An excellent piece on the state of the Labour Party

"If McSweeney has a genuine talent, it's as a con man. Because McSweeney and mates couldn't resist telling all and sundry about how clever he was, we know he ran Labour Together as a Janus-faced operation..." - @philbc3.bsky.social

"It is under his [McSweeney's] direction that the party's support has eroded to a historical nadir, to the point where Labour's actual liquidation is on the cards..." - @philbc3.bsky.social

Once the enemy [the Left] had been defeated, his coalition lost its unifying purpose... Starmer’s team began using their well-worn anti-left tactics against each other – each believing that *they* would never be the victim. - @graceblakeley.substack.com

The genius who actually won Labour its landslide majority is currently selling her services as a batshit conspiracy theorist on the American podcast circuit

Pitiful that Starmer is hanging on not because he has any prospect of actually staying in power long term, but because the Labour right doesn't fancy a leadership contest just yet. Shredding his dignity yet further, all for a few more weeks at the front of the DLR.

Keir Starmer talk like a half-way normal person challenge. “I've known Morgan for eight years as a colleague and as a friend. We have run up and down every political football pitch that is across the country.”

📻 Sunday listening 📻 - @leninology.bsky.social responds to questions from PTO patrons on topics including: What a left defence policy should look like, why Mark Carney called time on the "rules-based order", Marxist theorisations of war, and resistance in Minnesota:

Listen to the full episode here: www.patreon.com/posts/interr...

"NATO is over. The US empire is in a process of irreversible decay... A new set of alliances is going to be necessary. It would be necessary for a left-wing government representing working class interests. It's necessary probably for the bourgeoisie..." - @leninology.bsky.social

"NATO is over. The US empire is in a process of irreversible decay... A new set of alliances is going to be necessary. It would be necessary for a left-wing government representing working class interests. It's necessary probably for the bourgeoisie..." - @leninology.bsky.social

📻 Weekend listening 📻 - @leninology.bsky.social responds to questions from PTO patrons on topics including: What a left defence policy should look like, why Mark Carney called time on the "rules-based order", Marxist theorisations of war, and resistance in Minnesota.

We've all heard of 'buying the dip' but this is ridiculous.

Bringing the corrupt sociopath onboard as a way to say fuck you to the left (and most Labour Party members).

🔴 BREAKING: Labour Together paid controversial PR firm £30k to investigate journalists who were digging into how its undeclared funding Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted *And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it Full story: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

ICYMI - Nikhil Pal Singh on Donald Trump's 'Homeland Empire'. Nikhil talks about how the Trump administration has collapsed the distinction between foreign and domestic policy, creating a single zone where violence and impunity reign:

📢💥NEW PTO EXTRA! 📢💥 - @leninology.bsky.social responds to questions from PTO patrons on topics including: What a left defence policy should look like, why Mark Carney called time on the "rules-based order", Marxist theorisations of war, and the situation in Minnesota:

The new Historical Materialism newsletter is now out, featuring a suite of information about Marxist events, publications, CfPs and other resources. To ensure you do not miss out, sign up to our new and improved newsletter from the bottom of our homepage: www.historicalmaterialism.org.

📢💥NEW PTO EXTRA! 📢💥 - @leninology.bsky.social responds to questions from PTO patrons on topics including: What a left defence policy should look like, why Mark Carney called time on the "rules-based order", Marxist theorisations of war, and the situation in Minnesota:

A clip from the latest episode of Interregnum (PTO's show-within-a-show with @leninology.bsky.social):

Venn diagram of ‘social science airport book author’ and ‘epstein files’ getting more crowded

ICYMI - Nikhil Pal Singh on Donald Trump's 'Homeland Empire'. Nikhil talks about how the Trump administration has collapsed the distinction between foreign and domestic policy, creating a single zone where violence and impunity reign:

Nikhil Pal Singh bids good-bye to all that: “Trump builds on long-term institutional arrangements while turning these against an equally fundamental premise of the postwar period, that Homo liberalis would thrive in the protected space of US imperium. That is over. ” www.equator.org/articles/hom...

"Increasingly the distinction between the foreign and the domestic, doesn't really hold up... We have something like military action in US cities to round up immigrants, and then we have a kind of police action to kidnap or arrest a foreign head of state..." - Nikhil Pal Singh

"Obama helped to put what was still in some ways a fledgling agency (ICE) and built it up into the institutional node that it is now. Obama is extremely important as a fulcrum between the origins of Homeland Security... and its hypertrophy and abuse in Trump." - Nikhil Pal Singh

"Obama helped to put what was still in some ways a fledgling agency (ICE) and built it up into the institutional node that it is now. Obama is extremely important as a fulcrum between the origins of Homeland Security... and its hypertrophy and abuse in Trump." - Nikhil Pal Singh

Truly excellent interview with Nikhil Pal Singh here - a wide ranging discussion of the ways that the Trump project has collapsed the distinction between the US's domestic and international projects - drawing from, and re-working decades of policy in both of these arenas.

A clip from my interview with Nikhil Pal Singh - on his recent essay in @equatormag.bsky.social

This is such a great podcast. So much to think about. I also love the point that Nikhil makes about Mamdani’s project of civic renewal.

"Obama helped to put what was still in some ways a fledgling agency (ICE) and built it up into the institutional node that it is now. Obama is extremely important as a fulcrum between the origins of Homeland Security... and its hypertrophy and abuse in Trump." - Nikhil Pal Singh

"Obama helped to put what was still in some ways a fledgling agency (ICE) and built it up into the institutional node that it is now. Obama is extremely important as a fulcrum between the origins of Homeland Security... and its hypertrophy and abuse in Trump." - Nikhil Pal Singh

Sarah also wrote a great article for New Republic on the ecosystem of trade union and community organisations which have pioneered a 'Minnesota Model' of effective mobilisation by large coalitions of working-class people which is now being shown to the world. newrepublic.com/article/2053...

The Minnesota general strike demonstrated the leading place the labour movement is playing in opposing ICE. @sarahljaffe.bsky.social's interview @poltheoryother.bsky.social provides a history of the current moment through exploring the central role of migrant workers in American trade unionism.

"Increasingly the distinction between the foreign and the domestic, doesn't really hold up... We have something like military action in US cities to round up immigrants, and then we have a kind of police action to kidnap or arrest a foreign head of state..." - Nikhil Pal Singh

I interviewed Nikhil Pal Singh about his recent essay in @equatormag.bsky.social in which Nikhil talks about how the Trump administration has collapsed the distinction between foreign and domestic policy, creating a single zone where violence and impunity reign:

📢💥NEW EPISODE📢💥 - Nikhil Pal Singh on Donald Trump's 'Homeland Empire'. Nikhil talks about how the Trump administration has collapsed the distinction between foreign and domestic policy, creating a single zone where violence and impunity reign:

I'll be taking part in this online event w/ @benandersongeog.bsky.social @ajsecor.bsky.social @jemgilbert.bsky.social to discuss the brilliant The Politics of Feeling - 11th April - register here www.eventbrite.com/e/the-politi...

Listen to the full episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

"The promises of lower electric bills, good jobs, and climate responsibility, she said, remind her of cigarette ads she saw decades ago touting the health benefits of smoking" Great piece by @hurwitz.bsky.social on data centre PR -> grist.org/energy/data-...

"The US labour movement often has been guilty of assuming that immigrant workers are unorganisable... Actually the immigrant worker organisations have been the ones leading the labour movement..." - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social

While it has been getting better over the last decade, large part of the UK labour movement suffers from the same problem that @sarahljaffe.bsky.social talks about here. I recently wrote this on the barriers to organising migrant farm workers: www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

Listen to the full episode here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

@sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the political and social background to ICE's violent escalation in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to union organising and resistance):

"The US labour movement often has been guilty of assuming that immigrant workers are unorganisable... Actually the immigrant worker organisations have been the ones leading the labour movement..." - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social

Well worth your time to listen.

ICYMI - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the recent history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts):

"There is something self-aggrandising about most American cultural depictions of authoritarianism. The stories narrate life behind enemy lines – whether in the 1930s or in outer space – in a way that implicitly tells the viewer that the US is different. It really couldn’t happen here."

📢 NEW EPISODE 📢 - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts). We also talked about the entwinement of the tech industry with ICE and the surveillance state:

In the latest @poltheoryother.bsky.social I talked with Sarah Jaffe about the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the recent history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts):