Frederick Harry Pitts
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fhpitts.bsky.social
Frederick Harry Pitts
@fhpitts.bsky.social

Associate Professor in Political Economy & the Future of Work/Head of Department for Humanities & Social Sciences at University of Exeter in 〓〓. Co-Investigator for the ESRC Centre for Sociodigital Futures & UKRI Critical Minerals Challenge Centre. .. more

Political science 41%
Sociology 27%
Pinned
Putting Industrial Policy in its Place: Securonomics and Reindustrialisation Between Defence, Digital & Decarbonisation

New paper for @progbrit.bsky.social & @feps-europe.eu with Ed Atkins, Theo Cox, Tom Collinge & @gerardoosterwijk.bsky.social

Read here: www.progressivebritain.org/putting-indu...
Putting Industrial Policy in its Place - Progressive Britain
How are the UK and European governments using industrial policy to tackle regional inequalities, and how can they do more?
www.progressivebritain.org

The new Critical Minerals Strategy speaks to ongoing work with @progbrit.bsky.social & @feps-europe.eu on industrial policy against a backdrop of geopolitical competition for power & control over resources like critical minerals, with Cornwall a case study: www.progressivebritain.org/the-chancell...
The Chancellor sees Critical Minerals are a case study in Securonomics  - Progressive Britain
With the Chancellor visiting the soon to be re-opened South Crofty Tin mine, can Critical Minerals bring security & growth to the South West?
www.progressivebritain.org

I recently published a policy briefing looking towards the new Critical Minerals Strategy as the government's 'securonomics' agenda in action - a testbed of reindustrialisation in pursuit of both national security & environmental sustainability: criticalmineralschallengecentre.co.uk/publications...
Publications & Policy Briefs - Critical Minerals Challenge Centre
Browse our latest publications and policy briefs to explore the evidence, insights, and recommendations shaping the future of critical minerals. These downloadable resources highlight our research imp...
criticalmineralschallengecentre.co.uk

You can read more about how the new Critical Minerals Strategy chimes with the research & policy work of our Critical Minerals Challenge Centre, bringing together Camborne School of Mines with @hass-cornwall.bsky.social & more, via @uniofexeternews.bsky.social here: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...
Experts hail Cornwall as the ‘Engine Room’ of PM’s new Critical Minerals Strategy
The UK’s new Critical Minerals Strategy must make domestic extraction, refining, and recycling pillars of sovereign capability, experts have urged. The plan should define critical minerals as key to a...
news.exeter.ac.uk

Great to see our @ukri.org Critical Minerals Challenge Centre at @exeter.ac.uk mentioned in Vision 2035, the government's new Critical Minerals Strategy. As test case for securonomics in action, it has a clear focus on Cornwall's tin, tungsten & lithium. 🔗in thread below

www.gov.uk/government/p...
NEW ISSUE: Renewal Vol. 33 No. 2

Published amidst far-right mobilisation and a Reform surge, the new issue of Renewal (guest co-edited by @sachahilhorst.bsky.social) features activists, journalists, and academics analysing the radical right threat and debating how social democrats can respond
Volume 33, Issue 2
A quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the radical potential of social democracy.
renewal.org.uk
Dr Joanie Willett from @hass-cornwall.bsky.social spoke to BBC South West about tourism in Cornwall 🏖️
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Is Cornwall still a playground under pressure from over-tourism?
Fifty years after a documentary about concerns in Cornwall, some of the questions are the same.
www.bbc.co.uk
Our historical narratives are often centred on land, but what happens if we shift our perspective to oceans? How might this shape our environmental and political imaginaries? Join us at @hass-cornwall.bsky.social as we plunge into the past to navigate new futures.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqj...
Oceans - Dr Emma Kluge, Lecturer in Colonial and Environmental History
YouTube video by University of Exeter
www.youtube.com

The latest in our series of short videos about the interdisciplinary research colleagues do at @hass-cornwall.bsky.social. Watch the full series here: hass-cornwall.exeter.ac.uk/research/
Think gender is just theory or women's issues? Think again. 🌊 Study Gender Studies in Cornwall @hass-cornwall.bsky.social and explore how the personal is political and how the unspoken norms shape our lives. Watch our video: youtu.be/dZQJ-TFCNT0?...
Gender - Dr Xianan Jin, Lecturer in African and Gender Politics
YouTube video by University of Exeter
youtube.com
Falling youth turnout is an existential threat to our democracies. @hass-cornwall.bsky.social are studying how volunteering can reconnect young people from the poorest backgrounds with elections.

Find out more in our new ‘Research Shorts' series.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vgS...
Volunteering - Dr Stuart Fox, Senior Lecturer in Politics
YouTube video by University of Exeter
www.youtube.com
Next in our series of Research Shorts is Prof. Jamie Hampson on rock art.

Humans have been creating rock art for more than 70,000 years. At HaSS Cornwall we consider why, and think about how understanding art helps us understand what it means to be human.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAf0...
Rock Art - Professor Jamie Hampson, Associate Professor of Rock Art and Indigenous Heritage
YouTube video by University of Exeter
www.youtube.com
Tradition is not only about continuity – it can also be about change.

At @hass-cornwall.bsky.social historians explore how continuous ritual traditions have been interpreted in radically different ways across the centuries.

Find out more in our new Research Shorts.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj-n...
Tradition - Dr Jeremy DeWaal, Senior Lecturer in European History
YouTube video by University of Exeter
www.youtube.com

'Reindustrialisation’ is now a buzzword across the political spectrum.

At @hass-cornwall.bsky.social we are surrounded by resurgent industries rooted in place and strategically pivotal to security & sustainability.

Hear more in our new 'Research Shorts' series of videos:
youtu.be/oPIDKPX7jcc?...
Reindustrialisation - Dr Frederick Harry Pitts, Senior Lecturer in Politics
YouTube video by University of Exeter
youtu.be

My colleague Catriona Pennell @teachlearnwar.bsky.social launches our new @hass-cornwall.bsky.social short video series with a brilliant reflection on remembrance & forgetting.

Hear more about our interdisciplinary research here: hass-cornwall.exeter.ac.uk/research/

@uniofexeternews.bsky.social
History is as much about remembering as forgetting. At @hass-cornwall.bsky.social historians explore the intentional forgetting that reveal more about society's political choices than any moment of collective remembering. Find out more via our new ‘Research Shorts’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCjj...
Forgetting - Professor Catriona Pennell, Professor in Modern History and Memory Studies
YouTube video by University of Exeter
www.youtube.com
History is as much about remembering as forgetting. At @hass-cornwall.bsky.social historians explore the intentional forgetting that reveal more about society's political choices than any moment of collective remembering. Find out more via our new ‘Research Shorts’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCjj...
Forgetting - Professor Catriona Pennell, Professor in Modern History and Memory Studies
YouTube video by University of Exeter
www.youtube.com

Me for @progbrit.bsky.social on the Chancellor's visit to South Crofty in Cornwall yesterday.

The critical minerals sector symbolises some of the promise of 'securonomics', its importance recognised in both industrial policy & national security strategy.

www.progressivebritain.org/the-chancell...
The Chancellor sees Critical Minerals are a case study in Securonomics  - Progressive Britain
With the Chancellor visiting the soon to be re-opened South Crofty Tin mine, can Critical Minerals bring security & growth to the South West?
www.progressivebritain.org
Great new @ippr.org report from @sachahilhorst.bsky.social, making very clear the link between the decline of community spaces and the rise of the radical right. Sacha reimagines the 20th century miners' welfare fund as a model for reviving social infrastructure:
www.ippr.org/articles/pla...
Places to come together: Rebuilding local solidarities against the far right | IPPR
In late July 2024, the seaside town of Southport in Merseyside burst into the national consciousness when it suffered two different, violent events in succ
www.ippr.org

Excited to continue exploring these themes through the new Critical Minerals Challenge Centre at @exeter.ac.uk

We explore how Cornwall's tin, lithium & tungsten reserves contribute to security and sustainability, as well as good jobs and local growth: criticalmineralschallengecentre.co.uk
Critical Minerals Challenge Centre
The Critical Minerals Challenge Centre is a University of Exeter initiative focused on advancing the responsible production of critical minerals.
criticalmineralschallengecentre.co.uk

I later wrote about lithium and the themes of Reeves's 2024 Mais Lecture: renewal.org.uk/blog/securon...

The pieces draw upon ongoing work with @progbrit.bsky.social and @feps-europe.eu on securonomics and the politics of place-based industrial policy: www.progressivebritain.org/putting-indu...
Putting Industrial Policy in its Place - Progressive Britain
How are the UK and European governments using industrial policy to tackle regional inequalities, and how can they do more?
www.progressivebritain.org

The Chancellor is visiting the epicentre of the Cornish mining revival, South Crofty: theguardian.com/business/202...

Great to see tin understood as a test case for Reeves's 'securonomics', as I suggested in a piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social a few years ago: renewal.org.uk/blog/bringin...
Bringing ‘securonomics’ down to earth
Attempt to engage someone in conversation about ‘securonomics’, the portmanteau term for Labour’s new vision of political economy, and at first they might mishear you. A sceptical friend thought I was...
renewal.org.uk
UnHerd @unherd.com · Jul 23
‘Perhaps a rebooted version of Corbynism has the opportunity to prosper in ways it could not before.’ | Matthew Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts

unherd.com/2025/07/is-c...
Is Corbynism 2.0 coming for Labour?
Could Gaza replace Jezza as a radical talisman? Mark Kerrison / In Pictures via Getty Images
unherd.com
Enjoyed this excellent essay from @philtinline.bsky.social - I think it's notable that beyond all the guff from Blue Labour, there are a whole range of organisations from ICON to the Co-operative party quietly getting on with the hard graft of communitarian politics
Tough on populism, tough on the causes of populism
How Labour’s buried communitarian history can restore Britain’s lost social trust.
www.newstatesman.com

On the right side of a wrong history? Matt Bolton and I were asked to revisit the themes of our 2018 book Corbynism: A Critical Approach for @unherd.com, and reflect on the challenges for Labour from a new party of the left: unherd.com/2025/07/is-c...
Starmer and Rayner have sounded the alarm over a social fabric that is 'fraying at the edges' and concern this translates into disorder. Rayner's analysis and prescription isn't new but is, for the most part, right. The briefing is putting a lot in faith in the Plan for Neighbourhoods as a response.
If you missed the launch of our Good Work Monitor on Tuesday, you can watch the webinar - featuring @teraallas.bsky.social and @fhpitts.bsky.social - here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddTk...
Good Work Monitor 2025 - Launch Webinar with Anna Thomas MBE, Tera Allas CBE and Dr Harry Pitts
YouTube video by Institute for the Future of Work
www.youtube.com
Join us at midday today for our launch webinar with IFOW Founding Director, Anna Thomas MBE in conversation with Prof @teraallas.bsky.social CBE and Dr @fhpitts.bsky.social about the power of this dataset for understanding how to better 'Get Britain Working': www.ifow.org/event/gettin...
www.ifow.org
Reminder that tomorrow we're launching our Good Work Monitor - a unique tool that tracks trends in productivity and 6 dimensions of good work across all 203 LAs in England, Scotland and Wales. Midday webinar with @fhpitts.bsky.social and @teraallas.bsky.social: www.eventbrite.com/e/getting-br...
Getting Britain Working? Launching our Good Work Monitor 2025
Our expert panel discuss how IFOW's Good Work Monitor offers a unique lens through which to examine the new Industrial Strategy
www.eventbrite.com
On Tuesday we're launching our Good Work Monitor - a unique tool that tracks productivity and six dimensions of good work across all 203 local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland. Join us for a launch webinar, with @teraallas.bsky.social and @fhpitts.bsky.social
www.ifow.org/event/gettin...
Getting Britain Working? Launching our Good Work Monitor 2025 - IFOW
Our expert panel discuss how IFOW's Good Work Monitor offers a unique lens through which to examine the new Industrial Strategy
www.ifow.org