Luke Cooper
@lukecooper100.bsky.social
1.1K followers 760 following 290 posts
Associate Professorial Research Fellow in International Relations (IR) at LSE IDEAS running PeaceRep's Ukraine programme. Book: Authoritarian Contagion, co-host Another Europe pod. https://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/people/Luke-Cooper
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Reposted by Luke Cooper
danielsohege.bsky.social
British politics is basically a doom spiral of increasingly unhinged hostile policies.

Reform says something unhinged
⬇️
Labour counters with their own unhinged policy
⬇️
Tories shout from back they'll be even more unhinged
⬇️
Reform announces different unhinged proposal in response
⬇️
And repeat...🔁
lukecooper100.bsky.social
It’s shocking that @owenjones.bsky.social got kicked out of the Labour conference for this.

It’s combative and - yes - tabloid style journalism. Some of the MPs like Chris Bryant and Yvette Cooper handled it pretty well.

John Mann and Luke Akehurst not so much 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️😂😂

youtu.be/RLApab1L1-E?...
They Kicked Me Out For THIS? Owen Jones Visits LABOUR CONFERENCE
YouTube video by Owen Jones
youtu.be
Reposted by Luke Cooper
peterjukes.bsky.social
🔴NEW🔴

Thread 🧵

@bylinetimes.bsky.social can now reveal that, during the crucial period when convicted Reform leader Nathan Gill was most active, working directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most senior ally in Ukraine, he was also one of Nigel Farage’s closest confidantes 1/12
‘Thick as Thieves’: Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage’s Putin Problem
Far from being distant from the Reform UK Leader, insiders told Byline Times that the former MEP convicted of bribery was one of Farage’s closest aides, while we reveal how Gill worked on the Kremlin’...
bylinetimes.com
Reposted by Luke Cooper
unrwa.org
“Labeling the nearly 250,000 people currently trapped in #Gaza City & the north as “terrorists or terror supporters” by the Government of #Israel is a statement suggesting planned large-scale massacres”

— UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini

www.unrwa.org/newsroom/off...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
lukecooper100.bsky.social
This was one of the themes that came out of Hussein Kesvani’s hugely important 2019 long read, “what happened when I met my Islamophobia troll”. Genuinely one of the most remarkable and brave pieces of journalism I’ve ever come across.

ICYMI

www.theguardian.com/news/2019/ma...
What happened when I met my Islamophobic troll
The long read: In 2017, I started getting regular messages from an anonymous Twitter user telling me my religion was ‘evil’. Eventually I responded – and he agreed to meet face to face
www.theguardian.com
lukecooper100.bsky.social
Loneliness is an under discussed factor in far right radicalisation online
Reposted by Luke Cooper
naamoduk.bsky.social
Our hearts are with the victims and their families at this terrible time.
We are heartbroken to emerge from Yom Kippur into news of the attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester. No one should face violence for attending synagogue services and our hearts are with the victims and their families at this terrible time.
For many in our community, this news may only just be reaching you after a day spent in prayer, reflection, and fasting. To be confronted with such awfulness in this moment is particularly painful: please know that you are not alone. In moments like this, it is vital that our communities - Jewish and non-Jewish alike hold one another close. Our safety and liberation depend on solidarity between all those who are marginalised and targeted, and we must not allow those who seek to divide us to succeed. Every person deserves to live, gather, and worship in safety and dignity. We condemn this act of violence unequivocally, and restate our commitment to building a world where this kind of horror is no longer possible.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
ukrainesol.bsky.social
500 drones and 40 missiles last night. At least four dead in Kyiv including a 12 year old.

Please get word out widely. AND something you can do: please contribute to our fundraiser for a unit that intercepts drones and missiles: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/VWE0qk3...
Equip UA frontline to stop drone + missile attacks
Fund a vital rapid-response vehicle to help intercept Russian drones and missiles before they hit Ukrainian cities.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk
lukecooper100.bsky.social
What a clear and impressive answer
podsavetheuk.crooked.com
Want to hear more about what the Green Party is offering?

Watch the full interview with @zackpolanski.bsky.social on our YouTube, or listen wherever you get your pods.

#PodSaveTheUK #Politics #UK #Socialism #YourParty
Reposted by Luke Cooper
ukstoptrump.bsky.social
Authoritarianism is on the rise globally. Join us at #Lab25 to understand this challenge & build a movement to resist.

@labourlewis.bsky.social, @minnierahman.bsky.social, Shabna Begum, Amna Abdullatif, @maybulman.bsky.social (@lighthousereports.com) & @joemulhall.bsky.social (@hopenothate.org.uk).
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lukecooper100.bsky.social
It’s not ideal but seems pretty manageable in the scheme of things. It’s also clearly his intention, otherwise what would be the point of declaring war on the Labour leadership? If he was planning to stay in post for three more years would make more sense to lie low for now.
lukecooper100.bsky.social
He can it “just” forces a mayoral by-election.
lukecooper100.bsky.social
Good on Andy Burnham for putting an alternative vision for a transformative Labour government. But I really hope he’s nailed down someone to resign their seat pronto so he can fight his way back into Westminster. Otherwise he’s going to look a bit silly declaring war without an army.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
psurridge.bsky.social
I just do not understand in what world a Labour advisor is suggesting it would be a good idea to write in the Telegraph. Even if you buy that they need the 'hero' voters and to win them from Reform they are not the type of Reform voter reading the Telegraph.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
timbale.bsky.social
Keir Starmer writes in the Telegraph (where else!?) that Labour “did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration.” Perhaps I was living in a parallel universe when I wrote this for @politicalquarterly.bsky.social in 2014? (Free to read version here: qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/bitstr...)
Reposted by Luke Cooper
casparhenderson.bsky.social
“a grimly Weimar like quality to Britain’s predicament: a mass of citizens disorientated and disillusioned with its political institutions. The risk is the next crisis acts as a tipping point propelling the far right even further”
lukecooper100.bsky.social
I have a piece in @thenation.com discussing the rise of Britain’s oligarch backed far/extreme right and the threat it represents to democracy. 🧵/1
www.thenation.com/article/worl...
Britain’s Democracy Is in Genuine Peril
www.thenation.com
Reposted by Luke Cooper
paulhebden.bsky.social
Interesting
georgeeaton.bsky.social
Excl: Labour would take a two-point lead over Reform with Andy Burnham as leader, new More In Common polling shows. www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
Reposted by Luke Cooper
davidwearing.bsky.social
It's alarming how many people need to hear this: racism is not the natural and inevitable response to the presence of (the wrong number of) racialised Others. It is a learned response, and as such it is contestable and replaceable.

This is anti-racism 101. Entry level stuff.
paulbrand.bsky.social
This is first time I’ve heard the govt making the Labour argument for controlling immigration.

Mahmood argues that controlling our borders is good for race relations, because uncontrolled immigration is feeding far right rhetoric and tensions.

Expect to hear a lot more of that.
Reposted by Luke Cooper
Reposted by Luke Cooper
anothereurope.bsky.social
How do we resist the rise of oligarch backed far right and extreme nationalism? @lukecooper100.bsky.social writes for the US magazine @thenation.com on Britain’s local MAGA movement and the strategic questions it poses.