Tom Six
@tomsix.bsky.social
Scholar of race, politics and performance. https://linktr.ee/tomsix
On a day when air-conditioning sounded good, I went to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. And, this is what I found: www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/03/t...
The Odyssey of the West
In the London Review of Books, Emily Wilson, the renowned translator of Homer’s Odyssey from Greek to English in 2017, made her views plain about Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey. Nolan, who won a...
counterpunch.org
The Pitt S2 did well to engage with ICE, health insurance & poverty, I thought, but the fact that the series is so tame compared to reality is an indictment of the capacity of cultural production to offer any serious resistance.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3d ago‘She showed love for everyone’: how did Daphy Michel end up frozen to death in a Pittsburgh bus shelter?
Great piece by @jemgilbert.bsky.social in Tribune on the need end neoliberalism and the likelihood that the current Labour Party (and Burnham) is up to the task tribunemag.co.uk/2026/07/fare...
Farewell Thatcherism?
Andy Burnham has called for a historic break with neoliberalism. But what would such a rupture actually consist of? And what are the chances of the new Prime Minister enacting it?
tribunemag.co.uk
Here’s @judeinlondon.com on point as ever
London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 3w ago‘When Jude Bellingham catapulted England into the semi-finals, Lowe posted his name on social media, as if we’re expected to pretend that Restore’s immigration policy wouldn’t see Bellingham swept up in their deportation pogroms.’ @judeinlondon.com on the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...
If you work in a university, went to university or think you might, have kids who are at university or might be, or have an opinion about universities, you should listen to this from @jemgilbert.bsky.social & #AlanFinalyson podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p...
podcasts.apple.com
“…the conspiracy is the necessary and required form in which dissent, opposition, or conflict has to be explained in a society which is, in fact, mesmerized by consensus.” Stuart Hall et al, Policing the Crisis
If you pile your furniture in the middle of your living room then set it on fire, you will have the warmest house in your street, for a few hours.
It hasn’t reached 30C in our house today and nobody has been able to cope. It’s amazing to me that this is the extent of the demand that’s being considered.
YouGov@yougov.co.uk · last mo.64% of Britons would support a law where employers cannot require workers to work if the temperature of the working environment is above 30C Net support by age 18-24yr olds: +58 25-49yr olds: +47 50-64yr olds: +34 65+yr olds: +23 yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...
Striking that only a few years ago we were hearing about the Preston model of localism, but the country is poised for a leader from the north west and all we’re getting is the watered-down, talked-up alternative of Manchesterism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
In 2011 Preston hit rock bottom. Then it took back control | Aditya Chakrabortty
In a new series looking at how to make the economy work for everyone, Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty finds out how Preston turned its fortunes around by spending locally
theguardian.com
So Labour Right is moving to prevent any leadership contest. I hope the left gets its act together and stands a candidate for hustings with some demands that will have traction with Burnham. Currently it looks like Streeting’s cronies are swarming around him to foreclose any offer to the left.
Peter Stefanovic@peterstefanovic.bsky.social · last mo.BREAKING: Wes Streeting has backed Andy Burnham to become PM Who saw that coming?
I’m delighted, today, to have an opportunity to say my piece about the legacy of Black theatre’s great pathfinder in Britain, Yvonne Brewster, and the anti-imperial politics of her work. www.tom6.space/blog/in-and-...
In and against the imperial state: Talawa at the Cochrane — Tom Six
It was a pleasure today to be at ‘New Directions, Histories, and Adaptations in Black Theatre and Performance’ - thanks to the organisers Tiziana Morosetti and Lennox Goddard. The event was partl...
tom6.space
Struggling to convince progressives that a Burnham who can put Reform back in its box but also has to work with them is a Good Thing. Their reason? ‘I don’t agree with him.’ Since when was that the point?! 🫠
Good to see left populism doing what Corbynism should have done *a lot better* and beginning to take some ground back from the hot mess made by both liberal & far-right pedlars of nostalgic identitarian nonsense about THE WORKING CLASS.
Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️@leftiestats.bsky.social · 2mo ago🗳️ Which party best represents working people? ➡️ Ref: 16% (-3) 🔴 Lab: 15% (-2) 🟢 Grn: 9% (+5) 🔵 Con: 7% (-1) 🟠 Lib: 5% (-1) ⚪️ Oth: 3% (+2) --- ⚫️ None: 28% (-3) ❓ Unsure: 16% (-1) Via @YouGov, 9 June (+/- vs 27 May 2025) x.com/LeftieStats/...
At the risk of becoming solely a @jemgilbert.bsky.social hype merchant on here, this conversation is exactly what I needed to point students to in response to the Q ‘what do you mean by “the demise of Black British Cultural Studies”?’ podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...
Black Theory in Britain
Podcast Episode · Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast · 6 June · 2h 8m
podcasts.apple.com
My piece on atmospheres of institutional racism available open access 👇🏼
Theory, Culture & Society@theoryculturesociety.org · 2mo agoNew as Online First: Tom Six, 'Toxic Whiteness: Michael Chekhov and the Atmospheric Analysis of Institutional Racism' - proposes that institutional racism may be productively understood as an atmospheric phenomenon. (Open Access) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Second part of really excellent introduction to Stuart Hall here from @jemgilbert.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c... with a touching ending about Hall’s function as a role model for those of us doing politically engaged intellectual work.
Talking on July 15 11amET/4pmBST about compulsory Zionism and whiteness in contemporary representations of Jewishness in Britain. Online and free but you need to register: criticalzionismstudies.org/2026talks/
Fantastic archive of Stuart Hall here - essential listening for anyone interested in English culture, or who just wants to hear a brilliant teacher at the height of his powers www.mixcloud.com/genres/engli...
Browse English Stitch
Listen to the best English Stitch
mixcloud.com
The archive of SH teaching here is fantastic. Conjuncture = Hegelian dialectics is an odd contribution, but that aside this is really interesting and useful.
K Biswas@bizk.bsky.social · 2mo agoEpisode Five - Stuart Hall asks: Is There An English Ideology? www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/en... With @jemgilbert.bsky.social & Caitlin Doherty, with a special appearance at the end from Catherine Hall
If you’re listening to eg the Today programme telling you the story of the local elections is Labour losing to Reform, you might want to listen to the BBC’s polling expert… It’s not ‘better’ news exactly for the left electorally, but it is a crucially different picture.
All killer, no filler on the Culture Power Politics feed this weekend. This is very good on the imminent next phase of British political crisis from @jemgilbert.bsky.social & Alan Finlayson. Send it to the ‘low-information Guardian readers’ (JG) in your life. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...
Political Update: Mandelson, Starmer, Tenants’ Rights
Podcast Episode · Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast · 1 May · 57min
podcasts.apple.com
For context, this is less than what I received as a PhD student in 2009…
QM_UCU@qmucu.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe human cost of a sector bent on capturing cash and managers bent on careerism: shattered dreams, betrayal of years of work — on the degree and to survive in London because the stipend was only £10,800 per year. #UKHE www.timeshighereducation.com/news/mexican...
Had an excellent time at the online Decolonial Conference. Here’s what I said… tomsix.substack.com/p/resettling...
Resettling the 'urban colonies' and the west's next racial regime
How can we understand relationships between racially minoritised populations in the west and indigenous people living in settler colonies as a feature of contemporary coloniality?
tomsix.substack.com
Mr Trojan Horse Letter is up to it again
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 5mo agoTory peer accuses Nick Timothy of ‘instilling fear’ over Islamic prayers
Another excellent and clarifying rapid-response long view from Alan & Jem here… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...
The Meaning of Peter Mandelson
Podcast Episode · Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast · 17/02/2026 · 1h 44m
podcasts.apple.com
This is really excellent
Daniel Denvir@danieldenvir.bsky.social · 6mo agoThis was such a special interview to conduct: the first in two episodes with historian Peter Linebaugh on the long histories of commons and commoning, connections between enclosures in Europe and imperial conquest abroad, and writing history from below. www.thedigradio.com/podcast/the-...
Here's a counterpoint to this grim revival of climate eugenics at Essex (lots of other great research against populationism is available): journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
