I know "evil" is a big term to use, but how else to describe overt hostility toward empathy itself? Used properly, I think the term can aid rather than preclude serious analytical thinking about a given subject. And sometimes, its use is necessary to convey the severity of the danger that's posed

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w ago

The right's attempts to turn empathy into a negative have to be fought hard.

Until very recently, the word “woke” conveyed something beautiful: political awakening in the context of the African-American liberation struggle. The way it has been forcibly stripped from that context and transformed into a ubiquitous term of derision is shockingly cruel & inherently anti-black 1/

It might be worth thinking through what the principle of "solidarity" actually means in this context. It is working class people who are and who will be hit hardest by the climate emergency. In the Global South especially, but also in the UK, including GMB & Unite members www.ft.com/content/7441...

Unions combine to try to stop Ed Miliband becoming chancellor

Britain’s probable next prime minister, Andy Burnham, under pressure from Unite the Union and GMB

ft.com

The only "cancel culture" that has ever existed is the one targeted at minorities, women and the left. That is how power works. Many liberals were taken in by the "free speech" moral panic because (as in the case of "free markets") they lack an analysis of power. www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Greta Thunberg and Gary Lineker sign letter defending Southbank Centre chair

Misan Harriman accused of promoting Golders Green attack ‘conspiracies’ and comparing Reform voters to Nazis

theguardian.com

Global warming has clearly been a major factor in the radicalisation of the Western right-wing. A truth so inconvenient for their interests and ideology that they preferred to cut ties with empirical reality itself. This then bred habits of belligerence and dishonesty that fed into other issue areas

Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 2mo ago

Letter in today's Times by climate scientist Sir Brian Hoskins: "The discourse around net-zero is increasingly decoupled from…science and our changing weather. "Net-zero is not an arbitrary slogan, rather it is dictated by the laws of physics."

The Labour right's real fear isn't that the bond markets won't like a more progressive policy agenda. It's that the public will, and that Labour will win in 2029 as a result. There'll be no future for "better things aren't possible" centrism if that happens. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It’s not the bond markets Andy Burnham should be afraid of. It’s his own MPs | Aditya Chakrabortty

To stay popular with the public – and his backbenchers – he’ll need to make big changes fast. That means changing the way the government borrows, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

theguardian.com

Just for context, Laleh is probably one of the most important academics in the country right now, given the sheer depth and quality of her knowledge and expertise in the Gulf, shipping and logistics.

Laleh Khalili@lalehkhalili.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The joys of British higher education:

Empathy is a very important analytical tool. Any analyst willing to empathise with progressives - not agree with, just empathise with - can see with trivial ease why Starmer is so unpopular. But empathy with progressives is not exactly a feature of British political discourse! Hence the blind spot

Jonn Elledge@jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2mo ago

i think, if I tried to boil it down to a sentence, it'd be: "All politicians are hated by their opponents - but Starmer went out of his way to be hated by his supporters too."

On Iran, I think we have to acknowledge that Starmer allowed the US to use UK bases in their war of aggression. And that a war of aggression whose consequences are bound to undermine Britain's security and economy is something our PM should actively oppose, not just passively stand aside from.

Yuan Yang@yuanfenyang.bsky.social · 2mo ago

His government has many great successes it can look back on with pride: delivering a historic majority in 2024, keeping us out of Trump's war in Iran, securing new rights for tenants, and lifting thousands of children out of poverty. (2/3)

For those of us who see Palestinians as human beings, this was Starmer's defining moment. It is not sustainable to behave in this way while leading the nominally progressive party in a two party system. Starmer's unpopularity is not one of life's great mysteries. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_s...

Keir Starmer denies saying Israel 'has the right' to withhold water and power from citizens in Gaza

YouTube video by LBC

youtube.com

Day three of #FestivalofHumanism is go. This morning, we start off by examining the UK's modern and colonial history with Middle Eastern allies, regimes, monarchies, and dictatorships. A warm welcome to our speaker David Wearing. A sobering and thorough exploration of political and military history.

At #BISA2026 ? Come to our roundtable: "The British state as a source of global insecurities: critical scholarship & political accountability in a time of crisis", at 1.15pm today. Our aim is to start a conversation about what a new critical scholarship on UK foreign relations can look like.

Coincidentally, I wrote this almost exactly 6 years ago today. Many didn't want to hear it at the time. On a re-read, there's a few things I'd change (e.g. the tone is too polemical, I miscatagorised Starmer's politics...), but overall I think it stands up novaramedia.com/2020/05/11/t...

The Left’s Approach to Keir Starmer Isn’t Working | David Wearing

Since becoming Labour leader, Keir Starmer has failed to put any real pressure on Boris Johnson over his handling of the coronavirus crisis. But the reason Johnson has had an easy ride from Starmer is...

novaramedia.com

My review of Stephen Quick's "The Dhofar War: British covert campaigning in Arabia 1965–1975" for the journal Cold War History www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Dhofar War: British covert campaigning in Arabia 1965–1975

Published in Cold War History (Ahead of Print, 2026)

tandfonline.com

My review of Adam Hanieh's wonderful new book, "Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the Modern World Market", for the Journal of Development Studies www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Crude Captialism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the Modern World Market

Published in The Journal of Development Studies (Ahead of Print, 2026)

tandfonline.com

I was interviewed by @owenjones.bsky.social last week: on MAGA imperialism's effect on US hegemony, and why the Trump-Starmer spat is something of a pantomime www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vc0...

The Iran War Is Worse Than Iraq – Asst Prof Dave Wearing

YouTube video by Owen Jones

youtube.com

I was interviewed on Novara on Friday evening, about the war's implications for the Gulf, the world economy and the UK www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bot...

Iran War Will WRECK World Economy, Says Qatar

YouTube video by Novara Media

youtube.com

Me in conversation with @lalehkhalili.bsky.social at the London Review Bookshop on her new book "Extractive Capitalism". Here or wherever you get your podcasts www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/podcasts-vid...

Laleh Khalili & David Wearing: Extractive Capitalism | London Review Bookshop

Laleh Khalili, Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, looks behind the glossy surface promises of frictionless trade and limitless growth to uncover the…

londonreviewbookshop.co.uk

Join me and @faizashaheen.bsky.social next Monday 26 Jan at Woodford Memorial Hall as we discuss UK foreign policy in a time of geopolitical crisis

@davidwearing.bsky.social : "Look at the record of the people who are on this board of peace.. are these credible people to be promoting peace? Are these credible people to deliver the interests of the Palestinian people? It's not cynical to say they aren't, its just a recognition of reality"

This Christmas, please consider making a donation to UNRWA, the UN agency that plays a leading role in sustaining Palestinian life, in defiance of Israel's genocide and ethnic cleansing. donate.unrwa.org/int/en/general

UNRWA | UN Agency for Palestine Refugees - make a donation

UNRWA provides vital aid, education, and healthcare to over 5 million Palestine Refugees. Your donation helps deliver hope and life-saving support.

donate.unrwa.org

History will record how a non-trivial number of supposedly liberal centrists went along - wittingly or unwittingly - with the transparently McCarthyite scam of the cancel culture/free speech moral panic And in doing so helped pave the way for neo-fascism.

📢 CAAT is hiring a Supporter Development Manager! We're looking for a skilled communicator & natural relationship builder to join our team. You'll be responsible for the recruitment, retention & engagement of supporters, as well as fundraising. ➡️ Apply now: caat.org.uk/about-caat/j...

Campaign Against Arms Trade are a great source of reliable information and high quality analysis on UK arms sales. They have important resources on UK arms to Israel in the context of the Gaza genocide. Vital that we keep ourselves informed about these things. caat.org.uk/publications...

CAAT - How the UK arms and supports Israel’s genocide in Gaza

The UK is deeply complicit in supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza: through arms sales, RAF reconnaissance flights over Gaza, from which it is suspected intelligence is shared with Israel, training of...

caat.org.uk

and in framing themselves as the only True Knowers, the data boys fail to understand how they form part of the complicated, contingent outcomes they’re claiming to observe objectively. “We can only respond to poll numbers, not shape action,” is itself a theory of the world that evidence doesn’t back

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · 9mo ago

data is important, measurement of public opinion is important, but politics also isn't a machine. there are a vast number of qualitative factors at work. and people themselves are unpredictable.

Clearly Labour would sooner alienate even more of the progressive voters they're losing than do what it takes to build the voter coalition they need to keep Farage out of no10.

Dr. Jeevun Sandher MP@jeevunsandher.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We face huge challenges. A burning planet, war in Europe, an affordability crisis that most people think they will live with *for the rest of their lives*. And what do Farage and Polanski offer? Division. Migrants vs. non-migrants. Businesses vs. workers.

There has been a relentless, cacophonous campaign to stigmatise pro-Palestinian activists. But the inconvenient truth is that these are just ordinary people of good conscience who see the horrors of Gaza and simply cannot bear to stand by and do nothing. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I’m on hunger strike in a British prison. This is why | Amu Gib

Our demands are simple – and they start with stopping the flow of arms to Israel, says activist Amu Gib

theguardian.com

Please join Angela Davis, Robin D.G. Kelley, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and many others in signing this call for an academic and cultural boycott of the UAE, in relation to its complicity in genocide in Sudan. spectrejournal.com/for-a-cultur...

It's straightforwardly far right rhetoric, and obviously inciteful towards negatively racialised men. The test for the rest of the political class is whether they're prepared to name it as such and condemn it. We've learned the hard way that the toxin will only spread if they don't.

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Even by my low expectations for Kemi Badenoch ‘violence against women and girls is something done by immigrants and nobody else’ has shocked me.

Eight Palestine Action activists are being left to die in prison – all without even facing trial. We must force the government to act, before it’s too late ⬇️ https://goodlaw.social/3e3320