Unsurprisingly Shapiro seems to have written more or less the same formulaic Nietzscheslop as every other alt right writer. I wonder if @mattpolprof.bsky.social gets tired of reading it.

Is there a better illustration of the failures of both liberals and leftists than Your Party’s inability to work together and the Labour government grimly staying the course for the iceberg?

How can social democrats offer an optimistic, futurist alternative to the dominant tech ideologies of 'Effective Altruism', 'Anglofuturism', and 'Accelerationism? @demofuturist.bsky.social sets out the beginnings of an approach: (subscribe to read)

Technology can help realise a social democratic future; it is not only a threat. But if we fail to imagine it, those with narrower or darker visions will set the terms

Similar for Labour politics. It’s not like their plans involve a big material impact on people’s lives in the next 3 years. In the absence of that you have to double down on the latter

We've done a great job fighting pensioner poverty. This was the whole plan. I'm really not sure this is a bad thing. Read any old book and elder poverty is rampant and we're beating it. Obviously pensioners have repaid us by GOING FUCKING MENTAL, but that was unforseen.

The cowardice and complacency of so much of the UK political class in the face of what is both an obvious moral evil and a serious socio-political threat is as discrediting as it is dispiriting

Blockbuster issue here. A lot of great analysis on the far right, which seems pertinent right now. Also some interesting ethnography and history. And a social democratic response to various right-adjacent futurisms from me!

The government desperately needs a strategic response to Reform as opposed to a tactical one. This is as good an attempt as I have seen to try to articulate it, grounded in material conditions and clear on the politics

The median social democrat’s ambition is to have a bit less greed and better public services. It’s not enough to contest the future. I argue we need a deeper engagement with tech. We can look to Taiwan as an example of a state using tech strengthening the democratic process 👇

Governing is not just policies it is a chance to reshape how the country understands its own story. How can Labour do that if they won’t oppose the dominant story being told by its enemies? All we are hearing is meek condemnation of violence rather than challenging the story itself

It was a very great pleasure to appear on one of my favourite podcasts, and to talk with David Runciman about the Past, Present, and Future (!) of electoral reform & proportional representation

"those on the right-wing demonstration scene are often not of the maligned, silent majority which some implicitly lionise them as. The most prominent single social demographic which sets the tone of these affairs is in fact the lumpenproletariat" Aaron Wells on the class politics of hotel protests

If you needed more evidence that the online sphere is the vector that sets the news cycle, the BBC is running a special on Charlie Kirk despite basically no one in the UK knowing who he is. He was a pundit. It’s bad he was killed. But why is this worthy of a whole programme? America-brained

Want to understand what has made Pedro Sánchez and the PSOE so successful? Read the essay from the previous issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social: "Daring to deliver: Pedro Sánchez and the revival of Spanish social democracy"

Given the deputy leadership race, I've been revisiting Bridget Phillipson's post 2019 election piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social, which I've always thought was an usually interesting and perceptive bit of writing from an MP: www.bridgetphillipson.com/articles/202...

Has chatgpt improved the average speech tho? I get it couldn’t deliver a tour de force but honestly it could raise the median

I don’t mean to be complacent but I’ve seen a lot of posts about how this is a turning point for the US. But it seems more like a reversion to the mean. The 90s-early 2000s was a weird time of gatekept institutions and elite consensus. Outside that US democracy has been frequently violent?

I’d love to know why Starmer keeps deliberately walking into rakes in slow motion… This particular one was visible from a long way off. Did no one suggest to him that it’s a bit risky to back an Epstein chum? Did it not occur to him?

Anneliese Dodds speaking at the @renewaljournal.bsky.social Rita Hinden Lecture tonight. Her talk identifies the "tech bros", and the systems they oversee and interventions they make, as a threat to "free and fair democracy". She argues the left should focus strongly on protecting democracy.

I think there’s some confusion between say/do here. There isn’t much of a story without a policy to drive it. But you can have a policy without a story. It’s not clear a policy that improves people’s lives on the margin = credit to the gov. You need some controversial policies to tell your story

New piece by me. I wrote about what the political methodology literature tells us about the uses and abuses of surveys, why a polling-first political strategy is a mistake, and why a clear set of values and a clear political vision is essential for reconciling contradictory pressures on policy.

Good article. Do not treat polling and surveys as some sort of exogenous state of affairs that can never be influenced

Labour mainstream are right that the government is wildly out of step with its base. No this is not a good approach to attract median voters - if you still think that nothing can convince. But a radical change of course still comes up against the same spending constraints and a jittery bond market

The root of a talented communicator in politics is the ability to defend a world view. To reframe challenges on your terms. How many times do we need to learn that adopting the rhetoric of opponents backfires 👇

A reminder that Anneliese Dodds, who resigned from Starmer's government, is giving the Rita Hinden memorial lecture for @renewaljournal.bsky.social on Tuesday. With the government in obvious distress and a deputy leadership contest imminent, I am intrigued about what she will say.

The difference a politician can make with a shred of charisma is clear from Zack Polanski. More coverage for the greens in like 1 week than they’ve had in years

Why is Mandan good at this? I think that at least some part of it is actually having a politics. I do think Buttigieg is a much better communicator compared to others in the party. But he doesn’t have the same sauce for that reason

How many times do soc dems need to learn the lesson that accommodating the right doesn’t work? This is more or less what I predicted in this piece - why the island of strangers speech was a total misreading of the political terrain: renewal.org.uk/blog/why-lab...

The problem is we have so few politicians with the potential to be good at politics. And defeating the right absolutely requires this. I don’t see anyone else capable of fronting a more aggressive political strategy

Rayner stood down. I’m sure that’s not going to be a problem for the ailing Starmer government down the line right? Right?

One of the main legacies of Trump will be much more memetic Democrats. But you have to choose which path: dark lib or joyful left

Bluesky, what if we listened to the guy who might actually win? What if we tried to build a coalition capable winning?

This is part of the broader story of how fan culture after 2008, came to define millennials as a whole rather than remaining the niche identity of the nerd or outcast. People cling to their fandoms not just for entertainment, but because their lived present and anticipated future feels joyless

What Corbyn needed to do to win was different to what Starmer needs to do. I think it’s a mistake to try to apply lessons straightforwardly between the two because the board is very different and so are their strengths and weaknesses

Good piece - maybe they should stop being so quiet about it? There is a minor tradition within Labour they can draw on to put this kind of idea of community empowerment front and centre. But they’d have to think about how to make it more salient and emotive

In this house we are woke and English

This is really the point that needs to be internalised. The Labour’s strategy has not worked on its own terms! The foundation of a different strategy is here: renewal.org.uk/blog/why-lab...

Once again this requires reversal of strategy. Most of all they need an answer for how they are going to shift the median voter. And it’s going to start by winning back Labour voters. You can’t turn this around by appealing to a median which is conceived of as a caricature of a Reform voter

Liberals and leftists who are not totally poisoned: the only way we can win is an alliance. Always has been. That means a much wider outgroup in both directions. Can we stop the clown shit pls

All books are little psychedelics and you should be careful what you ingest. I’m extremely grateful I read Yud’s Harry Potter fanfic later in life. It’s meant to be about how science can demystify magic. But it’s really a power fantasy with bad psychology As a teen I think it would’ve warped my WV

“In its second year in office it needs to be clearer who it’s fighting for, and crucially who it is against.” Yes! Seeing more and more recognition that Labour needs to adopt a less conflict-adverse strategy. I hope they listen.

We are pleased to announce the title of Anneliese Dodds's Rita Hinden Memorial Lecture this coming Tuesday 9th September: "Why Labour mustn't lose: social democracy vs the bros" Tickets are still available, and can be booked for free here: www.eventbrite.com/e/renewal-pr...

The correct answer is to fly the England flag and the woke flag together

The trouble with today’s Nietzscheans isn’t that they’re shocking. It’s that they’re predictable. Uncreative. The so called bugmen have so much more to offer open.substack.com/pub/democrat...

Drought on rain island is just embarrassing

A lot of sci fy depicts interplanetary empires in which farming is still a thing. I sort of think that might be fair in that a galactic economy might reach a stasis pretty easily

Good post - this is one of the outcomes of a broader strategic deficit. Attacking your opponent as the incumbent is always defensive Better to shape the terrain on which the battle is fought. For that you need what John calls “resonance” which comes from moral claims renewal.org.uk/blog/why-lab...

I think Stephen’s article mischaracterises what playing offence really involves Attacking opposition when you are the incumbent is always defensive - people blame you and Reform don’t need to offer solid targets Offence means having them attack you on terrain that is favourable to you

The UK public drastically overestimate 'illegal' migration and are supportive of legal asylum claims. Some opportunity there if the govt was braver. But it would have to start telling its own story, not conceding ground due to fear (or an underbaked 2029 strategy). yougov.co.uk/politics/art...