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Jemima Kelly

@jemima.bsky.social

17K followers 750 following 810 posts

Columnist and feature writer at the Financial Times. 👩🏼‍💻 https://www.ft.com/jemima-kelly Probably at a Stoke Newington drinks party.

www.ft.com

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · Aug 9

I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.

My cover story for today’s FT Magazine

on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]

Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right

[FREE TO READ] What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled

on.ft.com

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1h

fml

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 23h

Ian Leslie is a racist!? Since when?

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Quite stunned and very thrilled to have been shortlisted for Commentator of the Year at the Media Freedom Awards !

www.societyofeditors.org/events/media...

Shortlist 2025 – Society of Editors

Society of Editors. Protecting the freedom of the news media

www.societyofeditors.org

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

That feels like a bit of a different point. Being a racist (and I agree with you on yarvin) is not a job title

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

To be fair I don’t think he calls himself that! I’m not sure I quite agree with you on this although I see your point

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

PS I go into my thoughts on Yarvin in a bit more depth here! bsky.app/profile/ianl...

Ian Leslie @ianleslie.bsky.social · 1d

New podcast from The Ruffian: the brilliant @jemima.bsky.social talks us through her visit to a party thrown
in honour of Curtis Yarvin - and what it tells us the radical right ianleslie.substack.com/p/new-podcas...

New Podcast: Jemima Kelly's Adventures With The Radical Right

Reporting On An English Garden Party In Honour of Curtis Yarvin

ianleslie.substack.com

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

This was so fun and I'm v honoured to have made a second appearance on one of my fave podcasts!

Ian Leslie @ianleslie.bsky.social · 1d

New Podcast: Jemima Kelly's Adventures With The Radical Right

Reporting On An English Garden Party In Honour of Curtis Yarvin

ianleslie.substack.com

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "on their own terms" but (at the risk of returning to the beginning) no, I would personally stop short of agreeing to that. They're not just influencing those in power, they're influencing a generation of young people (men in particular). I take that seriously

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Haha I love that you have already written a post on this very thing Dan! And yes I thought you might say there were more “thought leaders”…

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, that's fair enough. I'm not 100% sure of my position on this to be clear, maybe @dandrezner.bsky.social needs to weigh in

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely! I don't think you can be a self-appointed academic but if your ideas are having influence then I think we can prob deem them a "public intellectual" even if their ideas are sometimes or often recycled / bad / lacking context / etc

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Yes I'm sure that's often/normally the case - I guess I just think it's therefore worth pointing out how and why they're wrong, rather than pretending they don't exist / ignoring, and also worth trying to work out why their ideas are cutting through

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Appreciate that 😅 and also don't wanna spend my day on here but one interesting idea of Yarvin's (and one I agree with) is that America is not a democracy but an oligarchy. He's not the first person to suggest it (and obv disagree with his solution) but think we should discuss this kinda thing more

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

I haven't read that book. I guess talking to them directly / listening to them speak gives one a sense of their sincerity (as I do). Not even trying to argue that they are fully sincere (such people are rare on either side of spectrum) just that it's worth engaging with influential ideas/thinkers

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! I don't really think they're frauds, I think there are big gaps in their thinking and some pretty objectionable ideas (as well as some interesting ones) but that it's worth engaging. Imho, only using terms like "public intellectual" for ppl you agree with is kind of a bad idea...

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

I’m not sure what benefit studying them from a distance as opposed to up close has though - I would have thought you get a clearer picture up close, can challenge them etc? Plus I don’t think it works like that any more - old powers that be eg media don’t decide who gets influence in the “DYOR” era

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

😂

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Tbh still not following 😅 but that might be because it's 11.30pm on a Sunday night and far past my bedtime 🌚

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

What's switched back? And which thinkers on the left do you think are getting young men under the age of about 21 excited/inspired?

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Sorry I'm not quite following - what's not like the thinking behind the new right? I'm not suggesting that people like Yarvin are Great Thinkers, to be clear - let alone, in descending order, Thiel or bloody Andreessen

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

For this week's column I wrote about the way that the countercultural intellectual energy of the right - and lack thereof on the left - is drawing in young people, esp men, who would once have been drawn to radical leftist thinkers

on.ft.com/3L72ug5

The fashion for the young: turn to the radical right

The intellectual energy of new rightwing movements is drawing in young people

on.ft.com

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

I guess it's only interesting IF they're having an influence though? There are plenty of bizarre thinkers in the world, but nobody is talking about the ones who aren't having an impact

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Personally I give them the time of day because, whether they are spewing bollocks or not, they are having a direct and major influence on US politics and therefore world politics. I would have thought that was quite important

Huw C. Davies @huwcdavies.bsky.social · 1d

Reading Thiel, Yarvin, Peterson et al. makes you realise what passes for intellectual iconoclasm these days is all absolute bollocks. Why anyone gives any of these people the time of day let alone credibility is baffling.

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Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

If you want some detail see here, for instance, from 2008 which contains a lot of ideas that you can see in Trump 2.0 / MAGA / the right in 2025 keithanyan.github.io/OpenLetterTo...

keithanyan.github.io

Jemima Kelly @jemima.bsky.social · 1d

Much of it is certainly weird and incoherent but that doesn't mean it's not having real influence or not worth writing about. Vance has explicitly cited Yarvin as an influence and knows him, Musk "consulted" him on his new party idea, obv Trump is not reading any of it but the people around him are

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