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Josh Westerling

@joshwesterling.bsky.social
2K followers 1K following 1.1K posts

Politics, campaigns, and public affairs at JRF - working on communities and place, and the labour market. Current home Bethnal Green, from Wycombe. West Ham ST holder. Views mine.

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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 8h
Proud of @right-here.org for pulling off a brilliant rally and bringing the community power bus to party conference, doing our bit to close the gap between communities and politics and show that community spaces, activities and groups are essential for us to live good lives where we're in control.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 8h
The emotion of Burnham's speech was what immediately struck me - himself, clearly moved, but also seeing tears from people I've never seen cry.
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Katie Schmuecker @katieschmuecker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Great to see investment in high streets and community spaces announced today. These are places that help us feel confident, connected and in control. 🤔 But these places aren’t just about bricks and mortar. A community space needs people to make it thrive.
Image of people making food in a community kitchen
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We're Right Here @right-here.org · 23/09/2026
Come aboard the Community Power Bus, parked outside the Labour Party Conference. A space to explore how to put real power into communities' hands. 📍 Salthouse Gates Lay-by, Salthouse Quay, Albert Dock, Liverpool 🗓️ 28–29 Sept, 10:30am-4pm Let’s make community power the next stop for devolution.
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We're Right Here @right-here.org · 18/09/2026
With Labour conference around the corner, it’s encouraging to see the Prime Minister’s commitment to unlocking community power beginning to be put into action. We’ve been cooking up a plan for Conference to push the government to further and faster on devolution - we'll be sharing more next week!
Community Power on the destination sign of a Double Decker bus
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Lots of great pieces in the relaunched Progressive Review. @yasminibison.bsky.social and I have chipped in with 'The Communal Foundations of Resilience'.
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a rare photo of sean connery signed by roger moore @steamedhamms.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
it’s actually good for your everyday behaviour to be pro-social
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
New report out today! Today, we’re releasing ‘Essential but unequal: the need for social infrastructure in every place’, our first report in our new Communities and Place policy workstream. Hear our Principal Policy Adviser @katieschmuecker.bsky.social explain more in this video
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Not many players whose names are continually sung on the terraces. RIP Ludo ⚒️
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Good piece. Let's stop the louts.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Pretty incredible position for the British right to take, qualifying on the Falklands.
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
📊 How has social infrastructure been affected by economic conditions over time? Hear from our Lead Analyst @sam-tims.bsky.social as he explains how it has been allowed to decline - with some places suffering more than others - over recent decades.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Basically every US campaign ad I've seen is essentially: 1. I am X person who did a normal job 2. In that job I did XYZ to protect our community 3. Washington is a mess/corrupt and everything too expensive 4. I will stand up for working people and make life more affordable
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I wonder when we will see the first nicotine pouch merch over here
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I both think the AI people are mental and acting quite rationally within the dynamic at play, and even in an intrinsically human way by doing it because 'we can' not necessarily asking if 'we should'. And ultimately it all comes down to a question of control, both now and into the future.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
👀
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation @jrf-uk.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
💡 What is social infrastructure? Our Senior Policy Adviser @yasminibison.bsky.social breaks down what we mean when we talk about these vital community assets, and the purpose they serve in places right across the UK. Watch here 🔽
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Marc Stears put much energy while at UCL pre- and post-2024 to convene + engage linking a progressive ecosystem of ideas + movements to power, policy +politics This takes a demand for as well as a supply of ideas. So this looks like a positive gain for the post-2026 demand-side of that equation
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"If you don't have strong community organisations, if people are not meeting each other...then someone walks into this void and says I speak for you, I'll represent you, I'll stand up for you, the people are hurting you" Gordon Brown on BBC Breakfast this morn.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Going to try and get out and about a bit more than I have done of late, to places I've not been to before in particular, and write up what I see, hear and feel. This is the first note from Chichester.
joshwesterling.substack.com
Notes from England: Chichester
Historic, ordinary, lonely
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Not gonna single out the person who posted it but this kind of 'how many doors have you knocked?' mindset is detrimental to Labour selecting effective candidates
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Going to try and get out and about a bit more than I have done of late, to places I've not been to before in particular, and write up what I see, hear and feel. This is the first note from Chichester.
joshwesterling.substack.com
Notes from England: Chichester
Historic, ordinary, lonely
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Kinda feels like a misguided attempt by Timmy Taylor's to become the next Guinness. As the article notes the trends are already in its favour but I'm not sure a metro Madri Man rebrand achieves much. Would make more sense to lean into Gen Z nostalgia through the previous branding.
thegrocer.co.uk
Timothy Taylor’s targets Gen Z with first rebrand in a decade
Around 25% of Gen Zs now regularly order cask beer, according to a survey by the Society for Independent Brewers and Associates
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I does feel like something zeitgeisty going on (beyond this article) that communitarians should see as an opportunity, where people are increasingly seeing the value of connection, relationships etc. + are being turned off from the online. But it'd need to be built upon to be a egalitarian movement.
theguardian.com
Community-maxxing: gen Z are done with doomscrolling – and ready to socialise
Research shows young adults often feel isolated. So alongside embracing ‘grandma hobbies’, they want to get involved with the places they live and be good neighbours
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James Bloodworth @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I’ve written for The Times about the rise of loneliness among young men and why the problem may be less about men failing to “open up” than the disappearance of the places and institutions where friendships once formed almost by accident. www.thetimes.com/life-style/h...
thetimes.com
There’s an epidemic of loneliness among young men. Here’s why
Men aged 18 to 29 spend more than two-fifths of their waking hours alone — and it’s bad for them
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
So many people in this wretched affair are incapable of registering the idea that the black people involved are in fact real people, rather than being rhetorical props for whatever unrelated point they wish to make.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This is a good provocation. Would suggest a step before listening to the little guys which - at least in Labour / adjacent circles - is actually thinking about them at all. Something else that doesn't really factor into the thinking is the felt experience of working in an SME vs. a larger org.
futureoftheleft.substack.com
Listening to the little guys
A series on the politics of production.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Andy's comms has been so good that no one has heard about the Commonwealth games and only heard about the eclipse yesterday
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Now just seen a vid of horses galloping through the scorched New Forest...
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Seeing the 'woke 1' discourse on X from across the pond (disavowing that politics) makes me think that it is probs an example of where the Americans have followed us rather than the other way around?
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
If Sullivan goes to the game tomorrow I think we all make it very, very clear that he is not wanted anywhere near our club. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
bbc.co.uk
David Sullivan expected to attend West Ham's EFL Cup tie v Portsmouth despite advice not to
David Sullivan is expected to attend Saturday's EFL Cup first-round tie against Portsmouth despite being advised to stay away from home matches at the London Stadium.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
If this is true then it is bad advice. But my sense is that Andy will just be like 'no?' and keep going as he is.
thetimes.com
Andy Burnham told to be less ‘blokeish’ on social media
A No 10 team has advised the prime minister, an avid Everton fan, to also tone down the football chat as it tries to appeal to wider online audience
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Andy is really compelling talking about the feeling of leaving home, what it feels like to come back, and the sense of being slightly out of place. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aRi...
youtube.com
Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Imposter Syndrome, Failed Leadership Bids and Finding Hope
YouTube video by How To Fail with Elizabeth Day
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Anoosh Chakelian @anooshc.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
There's more to Andy Burnham's premiership than vibes - my @newstatesman1913.bsky.social column this week on the intellectual project behind him:
newstatesman.com
Are we living under “woke Blue Labour”?
To understand Burnhamism, look back to 2010
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Nice to see my piece for @mainstreamlabour.bsky.social on how Manchesterism should put people and place first featured in the Future of the Left newsletter.
open.substack.com
Newsletter #21: Too Parochial?
It’s the Right’s turn to be out of touch
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Amazing picture in The Times capturing the weirdness of Heatwave
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Indeed. It’s just not that deep, you shouldn’t call for your political opponents to be killed, even as an “edgy” joke.
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John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This is terrific — on Larkin, Labour and Burnham
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I think part of what's going on is it landing within a context of wider Gen Z nostalgia (sometimes for not v long ago) + nostalgia being a potent emotional resource within a Labour context specifically?
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
For me, what was compelling about Burnham's approach in Greater Manchester was on display the day Josh Simons stepped down - whilst Burnham could not be in the room, the people and organisations he put trust in kept things going. It was a demonstrably different way of doing politics.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
A short 🧵on digital content and attention. Yday No.10 was getting stick on X for this 'then and now' video showing the PM and some of the cabinet as children and now in their current position. The kickback was overblown but it does tell you a couple things.
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Great essay by Rich and Ed.
renewal.org.uk
Manchesterism and the search for a progressive communitarian politics
This week, Renewal will be publishing a series of reflections on the direction that Andy Burnham's new government could or should take. First up, Ed Wallis and Rich Bell highlight the 'progressive com...
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Over the summer Burnham needs to practice an attentional politics and visibly show he stands against vested interests and will take the fight to them. That + his ability to connect with ordinary people needs to be played up as much as poss. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Burnham too influenced by ‘vested interests’ to offer change, Polanski says
Exclusive: Green party launches pushback against idea that next PM will have more left-leaning agenda than Starmer
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Heatwave has made me feel disorientated, like we've arrived in a new England suddenly and now need to grieve and adapt.
open.substack.com
Heatwave: disorientation and a new England
Goodbye old England?
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Jonny Ball right to see Burnham as a possible conduit for 'normie populism'
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
This could be good if done right. Got to be comfortable with risk and not overly stage manage it. Rather than broadcast at people, it should be Andy in conversation with the people, listening and responding to them. Should be a series of long form content to accompany it which can then be clipped.
theguardian.com
Burnham plans summer tour of UK to win over voters in Labour ‘danger zones’
Exclusive: Prospective PM wants to give the country a hopeful message, in contrast with Starmer’s early missteps
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Think this is both a compelling argument for and critique of progressive politics.
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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Pervert glasses should absolutely be banned. And in the meantime, it should be considered socially unacceptable both to buy them, and to work at Meta.
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AE Snow @demofuturist.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I do think this piece is vindicated as a political strategy. That said it also covers the dangers of an approach that optimises only for partisanship. Partisanship can help you shift the distribution in your favour. But policy as fan service will blow up if you’re not strategic on where to use it
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Josh Westerling @joshwesterling.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
This is absolutely key for me - can see signs Burnham / people and orgs around him get the importance of strong digital comms and a core narrative but focus has (understandably) been on the policy programme meaning that has not yet translated into consistent attentional political practise
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