Burnham in particular must recognise that if he becomes PM he has to be seen as different to Starmer. The entire project is over in 6 months if Starmer 2.0 takes hold as a narrative. That means he has to take at least 1-2 bold decisions that are emblematic, that serve as symbols, early on

Why was this so damaging? It’s not just that it lost voters to greens. Labour lost its most motivated supporters. The distributed network of people who are advocating, framing your policies and defending it passionately. You lose them and the whole distribution shifts negatively

Govt shjould put a stronger civic education duty in the BBC charter. Sharpen it. And make it Ofcom measurable. And ask BBC annually to say how it will meet the civic-democracy remit

Is the Elections Bill up to the job? Guy Furlong argues that the bill is jumble of half-measures, reflecting a lack of any coherent theory of what's wrong with democracy, and of what a better democracy might look like: renewal.org.uk/blog/democra...

NEW ISSUE ALERT: Renewal 34:1 The Employment Rights Act and the Politics of Work Guest edited by Renewal contributing editors @stevenklein.bsky.social and @fhpitts.bsky.social along with co-editor @lisebutler.bsky.social renewal.org.uk/journal/volu...

New post is about what I've learned through a series of experiments aimed at testing how human judgment affects AI systems We need democratic systems to evolve as agentic AI develops - and we can do that through improving deliberative mechanisms. This is my early attempt to show how

Bluesky's vision of social media is so much better than alternatives. The devs are fantastic. Custom feeds are great. But it has to overcome its rep as a place for people who dont like X. The goal is not a perfect little left fiefdom where expression is all within acceptable bounds

What I want isn't always what I think I want. It’s a cocktail that only shakes out when I’m at the bar... New essay on why we need human deliberation to figure it out what we want no matter how capable AI becomes. open.substack.com/pub/democrat...

Does Labour really want to do it like Denmark? I've written about why the strategy is increasingly beleaguered, www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/728...

New piece featured in society for technological advancement If the future is a patchwork of AI agents, each continuously bargaining on our behalf, we risk losing capacity to form political judgments ourselves. Democracies are not built for this… open.substack.com/pub/sotalett...

As more and more of society is arranged around a trustless individualism in which you have more and are alone with it, Habermas could not be more relevant. RIP

New post on an old question: the socialist calculation debate. AI has revived the dream that a central planner might finally replace the inefficiency of the market. The panopticon is probably not realistic but there is a real tendency in which decisions migrate upwards across the economy

Loved Habermas’ unwavering commitment to understanding people with different views & values. Arguing that if we earnestly debate deep differences we will come out better on the other side. Forever changed how I understand the word “deliberative”. RIP www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

God I hate this idea. People are not one more image of a dead baby away from radicalisation. We don't lack will, we lack any real means to act on our will because the left has ceased to be a political project and become a few thousand people trying to Post their way out of Posting.

If you’re on this app it’s partly because you implicitly buy that enshittification can be combatted with alternative tech. But the dominant attitude here is quite resistant to that idea when it comes to AI or other technologies

What is "deliverism"? Is it dead? And what would its death mean for progressive politics? This essay (kindly published by @samfr.bsky.social) is my attempt to trace five years of trans-Atlantic debates, to set out what I see as the stakes, and to analyse where these arguments have now gotten to:

I think this sums up well why the Labour right are strategically so inept. They seem believe that an “ideological story” is a list of policies that are a bit radical. Rather than something intrinsically related to the “anger” and identity” of voters he refers to. Labour cannot compete without one

They don't need to "move left" in the sense of adopting Green policies. They do need to stop insulting their own voters. Not the same thing.

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