David Klemperer

"Today, ex-miners who were once connected to hundreds of others through a dense web of social provision tell me they live increasingly private lives in their private homes."

@sachahilhorst.bsky.social on the political consequences of social decay: www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...

Please: stop this nonsense now

What I take from this is that the left should perhaps spend less time agonising over masculinity specifically, and more time reflecting more broadly on how to develop appealing narratives of personal virtue and prescriptive accounts of individual flourishing

I suspect that a big part of the appeal of masculinity influencers isn't the masculinity per se, but just that they offer a clear prescriptive account of what it means to live well and flourish.

In other words, the appeal of "how to be a man" isn't just the "man" part - it's also the "how to be".

Discovery of the day from the archive: There was a persistent rumour in the 1980s and 1990s that McDonald's (yes, the burger chain) was funding the IRA.

Sharing my experience: still on the tarmac #flynorse

parked motionless on the tarmac at Gatwick while little screens urge me on a loop to “share my experience” using the hashtag #flynorse

Karen Hao on how the AI boom became a new imperial frontier The author of “Empire of AI” traces how OpenAI’s global reach is reshaping labor, energy and power — and why she sees echoes of empire in its rise.

🇨🇱 In Chile, where AI data centers threaten the country’s precious water resources, Karen Hao makes the case that AI firms are building their wealth off resource extraction and labor exploitation reut.rs/3GmhZPy

Inside the relentless race for AI capacity The quest for superintelligence is spurring a data centre boom — but critics question the cost, environmental impact and whether it is all needed

This whole thing reads like a civilisation that is daring itself to go over the brink ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...

You can’t fight extremism without fixing the high street A basic, daunting fact of politics today is the shrinking of our common ground.

Political trust is at crisis point and the decline of community infrastructure is a big part of the story. As pubs, youth clubs and libraries disappear, loneliness grows, and so does support for the radical right.

Nick Garland, research fellow at IPPR, for LBC 👇 www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...

I'm coming to the conclusion that nothing good can happen, ever again, until algorithmic social media is destroyed.

Osborne and Cameron took charge of an upper middle nation state with an unhealthy but not apocalyptic balance sheet, and immediately set as many functional elements of the State on fire while ignoring historically low interest rates, all to save like £5.

I actually think there is a particular understanding of New Labour and its impact that is fundamental to the worldview of the contemporary British Right, and that its an understanding the left would do well to engage with and reflect on more

Broadly speaking I would say that we could identify a liberal answer (Brexit), a liberal-conservative answer (Covid), a reactionary-conservative answer (Blair), a social democratic answer (austerity), and an Old Left answer (Thatcher)

The inclusion of Blair makes sense to me, because I think for a lot of people on the right New Labour is seen as representing a major turning point (e.g. turning "Old Britain" into an open, liberal, multi-national, multi-cultural polity based on equalities legislation and human rights)

I suspect this is because it is understood as an exogenous shock rather than as a political turning point - so I suspect "George Osborne's austerity" would poll quite differently

Thatcher undoubtedly transformed the UK's political economy for the worse, but from 1997 to 2010 I would say the UK was very clearly heading in a positive direction socially, culturally, politically, and constitutionally

Why was the correct answer (George Osborne's austerity) not provided as an option?

This is really good.

"The asylum hotel policy could be a parable for all that is wrong with the British state."
Under-resourcing, over-promising, poor-value outsourcing and this: "Ministers commandeered much-loved venues at short notice, cancelling wedding receptions and birthday parties."

BRIAN FROM HEMEL HEMPSTEAD is still feeling the hamstring he tweaked on Sunday’s parkrun.
JESSICA FROM KING’S LYNN would love to know what was in those Jagerbombs.
CHLOE FROM HALTWHISTLE has stopped vomiting, at least.
DAVE FROM STOCKPORT has been to the loo, and recommends giving it five minutes.

I live in Britain; I grew up in Israel. It’s painful to say, but we need real UK sanctions to save Gaza | Yair Wallach Symbolic gestures and empty statements are no longer enough. In Israel’s globalised economy, here’s what will shift public opinion, says says senior lecturer in Israeli studies Yair Wallach

By continuing business as usual, Israel’s international partners are allowing the Israeli government to continue with its genocidal campaign with no consequences beyond symbolic gestures of disapproval and statements.
The time to act is now - me @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

@jydenham.bsky.social

This remains one of my favourite anecdotes from the English Civil War.

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The English devolution bill marks a major shift in how England is governed, with more powers for mayors & local areas—but concerns remain over accountability & local voice.

@alwalker.bsky.social explores this big moment for the governance of England.

www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/english...

class and race both factored into this in big ways; some patriarchal Muslim men in the UK see non-Muslim girls as inherently worthless + also slutty, the police often see girls from poor families and council estates the same way

Great report on "the radical domestication of existence" - worth a read

Séamas O'Reilly: I discovered my own memoir had been used to train Meta AI I hate that writers and artists must suffer the indignity of being pickpocketed by the richest men who’ve ever lived.

Having my book stolen by Meta to train their large language models doesn't feel great. But it does present me with another opportunity to declare how much, and how vehemently, I hate everything that Big AI's snake-oil peddling hypemen stand for.

www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...

Voting would be compulsory under plans to be lodged at Westminster EXCLUSIVE: Lord Foulkes will table an amendment to the upcoming elections bill.

Lord Foulkes has urged the government to consider compulsory voting, and will be tabling an amendment to the upcoming Elections Bill

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politic...

Places to come together: Rebuilding local solidarities against the far right | IPPR In late July 2024, the seaside town of Southport in Merseyside burst into the national consciousness when it suffered two different, violent events in succ

Great new @ippr.org report from @sachahilhorst.bsky.social, making very clear the link between the decline of community spaces and the rise of the radical right. Sacha reimagines the 20th century miners' welfare fund as a model for reviving social infrastructure:
www.ippr.org/articles/pla...