Stephen Bush
@stephenkb.bsky.social
Associate editor and columnist @financialtimes.com. Post too often about culture, public policy, management, politics, nerd stuff, Arsenal, wosoc. Try my UK politics newsletter for free here: www.ft.com/tryinsidepolitics
Pinned
Stephen Bush
@stephenkb.bsky.social
· Feb 22
I sat through that so when my column gets factchecked I can say “yes, that line is accurate”. Such is the FT’s commitment to bringing you our best understanding of the truth. Subscribe here: subs.ft.com/products
Reposted by Stephen Bush
This is Curtis Yarvin's entire oeuvre of hundreds of thousands of words. Could have literally saved his and everyone's time with a three word sentence.
This is why 21st century racism is a guaranteed way to make yourself stupider, the 'need' to make an ancient prejudice stack up is the reverse of a performance-enhancing drug.
There is no logic to it whatsoever. Someone said on a podcast to justify racism and now they all spout it like it means something.
February 5, 2026 at 12:51 PM
This is Curtis Yarvin's entire oeuvre of hundreds of thousands of words. Could have literally saved his and everyone's time with a three word sentence.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
EXCLUSIVE:
Peter Mandelson sought advice from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up his advisory firm, Global Counsel, including how to target potential new clients such as the Chinese government.
www.ft.com/content/13d2...
Peter Mandelson sought advice from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up his advisory firm, Global Counsel, including how to target potential new clients such as the Chinese government.
www.ft.com/content/13d2...
Peter Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up advisory firm
Emails from 2010 show former UK minister asking child sex offender how to win political and corporate clients
www.ft.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:53 PM
EXCLUSIVE:
Peter Mandelson sought advice from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up his advisory firm, Global Counsel, including how to target potential new clients such as the Chinese government.
www.ft.com/content/13d2...
Peter Mandelson sought advice from Jeffrey Epstein on setting up his advisory firm, Global Counsel, including how to target potential new clients such as the Chinese government.
www.ft.com/content/13d2...
There was a point in September where the government’s line was the bizarre one of “we didn’t know Mandelson thought Epstein was innocent” - surely the only circumstance in which it *would* be acceptable for someone to remain friends with a convicted child sex offender?
Isn’t the point that you shouldn’t be mates with a convicted child sex offender anyway? Like the depth and the money should be add-ons
February 5, 2026 at 12:54 PM
There was a point in September where the government’s line was the bizarre one of “we didn’t know Mandelson thought Epstein was innocent” - surely the only circumstance in which it *would* be acceptable for someone to remain friends with a convicted child sex offender?
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Exactly this. Starmer’s position is so bad because, even with his defence of being lied to, the question ‘what is the only acceptable degree of past intimacy with Epstein in a potential ambassador?’ demanded the answer ‘zero’.
Isn’t the point that you shouldn’t be mates with a convicted child sex offender anyway? Like the depth and the money should be add-ons
February 5, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Exactly this. Starmer’s position is so bad because, even with his defence of being lied to, the question ‘what is the only acceptable degree of past intimacy with Epstein in a potential ambassador?’ demanded the answer ‘zero’.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Isn’t the point that you shouldn’t be mates with a convicted child sex offender anyway? Like the depth and the money should be add-ons
February 5, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Isn’t the point that you shouldn’t be mates with a convicted child sex offender anyway? Like the depth and the money should be add-ons
Reposted by Stephen Bush
The thing with everyone having a substack is not just that the market couldn’t work but you don’t want everything to be personality driven. You want a space for reporters not to be the story. Like how is the pipeline for expert commentators going to grow anyway?
February 5, 2026 at 11:49 AM
The thing with everyone having a substack is not just that the market couldn’t work but you don’t want everything to be personality driven. You want a space for reporters not to be the story. Like how is the pipeline for expert commentators going to grow anyway?
This is why 21st century racism is a guaranteed way to make yourself stupider, the 'need' to make an ancient prejudice stack up is the reverse of a performance-enhancing drug.
There is no logic to it whatsoever. Someone said on a podcast to justify racism and now they all spout it like it means something.
I really don't get the 'Britishness is a national identity, English is an ethnicity' argument. Have these people ever lived in the borderlands? I think of my Scottish cousins with whom I share some genes but a different national identity, how does this work?
February 5, 2026 at 12:36 PM
This is why 21st century racism is a guaranteed way to make yourself stupider, the 'need' to make an ancient prejudice stack up is the reverse of a performance-enhancing drug.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
feels like Labour is stuck in the seventh circle of leadership contest hell, ie pingponging endlessly between 'he should go!' and 'but not be replaced by any of the people available in this actual life'
February 5, 2026 at 11:17 AM
feels like Labour is stuck in the seventh circle of leadership contest hell, ie pingponging endlessly between 'he should go!' and 'but not be replaced by any of the people available in this actual life'
"The essential point is that money will always find weaknesses to exploit. This is what the Epsteins of this world understand." - fantastic column by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social:
Mandelson and the money that never sleeps
This is truly grim for Keir Starmer, raising questions about his ethics as well as his judgment
www.ft.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:19 PM
"The essential point is that money will always find weaknesses to exploit. This is what the Epsteins of this world understand." - fantastic column by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social:
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Enemy Making A Mistake? Don't! Interrupt.
February 5, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Enemy Making A Mistake? Don't! Interrupt.
As regular as clockwork, Kemi Badenoch has a good (actually a great day yesterday) and starts listening to her own instincts again (a terrible move). Why is she giving a speech at the same time as the prime minister? Indeed, why is she giving a speech today *at all*?
February 5, 2026 at 11:53 AM
As regular as clockwork, Kemi Badenoch has a good (actually a great day yesterday) and starts listening to her own instincts again (a terrible move). Why is she giving a speech at the same time as the prime minister? Indeed, why is she giving a speech today *at all*?
Reposted by Stephen Bush
If any other subscribers, like me, didn't get @stephenkb.bsky.social's excellent newsletter in their inbox as per today, it's here. Spot-on on Starmer - and Marty Supreme!
Every doomed prime minister has a moment — this is Starmer’s
This end phase of his leadership requires a crisis or resignation to tip things over the edge
www.ft.com
February 5, 2026 at 11:39 AM
If any other subscribers, like me, didn't get @stephenkb.bsky.social's excellent newsletter in their inbox as per today, it's here. Spot-on on Starmer - and Marty Supreme!
One reason why leaders should write the first draft of their own speeches is that it makes them less likely to say things where you go 'what does this actually mean?'
February 5, 2026 at 11:36 AM
One reason why leaders should write the first draft of their own speeches is that it makes them less likely to say things where you go 'what does this actually mean?'
Reposted by Stephen Bush
I think @stephenkb.bsky.social dubbed it “convenientism” - what’s the most immediately convenient thing to do to make a problem go away.
The Mandelson saga is doubly bad for Starmer & co. First because it goes against their supposed brand of probity. Second because it fits their actual brand of not listening to concerns from their colleagues and majoring on ideas that only make sense in transactional terms or getting through the week
What is the point of Keir Starmer staying as prime minister?
February 5, 2026 at 10:19 AM
I think @stephenkb.bsky.social dubbed it “convenientism” - what’s the most immediately convenient thing to do to make a problem go away.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
The only way Labour can win the next election is by governing well.
That might not be enough, but it’s the bare minimum.
The questions to be asking about any potential new PM are “what is their agenda and can they achieve it?”
Not “do they currently poll well?”
Or “can they handle a media round?”
That might not be enough, but it’s the bare minimum.
The questions to be asking about any potential new PM are “what is their agenda and can they achieve it?”
Not “do they currently poll well?”
Or “can they handle a media round?”
February 5, 2026 at 10:37 AM
The only way Labour can win the next election is by governing well.
That might not be enough, but it’s the bare minimum.
The questions to be asking about any potential new PM are “what is their agenda and can they achieve it?”
Not “do they currently poll well?”
Or “can they handle a media round?”
That might not be enough, but it’s the bare minimum.
The questions to be asking about any potential new PM are “what is their agenda and can they achieve it?”
Not “do they currently poll well?”
Or “can they handle a media round?”
Reposted by Stephen Bush
February 5, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Today's newsletter: I haven't seen this much anger from the PLP since the summer of 2016, when they tried to get rid of their leader as a result. Same positiion now, but impossible to tell if Starmer's fall will be short or long:
Every doomed prime minister has a moment — this is Starmer’s
This end phase of his leadership requires a crisis or resignation to tip things over the edge
www.ft.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Today's newsletter: I haven't seen this much anger from the PLP since the summer of 2016, when they tried to get rid of their leader as a result. Same positiion now, but impossible to tell if Starmer's fall will be short or long:
Starting a new season on Football Manager in the usual way: getting absolutely humped in the Champions Cup by a European team, this time FC Barcelona Femení.
February 5, 2026 at 1:42 AM
Starting a new season on Football Manager in the usual way: getting absolutely humped in the Champions Cup by a European team, this time FC Barcelona Femení.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
And they say reducing our dependence on the US is impossible
February 5, 2026 at 12:50 AM
And they say reducing our dependence on the US is impossible
Hey, you know what's interesting? Just realised this is the first political scandal in recent times in the United Kingdom not to get a '-gate' suffix.
February 5, 2026 at 12:48 AM
Hey, you know what's interesting? Just realised this is the first political scandal in recent times in the United Kingdom not to get a '-gate' suffix.
Even without looking to see the moment, I know for a fact the answer is 'yes', because Norman Shaw South (where the leader of the opposition's office is) is absolutely riddled with mice, even by the standards of Parliament.
You tell me.
February 5, 2026 at 12:21 AM
Even without looking to see the moment, I know for a fact the answer is 'yes', because Norman Shaw South (where the leader of the opposition's office is) is absolutely riddled with mice, even by the standards of Parliament.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Having a leader who can perform charisma is not actually a substitute for having a set of ideas to improve the country that you think the electorate will buy into.
February 5, 2026 at 12:14 AM
Having a leader who can perform charisma is not actually a substitute for having a set of ideas to improve the country that you think the electorate will buy into.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
This is all true but also it's yet another sign if a party that wishes politics would go away and they wouldn't have to make hard decisions.
It doesn't matter how good the honeymoon was, if you don't make the relationship work when you get home your marriage is dead either way.
It doesn't matter how good the honeymoon was, if you don't make the relationship work when you get home your marriage is dead either way.
The Al Carns stuff is a real “the PLP has learned nothing and forgotten nothing” thing.
Talk has turned to who replaces Starmer (again).
Labour MP tonight:
“As far as I'm concerned, Starmer is done. What matters is what's next. If it's Angela, the honeymoon lasts a week. If it's Wes, a month. If it's Al, 6 months. Hard to see how it turns around beyond that.”
Labour MP tonight:
“As far as I'm concerned, Starmer is done. What matters is what's next. If it's Angela, the honeymoon lasts a week. If it's Wes, a month. If it's Al, 6 months. Hard to see how it turns around beyond that.”
February 5, 2026 at 12:14 AM
This is all true but also it's yet another sign if a party that wishes politics would go away and they wouldn't have to make hard decisions.
It doesn't matter how good the honeymoon was, if you don't make the relationship work when you get home your marriage is dead either way.
It doesn't matter how good the honeymoon was, if you don't make the relationship work when you get home your marriage is dead either way.
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Reposted by Stephen Bush
Completely agree, but all this “honeymoon” stuff is also maddening. Choose someone who you think will govern well for three years, ffs. Everything is downstream from that. Enough Spaniards hate Sanchez, but they haven’t wanted to dance with the others.
February 4, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Completely agree, but all this “honeymoon” stuff is also maddening. Choose someone who you think will govern well for three years, ffs. Everything is downstream from that. Enough Spaniards hate Sanchez, but they haven’t wanted to dance with the others.