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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 1d

“…the top priority should be to lay the ghost of September 2022”.

Couldn’t agree more with Tooze.

The crisis consists of the fact that likelihood of his advice being followed is zero.

on.ft.com/46TKNYF

Britain needs a ‘whatever it takes’ moment

The Bank of England must acknowledge the priority of reviving investment-led growth and stop quantitative tightening

on.ft.com

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Raj Thamotheram @rajtham.bsky.social · 2d

"One leader tried to bridge the political centre and the neoliberal-authoritarian right; another has (however imperfectly) bridged the political centre and the emancipatory left"

Jeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 2d

There's a fascinating case study to be done on the different strategies of Macron and Sánchez. Both emerged, against the odds, from centrist milieux in the mid-2010s to lead their countries since 2017/18. But their fates are totally different.

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Michael @michaeljsc.bsky.social · 2d

perfect detail

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 5d

Fascinated by her exact blend of over-confidence, where you can see her doing that weird blinking thing she does when 'her complete lack of preparation or genuine intellectual curiosity' collides with 'facts she had not previously bothered to be across'.

Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 6d

no excuse for being this bad

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

George Formby in South Africa. Worth reading for the quotation from Beryl Formby which ought to go into the anthologies.

ayewellhmm.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/g...

George Formby; Anti-Apartheid Hero

Yes, you read that title right! After blogging about how my neighbours and friendly rivals the Wiganers came by the name ‘pie eater’ earlier in the week, I thought I’d shed the sp…

ayewellhmm.wordpress.com

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

...but since our side is for the ancient pre-Norman liberties of the true born Englishman our ID card policy is really an affirmation of Magna Carta & The Bible. See also the US: 'Biden wants to impose martial law! When our president sends the military into US cities he's just like Washington'

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

I suspect for Reform supporters contradictions are overcome by sectarian commitment. The reasoning isn't 'ID cards are authoritarian therefore Starmer is authoritarian'. It's 'Starmer - the woke, marxist, anti-english racist - is authoritarian. Therefore his ID cards policy is authoritarian'...(1/x)

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

UK Ministers and advisers like to say - a lot - that nothing works in Whitehall; you pull the levers and nothing happens.

Maybe the call is coming from inside the house?

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

... and there are precedents from past UK policy or policy elsewhere.

So, I wonder if they think this IS policy-making?

You just come up with a 'big idea' like some 'disruptive' CEO and somewhere someone else will make it work: an investor pitch. The Theranos-isation of UK policy-making (4/x)

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

Is it groupthink (good wheezes being applauded & nobody testing/challenging)?

I don't think it's that they know the details and just don't want to share.

And I don't think it's because it is all too complex. It is. But there are think-tanks, institutes etc. with more thought out plans...(3/x)

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

2) ID cards: no detail on their use without a smartphone, what data, who will control it, safeguards etc.

3) Guaranteed paid work for young people: no idea of what work & no employer is signed up.

Why is this repeatedly happening?

Are they rushing to meet political/PR deadlines?

(2/x)

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

There's at least one consistent pattern with this government: announcing a big policy before they've worked out any details, or planned its implementation & sending people out to defend it who've got no arguments. E.g.

1) Welfare reform: no plans for actually getting people into work (1/x)

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

...of conspiracy theory. It's almost as if this is the intended function of GB News!? No. I don't think that. But I do think our political culture 'conspires' against the sort of 'class analysis' (of how interests and ideologies inform strategies) without which UK politics is wholly unintelligible.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 6d

GB news etc. are propagating absurd conspiracy theories about digital ID (linking it to '15 minute cities', controlling your shopping etc.). This stuff makes reasonable analysis - about how policy emerges from a shared world view, a larger strategy for reform - more easy to dismiss as part...

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Richard Douglas @maitrereynard.bsky.social · 8d

"A fascinating account of anti-environmental rhetoric and discourse, and of the ideology of technology at the heart of Silicon Valley.... Douglas shows that what seems the most materialist of outlooks rests on a fantastical ‘metaphysics’ of the market economy."
@profafinlayson.bsky.social

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 9d

The populists are on the Britcard case: Starmer as Davros building 'checkpoint Britain' and Farage as Dr. Who coming to save us from tyranny.

www.tiktok.com/@crewkernega...

🚨 “OBEY, CITIZENS!” 🚨 Keir Starmer has turned into an evil Darlek overlord and he’s rapping about his new digital ID scheme – the Britcard. #satire #comedy #keirstarmer #labour #newmusic

TikTok video by crewkernegazette

www.tiktok.com

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David Durant @bowsy.co.uk · 9d

There's going to be a critical country-defining fight in the next few weeks as to whether the new system is just a rebrand / extension of GOV.UK One Login done by GDS or is something new done by Oracle / Palantir or worse.

Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 10d

these ideas certainly percolate in the background of what I'd describe as the "wrong kind"of digital govt conversations. Luckily there are many brilliant, experienced folk in the Government Digital Service, but also (and critically) everyone should stop entertaining this nonsense

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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 11d

Larry Ellison envisions a surveillance state in which techbros rule. '“Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Ellison said in an hour-long Q&A during Oracle’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week.'

Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state where ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ | Fortune

Oracle's Larry Ellison believes citizens and police alike will be under constant surveillance of each other.

fortune.com

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 10d

And before you think it: no I am not suggesting any politician appeals to the ‘med-bed’ believers. I just mean that you have to know about - and be in - a culture you want to change.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 10d

Another example of how the extremely online conspiracy reactionary cults are the avant-garde in our culture, watched closely & imitated by reactionary populist politicians while once mainstream media trails behind with liberal politicos floundering at the start line. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

truthsocial.com

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Richard Fitch @tudorcook.bsky.social · Nov 16

"this is fine"

British Library Manuscript - royal ms 20 a ii f3r

A medieval manuscript illustration from the British Library royal ms 20 a ii f3r.
Image shows a medieval king in a green gown and wearing a crown. He is stood within a burning castle with arms in the air and a look of 'oh dear' on his face

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Jonathan Hopkin @jonathanhopkin.bsky.social · 10d

This is great. Being a political scientist at the moment is a bit like being a climate scientist a few years back. You can see clearly catastrophe is coming, but most people seem blithely unaware of it

Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 10d

An outstanding interview. Patrick Iber of Dissent Magazine has interviewed the legendary Polish political scientist Adam Przeworski about de-democratisation in the USA, and what lessons he’s gleaned from Chile, Peru & beyond.

Iber’s questions are stellar. Przeworski’s answers, chillingly candid.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 11d

RIP Tony Harrison. A real marker of cultural change: in 1985 the nation was scandalised by a poet using the F-word on TV; today it’s fine to use all the swear words but putting a fine poet on TV would upset almost everyone.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Tony Harrison, poet and dramatist, dies aged 88

Known for his outspoken politics, the author was acclaimed for work in theatre, opera, film and TV but wanted to be thought of as a poet above all

www.theguardian.com

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 11d

I was sort of using Palantir as a stand-in for the sector. But also: Palantir has the big contracts for defence, health and the police & , it seems to me, Karp's book on the 'Technological Republic' is the closest to a blueprint for the larger project. Does that seem right to you?

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 11d

At least the FT understands the stakes. Mainstream politicos seem oblivious to the state project Tech corps are implementing, imagining that ‘proper’ politics must come back. And with digital ID in the U.K. Labour will pay Palantir to build the new state on top of them.

www.ft.com/content/85ee...

How tech lords and populists changed the rules of power

Digital moguls and strongman leaders are more than disrupters of the old liberal order. Together they seek to sweep it away, writes Giuliano da Empoli

www.ft.com

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