New post out: "The myth of the 'Boriswave'" The online right claim that the immigrants who arrived between 21-24 will bankrupt the country. This isn't remotely true but they've created a mainstream panic that could lead us down a dangerous path. (£/free trial) samf.substack.com/p/the-myth-o...

The myth of the "Boriswave"

Over summer 2024 anonymous right-wing accounts on twitter, who support Reform or more extreme ethnonationalist parties, started using the term “Boriswave” to describe the brief but sharp rise in net m...

samf.substack.com

Has anyone read anything good on why the east coast is such fertile ground for the extreme right? (Lincolnshire, East Anglia, the Essex and Kent coasts) Demographics aren't wildly different to other areas where it's much less pronounced.

Morning!

Remember when (feels like a long time ago…) Keir Starmer had a genie? It looks like Andy Burnham has found it. Rubs lamp. ‘Let the opposition implode.’ Watches Polanski, Farage and Badenoch. Allows himself a flutter of the eyelashes.

The Joshua Bonehill-Paine story has got me thinking about rehabilitation and second chances. In particular, the circumstances in which we decide to give people a second chance, versus the circumstances in which we don't. 1/5 🧵

BBC headline: Trump to Iran: make a deal or face ‘decapitation’. Truly the master of persuasion and diplomacy.

How Europe lost the Battle of Ceuta; the four horsemen of the summer apocalypse; why Europe faces a climate sovereign doom loop; and why the Clacton by-election is not a joke - latest edition of Wealth of Nations just published open.substack.com/pub/nixons/p...

Europe's Defeat

How Europe lost the Battle of Ceuta; the four horsemen of the summer apocalypse; why Europe faces a climate sovereign doom loop; and why the Clacton by-election is not a joke

open.substack.com

Culmination of my seven-part series on Brexit for the 10th anniversary of the disastrous referendum. Please circulate widely. @chrisgrey.bsky.social @ottocr.at @fascinatorfun.bsky.social @guitarmoog.bsky.social @nialloconghaile.bsky.social northeastbylines.co.uk/news/brexit/...

Brexit Part 7: The Way Forward is Joining the EU, but How?

There is increasing consensus that Brexit was a terrible mistake. The slogan "Make Brexit Work" is an oxymoron. Brexit cannot work. Joining the EU is the only way forward.

northeastbylines.co.uk

An excellent essay on the importance of the legislative branch from my colleague Robert Greally. Highly recommended. democracyproject.org/posts/the-de...

The Decline of the Legislative Branch and the Crisis of Statecraft

A broad range of views on democracy to help break the stalemate caused by partisan conflict.

democracyproject.org

Love everything about this conversation between the new Prime Minister and a care home resident who didn’t realise he was.

Full of despair today. Massive lay offs in social sciences and humanities across the country, Burnham puts out a video saying 'AI can write an essay', and my university is busy integrating co-pilot into all staff and student computers. We are being told we're defunct and there's no resistance.

One unleashes the *hounds* of Hell, not the gates of Hell, you illiterate moron.

If you had a choice between instantly receiving £50,000 or a 50% chance to win £1m, which would you pick? £50,000: 73% 50/50 chance of winning £1m: 21% yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...

These daily 6am treats. Are they going to keep on coming? Or is this just a summer recess relationship we’re all enjoying?

There are some important lessons to be learnt from the failures of the Conservative government of 2019-2024 but it looks like both Burnham & Badenoch are learning the wrong ones. My ConHome piece on the new government plus “the purge of the wets”. conservativehome.com/2026/07/20/d...

David Gauke: Getting the blame game wrong - you purge if you want to but it's lazy who they are purging | Conservative Home

Look at the drivers of the decline of the Conservatives’ popularity: there was always likely to be a moment when Johnson’s lack of integrity was likely to cause a political crisis; there was always li...

conservativehome.com

Today's the day. Burnham has close to 100% support in the Labour Party. With every policy he announces, some will be disappointed. Left-leaning Chancellor? Closer relationship with the EU? Clear commitment to net-zero? Electoral reform? Let's see what happens...

Phil Syrpis@syrpis.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I’m starting to worry about the number of Labour MPs and commentators who are loudly backing Burnham, on the basis that he can be relied upon to do X (insert favourite policy here). The list of X’s is becoming very long, and includes a lot of mutually incompatible things.

"A closed country will be poorer. A country that underinvests will not grow. A state that refuses to reform tax will ration ambition. And a Labour government afraid to say these things will discover once again that caution, too, has costs." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Burnham must learn from Starmer’s mistakes: Labour was elected to transform the economy, not just stabilise it | Jonathan Portes

Devolution, tax, the EU and immigration: these are all opportunities for growth if Burnham abandons the excessive caution of the past few years, says economist Jonathan Portes

theguardian.com

I may speak for many people of a certain age, when I say that my disappointed tonight is (slightly) tempered by the fact that the next generations are feeling the same feelings I had in the 1990s. These things don’t come easily. Scratch that - they don’t happen. Just hard luck stories.

England, now. ‘We can beat these.’

My son just told me is favourite sentence is: “I didn’t say we should kill him” because if you emphasise each different word it changes the entire meaning

Excellent review, this. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

The Brexit Effect, 2016-2026 edited by Anthony Seldon review – life without EU

Essays by the great and the good address the legacy of Brexit, but ignore the nationalist elephant in the room

theguardian.com

Not usually one to give advice to the Tories… but if you are going to have insane policies on climate change, maybe don’t make the insane policy announcements in the middle of a heatwave? There’s more than a small risk people will think you’re insane.

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · last mo.

Two headlines from today's papers

He’s only going to U-turn again on pub opening hours, isn’t he. FFS.

New Substack Post: 'On Rejoin' rolandmcs.substack.com/p/on-rejoin

On Rejoin

How should the UK approach rejoining the EU?

rolandmcs.substack.com

The suggestion appears to be that there was a point when we were able to be reasonable. I mean, there was a point when we thought that our genocidal threats would get us a great deal, but that does not qualify as reasonable behaviour.

Republicans Against Trumpism@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · 2mo ago

BREAKING: Trump says the U.S. may be forced to “complete the job” in Iran: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

It happened… 9 EU member states out of 16 teams in one half of the draw; 0 EU member states in the other.

Phil Syrpis@syrpis.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If results go a certain way tonight in the World Cup, it’s possible (I think) for all surviving EU states to be in the same half of the draw (Norway, Switzerland and likely England are the European teams in the other half).

If results go a certain way tonight in the World Cup, it’s possible (I think) for all surviving EU states to be in the same half of the draw (Norway, Switzerland and likely England are the European teams in the other half).

The more I think about this, and the more I hear from Labour MPs who are rushing to back Burnham, the more worried I get. There will come a point - likely in 3 weeks' time - when Burnham will be PM. And we (Lab MPs included) don't know what he is going to do or prioritise. 1/3

Phil Syrpis@syrpis.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I’m starting to worry about the number of Labour MPs and commentators who are loudly backing Burnham, on the basis that he can be relied upon to do X (insert favourite policy here). The list of X’s is becoming very long, and includes a lot of mutually incompatible things.

10 years on, and my message is the same as it always has been. Leaving the EU was the easy bit. Working out what sort of relationship you want with the EU is much harder. 🧵 1/6

Oh great, 10th anniversary Bluesky debates on EU democracy by folks who have never given five minutes of their time to think about how democracy might work in a multi-level Union of 27 Member States.