iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

What unites Blue Labour and the soft left? What unites the old right and the Socialist Campaign Group? I've written for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social on how reindustrialisation can unite Labour - and what that means for 'Manchesterism'. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

newstatesman.com

Manchesterism needs steel, not just services

Andy Burnham must be prepared to rebuild British industry

000

Reposted by Ben Glover

Anthony Barnett @anthonybarnett.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

End 'Progressive Nostalgia' @ben-glover.bsky.social calls it out. Ukania's problems go back to the 80s www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

newstatesman.com

Thatcherism is still the problem

Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise

073

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Something that overturns fifty years of failure - not just fourteen, as Labour typically conceives of its mission. You can read the full piece here: newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

newstatesman.com

Thatcherism is still the problem

Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise

010

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

But if you think our problems started a lot longer ago - as I argue in the piece, with Thatcherism's deindustrialisation, globalisation and privatisation, which New Labour failed to overturn - you need a more ambitious political agenda.

110

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Why does this matter? If you think our woes started in 2007/08, as many in Westminster assume, the goal is to get us back to those 'golden years' of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

100

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

As Stephen Machin of the LSE has written, “In the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, real wage growth was healthy at 3.0, 5.5 and 4.4 per cent a year. The 1990s saw this slow down to 1.6 per cent, and to a similar 1.7 per cent in the 2000s.”

100

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

But what about the economy - wasn't that ticking along nicely? It depends where you were and who you were. For workers, the 'great moderation' looks a lot less rosy.

100

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Of Galloway gaining seats and councillors. Of the march of the BNP - thankfully halted. Of a Labour goverment grappling with radical measures to reform the ECHR to tackle record asylum crossings. Of falling trust in political elites - long before the expenses scandal or the crash.

100

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

The crash amplified these trends, but they were already evident to those paying attention - long before the collapse of Northern Rock. Despite their reputation as one of civility and moderation, the 90s and 00s were a time of UKIP gaining half a million votes at a general election.

100

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Take populism, trust, and the politics of migration. All commonly portrayed as 'post-crash' phenomena and central to the 'new' politics that emerged in its wake.

100

Ben Glover @ben-glover.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

The politics of modern Britain are often cast as a 'post-crash' phenomenon, i.e. arising from financial crisis of 2007/08. But I think that as time that passes, the continuities between our pre and post-crash politics become clearer.

100

Reposted by Ben Glover

Phil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Late to this excellent piece by @ben-glover.bsky.social on the reasons the post-1945 Britain looks more attractive to many young politicos than the post-1979 one. And on the thing that made that work, which we need to stop hating quite so much: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

newstatesman.com

Labour must embrace the spirit of postwar Britain

Industrial strategy is back in fashion

054

Reposted by Ben Glover

The New Statesman @newstatesman1913.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Exclusive: Starmer outspends Johnson on levelling up in first year Labour invested £2bn more on Levelling Up in its first year 🖊️ @anooshc.bsky.social

newstatesman.com

Exclusive: Starmer outspends Johnson on levelling up in first year

Labour invested £2bn more on Levelling Up in its first year.

074

Reposted by Ben Glover

Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Exclusive! Labour spends more on Boris Johnson's flagship policy in its first year than Boris Johnson did:

newstatesman.com

Exclusive: Starmer outspends Johnson on levelling up in first year

Labour invested £2bn more on Levelling Up in its first year

1177