Rafael Behr
@rafaelbehr.bsky.social
Political columnist, The Guardian Author, Politics, A Survivor's Guide Website: https://rafaelbehr.com/
On the tragedy of US democracy captured by human stupidity when the world needs leadership on machine intelligence. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Democracy is at stake when foolish humans bet on machines being intelligent | Rafael Behr
We need an enlightened US president to make the case for global AI regulation. Donald Trump is the exact opposite of what is needed, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
Just thinking how Johnson spoke like a newspaper column — colourful, bantering bullshit — whereas Badenoch speaks like the worst kind of comment section: querulous, chippy, pedantic (I'm just talking tone here, not content)
Interesting passage in the mea culpa on antisemitism from Tory council candidate at centre of selection row, supporting the view - fiercely denied by most on left at the time - that Corbyn was a magnet drawing antisemitic cranks into Labour.
On the tragedy of US democracy captured by human stupidity when the world needs leadership on machine intelligence. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Democracy is at stake when foolish humans bet on machines being intelligent | Rafael Behr
We need an enlightened US president to make the case for global AI regulation. Donald Trump is the exact opposite of what is needed, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
🌹 NEW EPISODE 🌹 What is this strange sensation? A new Labour government that might be… quite good? Plus FIFA, Ceuta and more 🌹 Group therapy with @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com @rafaelbehr.bsky.social @jamesrball.com & @nndroid.bsky.social 🌹 Listen – linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...
🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 “Yes Mr Burnham, we are open to discussing your social care package, however DEATH TAX!!!!!!!!” 💀⚰️🪦 🚨 @zoegrunewald.bsky.social @seththevoz.bsky.social @jasonhazeley.bsky.social & @nndroid.bsky.social on the deranged response to Burnham’s plan 🚨 Listen – linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...
⏰ WEEKLY WRAP-UP ⏰ The Burnham bounce drives the right bonkers – can his momentum last? Trump spares Zelensky and Netanyahu an Oval Office evisceration – what did we learn from the meetings? @rafaelbehr.bsky.social and @jacobjarvis.bsky.social discuss the week's big stories ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod
No, we aren’t heading back to the Seventies. On the intellectual stagnation of UK opposition that got lazy while Starmer was self-destructing. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Suddenly the British right feels a political chill. It’s getting cold in Andy Burnham’s shadow | Rafael Behr
The Tories and Reform had it easy when Keir Starmer was self-destructing – but a new PM with ideas exposes how vacant the opposition has become, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
Chris Philp is the political equivalent of a stain on your carpet. Don't know how it got there; can't get rid of it; mostly forget about but when you notice it you get irritated all over again.
🤯 NEW EPISODE 🤯 He’s a communist! He’s weak! He hates the South! His jeans are too expensive! The right-wing press is losing its mind over Burnham… 🤯 With @mattgreencomedy.com @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com @rafaelbehr.bsky.social & @jonnelledge.bsky.social 🤯 Listen – linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...
YouGov has Farage at his least popular for a decade. Starting the story after June 2016 misses something significant about what 2014-16 changed
YouGov@yougov.co.uk · 2w agoNigel Farage's latest net favourability rating of -46 (21-22 July 2026) is the joint lowest figure recorded by YouGov in the ten years we have run our favourability tracker Favourable: 22% (-3 from 12-13 July) Unfavourable: 68% (=) Net: -46 (-3) yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
Andy Burnham is playing the long game in an age of short attention spans | Rafael Behr
Andy Burnham is playing the long game in an age of short attention spans | Rafael Behr
It is hard to make the case for a 10-year plan in our political culture of constant campaigning frenzy – but the new PM will try, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
We’re sourcing our reshuffle news from an alternate timeline of the 1980s…
🚨 NEW PODCAST Reform stands accused of trying to use the killing of Ann Widdecombe for political ends. 🚨 @zoegrunewald.bsky.social @rafaelbehr.bsky.social @jonnelledge.bsky.social & @hannahfearn.bsky.social look at a deeply disturbing moment in British politics. 🚨 Listen linktr.ee/ohgodwhatnow...
🌅 It’s Coronation Week for Britain’s first 6Music Dad Prime Minister… and we want YOUR questions on Andy Burnham’s first few weeks. 🌄 Send them to ogwn@podmasters.co.uk or post them on Patreon. We’ll answer as many as we can on the next podcast. www.patreon.com/ohgodwhatnow...
🎧 The one in which @rafaelbehr.bsky.social uses ‘a classic rhetorical device’ to deploy a fun sick burn on musical taste 🤣 “Absolutely fair comment,” says @nndroid.bsky.social ”I’ve no problem with it at all.” 👏😁 🇬🇧 #UKPolitics 🗳️4️⃣🗑️ #Podcasts 📻
The Bunker podcast – News without the nonsense@bunkerpod.bsky.social · 3w agoPolice say there is no reason to suspect that the murder of Anne Widdecombe was politically motivated, but it’s not stopping Farage and Reform from trying to weaponise the killing. @rafaelbehr.bsky.social and @nndroid.bsky.social look at the stories shaping the week ahead. ➡️ linktr.ee/bunker_pod
Liz Kendall on what the British government’s role in the era of AI is for SovereignAI’s initial Substack. DSIT ended up in a really good place by the end of the Starmer era IMV: it shed some of its Kyle era “intellectual property intellectual schmoperty” boosterism while retaining strong MoSes:
24 Months
Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
uksovereignai.substack.com
EXC - The £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers who were concerned it may have been laundered money, the Guardian can reveal. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Revealed: Farage’s £5m gift reported to UK crime agency over money laundering concerns
Exclusive: Latest Guardian revelation about gift from cryptocurrency tycoon comes as Reform UK leader forces byelection
theguardian.com
I know there are many more exciting things about the match but I’m still amused by Anthony Gordon confidently singing God Save the Queen - If you look at his eyes, I think he then realises…
It is proving to be a flaw in Farage’s political-business model that, unlike Trump, he cannot pretend to be his own man when the money that fuels the project is so obviously not his own.
No-one seems to know what Burnham thinks about foreign policy. Not necessarily a disadvantage in a new prime minister, but could quickly become one … www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Andy Burnham is about to have a crash course in hardcore geopolitics | Rafael Behr
The likely next prime minister would rather be in Warrington than Washington, but foreign policy will dominate his agenda more than he thinks, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
Modern factories do not lucratively employ half the men in the town straight out of high school to work an assembly line on union contracts. That was a weird blip in the 1950's when automation hadn't taken off yet and the US was the only country in the world whose factories weren't blown to shit.
do you wanna tell math-based ghost-stories, or is the poor little baby 2²
I’m not saying the debate in the U.K. has moved to the right, but Ed Miliband is basically seen as Pol Pot for aiming for a climate target first agreed to by…I think Theresa May’s government? Definitely Johnson’s. And this chat is going on during the middle of a record-breaking heatwave
Don’t forget to vote for Phil today if you live in Goldsmid ward of Hove.
Rafael Behr@rafaelbehr.bsky.social · 2mo agoBig by-election coming up. No, not that one. Council by-election, Goldsmid ward, Hove. My friend Philip Berman is running. Politics needs people like Phil getting involved. He’s one of the good guys. If you live in that part of Hove vote for him. And spread the word youtu.be/Xeoov3QVVeA
My answer is that centre-right politicians used to have a dismissive view about the loss of manufacturing jobs, arguing that they were things of the past and the economy had to adjust. And now they very much do not make that argument. So you have manufacturing nostalgia across the political spectrum
David Henig@davidheniguk.bsky.social · 2mo agoQuite how did we end up with European and North American politics dominated by unrealistic promises to bring back manufacturing jobs? Just a huge failure to adjust to reality on so many levels.
