Luke Cooper
@lukecooper100.bsky.social
Associate Professorial Research Fellow in International Relations (IR) at LSE IDEAS running PeaceRep's Ukraine programme. Book: Authoritarian Contagion, co-host Another Europe pod.
https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/people/Luke-Cooper
https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/people/Luke-Cooper
Reposted by Luke Cooper
The problem for Polanski’s argument here is that at the present time no one would join an alternative alliance. So as a geopolitical strategy it doesn’t make sense (at the present time) and as a political position in uk politics it may create a ceiling for GP support.
bsky.app/profile/luke...
bsky.app/profile/luke...
I stand corrected as Polanski does tell BBC this morning that he favours "an alternative alliance". I find this a bit puzzling from his own perspective. Why depart from the existing GP position when it's clearly not one of his policy priorities and is very unpopular? www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg - Budget Lookahead
Laura Kuenssberg talks to transport secretary Heidi Alexander, Green Party leader Zack Polanski and shadow chancellor Mel Stride. Jeremy Hunt, Sharon Graham and Andy Haldane are on the panel.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 12:14 PM
The problem for Polanski’s argument here is that at the present time no one would join an alternative alliance. So as a geopolitical strategy it doesn’t make sense (at the present time) and as a political position in uk politics it may create a ceiling for GP support.
bsky.app/profile/luke...
bsky.app/profile/luke...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
So, on the current poll, Farage would have a very comfortable overall majority, with no effective checks on his powers, on less than a third of the vote. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social members who still think 1st Past the Post keeps the extremists out need to re-examine the facts @labour4pr.bsky.social
Nowcast Update - Green's vote share surpasses Lib Dems, as Labour hits new low.
RFM: 350 (+345), 30.2% (50 Maj.)
LAB: 87 (-324), 18.8%
LDM: 75 (+3), 13.0%
SNP: 44 (+35), 2.7%
CON: 38 (-83), 17.6%
GRN: 23 (+19), 13.5%
PLC: 7 (+3), 1.1%
Oth: 7 (+2), 3.1%
electionmaps.uk/nowcast
RFM: 350 (+345), 30.2% (50 Maj.)
LAB: 87 (-324), 18.8%
LDM: 75 (+3), 13.0%
SNP: 44 (+35), 2.7%
CON: 38 (-83), 17.6%
GRN: 23 (+19), 13.5%
PLC: 7 (+3), 1.1%
Oth: 7 (+2), 3.1%
electionmaps.uk/nowcast
November 23, 2025 at 11:35 AM
So, on the current poll, Farage would have a very comfortable overall majority, with no effective checks on his powers, on less than a third of the vote. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social members who still think 1st Past the Post keeps the extremists out need to re-examine the facts @labour4pr.bsky.social
Reposted by Luke Cooper
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.
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 9:16 AM
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.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
All the rape, torture, and murder will be brushed under the carpet, a great lesson for any future war criminals.
November 21, 2025 at 7:08 AM
All the rape, torture, and murder will be brushed under the carpet, a great lesson for any future war criminals.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
Remember last week, when Trump was suing for $1 billion over the suggestion that he would incite violence against elected representatives?
Now look at what he's been saying today:
Now look at what he's been saying today:
November 20, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Remember last week, when Trump was suing for $1 billion over the suggestion that he would incite violence against elected representatives?
Now look at what he's been saying today:
Now look at what he's been saying today:
Reposted by Luke Cooper
Shabana Mahmood is wrong - Another cowardly attack on immigrants does not hide the incompetence of the Starmer government.
Me, for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Me, for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Shabana Mahmood is wrong
Another cowardly attack on immigrants does not hide the incompetence of the Starmer government
www.newstatesman.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Shabana Mahmood is wrong - Another cowardly attack on immigrants does not hide the incompetence of the Starmer government.
Me, for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Me, for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
🆘 Don't let the Government abolish refugee status. Take action now! 🆘
www.anothereurope.org/petition-don...
www.anothereurope.org/petition-don...
November 17, 2025 at 5:56 PM
🆘 Don't let the Government abolish refugee status. Take action now! 🆘
www.anothereurope.org/petition-don...
www.anothereurope.org/petition-don...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
The government should be ashamed that its migration policies are being cheered on by Tommy Robinson and Reform.
Instead of standing up to anti-migrant hate, this is laying the foundations for the far-right.
I questioned the Home Secretary on how she can be proposing such obviously cruel policies.
Instead of standing up to anti-migrant hate, this is laying the foundations for the far-right.
I questioned the Home Secretary on how she can be proposing such obviously cruel policies.
November 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The government should be ashamed that its migration policies are being cheered on by Tommy Robinson and Reform.
Instead of standing up to anti-migrant hate, this is laying the foundations for the far-right.
I questioned the Home Secretary on how she can be proposing such obviously cruel policies.
Instead of standing up to anti-migrant hate, this is laying the foundations for the far-right.
I questioned the Home Secretary on how she can be proposing such obviously cruel policies.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
Six weeks since the PM said Britain faced a choice between decency or division and our bad, obviously, for not understanding that he was in fact Team Division
November 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Six weeks since the PM said Britain faced a choice between decency or division and our bad, obviously, for not understanding that he was in fact Team Division
Reposted by Luke Cooper
2015 Shabana Mahmood really needs to have a word with 2025 Shabana Mahmood
November 16, 2025 at 8:14 PM
2015 Shabana Mahmood really needs to have a word with 2025 Shabana Mahmood
Reposted by Luke Cooper
🔴 Over 500 economists, including WIL co-director @thomaspiketty.bsky.social, call on world leaders to set up an International Panel on Inequality, as recommended by the Extraordinary Committee's report to the #G20, led by @josephestiglitz.bsky.social
🔗Letter www.equals.ink/p/sign-on-le...
🔗Letter www.equals.ink/p/sign-on-le...
November 14, 2025 at 1:53 PM
🔴 Over 500 economists, including WIL co-director @thomaspiketty.bsky.social, call on world leaders to set up an International Panel on Inequality, as recommended by the Extraordinary Committee's report to the #G20, led by @josephestiglitz.bsky.social
🔗Letter www.equals.ink/p/sign-on-le...
🔗Letter www.equals.ink/p/sign-on-le...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
#Germany - German parliament's budget committee supports hiking #Ukraine aid to 11.5 billion euros in 2026
#StandWithUkraine #RussiaAggression #RussianCrimes #Dictatorship #Surveillance #Censorship #RussianWarCrimes #PutinsWar #Muscovy #Russia
kyivindependent.com/german-aid-u...
#StandWithUkraine #RussiaAggression #RussianCrimes #Dictatorship #Surveillance #Censorship #RussianWarCrimes #PutinsWar #Muscovy #Russia
kyivindependent.com/german-aid-u...
German parliament's budget committee supports hiking Ukraine aid to 11.5 billion euros in 2026
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also announced that Berlin has agreed to allocate an additional 150 million euros ($175 million) in military aid to Kyiv under the Prioritized Ukraine Requireme...
kyivindependent.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:35 AM
#Germany - German parliament's budget committee supports hiking #Ukraine aid to 11.5 billion euros in 2026
#StandWithUkraine #RussiaAggression #RussianCrimes #Dictatorship #Surveillance #Censorship #RussianWarCrimes #PutinsWar #Muscovy #Russia
kyivindependent.com/german-aid-u...
#StandWithUkraine #RussiaAggression #RussianCrimes #Dictatorship #Surveillance #Censorship #RussianWarCrimes #PutinsWar #Muscovy #Russia
kyivindependent.com/german-aid-u...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
'In February, Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a leading research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China.' 1/3
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:44 AM
'In February, Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a leading research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China.' 1/3
Reposted by Luke Cooper
The RSF is backed by the UAE and is still committing genocide in Sudan, including through mass executions
Bellingcat has geolocated footage of a mass killing outside the recently captured Sudanese city of El Fasher. In the video, which has circulated widely online, RSF commander Abu Lulu can be seen firing his weapon at what appears to be ten unarmed men sitting on the ground. Image: @vantortech
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
The RSF is backed by the UAE and is still committing genocide in Sudan, including through mass executions
Great piece on market failure in the U.K. housing market: no one who needs a home can afford to buy one.
While the article concludes by anticipating a govt intervention on demand - stoking up housing prices - what’s really need is state intervention in housing supply.
www.ft.com/content/9080...
While the article concludes by anticipating a govt intervention on demand - stoking up housing prices - what’s really need is state intervention in housing supply.
www.ft.com/content/9080...
New homes: even if you build them, there’s no one to buy them
We’re often told housing demand exceeds supply — so why are new homes struggling to be built and bought?
www.ft.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Great piece on market failure in the U.K. housing market: no one who needs a home can afford to buy one.
While the article concludes by anticipating a govt intervention on demand - stoking up housing prices - what’s really need is state intervention in housing supply.
www.ft.com/content/9080...
While the article concludes by anticipating a govt intervention on demand - stoking up housing prices - what’s really need is state intervention in housing supply.
www.ft.com/content/9080...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
If Greens start consistently leading Labour in polls, and beating them in local elections then the logic of tactical voting which Labour has been relying on could flip savagely on them. As Caerphilly by-election shows, "Only Labour can beat Reform" doesn't work if voters know it isn't true.
Our latest Westminster voting intention (26-27 Oct) has Labour on their lowest figure ever recorded by YouGov, with the Greens on their highest
Reform UK: 27% (+1 from 19-20 Oct)
Labour: 17% (-3)
Conservatives: 17% (=)
Greens: 16% (+1)
Lib Dems: 15% (=)
SNP: 3% (-1)
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
Reform UK: 27% (+1 from 19-20 Oct)
Labour: 17% (-3)
Conservatives: 17% (=)
Greens: 16% (+1)
Lib Dems: 15% (=)
SNP: 3% (-1)
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
October 28, 2025 at 10:53 AM
If Greens start consistently leading Labour in polls, and beating them in local elections then the logic of tactical voting which Labour has been relying on could flip savagely on them. As Caerphilly by-election shows, "Only Labour can beat Reform" doesn't work if voters know it isn't true.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
god this is properly mortifying stuff from Zarah there, GCSE-level analysis, quite hard to watch
We take no joy criticising a young left-wing UK political figure who has often spoken up for workers' rights and progressive causes. But these barely coherent comments from Zarah Sultana on Ukraine sum up much of what is wrong with her wing of the left www.instagram.com/reel/DQT62ys...
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October 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM
god this is properly mortifying stuff from Zarah there, GCSE-level analysis, quite hard to watch
Reposted by Luke Cooper
That's why I have "there's too many black people in adverts" as one of the most hands-down racist klaxons there is, short of violence or Nazi iconography. There's no pretence of a policy issue there, no tapdance of "legitimate concerns". It's just pathetic melanin whinging.
Something I can't get over with the Sarah Pochin comments is that it's not just racist, it's also pathetic? Like oh wittle Sarah doesn't like the wittle adverts is it? Get a grip, you're a grown woman and member of parliament, stop being a snowflake and find a real problem to deal with
October 26, 2025 at 9:40 PM
That's why I have "there's too many black people in adverts" as one of the most hands-down racist klaxons there is, short of violence or Nazi iconography. There's no pretence of a policy issue there, no tapdance of "legitimate concerns". It's just pathetic melanin whinging.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
When someone tells you who they are...
Farage on Trump and immigration: 'what he has done is amazing'. He dismisses ICE-style raids as 'your media narrative'.
October 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
When someone tells you who they are...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
🔥We’ve REVAMPED our visual identity, designed by the brilliant Kemba Earle.
🌱 OUR NEW LOGO combines the universal symbolism of plants— associated with growth, renewal, & hope— & visual inspiration from the Bauhaus movement, pointing to the transformative power of social movements across borders. 🧵
🌱 OUR NEW LOGO combines the universal symbolism of plants— associated with growth, renewal, & hope— & visual inspiration from the Bauhaus movement, pointing to the transformative power of social movements across borders. 🧵
October 25, 2025 at 9:52 AM
🔥We’ve REVAMPED our visual identity, designed by the brilliant Kemba Earle.
🌱 OUR NEW LOGO combines the universal symbolism of plants— associated with growth, renewal, & hope— & visual inspiration from the Bauhaus movement, pointing to the transformative power of social movements across borders. 🧵
🌱 OUR NEW LOGO combines the universal symbolism of plants— associated with growth, renewal, & hope— & visual inspiration from the Bauhaus movement, pointing to the transformative power of social movements across borders. 🧵
Wow at Lucy Powell’s deputy leader acceptance speech. Does not pull her punches at all. Tells Labour to stop “out reforming Reform” and attacks “command and control” culture in the party leadership. The first phase of the Manchester Labour Party insurrection has been concluded it seems.
October 25, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Wow at Lucy Powell’s deputy leader acceptance speech. Does not pull her punches at all. Tells Labour to stop “out reforming Reform” and attacks “command and control” culture in the party leadership. The first phase of the Manchester Labour Party insurrection has been concluded it seems.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
A curious approach from people who don't like the concept of immigration
October 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
A curious approach from people who don't like the concept of immigration
Reposted by Luke Cooper
Our democracy is in crisis. 6 in 10 people are now represented by an MP they did not vote for. We have a government that won a landslide on just a third of the vote. 🧵
October 22, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Our democracy is in crisis. 6 in 10 people are now represented by an MP they did not vote for. We have a government that won a landslide on just a third of the vote. 🧵