Martin O'Neill

Martin Keown: “If that was a game of chess, then it’s game, set and match to Arsenal.”

Lovely call this morning with @calebalthorpe.bsky.social planning this workshop for @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social. Looking forward to a great conversation about what democratic ownership is, why we need it and how we build it. All welcome! visions-for-the-future.sites.uu.nl/events/speak...

Ed Miliband was one of the first senior politicians to challenge Rupert Murdoch, so it's no surprise that he's been the most outspoken member of the Cabinet on Elon Musk.

Is there a reason I ask that the Times are using a picture of asylum seekers in a boat to describe rules for migrants who came on legal routes such as skilled worker visas for doctors?

This week I launched a Community Wealth Building Commission, bringing together experts and practitioners, to create a plan to build fairer local economies in York and North Yorkshire with workers and communities at their heart.

Hear, hear! A good lecture is an amazing thing.

I’m sorry to learn that Jonathan Lear has died. His book Radical Hope is one of the deepest and wisest books I’ve read this decade. If you’ve not read it, I’d recommend it. It’s a book for the dark times we’re in.

When I was still in primary school my teacher put up disparaging cartoons of leading politicians on the classroom wall as part of a lesson about what it meant to live in a free country.

Farage vows to axe indefinite leave to remain and ban migrants’ benefits access The Reform UK leader will outline a planned crackdown on legal immigration at a Monday press conference.

Unclear how far back this would go and if would attack settled status for EU nationals. But clear that we must oppose this because mass deportation is a crime and an attack on basic rights rather than "unworkable" or "bad for the economy". It is your family, friends and neighbours he's coming for

UK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of key industries since privatisation Analysis reveals ‘privatisation premium’ of £250 per household per year paid to owners of water, rail, bus, energy and mail services since 2010

“Citizens have been paying a ‘privatisation premium’ of £250 per household per year since 2010 alone.”

Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — covered in the Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

“The ‘true cost in law’ of nationalising the UK water sector is far lower than the government’s figure and is in fact ‘closer to zero’, according to a report from the think tank Common Wealth.”

Our briefing with @ewanmg.bsky.social featured in @social.newcivilengineer.com 🔗👇

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain.

A country remade by privatisation.

Our latest project — Who Owns Britain? — explores how a radical experiment transformed our society and shapes your life.

🧵

I joined Lib Dem colleagues in writing to the Chancellor, urging her to scrap the two child benefit cap, one of the biggest drivers of child poverty in Britain.

This is a policy that has not achieved its intended goals. Instead, it has forced parents into making impossible choices.

First Past the Post cannot handle this level of fragmentation. It will produce completely freak results.

We can grasp this problem now, or wait for the train to crash.

His 2003 birthday message is filled with insinuations about Epstein being "mysterious" and young women present as "interesting", both in scare quotes

I seem to remember that association with Ken Loach was an offence that required the defenestration of a Labour mayor; association with Epstein doesn't disqualify someone as ambassador to the US.

"I regret the thing that someone else did to me"

York Centre for Social Justice and Democracy (formerly known as York Centre for Political Theory) 2026 BOOK MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP (DEADLINE Friday, 19 December 2025)

Information can be found here:

www.york.ac.uk/politics/cpt...

APPLY and, please, circulate widely!

@martinoneill.bsky.social

Do Reform's economic plans add up? The party has pledged to boost spending, but some have questioned how the party intends to pay for its plans.

One of the better developments on the Beeb in recent years has been "BBC Verify", which does proper fact-checking & analysis.

But this substantive analysis seems entirely divorced from its political commentary, which is entirely focused on "showbiz" & sports-punditry.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Talking of "falling behind", have noticed how mainstream-to-right/w politicians are "intensely relaxed" about within-country inequality but think disaster if their country's GDP grows slower than others. Relativities morally unimportant (or just "envy") in one context but not the other, apparently.

The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide - Boston Review Speaking the truth and exposing lies is not enough.

Historian @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Palestinian human rights lawyer Jennifer Zacharia, and political philosopher @martinoneill.bsky.social expand on what this moment requires—not just of intellectuals, but of journalists and of us all.

On the Responsibility of Citizens - Boston Review Ordinary resistance and ordinary responsibility falls on all of us, whatever our jobs, positions, or roles in society.

And @martinoneill.bsky.social draws lessons from the story of two women arrested on terrorism charges in the UK for peaceful protest.

“We miss something essential,” he concludes, ”when we frame our talk of responsibilities around ‘intellectuals,’ as opposed to the responsibilities of all citizens.”

Thanks for sharing this, Chris. Much appreciated. 🙏

On the Responsibility of Citizens - Boston Review Ordinary resistance and ordinary responsibility falls on all of us, whatever our jobs, positions, or roles in society.

The responsibility of citizens @martinoneill.bsky.social

Melvyn Bragg has been one of the last standard-bearers for a really important, and unfashionable, idea: that good conversation, between people who really know their stuff, on complex or difficult subjects, can be fantastic radio - and that the national broadcaster should do this.

I hope it endures.

On the Responsibility of Citizens - Boston Review Ordinary resistance and ordinary responsibility falls on all of us, whatever our jobs, positions, or roles in society.

I've written a piece for the 50th Anniversary edition of @bostonreview.bsky.social. It's about the courageous people who have been standing up to condemn the genocide in Gaza, and about the morally corrupted politicians who have tried to silence those protests.

www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-re...

You can get a copy of the issue by subscribing here:

www.bostonreview.net/memberships

The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide - Boston Review Speaking the truth and exposing lies is not enough.

The special section from our 50th anniversary issue, The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide, is now online.

Robin D. G. Kelley revisits Noam Chomsky’s classic argument, with @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Jennifer Zacharia, and @martinoneill.bsky.social.

This is how politics appears if you ignore economics, law, mass media, geography and demography

For job interviews two questions I’ve heard:

1. Which great figure in your field is wrong, and why?

2. Which concept in your discipline do you wish that the general public understood properly?