An 'expert' is just another word for someone who knows what they are talking about.

“We have sacrificed our national success because of our fear of immigration. And now, if Farage has his way, we'll do it all over again” Superb, important analysis of the profound harm Farage does to our country in his rabidly racist and egotistical bid for power liveapp.inews.co.uk/category/407...

Immigration salience has less to do with aggregate Immigration numbers than - visibility of boats & asylum > visas - general vibes about integration - elite cues from media & political discourse in shaping public perceptions This is more true when immigration is falling then when it is rising

This post. The rise of the far right is a crisis of legitimacy not of popular opinions. The legitimacy of the far right is a product of elite endorsement of opinions held but not expressed. I would add that when fascists come to power, they do so as minorities enabled by elite collaboration.

Nobody in The Moral Maze gets eaten by the Moral Minotaur, which is a fundamental flaw in the programme.

Time to look behind another "British General Election of 2024" advent calander window. As is tradition in every post 2016 Christmas, Brexit is in the air, with speculation about whether Labour might push to move closer to the EU. But what role did Brexit play in last July's election? Read on!

I suspect you have to be quite racist to stand out as "the racist guy" at a boys public school of the 1980s.

open.substack.com/pub/elifshaf... Spoiler (sort of) - it isn’t a cup of coffee

A little appreciated fact largely ignored by our “simplifying” media: the EU, including Freedom of Movement, was not just “them”, but also “us”.

Most of the public think net migration increased last year, when in fact numbers halved. New findings from the Ipsos/British Future Immigration Attitudes Tracker show that 56% of the public thinks immigration increased last year. Just 1 in 6 realise it was down www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

After more than 10 years of “the Danish Model”, nativism is hegemonic in the country, the far right polls near level highs again, and the Social Democrats lost Copenhagen and poll at historic low. European Social Democrats should look at the facts, not the myths! Me in @theguardian.com

"We grant people different rights based on their genetic heritage and on which scrap of land they happened to be born on. That’s mad, isn’t it?" I just think, when debating immigration and so on, that we should try not to lose sight of the fact that "nationality" is a made up thing.

Tl;dr - if Labour want to combat racism, they should say racism is wrong, over and over, and act on that belief (e.g. by leaving certain social media sites owned by racists). That would do more to promote anti-racist norms, and protect the interests of Britain's minorities than immigration controls.

“Polls suggest the most probable result is a loss for the party’s candidate, a former government minister understood to have been handpicked by the PM. “Among the reasons cited by analysts are frustration with Frederiksen’s hardline policies on issues such as integration and immigration.”

How have Labour watched the Tories spend 2-3 years parroting Farage then lose an election badly and conclude a similar strategy is the best course of action? I. Really. Genuinely. Do Not. Get. It.

From an excellent short thread. It's against being simplistic and falling into the traps others lay for you.

So 3% of the UKs immigration is tearing the country apart 🤔 You can stop it tomorrow with safe routes for Asylum Application....... Labour actually deserve the hammering they're getting! Shabana Mahmood is right up there with Patel & Braverman www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We live with the consequences of Cameron’s reckless referendum & the dishonest Brexit house of cards which followed. The fact that Farage - that populist charlatan & trouble maker in chief - may be the beneficiary of this abysmal miscalculation… well that really would be a disaster too far.

Intelligent question: what, if any, social democratic policies might rejuvenate the economy & defeat the far right? Stupid question: should Streeting replace Starmer? The fact that the political class are discussing one rather than the other is the problem.

I have just received this email from Academia.edu. Our AI turned your paper "From Extra-Mural to Lifelong Learning" into a shareable comic. Why?

WASPs

I remember an overseas student being suspected of plagiarism because his English was too good. He wasn’t, it was just the comparison with the English of home students that was the problem.

Offered without comment

So true ...

A lovely story and a fitting tribute

This comment about Labour’s nostalgia could be about any of the politics that tries to recreate a fictitious past as a model for the future. Whereas history is always illuminating, nostalgia tells lies.

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

Was discussing the Odyssey with my 14-year-old daughter, who commented that men will start the Trojan War instead of going to therapy.

This goes back to a previous post about how to distinguish between belief and grift. I'm never sure about it. The one thing that is clear is that political performance is profitable and feeds off outrage. It should never be mistaken for serious commentary. But very serious people also benefit.

This thread needs to be read and widely shared. Especially important are the points that aren't often made about the role of fear and dark money.

I need you to understand what this country feels like right now for those of us who look different. I'm sitting here, trying to plan for Saturday, make sure I don't even need to go to the corner shop for milk, like it's Christmas Day or lockdown. Why? Because I live near where Yaxley-Lennon will 1/

The finest visual demonstration of Brexit that you will ever see.

Can we stop this? Reform has 4 seats. Four. Them gaining power would require a swing in voting patterns unprecedented anywhere, ever Saying it might get clicks, but it also normalises the Far Right. Anyone who knows history should know better. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sometimes it's hard to know whether it's the crank or the grifter speaking. There's money in snake oil.

What makes this even more frustrating is the Tories did exactly the same thing, and it was one of things that destroyed them at the expense of Reform. The mechanism is so obvious.

It appears that none of the political communication geniuses across the western world have found a way to level with the public about the world we have, which might also give some pause for thought except experience is these folk don't usually ponder their own shortcomings

This. Failure breeds radicalisation rather than reflection. UK politics, rather like a bad marriage, is caught in a mistake and feels it has to make it work. It won’t. And so the collective nervous breakdown continues.

Labour's strategy since the election seems designed to appeal to right-conservative voters. This strategy hasn't worked on its own terms because they have lost the (very few) right-wing voters that they had, while also losing (much) larger numbers of left-wing voters.

If anyone is in any doubt that the current 'civil war' narrative is a Public Sphere problem - one that is confected rather than a reflection of the public independently rationalising their surroundings, this thread from The Bad Place a few years ago is worth revisiting. x.com/jburnmurdoch...

I think this is it. Despair is easy and you get to feel wise, and it doesn't really place any obligations on you or force you to speak out or do anything, really.

Cracking piece. This bit nailed it.

Politics is not always the same thing as democracy - eh @pauliewaulie.bsky.social

The infantilism of UK politics has been off the scale since 2016 and the current government has largely carried on from its predecessors on that

An excellent piece, highlighting the profitability charlatanism and the failure of responsibility of the people who promote it.

Remind me how many people participated in the Remain marches?

This is an excellent essay and worth reading carefully. It categorises arguments that you meet daily and puts them in their historical context. It's a defence of liberalism, but also shows how opposition is rooted in idealogical unreason, despite appearing otherwise. quillette.com/2025/08/21/t...

I spent thirty years teaching, amongst other things, British politics. I got most projections wrong. Don't ever vote for me. But my mistakes were based on reality. Populism is fantasy politics and as he says, "... a revolt against the complexity you're upholding."

Brexit was a gateway drug to the radical right. Its failure has led some of its supporters to apologise, some to forget they ever voted for it, others to whistle loudly in embarrassment every time it's mentioned, but for the real Brexiters, the failure of their first revolution demands another one.

Try to cave in onshore wind. The companies sue. They win. You have to do it anyway. Leave the Brexit deal: no fruit and veg. Close unis. The others' borrowing coats soar, they go bust. Slim down devolution. Massively unpopular, you run away. It's all just drivel.