‘The bigger point is that falling birth rates appear to be part of a broader phenomenon of young adult singledom, isolation and deteriorating wellbeing. Given the likely link to technology and social media, the best hope of reversing the trend may be to change our digital habits — whether … 1/

The US remains financially dominant. www.ft.com/content/6228... How China enables American domination

A bipartisan majority of Congress passed the Voting Rights Act by a vote of 77–19 in the Senate and 333–85 in the House. Dr. King and Mrs. Boynton were guests of honor as President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 6. Recalling “the outrage of Selma,” Johnson said:

#OtD 16 May 1966 seamen across the UK walked out on a nationwide strike for the first time in half a century. Holding solid for seven weeks, they won a reduction in working hours from 56 to 48 per week stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8818...

Lisa Nandy says the PM is committed to delivering bigger and far more fundamental change with far greater urgency. And what policy does she go on to cite? Bringing the Olympics here in the 2040's.

The Met police tried to help Tommy Robinson upstage the Palestine movement on Nakba day. Instead they were the ones upstaged. A great victory for anti-imperialists and anti-racists. socialistworker.co.uk/anti-racism/...

Yes, the sequencing is more suspect than the titles. I was quite pleased to see Sebald.

More culture treasure from Oxyrhynchus www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/s...

www.ft.com/content/7ae6... Donald Trump left with little to show for two days of talks with Xi Jinping

Thanks to Trump, government bond yields are rising everywhere, not just in Britain. www.ft.com/content/23e7... The great global bond freakout

EAU abandona l'OPEP i s'alinea amb Israel; l'Aràbia Saudita busca aliances amb la Xina i Paquistan. La guerra amb l'Iran esquerda el sistema petrolier. L'imperialisme ianqui perd part del control a l'Orient Mitjà. @alexcallinicos.bsky.social ho analitza: marx21.net/2026/05/12/o...

Nemesis draws closer to the European car industry www.ft.com/content/ce9a... BYD says ‘flash-charging’ will help its EVs take market share from petrol models

‘In a weird way, the bond market has become Starmer’s most powerful ally. Each time gilts sell off a little in response to a ministerial resignation, the market gives the Labour Party an unpleasant taste of life without him. In effect, the bond market is playing a role the parliamentary party … 1/

Bond vigilantes rule ok: ‘“If it’s anything other than Streeting — if it’s [Angela] Rayner or Burnham — then I think the gilt market is likely to take fright,” said Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Miton.’

My latest column, on Starmer’s resort to Gordon Brown. socialistworker.co.uk/alex-callini...

'The basic calculations still hold. Starmer’s tenure is ebbing away. Britain is heading into another zombie premiership. The blow could fall today, tomorrow, next week or next month. MPs are just weighing the odds and timings they need to get their people in place. The decision is made. ... 1/

‘The Iran war has been the trigger for the vitriol convulsing the president’s Maga coalition. The result is that a once solidly pro-Trump conservative ecosystem is riven by discord, with mutual accusations of betrayal and apostasy.’

Your Party and the local elections socialistworker.co.uk/news/an-oppo...

A new political landscape for London sets in. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So Starmer’s response to electoral catastrophe is to appoint Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as ‘special envoys’ - the pair who, as Leader and Deputy Leader, presided over the defeat of the last Labour government in June 2010. This guy lacks the most basic horse sense.

Dylan Riley short and sweet on the nature of capitalism newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...:

John Curtice: Election results show politics in the UK has fragmented www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘“There’s a gap between how we finished [the 2024 war] . . . what we understood and thought, and suddenly we still find Hizbollah,” said Rafi Milo, the general in charge of the IDF’s northern command, in a leaked conversation last month with residents in his area of responsibility.’

Interesting from Gillian Tett

www.ft.com/content/383d... ‘Blissful ignorance’: Milken elite bask in glow of roaring markets

The English local, Scottish, and Welsh elections unfold in the shadow of the gilts markets. www.ft.com/content/c00c... Gilts and UK local elections: Bad vibes, bad timing

www.ft.com/content/14f9... Netanyahu’s West Bank plan: annexation by law

CEO pay rose 20 times faster than worker pay in 2025, per Oxfam. Overall, global worker pay declined 12% between 2019 and 2025 — while CEO pay rose 54% during the same time. Trickle-down economics was always a sham. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Taco yet again …

A fine old article by the late Peter Wollen on Virginia Woolf, feminism, and Modernism. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v1...

Good to be reminded that corruption is nothing new. Worth reading this obituary all the way through.

Bad news: Palestine Action activists guilty of criminal damage www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

‘Trump's decision to order the US Navy to escort a couple of ships through the strait does not restore freedom of navigation. Between 40 and 60 vessels were transiting the strait every day until the US and Israel went to war.’

www.ft.com/content/5ecb... The oil price crunch is looming

🌿💖🤎 may the beauty of this moment, bring you joy 🤎💖🤎

I've seen a few people here denying that antisemitic hate crimes are still a major or widespread problem in this country. This denial does no one any favours. We must be rock-solid against all hate and prejudice.

Neil Maclean delivers an excellent overview of Evgeny Pashukanis *Law and Marxism* - the latest book completed in the @ppesydney.bsky.social Past & Present Reading Group @plutopress.bsky.social @alexcallinicos.bsky.social @ntinatzouvala.bsky.social @drmeljohnston.bsky.social @abieler.bsky.social

My latest column, which helps to explain why Iran is targeting UAE. socialistworker.co.uk/alex-callini...

A sour greeting to Mélenchon’s announcement of his presidential candidacy from @lemonde.fr www.lemonde.fr/politique/ar...

Burnham wins over Labour’s ruling body www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

👑 Yes, the White House’s official social media accounts posted an image of Trump alongside King Charles III with the caption “TWO KINGS." www.snopes.com/fact-check/t...

Anne Hathaway, you will ALWAYS be that girl. 💙💛

Here we have the Guardian gnawing away at the Greens over antisemitism just as they did at Labour under Corbyn. A pity that @zackpolanski.bsky.social blinked in the face of the discredited Met’s attack. He needs to learn from what happened to Corbyn.

A very timely piece by Nancy Fraser, who argues that ‘“Gaza” signifies a crisis for the moral order that has held sway across much of the West for the past half century’ and explores what this means for being Jewish.

Israel supplied UAE with weapons systems and the personnel to operate them to protect it from Iranian bombardment - another sign of the geopolitical realignment in Western Asia.