Some characteristically thoughtful engagement with my deliverism essay here from @aveek18.bsky.social, who I think does an excellent job of pushing beyond the debates I discuss to set out what needs investigating and how we should think about the potential implications of different findings

Chris asks why Labour don't have a theory of capitalism. A bit unfair - here's my effort to make sense of it (abetted by @neillee.bsky.social). That said, an underrated factor is the shift away from grand theorising in economics: we don't have an equivalent of endogenous growth theory today.

This is what happens when politics turns from ideology to attention, and that's not good for a functioning democracy.

Looking forward to this joint event between the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social and @politicalquarterly.bsky.social. We often, understandably, focus on the UK's enormous regional inequality. But we should not forget the gaping chasms that exist within the UK's capital city of 9 million people.

If I was the Housing Secretary I’d probably google something like “is making cement energy intensive?”

You can also hear much more about the book at my book launch tonight! It takes place at the IHR in Senate House, from 5.30pm. If you can't attend, you can always watch along online! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... 🗃️ #skystorians

“Tehran is burning. And smoke has filled the streets. It’s impossible to drive out of the city right now and even with the windows closed, heavy smoke is making its way inside." Read every word.

Just fascinating to see Blair, a man whose reputation was ruined by the Iraq war, advocate joining a war that is exponentially stupider and more chaotic. How is it possible to learn nothing from the worst mistake of your life?

Reminder that Tehran has a population greater than London, this is not a trivial amount of people we’re talking about here.

I reviewed a new biography of Ramsay MacDonald, Labour’s first prime minister or - as some might have it - the party’s original sinner. For @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

Russia murdered a child and five adults overnight

Flawless, cathartic, and morally-wise screed that I am sincerely tempted to forward to everyone I've ever met. Preserve your humanity! Eschew the godless bots!!

As I'm always saying: bring back the pamphlet! There's a big space for non-fiction writing that sits somewhere between the long-read (c.5k words) and the full book (c.80k words).

My thoughts on the Home Sec's immigration speech @ippr.org The Home Sec believes in control + compassion. It's the right ambition. But her plans may struggle to tackle small boat crossings and risk making integration harder. I make the case instead for a more focused approach to migration reform

Excellent column

Why is Dubai discourse so rich? Class identities all mangled and so everyone thinks they are punching up and letting rip. Full column 🫵 www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Substack on new research out today with @persuasionuk.bsky.social @38degrees.bsky.social - why are people leaving Labour for other left parties, what does it mean and what does it not mean? strongmessagehere.substack.com/p/understand...

The earliest example I've found of the phrase "international order" in its contemporary IR sense is in this article from 1908: "codification of international law does not necessarily involve a reconstruction of the present international order": www.jstor.org/stable/2186595

Exclusive: Labour needs “progressive defectors” back to win general election The number of Labour voters moving left outnumbers those going to right-wing parties in a majority of battleground seats By @anooshc.bsky.social

The House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee just published their report on AI, copyright & the creative industries, and their conclusions could not be clearer. 🧵 1/5

NEW: After Gorton & Denton, how should we understand the threat to Labour's left? Big new @persuasionuk.bsky.social report out with @38degrees.bsky.social on 'progressive defectors' - Lab 2024 switchers to Greens, Plaid, SNP, Lib Dems. Who are they, who are they not & what's moving them? 🧵

BBC Verify has pieced together verified videos, satellite imagery and expert views after a deadly attack near a primary school in Minab, souther Iran, which suggest the area was hit more than once "by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

📣 "We no longer live in a two-party system, and if we continue to have an electoral system that doesn't acknowledge that fact, we will have, as Professor @robfordmancs.bsky.social says, elections that lead to even more chaotic and unpredictable results." 👇 @chriscurtis94.bsky.social

Part of the issue is a lack of growth. A recent study showed that cohorts who experience more GDP growth in their lifetimes are more likely to trust the government and have positive perceptions of their living standards. academic.oup.com/qje/advance-... In Britain, such voters are dying out

Great to join this important IPPR initiated discussion about the importance of nation building.

Reform UK and the Greens are hoovering up financially insecure voters. My piece this week looks at the return of Britain's class politics (with a twist) www.economist.com/britain/2026...

"I am NOT a loser. Please do not put it in the newspaper that I am a loser."

Book launch 2. Andrew Smith's @smidbob.bsky.social ky.social Make Cheese not War. Transnational Resistance and the Larzac in modern France, 9pm, 5.30pm at @ihr.bsky.social in conversation with @alisoncarrol.bsky.social, @vbivar.bsky.social & Sarah Farmer : www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

The post mortem of 2024 is a classic in only acknowledging the top line result, rather than thinking what par would have been for the starting position. Hemorrhaging votes in solid Labour areas should have been a massive warning light.

This map is so rich. Really feels like it taps into something about identity, cultural distinctiveness, "authenticity'. The blandness of the home counties, the difficulty of placing East Midlands.

On 26 March, the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social and @politicalquarterly.bsky.social will be holding a special event on "Inequality & the Future of London". Join @rupahuq.bsky.social @mikebrewerecon.bsky.social @sachahilhorst.bsky.social and Joe Fyans. All welcome! www.eventbrite.com/e/inequality...

I find Alexander Armstrong a compelling figure - a genuine creative / acting talent, trapped forever making incredibly lucrative slop

I cannot wait for the insights on this! He's going to: 1. Sample some local street food. 2. Ride a train. 3. Visit a temple. 4. Not mention the pogroms that the serving Prime Minister presided over. 5. Smile at some elephants. 6. Top up his kids' private school fees. 7. Say "India is changing".

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s episode David talks to Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse, about the prospects for societal collapse in the 21st century. Is there any escape in an age when personal data has become the primary lootable resource? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

This will be brilliant

Was trying to find where I'd posted the link to the 1998 World Book Day book and I'll be honest my summary of it reads a bit different now.

Incredibly telling Kemi Badenoch interview on Today: - can’t say what she’d actually want UK forces to do - no idea what objective her proposed military action is to achieve - hides from reality that single biggest constraint on British military = her govt’s defence cuts

Big money has bought British politics 75% of Reform’s money has come from three rich white men democracyforsale.substack.com/p/75-of-refo...

Aside from everything else, deeply confused policy from govt here. Is care work (a major driver of migration) low skilled? Or is it, as another govt Department thinks, worthy of better pay and conditions through better collective bargaining (the Fair Pay Agreement policy)?

It's bad if politics is *wholly* about storytelling, but there is an important link between narrative and identity/autonomy (as I discuss in relation to Claudia Mills). I think part of the value of politicians is to help us find a resonant account of what we are doing as a society

A very good deep dive comparing area-based social policies under both Harold Wilson and Keir Starmer here from @historyandpolicy.bsky.social. Strong recommend. historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...

"Mr Speaker, as @GIGACHAD_1776 said to me on X yesterday"

I believe Labour is best choice to be this party, not least as unlike the populists we understand that the problems we face are complicated and that there's no future for a left in government that is as uninterested in learning about what works as Polanski is. But we enable him by being in denial.

Any centre left governing coalition is now: - Young people, especially graduates - Urban progressives - Minority groups - Working age people with low incomes - Educated Professionals If both your political and economic strategy is not geared towards these groups, they will find a party that is.

This is actually what I most wanted to highlight. I remember hearing a Labour MP argue that politics was ultimately just "a game of competitive storytelling", and then reflecting on just how disturbing the implications for democracy, accountability, and policymaking would be if that were wholly true

Every time the sun comes out, I sit in it and smile and then I think of this @morganj0nes.bsky.social tweet. It's a big leaf day.

A quick analyis of Sánchez's address on TV this morning. It's the opposite of what it appears to be macdonnchada.substack.com/p/sanchez-to...

'If outcomes cease to be politically relevant, policymaking would become a mixture of the purely technocratic on the one hand, and the purely optical on the other. Politics meanwhile would be little more than spin and spectacle – “a game of competitive storytelling.”'