Adam Tooze
70.8K posts
@adam_tooze
Hist/Econ/Theory C******* University. Born UK, raised FRG. Publisher @surplusmagazin @OnesandToozePod Chartbook substack newsletter
I hope it doesn't happen. But I wonder if we ever get to the point where authors on the level of, say, Sebastian Mallaby or Tooze release original work first and only as a podcast series. Something distinct from an audiobook, maybe going back and forth with a "host".
"The question is not whether Labour values have been usurped by Starmer’s faction. It is what kind of party could be built out of the corpse of Starmer’s party. One option is clearly a more Blairite party: pro-tech giants, the US, and privatisation. But are there any serious options to create a progressive party, one that dares speak out on the issues of the day, that actually communicates with a progressive electorate? It is hard to see at the moment whether the ambition or capacity exists within it. It is worth noting that Starmer’s Party is only barely the official party of the organised working class. Whereas Labour had affiliated to it nearly every major trade union, today only just over half of union members are in party-affiliated unions. And even then some may leave. This is hardly surprising: as it stands its policies, Starmer’s Party’s political instincts, are far closer to those of the Tories and Reform than to the progressive parties that are eating it up. And that is not accidental, or the result of a lack of vision. It was the whole point." Read @DEHEdgerton's obituary for Starmerism newstatesman.com/politics/labou…
If Burnham wins, he’ll treat it as a mandate to do whatever terrible leftist policies he wants (nationwide rent controls, wealth tax, exit tax, ultra-high CGT). This could be quite bad. If he loses, Rayner or Miliband will become PM instead as obvious second-best choices, wounded and weak from day one and with no claim to a mandate. They are also clearly less electorally appealling. Reform winning in Makerfield therefore seems very desireable, and a lot of economic growth may be at stake.
