If critical mass of left/centre had mobilised around soft Brexit after 2017 we'd now be determining nature of the debate: keeping freedom of movement & single market membership.
That didn't happen because liberal establishment *always* thinks it knows best. No Deal now odds on >
For some arch-remainers this manifested itself in a bizarre obsession with Jeremy Corbyn, the politician they most needed to move closer to their ideal outcome. For the Lib Dems it was calculus aimed at reviving their chances with electorate >
This has been a timeline where Alastair Campbell, with the gleeful assistance of the media, thought he was a bigger story than stopping no deal, where Tom Watson - even now - cares more about unseating Corbyn than stopping Boris >
Where Labour backbenchers have compiled dossiers on left journalists to attack and undermine them; where a new party formed and claimed it wanted to avoid no deal...before swiftly voting against a customs union >
But more than anything it boils down to a certain mindset: Trump can never beat Clinton; Brexit can never win; Corbyn will never defy the polls and win 40% of the popular vote.
They still don't get that the figure of the 'people' has returned - especially since 2016 >
They want to put it back in the box and certainly don't see it's an outgrowth of an economic model which has decayed steadily since 2008. That's because, as 'moderates', they have no materialist idea of history. It's about 'goodies' and 'baddies' >
What we know from last few years is this: that concept of politics & leadership is over. Be wistful & complain, fine, but it only means things get worse than even Boris & Trump. I'm an optimist but if there's a GE alliance between Brexit and Tories it's hard to see how they lose>
And you know what that would mean? The usual suspects - within the Labour parliamentary party - demanding Corbyn resign. That is their priority, even now.
It's genuinely stunning that these people have chosen the course of action they have over the last 2 years.
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A few months ago the head of finance at a Russell group university told me a dozen + universities would go to wall without increase in fees (half of all unis are running deficits!)
So today’s move is not inexplicable. But piling more debt onto young workers is not a solution /1
Scrapping the fees system (which is working for literally nobody - including the taxpayer) won’t be easy. But I suspect it starts with capping interest at 1% (or something similar). And we need to see end of fees system for subjects like nursing before next GE. Should be free /2
Labour wonks have told me it’s essentially a holding position.
But these should be your voters. They have to have *something* before next GE. Suspect not only greens but reform too will be more generous on fees and student debt in 28/29. Massive political opportunity for both /3
The inability to accept the possibility of an English identity is such a gap among progressives. It is a nation, and one that has existed for more than a thousand years. Its language is the world’s lingua franca. I appreciate Britain, & empire, complicate things. But it’s true. 1
Unless you think Lincoln, Norwich and Salisbury cathedral emerged from the earth perfectly formed, then they are expressions of a certain culture. The same with literature, landscape (for better and worse!) etc 2
The best person to read about this isn’t George Orwell, it’s a Scottish Marxist. Tom Nairn!
I read Reform’s manifesto. In it: forgiveness of student debt for NHS workers, publicly owned equity in utilities & a tax on the online giants to help the high street.
In it: a kind of welfarist nationalism more reminiscent of the Law and Justice party in Poland, or Victor Orban in Hungary.
Alongside that, there is a clear effort to champion small business. If Britain really is a nation of shopkeepers, then Farage wishes to be their tribune.
For a long time the Brexit right, beyond the Conservative mainstream, felt like a Thatcherite re-enactment society. Besides Farage himself, there were the likes of Douglas Carswell, Matthew Elliott and Daniel Hannan. But that now seems to be changing…
Very obvious that the Labour right are now starting to use exact same campaign techniques against the Greens that they used against Corbyn.
Greens should take that seriously: most of broadcast media is New Labour aligned & very happy to repeat garbage - from Sky to BBC & LBC 1/3
How does it work?
1) They attack credibility/integrity by attacking your social networks & fragmenting them. This works particularly well against those whose pitch is moral virtue.
2) This is done not just by Labour but by favourable parts of media (Sky, BBC) & NGOs
2/3
Expect a nexus of Labour, LFI, the Board of Deputies, Hope Not Hate etc etc to target the Greens as they become an electoral threat to Labour.
This is literally about them losing seats. Not acceptable!
I wrote for @novaramedia about the Dune films, and why they are the most important of the 2020s.
Not only do they show how humanity’s future could resemble its past, but they underscore our relationship to technology is a *choice*. novaramedia.com/2024/03/20/the…
The Dune universe is built on a critique of technopoly, and the idea that technological progress can be substituted for human progress.
The Butlerian jihad is a more relevant uprising in a world of machine learning & generative AI than the Matrix or the Terminator.
Technology - specifically thinking machines - can be dangerous because it might make us more dependent and more stupid, and therefore less free and less human.