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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2h

Because 1) no govt has challenged the Thatcherite dispensation in the economy, welfare or housing; 2) the Tory papers remain forever grateful for her indulgence of them; and 3) liberals were happy she did their work for them (and took the flak).
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Thatcher was born 100 years ago and her reign feels a lifetime away. Why is her effect on the country still so huge? | Martin Kettle

Today’s politicians need to learn that she is not the answer to contemporary problems, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

www.theguardian.com

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 3h

I expanded on the thread here ...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/09/iden...

Identity Politics

The suggestion that ID cards will help solve the immigration "crisis" isn't exactly novel, but it is now the headline

fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com

David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 3h

Branko Milanovic on universalism and particularism ...
branko2f7.substack.com/p/defeated-b...

David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 1d

Badenoch's objective is not to win power but to hold on to her job, which is why she announced the stamp duty abolition now, not during an election campaign when it would have maximum impact.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 1d

Obviously, "serious" in this context means serious about winning power. Tory conference speeches have always been ridiculous, bordering on batshit, because that's what the audience demands. Remember when Edwina Currie rattled a pair of handcuffs she'd kept from a kink party?

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 1d

Obviously Badenoch cannot pay for the abolition of stamp duty through nebulous "savings", so this looks like a desperate attempt to grab the headlines and end the Tory party conference with a modicum of dignity. It's another sign that this is no longer a serious party.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

I'm sure that's part of it, but another aspect is that many middle-aged politico-media folk are in denial that their own kids (or their mates) have been proletarianised by shit wages, precarity and the rapidly receding propsect of owning a home.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

The Guardian campaign to save the Tories requires that Zoe Williams loses her short-term memory. Did Cameron treasure stability or did he risk it all on the EU referendem? Was Osborne's austerity really modernisation? Did May tell migrants to go home, or Johnson insult Muslims?

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

There has definitely been a shift over time among Labour voters from working to middle class, but that reflects secular changes in social composition - i.e. more white collar jobs. What this doesn't capture is how many B &C1 roles today are low-paid and filled by renters.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

For all its limitations, the NRS grading is still useful at an aggregate level. Labour's support today is much as it's always been: a cross-class alliance. Ditto every other party. The blend matters, but Labour isn't the party of the PMC alone.
mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

Rather an odd take by Simon Wren-Lewis, but consistent with the Schrödinger's cat of British politics that informs the media. Namely, the working class no longer exists and yet it is the pivotal bloc deserting Labour and elevating Reform.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

Ironically, the one thing that would have buttressed the Tories would have been a Corbyn victory in 2019 as that would have encouraged them to occupy the centre-right space. They cannot do that now because Labour under Starmer has occupied it, pushing Tory voters further right.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

What Polly really wants is the restoration of the post-Thatcher cartel (i.e. Blair to Cameron), and her fears now are about Starmer's failure to hegemonise "grownup" politics. What she cannot acknowledge is that Badenoch is a symptom of the cartel's steady rightward shift.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

I feel I should expand on this a little. The first, rather obvious, point to make is that if Polly thinks Britain needs a Tory party then the one she's encouraging is Thatcherite, not One Nation. Invoking Macmillan & Heseltine is futile nostalgia.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I didn’t think I’d ever say this: let’s hope the Tory party can be saved | Polly Toynbee

Britain badly needs a grownup party of the centre right. It won’t come from Badenoch – it may come from a new generation of one-nationers, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

www.theguardian.com

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

Given that Starmer has delivered a "grownup party of the centre right", thereby fulfilling the dreams of many who founded the original SDP, this seems somewhat churlish on Polly's part.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 2d

Hard to avoid the conclusion that Cameron (and Johnson) made a major blunder in not offering Farage a peerage.

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 2d

It's hard to look at the rows of empty seats greeting Conservative "big hitters" addressing an unprecedentedly small conference hall and think the chances of Conservative survival as a major political force are anything but somewhere between low and zero

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 3d

This government doesn't really know who it is for in electoral terms, hence the elevation of mythical "hero voters". But it knows who it is for in governance terms, and that is the state apparatus. More ...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/10/our-...

Our People

The Labour Party's history is one of a dialogue between rights and entitlements.

fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 3d

This is a pretty damning assessment of the govt from Heather Stewart in the Guardian, particularly as she is a cheerleader for the Chancellor.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 3d

New blogpost: Our People - One way of understanding Labour's authoritarian turn is in the context of its historical balance between liberal universalism and union particularism. Another way is simply to recognise that it has been absorbed by the state.
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/10/our-...

Our People

The Labour Party's history is one of a dialogue between rights and entitlements.

fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 4d

Malik concedes that liberalism was always anti-democratic and neoliberalism has been a disaster for the working class, but still blames identity politics. He also fails to understand that the "radical tradition" was particularist more than universalist.
observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Liberalism has betrayed the working class, but illiberali...

If we fail to uphold equality and democracy, where will our society be?

observer.co.uk

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 4d

Broader powers for the police means narrower rights for protestors. That the liberal media are framing it as the former rather than the latter indicates their own sympathies.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office

Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

www.theguardian.com

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 5d

"Who gets to mask and who doesn’t is a basic index of political hierarchy in an age of ubiquitous videography and facial recognition"
www.theideasletter.org/essay/facial...

Facial Recognitions - The Ideas Letter

Davies traces the political history of the human face, showing how it has become both a weapon and a site of contestation—from far-right mobilizations fueled by viral images to the…

www.theideasletter.org

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 5d

Part of the reason why this govt can't seem to stop itself from making the same mistakes as its predecessors (pasty tax ahoy!) is that it clearly didn't do its policy homework in opposition, being more interested in factionalism and given an easy ride by the media.

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 5d

Birds of an ethno-nationalist feather ...

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 5d

This Israeli government decision to host Tommy Robinson will widen the growing gulf between the Netanyahu government and the British public, including the broad majority of Jews in Britain (3/4 of whom dsapproved of Netanyahu, before this new link to this anti-Muslim racist UK far right convict).

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David Timoney @fromarsetoelbow.bsky.social · 5d

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