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Benjamin Thomas

@benjthomas.bsky.social

1.1K followers 480 following 720 posts

Political Ideologies, 20th Century Centre-Right, Neoliberalisms, Thought in Political Parties of UK & DE, Transnational discourses and the conjuncture benjaminjthomas.net

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 29d

I'm chuffed that the edited volume 'Conservatism, Christian Democracy and the dynamics of transformation' is now out, including my chapter 'Britain's social market moment', which includes the most interesting finding from my PhD thesis, the transnational influence of West Germany on Thatcherism.

Conservatism, Christian Democracy and the dynamics of transformation: Traditions, cooperation and influence in North-West Europe, 1945-91
Edited by Gary Love and Christian Egander Skov

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 1d

I'm slightly curious about the context of the image, it's Thatcher stuff but the sign indicates the Bod: the rival repositories of Tory papers/materials. I'm curious but content to leave my interest at piqued.

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 6d

I do think the commentary isn't really grappling with how many of Labour's votes were loaned from other parties at the last election, and so would naturally ebb away outside of a general election campaign. The question lies in whether they will return or realign, which is unknowable.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 9d

Good note. You almost never hear the staunch proponents of that style of fish and chip shop describing their joyful childhood experiences of fish and chips as coming from such a shop, but rather often a 'normal' chippy. An odd constructed authenticity.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 9d

I do wonder what the distribution is of eat-in fish and chip shops, what with bread and tea available. As distinct (or distinguishable) from a takeaway chippy.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 10d

It's interesting that Klein opens by noting how often he has had Coates on his show and how regularly they communicate and yet he seems to have not understood (perhaps refuses to countenance) key through lines in Coates' analyses and arguments.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 14d

I'm fairly certain I need one article to fully come out (go through reviews and get published) before I can streamline the lit review and make the case for the second article - in an ideal world they would go together in a monograph project but we don't live in an ideal world.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 14d

It's a bit of a shitty attitude to hold but I'm have some measure of relief, for the sake of my intended pipeline of publications, that a key archive is temporarily closed, and thus should limit the risk of my getting gazumped for a future paper while prioritising current work.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 16d

centralist ones, have intraparty contestation)
This is not to say that factional infighting necessarily promises good things for Your Party, and I have no real skin in the game, but the People's Front of Judea jokes are not terribly insightful.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 16d

pathology for a new political party to be riven with intraparty factions and conflict even before properly forming or contesting an election
2) The existence of these factions and contestations are not necessarily fatal for the development of the subsequent party (all parties, even democratic

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 16d

I've seen a lot of incorrect commentary on the recent happenings with Your Party.
As someone who has a fair amount of experience researching the formation of new political parties that went on to persist and be successful (the German CDU and European EPP):
1) it is not a distinctively leftist

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 17d

borders', due to an unwillingness to confront systemic racism and the politics that arise from it. The problem is a politics built on petty nationalism and protecting the status of Britain and Brits rather than engaging with internationalism and global solidarities.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 17d

The problem is a lack of social housing to cope with existing need let alone new claimants and an unwillingness to make the investments/structural change necessary to address that gap. The problem is an immigration system built on the fetishisation of looking tough and having 'hard

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 17d

We know that most asylum applicants are ultimately successful so a government dedicated to clearing the backlog could just choose to approve all current applications and clear the backlog, no new centres necessary. That this isn't on the table reflects that 'the backlog' isn't really the issue here.

Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 18d

LibDem Lisa Smart,

"We're calling on the Labour government to declare the asylum backlog a national emergency"

"And set up Nightingale processing centres, just like the Nightingale hospitals during the pandemic"

"We need Labour to clear the asylum backlog within six months"

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 24d

It is bizarre that the statement places so much emphasis on harm to police. Given this is also appears in Mahmood's statement, it seems to be the official Government line. A really tone deaf insistence on law and order rhetoric.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 24d

In case you missed it:
bsky.app/profile/seth...

Dr Seth Thévoz @seththevoz.bsky.social · Sep 5

What's the oddest thing to see in UK politics this morning?

My contribution would be the new Leader of the Green Party, leading a choral rendition of "Lib Dem fightback", at Lib Dem conference 10 years ago.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 25d

What link are you positing between RAF and the SPD or the CDU to the Reichsbürger? Groypers are deeply networked with the Republican Party, see the famous dinner with Trump. I don't see the equivalence you're trying to make.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 25d

Great article. Something to be said comparatively about Langsam, Humphrey Smith and Tim Martin on the commercial use of heritage properties, how all three bridge this rich heritage with budget prices, and the impact on communities.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 25d

There's more than just Fabian stuff at LSE, including some CPS papers, the TRG and Cockett's papers for the book (although there's not that much there). There's also more to be done on conceptualising the boundaries of a think tank, how do we classify the Bow Group, or indeed the CPRS?

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 25d

I'd read this piece by Peter Hyman alongside the Stepping Stones critique of Patten on strategy and see how that reads in a narrative of communications as/complementing/displacing strategy. peterhyman21.substack.com/p/how-to-cra...

How to craft a political message

What the Labour government can learn from a Prime Ministerial Fax from 25 years ago.

peterhyman21.substack.com

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 25d

One of the highpoints of that thread is identifying how strategy has become reduced to communications. I feel like we see less discussion of explicit strategy than we may have in the past, when politicians were more ingrained in faction, bloc and cleavage.

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Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 25d

How significant do you think the individual genius of a given ambassador is in delivering outcomes in trade negotiations? Although not an expert on that domain, I'm inclined to scepticism about the scale of potential upside an ambassador can bring.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 26d

Check out this excellent article from Joe Merton on the Guardian Angels and popular neoliberalism. Really great at bringing together Fear City, grassroots neoliberalisation, crime and policing, responsibilisation, and race. Timely given the current visibility of Curtis Sliwa.
doi.org/10.1093/jsh/...

The Guardian Angels: Anticrime Activism and “Popular Neoliberalism” in Crisis-era New York City

Abstract. Recent historical scholarship has begun to explore the agency of grassroots actors in the ascent of neoliberalism in late twentieth-century New Y

doi.org

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 27d

I would imagine that this newspaper article was probably the first (and only?) to read Margaret Thatcher alongside Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Jusos.

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 28d

This feels like relevant context for those unfamiliar with the institution (I've heard that it's good to place ideas and institutions in context):
www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

How a Center for Civic Education Became a Political Provocation

Behind the scenes of a controversial effort to combat “uniformity” at the University of Florida.

www.chronicle.com

Benjamin Thomas @benjthomas.bsky.social · 28d

Really dispiriting reading this article about Reeves' comments about regulators to a venture capital and private equity summit. The implied subservience from regulators and government to business, and the finance behind it, is telling.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The chancellor also said she had received positive feedback after deciding to “get rid of” the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Marcus Bokkerink in January. Former Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr was appointed in his place, on an interim basis.

That leadership shake-up, Reeves said, had led to a “massive step-change” that was welcomed by firms. “Previously businesses, all the time – especially in tech – had been raising concerns about the CMA. That has changed a lot.”

Reeves acknowledged there was more to do in the City, including with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, she threw her weight behind chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, who was approved for a second five-year term in April. “When I wrote to regulators and asked: ‘What can you do to drive growth?’ … Nikhil responded positively to that. And that’s why we reappointed him to carry on heading up FCA.”