In the course of today, His Majesty’s Government will do both of the following things:
- moan loudly about X and blame it for the grotesque scenes in Belfast;
- create huge amounts of content for X to monetise
To govern is to choose.
Did Netanyahu bounce a credulous White House into attacking Iran?
Worth considering to what degree it is a coincidence that the worst takes in the UK Labour Party are coming from men who are 'performing their masculinity'.
E.g. Carns and his 'real Labour means real men doing real jobs'; Glasman and his 'reclaim the rainbow from the ownership of the transsexuals'.
this should frighten you
Also, laying the blame so fully on Musk - who is absolutely a dangerous and contemptible racist creep - is very convenient for the UK's newspapers, news channels and politicians who've either spread the self-same racist myths, 24/7, for decades, or have entirely abandoned any pushback against them.
My work on political ads usually focuses on what elite actors are doing to win elections. But blue tick type programmes are a form of political (and other) advertising, and they are out of control.
@royalsociety.org I hear you’re blocking people calling on you to cancel Elon Musk’s fellowship. His presence besmirches your name. He’s a danger to British democracy. Reconsider.
The UK is a state conditioned to treat all political actors on the right of politics as basically good chaps, and left activism as dangerous subversion (the story of Ewing & Gearty's work). It isn't (just) a Starmer personality issue, its a systemic defect that is now being mercilessly exploited:
👏 Mick Lynch: "We believe we pay for each other through a fair tax system in where wealth is distributed properly so that all people can advance."
"You believe in isolating people and taking advantage of poverty so that you can divide them and make your friends even richer."