The Economist's UK newsletter, Blighty, this week
Senior editor, @prospectmagazine.co.uk | Co-host, The Prospect Podcast | Ex: NS, Haaretz, TBI | UK, Israel/Palestine, feminism, politics, Ursula K Le Guin | Sign up to my newsletter: http://thebacklash.substack.com |
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The Economist's UK newsletter, Blighty, this week
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Polanski has won *by a landslide*. 20,000+ votes vs 3,705 for Ra,say/Chowns
The winner of the Green Party of England & Wales' leadership election is: Zack Polanski
it's just such an astonishing thing to say
"Sometimes you do deals with people you may not want to go down the pub withâ www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
It's our 30th anniversary this month! To celebrate we are dropping our paywall until 4th September, just in time for our new issue, which comes out tomorrow. Visit @prospectmagazine.co.uk and register your email when prompted to access our entire archive >> www.prospectmagazine.co.uk?_gl=1*5n8ucc...
âWe reject the far rightâs racist lies about âprotectingâ women and girls. They are not defenders of women â they exploit violence against women to fuel hate and division,â says open letter, titled Women Against the Far Right. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Terrific @prospectmagazine.co.uk interview about AI by @aloner.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social with Ethan Zuckerman (@ethanz.bsky.social). open.spotify.com/episode/0zWD...
Thank you so much!
"The spokesman said: 'The Israeli governmentâs decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong. As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.'" www.politico.eu/article/uk-i...
So acc to a very agitated Malcolm Rifkind on Today we are in a national crisis re Immigration and the only solution is to leave the EHCR. - This wonât solve anything. Itâs just Brexit 2.0. The absolute hysteria that has engulfed some politicians and the U.K. media is astonishing. To put it mildly.
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The ever-eloquent @rafaelbehr.bsky.social pointedly refusing to mince his words on what Farage has done for us. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
And it's as if we aren't seeing the same thing play out, a centre-politics-wide paralysis
It's quite astonishing how, across the mainstream UK press, Reform's mass deportation plan is being discussed as legitimate, justified policy in principle. The chief criticism seems to be that it is unrealistic
To be the candidate for British Prime Minister of both Donald Trump *and* the Taliban is not a pitch that has ever been tried before
Oh yes
I should add that this is of course with a few notable exceptions, like @haaretzcom.bsky.social and @972mag.com
Very good piece on how, even now, Israeli media is barely reporting on what the IDF is doing in Gaza: "At least part of this may be due to the fact that many journalists â in line with the rest of Israeli society â have completed a mandatory service" in the army www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
fucking christ man
I really appreciated this by @daviddavidi-brown.bsky.social www.jewishnews.co.uk/opinion-what...
Appreciating the tone of this write-up of Farage's mass deportation plan
No10 spokesman not prepared to criticise anything about Farage speech today. Not his description of "invasion", not his prediction that the UK on brink of civil war, not plans to pay the Taliban or Iran to take back migrants, or indeed to rule out doing so themselves.
'Immigration doesn't bother me but it seems to bother everyone else' â Everyone. This is what happens when the media runs away with Hard Right narratives.
Back from a longish holiday and the morningâs main news in the UK is that an extreme right party is promoting its mass deportation plans. What a dystopic return to the office
'Stop the Genocide': Thousands of Jews and Arabs Rally in Tel Aviv Against Gaza War, Hunger www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Christ. I mean, why not just suggest adding phrenology to the points based immigration system?
Samaa, her five children and her husband live in Gaza city, where they face displacement amid the continuing war. They need our support >>>
100 Women's Rights Organisations, including @rapecrisis.bsky.social, @refugecharity.bsky.social, & @evawuk.bsky.social have signed a letter warning that attempts to link rape & violence against women & girls to immigration is a racist distraction. They urge the govt to address dangerous narrative
I am resharing Samaaâs page. She is a mother of 5 in Gaza city who desperately needs support. The family is at risk from displacement, but they also need help to get food, medicines, the basic stuff of life. If you can afford to give, it would be much appreciated www.gofundme.com/f/support-a-...
There is a swelling of shame and of guilt among the Israelis and Jews who feel complicit in the atrocities unfolding in Gaza and long for this to stop, writes @aloner.bsky.social.
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Thank you so much!
The response of Israelâs far-right, Kahanist national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to Arab parties uniting ahead of the next elections: âput on trial, revoke citizenship, encourage migration. Not voluntarilyâ. www.jpost.com/israel-news/...
The Backlash is out. This time with reads on the right âprotectingâ women, moralising and Bonnie Blue, womenâs health, western feminism losing its way and care feminism. With links to stuff by @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social and others thebacklash.substack.com/p/thanks-but...
"âIt's about trying to break routine,â [activist Eliah Levine] said. âIt's a statement, both to the TV corporations and to the viewers, saying that we cannot allow ourselves to numb our pain and not think about what we're doing as a country to Palestinians. We have to wake up.â"
Tonight the heroic @standing-together.bsky.social, a movement of Jewish and Palestinan Israeli citizens, disrupted a broadcast of Israeli Big Brother to demand an end to the war. The T-shirt of the activist pictured says âgetting out of Gazaâ
There is a swelling of shame and of guilt among the Israelis and Jews who feel complicit in the atrocities unfolding in Gaza and long for this to stop, writes @aloner.bsky.social. www.prospectmagazine...
The word âriskyâ is doing a lot of work here
*A war that, not "a war on that" !
Netanyahuâs security cabinet has voted to escalate a war on that experts increasingly agree is genocidal. Where is the action to stop it? My piece for @prospectmagazine.co.uk on activism, (in)action, shame and Gaza www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/israel...
After Israel's security cabinet voted to occupy Gaza city, Germany (a big deal!) suspends arms sales to Israel until further notice www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
This happening now. IDF strongly opposes this move which led to high profile clashes between politicians and the new IDF chief. I also think itâs bad. Itâs also a textbook case of civilian control and civilian right to be wrong. #CivMilSky
Each one of these globes represents a life lost in Gaza, a message derived from a Jewish teaching that to rescue a soul is to save a whole world. 98 Palestinians were killed in Gaza today
Also âwarplanes no, sanctions yesâ . âIsraelis say stop the genocide todayâ
And also âfrom the river to the sea, justice and equalityâ and âKeir Starmer, shame shame, funding war crimes in our nameâ
They are chanting: in Gaza and Beâeri (a town attacked by Hamas on 7th October) boys and girls want to be free
âStarmer, Lammy pick a side, human rights or genocideâ - Mi Neged, a group of British-Israelis, is protesting outside the Foreign Office in London. They are holding red and black globes
that's not proof that there is no starvation in Gaza!
It's not a competition, but it is sobering that, according to the most reliable figures we have, Israel has killed more Palestinians *seeking aid* than Hamas killed on October 7. Senseless killing upon senseless killing.
Reposting this from LinkedIn news.sky.com/story/if-the...
As Netanyahu is expected to seek cabinet approval for a full Israeli occupation of Gaza, Palestinians continue to die of hunger. For @prospectmagazine.co.uk, Asem Al-Jerjawi has a dispatch on what, in such circumstances, Gaza's parents tell their children www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/israel...
Nothing to see here, just a picture of the Finance Minister and the Minister in the Defense Ministry next to graffiti saying "Death to Arabs." ( which he posted himself⊠Another successful day for the Netanyahu government.
New research out today: Amnesty International has found that X/Twitter played a central role in the spread of false narratives and content which incited violence against Muslim and migrant communities in the UK last summer
According to the report, the employee offered to help the mother and her daughter, who then left and emailed a complaint to M&S. What if the offer to help had come from a cis man, not a trans woman, in the underwear department. Would they have written to M&S then?
I mean, this is bad enough on its own terms. But when you remember very senior civil servants apparently still think X is an appropriate channel for government communications it becomes grimly hilarious
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pay very close attention to Wikipedia to find a way out of the AI slop internet www.404media.co/wikipedia-ed...
Seriously alarming. Gaza records 45 cases of acute flaccid paralysis amid worsening famine under Israeli siege Health officials warn of a possible link to poliovirus or Guillain-Barre Syndrome as malnutrition, water contamination+collapsed services fuel the outbreak. trt.global/world/articl...
Cairo says Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayyaâs accusations of inaction have strained ties, as top Egyptian official warns Israel may reoccupy Gaza amid stalled talks and pressure after hostage videos bit.ly/4m180hW
The Covert Councillor is back! @prospectmagazine.co.uk's local government sleuth has some FOI nuggets on how local councils are a weak link in the UK's cyber defences, with hostile actors and criminal hackers seeing them as a soft touch www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
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But not âback from Mississippiâ I gather
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"AI seems to...have helped foster a genre of LinkedIn-speak which bears all the hallmarks of the worst AI writing on the internet" Do read @benjamin-clark.bsky.social's excellent portrait of LinkedIn, the social media equivalent of a dull networking event www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
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Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi also visited the Temple Mount and was filmed alongside several other Jewish Israelis singing the âHatikvahâ national anthem while holding Israeli flags in front of the steps leading up to the Dome of the Rock. www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-ben...
UK citizen, Chris, and Italian language teacher who speaks fluent English have been together for 7 years, married in 2023, but cannot live together due to the visa income restrictions. Even if they get a visa the costs are large. Likely ÂŁ6k for the first 2.5 years inews.co.uk/news/i-cant-...
These are the top replies, being financially rewarded for posting this stuff, and the explanation offered by the siteâs own AI for why itâs like that. Anyway just flicking through the Sunday newspapers reading about some minor content infractions that Ofcom might look into at the BBC/Channel 4.
Samaa is a mother of five in Gaza, desperate for help. She is new on here and trying to get some support. If you can help, support or reshare, please consider it. www.gofundme.com/f/support-a-...
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Itâs funny cause all we do is talk about menâs sexuality? Thereâs no national rhetoric about womenâs needs. This has been true for generations. Women want to get laid too, theyâre just not forcing a political uproar about it. We actually DONâT need to keep endlessly talking about men wanting sex.
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Womenâs status is very rapidly erodingâin their civil rights protections, healthcare, access to the public sphere, and the cultural support for their independence and dignity. But there is no feminism: our public gender discourse is divided between transphobia and handwringing about manâs feelings.
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If the BBC was doing its job, it would note in its coverage of Reform that 92% of the party's donations come from the fossil fuel industry.
And me!
On one of the most unbelievable satellite images I've ever seen, showing hundreds of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks north of Rafah. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/w...
Fean also addresses the doubts over whether Palestine meets the criteria for statehood under the 1933 Montevideo Convention www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle...
Aid groups report that Israel is refusing to allow any olives or other âfruits or vegetables with pits or seeds that could be plantedâ into Gaza. They will only allow in pitted olives.
The ex-British Consul General to Jerusalem, Vincent Fean, writes for @prospectmagazine.co.uk about the problems with Starmer's conditions for Palestine recognition, and why, though recognition won't end the atrocities in Gaza, it is the right thing to do www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle...
@mommunism.bsky.social @fairshare.help
Samaa is a mother of five in Gaza who needs help. Reupping her Go Fund Me >> www.gofundme.com/f/support-a-...
Trump: People were taken out of the spa, hired by Epstein⊠I told him we donât want you taking our people, whether itâs spa or not spa. He did it again, I said out of here. Reporter: Was one of the stolen people Virginia Giuffre? Trump: I think so. He stole her.
Reupping this from @samaasabra.bsky.social, a mother of five in Gaza, who is struggling and needs support >>> www.gofundme.com/f/support-a-...
đ§: @oliverbullough.bsky.social joins @aloner.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social on the Prospect Podcast to discuss why Britainâs water turned to shit: privatisation. www.prospectmagazine...
Meanwhile, the two-state solution conference in New York this week "condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the conflict in Gaza, and said the Palestinian militant group must hand over its weapons to the West Bank-based PA" /4 www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Palestine Action have won their bid for a full legal challenge against the British government's decision to ban it as a terrorist group The High Court ruled that an internal Home Office process was "not suitable", partly because "many people now subject to criminal proceedings" linked to the ban
And this from UK hostage families on the conditionality risking the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza: "the risk is that Hamas will continue to refuse to a ceasefire because if it agrees to one this would make U.K. recognition less likely" /3 www.linkedin.com/posts/adam-w...
There's this, eg, from the Britain Palestine Project: "Palestinian rights are not â and can never be â made conditional on Israeli good behaviour. The government is treating a moral obligation as a bargaining chip" /2 mailchi.mp/britainpales...
There are criticisms of the conditionality that Starmer has attached to Palestine recognition from all sides /1