Anthony Painter

It was necessary anyway. The generational contract needed to be renewed. Obvious by 2013 and Cameron's Bloomberg speech where this could be headed.

And would you have trusted Clegg not to capitulate post election? I wouldn't.

(I recall also saying that the campaign should have been started in communities right away in 2014 with an honest engagement strategy.)

Pamphlet quote

Here is what I said when interviewed for a pamphlet on campaign strategy and directly to the campaign a year or so later. I still think it's right.

That and mill road.

Read across to a few local situations in Cambridge.....

Yes, listened to this earlier. It left me in a melancholic mood - we are losing an era of big picture politicians and seeing them replaced with either tacticians or charlatans. Highly recommended nonetheless!

Absolutely this.

(I also think it's where the remain campaign went wrong- assumed that people just needed electric shock treatment like subjects in a psychological science experiment).

Yes, there were different ways of doing fiscal consolidation but they all required difficult public choices which people by and large understood. The public is more grown up than they are given credit for.

And this is why politicians are there to do representation rather than simplistic reflection. If you outline why you are doing things, some of which will be unpopular, most people will give a fair hearing even if they end up disagreeing. See 2010-15.

I'm working on them. Massively.

I have spoken to five people who haven't seen the classic 1980s movie Lost Boys in the past 48 hours.

My world is dying.

(Biographical note: I worked in the fair in Lost Boys for a Summer so I take this personally- the film is essential for my origin story).

I see. Thanks. You can see the likely sentiments when looking at the cross-tabs of party attitudes and ethnicity attitudes. So a reasonable interpretation *in general*.

bsky.app/profile/youg...

Apologies but which bit seems unclear?

Fear.

The public realm is a commons, invitational, open to all. It's not a canvas for ideological occupation aimed to make some members of the community unwelcome.

When a flag is an expression of coming together it's a wonderful thing. When it's about dividing us it's not. People know the difference.

The category error that too many politicians have made is the complete failure to understand that people see flags flying during a World Cup or the Coronation as being very different to seeing them politically rammed down their throats on every motorway bridge or lamppost. And these *are* different.

The main message I'd take from Ed M in government is one that other government ministers should take note of: do the job that you've been given well and you will stand out.

Yes. That book came to mind. It's very difficult to fight Frankenstein's monster.

I don't think I've heard any single Government minister say anything of the nature of this from Brown in '97. (With the obvious exception of Ed Milliband).

If growth is not compatible with quality of life rather than just "abundance" or accumulation for the few then it is a destructive force.

It most definitely is.

Their archetypical "working person" is an ethnonationalist.

Those who are pursuing increasingly racialised politics lecture the rest of us about how we are out of touch.

All the time, it is they who have fundamentally misread the public.

Yes, people want managed migration. No, they do not want the country torn apart by aggressive nationalism.

I've listened to these guys on podcasts with a faint sense of horror. I haven't read this.

Accelerationism/abundance and traditionalism/ethnonationalism are coming together right?

We're a dying breed.

My God. It gets worse. Techne ≠ technology (in the sense it's meant in this)

"In fact, technology – new knowledge, new tools, what the Greeks called techne –"

I'm not very far in and already......this is clearly rubbish:

"There are only three sources of growth: population growth, natural resource utilization, and technology."

Because he is likely to be a key figure if Reform are in office.

My main advice for the next generation: settle down with someone who grew up in a modern, well insulated house.

23m ago 13:45 European leaders express concern over US-Russian peace plan European leaders have said the US-Russian peace plan needs "additional work".

Derelict House

"Needs additional work".

Yes, and any evil that men do can just be brushed off as being a feature of our fall. And indeed, there are examples of that in the interview.

What is also interesting is that the whole of the political part of the interview could just as easily have come from a Blue Labour intellectual. I wish they'd all hurry up and join forces.

And also, I now have a Belinda Carlisle earworm.