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Colm Murphy

@colmpm.bsky.social
6.7K followers 2.8K following 1.4K posts

Historian of UK and ROI politics and political economy. Senior Lecturer at QMUL and Deputy Director of Mile End Institute (www.qmul.ac.uk/politics/staff/profi…). Book on Labour and 'modernisation' (tinyurl.com/37tzatvk).

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Peter Whitewood @pwhitewood.bsky.social · 2h
Seal the tomb, salt the earth. He must not rise again.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10h
Join our fantastic roster of speakers - @stephanomics.bsky.social @will-davies.bsky.social @colmpm.bsky.social & Kathleen Burk - to explore everything from the 1976 crisis & the 1997 Asian crash to the 2007 Financial Crisis & the 2022 mini-budget. Tickets free! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/politics-a...
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10h
On 26 October, we'll be marking 50 years since the IMF crisis by exploring the politics of economic shocks. What is it like to govern in an economic crisis? What happens when "the markets" turn on governments? And what does this mean for democracy? All welcome! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/politics-a...
eventbrite.co.uk
Politics and Economic Shocks, from the IMF Crisis to the Mini-Budget
Join the Mile End Institute for a discussion exploring how financial crises and market pressures have shaped British politics since 1976.
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sometimes one just feels inadequate. This snippet from @emile-chabal.bsky.social's fascinating intellectual biography of Eric Hobsbawm describes his reading and essay criticism of Sorel, in I believe a third language (French). He was around 19 years old and about to go to university.
Extract from Chabal's book The Age of Hobsbawm, describing his critical views of Sorel's interpretation of the French Revolution, having "just read" Sainte-Just's despatches to the Committee of Public Safety
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Imogen Shaw @imogenshaw.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Taking this opportunity for shameless self-promotion, if you want to read into the background of Burnham’s upcoming announcement on Great British Grid, here’s me for Renewal over the summer ⬇️ @renewaljournal.bsky.social renewal.org.uk/blog/the-gri...
renewal.org.uk
The Grid Theory of Everything
The UK’s electricity grid is a problem. It has been underinvested in for decades, leaving it low on capacity and poorly designed to accommodate the rapid rollout of new renewable energy generation. C...
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Tyron @tyron.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
rare column from @stephenkb.bsky.social that combines my interest in the state of the UK charts in a siloed culture with my interest in public policy giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
What ‘Choosin’ Texas’ tells us about Burnham’s social care obstacles
Convincing the British public to pay higher taxes for something they wrongly assume the state provides will not be easy
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's quite interesting how so many people just assume that the 1980s, the 2000s and the 2010s are the norm for the housing market. Even after the early 1990s crash and 2008-2010.
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I just spotted that my book was one of those reviewed in this suggestive essay about the transnational circulation and contestation of, and adaptation to, neoliberal ideas in late C20th European social democracy. Very pleasing to be read alongside such excellent authors. doi.org/10.1017/S096...
doi.org
Social Democracy and Neoliberalism since the 1970s: Adaptation, Convergence or Contestation? | Contemporary European History | Cambridge Core
Social Democracy and Neoliberalism since the 1970s: Adaptation, Convergence or Contestation? - Volume 35
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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For Histoire @ Politique, I reviewed Jean Vigreux's 'Découvrir le Front populaire' - a new source-based introduction to France's Popular Front, which eschews simplistic celebration in favour of highlighting the Popular Front moment as one of extreme social and political tensions
journals.openedition.org
Jean Vigreux, Découvrir le Front populaire
Politics in Europe today is increasingly marked by what the historian Renauld Meltz describes as a “compulsive return to the 1930s” as a primary lens through which to view the present. In France, t...
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For Histoire @ Politique, I reviewed @emmanuelleavril.bsky.social and Eric Shaw's 'Order and Rebellion: Labour’s Managerial Politics from Miliband to Starmer'. journals.openedition.org/histoirepoli...
journals.openedition.org
Emmanuelle Avril and Eric Shaw, Order and Rebellion: Labour’s Manag...
The job of leading a large political party in a European democracy can sometimes resemble a circus trick. Party leaders perform a high-wire balancing act, juggling multiple balls (electoral strateg...
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David Ornstein @david-ornstein.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Manchester City found guilty on virtually all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations. #MCFC expected to appeal against verdict issued by independent commission. Sanctions undecided, process ongoing @theathleticfc.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/704...
nytimes.com
Manchester City found guilty on almost all Premier League charges relating to financial breaches
City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023.
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
At the cutting edge of policy debate today.
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Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 24/09/2026
Please excuse me while I scream into a cushion at the thought of ALL the articles I had to write on the "UK productivity puzzle" in the 2010s www.ft.com/content/c819...
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History of Parliament @histparl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Congratulations to our colleague Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones and @colmpm.bsky.social for yesterday's fascinating workshop on the future of 19th and 20th century British political history. Many thanks to @ihr.bsky.social and @historyandpolicy.bsky.social for helping host and support the event as well!
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Victorian Commons @victoriancommons.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Congratulations to our research fellow Dr Naomi Lloyd-Jones and @colmpm.bsky.social for organising such an interesting workshop on modern British political history yesterday, held @ihr.bsky.social
Photo of a tall white building with multiple floors and lots of windows.
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Tim Price @timprice.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
You joined "grand vizier chat (secret)" You: dark rumors from aboard You: abroad* fuck Sssnakecharmer: mf said aboard WhispersintheChapel: ahoy matey lol PonderMyOrb changed the group name to "rumors from aboard"
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Great piece and thread. Find it heartening that most people get why it is a particular problem for politicians to do this, also!
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Imogen Shaw @imogenshaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Excited to be chairing this brilliant LCEF event at Labour Conference next week! We’ll be talking about how, done well, the green transition has the potential to revitalise communities and build local prosperity - and how we can make that happen.
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Sharon O'Dea @sharonodea.com · 22/09/2026
A landlord making £100,000 a month says young people have “no excuse to be poor”. Excellent. I love financial advice. Gather round, children, let's examine how he himself stopped being poor. metro.co.uk/2026/09/20/i...
metro.co.uk
I’m a landlord making £100,000 a month — young people have no excuse to be poor
Samuel bought his first home aged 17 with a 100% mortgage.
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Nick Garland @npjgarland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
To mark Progressive Review's relaunch, we've put together a collection of the greatest hits from @ippr.org's various journals since 1994 - all free to read. Including Jürgen Habermas, Thomas Piketty, Helen Thompson, David Runciman, Will Davies & Jean Seaton. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Reinventing the Left Since 1994: The Best of New Economy, Public Policy Research, Juncture and Progressive Review: IPPR Progressive Review
Click on the title to browse this issue
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Jack Tindale @jacktindale.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I think it says all you need to know about Mearsheimer that his own personal website is dominated by a portrait of himself in the style of Machiavelli.
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The bizarre implication of this paragraph is that the Federation of Small Businesses and the British Chambers of Commerce are not "well funded interest groups". The relentless creep of Britain’s compliance state - www.ft.com/content/6750... via @FT
The drive is accelerating, because swaths of government are increasingly controlled by well-funded interest groups or victims with loud voices, while business has even less time to complain, the more complexity is thrust upon it. The Federation of Small Businesses says that 40 per cent of its members engage with at least four different regulators. The British Chambers of Commerce estimates that the domestic policy-driven costs for a hypothetical 50-person business have risen from 31 per cent of turnover in 2016 to 39 per cent now. It finds an acceleration in the past two years, with the hikes to employer national insurance and the minimum wage, but also from compliance.
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
One big impact of this, I think, is that the UK goes from being a huge outlier in terms of the scale of the post-2008 productivity slow down to being broadly in line with international peers.
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Karl Pike @karlpike.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I have a short essay in this relaunched Progressive Review from @ippr.org, called ‘A Liberalism of Public Things’. Open access link below: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A Liberalism of Public Things
The social democratic ideological tradition - including the liberalism within it - should be described more accurately and defended. Liberalism within social democracy is the liberalism of public thi...
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Hugo Gordon @hugogordon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If not exactly sympathetic to Sheeran I'm not entirely unsympathetic, he's been put in a difficult position by promoters/stadium owners. But putting out a statement saying he decided to continue in part to ensure the support acts could still get paid, only for them to all withdraw, is pretty funny.
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Marzia Maccaferri @marzmac.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Politics is conceived as a market in which someone puts up the capital, someone distributes the benefits, and everyone must know which side of the transaction they are on. My two cents on donations and democracy (in Italian). appunti.substack.com/p/la-democra...
appunti.substack.com
La democrazia in vendita
In Gran Bretagna sono i miliardari a trasferire denaro a un partito; negli Stati Uniti è il presidente a promettere denaro agli elettori: la rappresentanza diventa transazione
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Richard Chambers @newschambers.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Sure why not
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Past and Present @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
On advance access "The Political Crisis of British Keynesianism, 1973–1983" by @colmpm.bsky.social (‪@qmpoliticsir.bsky.social‬) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...
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Daniel Gover @danielgover.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
In 2015, MPs voted to reject the assisted dying bill, a private member's bill. Tomorrow, exactly 11 years later to the day, MPs expect to vote on a similar bill. In May I wrote that supporters faced 4 key challenges. They've cleared the 1st. Tomorrow they face the 2nd challenge.
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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Ed Miliband’s parents survived the Holocaust, Ed Miliband is Jewish - that is immutable Questioning his Jewishness like this tells you all you need to know about people like this, and what their values are - and what they truly think about Jewish people that don’t behave how they want them to
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 09/09/2026
Also, why is this basically written up as "quirky crowd make an embarrassing mistake" and not "violent racists form mob because Asian people use hotel"?
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This was very interesting
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 09/09/2026
There's a constant insinuation that Ed Miliband is not a 'real Jew', and it seems very bad
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A new statue of British prime minister William Gladstone was unveiled in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria earlier this year. Find out why in this week's @ppfideas.bsky.social: a story of three empires, two great popular movements, the origins of "jingoism" & the last great battle between Gladstone & Disraeli
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Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Latest article for the House magazine, in which I wonder if I have wasted my life learning about leadership elections rules... www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
politicshome.com
The Professor Will See You Now: Defenestration
Lessons in political science. This week: defenestration
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
New - Marc Stears, the director of UCL Policy Lab, is joining Number 10 as a special advisor to Andy Burnham. Close to Ed Miliband, Stears has done a lot of work and research recently on the splintering progressive vote, especially stressing the importance of climate
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Joel @snufkinlib.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
THE THIRD MAN IS ON IPLAYER THIS IS NOT A DRILL
static.klipy.com
Welles Lime: Iconic Smirk in Black and White
ALT: Welles Lime: Iconic Smirk in Black and White
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 04/09/2026
With all respect to the BBC, the reason this story "matters" is not about whether it distracts from Reform's conference. It "matters" because it is important our leaders are not conspiring to break the law.
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Nick Garland @npjgarland.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"Cost of living populism" is having a moment. This is a really illuminating conversation in @ippr.org Progressive Review, with @steveakehurst.bsky.social, @anooshc.bsky.social and @samalvis.bsky.social. Few of the more interesting points: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Cost of Living Populism: A Discussion
Could ‘cost of living populism’ offer a way forward for the left? Chris Bick of IPPR sat down with Persuasion UK's Steve Akehurst, the New Statesman's Anoosh Chakelian, and IPPR's Sam Alvis to talk t...
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I have *definitely* found that the longer I am in philosophy the more mellow I am about evaluating other people's work. I personally think grad students are the harshest in general - the stage where you're smart enough to see flaws but haven't yet had the bruising experience of failing to do better.
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 03/09/2026
Reform U.K.: the state is bloated and can't spend money efficiently, but we will find the perfect people to fix it... some folks from NHS and military procurement!
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Reform UK has banned some journalists from its annual conference who have reported critically on the party and Nigel Farage. It includes the Guardian’s City editor, Anna Isaac, who uncovered the £5m gift. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform UK bans three journalists from its conference after critical reporting
Guardian City editor Anna Isaac among those who had credentials to cover event declined
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I agree in general. Patrick Diamond and I wrote a piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social on the broad strokes of the argument when it briefly seemed that Reeves would bite the bullet. But they still face the manifesto problem. Nor does a snap election look likely. renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
renewal.org.uk
If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it
Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.  It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...
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Pile Of Garbage @pileofgarbage.net · 01/09/2026
I love how Werner Herzog is ALWAYS like this:
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I have to say, I don't think this reflects especially well on him.
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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This didn't take long... 😬
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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Incl @mileendinstitute.bsky.social / @qmul.bsky.social London polling.
standard.co.uk
James Cleverly strong Tory candidate for London Mayor but odds on a Sadiq Khan win
Commentary: This remains Labour's election to lose, especially if Sir Sadiq runs again as London is still a Left-leaning city
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sampallis.bsky.social @sampallis.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The Left needs to find a new idea of the future which is neither based on reindustrialisation nor deregulation. To do that, we need to confront the limitations of neoliberalism as an analytical framework and redefine progress in the face of climate change/AI/ageing population tinyurl.com/3swcy9bd
tinyurl.com
The left’s two nostalgias
Neither reindustrialisation nor deregulation can confront the future the left faces
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Eoghan Kelly @eoghanly.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
More from our latest @mileendinstitute.bsky.social in the @standard.co.uk.web.brid.gy The seat projection is from a forthcoming tool on @devolvedelections.bsky.social www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
standard.co.uk
Full list of seats Labour 'could lose in London' to Reform, Tory and Green surge
City’s political map set to be transformed by fragmentation of British politics
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