Fran Boait

Overcoming fatalism The rise of Reform has seen Nigel Farage’s party win five seats in parliament, control of numerous councils, and their first elected Mayors. Reform’s success is due to a number of factors, not least L...

Since I spent a significant amount of time listening to people on the doorstep in the run up to the 2019 election, I've thought a lot about fatalism as a barrier for progressive politics, and a gift for the far right.

Thanks to @renewaljournal.bsky.social

renewal.org.uk/blog/overcom...

We've got a packed room for our panel on Breaking the (Fiscal) Rules!

With @franboait.bsky.social , @macrodosepod.bsky.social's James Meadway, Guardian journo @pollytoynbee.bsky.social, @neweconomics.bsky.social's @dhnnjyn.bsky.social and @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social #RadicalRenewal

Never been early enough to the British Library to join the queue to get in! Like a theme park but we are just queuing up to start work...

If you, like me, are trying to make sense of Trump's second inauguration I can highly recommend Wendy Brown's Nihilistic Times, seems like we are gonna have to understand nihilism to come out the other side of this collapsing system....
(alongside capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy)

Want to know about how we move beyond the dollar, and towards a future of money and payments for economic and climate justice?

I'm looking forward to Chairing this event tonight! There is still time to sign up and listen to the fantastic line up of leading scholars in the field

The Pain Creating a New Coalition for Trump Despair permeates white, Black, and Latino working-class life. Democrats will have to find a new way to speak to it.

Critical from @keeanga.bsky.social about the economic and social pain that the Dems completely misunderstood: "https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-pain-creating-a-new-coalition-for-trump

😂

a bit embarrassing 😅

Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide, Amnesty International report finds Human rights group says Israel ‘brazenly, continuously and with total impunity … unleashed hell’ on strip’s 2.3m population

“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call: this is genocide and it must stop now”

David Lammy, Keir Starmer over to you.....

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...

Jasleen Kaur, 38, wins the Turner prize 2024 The competition’s youngest contestant scoops the award for animating everyday objects to reflect the pluralities of identity and community

“I’ve been wondering why artists are required to dream up liberation in the gallery, but when that dream means life, we are shut down” ❤️https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/dec/03/jasleen-kaur-38-wins-the-turner-prize-2024

Will Elon Musk give Nigel Farage $100m to make him PM? The Tesla boss, who used his immense fortune to help Donald Trump’s campaign, is turning his attention to Britain

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Starmer Appoints Chris Wormald to Head UK’s Civil Service Prime Minister Keir Starmer named Chris Wormald as the country’s top civil servant, promoting the veteran official in a move designed to bring stability to the top of government after a rocky first fi...

The problem is Starmer saying he wants “nothing less than the complete re-wiring of the British state,” is a bit like Gregg Wallace saying 'he wants nothing less than to dismantle patriarchy', he can say it but it doesn't mean he knows what it means

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Elon Musk is attacking Britain. Former PMs are building ties A London-based VC has connected Boris Johnson and the Tesla chief, who Tony Blair has praised as ‘an extraordinary innovator’

“Elon Musk has been radicalised by his own platform,” said a British tech lobbyist, referring to the algorithms on X which have been feeding him a skewed and distorted view of British politics.

MPs will vote, but there is a better way to decide who has the right to die | Rafael Behr In an age of cynicism and mistrust, politicians must work harder to involve the public in difficult decisions, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

Whatever happens in today's vote, most people would agree citizens assemblies or participatory democracy could have helped national conversation, as pointed out below 👇

Pity Keir Starmer got rid of Sue Gray who was going to champion such democractic processes 🤔

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Wintery morning on the heath

YouTube video by Brett McFarland KLAMATH (Undammed Music Video!!)

Glorious five-minute musical tour of how the Klamath got damned and undammed.
youtu.be/J9TTgV3wzQ8?...

'he seemed to have a respect for me that I’d not really experienced before'
Though its a story about severe mental illness its also a universal story about the power of being heard & respected, I'm really proud of my brother Ed's article in Schizophrenia Bulletin
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...

First snow swim at the ladies pond...Winter is here ❄️❄️❄️

'There has been no interest
in the economic profile of British Muslims
and how their material frustrations intersect
with those over foreign policy, giving rise to
protest votes that are profoundly democratic
and integrated, rather than separatist.'

www.runnymedetrust.org/publications...

It’s always difficult when a group of new friends meet together for the first time to get acquainted. So I'm perfectly prepared to start the ball rolling. I mean, I have absolutely no idea what we're doing here. Or what I'm doing here, or what this place is about, but I am determined to enjoy myself

I like these lists to speed up following folk on here, but now I'm following 100 FT journalists and no one else....on the look out for the radical green feminist socialist list 👀

Lamentations of a lost liberal Liberals have learnt pessimism since 2016. This time, we are neither baffled nor energised by Trump’s win

'Our despair goes beyond Trump. We feel we lost our era, and we have become pointless.'

www.ft.com/content/b713...

a man in a suit sits at a table with a menu and says " what happened " ALT: a man in a suit sits at a table with a menu and says " what happened "

What happened to mastodon? Did everyone decide Bluesky was better? (Realise I'm a bit late to the party)

IIPP Enrichment Lectures The UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) hosts a dynamic series of Enrichment Lectures every Wednesday. These sessions bring together leading experts from around the world to explore...

Looking forward to delivering a lecture on 'Money, Finance, and the Economy' thank you @cacrisalves.bsky.social for the invite, the last time I gave a lecture to Masters students was Cambridge MScis in 2012 on carbon dioxide storage, and they were falling asleep 😅

www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/pub...