iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Here's the whole letter, published on 14 November 1849.

The letter exceeds the character limit for Alt-Text, but there's a transcript at https://fs.blog/charles-dickens-to-the-times/

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Public executions were not abolished out of tenderness towards the criminal. They were abolished because of the effect on the people watching, and the dangers of making human death a source of commercial entertainment. Here's Charles Dickens in The Times, after witnessing an execution in 1849.

"I have seen, habitually, some of the worst sources of general contamination and corruption in this country, and I think there are not many phases of London life that could surprise me. I am solemnly convinced that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done in this city, in the same compass of time, could work such ruin as one public execution, and I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits. I do not believe that any community can prosper where such a scene of horror and demoralization as was enacted this morning outside Horsemonger Lane Gaol is presented at the very doors of good citizens, and is passed by, unknown or forgotten. And when in our prayers and thanksgivings for the season we are humbly expressing before God our desire to remove the moral evils of the land, I would ask your readers to consider whether it is not a time to think of this one, and to root it out.

I am, Sir, your faithful Servant.
Charles Dickens".

131252443

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

It's not like puffing up a fantasy version of a leader hasn't had consequences in the past...

Montage of newspaper front-pages hailing Liz Truss.

0342

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

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...

044

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

That's why PR backers have often been the *most* hostile to AV. At best, they might see it as getting voters used to the idea of voting preferentially. But it doesn't achieve the things that most advocates of PR actually want.

Those were not small gains, but they offered few of the things that critics of First Past the Post actually wanted. AV would not improve the representation of minorities; on the contrary, its very purpose was to ensure ‘that none but the majority sends a representative here’. It would not increase the range of parties represented at Westminster; it might even stifle new entrants, by requiring them to win an absolute majority of the constituency. It would not prevent parties winning disproportionate majorities in the House of Commons; indeed, calculations suggested that the landslides of 1900 and 1906 might have been bigger, not smaller, than under First Past the Post. For that reason, as had been the case before the War, it was often the advocates of PR who led the charge against AV. Critics denounced it as the ‘reversal’ and ‘antithesis of proportional representation’; a measure not for the representation of minorities but for ‘the aggrandisement of majorities’.

010

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Looking forward to tonight's sell-out lecture at the @mileendinstitute.bsky.social by the brilliant @iandunt.bsky.social. He'll be discussing how well Britain is governed and how brilliantly things are going, in "How Westminster Works ... and Why It (Still) Doesn't".

2265

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Getting some expert help with tomorrow's lecture.

A handsome cat looks thoughtfully at the computer screen. A human is also in shot.

3872

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I generally ignore royal stories, but there's something deeply tawdry about the saturation coverage here. It's basically one person's word against another, involving the parents of two real people who've probably suffered enough from their private grief being treated like primetime entertainment.

Umpteen links on the BBC News page about the Earl Spencer allegations.

2026030

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Not sure about the new Borrowers remake.

4463

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

An end of term gift from my Thatcher special subject class! The pictures only appear when you put hot water in.

180

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Fixed that story about Sir Jim Ratcliffe on the BBC.

Picture of man smiling with tea-mug. Headline reads: "Non-Billionaire who actually lives in the UK and pays its taxes says he has lost confidence in the super-rich", with sub-header: 'One of Britain's taxpayers says he has lost confidence in billionaires, describing them as "on the take"".

18751215

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

There was a good piece on this in @theguardian.com the other day, suggesting that even some Telegraph journalists are uneasy about this. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/s...

26723

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"UK's 'dismal' Eurovision song choices to be examined by MPs". Surely the solution is obvious...

Andy Burnham tearing up the stage with an acoustic guitar.

139221

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In 1880, Gladstone returned as PM - even though he wasn't actually the party leader. "There is nothing for it but to die like gentlemen", said Disraeli - and in 1881 he did exactly that. When Victoria asked to see him, he sighed "It is best not. She would only want me to take a message to Albert".

170

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

His most famous appeal came at Dalkeith in 1879, to an audience of women. None of them could vote, of course (in a reminder of the limits of his liberalism, Gladstone opposed votes for women) but this was part of his wider appeal to "the conscience of the people".

150

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

For the next two years, Gladstone lead a national crusade against Disraelian foreign policy - not just in the Balkans but in Afghanistan, South Africa & India. In a new style of campaigning he gave speeches at railway stations, addressed audiences of women & ran the first national election campaign

140

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

As the chapels rallied around Gladstone, so another wing of the public mobilised behind Disraeli. When Russian troops poured into Turkey, a new word entered the English language: "Jingoism", from the chorus of a popular music-hall song. Queen Victoria campaigned openly for war on Russia.

"We don't want to fight, but “by Jingo!” if we do,
We've got the guns, we've got the boats, we've got the money too;
We've fought the bear before, and if we're Britons true;
The Russians shall not have Constantinople!"

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

For Gladstone, this was a great moral crisis in which Britain, as the traditional protector of Turkey, was complicit. For Disraeli, the priority was to keep the Russian Empire out of the Balkans. But Liberals accused him of turning his back on mass slaughter and making jokes about torture.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Their conflict reached its zenith in 1876. Gladstone had retired as leader and gone to write books on religion. But in 1876, news broke of atrocities in Bulgaria committed by the Turkish Empire - which Britain had protected in the Crimean War. Gladstone's response became an instant bestseller.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Gladstone abhorred "this constant system of appeal to our selfish leanings". He accused Disraeli of corrupting the people & turning himself into an "emperor". He warned that "Enlargements of the Empire are for us an evil". "We are hindered, embarrassed, weakened, by the weight of our engagements".

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Cartoonists portrayed "Dizzy" as a magician, a tightrope walker or a gymnast, pulling off dazzling feats of political prestidigitation. His premiership was marked by spectacular acts of imperial theatre: buying the Suez Canal, making Victoria Empress of India, sending the fleet to Constantinople.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

If Gladstone was a preacher, Disraeli was a poet, who believed that "imagination governs mankind". He once wrote: "I have a continental mind. A revolutionary mind. I am only truly great in action". If Gladstone appealed to the conscience of the nation, Disraeli sought to light up its imagination.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Gladstone had thought of becoming a priest. Instead, he made politics a priesthood. He came to believe that the masses were the conscience of the nation. So at great moments of crisis, he would head into the country and address mass demonstrations on questions of finance or foreign policy.

140

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The two men could hardly have been more different. Disraeli was funny, irreverent and romantic: a novelist whose great hero was the poet Byron. Gladstone was earnest, tormented and intensely moralistic, with a burning sense of sin. Cartoonists invariably showed him battling some great moral evil.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In Scotland, there was a mania for "the Gladstone tartan". Doctors carried "Gladstone bags", and all sorts of pills and medical devices promised the benefits of Gladstone's iron constitution.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Whole merchandising industries developed, supplying Gladstone and Disraeli memorabilia. Liberals could buy Gladstone family dollies or cultivate "the Gladstone Pea" on their allotments. Liberals could buy Disraeli mugs, plates and figurines, or use the Gladstone chamber pot to vent their feelings.

130

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The rivalry between Gladstone and Disraeli stretched over half a century. They were the greatest parliamentarians of their age, but also the first to build mass followings in the country. Cartoonists portrayed them as actors, boxers or wrestlers, battling before crowds of cheering supporters.

140

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This week on @ppfideas.bsky.social, we explore "Gladstone, Disraeli & the Bulgarian Horrors": the last great battle between the two towering politicians of the Victorian age. It's a story of empire, religion, mass protest & soaring oratory. Here's a quick taster...🧵 www.ppfideas.com/episodes/now...

1245

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

My landlord has hit on a cunning plan for catching birds. (He has never caught a bird).

A hungry cat stands on the bird bath, hoping birds will fly into his mouth.

2460

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Indeed. Lord Rosebery gave a famous speech on this subject in Glasgow in 1901.

‘An empire such as ours requires as its first condition an imperial race – a race vigorous and industrious and intrepid. … In the great cities, in the rookeries and slums which still survive, an imperial race cannot be reared. That is a rift in the cornerstone of your Commonwealth’.‘Remember, then, that when you promote health and arrest disease … you in doing your duty are also working for the Empire’. For ‘there is not a close in the darkest quarters of Glasgow, or a crofter’s cabin in the Hebrides, which is not a matter of imperial concern’.

140

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Winston Churchill (inevitably) presented welfare policy in explicitly military terms. Here he is in 1909, when he was a Liberal battling for the "People's Budget".

The greatest danger to the British Empire and to the British people is not to be found among the enormous fleets and armies of the European Continent, nor in the solemn problems of Hindustan … No, it is here in our midst, close at home, close at hand in the vast growing cities of England and Scotland, and in the dwindling and cramped villages of our denuded countryside. It is there you will find the seeds of Imperial ruin and national decay – the unnatural gap between rich and poor, the divorce of the people from the land, the want of proper discipline and training in our youth, the exploitation of boy labour, the physical degeneration which seems to follow so swiftly on civilised poverty … Here are the enemies of Britain. Beware lest they shatter the foundations of her power.
Then look at the other side, look at the forces for good, the moral forces, the spiritual forces, the civic, the scientific, the patriotic forces which make for order and harmony and health and life. Are they not tremendous too? Do we not see them everywhere, in every town, in every class, in every creed, strong forces worthy of Old England, coming to her rescue, fighting for her soul? That is the situation in our country as I see it this afternoon—two great armies evenly matched, locked in fierce conflict with each other all along the line, swaying backwards and forwards in strife—and for my part I am confident that the right will win, that the generous influences will triumph over the selfish influences, that the organising forces will devour the forces of degeneration, and that the British people will emerge triumphant from their struggles to clear the road and lead the march amongst the foremost nations of the world.

23311

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"You can't be a successful dictator and design women's underclothing". "No, sir". "One or the other, not both". "Precisely, sir."

"The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting 'Heil, Spode!' and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: 'Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?"

07810

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If the police operation against this bunch isn't called "Operation Eulalie", something is badly wrong. (One for the Wodehouse fans).

A bunch of perfect perishers in footer-bags.

420627

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Leading a gang of masked men in black to intimidate the media is wrong, whether it's the Daily Mail or the parish magazine. And posting "There will be no threats. There will be no intimidation" is just nonsense when you're bringing a masked gang with you.

Picture (from the Daily Mail) of Daniel Thomas with his masked blackshorts, and the caption "Balaclava-clad anti-migrant activists led by convicted criminal "Danny Tommo" stage latest protest outside Daily Mail office".

912625

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Something well understood in the 1975 referendum.

381

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's an amazing story, featuring dazzling oratory, new American campaigning techniques, an appeal to the consciences of the people, the first truly "national" election campaign, and a man who was not leader of his party running for Parliament to be prime minister. www.ppfideas.com/episodes/now...

Gladstone as a knight in armour stands over the defeated body of his great foe, Disraeli.

0181

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Dan Chater, whose Bethnal Green constituency had a large Jewish population, was one of many MPs to warn of the scapegoating of Jews and immigrants. The Jewish peer Lord Reading warned that antisemitism was being whipped up as part of a wider attack on "the free institutions of this country".

I am convinced that this constant preaching night after night, this implanting of the idea in the minds of the people that practically all their troubles are due to the Jews who reside there, must sooner or later lead to an outbreak of disorder directed especially to the pillage and destruction of Jewish property.
I have watched the whole growth of this kind of propaganda in the East End and I am not afraid to state that, observing it as carefully as one can, it coincides in every particular with the methods, the manner of the propaganda and the psychology which was created in other lands and which led to the establishment of dictatorships there.

233555

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Labour's leader in the Lords, Henry Snell, noted the Fascist intolerance of heckling - something we have seen again this week. He added that "If our British people were persuaded [by Fascism], then the uniform that would be appropriate for them would be not a black shirt but a strait jacket".

The modern Fascist considers himself entitled to maltreat anyone in an audience who shows distrust of Fascist omniscience by asking a question. Heckling is a very old and cherished liberty of English political life. … But these dismal Jew-baiters cannot be satisfied with what generations of Englishmen have found satisfactory.

440288

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Herbert Morrison, for Labour, told MPs that this was "not the Bill of a political party". It was "responding to the demand of everything that is decent, everything that is good, everything that is fine in British public opinion." He then warned of the dangers of uniforms and of foreign funding.

The uniform in politics is an attempt to evolve a new authority, a rival authority to the authority of the State, the authority of the civilian police and the authority of local government. Secondly, it is a uniform that marches en masse, in military formation, with military precision, subject to military orders.
Nor can we ignore what has happened in this connection in foreign countries. It is significant to note that the technique which is being followed by this organisation more and more resembles the technique of the Nazis in Germany. If some of us are suspicious that the money which is necessary to buy that technique and its application in Great Britain may come from German sources, is that an unreasonable suspicion? I think it is probable that it does.

238684

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The Conservative Attorney-General, Lord Somervell, warned of the danger of letting small problems fester.

democracies in other parts of the world have gone down because they had not the courage to deal at a sufficiently early stage with movements or with methods which were really subversive and contradictory of the fundamentals of democracy. That is a very true observation for us to have in mind. Those hon. Members who say, "There has been nothing very serious so far" – I am not sure that they are right – would do well to bear in mind … that if there is something here which is radically antagonistic to what we believe are the right methods of constitutional and democratic government, then the sooner this House lays down what it believes to be the right principles and the right methods, the better.

238777

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)

You cannot conduct a fair match when one side is playing with a ball and the other with bombs and, if democracy is to survive, it must be conducted according to definite and recognised rule. One of them is that no political party should resort to any weapon other than reason and argument. The introduction of private armies, as I see it, strikes at the root of democracy. I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld. … Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force. It is no argument to reply that at this or that demonstration no force is intended. It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future.

4123711265

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Lots of Reform UK stories on the Express's politics page, but I'm sure something is missing.

511515

Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Not a word of the donations scandal on the Daily Telegraph's dedicated Reform UK section this morning:

Screenshot of Telegraph online's Reform UK page.

413731