Tom Blackburn

ICYMI

Party Time The unpopularity of Keir Starmer’s reactionary Labour government has created a generational opportunity in British politics. Rebuilding the Left will be difficult — but this could be a start.

Based on sign-ups, the new Corbyn-Sultana party may soon have the largest membership base of any political party in the country. Read Tom Blackburn on the new left-wing party.

The U.K. Online Safety Act was (avowedly, as revealed in a recent High Court case) “not primarily aimed at protecting children” but at regulating “services that have a significant influence over public discourse.”

Starmer and McSweeney are zealots and they're killing that party

Wrote this for Tribune on the new left party, its prospects, tasks and challenges:

Wrote this for Tribune on the new left party, its prospects, tasks and challenges:

Robustly listening to Joy Division to signal my commitment to lawful speech while shaking my head to show I disapprove on the grounds of taste

I wrote this on Tony Benn's life, ideas, career and legacy to mark his centenary:

He co-wrote a report years ago arguing that northern cities should be left to rot news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_poli...

I wrote this on Tony Benn's life, ideas, career and legacy to mark his centenary:

I have to say, if you need proof that there is absolutely no basis for ever allying with liberals, all you need to do is read this thread. The levels of mutual hatred between the left and the centre are *staggering* and only getting more intense with every day.

It really is the world's town square

Worth your time:

“Leaving the means of production firmly in private hands was precisely what enabled capital to unpick Labourist reforms when a crisis of sufficient magnitude presented the opportunity.”

Lowe's response is even more pathetic

Profoundly repulsive

The Last Social Democrat by Tom Blackburn // <p>Tony Judt’s <em>Ill Fares the Land</em>, 15 years on</p>

It's been 15 years since Tony Judt's Ill Fares the Land was first published, so I wrote this for New Socialist on how the book still stands up (not well) newsocialist.org.uk/the-last-soc...

This Week on New Socialist | New Socialist Get more from New Socialist on Patreon

An update on what we've published this week, featuring
Lauren Taylor & @tomblackburn.bsky.social, some other recent pieces, featuring @garethwatkins.bsky.social & Ravachol Mutt, and some brief thoughts on @redpeppermag.bsky.social www.patreon.com/posts/124433...

The Last Social Democrat by Tom Blackburn // <p>Tony Judt’s <em>Ill Fares the Land</em>, 15 years on</p>

It's been 15 years since Tony Judt's Ill Fares the Land was first published, so I wrote this for New Socialist on how the book still stands up (not well) newsocialist.org.uk/the-last-soc...

ok sorry . my lawyer has advised me to say that drinking israeli diarrhea is good actually no matter how many kindergartners they murked

Starmer taking money away from the sick, elderly and disabled so he can hand it over to ultra-reactionary American military-industrial companies with links to the Trump administration.

Look forward to seeing liberal journalists describe this as a Masterful Gambit

Review coming soonish

Pointless discussing this on the other place (unless you want to be bombarded by statue pfp Nazis) but I've always thought reactionaries hate Brutalism's functions - as public housing, universities etc - more than its aesthetic, and that it has the temerity to be unapologetic and strident about them

The Communist International’s Failure Still Haunts the Left Although it ended in tragic defeat, the Communist International was one of the most ambitious exercises in transnational political activism ever conceived. Its rise and fall gives us a crucial window ...

I've reviewed Brigitte Studer's masterful recent history of the Comintern and the "professional revolutionaries" who dedicated their lives to its service, 'Travellers Of The World Revolution' (@versobooks.bsky.social) for @jacobinmag.bsky.social.

jacobin.com/2025/02/comi...

LinkedIn 🤢🤢

Every member of the Cabinet has some kind of competition going on for who can be the most reactionary and regressive.

Social murder in a red rosette

Luke Stanger

The real point of this report (co-authored by a former Tory spad) is to give liberals permission to go with the rightward flow - "you can't work with the left so don't bother". As if they needed any encouragement on that score

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Union leaders getting ready to back Streeting for the Labour leadership