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Bijan Parsia @bparsia.bsky.social · 5h

It is grim.

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

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Gluten-free Seitan @davidjorgonson.bsky.social · 5h

Grim results
(ranking UK pols on opposition or accomodation to fascism)

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 3h

update/ correction people have shown me some zarah sultana statements calling the protests fascists, that'll upgrade her a bit

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

obviously this is limited, doesn't cover everything, etc

& to address a criticism, yeah, i'm just looking at what people say - are they even *describing* the problem?

that's not everything, but it's not nothing either - &, as you've seen, a low bar most aren't clearing

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

share if you thought that was valuable/ interesting

bsky.app/profile/polp...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

here's the US version for contrast

bsky.app/profile/polp...

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

i made a model to assign scores for how robustly US politicians oppose fascism & graded 13 leading dems

criteria & method QTed, individual results in 🧵 below:

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

but, more than that, they'll be *no one* stopping the slide, our centre left just don't get it, like really profoundly don't get it

the US dems came a long way in the last decade

the british left will have to come much further, in much less time

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

the UK isn't as far down the road of institutional collapse as the US, but i'm increasingly thinking we should be *even more* afraid here

for one thing, we don't have the same institutional constraints, checks & balances, once we start they'll be nothing stopping the slide

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 4h

initial thoughts: that was grim, i knew it would be grim & i was still a bit shocked by the grimness

my methodological constraint of 'award points in the same way you would to a US dem was devastating

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i didn't mean that to end up as an advert for the greens (& obviously the model doesn't address issues such as tactical voting, vote distribution, etc)

but just being fair & applying the criteria evenly, he scores much higher than the others - or, to put it in perspective, he's an average US dem

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

10. lets end with our one passing grade

the green party leader has called trump a fascist, drawn clear values distinctions, & is pro trans rights

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

9. swinney gets points for drawing a clear values contrast on immigration & speaking more aggressively against reform

he needs to directly name global fascism to move up, he also went along with the bathroom ban, despite the snp being one of the better parties on this historically

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

8. a bit higher than corbyn, but same story - neither actually has been great on talking about global fascism

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

7. bit surprised here,

but then corbyn is aggressive on economic stuff, he's much less good at drawing a values contrast on immigration, he got a couple of points for being nominally pro-trans, but hasn't actively opposed the bathroom ban

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

6. moving to the lib dems ed davey actually gets out of the nosebleeds

more willing to draw a values contrast, more coalitional, but not as direct as the model wants to see & went along with the bathroom ban

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

5. i warned you this would be a bit grim . . . there's a temptation to grade on a curve

again, the average US dem, judged on similar criteria on the same scale is like a C+ (& some get A's & Bs)

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

4. the manchester mayor is often talked about as a more progressive alternative to starmer, just mesured on anti-fascism tho . . .

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

3. the former labour leader got some praise on here for linking the racist london march with the international far-right, the model gives him points for that - he's the highest scoring labour pol

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

2. leader of the opposition has the lowest score of the group

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

1. lets start with the PM

doesn't clearly name either domestic or global fascism, doesn't link the two, or draw a values contrast, anti-trans rights,

- holding him to the standard of an average US dem its hard to award many points

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 5h

i made a UK version of my model & applied to it to 10 politicians, aiming for consistency in grading with the US one

method QTed, results below

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 25d

the UK's new anti-trans rules are indefensible & will make global fascism stronger

my latest with @liberalcurrents.com

www.liberalcurrents.com/britains-bat...

Britain’s Bathroom Ban

The UK has gone from a bathroom ban being unthinkable to a Labour government implementing one without a vote

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Emmasrandomthoughts 🇨🇦🇲🇽🇵🇦🇬🇱🇺🇦🇵🇸 @countessemilia.bsky.social · 46m

Tobias: People always post WWII bait on Bluesky because 80% of people on the site are WWII needs.

Lindsay: Did it work out for them?

Tobias: No, people always delude themselves into thinking it will work for them...but it MIGHT work for us.

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Dalassa @dalassa.bsky.social · 21h

Read theory

Dalassa @dalassa.bsky.social · Sep 4

Read theory

Cover of A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millet.

The book is as far as I know still the English language standard for military history of WW2.

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Stankvicious @stankvicious.bsky.social · 21h

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power." Pres Roosevelt

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