Gareth
@gfearn.bsky.social
Researching the political economy of electricity, urban and environmental planning. https://garethfearn.com/
Our 1st Policy Brief 👉 PUTTING POWER IN ITS PLACE: PPERC’s Local Power Plan Response research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publicati... @gfearn.bsky.social @stefanb23.bsky.social @hannahcknox.bsky.social @giuliamininni.bsky.social @uomhums.bsky.social @uomseed.bsky.social @uomsoss.bsky.social
Wrote for @tribunemagazine.bsky.social on the failures of Starmerism and the potential and limits of the 'productive state'.
Tribune@tribunemagazine.bsky.social · last mo.Andy Burnham’s plans for economic reform will undoubtedly face resistance from entrenched interests. The politician must act defiantly, and rebuild relations with the constituencies Starmer ostracised.
@gfearn.bsky.social on the bus man and Manchesterism tribunemag.co.uk/2026/07/the-...
Towards the Productive State
Andy Burnham’s plans for economic reform will undoubtedly face resistance from entrenched interests. The politician must act defiantly, and rebuild relations with the constituencies Starmer ostracised...
tribunemag.co.uk
✍️New essay for @the-breakdown.bsky.social which attempts an analysis of the energy transition as one between two competing fractions of capital - fossil and electric - and the conflicts and struggles which will lead towards an 'electro-capitalism' (or not!) www.break-down.org/electro-capi...
Electro-Capitalism
Ours is the age of transition: from fossil capital to electricity capital. The future that emerges will be determined by the fierce struggles of the present.
break-down.org
Mamdani needs to learn from what happened to Corbyn. He conceded an inch on the first story about his wife, as soon as you show that weakness theyll go after that relentlessly.
Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis is the video and it's fine? www.tiktok.com/@nyc_dsa/vid...
Better to send children to prison for no reason, i guess.
Peter Walker@peterwalker99.bsky.social · 5mo agoMagnificently phrased question to Polanski from ITV who ask about the idea of decriminalising cannabis, asking if the extra tax yields would be more than cancelled out by the drop in productivity caused by "everybody being stoned all the time".
Anxious and angry about forever wars over energy? Want to do something to make a better world happen sooner? i have good news. Electricity is the backbone for everything in our future, and you can do something now. Instead of feeling hopeless, you can join in with others to change everything.
Why public power campaigns win
Electricity affordability is an urgent, widely felt problem that public power can solve. Anger alone isn't enough to win. Sarahana Shrestha talks to me about the organizing model in Fabian Holt's book...
isaacsevier.com
This has been a known problem for the best part of a decade, but even a major world energy crisis was not enough for the government to take action because the answer probably means some form of public ownership/funding.
Jacob Aron@jjaron.bsky.social · 5mo agoSeems bad www.theguardian.com/business/202...
A brilliant and provocative essay by Gareth Fearn, on the emerging conflict between fossil and electric capital
Gareth@gfearn.bsky.social · 6mo ago✍️New essay for @the-breakdown.bsky.social which attempts an analysis of the energy transition as one between two competing fractions of capital - fossil and electric - and the conflicts and struggles which will lead towards an 'electro-capitalism' (or not!) www.break-down.org/electro-capi...
A provocative piece of analysis from @gfearn.bsky.social on the likely shape of the energy transition and the conflicts that really define it for @the-breakdown.bsky.social recommended read!
The BREAK—DOWN@the-breakdown.bsky.social · 6mo agoNEW: Gareth Fearn lays out the stakes of "electro-capitalism". "The economic basis of this transition is not simply between technologies of energy production. Rather, it is between two different fractions of capital." www.break-down.org/electro-capi...
NEW: Gareth Fearn lays out the stakes of "electro-capitalism". "The economic basis of this transition is not simply between technologies of energy production. Rather, it is between two different fractions of capital." www.break-down.org/electro-capi...
Electro-Capitalism
Ours is the age of transition: from fossil capital to electricity capital. The future that emerges will be determined by the fierce struggles of the present.
break-down.org
✍️New essay for @the-breakdown.bsky.social which attempts an analysis of the energy transition as one between two competing fractions of capital - fossil and electric - and the conflicts and struggles which will lead towards an 'electro-capitalism' (or not!) www.break-down.org/electro-capi...
Electro-Capitalism
Ours is the age of transition: from fossil capital to electricity capital. The future that emerges will be determined by the fierce struggles of the present.
break-down.org
this feels like a Roger Bannister four minute mile moment for "reactionary centrism". a level of reactionary centrism doctors (of political science) assured us was impossible but that training, dedication, ingenuity, and the Indomitable human spirit were determined to overcome
Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 6mo agoPhysically incapable of analyzing politics outside of this insipid frame. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"As AI transforms academic labor, much more is at stake than the terms & conditions of our employment. At stake is the very integrity of the teaching & learning process & the notion that all humanity—not just a few individuals—should benefit from the production of knowledge at our universities."
@ulises-mejias.bsky.social · 6mo agoArtificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor. Who benefits when AI is introduced into higher education? By Ulises A. Mejias (adapted from an earlier op-ed at Future U blog.) www.aaup.org/issue/winter...
My book is now available for pre-order!
Beneath The Wage: Tips, Tasks, and Gigs in the Age of Service Work - Zone Books
Zone Books
zonebooks.org
The first episode of The Whale Pod is delivered ashore tomorrow. A chapter-by-chapter analysis of Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick' with @leighsus.bsky.social and @pdkmitchell.bsky.social. Follow for free on Patreon or wherever you get your podcasts... 🐳 patreon.com/thewhalepod
The Whale Pod | Patreon
The Moby Dick podcast
patreon.com
The reset was in 2015. Labour blew their chance to change, got lucky in 2024, and now the decline is back on track.
Will Jennings📉🗳️@drjennings.bsky.social · 6mo agoIf Starmer does fall, Labour will have one chance to reset. It will have to make the right, decisive calls on leadership and direction.
🎧Final episode for @urbanpolitical.bsky.social in our series on authoritarian urbanism w/ @jluger.bsky.social, Miklós Dürr, Ayşegül Can & Oksana Zaporozhets We discuss whether contemporary urbanism continues to be 'neoliberal', and how the leading tendency is towards something more autocratic:
103 – Beyond Neoliberal Urbanism?
Are we seeing the emergence of a new conjuncture for urbanism? The final part of our mini series asks whether authoritarian neoliberalism has created the conditions for a more illiberal and distinct t...
urbanpolitical.podigee.io
📰Read Chris Saltmarsh for @jacobinmag.bsky.social on how Your Party remains an important opportunity for the left, amidst a Labour collapse and a Green surge... jacobin.com/2026/02/uk-l...
Your Party Can Realign the British Left
Britain’s new left-wing force Your Party has got off to a troubled start. But faced with the historic decline of working-class organization, it’s vital that it makes good on its promise to rebuild gra...
jacobin.com
Genuinely think selecting Goodwin will make it alot harder for Reform to win. He is far too deep into the online, far right ecosystem to not say multiple weird and offputting things that will limit Reforms appeal to the more comitted.
🎧Listen to Chris Saltmarsh on @newpartypod.bsky.social, speaking with Tom Williams about why we need Your Party to become the party of eco-socialism, what distinguishes us from the Greens, and more! open.spotify.com/episode/3Z3M...
#14 Eco-socialism w/ Chris Saltmash
open.spotify.com
🗳️Endorsements are now open for the Your Party CEC elections! Our own Chris Saltmarsh explains why he is standing (in Yorkshire and Humber), and why we need to elect the Grassroots Left slate to lead Your Party to fight for an eco-socialist future: theecosocialist.co.uk/2026/01/21/c...
Chris Saltmarsh: Why I’m Standing for Your Party’s CEC
The British Left urgently needs a mass socialist party if it is to make anything close to a significant impact in the coming years and decades. Socialists have long been weaker for our distribution…
theecosocialist.co.uk
🔊🔊 Episode 2 of our mini-series on authoritarian urbanism is out with @urbanpolitical.bsky.social. I discuss emergent and intensifying authoritarian practices w/ @nitin-bathla.bsky.social @alkejenss.bsky.social @sdwolfe.bsky.social @ebrukurtozman.bsky.social open.spotify.com/show/5PaTdRP...
102 - Authoritarian Practices in Urban Government
open.spotify.com
🔊🔊 Episode 2 of our mini-series on authoritarian urbanism is out with @urbanpolitical.bsky.social. I discuss emergent and intensifying authoritarian practices w/ @nitin-bathla.bsky.social @alkejenss.bsky.social @sdwolfe.bsky.social @ebrukurtozman.bsky.social open.spotify.com/show/5PaTdRP...
102 - Authoritarian Practices in Urban Government
open.spotify.com
Commenting on the news that day-ahead wholesale gas prices have reached a six-month high in the UK, @jessralston.bsky.social, @eciu.net said: "The North Sea is continuing to run out of gas and won't help to lower bills or provide security of supply." eciu.net/media/press...
Probably have to start reckoning with the reality that most social science disciplines int he UK wont fuctionally exist in 10-20 years. No such thing as a permanent job (not thay they exist!) if your departments in terminal decline!
European gas price surging. Evidence for Labour's view that we need to reduce gas reliance, but could also kill their govt before that happens as they have failed to get on top of energy bills. If this carries on the '£150 bill cut' isnt going to happen.
Seems like every quango in Britain has been weaponised in defence of Israeli genocide.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 7mo agoOfsted launches inspection of school criticised for cancelling MP visit
Just before the year 2025 comes to an end, we are starting with a new series on Authoritarian Urbanism, acknowledging and thematising a worldwide rightward populist turn through the lens of urban thinkers, researchers and activists. urbanpolitical.online/101-authorit...
