Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 22d

Concluding words from Jacqueline Rose and Lisa Baraitser at the Birkbeck psychosocial postgraduate conference. Jacqueline says “We need to hold on to psychoanalysis as an anti-fascist tradition of thought.”

1 1

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Anthony Barnett @anthonybarnett.bsky.social · Aug 5

For @dmk1793.bsky.social with respect www.opendemocracy.net/en/compulsor...

Compulsory voting alone won’t fix the UK's broken politics

Simply insisting people vote in elections run by a system they rightly distrust will not improve British politics

www.opendemocracy.net

1 6 13

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · Jul 29

New piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk with @davidfeldman.bsky.social and @brendanmcgeever.bsky.social (@bisa-bkk.bsky.social) on recent comments on antisemitism and racism.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...

(Thank you to @aloner.bsky.social for such great editing.)

The truth in Diane Abbott’s ill-judged remarks

Politicians need to find better of ways of thinking about racism—and of acting against it

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

3 6 14

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Lyndsey Stonebridge @lyndseystonebri.bsky.social · Jul 28

Do this. It's an extraordinary book.

Lea Ypi @leaypi.bsky.social · Jul 28

Having entered the stage in which the author and the commodity are the same thing, I’m here to say that IF you were thinking of pre-ordering INDIGNITY, @Waterstones has selected it for their summer pre-orders promotion and you can get 25% off by entering “SUMMER25” until 31/07🫣

1 2

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Noreen Giffney @noreengiffney.bsky.social · Jul 21

#NewAssociations 46 (2025) has been published. This is the 1st complete issue of the #psychoanalytic magazine Emmanuelle Smith & I have edited. We’ve framed this issue around the themes of conflict & trauma. Email [email protected] & [email protected] for a copy of our editorial

1 2

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · Jul 14

A bold response to the pervasive crisis of UK democracy. Against the flood tide of political disenchantment, should we be thinking about the “duty” rather than simply the “right” to vote?

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · Jul 14

I’m in the @newstatesman.com making the case for compulsory voting as a response to Peter Mair’s “void”

Compulsory voting can save British democracy

Our political crisis is grave. Muscular measures can solve it.

www.newstatesman.com

1

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Tom McTague @tommctague.bsky.social · Jul 2

Read our cover story today, from the great @willdunn.bsky.social.

Reeves is painfully aware that reforming the tax system will require a major political battle. But she’s already being battered by endless squabbles as it is. This is the fight she needs to have.

newstatesman.com/politics/econo…

https://newstatesman.com/politics/econo…

2 2 2

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Will Dunn @willdunn.bsky.social · Jun 12

For all that has been written about Starmer, no journalist has really been able to access the man within. This unmissable profile is the first to do so: www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

What Keir Starmer can’t say

The Prime Minister believes he will heal Britain – but can he find the words?

www.newstatesman.com

5 4

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · Jun 12

Thank you for organising such a fantastic conference Jacob!

Jacob Johanssen @jacobjohanssen.bsky.social · Jun 8

APS 2025 - We are ready! See you tomorrow
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social

1 2

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Jacob Johanssen @jacobjohanssen.bsky.social · Jun 8

APS 2025 - We are ready! See you tomorrow
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social

1 1

Reposted by Tom Fielder

CUSP //: Post Growth Research Centre @cusp.ac.uk · May 22

“We’ve built an economy that profits from making us sick—and calls it progress.” @timjackson.org.uk joins the Cities 1.5 podcast ‪to unpack how growth-at-all-costs fuels illness, inequality—and war. Full episode via ⏯️ cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/...

cc #TheCareEconomy #ÖkonomieDerFürsorge #PostGrowth

8 12

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · May 20

Brilliant from @mortenmorland.bsky.social on yesterday's UK-EU Summit.

And why those shouting 'betrayal' are, thankfully, no longer the adults in the room.

7 53 270

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · May 20

Sounds fascinating! I’m looking forward to reading through all the contributions when the hard copy arrives!

1

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · May 19

“Behind this anti-establishment mood… lies the nastier promise of Faragism. It is not only that his voters are angry or disenfranchised… It’s that he offers a kind of political desublimation, a pleasurable release of all the prejudicial impulses kept under wraps”

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · May 19

‘If your country appears to be presided over by a caste of broadly interchangeable, hectoring and insincere politicians, none of whom ever delivers on their promises, why not vote for someone to upend the table?’

@piercepenniless.bsky.social on the local elections: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

James Butler · Short Cuts: Labour at the Cliff Edge

Behind this anti-establishment mood, which has rankled in British politics for many years now, lies the nastier promise...

www.lrb.co.uk

1

Reposted by Tom Fielder

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · May 17

As Jim puts it:

1 5 7

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · May 9

Congratulations to the editors of this exciting new collection, which interrogates psychosocial studies as a scholarly praxis of “creative disruption”. Including a playful piece of my own about Brexit, drawing on @profcand.bsky.social work on political culture: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

2 4

Reposted by Tom Fielder

James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · May 7

And to think, Hunt pushed through tax cuts the country obviously couldn’t afford in a reckless attempt to avoid precisely this scenario. Party before country and it’s ended up screwing both.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘Massive earthquake’ in politics could lead to Tory extinction, says Hunt

Former chancellor also said the ‘old two-party system’ could be coming to an end

www.theguardian.com

5 9

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · May 1

A reminder for the next @assocpsychosocial.bsky.social reading group - 6pm tonight! Please join us to discuss the allure of fascism in liberal societies, with Alasdair Cannon and @profcand.bsky.social

Association for Psychosocial Studies @assocpsychosocial.bsky.social · Apr 17

Please join us for our next reading group! Writer and podcaster Alasdair Cannon will be presenting a psychosocial perspective on fascism, based on his timely new book. Thursday 1 May, 6pm.
@profcand.bsky.social @tjfielder.bsky.social @heidis-ann.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-allure...?

The Allure of Fascism: Infinite Discontent with Alasdair Cannon

Join us for our next APS online reading group, with Alasdair Cannon on the allure of fascism in contemporary societies.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

1 1

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · Apr 29

Good piece by @morganj0nes.bsky.social. Labour needs to stop trying to win the 2023 Uxbridge by-election.
labourlist.org/2025/04/loca...

'Uxbridgitis: If election results are grim, let's not learn the wrong lessons again' - LabourList

Labour probably won’t do very well at this week’s local elections. We are on track to lose council…

labourlist.org

6 24 86

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · Apr 24

Brilliant piece. Loneliness, said Arendt, is the common ground of terror.
Or as @harryshukman.bsky.social writes: “Wanting connection is a common reason people give for arriving at these groups, and also what makes it hard for them to leave, even if they’re not enjoying themselves.”

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · Apr 24

Fascinating and worrying in equal measure.

A year of hate: what I learned when I went undercover with the far right

The long read: Working for Hope Not Hate, I infiltrated an extremist organisation, befriended its members and got to work investigating their political connections

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Tom Fielder

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Apr 23

‘GDP growth in its modern neoliberal form has obviously come with severe disruption to community cohesion. It creates winners and losers – and the losers really, really mind.’

John Lanchester on what the government gets wrong about growth: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

John Lanchester · Short Cuts: Labour’s Straitjacket

The Tories, in office, prepared a trap for Labour. It had a large sign on it saying ‘It’s a Trap’ and then next to...

www.lrb.co.uk

4 9

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Association for Psychosocial Studies @assocpsychosocial.bsky.social · Apr 17

Please join us for our next reading group! Writer and podcaster Alasdair Cannon will be presenting a psychosocial perspective on fascism, based on his timely new book. Thursday 1 May, 6pm.
@profcand.bsky.social @tjfielder.bsky.social @heidis-ann.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-allure...?

The Allure of Fascism: Infinite Discontent with Alasdair Cannon

Join us for our next APS online reading group, with Alasdair Cannon on the allure of fascism in contemporary societies.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

4 3

Reposted by Tom Fielder

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · Apr 10

This is a lovely piece by David Runciman, of @ppfideas.bsky.social.

At a time when universities are running away from the lecture, the podcasting boom shows the appetite for serious, long-form and, yes, didactic content by people with specialist understanding.
www.theideasletter.org/essay/podcas...

Podcast University - The Ideas Letter

www.theideasletter.org

10 66 210

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · Apr 9

I guess it’s about explicitly relating today’s divisions to a longer-term genealogy of varying traditions within Labour, and so gaining some intellectual leverage? But it’s a fair point. Maybe the ‘neo’ is to do with the question of Starmerism

1

Tom Fielder @tjfielder.bsky.social · Apr 9

Catching up on this brilliant @renewaljournal.bsky.social breakdown of rival political economies within Starmer’s Labour. A timely reminder from @dmk1793.bsky.social and @colmpm.bsky.social that tensions are likely to sharpen in the absence of growth.

renewal.org.uk/2024/10/15/b...

Bevin, Crosland or Blair? Labour’s rival political economies

David Klemperer and Colm Murphy At the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool last month, the mood was one of anticipation laced with nerves. Unsettled by the scandals and dysfunction at No.…

renewal.org.uk

2 2