Whatever clout you think you get for always asserting the maximally cynical "it's always been bad and I've always known as much" perspective is worthless and actually making you much stupider as a person and more useless as a political agent.

When the US bans immigration from certain countries, it's a huge scandal. In the UK we do it without any political debate. (See also, ending tenure, ending birthright citizenship, and lots of other cases.)

Stephen H. Jones@stphnhwrdjns.bsky.social · 23h ago

Honestly thought it was just my employer being forced into this. Turns out it's the whole sector, which is an effing scandal.

Honestly thought it was just my employer being forced into this. Turns out it's the whole sector, which is an effing scandal.

Rob Ford@robfordmancs.bsky.social · yesterday

It would seem the Home Office has now acquired the ability to impose, without visibility or accountability, shadow bans on students coming to British universities from particular countries. How? Because of the interaction between indiv visa decisions (made by HO alone) and visa rules for unis 1/?

You know those ‘spot the difference’ puzzles? I’m thinking of launching a ‘spot every racism in this political cartoon’ alternative….

The comic thing about this is, conference is the one time of year a party can bank positive coverage! It should have given the Greens a big advantage! Labour wasn't to know Greens would spend it punching themselves in the face.

Twlldun@twlldun.bsky.social · 2d ago

Polanski ran with the line on the today program that the government set the by-election date to benefit from the Zionism is racism vote, btw.

Ban on use of the word 'iconic' until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

Kemi Badenoch wants to exempt the family home from inheritance tax. But that creates a perverse incentive for elderly people to *upsize* to save IHT. That could double the cost of the policy, and push £100bn+ from savings into housing. A 🧵 on bad tax cuts.

Lots of fun country songs about how small-town people are all up in each other's business. Hank Williams's "Mind Your Own Business" and this come to mind.

Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A.

YouTube video by kkiilljjooy

youtube.com

I mean, this is obviously stupid from top to bottom, but the bit that sends me is: how do you get to the point where you see 'failing to oppose Israel correctly' as equivalent to joining a genocide?

Chris Sommerfeldt@c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social · 4d ago

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside City Hall to call out Mayor Zohran Mamdani for what they see as his betrayal of the movement. "Mayor Mamdani, you can't hide we charge you with genocide" was a chant that just rang out.

This amply applies to Corbyn too. When JC was elected Labour leader, I thought one positive was the opportunity it afforded him to publicly face down the cranks on the left. In hindsight, one of the stupidest things I've thought.

Rachel Cunliffe@rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 4d ago

"Polanski is a talented communicator as long as his audience is predisposed to like the message. His authority is solar-powered, activated only when the light of an enthusiastic crowd shines directly on him. If there is a risk of no applause, he powers down" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is a positive development, full stop. Anti-racism norms matter, elite cues on anti-racism norms matter, a broad political consensus on anti-racism norms matter so a strong signal from the leader of a party which has been blurring red lines lately is good news.

Josh Self@josh.politics.co.uk · 4d ago

Kemi Badenoch takes on Suella Braverman and Reform over Englishness:

“Leeds has got a Harvey Nicks now” was one of those phrases that rattled around my head during childhood because everyone spent their whole time saying it and I definitely did not get it.

Oliver Peace@justcallmeol.bsky.social · 5d ago

The Knightsbridge of the North is set become a pair of Flannels ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

That phrase 'gutter contrarianism bred by the social media attention economy' is a masterclass in meaning with brevity. www.thetimes.com/article/02eb...

Why there’s a new battle raging over the Second World War

The allied victory of 1945 is the founding myth of the liberal western order, something despised by the new radical right

thetimes.com

You can read the full interview, here. share.google/NgMm5RbsFq2X...

Yair Wallach@yairwallach.bsky.social · 6d ago

Edward Said on Zionism: Q: What you are saying is that Israelis should know that, like white South Africans, they have a right to stay as long as they give up their ideology. A: Yes, an ideology that denies the rights of others. Q: So what is needed is a process of de-Zionization?...

Jacob Rees-Mogg has often expressed pride in his father's 1968 Times editorial on Rivers of Blood, titled "An Evil Speech". His recent oppositon to ethnonationalism & hia decision to be vocal about a civic British citizenship + English identity reflect this.

I disagree, the best cure for ideological bias is asking people to walk through the mechanics of their argument. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23620547/

Justin Wolfers@justinwolfers.bsky.social · 7d ago

The best cure for ideological bias is find someone on the other side and go to lunch with them.⁣ ⁣ Sometimes we disagree about facts. Sometimes we disagree about values. Figuring out which is which is fun part. https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com/p/my-libertarian-friends-were-right

I’m afraid if this kind of motion falls, intention is pretty clear

Seems like if you’re on the left in Britain you’re condemned to sit between the most cynical, reactionary wing of the Labour Party and a bunch of idiots who think student union politics is a great model for running the country

I tend towards the view that most left antisemitism is about being stupid rather than evil but this is... dark.

Elizabeth Taylor@elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · last wk.

Oh god the 3rd amendment explicitly protecting Jewish members who attend synagogue has fallen. I’m absolutely heartbroken.

I'd not noticed this and it gives you a sense of the self-defeating silliness of the Greens' motion. It's like it is intentionally alienating all potential allies.

Chaminda Jayanetti@cjayanetti.bsky.social · last wk.

this is the motion text I'm referring to. unless I've misread it, it's opposing the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (the JDA definition)

GB News and Man City in the last 10 years have a lot in common.

Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · last wk.

New GB News accounts are out. Here are their losses to date. Or "spent political donations" if you prefer

This is so frustrating. Aside from the incoherence of the position, it will mark the end of a serious left challenge to Labour (which our politics needs, *especially* on the issue of Israel/Palestine).

Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social · last wk.

From Politico. That motion is absolute fucking poison and by failing to stand up to it, the Greens have allowed that poison to seep into the party.

I'm so very sad to hear of the death of Esther Ranzen who played an important role in reuniting me with Nicky Winton - the man who saved my life. It's so desperately sad that she couldn't choose assisted dying as was her wish.

Israel's government does appear completely rogue and I really worry that will end very badly, for Israelis and everyone else.

I Nied braaaaiiiiins 🧟@nied.bsky.social · 2w ago

Biden literally did the mythical One Phone Call that would stop Israel in it's tracks, &... it didn't stop Israel in it's tracks.

Commentators reading the Premier League ruling on Manchester City.

Kat is right about all of this. One of the reasons that college sexual violence is uniquely devastating is because it changes the victim’s entire future.

Kat Tenbarge@kattenbarge.bsky.social · 2w ago

What about her future? What about how hard she worked to be there? What is to become of her life now? What process of justice could possibly right these wrongs? And how much more will she lose in the process of trying to get it? How much more of this are we all supposed to tolerate?

One for every Labour MP to read. #ldconf

30 years ago, Lincoln was 'on its knees' - then the university arrived

The construction of the University of Lincoln marked a turning point in the city's fortunes

lincolnshirelive.co.uk

Basically every social scientist who sneeringly attacks "positivism" has zero understanding of it as a philosophical or methodological or even cultural movement. Please give me a gajillion pounds now thank you.

@tagerai.bsky.social · 2w ago

lol how did I miss this I just got an email advertising a prize for 1 MILLION dollars to 5 ‘social scientists who tell controversial truths at great professional cost“. The head of the committee is Roland fryer, it’s got Vanderbilt report alums, and it’s bankrolled by Bill Ackman And NerI Oxman.

Most academics I know were fundamentally anti-Wikipedia for a very long time. Salutary reminder that we get it quite wrong quite often.

Tyron@tyron.bsky.social · 2w ago

Just seen it's Wikipedia's 25th birthday. The greatest website online, and possibly the internet's greatest fruit

Thomas Edison in 1910. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves on this net zero business, lads