that'll be this friday's episode
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www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com
can the uk labour party - from either an electoral or moral standpoint - come back from this?
just recorded a great conversation with @danielsohege.bsky.social mulling this over
(& if you haven't seen his shorts on trans & refugee rights you should check them out 👇)
but i also do say in the essay 'what the hell happened to the centre right' is a question on which more (good) work needs to be done - this is like my first pass at it from within the theoretical framework that i generally use
so while it *was* shocking, & was a turning point, i think people who experienced it as a pure 'out nowhere' break kinda hadn't been paying attention - or, more charitably - our dominant interpretive lenses obfuscated the ways our world was changing
i could have been clearer on that
i won't do a point by point, read it & decide for yourself
one clarification: i think the 2016 moment *appeared to many* as having come out of nowhere, but actually had antecedents & structural reasons that went back a bit
bsky.app/profile/bord...
thoughtful critique of my latest from a centre-right perspective
if you're committed to just accepting public opinion as is & the right feels empowered to try & change it, the whole country will invariably get pulled right fast
as we're seeing
that's not to say a maximalist position is always strategically wise
but you have to at least be open to trying to change public opinion in some circumstances
they right is never held back by "what about mythical swing voter?" considerations
the press don't put that on them, their parties don't hamstring themselves in that way
they figure if they yell about it & have the right wing press hammer the point home, they'll move public opinion
& they are - 10% to 25%, but still
war with iran is 30 points underwater with uk voters, really no one wants it
do the right wing parties let that hold them back? clearly not
man, if only someone had warned them this wasn't going to work
bsky.app/profile/polp...
i wouldn't go as far as to say labour are a far-right party, but they're certainly implementing far-right policies
so it's not just that their unpopularity makes the greens the strategic choice - if you're motivation is to vote against far right policy that now *includes* labour
the thing is, it's not just lefties upset that they're not getting what they want
that's part of it, but - as the article correctly says - the latest immigration reforms are well to the right of previous conservative governments
i would also add the rollback of trans rights to that
"progressives aren’t just voting against Reform, they are now actively voting against Labour"
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
thus concludes toby's lunchtime thoughts
i've only made it with lamb, but i imagine it would also work with goat
(if you can get fresh curry leaves, which my local world foods store does, they're a lovely thing to cook with -
my railway curry for instance is just lamb braised with them & garam masala, then add a little tamarind & coconut milk at the end)
my current favourite daal recipe is is from this cookbook
it's super simple, essentially make & mash moong daal, top with butter infused with cumin & curry leaves
www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/produc...
& here's how you make naans in a home kitchen
www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/naans
usually don't do the same thing, but i can eat daal, or a good curry on repeat (& they get better after a day or two in the fridge)
this is the recipe, i think this is the best curry i cook (it's my wife's favourite, she had some before she left)
www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/karahigosht
my wife's away for the week, so made a vat of karahi gosht, a big pan of moong daal, & a stack of naans
will be subsisting on this for the next few days
Moderate Democrats with columns in newspapers are constantly saying the Democratic Party is way too liberal on "social" issues. Moderate Democratic voters in real life do not feel this way. With some polling data from @gelliottmorris.com and @dataforprogress.org. newrepublic.com/article/2074...
I'm grateful for the "3000-word article" discourse because it led me to this article I'd previously missed, and which left me teary-eyed at the end.
newrepublic.com/article/2042...
Post on Truth Social by Donald J. Trump: "Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!President DJT" 7 ReTruths 36 Likes 3/8/26, 3:54 PM
"The ends of fascism are economic ruin and, again, they simply don’t care." www.liberalcurrents.com/it-wasnt-fas...
scallops with mash, bacon, & a herb & chili sauce
This is a great essay. In it, I hear echoes of the struggle of Marxist humanism against structuralism waged from the 1970s onward, and am reminded that we on the left must hold our collective ability to choose what world we live in as core to our beliefs.
www.liberalcurrents.com/it-wasnt-fas...
Really well said: "Economic inequality reduces the ability of people to experience others as equals, to have relations with them on equal terms, and hence to function as citizens."
www.liberalcurrents.com/it-wasnt-fas...
maybe sit this one out bud
