Colm Murphy
@colmpm.bsky.social
Historian of UK and ROI politics and political economy. Senior Lecturer at QMUL and Deputy Director of Mile End Institute (https://www.qmul.ac.uk/politics/staff/profiles/murphycolm.html). Book on Labour and 'modernisation' (https://tinyurl.com/37tzatvk).
I enjoyed a rare privilege today: seeing one of my new journal articles in print.
November 24, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I enjoyed a rare privilege today: seeing one of my new journal articles in print.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
November 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Colm Murphy
The Tories are plumbing such depths these days that my whole business model is in severe danger, so thought I better go back to talking about Labour now and then! Here's me on CNN just now on the trouble they (and Keir Starmer) are in.
CNN Newsroom Live-2025-11-24.mp4
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November 24, 2025 at 7:58 AM
The Tories are plumbing such depths these days that my whole business model is in severe danger, so thought I better go back to talking about Labour now and then! Here's me on CNN just now on the trouble they (and Keir Starmer) are in.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
You're not going to guess what this is about.
The damned in hell are not more powerful for the fact that the fires do not consume them; it is part and parcel of their torment.
November 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
You're not going to guess what this is about.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
Miliband as next PM continues to be really under-priced
Nov 18th - Nov 20th polling of Labour members on hypothetical leader contests if Starmer stood
Current leader loses by 26%, ties, and wins by 16-18% & even 34%
Starmer does best (+34) 50-16 against his new Home Secretary in a poll held as her asylum reforms were leading the news on Nov 17th
Current leader loses by 26%, ties, and wins by 16-18% & even 34%
Starmer does best (+34) 50-16 against his new Home Secretary in a poll held as her asylum reforms were leading the news on Nov 17th
November 23, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Miliband as next PM continues to be really under-priced
Reposted by Colm Murphy
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has seen her favourability drop 32 points among Labour members since her plans for asylum policy reform were announced
Cabinet rankings: Mahmood sees sharp drop in approval among Labour members – LabourList
Shabana Mahmood’s approval among Labour members has plummeted since her announcement on reform of asylum policy, exclusive polling for LabourList has revealed. The poll, conducted…
labourlist.org
November 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has seen her favourability drop 32 points among Labour members since her plans for asylum policy reform were announced
Reposted by Colm Murphy
Incredible. At several levels.
Q: Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
MAMDANI: I've spoken about--
TRUMP: That's okay. You can just say yes. I don't mind.
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Incredible. At several levels.
Yep. You get what you pay for.
This (from: www.ft.com/content/75ce...) is something you can *feel* if you are in the UK, especially if you've experienced living abroad. But infuriatingly successive governments and our entire media are somehow absolutely committed to suggesting anyone who wants to change this is the devil...
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Yep. You get what you pay for.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
Good news for Adam I guess
November 20, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Good news for Adam I guess
"[U]sable pasts can create elegiac narratives, calls to arms and empathetic dramas, but they can also lead to historical orthodoxies that marginalise the hidden, the silenced and the inarticulate."
A rich review essay on the 1984/5 miners' strike by Keith Gildart.
doi.org/10.1093/ehr/...
A rich review essay on the 1984/5 miners' strike by Keith Gildart.
doi.org/10.1093/ehr/...
Which Side Are You On Boys? Revisiting the History of British Coal Miners and the Strike of 1984/5
The year 2025 marks the fortieth anniversary of the end of the bitter twelve-month miners’ strike of 1984/5. The dominance of coal in British energy produc
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:45 PM
"[U]sable pasts can create elegiac narratives, calls to arms and empathetic dramas, but they can also lead to historical orthodoxies that marginalise the hidden, the silenced and the inarticulate."
A rich review essay on the 1984/5 miners' strike by Keith Gildart.
doi.org/10.1093/ehr/...
A rich review essay on the 1984/5 miners' strike by Keith Gildart.
doi.org/10.1093/ehr/...
Duncan on good form this morning.
Either you support a tax on wealthier people or you don’t.
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
on.ft.com/44azcE6 Rachel Reeves under pressure to scale back Budget raid on expensive homes
November 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Duncan on good form this morning.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
November 20, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Colm Murphy
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
Reposted by Colm Murphy
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:27 AM
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
What this tells me is that Apple devices are as overpriced on the resale and black markets as they are in the conventional ones.
The brutal reality of life as an Android owner in London: First you’re shocked as you’re mugged. Then you’re humiliated as the thief returns the device. www.londoncentric.media/p/london-pho...
"Don't want no Samsung"
Plus: Scroll down to see what might be the strangest new artwork in the capital and read more on our investigations into the capital's landlords.
www.londoncentric.media
November 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
What this tells me is that Apple devices are as overpriced on the resale and black markets as they are in the conventional ones.
Quite apart from moral failings, there are clearly a lot of political advisors who do not understand power.
I simply do not understand how the govt can simultaneously believe (1) they don’t have enough political capital to breach the manifesto on tax and (2) they have enough to political capital to pick an unwinnable fight with their own MPs on immigration.
November 17, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Quite apart from moral failings, there are clearly a lot of political advisors who do not understand power.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
I simply do not understand how the govt can simultaneously believe (1) they don’t have enough political capital to breach the manifesto on tax and (2) they have enough to political capital to pick an unwinnable fight with their own MPs on immigration.
November 17, 2025 at 11:01 AM
I simply do not understand how the govt can simultaneously believe (1) they don’t have enough political capital to breach the manifesto on tax and (2) they have enough to political capital to pick an unwinnable fight with their own MPs on immigration.
Reposted by Colm Murphy
This does seem to be a relevant question. Reading the Sun and Guardina pieces side by side it is hard to believe they are describing the same policy. That kind of spin might have worked in 1990s but in a social media ecosystem where anger goes viral is is likely to generate own goals
And once again, I ask whether Ministers and No10 realise that the readership of one paper can in fact read the contents of another.
Dark forces are stirring up anger in the UK. My asylum reforms are our chance to stop them | Shabana Mahmood
I know some of these measures will face opposition. But a country without secure borders is less safe for those who look like me, says Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:41 AM
This does seem to be a relevant question. Reading the Sun and Guardina pieces side by side it is hard to believe they are describing the same policy. That kind of spin might have worked in 1990s but in a social media ecosystem where anger goes viral is is likely to generate own goals
In the interests of accountability:
These proposals are trying to set up claiming credit for the likely fall in net migration. This misunderstands the media environment and voting patterns; it will help Farage while losing votes for Labour. They are also morally objectionable and costly. (1/2)
These proposals are trying to set up claiming credit for the likely fall in net migration. This misunderstands the media environment and voting patterns; it will help Farage while losing votes for Labour. They are also morally objectionable and costly. (1/2)
November 17, 2025 at 8:53 AM
In the interests of accountability:
These proposals are trying to set up claiming credit for the likely fall in net migration. This misunderstands the media environment and voting patterns; it will help Farage while losing votes for Labour. They are also morally objectionable and costly. (1/2)
These proposals are trying to set up claiming credit for the likely fall in net migration. This misunderstands the media environment and voting patterns; it will help Farage while losing votes for Labour. They are also morally objectionable and costly. (1/2)
Reposted by Colm Murphy
Madness when ministers don’t know their own policies. This temporary protection even applies to those who arrive via the newly created legal routes.
Alex Norris just said on Today the temporary protection is just for those who arrive illegally. That is not his policy.
But the policy of reassessment at 30 months will apply to those on controlled, legal routes (for 10 years, not 20 years)
But the policy of reassessment at 30 months will apply to those on controlled, legal routes (for 10 years, not 20 years)
November 17, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Madness when ministers don’t know their own policies. This temporary protection even applies to those who arrive via the newly created legal routes.
Enjoyable podcast by my colleagues Richard Johnson, Lee Evans and Tom Chidwick on Dick Taverne, who recently died at 97.
Deselected as Lincoln's Labour MP in 1972 for the unforgivable crime of pro-Europeanism, he won a by election as an independent: very rare then!
open.spotify.com/episode/662g...
Deselected as Lincoln's Labour MP in 1972 for the unforgivable crime of pro-Europeanism, he won a by election as an independent: very rare then!
open.spotify.com/episode/662g...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Enjoyable podcast by my colleagues Richard Johnson, Lee Evans and Tom Chidwick on Dick Taverne, who recently died at 97.
Deselected as Lincoln's Labour MP in 1972 for the unforgivable crime of pro-Europeanism, he won a by election as an independent: very rare then!
open.spotify.com/episode/662g...
Deselected as Lincoln's Labour MP in 1972 for the unforgivable crime of pro-Europeanism, he won a by election as an independent: very rare then!
open.spotify.com/episode/662g...
Reposted by Colm Murphy
As Patrick Diamond and I wrote a few days ago for @renewaljournal.bsky.social.....
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
November 14, 2025 at 12:22 PM
As Patrick Diamond and I wrote a few days ago for @renewaljournal.bsky.social.....
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Reposted by Colm Murphy
Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...
November 14, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Is AI making job recruitment less meritocratic? We're getting some v interesting research studies on this question now, and the news is... not good. @jburnmurdoch.ft.com & I dive in, in the latest edition of our newsletter The AI Shift www.ft.com/content/e5b7...