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Tom Mills

@tommills.bsky.social
3.1K followers 661 following 373 posts

Public sociologist & socialist. Interested in elites, knowledge & communication. Author of 'The BBC: Myth of a Public Service'.

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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 15h
It is now official Green policy to mutualise the BBC, creating 'democratic & representative forums of BBC members with guaranteed powers to oversee & shape BBC operations in key areas'. greenparty.org.uk/2026/10/03/g...
greenparty.org.uk
Greens adopt policy of mutualising the BBC  - Green Party
Green Party Conference passed a landmark motion today to shift media away from corporate control towards public participation, including mutualising the BBC.  Under this policy, the BBC would be mutua...
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I like the way she’s willing to believe in endless multi-tentacled globe-spanning conspiracies, but “Labour are corrupt and they work for millionaires, against the public interest” immediately explodes her brain.
Carole Cadwalladr Y @carolecadwalla
X.com
I'm still reeling from the @tom_watson / Palantir news. But I also think it will blow up in both their faces. It's so transparently desperate.
@andyburnham is going to have to respond to people's disgust & anger at Palantir's role in the
UK state.
Read the thread
THE NERVE @thenerve_news • 1d
Good morning @tom_watson
Your journey from MP who most understood the Cambridge Analytica scandal to paid-up Palanti...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
When I first researched the Israel lobby over a decade ago I argued they had largely given up on the 'battle of ideas' in the conventional sense & were focused on shoring up elite opinion.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I appreciate people were squeamish about sending George Bush II and Tony Blair to prison but straight up, that might actually have been a deterrent that might have prevented (waves hand at half the planet ablaze)
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
New post: 'Reform’s Donations are not Normal'. Plotted every donation in the Electoral Commission donations register in grey - and Reform's recent mega donations in red.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
As you can see from the graph there were already some mad outliers. We absolutely need a cap on individual donations.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
New post: 'Reform’s Donations are not Normal'. Plotted every donation in the Electoral Commission donations register in grey - and Reform's recent mega donations in red.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
'...having left the Today programme, perhaps I can now asseverate opinions that a fortnight ago would have got me sacked.... Today is no den of wokeness, trust me.' Think we can agree on that much. spectator.com/article/now-...
spectator.com
Now I’ve left Today, I can finally say what I really think…
Hello, what’s this I see before me? A blank page; and a pen unencumbered by the heavy weight of BBC News impartiality. I still present University Challenge, it’s true; but having left the Today progra...
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Sending me to prison won’t unembezzle the company pension fund, your honour
Britain's West Bank
sanctions will do nothing to help Palestinians
The measures do not match the theatrical rhetoric, may be hugely counter-productive and risk feeding the fire of antisemitism in this country
The Times View
Tuesday September 08 2026, 9.00pm BST, The Times
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Lovely interview with a far right activist on BBC radio this lunchtime.
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The Autonomy Institute @autonomy-institute.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
@autonomy-institute.bsky.social backs open letter calling on Andy Burnham to introduce a strong cap on political donations 👇 bylinetimes.com/2026/09/01/a...
bylinetimes.com
Andy Burnham Faces Backlash Over Apparent Retreat From Donations Cap Pledge
Open letter says 'politics should not be for sale' as Government resists extending its £100,000 overseas-donor limit to UK voters
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Been listening to Culture, Power, Politics on neoliberalism. Does v good job synthesising different perspectives. Inspired me to resurrect a lost article I wrote years ago for New Left Project (anybody?) on neoliberalism, freedom & rational choice theory. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
tamills1981.github.io
Strange Freedom – Society From the Top Down
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Been listening to Culture, Power, Politics on neoliberalism. Does v good job synthesising different perspectives. Inspired me to resurrect a lost article I wrote years ago for New Left Project (anybody?) on neoliberalism, freedom & rational choice theory. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
tamills1981.github.io
Strange Freedom – Society From the Top Down
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Will Stronge @wstronge.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
You really need to be become a supporter of Culture Power Politics. Keeps your political instincts sharp and gives you substantial theory deep dives too: www.patreon.com/culturepower...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
A really useful summary of research on genetics & 'race' from @sashagusevposts.bsky.social inc. a detailed section on 'The heritability of IQ test performance' (linked). Quite technical, but you should be able to get the gist of it with a bit of persistence. gusevlab.org/projects/hsq...
gusevlab.org
A downloadable pdf version is available: [ 📄 here ]
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OR Books @orbooks.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
DEMOCRATISE OR DIE A bold plan to save the BBC by democratising it. In this intervention, three leading media policy experts (inc. @tommills.bsky.social) warn the BBC will not survive its fast-approaching Charter Review unless its popular legitimacy is reinvigorated.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
DEMOCRATISE OR DIE A bold plan to save the BBC by democratising it, coming soon from @orbooks.bsky.social.
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
We can nutshell this one: the Conservative Party fucked everyone in Britain. It should’ve destroyed them as a party, but it didn’t: it wrecked all of us instead and they got away with it because Britain has no meaningful systems of accountability that apply to our ruling class.
Revisited - Brexit: an oral history
Politic
Weekly
Politics Weekly UK >
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Revisited: This year marked 10 years since the
UK chose to leave the EU. In a series of interviews with key players from both sides, Kiran Stacey looks back on the Brexit vote that changed the country for ever.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The British media hounded a man to his death claiming it was in the public interest. Is investigating that story in the public interest?
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Nice throwaway comment from Adam Tooze on new Postscripts podcast: 'Hegemony doesn't just consist of offering people treats and telling them good stories. It consists in breaking your enemies.' 🎯
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Wow. Do update us on any more incontrovertible observations he makes.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Good read. Really like Tim Mitchell's stuff & will def get to this soon. Glad to hear Capital as Power paradigm being acknowledged. newleftreview.org/issues/ii159...
newleftreview.org
Jack Copley, Rentier Regimes, NLR 159, May–June 2026
Jack Copley on Timothy Mitchell, The Alibi of Capital. Capital re-conceptualized as terraforming expropriation of the future.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Thought long & hard about this & have decided, no. It is not.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Why have Iranians seen Britain as a threat to their sovereignty? It's a total mystery. Just a bit mad I guess.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Got to hand it to BBC Today. Managed to do an item on the threat to the UK from Iran that for once mentioned Mosaddegh, yet still failed to mention that Britain & the US overthrew him & installed a dictator.
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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Bari Weiss looking to headhunt Justin Webb? What could possibly have attracted her to the Today presenter who injects right wing talking points into every interview and who cannot help but obsess about trans people?
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Good piece from @leninology.bsky.social jacobin.com/2026/06/uk-b...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Capitalist Power in Post-War Croydon. New post in which I discuss the network of business people & local politicians behind Croydon's concrete building boom. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Capitalist Power in Post-War Croydon. New post in which I discuss the network of business people & local politicians behind Croydon's concrete building boom. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
New post on 'Society From the Top Down' in which I address the important question: Is Croydon shit, and if so who's to blame?
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Policy planning network affiliations of the Biden administration. Full article: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Burnham backsliding already
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
So if i understand the PM correctly he's going to unite a country that largely despises him & get on with a job no one wants him to do. Very good. 👍
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Don't think this argument works. Seeing capitalism as a system based in the practices of capitalists (profit seeking in this case), or in slavery & colonialism, doesn't necessitate an individualistic or moralistic critique. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
newleftreview.org
Dylan Riley, No Substitute — Sidecar
Capitalists vs capitalism.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
You probably follow me for sardonic remarks about British politics. But did you know I have a website called 'Society from the Top' down where I post about elites, politics & computational social science? tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
tamills1981.github.io
Society From the Top Down
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Hettie O’Brien @hettieobrien.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
THE ASSET CLASS is the Guardian’s Book of the Day! Thank you to Caroline Knowles for this lovely review, and for describing it as “bang on the money” 🔥 www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
theguardian.com
The Asset Class by Hettie O’Brien review – the hidden hand of private equity
From utilities to care homes, how capital’s most rapacious form yet is taking over the public realm
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Paul Sweezy is probably best known as the co-author with Paul Baran of 'Monopoly Capital', & for his earlier single authored book, 'The Theory of Capitalist Development'. But... Sweezy was [also] a pioneering scholar of the US ruling class.' tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
tamills1981.github.io
Paul Sweezy’s Corporate Interest Groups Revisited – Society From the Top Down
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
New post on 'Society From the Top Down' in which I revisit work by Marxist economist Paul Sweezy on corporate interest groups, comparing his results to those of a community detection algorithm. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
New post on 'Society From the Top Down' in which I revisit work by Marxist economist Paul Sweezy on corporate interest groups, comparing his results to those of a community detection algorithm. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
A lot of people feel profoundly disillusioned & angry with the BBC over its awful reporting on Gaza - & a myriad of other things. They are simply switching off & couldn't care less about the BBC's fate. I totally get it. But this is bad politics.🧵
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Still remember first time I heard the word 'woke' on the Today programme. Immediately knew it signalled the beginning of years of unabated horseshit from our media class.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Happy Thatcher Death Day to all who celebrate www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemoc...
opendemocracy.net
The death of a class warrior: Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013)
Thatcher did not seek to win over 'hearts and minds'. Rather she attacked the social bases of collective thought and action, making building any alternative unimaginable. Throughout the long span of h...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
New post on 'Society from the Top Down' comparing media use amongst the public & MPs. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
New post on 'Society from the Top Down' comparing media use amongst the public & MPs. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
'US heavy bombers are expected to reach UK bases at Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and Fairford in Gloucestershire in the next few days' www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
Britain not ruling out future strikes on Iran missile sites, officials indicate
‘We just don’t know what will happen,’ western officials say, as UK bases prepare for arrival of US heavy bombers
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
The dry and the wet burn together www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...
lrb.co.uk
Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi | The dry and the wet burn together
The war launched against Iran by the United States and Israel is a war of choice and of hubris. There is scarcely even...
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Today @mediareformuk.bsky.social launches its Alternative Green Paper; a compilation of proposals for radical BBC reform from civil society, campaign groups, media experts & members of the public. www.mediareform.org.uk/bbc-alternat...
mediareform.org.uk
Media Reform Coalition
Media Reform coordinates the work of advocacy groups campaigning to protect the public interest in light of the Leveson Inquiry and Communications Review.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Just Nick Robinson casually asking a guest on BBC Today if protests against the war 'should be allowed to go ahead' or 'ought to be banned in this country'.
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Tom Mills @tommills.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
The question any sane media system would be posing rn is what can be done to restrain the US & Israel.
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