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Reposted by Michael Chessum

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 06/10/2026

‘Burnham said that the National Care Service will be introduced “in the next parliament” and electoral reform will be a “manifesto commitment”. He struck the pose of a leader already in campaign mode.’ @michaelchessum.bsky.social on the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/oc...

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Election Time?

If the radical agenda is real, it points to an early general election. Burnham said that the National Care Service will...

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

We are heading for an early election. The longer Burnham attempts to govern without a fresh mandate, the more he will be dragged to the right. In winter, as a cost of living crisis hits, he will face a decision. A blog for the @lrb.co.uk

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Election Time?

If the radical agenda is real, it points to an early general election. Burnham said that the National Care Service will...

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

Ukraine Solidarity Campaign 🇺🇦✊🏽🚩 @ukrainesol.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

"Four years ago I woke up to my house shaking and the sound of bombs exploding outside..." Green Party activist Valentina Butenko calls on members to support motion E29, "Strengthening solidarity with Ukraine", coming up at the party's Spring conference (28 March, online)

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Always nice to have a place in history. I'll be speaking at this next Thursday.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Next time anyone talks about "Labour values", just remember: from yesterday, refugee status in the UK will be temporary - for just 30 months. People will arrive fleeing torture and death, and we'll tell them they can't put down roots and might get sent back. That's their policy.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

An underpriced consequence of this year's local elections is just how dependent Labour's campaign machine now is on its councillors, with membership and morale on the floor. If they lose their army of paid canvassers, they will really struggle to recover.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Turns out you can call a leaflet drop for a single ward in Brixton at less than a week's notice on Valentines Day and... about 30 people show up.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Isn't the obvious outcome of the Labour leadership crisis (Burnham blocked, Rayner stalled by HMRC, Streeting damaged, Miliband not wanting it, Al Carns too bizarre) that Lucy Powell does it? Can't help feeling that if she was (a) right wing and (b) a bloke, everyone would think it obvious.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Starmer, McSweeney et al liked Mandelson because he was: - amoral ("the Prince of Darkness") - factional ("every single day...") - in with the elite ("intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich") You can't like someone for those reasons and then act surprised about all this.

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 01/02/2026

‘Manchesterism is a clever branding exercise, giving geographical roots to a broad political vision. For the establishment centre-left, it represents an alternative to Starmer’s bond market orthodoxy.’ @michaelchessum.bsky.social on the blocking of Andy Burnham. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ja...

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Who’s afraid of Andy Burnham?

In the wreckage of the neoliberal order they once championed, there are a number of paths available to Europe’s social...

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Who's afraid of Andy Burnham? I wrote this for the @lrb.co.uk blog about the Labour Right's public breakdown; 'Manchesterism'; and why Burnham could be Britain's answer to Pedro Sanchez.

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Who’s afraid of Andy Burnham?

In the wreckage of the neoliberal order they once championed, there are a number of paths available to Europe’s social...

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

If you can turn this many people out in minus 3 before term time to make plans and knock doors, you're not doing badly. The Green surge is real, and I have a feeling it is about to hit London with a force that will surprise a lot of pundits.

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

Sol Gamsu @solgamsu.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

A few snaps from that demo (ft. @michaelchessum.bsky.social)

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

It's looked inevitable for a while, but grim news from Chile, where Kast (open Pinochet fan) has won the Presidency comfortably. Four years ago, a serious left candidate won for the first time since Allende, and it looked like Chile would get a new constitution. Now, god knows.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

I know we're supposed to be cynical about these things, but it's worth pausing and reflecting that the UK has political prisoners. And that eight people are nearing death on hunger strike. And that this whole situation - including the ban on Palestine Action - is the policy of a Labour government.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

15 years ago, Britain's streets were the scene of a mass youth revolt. If it had taken place under a Starmer government, we would have ended up in prison. We don't just need slick media performers - we need disruptive movements that can change things 'from below'. For @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

newstatesman.com

Bring back the spirit of the 2010 student fees protests

We need their rampant disdain for the Establishment more than ever

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

"I cannot BELIEVE Zack Polanski said he didn't want to wipe people's bums has he no respect for these people and no we won't pay them properly are you kidding, bond markets won't like that, and by the way we're literally banning their families from the country."

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

One week on from the Budget, it's clear the government has raised the tax to GDP ratio enough to give Reform an easy "Labour spent all the money" narrative. But they're not doing much with it. People's lives are not going to improve. The geniuses present: the worst of all worlds. Again.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

This weekend, Your Party members are discovering a culture of bureaucratic control freakery. It's the same tendency that shut down Momentum's democracy, blocked Open Selections, witch hunted critics and demanded obedience. Those of us who opposed it then were branded wreckers. So, now you know.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Net migration has plummeted. Contrary to all the lies we've been told, wages aren't about to go up. Instead, we will find that we have no one to build the houses we need, and a worsening NHS staffing crisis. And a lot of young people emigrating from rainy fascism island.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

In under 18 months, this government has: - backed long prison sentences for climate activists - prosecuted 2,000 people *as terrorists* for holding signs opposing genocide - announced the end of trial by jury for almost all cases Have we ever had a more authoritarian government?

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

Left Foot Forward @left-foot-forward.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

"Greens aren’t afraid to say what so many people already believe: that clean water shouldn’t be a privilege, and pollution shouldn’t be profitable," writes Councillor Martin Abrams @martinabrams.bsky.social leftfootforward.org/2025/11/when...

leftfootforward.org

When the River Turns Brown: Why I Left Labour for the Greens

Councillor Martin Abrams left Labour for the Green Party over a key issue: the 'catastrophic failure' of Thames Water

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Surely Labour MPs realise that voting for the nastiest border regime in Europe will lose them their seats. "They'll vote for this shit holding their nose" doesn't work if we're wading in it. We'll put it on every leaflet, through every door: they want to repeat the Windrush scandal every year.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Number of refugees per 1,000 people: 🇱🇧 Lebanon: 137 🇩🇪 Germany: 31 🇸🇪 Sweden: 23 🇧🇪 Belgium: 14 🇳🇱 Netherlands: 13 🇬🇧 UK: 6.5 We are not a "generous country". There is no crisis, other than a bankrupt political elite scapegoating the most vulnerable people on Earth.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

The good news: Jeannette Jara, the candidate of the left, has won the first round of the Chilean Presidential election. The bad news: she will face José Antonio Kast, an open Pinochet fan, in the run off. He will be the favourite, with the right and far right having won a majority of the vote.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

The thing about the people who run the Labour Party is that they're not very good at politics, which is a shame because that's their only job. Their next act of genius is to copy Denmark's "tough" (far right) migration policy to stop the far right. In fact, the Danish far right is surging:

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

A thing I've grown to enjoy recently is people who say Polanski can't be left wing because he was a Lib Dem ten years ago. Usually they combine this view with being a super fan of Tony Benn, the establishment minister who once described himself as being "on the right wing of the middle of the road"

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

Prometheus Magazine @prometheusmagazine.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Sortition is sold as the solution to our democratic deficit. Michael Chessum argues that it is a chimaera ripe for undemocratic manoeuvres. prometheusjournal.org/2025/11/04/a...

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 01/11/2025

‘Zack Polanski is a former Liberal Democrat who talks about expropriating the rich; the Greens are a small environmentalist party transforming into a mass party of the left.’ @michaelchessum.bsky.social on the Green Party’s renaissance, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Green New Left

Zack Polanski, the new leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, says he wants to replace Labour. That still seems...

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

If the Greens really were to replace Labour, this is what the early build-up might look. Some thoughts for the @lrb.co.uk on the new left gathering around @zackpolanski.bsky.social, the contingent nature of green parties, and why this surge confounds commentators on left and right.

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Green New Left

Zack Polanski, the new leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, says he wants to replace Labour. That still seems...

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Reposted by Michael Chessum

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 31/10/2025

‘Anti-capitalism and environmentalism are common bedfellows. But both the Green Party’s activists and its sceptics would do well to avoid reading its fortunes off a script written abroad or in the past.’ @michaelchessum.bsky.social on the Green New Left. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...

lrb.co.uk

Michael Chessum | Green New Left

Zack Polanski, the new leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, says he wants to replace Labour. That still seems...

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

ID cards are an almost perfect piece of stupidity, designed to win over Reform voters because they like authoritarianism and state action. Except Reform voters deeply mistrust the state (look at covid). And they want it to be authoritarian to people who *aren't them*.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Fun fact: my daughter was born the same day Zack became leader. Since then, like the party, she has roughly doubled in size. By 2029, the Greens will have about a trillion members. And Ella will be the largest organism on Earth, weighing the equivalent of 400 blue whales. Crazy times we live in.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

This autumn business was absolutely fine until it started raining properly, wasn't it.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

It's properly happening - a whoosh of momentum not seen since the summer of 2015. The Greens are no longer a minor party. We're third on members and, in many cities, second on votes. The prize is not a few more councillors, it is kicking the doors down on the political system.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

On the left: the people who have an inalienable right to attend any football match. On the right: the people who must be sent to prison as terrorists.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Listening to the radio thinking "why are they talking about the suspect's nationality? This news bulletin is basically a Reform broadcast." And realising that the government literally told them to. It turns out it is possible to die of stupidity, and the Labour Right is doing it.

bbc.co.uk

Police given new guidance on releasing suspects' nationalities and ethnicities

Police forces will be encouraged to release a suspect's details in a move aimed at combating misinformation.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

The rate of the Green membership surge is accelerating, not dropping off. We're now on 110,000 members - 5,000 in a single day. If you think the Greens overtaking Labour is impossible, consider suspending your disbelief.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

4.5 million children live in poverty in the UK. Child poverty is growing - on Labour's watch. This government's answer? Cut more, attack benefit claimants, and don't even think about bringing back Sure Start. But sure, here's Gordon, have some nostalgia.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

A month ago, I was certain Your Party was going to outnumber the Greens. Now the Greens are the home of the left surge. If you think Corbyn and Sultana sound awkward justifying Your Party's separate existence to activists, just imagine having to do it with actual voters.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Licensing laws in this country are ridiculous, restrictive and based in a mixture of postwar paternalism and victorian moralism. We should deregulate them as a reclamation of public space and collective joy, not "for growth", but deregulation is absolutely what needs to happen.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

This is dystopian and will consolidate Britain's status as an increasingly authoritarian state when it comes to protest. It is also stupid, because if your problem is thousands of people showing up to be arrested, threatening them with arrest is unlikely to deter.

theguardian.com

Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office

Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Attending my first Green conference as a member, it's remarkable how friendly and curious everyone is. I think it's a mistake to regard that as unserious. Contrary to what Labour hack school teaches you, being a self-important control freak is not likeable or electable. #gpconf

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

83% of Green Party members back an electoral pact with Your Party. I've put forward a motion to #gpconf25 that would make it party policy to pursue an alliance. It's amendment 1 to motion D14. If you're at conference and (big if) if we get to debate it, please support it.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

You've fled torture and death. You've made it across thousands of miles. You've won your asylum claim in a rigged system. You're traumatised. And the Starmer government says "you can stay, but you'll be alone and your family are staying where the danger is". Unfathomably evil.

theguardian.com

Starmer to end asylum ‘golden ticket’ of resettlement and family reunion rights

People granted asylum will have to earn right to invite family in plan charities call ‘straight from populist playbook’

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

ID cards are a genius idea because they combine: - being really expensive - being really unpopular - focussing on illegal immigration, I.e. Reform's main talking point It's a level of strategic genius we haven't seen since the disability benefit cuts.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

It is politics by ego. This is what you get when you place the hopes of the left in the hands of celebrities and their bag-carriers, without nourishing the capacity to self-organise. The farce of recent days is the logical end point of that political method. For @novaramedia.com.

novaramedia.com

The New Party Fallout Shows That Hero-Worship Gets Us Nowhere | Novara Media

The public split between Your Party co-founders Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana shows how building mass movements around leftwing celebrities doesn’t work, argues Michael Chessum.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Our political class has a special kind of collective psychosis. Two years into a genocide, after arming the perpetrators, they draw themselves up to their fullest height, clear their throats, and say: "we recognise the existence of the victims". And we are supposed to stand and applaud.

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Michael Chessum @michaelchessum.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

One of the few positive things about the events of the past few days is that it blows apart the culture of loyalism that has blighted the British left since 2015. Blindly defend whatever the leader is doing? Which one? Oh no, guess we'd better organise and think for ourselves.

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