Phil Burton-Cartledge
@philbc3.bsky.social
Does political sociology @DerbyUni | Blogger | Author: 'The Party's Over: The Rise and Fall of the Conservatives from Thatcher to Sunak' | Bylines @Tribune & @Jacobin | Bits of SF too | Writes things: http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.co.uk
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
This is tediously familiar, from PIPs & "injecting competition" to "risk-taking". Even the nod to agile teams is stale. What I think it highlights is that this govt has no theory of the state, beyond "jobs for me and my mates and contracts for our donors".
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Starmer’s chief secretary reveals plans to bust ‘the sludge’ in Whitehall
Under-performing civil servants will be sacked and taskforces brought in to solve problems, says Darren Jones
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2026 at 6:19 PM
This is tediously familiar, from PIPs & "injecting competition" to "risk-taking". Even the nod to agile teams is stale. What I think it highlights is that this govt has no theory of the state, beyond "jobs for me and my mates and contracts for our donors".
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Oh well nevertheless
AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns
AI boom could falter without wider adoption, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella warns
Big tech boss tells delegates at Davos that broader global use is essential if technology is to deliver lasting growth
www.irishtimes.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Oh well nevertheless
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
Starmer is wrong to opt for suppliance on the basis that the UK has no leverage over the US. British holdings of Treasuries have ballooned and surpassed China's. European holdings overall are major.
January 20, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Starmer is wrong to opt for suppliance on the basis that the UK has no leverage over the US. British holdings of Treasuries have ballooned and surpassed China's. European holdings overall are major.
"Starmer is right that this should be "moment for the whole country to pull together". But not one where we, collectively, raise the white flag ..."
Grown Up Politics
Is this what adulting looks like? After straying outside of his comfort zone at the weekend for saying "no" to the United States, Keir Star...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:59 AM
"Starmer is right that this should be "moment for the whole country to pull together". But not one where we, collectively, raise the white flag ..."
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
If I was a young right wing man I would be all in on Nick Fuentes because of this shit. This is stuff that will absolutely create a backlash by being so unbearably cringe. It's Rick Wakeman doing Camelot on Ice while the Sex Pistols are playing the Lesser Free Trade Hall.
January 20, 2026 at 10:39 AM
If I was a young right wing man I would be all in on Nick Fuentes because of this shit. This is stuff that will absolutely create a backlash by being so unbearably cringe. It's Rick Wakeman doing Camelot on Ice while the Sex Pistols are playing the Lesser Free Trade Hall.
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
28th January: Join our first Conversations Series of the year on Weds 28th Jan at 1pm: Where Are We Now? to reflect on 2025 and where hope might lie.
🎙️ Speakers: Kirsteen Paton, Aaron Winter, Gholam Khiabany and Yasmin Gunaratnam
📅 Online 1-2pm
➡️ Get tickets: buff.ly/BkNjqjx
🎙️ Speakers: Kirsteen Paton, Aaron Winter, Gholam Khiabany and Yasmin Gunaratnam
📅 Online 1-2pm
➡️ Get tickets: buff.ly/BkNjqjx
January 20, 2026 at 10:37 AM
28th January: Join our first Conversations Series of the year on Weds 28th Jan at 1pm: Where Are We Now? to reflect on 2025 and where hope might lie.
🎙️ Speakers: Kirsteen Paton, Aaron Winter, Gholam Khiabany and Yasmin Gunaratnam
📅 Online 1-2pm
➡️ Get tickets: buff.ly/BkNjqjx
🎙️ Speakers: Kirsteen Paton, Aaron Winter, Gholam Khiabany and Yasmin Gunaratnam
📅 Online 1-2pm
➡️ Get tickets: buff.ly/BkNjqjx
Actually, hardball is the only language that Trump understands. Starmer's sensible adulting has only invited more contempt and more bullying.
(Side point but Im genuinely amazed the Greens, who have been very good strategically recently, have decided to make now the point to do a big intervention of defense... and that this has been their choice.
Talk about exposing your stern to be raked)
Talk about exposing your stern to be raked)
EXC: Zack Polanski tells us Britain should consider closing US military bases, leave Nato and denuclearise, as he begins to flesh out the Greens’ foreign policy.
Also spells out to @pippacrerar.bsky.social and me his red lines in any coalition talks to come.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Also spells out to @pippacrerar.bsky.social and me his red lines in any coalition talks to come.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
January 20, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Actually, hardball is the only language that Trump understands. Starmer's sensible adulting has only invited more contempt and more bullying.
She's just sacked a police chief for believing in the power of AI.
Shabana Mahmood here, and the vibes are not getting better.
January 20, 2026 at 9:31 AM
She's just sacked a police chief for believing in the power of AI.
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
📢 NEW EPISODE 📢 - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts). We also talked about the entwinement of the tech industry with ICE and the surveillance state:
ICE, resistance, and 'capitalism without humans' w/ Sarah Jaffe
Podcast Episode · Politics Theory Other · 01/20/2026 · 59m
podcasts.apple.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:32 AM
📢 NEW EPISODE 📢 - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts). We also talked about the entwinement of the tech industry with ICE and the surveillance state:
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
ah well at least we restructured the entire contemporary university, the product of many centuries of slowly accumulating human ingenuity, to boost this
“One notable MIT study found that 95 percent of companies that integrated AI saw zero meaningful growth in revenue. For coding tasks, one of AI’s most widely hyped applications, another study showed that programmers who used AI coding tools actually became slower at their jobs.”
AI Completely Failing to Boost Productivity, Says Top Analyst
AI may or may not excel at a lot of things, but from an economic standpoint, it's definitely not making us more productive.
futurism.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:24 AM
ah well at least we restructured the entire contemporary university, the product of many centuries of slowly accumulating human ingenuity, to boost this
What a shocker. Starmer's failure to stand up to Trump invites more contempt. Who could possibly have guessed that this was the wrong tack to take.
January 20, 2026 at 9:07 AM
What a shocker. Starmer's failure to stand up to Trump invites more contempt. Who could possibly have guessed that this was the wrong tack to take.
"Starmer is right that this should be "moment for the whole country to pull together". But not one where we, collectively, raise the white flag ..."
Grown Up Politics
Is this what adulting looks like? After straying outside of his comfort zone at the weekend for saying "no" to the United States, Keir Star...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
January 20, 2026 at 9:04 AM
"Starmer is right that this should be "moment for the whole country to pull together". But not one where we, collectively, raise the white flag ..."
"Starmer is right that this should be "moment for the whole country to pull together". But not one where we, collectively, raise the white flag ..."
Grown Up Politics
Is this what adulting looks like? After straying outside of his comfort zone at the weekend for saying "no" to the United States, Keir Star...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
January 19, 2026 at 9:48 PM
"Starmer is right that this should be "moment for the whole country to pull together". But not one where we, collectively, raise the white flag ..."
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
To start, I just read this translated interview networkcultures.org/geert/2025/0... which was a bit life-changing
January 19, 2026 at 2:35 PM
To start, I just read this translated interview networkcultures.org/geert/2025/0... which was a bit life-changing
If your first thought about Trump and Greenland is "Zack Polanski!", you are not a serious person.
This is real leadership by Keir Starmer. A serious politician for serious times.
Which is more than you can say about the Green Party 🤡 that is Zack Polanski. Under him, thousands of British jobs would be lost, the security of our country would be at risk and British citizens would be worse off.
Which is more than you can say about the Green Party 🤡 that is Zack Polanski. Under him, thousands of British jobs would be lost, the security of our country would be at risk and British citizens would be worse off.
January 19, 2026 at 12:41 PM
If your first thought about Trump and Greenland is "Zack Polanski!", you are not a serious person.
Whichever way you slice it, it comes back to class and class interests.
The Softness of the Hard Right
Blimey. On Friday, Keir Starmer put out a statement that said "no" to the White House. The language wasn't tough and it did play into the f...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
January 19, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Whichever way you slice it, it comes back to class and class interests.
Once again, Trump is *quite well* thank you very much.
I suppose pretending he's mentally ill is easier than acknowledging that, fundamentally, the interests he stands for are no different than the ones you support.
I suppose pretending he's mentally ill is easier than acknowledging that, fundamentally, the interests he stands for are no different than the ones you support.
I'm honestly less mad at the President, who is clearly not well, that I am at his outriders and enablers.
They see messages like this and then, with straight faces, go on television or write op-eds retroactively constructing grand strategy justifications.
Pathetic.
They see messages like this and then, with straight faces, go on television or write op-eds retroactively constructing grand strategy justifications.
Pathetic.
Unhinged
January 19, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Once again, Trump is *quite well* thank you very much.
I suppose pretending he's mentally ill is easier than acknowledging that, fundamentally, the interests he stands for are no different than the ones you support.
I suppose pretending he's mentally ill is easier than acknowledging that, fundamentally, the interests he stands for are no different than the ones you support.
Whichever way you slice it, it comes back to class and class interests.
The Softness of the Hard Right
Blimey. On Friday, Keir Starmer put out a statement that said "no" to the White House. The language wasn't tough and it did play into the f...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
January 19, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Whichever way you slice it, it comes back to class and class interests.
Alternatively, a grasp of the crudest of crude Marxisms will get you by fine.
I genuinely think Trump is a Outside Context Problem for other nations: a problem which they just dont have the intellectusl framework to understand, let alone properly respond to.
He'd make more sense to a 14thC mind than a modern one: and even then there were far more mechanisms to restrain him
He'd make more sense to a 14thC mind than a modern one: and even then there were far more mechanisms to restrain him
James is exactly right on Trump and European leaders (finally) waking up to him. But it’s the same problem as we have in our commentariat and elites. Trump doing terrible and dangerous this is how he works. We’ve known this for over a decade. Why has it taken so long for our leaders to wake up?
January 19, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Alternatively, a grasp of the crudest of crude Marxisms will get you by fine.
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
This is a really good essay from Juliet Jacques on intellectuals & the politics of the media. novaramedia.com/2026/01/15/t...
Today’s Public Intellectuals Are More Likely to Serve Power Than Challenge It | Juliet Jacques
30 years ago, the BBC invited Palestinian thinker Edward Said to deliver six lectures on the public intellectual, writes Juliet Jacques. Can you imagine something so outlandish happening today?
novaramedia.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:50 PM
This is a really good essay from Juliet Jacques on intellectuals & the politics of the media. novaramedia.com/2026/01/15/t...
Reposted by Phil Burton-Cartledge
Bluesky has seen a 40% rise of app installs in the past few weeks, which is consistent with the increase in activity that is visible in other metrics
Via @sarahp.bsky.social
Via @sarahp.bsky.social
Bluesky rolls out cashtags and LIVE badges amid a boost in app installs | TechCrunch
Bluesky adds new features to its app amid a boost in installs due to the deepfake drama on X.
techcrunch.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Bluesky has seen a 40% rise of app installs in the past few weeks, which is consistent with the increase in activity that is visible in other metrics
Via @sarahp.bsky.social
Via @sarahp.bsky.social
I wonder if the "Labour defector" is looking at the recent haul of "Taxes" Zahawi, "Honest" Bob Jenrick, and "Allegations" Rosindell and are having second thoughts.
January 18, 2026 at 9:58 PM
I wonder if the "Labour defector" is looking at the recent haul of "Taxes" Zahawi, "Honest" Bob Jenrick, and "Allegations" Rosindell and are having second thoughts.
Whichever way you slice it, it comes back to class and class interests.
The Softness of the Hard Right
Blimey. On Friday, Keir Starmer put out a statement that said "no" to the White House. The language wasn't tough and it did play into the f...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Whichever way you slice it, it comes back to class and class interests.
Hannan and other senior commentators who are wrong about everything are not employed because of their accuracy. They have a job to do, and that job is selling the interests of their employers.
He's still committing his frauds against reality and getting paid for it. Falling upwards must stop.
January 18, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Hannan and other senior commentators who are wrong about everything are not employed because of their accuracy. They have a job to do, and that job is selling the interests of their employers.
What's interesting about Trump is that he openly declares that his government is by and for the oligarchy, and yet there are still people who absolutely refuse to acknowledge this.
January 18, 2026 at 10:59 AM
What's interesting about Trump is that he openly declares that his government is by and for the oligarchy, and yet there are still people who absolutely refuse to acknowledge this.