I really enjoyed being a guest on this podcast with Guy Burton and Francesco Bel Castro -- The latest FootPol Podcast featuring Jordan's first World Cup and more:

Michael Crick • @MichaelLCrick X.com In two to three years time, when Starmer and his government are no doubt deeply unpopular, I hope we in the media will ask ourselves: "Why were we so supine during the long 2024 election; why didn't we hold Labour properly to account while we could, and ask more probing questions, and explore their records, rather than give them such an easy ride?"

I think we can see the reason for this is the same as any number of abysmal scandals at all kinds of major British institutions: Nobody wants to go lifting rocks because of the very high risk that moving one of them will send a geyser of scalding hot corruption leaping two hundred feet into the air.

That's been the excuse cooked up after the fact of the Esptein revelations.

Senior Labour figures charged after criminal investigation into alleged vote rigging Exclusive: Four people charged after criminal investigation into irregularities surrounding Labour candidate selection process for Croydon East

Allegations of voting rigging? In Croydon you say?

Our new piece, collectively authored by the Editorial Board of @econsocjournal.bsky.social, reflecting on the state today.

@campolis.bsky.social

Link to the full piece below:

You would think that at a time when trans rights were being relentlessly targeted by wealthy elites, a charity named after an actual riot in support of those rights would have the grit to stand firm by its people, writes Steph Paton ✍️

I am a Major Charles Ingram troofer.

A hundred years ago, the U.S. had a nationwide network of short-line railroads that connected most urban and rural communities. By the 1940s, most of it had been dismantled ... by the barons of the auto and oil industries. 😑

EE 2.2 Consious Uncoupling Breaking the link between gas and electricity is easier than you think

This is great from @samalvis.bsky.social (via @acjsissons.bsky.social) as explainer on Ed M's big speech at 11am electionenergy.substack.com/p/ee-22-cons...

The end bit, on how 'novel' approaches such as the one (I think) currently promoted by Greens, just carry too much risk for now, is important.

Robbins says that when he arrived in post, a due diligence report had been undertaken by the Cabinet Office, and the PM had announced the appointment - and [Mandelson] was already being given higher classification briefings

Robbins says there was generally dismissive attitude towards his clearance.

The Case for Replacing Keir Starmer If Labour MPs don't act soon then they risk losing their century-long position as the dominant party on the left of British politics

Reform really should be an absolute gift to a sitting government. Deeply target-rich opposition leader who is badly tainted by Trump. Back rank of even more unlikeable characters. Real nervousness among voters about them.

That Labour is still doing so badly shows exactly why Starmer needs to go

I curse the woman who drove by me this morning with The Scorpions' Wind of Change blaring out.

Bureaucratic Theatre Last weekend, I almost wrote about how Keir Starmer was looking safe despite the coming catastrophe of losing Wales and getting wiped out in...

On the effort to absolve Starmer of political responsibility for Mandelson.

Bureaucratic Theatre Last weekend, I almost wrote about how Keir Starmer was looking safe despite the coming catastrophe of losing Wales and getting wiped out in...

On the effort to absolve Starmer of political responsibility for Mandelson.

Newcastle has a long and proud history of resistance, solidarity, and political struggle. But there hasn’t been a radical bookshop here since the 80s.

Books from Below are fundraising to open a new radical bookshop and community space in Newcastle UK!

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/booksfromb...

One of the things I most resent about this is that I know it to be a deliberate strategy by Netanyahu, he does not want Jewish people to feel safe living outside Israel. And it’s working, global antisemitism is rising. The antisemites are making his point for him.

Mind, body, spirit, space: Alien Embassy (1977) by Ian Watson A challenging novel of mysticism, power, and alien contact

I happened to finish Alien Embassy (1977) in the week that we learned Ian Watson has died. Here is my new essay on the novel, about astral projection and set in Tanzania, Miami, and Tibet.

Who thought this line was a good idea?

Title page of our paper, “The Politics of Black Classification: Sociopolitical Cues and Racial Perception,” with Lauren Davenport (Stanford) and Hunter Rendleman (UC Berkeley), dated April 14, 2026. Abstract: What makes someone Black in American society today? From Donald Trump questioning Kamala Harris’s racial identity to Joe Biden’s claim that hesitant Black voters “ain’t Black,” American politics frequently brings questions of racial authenticity and belonging to the surface. Yet political science often approaches race as a fixed attribute rather than a social construction. Here, we seek to understand how Americans define blackness in social and political life. Using a conjoint experiment with a racially diverse sample that includes Black, white, and mixed race Black-white respondents, we evaluate how ascribed and acquired traits influence perceptions of blackness. The results show that inherited characteristics—particularly parentage and skin tone, which are the strongest determinants of racial classification—play a central role, while sociopolitical cues such as partisanship, neighborhood context, and spousal race also influence racial classification. Using a continuous measure, we also show that respondents make graded assessments of blackness rather than purely binary classifications, with some individuals perceived as more Black than others. Black respondents are more likely than white respondents to classify a broader set of profiles as Black, consistent with a more inclusive understanding of racial membership, yet they also place greater emphasis on shared political identity. These findings clarify how racial categories are socially constructed and why that construction carries real political and social consequences.

Our paper, “The Politics of Black Classification: Sociopolitical Cues and Racial Perception” (w/ Lauren Davenport & @hrendleman.bsky.social), has been conditionally accepted at Perspectives on Politics!

Sharing abstract below. Long time coming, but we are really proud of this paper.

More soon!

20th May. In Birmingham. Come and listen to me speak about the state of politics and the class dynamics underpinning it.

Lesson here for the techbro eugenicists who are worried about population decline.

This Day in #History 1927
Actress Mae West found guilty of “obscenity and corrupting the morals of youth” in a NY stage play entitled "Sex". She is sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined $500, the resulting publicity launches her Hollywood career.

Rachel Reeves, Chris Mcdonald, Ed Miliband, Keir Starmer. All wearing fluorescent jackets.

Great how your phone gives you memories.

It's two years to the day since Rachel Reeves told me if Labour won the general election they would send the National Audit Office in to investigate the Teesworks saga.

The authority responsible hasn't published audited accounts since then, yet nothing.

Image text relates to an event, Matter, Rhizomes, and More-than-Human Sociology Annual Conference 2026'

Call for Papers by 1 May for ‘Matter, Rhizomes, and More-than-Human Sociology Annual Conference 2026’, a BSA New Materialisms Study Group event on 22 June, at Goldsmiths, University of London tinyurl.com/2p67edm4 #sociology

University workers have traditionally been among the most loyal of Labour voters. This is the thanks they get in return.

I think The Illuminated Man (the Ballard biog, but also, as they discuss, more than that) is a really fascinating and powerful book. Out next Thursday.

NEW: Green insiders claim Steve Reed has been put in charge of a 'toxic and divisive' smear campaign against the Greens

Yes, because that’s his job! His role *for years* has been to have his underlings dredge up files full of incriminating-sounding tweets and Facebook likes and then take them to the press, gibbering in terror and foaming at the mouth.

Reinventing the Wheel, Again The recurring blind spot in EdTech’s promises of frictionless scale

Excellent article on AI in education.

Are we ‘Reinventing the wheel,again’?

Influencing the already motivated 5% is not transformation. Apps that engage always crash into the reality of student behaviour, messy learning, & needing adult support.

onstudentsuccess.morganedtech.com/p/reinventin...

Just sobbed hardest I have since my mom died in 2020.

She missed these trials by a few months.

One of most ruthless cancers. Hard to fathom that maybe she'd still be here.

I feel such a hole inside.

In case you're wondering if we should fund mRNA research instead of another stupid war ... yes.

Iconic Architecture and the Culture-ideology of Consumerism - Leslie Sklair, 2010 This article explores the theoretical and substantive connections between iconicity and consumerism in the field of contemporary iconic architect...

From the Archive: Leslie Sklair, 'Iconic Architecture and the Culture-ideology of Consumerism'- explores theoretical connections between iconicity and consumerism in iconic architecture within the framework of a critical theory of globalization. (2010) journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...