Martin Keown: “If that was a game of chess, then it’s game, set and match to Arsenal.”

Lovely call this morning with @calebalthorpe.bsky.social planning this workshop for @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social. Looking forward to a great conversation about what democratic ownership is, why we need it and how we build it. All welcome! visions-for-the-future.sites.uu.nl/events/speak...

Ed Miliband was one of the first senior politicians to challenge Rupert Murdoch, so it's no surprise that he's been the most outspoken member of the Cabinet on Elon Musk.

Is there a reason I ask that the Times are using a picture of asylum seekers in a boat to describe rules for migrants who came on legal routes such as skilled worker visas for doctors?

This week I launched a Community Wealth Building Commission, bringing together experts and practitioners, to create a plan to build fairer local economies in York and North Yorkshire with workers and communities at their heart.

Hear, hear! A good lecture is an amazing thing.

I’m sorry to learn that Jonathan Lear has died. His book Radical Hope is one of the deepest and wisest books I’ve read this decade. If you’ve not read it, I’d recommend it. It’s a book for the dark times we’re in.

When I was still in primary school my teacher put up disparaging cartoons of leading politicians on the classroom wall as part of a lesson about what it meant to live in a free country.

Unclear how far back this would go and if would attack settled status for EU nationals. But clear that we must oppose this because mass deportation is a crime and an attack on basic rights rather than "unworkable" or "bad for the economy". It is your family, friends and neighbours he's coming for

“Citizens have been paying a ‘privatisation premium’ of £250 per household per year since 2010 alone.” Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — covered in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

“The ‘true cost in law’ of nationalising the UK water sector is far lower than the government’s figure and is in fact ‘closer to zero’, according to a report from the think tank Common Wealth.” Our briefing with @ewanmg.bsky.social featured in @social.newcivilengineer.com 🔗👇

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain. A country remade by privatisation. Our latest project — Who Owns Britain? — explores how a radical experiment transformed our society and shapes your life. 🧵

I joined Lib Dem colleagues in writing to the Chancellor, urging her to scrap the two child benefit cap, one of the biggest drivers of child poverty in Britain. This is a policy that has not achieved its intended goals. Instead, it has forced parents into making impossible choices.

First Past the Post cannot handle this level of fragmentation. It will produce completely freak results. We can grasp this problem now, or wait for the train to crash.

His 2003 birthday message is filled with insinuations about Epstein being "mysterious" and young women present as "interesting", both in scare quotes

I seem to remember that association with Ken Loach was an offence that required the defenestration of a Labour mayor; association with Epstein doesn't disqualify someone as ambassador to the US.

"I regret the thing that someone else did to me"

York Centre for Social Justice and Democracy (formerly known as York Centre for Political Theory) 2026 BOOK MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP (DEADLINE Friday, 19 December 2025) Information can be found here: www.york.ac.uk/politics/cpt... APPLY and, please, circulate widely! @martinoneill.bsky.social

One of the better developments on the Beeb in recent years has been "BBC Verify", which does proper fact-checking & analysis. But this substantive analysis seems entirely divorced from its political commentary, which is entirely focused on "showbiz" & sports-punditry. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Talking of "falling behind", have noticed how mainstream-to-right/w politicians are "intensely relaxed" about within-country inequality but think disaster if their country's GDP grows slower than others. Relativities morally unimportant (or just "envy") in one context but not the other, apparently.

Historian @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Palestinian human rights lawyer Jennifer Zacharia, and political philosopher @martinoneill.bsky.social expand on what this moment requires—not just of intellectuals, but of journalists and of us all.

And @martinoneill.bsky.social draws lessons from the story of two women arrested on terrorism charges in the UK for peaceful protest. “We miss something essential,” he concludes, ”when we frame our talk of responsibilities around ‘intellectuals,’ as opposed to the responsibilities of all citizens.”

The responsibility of citizens @martinoneill.bsky.social

Melvyn Bragg has been one of the last standard-bearers for a really important, and unfashionable, idea: that good conversation, between people who really know their stuff, on complex or difficult subjects, can be fantastic radio - and that the national broadcaster should do this. I hope it endures.

I've written a piece for the 50th Anniversary edition of @bostonreview.bsky.social. It's about the courageous people who have been standing up to condemn the genocide in Gaza, and about the morally corrupted politicians who have tried to silence those protests. www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-re...

You can get a copy of the issue by subscribing here: www.bostonreview.net/memberships

The special section from our 50th anniversary issue, The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide, is now online. Robin D. G. Kelley revisits Noam Chomsky’s classic argument, with @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Jennifer Zacharia, and @martinoneill.bsky.social.

This is how politics appears if you ignore economics, law, mass media, geography and demography

For job interviews two questions I’ve heard: 1. Which great figure in your field is wrong, and why? 2. Which concept in your discipline do you wish that the general public understood properly?

J.D. Vance showed his ignorance about how wars end. Wondering if he knows how Fascist regimes end?

LATEST: Irish folk band The Mary Wallopers have said they were 'cut off' during a performance at a UK music festival for displaying a Palestine flag on stage

No artist should face censorship or suppression for supporting Palestinian liberation or calling out Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We stand with The Mary Wallopers against this appalling overreach by Victorious Festival.

Oh good grief. Maybe get rid of elections too and replace them with VotePUBLICSERVICEASSETSTRIP? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The far right is not the voice of the "left behind" or "working class" It is the voice of wealth, elitism and authoritarianism That this needs to be said tells you a lot about how their propaganda has been mainstreamed

The return of Clegg provides an opportunity to re-share this beautiful anecdote, from David Runciman's review of Cameron's memoir

At Victorious Festival in Portsmouth. Irish band the Mary Wallopers booted off stage for flying a Palestine flag. Which is not illegal. Who took this decision to stop a band expressing legitimate views? Very worrying whatever view you have on the Middle East.

I really wonder what would need to happen to disrupt the British media‘s current obsession with immigrants. I am serious. What would it take to talk about something else? Putin invading a few more countries? Another Prime Minister being hounded out of office? Global economic collapse? A tidal wave?

Online early! Members can now download our new, 50th anniversary issue. Featuring Robin D. G. Kelley on “The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide,” with @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, @martinoneill.bsky.social, and Jennifer Zacharia. www.bostonreview.net/issue/summer...

I wrote this to explain how we reached this point, in the hope it would be a resource for people arguing with friends and family, people with questions, perhaps even people thinking of joining a protest. Do share with anyone who might find it useful. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Letter of the day (in the Times)

Tomorrow I’ll be walking 44km - from the Wolfe Tone statue in Bantry to the Mizen Head — along with 150+ others, as part of the Walk4Gaza organised by West Cork for Palestine 🇮🇪🤝🇵🇸 We’re raising funds for @medicalaidpal.bsky.social Here’s the link for sponsorship: gofund.me/ddbffc85

There are many brilliant researchers and teachers at the University of Warwick. They must be mortified that senior managers at their university have decided to undertake a “rebranding” exercise that’s turning their institution into a laughing stock. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️👇

“As scholars dedicated to questions of justice and ethics we believe that Yvette Cooper’s recent proscription of Palestine Action represents an attack both on the entire pro-Palestine movement and on fundamental freedoms of expression, association, assembly and protest.”

It’s so perfectly tragicomic for Labour to have walked themselves, step-by-step, into a situation where they are confronting the public with a choice between virtually every major scholar of genocide, protest, policing and attendant fields vs. someone who voted for Iraq and has never admitted fault.

In banning a protest organisation as a “terorrist group” the Labour government have violated some of the fundamental norms of a democratic society. This should be a resigning matter for Yvette Cooper. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Our 50th anniversary issue heads to the printer soon. Featuring Robin D. G. Kelley in a special section on the responsibility of intellectuals in the age of fascism and genocide, w/ @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Jennifer Zacharia, & @martinoneill.bsky.social. To get it, subscribe now (link below):

The descriptions of the ‘Worsts’ has had me weeping with laughter. Genius. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Steve Rotheram, Labour mayor of Liverpool city region, has told Robert Peston he is deeply critical of Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint the former editor of the Sun newspaper to a new Whitehall perm sec position in charge of all 7,000 civil servants engaged in communications and PR Statement here

We now have 300,000 people signed up and the establishment is clearly frightened. Westminster is broken, but the real crisis is inequality: just fifty families now own more wealth than half the population. Let’s change that together. Join us: yourparty.uk