Young people, like the rest of us, need a chance to make a valued contribution to a Great Endeavour. Given that we are in the early years of an ecological crisis, we already know what that looks like. Private sector is in decline, and wealth is pooling into ever fewer hands ...

I've just signed a contract with @orbooks.bsky.social to write a book about the future of the BBC with @tommills.bsky.social and Thomas Chivers of @mediareformuk.bsky.social. The book, which will be published in the second half of 2026 will coincide with charter renewal.

It sounds wildly, recklessly optimistic to say so, but British public life would be much improved if the media-communications system put a tolerably accurate picture of the world in people's timelines and TV bulletins.

On Saturday BBC Radio 4 hosted a debate about the BBC. Its structure was all-too familiar: a Conservative complained that it was too liberal, a Liberal said it wasn't. But another debate is possible. modernmediatheory.wordpress.com/2025/11/16/s...

“The BBC remains structurally bound to a concept of the political that is becoming intensely unpopular” This is great by Dan Hind. Tragic he clings to the Nazi X open.substack.com/pub/abolishw...

Look at the quotes defending Starmer here. They have no positive case to make *even to their own MPs*. Just the same grim menu of blackmail and intimidation they serve up to the rest of us. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Understanding what the private media sector is, and what it does, is a crucial function of public media in a democracy, and it's something the BBC goes through spectacular contortions of mind to avoid doing. (See also "navel-gazing")

What do we think will happen if the next election hinges on the press being forced to choose whether to boost the Green Party, or Reform? Are we going to see the now-standard all-channels terrifying hate campaign aimed at Farage? I am going to say: No.

📜 From the Archives Alert 📜 The BBC? To shreds, you say? Perhaps it needs reform? A while back we talked with @dannyhinduk.bsky.social about his report for @cmmonwealth.bsky.social about turning the BBC into a cooperative. www.podbean.com/ea/pb-48nut-...

The "why do you care so much about the NY mayoral election" takes strike me as pretty obtuse. The world's sole superpower is being taken over by fascists, and this was part of the struggle to define what the opposition to that will look like. That obviously has major implications for all of us?

It's because the BBC takes its cues from the newspapers, which it uses as a proxy for public opinion as such. The alternative would be public media in which the public are actively and directly involved. This would require a few institutional changes. www.common-wealth.org/publications...

Notice the collapse of Reform as the Greens surge. It would be a big mistake to think that Reform vote is rock solid, or can only be won over by Reform-lite pandering. Voters want to hear how their lives will improve, from politicians who don't look scared.

Should we actually keep the BBC? We talked about this "balance" and much more with @dannyhinduk.bsky.social and the @cmmonwealth.bsky.social report he co-wrote www.podbean.com/ea/pb-48nut-...

I was talking to my co-authors @tommills.bsky.social and Tom Chivers of the @mediareformuk.bsky.social about this last week. Clearing away the misconceptions deliberately or carelessly promoted by the media won't make our political controversies disappear, but it will transform them.

This is what got us e.g. austerity and the Iraq War, amongst others. Even mild skepticism might have averted either but that isn’t what this royal court-style system does: it instead accepts whatever the monarch decides, then steamrollers the fuck out of anyone who objects, regardless of who’s right

🚨 Mutualised Episode Alert 🚨 Dan Hind joins us to discuss if we should we simply destroy the BBC, or can it be reformed into a more mutualised into an actual democratic organ that holds power to account? Your answer in one podcast or less. www.podbean.com/ea/pb-48nut-...

Well worth reading. It's not at all clear who or what the Labour Party is for, if it is driving away people like Martin.

The BBC is in the early stages of a terminal crisis of legitimacy. It's not too late to save. But its defenders and admirers need to acknowledge the need for radically democratic reform. Friends don't let friends discredit themselves by pandering to the far right. tribunemag.co.uk/2025/07/resc...

Land, labour and materials that will be deployed to create environmentally ruinous, car-dependent and vastly expensive sprawl could be redirected towards high quality public housing and resilient infrastructure. Zombie Thatcherism is not inevitable: we can make different choices.

On Wednesday the Guardian published two articles. The first, from the Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, argued for a "housing first" approach to addressing public health and welfare. He also stressed the need for public ownership of housing stock. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The billionaire is an increasingly absurd figure these days. The left can certainly come up with a more plausible model of human flourishing for the next generation than these gurning, babbling freaks who combine vast wealth with bottomless resentment, self-pity and psychedelic muddle.

The BBC's position at the centre of our media system is looking increasingly precarious. And it's responding to the prospect of a far-right government by trying to win back the trust of Reform voters. But there is another way: the BBC could let us all into the room. tribunemag.co.uk/2025/07/resc...

Was everything going great for the left before we decided it was fine to call Hillary Clinton a shithead? I mean, perhaps it’s better to be co-opted, scammed and neutralised than it is to be screamed at and demonised, but the real world results seem fairly similar either way.

This book was published in 2023, long after Clegg had joined the Tories in kicking the social contract to bits, so how come it didn't have a chapter on the swinish liberal democrats then? And why does this self-serving dross get 1.3k likes? What the hell is going on here?