Aaron Bastani Profile picture
Aug 27, 2019 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
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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More from @AaronBastani

Apr 1
Super interesting.

Norway has 17 billionaires. The UK has a population 12X larger and yet it has...55 billionaires.

Yet Norway has a higher rate of tax and has a wealth tax. Its higher rate of capital gains tax is also much higher (its equalised with dividends). 1/2
Would be mega interesting to read a study about why they don't leave Norway. Sweden has 45 billionaires (!?!) so same question for there too (our population is 6.5X bigger).

Suspect partly a culture of solidarity but also...these countries are actually nice and stuff works. 2/2
I have two friends doing really well and who have recently left the UK. Tax is a concern but they've left because they sense the general fabric of the country is falling apart. The police don't exist, high streets look like crap, the public realm is visibly degrading.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 27
Starmer coverage is reminscent of Cameron and pension 'triple lock' when it was introduced.

"Clever politics!" you'd hear.

"But is it in the long term interest of the country?"

"Tanks on Labour's lawn!"

Same now. Nobody has made clear why Chagos deal actually good for UK.
Rather than substance of any policies, the costs and the benefits - from the defence spending increase, to the triple lock, to Trident renewal or scrapping HS2 past Birmingham - all political journalists focus on is 'optics'.

Seems a real disease of british media.
Britain is paying 9 billion for the US to have access to a base for a century while dampening down any issues re sovereignty.

That's a big subsidy to US empire (as is much of what we do).

And all you read is "Could this be Starmer's turning point?!"

It's so dumb and myopic.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 4, 2024
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
Read 4 tweets
Sep 21, 2024
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!
Read 4 tweets
Aug 6, 2024
The conduct of Britain's privately owned water companies is bad - but Thames Water just seems like organised criminality...

They have just been fined £104 million by OFWAT (9% of turnover) - but it's only going to get worse....
Last month they were found to have breached their operating licence after their credit rating was slashed to junk status by rating agencies.

Maximum fine? 10% of turnover...

Meanwhile the company is being investigated for breaches re dividend payments. Likely fine: £40M
Then there's the fact that, in July, the Supreme Court ruled private landowners/individuals can seek redress for sewage released into UK waterways....

So one big fine, two to go - and possibly a deluge of legal claims. Good luck raising equity! Not happening.
Read 7 tweets
Jun 21, 2024
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.

It’s a shift: from re-heated Thatcherism to the continental radical right. novaramedia.com/2024/06/21/nig…
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…
Read 18 tweets

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