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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 3h

“Liberal democracy won’t continue to be able to coexist with electoral politics:” discuss.

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 4h

If we are to pursue this line of attack (we should) we also need a strong and rigorous position on what a good Representative Democracy is, as well as what it isn’t.

Central Bylines @centralbylines.co.uk · 4h

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Voters recoil at Farage’s fossil fuel funding.
Via @desmog.com @writesbright.bsky.social

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Reform UK’s oil industry interests are a major turn-off for voters, new research reveals. The think tank Persuasion UK tested five anti-Reform messages on 6,000 adults. According to the research, “by ...

www.desmog.com

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 4h

For me, the big question is always “what are people likely to think about this movie in 20 years time.”

Reposted by Paul Evans

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 4h

Washington DC is, by several measures, America’s most liberal city. It no longer has a newspaper that’s even trying to represent that in its op-ed pages.

Philip Bump @pbump.com · 1d

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 4h

He says “Why would a proud Irish person want me, or [DUP leader] Gavin Robinson, or Jim Allister [Traditional Unionist Voice leader] choosing their next taoiseach?””

Would unionism become a commitment to sinking a ship that northern protestants are sailing in?

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 4h

United Ireland could result in unionists holding Dáil’s balance of power, UUP leader says

Mike Nesbitt warns ‘biggest threat’ to NI remaining part of UK is English nationalism

www.irishtimes.com

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Reposted by Paul Evans

Anthony Green @anthonycgreen.bsky.social · 4h

More insightful that anything one will read anywhere else…

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Pessimism incoming! 👇👇👇

The centre & left seem to have lost political ambition. It needs a wholesale shift in perspective to stop something that is beginning to look inevitable now. 🧵

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 4h

Thanks Anthony.

Reposted by Paul Evans

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 6h

Here is a reporter who deserves to be remembered.
kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-jo...

Ukrainian journalist Roshchyna posthumously named Press Freedom Hero

The IPI said Roshchyna's death on Sept. 19, 2024 "exposed the brutal treatment suffered by the dozens of Ukrainian journalists unjustly held by Russian authorities, and brought new urgency to the need...

kyivindependent.com

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 8h

Ed: “gimmie an 800 word op-Ed on why a spelling mistake on a chocolate wrapper means that the Tories are finished.”

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Democratic politicians are stuck in a prisoner’s dilemma: if *I* don’t play the polarising game, I risk losing out. So everyone leans in—and we all lose in terms of trust, constructive politics, common ground.

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

I hate the international breaks.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

My “surely this is fake” antenna are up for this, but so are I “maybe it isn’t?” detectors…

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 1d

“Thank you to President Putin!”

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

But it also needs a recognition that “progressive attitudes” and approaches are failing.

If you agree: repost this. Let’s make “for representative democracy” a visible, powerful discourse. It’s on everyone who cares about democracy to lead the conversation — so the political leadership can follow.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

So: we have to recognise that platforms, and how we interact with them can make, or break representative democracy.

In the short term this has to include asking the government to make reforms that reshape those platforms.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

If we don’t act, the prisoner’s dilemma continues: we’ll keep defecting (polarising) because cooperation feels risky.

Representative democracy depends on trust, norm‑sharing, on a discourse that doesn’t assume the worst of “the other side.”

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

We need a new focus on reestablishing the norms of Representative Democracy - one that doesn’t define the national conversation as a happy playground for demagoguery.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Because progressive politics would benefit massively simply from a reassertion of the values of Representative Democracy.

There are absolutely no ‘political directions’ (e.g. “rejoin the EU”, “invest in persuasion on the value of migration” etc) that come close to making life better for everyone.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

We need a public conversation that refuses the logic of outrage as the dominant currency.

I see no political movements that understand how representative democracy can be cultivated as well as gamed.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

But there are immediate policy preconditions that the current government don’t seem capable of thinking about. I.e.,:
• Transparency & regulation of platforms & funding of political content
• More public interest media ownership
• Strengthened support for independent journalism of all kinds.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Political leadership *depends on* public discourse. It responds to what citizens accept / demand / believe.

It’s *our* job, not theirs, to steer discourse into something that enables representative democracy instead of crippling it.

This means a radical rethink of what politics actually is.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Democratic politicians are stuck in a prisoner’s dilemma: if *I* don’t play the polarising game, I risk losing out. So everyone leans in—and we all lose in terms of trust, constructive politics, common ground.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Meanwhile, the politics that politicians have to respond to has moved into dispersed media, algorithmic echo chambers, paid content we can’t trace.

The incentives there drive nihilism, polarisation, disinformation — all corrosive to democracy.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

We’re all still v good at fixating on parliamentary drama and media spectacles. We lean on protest politics as if it’s a cure‑all instead of being something that is *actively counter‑productive*.

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Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 11h

Pessimism incoming! 👇👇👇

The centre & left seem to have lost political ambition. It needs a wholesale shift in perspective to stop something that is beginning to look inevitable now. 🧵

1

Paul Evans @pauliewaulie.bsky.social · 13h

I’d love to see a think tank working on this as well, because I think there’s almost a bottomless well of doable ideas here.

All of that said, I could see it being an engine for gentrification as much as anything because it will be the suburbs with lots of social capital that would run with this.

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Reposted by Paul Evans

James Plunkett @jamestplunkett.bsky.social · 13h

Are there any live proposals to get DSIT (and/or CLG?) to create a Civic Tech Fund? An initiative to support the UK’s civic tech movement (pro-social platforms like Library of Things, Olio, Park Run, etc) and shared infrastructure for community organising. 1/n

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