Martin O'Neill

Boston Review's 50th anniversary issue, featuring Robin D. G. Kelley in a special section on the responsibility of intellectuals in the age of fascism and genocide

Our 50th anniversary issue heads to the printer soon.

Featuring Robin D. G. Kelley in a special section on the responsibility of intellectuals in the age of fascism and genocide, w/ @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Jennifer Zacharia, & @martinoneill.bsky.social.

To get it, subscribe now (link below):

TV’s best (and worst) historical epics: from Wolf Hall to I, Claudius Sweeping dramas set in days of yore are everywhere. But which are some of the finest television ever created? And which are little more than an excuse to show naked backsides?

The descriptions of the ‘Worsts’ has had me weeping with laughter. Genius.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Steve Rotheram, Labour mayor of Liverpool city region, has told Robert Peston he is deeply critical of Keir Starmer’s decision to appoint the former editor of the Sun newspaper to a new Whitehall perm sec position in charge of all 7,000 civil servants engaged in communications and PR

Statement here

300,000 SIGNED UP JOIN US: yourparty.uk

We now have 300,000 people signed up and the establishment is clearly frightened.

Westminster is broken, but the real crisis is inequality: just fifty families now own more wealth than half the population.

Let’s change that together.

Join us: yourparty.uk

The “appalling scenes in Gaza” have been enabled by the arms, surveillance & diplomatic cover Keir Starmer’s Labour government have provided to a genocidal apartheid state.

He still refuses to call it a genocide because he is complicit in it.

Keir Starmer belongs in The Hague.

YouTube video by Ozzy Osbourne OZZY OSBOURNE - "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (Official Video)

RIP Ozzy 🤘

youtu.be/K0siYUjV9UM?...

Thanks, Dan! 🙏 Very kind of you!

Well worth reading. It's not at all clear who or what the Labour Party is for, if it is driving away people like Martin.

Thank you, Steve. Much appreciated.

Wonderful to see the cover of today’s @yorkpress.bsky.social

Support for @rachaelmaskell.bsky.social here in York is solid and staunch, in *or out* of the Labour Party:

People will support principled politicians who stick to their guns, do what justice demands, and look out for those in need.

Thanks, Bridget. Very kind of you.

The tutor I mentioned was Andrew Graham.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_...

Why I'm (Finally) Leaving the Labour Party I've been a Labour member for 31 years, but now it's time to go.

I've decided to leave the Labour Party, after over 31 years of membership. This wasn't an easy decision, but it certainly feels like the right thing for me to do.

I've written down a few thoughts on why I've come to this conclusion, which may be of interest to others who are in a similar position.

Rachael Maskell has been doing brilliant work protecting the needs and well-being of disabled people and of other vulnerable members of our society.

She is one of the very best people in parliament.

Keir Starmer is out of his nasty, authoritarian little mind to suspend her.

Jonathan Sumption, historian and former Supreme Court judge, well known as a conservative thinker, on Israel’s “collective punishment” and war crimes in Gaza.

Starmer, Lammy and the rest of them should be held to account for their complicity in these crimes against humanity.

Why is Labour so afraid to admit that we must tax the rich? | Andy Beckett There have been modest redistributive reforms, but the party still daren’t admit that Britain’s rampant inequality needs to be addressed, writes Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

Another good piece by Andy Beckett (from @theguardian.com last week) on Labour's "worst of all possible worlds", now that the party, under Starmer and Reeves, has cut itself off from making the straightforward political case for the redistribution of wealth.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Superman is the story of an immigrant who grew up in Kansas, landed a low-paying job as a reporter in Metropolis, and still had time for a hobby because urban housing was affordable.

New government data on the impact of the two child limit: 469,780 households now affected, with 1,665,540 children in those households

Almost 40,000 more children affected since last year

It's a child poverty machine & it will cost us all more in the long term - get rid of it

Just look at the country that Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper want us to live in — where elderly peace campaigners are labelled as “terrorists”.

Steve Coogan accuses Labour of paving way for Reform UK Exclusive: Actor says Keir Starmer’s party has caused a ‘derogation of all the principles they were supposed to represent’

It says a lot that a comic actor has a better analysis of British politics than 95% of political journalists.

“Steve Coogan accuses Labour of paving way for Reform UK.”

“… party has caused ‘derogation of all principles they were supposed to represent’”

Anyone who wants to take on the Tories, Reform and this failing Labour government is a friend of mine.

Looking forward to seeing what this looks like in practice.

Honestly a massive drop the ball moment from the Lib Dems here. Abstentions (including of the 'vote yes and no' variety) in the face of a major attack on civil liberties are pathetic.

Two main parties in lockstep
Making Terrorism an everyday crime of damage to property undermines the authority of calling something a terrorist act. It also paves the way for future authoritarian policing of everyday actions of civil disobedience

#sad

Civil disobedience is not “terrorism”.

Civil disobedience is an essential part of a healthy democratic society.

The Labour MPs who have voted to proscribe Palestine Action 🇵🇸 as a “terrorist organisation” have lost their moral compass, shamed themselves, and undermined democratic values.

Here is an essay I just published in Psyche about atmospheres, and about Monet.

Andy Burnham Calls On Labour MPs To Vote Against Welfare Cuts Despite Starmer U-Turn The mayor of Manchester said the PM's concessions did not go far enough.

Andy Burnham has called on Labour MPs to vote down government’s welfare cuts – despite Keir Starmer’s attempts to buy off his backbench rebels.

The Manchester mayor said the prime minister had only performed “half a U-turn”, which did not go far enough

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/andy-b...

Britain appears to now be in its second complete news cycle of doing wounded grievance politics on behalf of a massive, technologically sophisticated overseas military with significant numbers of nuclear weapons.

I’d definitely recommend York for Politics, and for the joint Philosophy & Politics degree! The fact that we have a large and long-established PPE programme means that the joint degree works well here, and gets some fantastic students.

Nothing but facts.

No 10 accused of imposing effective ban on civil servants speaking at events Guidance issued to ensure ministers are the only government spokespeople, but critics say move damages public discourse

Bonkers (if accurately reported)

A whole range of officials in technical areas (public health, agriculture, cyber security & others) need to engage in public & can do so without embarrassing the gov’t

Do they want Ministers fronting technical conferences?

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

5 Live Breakfast - BBC racing commentator John Hunt has spoken for the first time since the murder of his wife and two daughters - BBC Sounds Gordon Smart and Laura McGhie on pressure on the PM over welfare reform.

Here’s the link to this morning’s @bbc5live.bsky.social show. My bit (“In My Opinion”) is from around 1:46 on the timestamp (7:46 am). The initial quick voice note proposal is at 0:13 (6:13 am)

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...