iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

1. Two thoughts on the AB speech A) Just more — much more — ground traversed with big political arguments than the average leader’s speech. Not just care/pensions, but PR, housing/property, Brexit etc etc B) Almost exactly in tune with the median LP member on nearly all these topics

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Where can I place a bet that within 24 hours Unherd runs an irritating column on Burnham and the 'feminisation' of the Labour Party/British Politics?

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'The Westminster government’s contribution to funding domestic undergraduates studying in England fell in real terms from £8.9 billion in 2012-13 to just £3.3bn in 2024-25, a drop of more than 60 per cent, an analysis has found.'

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Shay O’Reilly @shaygabriel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I honestly suspect that the recent QAA podcast on the state department under Trump is a better overview for European governments than whatever briefings they’ve been getting. podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/g...

podcasts.apple.com

Great Replacement Theory at the State Department feat. Josef Burton (E390)

Podcast Episode · QAA Podcast · 25 September · 1hr 26min

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I get the appeal & political value of nostalgia. But Cortonwood colliery closed 40 yrs ago. The site is now a shopping & leisure centre. I really want a government that proceeds from analysis of now not a past it imagines ‘hope’ can bring back. History matters. So do sociology & Political Economy.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

V good. “Indie” became a pastiche of ‘authentic’ Englishness (against electronic, international, dance music). There are big risks to Labour’s pastiche of that pastiche: making policy for an imaginary nation inspired by The Who rather than a real one half into Olivia Rodrigo & half into Skrewdriver.

willd10.substack.com

The meaning of Johnny Marr

And of not talking about Morrissey

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

yes my bull went rogue in your china shop but I think we can all agree there’s no liability here it’s an agentic being

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

They’re talking about Fabians coz they think that’s when Marxists first hid (original logo was a wolf in sheeps clothing); along with Tavistock it’s ground zero for critical theory/cultural Marxism. An was an obscure in 1980s but now sorta mainstream in MAGA/Reform. I’m sure Braverman thinks this.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This, from a Starmer adviser is worth reading for several reasons. One is this: he thinks digital post-material politics is ‘expressive’. It’s not. It’s participatory. It looks expressive because participation is blocked & has nowhere to go becoming more shrill. You have to give people things to do.

futureoftheleft.substack.com

What is politics for?

Do we still live in a material world?

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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

An excellent&long overdue essay on British (lack of) resilience, explaining just how dependent the UK is on circumstances it cannot guarantee itself, and why protecting your security means a lot more than to just spend more money on arms (although that is necessary, too). www.ft.com/content/ba80...

ft.com

How resilient is Britain?

As climate and geopolitical risks cast doubt on the UK’s ability to cope in a crisis, leaders are turning from ‘just in time’ to ‘just in case’ as a governing philosophy

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Wait, what? There’s a Secretary of State for Culture?

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Nick Garland @npjgarland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Kind of grimly fascinating as always, coming from the former director of strategy to a Labour PM. There just isn't a future for a centre-left politics that is this hostile to pretty basic progressive values.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

For once I am VERY interested in Labour Conference esp. 'the speech'. We'll learn a lot from it (and get a strong sense of what our fate in this country will be: the status quo and further decline into barbarism or a collective new course which we can all (well most) help row towards...(1/x)

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I watched the 70-up finale. Finally it really is about the English class system - the rise of the media/cultural 'intelligentsia' gazing at society from "outside", judging everyone in it by their standards & pretending to be 'the public'. Then all types unite against them. That's the 21st Century!

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I hear AI changes everything but I'll stick my neck out & say that right now weight loss drugs (GLP-1s) are having a more fundamental impact on our culture: on food production, eating out, the labour market in hospitality etc. & that's before we consider the wider behaviour changes the drugs induce.

thegrocer.co.uk

The weight-loss boom reshaping the dairy sector

For GLP-1 users with smaller appetites, every calorie counts - and dairy is caught in the crossroads of functionality and indulgence

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It would be "over video" if somehow it was filming the slashing that was the offence, but it clearly isn't!

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

What's the threshold beyond which hacking a government isn't a crime but a mistake? Teenagers get deported for it. Extortion via ransomware is still wrong, right? But if your company has a certain size, fame or market cap, it's not crime? Or is it power? Asking for a friend in a rogue state.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"Could the Shit Machine END WORLD HUNGER? It’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE in the most LITERAL SENSE, which is all the justification we need to invest an AMOUNT OF MONEY that would OTHERWISE BY ITSELF END ACTUAL WORLD HUNGER".

mcsweeneys.net

We Must Create the Shit Machine

“For as long as humans have created SHIT with our BODIES AND BUTTS, we have been asking this FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION: What if there were a COMPUTER that could A...

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

There are so many crimes in this thread you have to wonder what the police and Home Secretary think they are doing at this point.

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Simon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Anyone know what on earth the shadow chancellor is talking about here? Alarming that the Times, who used to be a serious newspaper, would publish this economically illiterate misleading gobbledygook.

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Nancy Mitford updated.

Sign with arrow in one direction saying Non EU and the other EU.

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Higher Education risks irreversible damage, says British Academy president Prof Susan Smith, with humanities and social sciences disciplines disappearing in many cold spots. BA is tracking subject provision & calling for a comprehensive review www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/stateme...

thebritishacademy.ac.uk

British Academy President: UK higher education crisis risks irreversible damage

As course closures, shrinking provision and widening regional inequalities threaten the future of UK higher education and research, President of the British Academy, Susan J Smith calls for an immedia...

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“The idea that preparing students to succeed in an AI-saturated world requires reimagining college as an AI incubator is not a sign of technological acumen, but of tech illiteracy. An LLM is not an aircraft requiring years of training to operate.” www.chronicle.com/article/harv...

chronicle.com

Opinion | The Ivy League’s Surrender to AI Is Insane

When college leaders drink the corporate Kool-Aid, the liberal arts die.

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It is genuinely a party which exists purely to process the feelings of people who didn't keep in touch with the old school mates when they went off to university like they said they would.

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

That challenge comes from malign foreign interference in British politics and society, direct challenges on the street to authority of the state, and an unprecedented influx of finance that significantly erodes democratic pluralism.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This is exactly right. It’s mystifying but suspect a political culture inside Labour sees sticking to rules of narrow policy making as the only sort of ‘serious’ politics, & dismisses big picture thinking as silly or indulgent. So the big picture guys in the US (mad as they are) are left unchecked.

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

As I keep pointing out, does no one understand Ricardian comparative advantage anymore. FACT: China produces over 1 million engineering graduates per year FACT: To date, China has not produced a single internationally marketable game show format Where does it look like our advantage lies?

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Universities UK has announced a target of 50% of students doing work-based learning by 2030. In 2025 HEPI reported that 68% of domestic undergraduates are in paid work in term-time. Can we not hold these two facts in mind simultaneously?

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Since interest in the Bayeux tapestry is timely here's a poem about it from my wife's collection (out earlier this year from Shearsman). It was inspired by a panel depicting the chainmail being stripped from some of the Saxons (see the image) - & by a general interest in bodies, fabrics & stitching.

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

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Sam @spinebusterkeaton.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I do also think regardless of the animus it’s a very bad idea - in a Weber kind of way - for any government to see a group taking to the street in uniform and imposing their will to not go, ”Um, excuse me? We’re the only game in town in that regard.”

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Stephen Bush, in the FT today writes that Labour “has now produced two governments whose response to acts of thuggery and intimidation is to reiterate that perhaps the thugs have a point”. A key question of political analysis is why Lab (and/or the British state) can’t/won’t be more decisive (x/?)

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Yuan Yang @yuanfenyang.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I’m honoured to be giving this year’s Rita Hinden Memorial Lecture for @renewaljournal.bsky.social, discussing what the “end of neoliberalism” means and the opportunities Andy Burnham’s premiership brings for fresh economic ideas. (1/2)

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.com · 05/09/2026

We have reached the fascist militia stage of mainstreaming and this emboldening is a direct consequence of mainstream elite treating far-right politics as "legitimate grievance" rather than tackling them head on www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

theguardian.com

Black-clad protesters in balaclavas block road at port of Dover in Kent

Traffic on A20 in and out of port grinds to halt as Kent police say they are in attendance and engaging with group

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Arife Kose @arifekose.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I'll do detailed analysis of this speech but here are some striking points: - The speech begins with Farage's ethos and ends with his and Britain's ethos. - From the security threat claim to the blitzer-like 100 days plan and declaration of 'national emergency',+ www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ovY...

youtube.com

FULL SPEECH: Nigel Farage Addresses Reform UK Conference Amid Explosive Donations Row | AC1G

YouTube video by DRM News

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Happy World Beard Day 🧔 We couldn’t let the day pass without celebrating one of the Library’s finest beards - accompanied, naturally, by four larks, a wren, two owls and a hen. A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear. Shelfmark: 12332.dd.1

An illustration of a man in a waistcoat with a large bushy beard, where four larks, a wren, two owls and a hen nest. The caption in this page from Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense reads: 'There was an old man with a beard, who said, "It is just as I feared! - Two owls and a hen, four larks and a wren, have all built their nests in my beard!"'

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Enjoying this series of @ppfideas.bsky.social on philosophers' lives. Am thinking about how English philosophers' (centuries old) desire to stop disputes turning irresolvably 'metaphysical' by managing language leaves them ill-equipped to deal with today's political metaphysicians so up for a fight.

ppfideas.com

Past Present Future podcast

Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology...

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I come back to one of the cheaper, most populist policies you could do is to create a 'BBC Sport' channel and ensure it has FTA rights to major live sporting events. Sport is one of our few remaining cultural unifiers. And the BBC is basically giving up on it - cutting budgets and abandoning icons

theguardian.com

BBC axes ‘iconic’ Ski Sunday winter sports show after nearly 50 years on TV

The BBC blamed changing viewing habits and financial concerns after dropping Ski Sunday, amid scrutiny over its approach to sports rights

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Rachel Rees @rachel-rees.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

As honoured as I am to see that The Times has picked up my Chagos article practically *word for word*, including my hard-gotten quotes, I’d prefer some credit — or for everyone to read my original FT piece! free link to read the evidently enviable article below (cheaper than a Times sub!) 🌴

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ProfAFinlayson @profafinlayson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Jodi Dean on the AI fantasy: closing the gap between a desire and its satisfaction. We learn to express our desire in language, to translate it & to negotiate with others’ competing desires. AI promises to do language for us, to express desire without mediation and leave us ‘free’ to be infantile.

jodi7768.substack.com

Who’s Your Mommy?

Absorbed in AI’s Embrace

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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

1. AFM, the labor union representing professional musicians in North America, is paying tribute to Dolly Parton, who was a member of its Nashville Local 257 for 58 years. AFM says that for decades, Dolly consistently filed union contracts for her recording sessions, live gigs and tours.

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Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Tonight BBC radio 4 ran an hour-long advert for “suicidal empathy” (the idea and book) on the Moral Maze, describing its author simply as a Canadian professor, without mentioning his enthusiasm for Great Replacement ideology nor calls for civil war in the UK. That does not seem ok.

Elon Must amplifying a tweet by Gad Saad “There will be civil war”

Musk’s comment: Civil war in Britain is inevitable. Just a question of when

Tweet from Gad Saad:

What you are seeing in Britain is precisely what I have been warning about for decades. It is not rocket science. If you take two cultures that are fundamentally antithetical to each other, you'll eventually find out that progressive coexistence is not going to work well. There is 1,400 years of unbelievably clear data that Westerners are choosing to ignore. Read chapters 6 and 7 of The Parasitic Mind and it will all become clear for you. Cure yourself of Ostrich Parasitic Syndrome. See the world as it is rather than the Unicornia that you wish existed.

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Dr. Bex @drbexphd.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Idk if there’s anyone following me who doesn’t understand this system, but just in case, all of this is real af

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