11.03.2026 14:12
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Worth pointing out that if someone on the left had suggested that a prominent Jewish politician had "no idea of England and is uncomfortable with the very concept itself", then they would be roundly condemned for engaging with an age-old antisemetic trope.
Secondly they have one eye on the corporate consultancies that come after their time in office.
Lots of people are asking "who do they hope to attract with these policies?" And the answer is twofold, firstly they want to repel the left and moderates, getting them to leave the party and allowing a figure from the right to take the leadership.
If you are viewing Labour's policy decisions through the lens of electoral politics then you're going to get a weak analysis that produces more questions than answers.
The party is run by a faction singularly unprepared to govern who are engaged in a struggle to dominate the party in perpetuity.
It sits on my desk in Lisbon, I enjoyed and speak of it a lot when discussing possibilities for transformation
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower
It's also amusing to see the absolute certainty with which people who have zero understanding, knowledge, experience or respect for genuinely participatory processes, pontificate on questions of how to bring people along with you.
I can't be overstated how much of this is driven by their politics which consists of "we know best".
It's Blairist technocracy in overdrive which shows little to know understanding of the political terrain in 2026.
Woops, the @societyofauthors.bsky.social have a new scheme to put 'Human Authored' into new books and Tracey Chevalier (author of Girl With A Pearl Earring) goes on the BBC Today Programme to promote it... and promptly admits that she uses genAI for historical research.
Anyone involved in organizing for progressive causes should assume, as par for the course, that the state is monitoring them.
And this is irrespective of which political party is in power.
As I get older I'm coming to increasingly radical views like "you have to do things to get good at them" and "you have to think about problems to solve them"
Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …
Dear Shabana,
Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.
Loved it. My first thought was 'punk bird!' and then I watched it grab and devour a worm.
I literally stumbled upon one of these birds on my way to work this morning.
Which makes it all the more depressing when western politicians and media wheel out those old arguments for war and the consent manufacturing machine goes "whirr"
What I will add is that it appears clear this is not like 2003 in the sense that the US and Israel have no real interest in regime change, there is no real plan - however half-arsed - for any transition in power. This is just a policy of regional destablization to embed Israeli power in the region.
I'm too old and tired to be rehashing arguments that were as valid in 2003 as they are in 2026. I'm just going be referencing those as (Standring, 2003a; Standring, 2003b; Standring; 2004).
Their goal isn't to govern, they have one eye on appeasing capital and the cushy consulting jobs post-Westminster
Strange that Yvette Cooper was doing the rounds claiming that the UK doesn't consider whether allies are breaking international law but allows them to make their own evaluation.
Not sure if accidental or not but it's particularly appropriate: Robert Shaw was born deep in the Red Wall, in Westhoughton
I don't know if it was an intentional or incidental effect of the 1983-1997 Labour modernization project.
Symptom of the replacement in the Labour party of those whose political coming of age was in the trade unions with those who were formed politically in the NUS/JCR.
There's little doubt that the current Labour leadership sees anyone to the left of Blair as a dangerous extremist
Agree completely. It's important to recognise and criticise violence, injustice and oppression while rejecting false binaries.
As an invited professor there is no provision for supervision to be included in my teaching hours or directly compensated. I get 'research funds' for every successful supervision but no reduction in teaching hours so potentially 'some' money but then no time to actually do research.
I feel like I'm being exploited whichever path I'm on at the moment. I'm in the position of transitioning from a research contract (invited researcher) to a teaching contract (invited professor).
As an invited researcher I can be asked to teach up to 4 hours a week in addition to my research.
The Labour party in its present form is unable, ideologically and ethically, to diagnose the contradictions of the current conjuncture.
Starmer serves as an avatar for those with a particular vision of elitist politics dominated by the professional managerial class.
Minor thing, given how much political discourse uses "authenticity" and "out-of-touch politicians who know nothing about real life" as essentially a metaphor for not being anti-immigrant, it's notable the two nativist parties stood an ex-academic turned race hate pundit and a management consultant
