Vivek Thuppil

Suspect May is going to be a happy time to be Green. Or Plaid. Or SNP. Or LD. Or anyone on the left except Labour really

As a person who is looking forward a Plaid Cymru government in May, I'm not complaining.

As I said, Starmer is the gift that keeps on giving.

Becoming more and more obvious that the problem wasn't McSweeney. It's Starmer himself.

For other progressive parties in Britain, Starmer is the gift that keeps on giving

Labour under Starmer, Reeves, Mahmood told progressives, "if you don't like that we're trying to out-Reform Reform, then you can just fuck off"

And that's exactly what progressives did. To Plaid Cymru in Wales & the Greens in England.

In Scotland, Labour may finish 4th behind the Scottish Greens 👌

The takeaway is clear. Labour are not only bereft of ideas to improve people's lives, they are NOT the party to beat Reform no matter how much they claim to be

In Wales, it's crystal clear that Plaid Cymru are the party with the policies to improve people's lives and send Reform back home to Russia

Wouldn't it be amazing if we had a system where people could just vote for the parties they most like, rather than to stop the party they most hate?

First Past the Post needs to be put out of its misery.

In #Caerphilly we saw Labour lose the majority of its vote to Plaid Cymru

In Gorton & Denton:

1. Assume CON vote 6% transferred cleanly to RFM
2. Assume WPB vote 10% & LDM vote 2% transferred cleanly to GRN

Nearly twice the vote went from LAB to GRN (15.5%) than LAB to RFM (8.5%)

Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, and Shabana Mahmood right now: we need to be even more racist and anti-immigrant, and suck up to billionaires. Maybe then we can take some votes off of Reform and finish second! 🤦‍♂️🤡

In Wales, we have proportional representation for this election, but it is the worst possible option because Labour opposed single transferable vote and viewed the current system as the best one to retain a lock on power. Ironically, they now risk being shut out due to their own system.

This is both sidesing the argument a bit. Labour is the only party that is unwilling to work with others.

Labour are in a position to bring in proportional representation today, but they refuse to do so because they view their best prospect of staying in power as pushing this two choice narrative.

Agree with Jonn on this - it is a monumentally stupid strategy which will only enrage those who find the Greens appealing, most likely increasing losses and making it harder to win back those who have switched.

So the management decision is to restructure with the aim of cutting academic jobs in East Asian Studies.

This decision is based on a false narrative of decline and financial unsustainability, despite management’s own figures showing that we continue to generate well in excess of our costs.

This is a massive shift which would upend the lives of millions - not just the nearly half million directly threatened but their families. It would abandon a basic principle of law that changes are not retrospectively applied.

This is really interesting.

These word clouds from a recent @moreincommonuk.bsky.social looking at Wales.

It lists the 16 words most associated with Labour, Plaid, the Tories and Reform.

There is a lot to say on this.

For the full analysis see the link in comments.

Ok now they’ve updated.

I can’t say the reasoning is bad. I found it interesting these they based it in part on Green voter reluctance to vote tactically.

The @ucucommons.org list was useful.

bsky.app/profile/hage...

Labour lost three by-elections yesterday - all to different parties mobilising disaffected voters on their liberal left flank: Greens (see below), Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru.

Starmer/McSweeney strategy of marginalizing the left flank to go after socially con Reform curious continues to backfire

It’s not all elections at #ucu.

This afternoon I’m joining the induction for the new Congress Business Committee, the elected body that determines how our annual congress runs. This year it will be in Harrogate at the end of May.

Congress is our peak democratic body, but how democratic is it?

The penultimate #ucu VP hustings question is about overcoming division.

As a political organization, disagreements are inevitable. But we have to disagree better and get on and do the work. It’s the only way we can bring our union together again to be an effective force for change.

Extra elections mailout!

All VP candidate hustings videos are now on the UCU website. I do recommend watching.

We've divided Mark's video into shorter ones, plus added transcripts so you can read if you prefer!

If you haven't yet, please vote for Mark, Suzi and our amazing slate. #UCU

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

That said, I'm all for the far right turning on themselves. Let them devour each other.

This was a smart move from Vivek to keep this alive, after a (too short) debate.

On March 6, HEC are due to have a renewed discussion on how to move this forward.

I’ll be arguing for a deeper discussion with branches and members, who should be in the driving seat on strategy (unlike last year).

The brain worm told him to

Day 4 of my responses to #ucu VP hustings.

This one speaks to the detachment of senior managers, the collapse of university governance, and the erosion of democracy and our own ability as university workers to influence what happens in our workplaces.

And if you don’t know why this is bad, you can Google ‘Comrade Delta’.

Friends protect their friends from being preyed on by the SWP

UCU UK elections 2025-26 UCU has a national executive committee, elected by the union's members. Elections take place annually.

Hustings videos for the #UCU elections are up. Both UCU Left candidates clearly state they are members of the Socialist Workers' Party, which won't be a shock to anyone in the know.

In more positive news, check out Mark and Suzi's videos here!

www.ucu.org.uk/article/1419...

4. Utterly laughable that UCUL & fellow travellers are now being spun in some revisionist hallucination as the great defenders of this dispute despite their repeated attempts to undermine the strategy

Not going to link to that false writeup bcoz I don't want to push its view count to double figures