It would be a crime, a disgrace, and a mistake for the government to fail to support the World Service

There is no contradiction between the two. It’s increasingly clear that to govern well you must have an ability to dominate online media. Why? Because governing well will invite controversy through tackling difficult issues. Have to be able to wield that to advantage

I have concluded that Kanye is a herald of the zietgeist. His apology signals a turning of the tide. May we not squander this opportunity

The far right are calling Soc dem ideology “Star Trek liberalism” and honestly that sounds rad. We should run with that

There’s an aesthetic of seriousness that has plagued British politics. It’s become a stand-in for having any kind of strategic goals - for having a politics at all. Ironically this is unserious! A politics is partly a heuristic that helps you make decisions under uncertainty

Voters want charisma! They want politicians who grab their attention! If your party doesn't promote these people, they will vote for a party that does!

Labour need to put country before party. Or was that just words? Those who can least suffer it will bear the brunt of Reform if they lose. And it’s clear this gov is not recovering even if delivery improves in 2yrs. The person with the best chance of defeating them is clearly Andy.

I’m not persuaded that joining the customs union is a good idea. I think either we should rejoin or chart our own path We’re not ready to rejoin while Reform poses such a threat. And the EU are not going to do us any favours A customs union does not even do much to remove trade barriers anyway

Fantastic to see this out! A brilliant range of different perspectives & ideas on how to pursue effective social democratic strategies, challenge concentrations of wealth & power and fight back against the far right

The new (double!) issue of "Renewal - a journal of social democracy" is now available both online and in print, featuring brilliant contributions from historians, sociologists, political scientists, think tank researchers, and activists (and even the odd Labour MP)

I kind of think Trump is a problem for Marxist accounts of geopolitical turmoil in which “capital” is the driver of expansion. Current events are being driven by pre-capitalist drives of the past: spite, personal animus, pride. I dont think commercial interest can explain Venezuela or Greenland

Seeing a lot of takes about how Britain needs to return to a foreign policy in which it has no eternal allies or enemies, only eternal interests. It takes for granted that a countries’ interest is obvious and not the stuff of dreams, visions and ideals. What is Britain’s interest? To be powerful?

The same goes for government comms. The message cooked up by Spads is never going to be as effective as what is organically created and then selected for by various algos

This one really is shaping up to evergreen if I say so myself. Political strategy 101: do not go out of your way to trash your most motivated advocates in favour of a median voter. The job is to shift the median, which can’t be achieved without effective organic reach

Enjoying the cultural rehabilitation of the blue hairs as it becomes clear, not only were they correct but they are also pretty badass

UK and France basically playing good cop bad cop with the US rn. As it was meant to be

“Might is right” is no less ideological than a belief in international law. It is no less of a “veneer” or how things “really” work Power doesn’t come with a self-evident account of what your interests are.

This is one of the best essays I’ve read in a while “If socialism is to answer capitalism on its own terrain, it needs a rival worldmaking vehicle—not simply the democratized administration of an economy whose creativity happens elsewhere.” I couldn’t agree more. Some ideas on this so far…

Getting round to reading this and I gravitate to the warmness, the gentle and even the silliness What I think is missing though is a sense of history. Can we dodge that whilst constructing a patriotism? And then I want to ask what of the future? Does it give us a sense of where we’re going?

Really excellent piece on the dangers of trying to replace politics with automated negotiations

Imagine waking up to find AI agents have negotiated hundreds of decisions for you overnight on noise rules, street layouts, local development. That’s one emerging vision of AI governance. I argue from a social democratic perspective it is deeply flawed open.substack.com/pub/democrat...

Thanks! While I think Labour would need to deploy it differently, you could’ve predicted Green’s recent success from the dynamics laid out here. They are very much capitalising on the attention economy.

The BBC is so much more than politics. The idea we should destroy a public institution and replace it with nothing ultimately advances the agenda of conservatives

Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society. Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇 renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...

A really interesting response to @demofuturist.bsky.social's essay in the latest edition of @renewaljournal.bsky.social

Fantastically clear response on the negative feedback loops democracies can enter into and how things like compulsory voting can help. Really looking forward to the full ep

If you want to know which way the wind is blowing in Labour at any given moment, Wes Streeting’s statements tend to be a good indicator- but this is also testament to the “liberal Blairite” resurgence reported on by @morganj0nes.bsky.social: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Required reading for social democrats today: A speculative alternative to ideologies of Silicon Valley and the need for such an alternative to contest the here and now open.substack.com/pub/democrat...

This essay was prompted by an article in the latest issue of Renewal, which for anyone concerned by the threat of the far right in the UK, I would recommend reading from cover to cover. A brilliant issue @renewaljournal.bsky.social !

Fascinating response to my essay on social democratic futurism. William argues that we have to contest the deferral of hope into the future by asking more of science and technology in the here and now.

British politics is now just anti-immigration and the wealth tax. Interesting isn’t it that neither of those issues are ones Labour have had any agency framing. Even if they don’t adopt the latter what is their challenge to it? Just getting crushed by both sides

A lot of people are convinced of the damage social media has done to the electorate. But I wonder if it is the politicians who have been most warped by it? Every MP incentivised to be a little demagogue

Rigid, controlling, centralised institutions aren't going to cut it. We need dispersed power, ways of finding common ground and making the most of our disagreements. Good piece on digital democracy.

Really enjoyed this - a useful counter-point my general techno-pessimism, offering a detailed example of how new technology can sometimes be used to improve rather than (as in most cases) wreck the democratic public sphere

Nice to see my piece for Renewal get a little shoutout. I also particularly enjoyed @morganj0nes.bsky.social musings on Andrea Dworkin and the value of “vulgar” feminism

I think it’s clear now woke was pretty good for society in general. Willing to concede it was somewhat bad for art tho

New from me on what we can learn from the digital democracy of Taiwan. This is the story of how a civic movement of hackers and officials created the conditions for tech to serve democratic purposes. In an age where platforms drive us apart the best response is not only defensive but creative

I've spent *weeks* working on this special report for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on GB News co-owner Paul Marshall – and the astonishing, unprecedented influence network he's built on the UK's right. There's never been anything like it before. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-p...

So the plan on week 1 of the Reform gov according to Cummings should be to trigger an immediate diplomatic, economic and security crisis by leaving the ECHR, breaching the Good Friday Agreement and the trade agreement with the EU. This is their strategist dawg. Don’t tell me Reform can’t be beaten

Following in Clegg’s footsteps, it is dispiriting that “prime minister” is now a stepping stone to “functionary at an American corporation.” Embarrassing and revealing of how fallen in stature and lacking in vision our political class is

Great article - for communitarians I guess my questions are who is the enemy? What is the controversy? Right now the dominant story on the left is wealth tax and that is going to squeeze out any other “left” issue If you want to tell another story you will have to raise its salience by a lot

One of the great achievements of the post war settlement is to extend the arts, once the province of aristocrats, to most of us But I’ve never been that convinced by the utilitarian argument that the arts make us better judges of morality

“If pictures of American troops in war zones overseas upset Trump voters, pictures of them 50 miles down the road are not going to do any better. When the culture war escalates into real-world street fighting, people rapidly lose their patience with it.” inews.co.uk/opinion/trum...

Not going out of their way to alienate Labour voters really is the bare minimum for a recovery and also an admission that the previous strategy to do so was a total failure

“Indeed, increasing the salience of your opponents’ core issues is a recipe that has repeatedly failed for mainstream parties in combating the far right” Great piece. Hopefully conference is the start of learning this lesson

I was delighted to contribute to this excellent @uclpolicylab.bsky.social & @powertochange.org.uk essay collection on “Labour and the communitarian tradition”, alongside @ewallis.bsky.social, @mds49.bsky.social, @caitprowle.bsky.social, @kirstymcneill.bsky.social & @andyburnham.bsky.social

How should Labour respond to the radical right threat? Three essays make big strategic arguments: - @caitprowle.bsky.social calls for Labour to go big on community politics - @paulmason.bsky.social calls for a "zero-sum socialism" - @demofuturist.bsky.social calls for a "social democratic futurism"

No one would be talking about Burnham if the leadership had the support of the party. There’d be no space for Andy to be relevant if they’d done even a modicum of work to engage the party on their program - which is in the pits right now!

Idea for a political strategy: Let’s keep making salient the issue our biggest opponent is strongest on! That will show them…

I do think anyway that this argument amounts to “the government is too incompetent to do proper tyranny” Is that really what protects us?