so.
Wrote about the insularity of media & politics along these lines in my BBC book in fact.
There’s a similar sort of dynamic in the world of UK media & politics, in which Mandelson has of course been a key player.
They all knew who Mandelson is.
Don't think powerful people are feigning shock at the nature & extent of sexual abuse, but the casual corruption & the overlapping of economic & professional interests with personal/social lives is very much the norm for them.
Before I was an academic I did quite a lot of investigative research on the super-rich. Arms dealers, freewheeling financiers, power brokers etc. The world of the Epstein files is very familiar.
More likely a new piece of erotic fiction.
Apropos of some recent revelations, here’s some thoughts from me on conspiratorial network analysis.
TL;DR: You can’t just impulsively map connections & hope to reveal anything meaningful, except perhaps a reflection of your own assumptions.
tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
The Dig is one of my favourite podcasts, so it was a real honour to be able to chat with Daniel about all things AI
I'll do more posts like this that can serve as intros to computational social science, alongside political/sociological analysis & that sort of thing.
If you’re interested in coding & networks, I’ve got a quite long post on how to do social network analysis in Python. I demonstrate this by creating a network of donors around the right-wing Labour think tank Labour Together.
Made a website called ‘Society from the Top Down’ where I’ll post my general thoughts on society & politics, work in progress, half-formed ideas, & little bits of research that never become, or never found their way into, books or articles. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
I only ever prepare for things that have already happened. #SmartThinking
Can't believe what's happening right now. Love Nato so much.
Careful what you wish for
Academics: We shouldn't reduce our analysis of political events to the whims & idiosyncrasies of individuals
Trump: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace
Just calmly explain that its a tough decision, but its in the national interest to subordinate ourselves to another nation. People will like that.
