the question of whether the American founding was a radical experiment in what Lincoln would later describe as government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, or a means of legitimizing aristocratic rule has always been contested. the aristocratic (now plutocratic) side adopts that line.

"This is what people mean when they claim that the unitary executive is “inherently lawless”. In its strongest form this vision of the constitution essentially establishes that the president can do what he wants up until (and unless) congress impeaches him." @nathantankus.bsky.social

Housing shortage is on 1% of the land, "abundant" housing elsewhere doesn't remedy it. Tart observations by @kevinerdmann.bsky.social. (I think the state must play a role in expanding that 1%, creating new zones in which housing would be in demand. I'm not sure Kevin'd be so optimistic about that.)

If we built smaller (electric) cars, people wouldn’t be driving death traps for children, wouldn’t struggle parking in the bays at Tesco and would save money.

empire state building climbers almost perfect encapsulation of modern aesthetic liberalism: it looked very much like a dangerous protest - big sign, balaclavas, got arrested - but the sign said some meaningless shite and in the end all it did was promote their art instagram

Worth remembering this was precisely the objective of David Cameron's government.

London got rich by drawing in talent, money and opportunity from the rest of the country, then relying on the whole country to carry the cost when the finance-led model broke. Redistribution is not a favour to the regions, it's repayment.

Perhaps anyone who takes the London centric view should be reminded that it has got rich because it has sucked in talent from around the country, and a bit of redistribution would go some way to giving back.

I mean, someone from a state school background might well have certain feelings when they discover that, while they have arrived at Oxbridge, they haven't actually *arrived* and probably never will. But "chippy" – delegitimising it as a character flaw or something to get over...! FFS.

(3) With Hinsliff reviving this old fashioned snobby term (or maybe they never stopped using it) we've gone to Burnham being "chippy" because he says the system isn't working, had a 'regional' accent instead of RP, is not from the SE, went to state school - all things true of most UK people !

(2)The assumption a state schoolkid at Cambridge 'doesn't belong' ! Public schoolkids are overrepresented at Cambridge, but are still the minority, with 70% from state schools. Why the state school kids "chippy", not the public school kids 'overconfident boors' ?....

(1)Journalists freely using the v. Old fashioned ,snobby term "chippy" for Andy Burnham is a tell on how disconnected they are from the country. From "chip on his shoulder" it means anyone who 'complains' is unreasonably angry or bitter at the world 1st time i saw it was this from Gaby Hinsliff....

An anti-democratic outrage in Birmingham

UK Children’s minister calls for ‘moral outrage’, vows to end profit-driven care. 84% of children’s homes run for profit. Private equity is key player. Public purse looted. In Nov 2024, govt vowed to end profiteering. Still waiting. End Privatisation of social care. archive.ph/o9c7I

Well worth reading though NB ignores apprenticeships’ comparatively low completion rates relative to universities, which bears factoring in.

Taking a bike on a train in the UK is painful. Between bad design, ultra low capacity & chronic underinvestment in services, I dread the experience. Listening to a confrontation about it as I type. On mainland Europe I'm reminded how it can done. They even have ebike chargers on trains near Venice.

The big question that determines what’s going on here is: is somebody inside Reform squawking to grateful reporters who were always hungry for this material, or is this more like the suddenly Noticing Things we saw in late 2021/early 2022 and in 2025? I have no idea which it is.

They’ve been very pompously and stridently siding with these absolutely horrendous, very right wing cranks in the name of combating prejudice and bigotry. Imagine *how much of a fucking idiot* you’re going to look, if you now acknowledge what all of those guys actually are.

Imagine, if the Sunday Times ever had to think about how they might appeal to a bunch of teachers and social workers and bar staff! Unthinkable, disgusting, like being marched into the Gulag.

I’d add: the reason Labour, the Tories and Reform have been fighting for the support of these crackpots is a) they are all extremely reactionary, and they need these people’s support to win, and b) the British press will work itself to death to destroy anyone who does not pander to these people

Going just by my general sense of how the British press operates, particularly regarding people who are entirely their own creation: they don’t want to break Farage, because he’s just too useful. But they do want to demonstrate that they could do that, if they wanted to.

You might think something like this happening at all in a mature democracy is a sign that something has gone profoundly wrong within our ruling class, and that people in authority and in media have gone crazy, drastically exceeding the viable boundaries of their professions. And: that’s correct.

For non-Brits: Yes, it has come as a horrifying shock to our ruling class and their media hangers-on that they cannot sell more cuts and cruelty to the public just by telling them the left are scum who must be destroyed. This worked for them so long, that they assumed they had mastered reality.

this guy is the co-founder of Airbnb

Otherwise, there is no democracy at all in this system. It is: decide who will sell off what’s left of the state’s assets, so you can get more ruthlessly drilled by private interests backed by state enforcement. Fuck you, toilets are for paying customers only.

There are occasional outbreaks of democracy on the left of UK politics, when members of the left wing party tire of getting relentlessly fucked their media-friendly representatives who openly hate them, and elect someone who represents them. And every time, this is ruthlessly crushed and destroyed.

Farage has literally nothing to do with actual democracy. If maybe four newspaper editors had wanted it, British conservatism and right wing politics would still be John Major finger-wagging people. They don’t want that, which is why they relentlessly recruit bigots, crackpots and fascists.

You need to understand: Nigel Farage was recruited by the British press as a weapon to troll the Conservative Party from the right. They have consistently used him to inflame hate and resentment as required, and they have tamped him down at elections, but he is their boy to do with as they will.

The controversy about the “right to be forgotten” stuff with Google died immediately, didn’t it. That was about 15 years ago.

The difference between the day the Savile scandal broke and the day after was instructive, for me. Day one was Sir Jimmy photographed with Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles. And that shit was *immediately* shut down and cauterised to a BBC-only scandal. Which it has been, ever since.

Glaring example of an old man who does not care, because he will soon be dead

What happens if the public ever realise how badly they have been fucked by leaders they entrusted with their future and their children’s lives? Nothing good! Much better to just keep lying, forever.

Yes, this is Britain. It helps to understand that all of this pure unimpassioned reason was sold to the public as cold common sense, in a war against threatening ideological insanity.

This is why I keep saying these dorks are hateful, murderous fascists. Traditionally you are not supposed to endorse annihilating thousands of civilians, even ones you don’t like. The entire human race should be revolting against people who think like this.

Here’s the thing about being a Labour councillor: everyone you know, knows you are one. And everyone you know wants to know why you’ve fucked them, and they are right: you have. An utterly miserable existence.

These abysmal fucking freaks were never off TV squealing about how they were being ruthlessly bullied by school dinner ladies and bar staff. I hope they’re enjoying it now that they’ve very, very publicly fucked it into the sun, and everyone can see exactly what they are.

These horrible, awful people deliberately destroyed a movement built by a bunch of nice teachers and nurses and social workers so they could get their Taylor tickets back, and in return we all get fascism, and they don’t even get their fancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers job because they fucked it so badly

So, these people collaborated closely with Britain’s most poisonous media outlets on a project that made the public despise the anti-austerity and anti-racism movements, on the understanding this would boost the Clueless Careerist Centrist Cunt movement, which has now crashed and exploded.

I’m not just saying this is bad and unfair and dishonest. That would be bad enough. I’m saying it’s going to take us thirty years to wash off the crackpot fascist conspiracy bullshit these idiots deliberately inflicted on us to get their important jobs back, if we start trying to delete it tomorrow

Silicon Valley is basically like 1930s Nuremberg, but with selfdriving cars

At a guess: it’s been decided Farage can’t be trusted with running the show, but there’s an assumption he can at least be shitehoused into making a deal with the Tories where he takes a subordinate role.

The problem is that once you notice that one of these guys is a roaring crank with horrifying views, and you stop publishing him, then where does that stop?

The sneaky thing about taxes in NY is that they’re a status symbol for the rich in and of themselves. Making these places more expensive only makes them more attractive!

Currently.

Emily Wilson doesn’t have time for online nonsense/culture war about the upcoming ODYSSEY. 👌