Ste 🇬🇧🟰
@commontruth.bsky.social
🏴 🗣"Ultra-realist amateur strategist"
Blue Labour 🥀
2+2=4
📍The Red Wall
https://commontruth.substack.com
Blue Labour 🥀
2+2=4
📍The Red Wall
https://commontruth.substack.com
Supporting unrestricted migration means endorsing a system that suppresses wages while helping neoliberal capitalists maximise profit. The moral language of compassion hides a truth: cheap labour and free movement serve global capital, not the working class.
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Supporting unrestricted migration means endorsing a system that suppresses wages while helping neoliberal capitalists maximise profit. The moral language of compassion hides a truth: cheap labour and free movement serve global capital, not the working class.
To put this in perspective: the UK’s median salary is about £37,000, while in Nigeria it’s around £1,900. No Nigerian care worker will protest the cost of living or demand higher pay; their wages already feel like a fortune compared to back home.
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 PM
To put this in perspective: the UK’s median salary is about £37,000, while in Nigeria it’s around £1,900. No Nigerian care worker will protest the cost of living or demand higher pay; their wages already feel like a fortune compared to back home.
The effect is wage suppression across Britain’s low-paid sectors. Migrants from lower-GDP nations are naturally content with pay that seems inadequate here but transformative there. What looks low by British standards can be life-changing by comparison.
November 6, 2025 at 7:22 PM
The effect is wage suppression across Britain’s low-paid sectors. Migrants from lower-GDP nations are naturally content with pay that seems inadequate here but transformative there. What looks low by British standards can be life-changing by comparison.
Moving away from open-borders universalism is, by definition, moving away from neoliberal economics. Freedom of movement is central to neoliberalism for both capital and labour. Low-skilled immigration is reverse outsourcing: importing cheap labour to cut costs at home.
November 6, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Moving away from open-borders universalism is, by definition, moving away from neoliberal economics. Freedom of movement is central to neoliberalism for both capital and labour. Low-skilled immigration is reverse outsourcing: importing cheap labour to cut costs at home.
Socialism is rising in 2025. Embodied in Zohran Mamdani in 🇺🇸 and Zack Polanski in 🇬🇧. "Tax the rich" is now a buzzword. And as the left champions open borders. There is a contradiction here: mass immigration is a pillar of the left’s sworn adversary: neoliberal capitalism. 🧵
November 6, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Socialism is rising in 2025. Embodied in Zohran Mamdani in 🇺🇸 and Zack Polanski in 🇬🇧. "Tax the rich" is now a buzzword. And as the left champions open borders. There is a contradiction here: mass immigration is a pillar of the left’s sworn adversary: neoliberal capitalism. 🧵
Britain’s problems are many, but one runs through them all: a crisis of identity. We have gone from an empire on which the sun never set to a middling power in visible decline. At the same time, we have undergone rapid cultural upheaval from mass migration and a weakening of local roots 🧵
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Britain’s problems are many, but one runs through them all: a crisis of identity. We have gone from an empire on which the sun never set to a middling power in visible decline. At the same time, we have undergone rapid cultural upheaval from mass migration and a weakening of local roots 🧵
We do not need to revive our fallen empire or rejoin our European neighbours. We can be a strong, effective power within Europe: a trusted link between America and the continent. All we require is the will, the vision, and the courage to push forward 🇬🇧
November 4, 2025 at 5:50 PM
We do not need to revive our fallen empire or rejoin our European neighbours. We can be a strong, effective power within Europe: a trusted link between America and the continent. All we require is the will, the vision, and the courage to push forward 🇬🇧
Britain should emulate Singapore’s emphasis on justice and civic responsibility and Israel’s focus on defence and technological specialisation, fields in which we already excel but must do more to build on our strengths.
November 4, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Britain should emulate Singapore’s emphasis on justice and civic responsibility and Israel’s focus on defence and technological specialisation, fields in which we already excel but must do more to build on our strengths.
Israel is technologically self-sufficient and a benchmark in defence capability. Singapore ranks among the highest for living standards, enforces law consistently, and embodies civic nationalism. Both show how small states can still project influence and prosper globally.
November 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Israel is technologically self-sufficient and a benchmark in defence capability. Singapore ranks among the highest for living standards, enforces law consistently, and embodies civic nationalism. Both show how small states can still project influence and prosper globally.
Models for such a shift already exist. We should look to countries such as Israel and Singapore, the former for military strength, the latter for administrative excellence.
November 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Models for such a shift already exist. We should look to countries such as Israel and Singapore, the former for military strength, the latter for administrative excellence.
But this requires letting go of grandiose delusions and reclaiming a pragmatic role grounded in capability rather than nostalgia. It is time to stop chasing the ghost of empire and start acting like a modern middle power.
November 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
But this requires letting go of grandiose delusions and reclaiming a pragmatic role grounded in capability rather than nostalgia. It is time to stop chasing the ghost of empire and start acting like a modern middle power.
I say we can: it would mark a sobering reckoning for a country whose cultural DNA still sings “Britannia rules the waves,” to fall fully into subservience or retreat home in a humbled defeat.
November 4, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I say we can: it would mark a sobering reckoning for a country whose cultural DNA still sings “Britannia rules the waves,” to fall fully into subservience or retreat home in a humbled defeat.
Post-Brexit Britain’s future remains uncertain. So far we’ve sought refuge within our junior role in the special relationship, yet the pull to rejoin Europe remains deep. Caught between two empires, the question is whether Britain can chart an independent course of its own. 🧵
November 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Post-Brexit Britain’s future remains uncertain. So far we’ve sought refuge within our junior role in the special relationship, yet the pull to rejoin Europe remains deep. Caught between two empires, the question is whether Britain can chart an independent course of its own. 🧵
Full piece here: open.substack.com/pub/commontr...
November 4, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Full piece here: open.substack.com/pub/commontr...
Brexit has been an economic blow. But economics alone cannot be the final arbiter. We are not worker drones in a GDP hive mind; we are human beings moved by a mix of economic, cultural, and security concerns, driven by the need to protect our families, livelihoods, and sense of belonging.
November 4, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Brexit has been an economic blow. But economics alone cannot be the final arbiter. We are not worker drones in a GDP hive mind; we are human beings moved by a mix of economic, cultural, and security concerns, driven by the need to protect our families, livelihoods, and sense of belonging.
A certain archetype of British politico would have you believe that the 2012 Olympics marked the height of British civilisation: a final encore to Cool Britannia and a comforting image of a country before it was “broken.” This is not true. Britain broke in 2008, not 2016.
November 4, 2025 at 9:17 AM
A certain archetype of British politico would have you believe that the 2012 Olympics marked the height of British civilisation: a final encore to Cool Britannia and a comforting image of a country before it was “broken.” This is not true. Britain broke in 2008, not 2016.
The Global Financial Crisis and Britain’s response to it was when the music stopped.
Full piece here 👇
open.substack.com/pub/commontr...
Full piece here 👇
open.substack.com/pub/commontr...
November 3, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The Global Financial Crisis and Britain’s response to it was when the music stopped.
Full piece here 👇
open.substack.com/pub/commontr...
Full piece here 👇
open.substack.com/pub/commontr...
London 2012.
A nation still celebrating while the fall had already begun.
"V. Britain’s Place in the World" explores how we mistook spectacle for strength and lost our footing between empires.
Link in the replies.
A nation still celebrating while the fall had already begun.
"V. Britain’s Place in the World" explores how we mistook spectacle for strength and lost our footing between empires.
Link in the replies.
November 3, 2025 at 9:19 PM
London 2012.
A nation still celebrating while the fall had already begun.
"V. Britain’s Place in the World" explores how we mistook spectacle for strength and lost our footing between empires.
Link in the replies.
A nation still celebrating while the fall had already begun.
"V. Britain’s Place in the World" explores how we mistook spectacle for strength and lost our footing between empires.
Link in the replies.
Capitalism builds cathedrals, great estates, art, and innovation because someone believed beauty and excellence were worth the cost.
October 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Capitalism builds cathedrals, great estates, art, and innovation because someone believed beauty and excellence were worth the cost.
Every beautiful building, invention, or work of art began with labour, but not labour alone.
Someone had to commission it, envision it, and fund it. Without that spark, it remains a concept, not a creation.
Someone had to commission it, envision it, and fund it. Without that spark, it remains a concept, not a creation.
October 30, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Every beautiful building, invention, or work of art began with labour, but not labour alone.
Someone had to commission it, envision it, and fund it. Without that spark, it remains a concept, not a creation.
Someone had to commission it, envision it, and fund it. Without that spark, it remains a concept, not a creation.
This turned into an accidental case study on why capitalism builds beauty and socialism builds basics.
Labour only has value when paired with capital.
A short thread on why socialism is a race to the bottom, and capitalism is the climb. 🧵
Labour only has value when paired with capital.
A short thread on why socialism is a race to the bottom, and capitalism is the climb. 🧵
October 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
This turned into an accidental case study on why capitalism builds beauty and socialism builds basics.
Labour only has value when paired with capital.
A short thread on why socialism is a race to the bottom, and capitalism is the climb. 🧵
Labour only has value when paired with capital.
A short thread on why socialism is a race to the bottom, and capitalism is the climb. 🧵
18% of the economy and 45% of GDP is the public sector. Productivity problem? What productivity problem 🤷♂️
October 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
18% of the economy and 45% of GDP is the public sector. Productivity problem? What productivity problem 🤷♂️
