Keir Starmer is NOT interested in communication
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in vision
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in policy
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in politics
Keir Starmer is ONLY interested in destroying alpacas
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in vision
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in policy
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in politics
Keir Starmer is ONLY interested in destroying alpacas
February 9, 2026 at 11:48 AM
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in communication
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in vision
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in policy
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in politics
Keir Starmer is ONLY interested in destroying alpacas
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in vision
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in policy
Keir Starmer is NOT interested in politics
Keir Starmer is ONLY interested in destroying alpacas
The flaw in the McSweeney/Starmer project can be summed up with "the people whose pitch to the electorate was they were serious also had no interest in policy", and when stated that bluntly it seems extraordinary it got this far
One of many things that Starmer and McSweeney have in common is neither is particularly interested in policy, and I think the lack of 'I need goodwill in order to deliver change' and the 'our planning for government goes to another school' all come from that.
What went wrong? Managing to lose goodwill and aggravate your own MPs, party members and voters is certainly an achievement of sorts
That goodwill is what you need to deliver the level of change promised seems to have been lost on McSweeney
That goodwill is what you need to deliver the level of change promised seems to have been lost on McSweeney
February 9, 2026 at 11:29 AM
The flaw in the McSweeney/Starmer project can be summed up with "the people whose pitch to the electorate was they were serious also had no interest in policy", and when stated that bluntly it seems extraordinary it got this far
Unfortunately the lesson here would appear to be "only appoint a chief of staff you went to school with"
Whether it's the job itself is structurally impossible, or just reflective of the extreme instability/volatility of British politics the average length of service of Downing Street Chief of Staff since Ed Llewellyn is both pretty bleak and sobering.
February 8, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Unfortunately the lesson here would appear to be "only appoint a chief of staff you went to school with"
In a world of depressing democratic outcomes nothing so consistently depresses me as the Japanese dutifully voting for the LDP because they just sort of feel they have to
The UK: Less than two years into office, is this the end for this Labour Government?
Japan: Okay but what if we try just ONE MORE term of Liberal Democratic Party government? Yes we know we're on our fourth decade of economic stagnation and they've been in charge 90% of that but what's the harm?
Japan: Okay but what if we try just ONE MORE term of Liberal Democratic Party government? Yes we know we're on our fourth decade of economic stagnation and they've been in charge 90% of that but what's the harm?
February 8, 2026 at 3:30 PM
In a world of depressing democratic outcomes nothing so consistently depresses me as the Japanese dutifully voting for the LDP because they just sort of feel they have to
The case for governing for the voters you have - a few discrete policies for the left-liberal 30% - is one of actually proving anyone can still *govern*. The paralysis of May, Johnson, Sunak, Starmer all start from the grasp for the election-winning 40% coalition that may now be impossible anyway.
Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
February 6, 2026 at 12:23 PM
The case for governing for the voters you have - a few discrete policies for the left-liberal 30% - is one of actually proving anyone can still *govern*. The paralysis of May, Johnson, Sunak, Starmer all start from the grasp for the election-winning 40% coalition that may now be impossible anyway.
The through-line of Starmer's problems, whether not realising Mandelson might be a bit off or not realising that he was accidentally echoing the Rivers of Blood speech, is that he just isn't very interested in politics
February 5, 2026 at 12:17 PM
The through-line of Starmer's problems, whether not realising Mandelson might be a bit off or not realising that he was accidentally echoing the Rivers of Blood speech, is that he just isn't very interested in politics
The idea that unimaginable wealth is every bit as tedious a life as the one you currently have, that there is no higher plane of experience waiting over the rainbow, must be genuinely existentially terrifying to the multitudes for whom wealth acquisition is the Dream
And that’s kind of the less important overarching theme in the Epstein files. There’s the horrible crimes but then there’s the idea that wealth, real wealth, is just a bunch of dickheads emailing like helo u like imagone dragens?
February 4, 2026 at 4:33 PM
The idea that unimaginable wealth is every bit as tedious a life as the one you currently have, that there is no higher plane of experience waiting over the rainbow, must be genuinely existentially terrifying to the multitudes for whom wealth acquisition is the Dream
Reposted by Fred Maynard
I really have become convinced by the "It's All Content" theory of American politics. Everything the Administration does is about producing content. Arresting Don Lemon may seem like transparently clumsy authoritarianism which will backfire - but think of the likes they'll get! More content! More!
January 30, 2026 at 1:48 PM
I really have become convinced by the "It's All Content" theory of American politics. Everything the Administration does is about producing content. Arresting Don Lemon may seem like transparently clumsy authoritarianism which will backfire - but think of the likes they'll get! More content! More!
I do get the feeling that Brexit for a certain generation of liberals has just become a more polite excuse for saying "things ain't what they used to be"
I fell out of love with London. Post Brexit — a proper bereavement.
in this week's newsletter! I asked myself "huh, why do I dislike Paris so much?" and I tried to have a Big Think about my weird relationship with the city: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/i-huh-went... [free to read!]
January 30, 2026 at 2:49 PM
I do get the feeling that Brexit for a certain generation of liberals has just become a more polite excuse for saying "things ain't what they used to be"
The reason I don't buy "liberals annoyed people into right-wing backlash" is that the entire world is shifting to the right and you need to be quite credulous to believe that this is a result of liberals suddenly being equally annoying everywhere all at the same time
wrote about this last year! think the reason why there's so much friction on the question of "did woke online stuff make Trump happen" is that we're not talking about one group doing one thing but lots of people advocating for lots of things simultaneously youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/the-one-wh...
January 26, 2026 at 1:12 PM
The reason I don't buy "liberals annoyed people into right-wing backlash" is that the entire world is shifting to the right and you need to be quite credulous to believe that this is a result of liberals suddenly being equally annoying everywhere all at the same time
I don't think the US Left has fully clocked that previous leftists could reject "America" because there was an alternative. With the departure of any meaningful socialist identity, they have to be pro-"American" because it literally the only flag you could plausibly get people to rally round.
yes and Americans defeated every single one of those homegrown evils. we've done it before and we can do it again.
we should appeal to the better angels of our nature, to the aspirational goals embodied in our Constitution - while memorializing the evils of our past.
we should appeal to the better angels of our nature, to the aspirational goals embodied in our Constitution - while memorializing the evils of our past.
I fear my tipping point into madness is "Thus is un-American" posts in response to ICE terrorizing immigrants. I beg you to open Wikipedia (I would say a book but let's start small) and read up on The Trail of Tears, Fugitive Slave Catchers, Japanese internment, Indian Boarding schools & Jim Crow
January 22, 2026 at 5:42 PM
I don't think the US Left has fully clocked that previous leftists could reject "America" because there was an alternative. With the departure of any meaningful socialist identity, they have to be pro-"American" because it literally the only flag you could plausibly get people to rally round.
I hate to be back on the "everything bad can be traced back to Angela Merkel" train but there is a particular pernicious influence she has had in making Boring Competence (tm) into an appealing brand to people who should know better
Two replies to this *already* saying “we don’t want charisma, we want competence”. Ah, yes, when I think about this government and its 12 U-Turns and counting, I think “competence”.
The centre-left's determination to thwart anyone with charisma is a real superpower. bsky.app/profile/jess...
January 22, 2026 at 3:43 PM
I hate to be back on the "everything bad can be traced back to Angela Merkel" train but there is a particular pernicious influence she has had in making Boring Competence (tm) into an appealing brand to people who should know better
Watching Lutnick reminds me of the moment in Paths of Glory where Kirk Douglas listens to the WWI general explain that shooting your own men is a good idea and simply replies "do you believe anything you have just said"
Q: Can I bring you back to Greenland?
LUTNICK: No. It's not necessary. The Western Hemisphere is vital for the United States of America.
OTHER PANELISTS: 😬😬😬
LUTNICK: No. It's not necessary. The Western Hemisphere is vital for the United States of America.
OTHER PANELISTS: 😬😬😬
January 20, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Watching Lutnick reminds me of the moment in Paths of Glory where Kirk Douglas listens to the WWI general explain that shooting your own men is a good idea and simply replies "do you believe anything you have just said"
Don't mess with Flemish nationalists I guess. Those guys have to be *dedicated*
There's @deweverbart.bsky.social dishing it out. Good to have this voiced very clearly.
January 20, 2026 at 1:13 PM
Don't mess with Flemish nationalists I guess. Those guys have to be *dedicated*
- a local thegn, as Heretog Sceaphierde tries to raise the alarm about events in Lindisfarne
Ah, yes “Vikings” - we have dismissed that theory. That’s a good one.
January 5, 2026 at 10:39 PM
- a local thegn, as Heretog Sceaphierde tries to raise the alarm about events in Lindisfarne
I consider myself someone who listens to podcasts but feel like I must be missing out on the real deal because I have no idea what these kinds of sketches are parodying
January 2, 2026 at 12:15 PM
I consider myself someone who listens to podcasts but feel like I must be missing out on the real deal because I have no idea what these kinds of sketches are parodying
I'm not sure the people who want authentic arms and armour in Homeric adaptations have clocked that would mean men just literally hitting each other with rocks
December 22, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I'm not sure the people who want authentic arms and armour in Homeric adaptations have clocked that would mean men just literally hitting each other with rocks
Reposted by Fred Maynard
"The weapons, armor, and tactics make no sense here; they're from a bunch of different eras!" is something people realized about the ACTUAL HOMER like a century ago. At least.
December 22, 2025 at 5:03 PM
"The weapons, armor, and tactics make no sense here; they're from a bunch of different eras!" is something people realized about the ACTUAL HOMER like a century ago. At least.
The philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point however is to fail to change it.
The philosophers were so preoccupied with whether they should that they didn't stop to think if they could.
December 4, 2025 at 3:02 PM
The philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point however is to fail to change it.
The European welfare state is more a Christian Democratic achievement than a socialist one! I beg her to read a single book!
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:18 AM
The European welfare state is more a Christian Democratic achievement than a socialist one! I beg her to read a single book!
People across the democratic world keep coming up with the "left on economics right on culture" wheeze until they all realise the same thing: those voters absolutely exist, they just hate political parties
The thing about "left on the economy, right on culture" is it's based on analysis of swing voters. Those voters are often low attention and their politics are often not especially coherent. Which is fine for them, it's not their job to run the country, but, you know, the government is
November 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
People across the democratic world keep coming up with the "left on economics right on culture" wheeze until they all realise the same thing: those voters absolutely exist, they just hate political parties
A big day for ctrl-F in commentary world today
November 26, 2025 at 12:50 PM
A big day for ctrl-F in commentary world today
Thing is, there are countries like Germany that have gone down the route of technical education and manufacturing that Blue Labour wants for us and a. they still ended up with the same progressive middle class we do and b. that economic model is doing *terribly* right now
November 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Thing is, there are countries like Germany that have gone down the route of technical education and manufacturing that Blue Labour wants for us and a. they still ended up with the same progressive middle class we do and b. that economic model is doing *terribly* right now
I have been on Twitter's "for you" feed recently and discovered that just about every post can best be responded to with this
October 26, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I have been on Twitter's "for you" feed recently and discovered that just about every post can best be responded to with this