David Wearing
@davidwearing.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex (own views, obviously).
Interested in British (and Western) foreign relations in the Middle East and elsewhere, and how they're shaped by legacies of colonialism.
Interested in British (and Western) foreign relations in the Middle East and elsewhere, and how they're shaped by legacies of colonialism.
Honestly, I think some centre-left criticisms of Green policy are fair. But if Labour keeps alienating its natural supporters the Greens will become more viable, more progressive policy experts could start gravitating towards them, and their policy offer could gradually become more compelling.
tbh Polanski seems to have avoided most of the big MMT heffalump traps (allowing that "inflation doesn't go higher" was a misspeak), I'm relatively impressed at whoever's advising him.
November 25, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Honestly, I think some centre-left criticisms of Green policy are fair. But if Labour keeps alienating its natural supporters the Greens will become more viable, more progressive policy experts could start gravitating towards them, and their policy offer could gradually become more compelling.
I guess the dwindling band of Starmer-loyalists will soon be defecting to the Greens, and lecturing those remaining in the Labour fold about the dangers of splitting the anti-Reform vote?
Or they could just acknowledge that what's really splitting that vote is the behaviour of Starmer's government
Or they could just acknowledge that what's really splitting that vote is the behaviour of Starmer's government
📊 NEW | Reform lead by 6pts
‼️ Greens tied with Labour
➡️ REF – 26% (-2)
🔵 CON – 20% (+2)
🟢 GRN – 18% (+1)
🔴 LAB – 18% (-)
🟠 LD – 11% (-)
Via @LordAPolls, 13-17 Nov (+/- vs 20 Oct)
‼️ Greens tied with Labour
➡️ REF – 26% (-2)
🔵 CON – 20% (+2)
🟢 GRN – 18% (+1)
🔴 LAB – 18% (-)
🟠 LD – 11% (-)
Via @LordAPolls, 13-17 Nov (+/- vs 20 Oct)
November 25, 2025 at 10:23 AM
I guess the dwindling band of Starmer-loyalists will soon be defecting to the Greens, and lecturing those remaining in the Labour fold about the dangers of splitting the anti-Reform vote?
Or they could just acknowledge that what's really splitting that vote is the behaviour of Starmer's government
Or they could just acknowledge that what's really splitting that vote is the behaviour of Starmer's government
Reposted by David Wearing
Yeah the pre-emptive nihilism people display is *very obviously* a self-fulfilling prophesy and extremely in fact part of shifting our cultural norms in exactly the direction Farage et al would prefer. Care, care simply because it matters, and it matters to you. Say as much publicly.
All the supposedly progressive people saying 'Nigel Farage's racism doesn't matter. His fans love it'.
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
November 25, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Yeah the pre-emptive nihilism people display is *very obviously* a self-fulfilling prophesy and extremely in fact part of shifting our cultural norms in exactly the direction Farage et al would prefer. Care, care simply because it matters, and it matters to you. Say as much publicly.
Reposted by David Wearing
This is excellent. And if I might just add to the testimony, I went to a suburban grammar school not far from Dulwich College and the stories we're now hearing about Farage don't surprise me for a moment. This virulent racism is entirely familiar. It sits deep in the bones of conservative Britain.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - my new article, if of interest please share.
I endured an English public school. But that’s not the only reason I’m unsurprised about the Farage allegations |
Let’s put aside the schooldays accusations and look, instead, at the Reform leader’s path since then. I think a pretty clear picture of the man emerges, says author and podcaster Musa Okwonga
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:33 AM
This is excellent. And if I might just add to the testimony, I went to a suburban grammar school not far from Dulwich College and the stories we're now hearing about Farage don't surprise me for a moment. This virulent racism is entirely familiar. It sits deep in the bones of conservative Britain.
Reposted by David Wearing
On Shabana Mahmood's contemptible attempt to mobilise her identity in support of her sadistic immigration policies, this from Nesrine Malik is exactly what needed saying.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Shabana Mahmood is an avatar of open Britain – that’s what makes her fable about immigration so seductive | Nesrine Malik
‘She is the daughter of immigrants,’ supporters of her cruel asylum policies say. ‘How can she be wrong?’ Let me put them straight, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:13 AM
On Shabana Mahmood's contemptible attempt to mobilise her identity in support of her sadistic immigration policies, this from Nesrine Malik is exactly what needed saying.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by David Wearing
I’m usually giving counsel of despair so let me offer a hopeful note now: all this is the desperate thrashing of a dying generation, horrified to see up close the consequences of raising their children to believe violence and racism are wrong, and that people should treat each other decently.
This one really is useful because you won’t see a more clear demonstration of one of the most damaging political phenomena of the era: the reactionary professional mind rejecting unacceptable reality, only able to process and comprehend it via something close to conspiracy theory.
Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz says Jewish students shouldn’t have smartphones until they finish high school — so they don’t see the “carnage” Israel and the U.S. have carried out in Gaza.
Video: Mel via X (@Villgecrazylady)
Video: Mel via X (@Villgecrazylady)
November 24, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I’m usually giving counsel of despair so let me offer a hopeful note now: all this is the desperate thrashing of a dying generation, horrified to see up close the consequences of raising their children to believe violence and racism are wrong, and that people should treat each other decently.
Reposted by David Wearing
This is excellent. And if I might just add to the testimony, I went to a suburban grammar school not far from Dulwich College and the stories we're now hearing about Farage don't surprise me for a moment. This virulent racism is entirely familiar. It sits deep in the bones of conservative Britain.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - my new article, if of interest please share.
I endured an English public school. But that’s not the only reason I’m unsurprised about the Farage allegations |
Let’s put aside the schooldays accusations and look, instead, at the Reform leader’s path since then. I think a pretty clear picture of the man emerges, says author and podcaster Musa Okwonga
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:33 AM
This is excellent. And if I might just add to the testimony, I went to a suburban grammar school not far from Dulwich College and the stories we're now hearing about Farage don't surprise me for a moment. This virulent racism is entirely familiar. It sits deep in the bones of conservative Britain.
On Shabana Mahmood's contemptible attempt to mobilise her identity in support of her sadistic immigration policies, this from Nesrine Malik is exactly what needed saying.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Shabana Mahmood is an avatar of open Britain – that’s what makes her fable about immigration so seductive | Nesrine Malik
‘She is the daughter of immigrants,’ supporters of her cruel asylum policies say. ‘How can she be wrong?’ Let me put them straight, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:13 AM
On Shabana Mahmood's contemptible attempt to mobilise her identity in support of her sadistic immigration policies, this from Nesrine Malik is exactly what needed saying.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by David Wearing
Anyone trying to shut down criticism of Labour by saying "Reform would be worse" is, at this point, merely helping Labour smooth Reform's path. Anyone who actually wants to stop Reform will recognise that the path to that goes through stopping this iteration of the Labour Party
November 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Anyone trying to shut down criticism of Labour by saying "Reform would be worse" is, at this point, merely helping Labour smooth Reform's path. Anyone who actually wants to stop Reform will recognise that the path to that goes through stopping this iteration of the Labour Party
Reposted by David Wearing
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
While it feels like I'm repeatedly slamming my head against a brick wall repeating this massively simple concept. Saying "Reform would be worse" doesn't make what Labour is doing better. Labour is now the most anti-immigration, anti-any marginalised group, government we have seen in decades. 1/
Very long thread: As with many of Labour's anti-immigration policies, this isn't new. British police have been stationed in other countries for this purpose for a long time
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
November 22, 2025 at 10:03 AM
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
The conundrum - as Ukraine and Gaza amply demonstrate - is that both Russia and the US-led West pose grave threats to international security. There are no easy answers to this, but we can at least give credit to people willing to acknowledge and grapple in good faith with the actual problem.
I’m not in the Green Party but as someone who supports information quality I’m disconcerted by the campaign to present them as pro leaving NATO. When I’ve heard Polanski talk about this he makes the (obvs true) point that a Trump White House calls the explicitly US led alliance into question.
November 23, 2025 at 9:24 AM
The conundrum - as Ukraine and Gaza amply demonstrate - is that both Russia and the US-led West pose grave threats to international security. There are no easy answers to this, but we can at least give credit to people willing to acknowledge and grapple in good faith with the actual problem.
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
While it feels like I'm repeatedly slamming my head against a brick wall repeating this massively simple concept. Saying "Reform would be worse" doesn't make what Labour is doing better. Labour is now the most anti-immigration, anti-any marginalised group, government we have seen in decades. 1/
Very long thread: As with many of Labour's anti-immigration policies, this isn't new. British police have been stationed in other countries for this purpose for a long time
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
November 22, 2025 at 10:03 AM
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
As Maya Goodfellow shows in "Hostile Environment", this is a recurring theme in the political discourse on immigration. Racism is framed as a regrettable but natural response to a number of migrants arbitrarily deemed to be excessive, rather than a socially constructed and contestible subjectivity.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood made more explicit her argument that when ethnic minorities face racism, "we have no choice but to ask: what is the cause of our division"
Her answer is the level of net migration, 2019-23 causes racism. (She on Monday said it was caused by the scale of asylum)
Her answer is the level of net migration, 2019-23 causes racism. (She on Monday said it was caused by the scale of asylum)
November 21, 2025 at 5:41 PM
As Maya Goodfellow shows in "Hostile Environment", this is a recurring theme in the political discourse on immigration. Racism is framed as a regrettable but natural response to a number of migrants arbitrarily deemed to be excessive, rather than a socially constructed and contestible subjectivity.
It's a real and serious problem that the standard of political commentary in this country is so poor. Democratic societies can't function without a reliable flow of information, and credible analysis of that information, to the general public. We don't have either, and that has consequences.
One from the archives:
In 2023 Ayesha Hazarika said it was ridiculous the Cheltenham Racing Festival took place in March 2020
But at the very time Cheltenham was taking place in March 2020 Hazarika sneered at those who were demanding more scrutiny of the decisions the govt was taking on Covid
In 2023 Ayesha Hazarika said it was ridiculous the Cheltenham Racing Festival took place in March 2020
But at the very time Cheltenham was taking place in March 2020 Hazarika sneered at those who were demanding more scrutiny of the decisions the govt was taking on Covid
November 21, 2025 at 7:52 AM
It's a real and serious problem that the standard of political commentary in this country is so poor. Democratic societies can't function without a reliable flow of information, and credible analysis of that information, to the general public. We don't have either, and that has consequences.
This will de facto break down along racialised lines as much as class lines. And let's not pretend that isn't largely the point, whatever ministers tell the country, and indeed themselves.
Shabana Mahmood's Indefinite Leave To Remain Culture War
3 years - if you're earning £125k+
15 years - if you're e.g. a nurse, or a teacher
Labour's two tier system which rewards high earners and insults those who work just as hard but don't earn as much - really sad to see Labour fall
3 years - if you're earning £125k+
15 years - if you're e.g. a nurse, or a teacher
Labour's two tier system which rewards high earners and insults those who work just as hard but don't earn as much - really sad to see Labour fall
November 21, 2025 at 7:16 AM
This will de facto break down along racialised lines as much as class lines. And let's not pretend that isn't largely the point, whatever ministers tell the country, and indeed themselves.
I Wanna Be Adored (Remastered 2009)
YouTube video by The Stone Roses - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I would put it like this. Minority communities and the majority of the majority community have integrated v.well. However, a significant minority of the majority community and a significant majority of the political class are stubbornly refusing to integrate, and that is where the real problem lies.
Fundamentally, the UK is a massive success story on integration and most of the anxiety around it from the right should be treated as in insincere concern trolling it actually is.
Remember integration? That thing voters "really, really" care about? Where's that in the latest plans?
My column:
My column:
November 20, 2025 at 9:23 AM
I would put it like this. Minority communities and the majority of the majority community have integrated v.well. However, a significant minority of the majority community and a significant majority of the political class are stubbornly refusing to integrate, and that is where the real problem lies.
Reposted by David Wearing
the gulf between the swift brutality with which places like harvard treated students protesting genocide and the endless, endless latitude those same institutions have given people like larry summers tells you everything you need to know
November 20, 2025 at 1:36 AM
the gulf between the swift brutality with which places like harvard treated students protesting genocide and the endless, endless latitude those same institutions have given people like larry summers tells you everything you need to know
For 20+ years I've got my info on Israel-Palestine from academic literature and leading independent civil society orgs. And I can tell you, its not the young pro-Palestine activists who've been radicalised into a dark place by virtue of inhabiting an information bubble. Its the political class.
Sharing the video of this because it’s such a ghoulish thing to say that I’m honestly in disbelief that I even heard her properly
November 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
For 20+ years I've got my info on Israel-Palestine from academic literature and leading independent civil society orgs. And I can tell you, its not the young pro-Palestine activists who've been radicalised into a dark place by virtue of inhabiting an information bubble. Its the political class.
What this underlines for me: we cannot frame "identity" in opposition to "the material" in politics when identity defines who belongs, and therefore who can engage in collective struggle for common material gains.
I spoke to Mahmood Mamdani about his new book, his expulsion from Uganda, his son Zohran, and *that* NYT article.
Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’
After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
What this underlines for me: we cannot frame "identity" in opposition to "the material" in politics when identity defines who belongs, and therefore who can engage in collective struggle for common material gains.
Do the people of Newham, Brent, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Croydon etc get to have "Legitimate Concerns"? Or is that a privilege reserved just for the people who hate us?
The multi-ethnic, socially liberal working and middle classes of London are as much Labour's "traditional voters" as anyone else. Perhaps we can now start talking about how its immigration policies have betrayed them and what the political consequences might be.
I've been out canvassing quite a lot in London lately. Labour's vote has absolutely evaporated.... it is quite extraordinary to go to places where Labour were on 50-60% of the vote at the last locals and find nobody, or virtually nobody, supporting them.
The phrase 'I voted Labour last time, but...
The phrase 'I voted Labour last time, but...
November 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Do the people of Newham, Brent, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Croydon etc get to have "Legitimate Concerns"? Or is that a privilege reserved just for the people who hate us?
The multi-ethnic, socially liberal working and middle classes of London are as much Labour's "traditional voters" as anyone else. Perhaps we can now start talking about how its immigration policies have betrayed them and what the political consequences might be.
I've been out canvassing quite a lot in London lately. Labour's vote has absolutely evaporated.... it is quite extraordinary to go to places where Labour were on 50-60% of the vote at the last locals and find nobody, or virtually nobody, supporting them.
The phrase 'I voted Labour last time, but...
The phrase 'I voted Labour last time, but...
November 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The multi-ethnic, socially liberal working and middle classes of London are as much Labour's "traditional voters" as anyone else. Perhaps we can now start talking about how its immigration policies have betrayed them and what the political consequences might be.
Reposted by David Wearing
BBC News: "the government believe refugees are deliberately bringing their children to avoid deportation"
As opposed to doing what with their children??
As opposed to doing what with their children??
November 17, 2025 at 10:11 PM
BBC News: "the government believe refugees are deliberately bringing their children to avoid deportation"
As opposed to doing what with their children??
As opposed to doing what with their children??
Worsens integration in both directions. Makes it impossible for newcomers to settle and build a proper life. And encourages everyone else to see and treat them as interlopers.
The basic problem with the temporary refugee status policy - especially one lasting up to 20 years - is it leads to very few removals (based on Denmark's experience) but does significantly worsen integration.
November 18, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Worsens integration in both directions. Makes it impossible for newcomers to settle and build a proper life. And encourages everyone else to see and treat them as interlopers.