The iPhone will kill democracy Welcome to the new dark ages

The iPhone is killing democracy
Podcast with James Marriott on how the collapse of mass literacy is taking us into a new dark age

The decline and fall of the American empire? The Lowdown with Andrew Gawthorpe

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 & 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚?

Announcing a naval blockade, denouncing Pope Leo XIV and so on.. what's going on in the #US?

Andrew Gawthorpe @unileiden.bsky.social shares his thoughts and knowledge with @nickcohen.bsky.social on the current situation in the US and the war on #Iran.⤵️

What the Mandelson crisis says about us A recording from Nick Cohen's live video

Quick take from me on the crisis of Keir Starmer’s government and the collapse of the West
open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

The iPhone will kill democracy Welcome to the new dark ages

The iPhone is killing democracy
Podcast with James Marriott on how the collapse of mass literacy is taking us into a new dark age

White riots, black riots and the threat to justice Can the rule of law cope with attacks from extremes?

After Polanski says we should build a society that doesn’t include right-wingers, and conservatives insist that the courts should not imprison right-wing criminals, piece from me on whether the rule of law can survive our age of extremes
open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

I know from Isaac Bashevis Singer's novels that sophisticated Warsaw Jews look down their noses at "Litvak" peasants

What a story. My family were Lithuanian Jews, and of course would never dream of behaving like that

This is extraordinary- never heard of it before. Remarkable for the Dixon of Dock Green courage of the unarmed officers and civilian Londoners, and the fact that three times officers borrowed pistols from bystanders.

More than half of Britons support rejoining EU 10 years on from Brexit vote But Labour’s ‘halfway house’ approach risks losing support from progressive voters and ‘red wall’ constituents, experts say

More coverage of our report

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The number of people crossing by small boat this year compared to last year. The fall is very real and not seasonal. Little difference in numbers during the winter but since numbers increased in spring, half as many people are coming as this time last year. This is mainly because of European trends.

The significant year on year fall on boat arrivals is broadly unreported by BBC or other media. It has less to do with imminent government changes currently going through than a fall in "push factors" that is Europe-wide

"no money exchanges hands", sounds that the Iranian regime might get sanctions relief instead. Which could prove crucial to any Iranian economic recovery.

Well quite!!

Oh. My. God.

I find you guilty of misusing the term "master strategist" and sentence you to a tea tasting session by a window.

Mandelson and the corruption of British politics “Working towards The Starmer”

The belief that Peter Mandelson is a master strategist rather than a grifter on the make has persisted in Labour politics since the 1980s – now it may destroy Keir Starmer’s premiership
Piece from me

I've been reading recently about how the generals of 1914 were completely unprepared for how new technology was to create the sort of war which developed on the Western Front. Perhaps the same holds for the US and Russia; but Ukraine got wise to it

Trump and the dark art of the deal breaker Why no one can trust America

Trump isn’t a “transactional” politician. He isn’t a master of the “art of the deal”. He believes trust is for wimps, and honour is for losers, and that he can rip up any deal he makes.
Piece from me on how the UK government is finally facing reality.

open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

The Goldwater Rule: Perspectives From, and Implications for, Psychological Science - PubMed When, if ever, should psychological scientists be permitted to offer professional opinions concerning the mental health of public figures they have never directly examined? This contentious question, ...

There were a few commentaries in the psychological journals after 2016. It was a useful exercise in seeing if the Goldwater Rule was still relevant in an era of saturated media coverage. A great article here, plus some related commentaries (one of which is mine): pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29024609/

If only someone, anyone, from local government or any one of quite a roomful of MPs from across the country could have warned the party four or more years ago about this….. 🤦🏽‍♀️🧘🏽‍♀️

After Orbán comes the shabby justifications of populism’s courtiers Corruption is always someone else’s problem

One of Orbán and Brexit’s foremost courtier intellectuals is about to publish a defence of right-wing populism
As I show, Frank Furedi ducks every hard question. Get used to it. My guess is that many more apologists will soon try to pull the same grift

open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

Former Nato chief to say UK's national security 'in peril' Lord George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary, will use a speech to accuse

Is it too much to ask that in a major intervention like this, that five minutes is taken during its drafting to look up what "welfare" has increased and why?

Clue: it's mainly pensions.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

After Orbán comes the shabby justifications of populism’s courtiers Corruption is always someone else’s problem

After Orbán comes the shabby justifications of populism’s courtier intellectuals
Corruption is NEVER their fault
(Piece from me)
substacktools.com/sharex/nkzbN...

After Orbán comes the shabby justifications of populism’s courtiers Corruption is always someone else’s problem

After Orbán comes the shabby justifications of populism’s courtier intellectuals
Corruption is NEVER their fault
(Piece from me)
substacktools.com/sharex/nkzbN...

After Orbán comes the shabby justifications of populism’s courtiers Corruption is always someone else’s problem

One of Orbán and Brexit’s foremost courtier intellectuals is about to publish a defence of right-wing populism
As I show, Frank Furedi ducks every hard question. Get used to it. My guess is that many more apologists will soon try to pull the same grift

open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

The decline and fall of the American empire? The Lowdown with Andrew Gawthorpe

The decline and fall of the American empire?
Is an unhinged president and out-of-control militarism destroying America? Inteview with @Andrew Gawthorpe
open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

The decline and fall of the American empire? The Lowdown with Andrew Gawthorpe

The decline and fall of the American empire?
Is an unhinged president and out-of-control militarism destroying America? Inteview with @Andrew Gawthorpe
open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

The dirty secret of post-illiberal governments is that they’re probably going to need a period of trust-me-bro militant democracy if any genuine and lasting reforms are to be made.

Imagine how negatively polarised one would have to be to read this story and not think “that landlord sounds a nightmare”