Gareth Watkins
@garethwatkins.bsky.social
Writing in the Los Angeles Review of Books, New Statesman, Tribune, Vulture, MEL, New Socialist. Host of Death Sentence podcast.
'Strong floor, no ceiling'? What would happen if there was no ceiling when Nathan Fielder was floating because of Magical Realism? Huh? What then?
November 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
'Strong floor, no ceiling'? What would happen if there was no ceiling when Nathan Fielder was floating because of Magical Realism? Huh? What then?
There is no giant brain Wojak with a brain large enough for the gigantic brain on display here.
Before Trump, cite a unilateral action by the United States towards another nation for the acquisition of their resources?
November 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
There is no giant brain Wojak with a brain large enough for the gigantic brain on display here.
And the one actual mass-shoplifting ring was run by a white woman from the suburbs.
fortune.com/2025/01/16/w...
fortune.com/2025/01/16/w...
November 30, 2025 at 2:58 PM
And the one actual mass-shoplifting ring was run by a white woman from the suburbs.
fortune.com/2025/01/16/w...
fortune.com/2025/01/16/w...
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
Still wild to me that companies got together and lied about a mass shoplifting epidemic and fundamentally changed things in all stores so that it’s worse for everyone, and then we found out they lied, and no one fucking did anything about it, and this is just life now
November 29, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Still wild to me that companies got together and lied about a mass shoplifting epidemic and fundamentally changed things in all stores so that it’s worse for everyone, and then we found out they lied, and no one fucking did anything about it, and this is just life now
One in three of these Obscure Fascist Thinkers is Curtis Yarvin, and like 90% of the actual right don't know he exists and would hate him if they did. If Pete Hegseth ever met him he'd pay keep-away with Yarvin's glasses.
I like how every six months or so we get a big "This Obscure Fasicst Thinker Is Key To Understanding The Modern Right" and without fail every one of those is the biggest loser you've ever heard of writing the stupidest articles you've ever read for Racism Monthly
November 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
One in three of these Obscure Fascist Thinkers is Curtis Yarvin, and like 90% of the actual right don't know he exists and would hate him if they did. If Pete Hegseth ever met him he'd pay keep-away with Yarvin's glasses.
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
I like how every six months or so we get a big "This Obscure Fasicst Thinker Is Key To Understanding The Modern Right" and without fail every one of those is the biggest loser you've ever heard of writing the stupidest articles you've ever read for Racism Monthly
November 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
I like how every six months or so we get a big "This Obscure Fasicst Thinker Is Key To Understanding The Modern Right" and without fail every one of those is the biggest loser you've ever heard of writing the stupidest articles you've ever read for Racism Monthly
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
Chainsaw Man is Never Gonna Score
October 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Chainsaw Man is Never Gonna Score
Breaking my no-talking-about-Your-Party pledge after a single day to say fuck Your Party harder than I previously would have wanted Your Party to be fucked.
I find Your Party's frequent use of AI very illuminating. Because when they talk about workers, they clearly do not include in that a large number of Arts sector and 'knowledge' workers. I suspect they regard them with contempt. Which is one of the many reasons they are not going to get far.
November 30, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Breaking my no-talking-about-Your-Party pledge after a single day to say fuck Your Party harder than I previously would have wanted Your Party to be fucked.
I'm about to get real good at posting on Blue Sky .com
November 30, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I'm about to get real good at posting on Blue Sky .com
There were also a group of men (landlords and company directors) who had a good laugh by burning an effigy of Grenfell, and I can't imagine that in China these men would continue to live upper middle-class lives. People genuinely get 'cancelled' there, and sometimes that's for the best.
November 30, 2025 at 11:35 AM
There were also a group of men (landlords and company directors) who had a good laugh by burning an effigy of Grenfell, and I can't imagine that in China these men would continue to live upper middle-class lives. People genuinely get 'cancelled' there, and sometimes that's for the best.
I've been watching a lot of @itsquinns.bsky.social lately (highly recommended), and god I want to be playing a big, crazy TTRPG right now. Who in Manchester and want to spend half of 2026 doing a Delta Green campaign and going mad?
November 30, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I've been watching a lot of @itsquinns.bsky.social lately (highly recommended), and god I want to be playing a big, crazy TTRPG right now. Who in Manchester and want to spend half of 2026 doing a Delta Green campaign and going mad?
I love the Total War games, but their mechanics wouldn't fit for anything WW1 onwards. Soldiers in modern (or 41st millennia) warfare don't walk at at other in big rectangles. I'd love to see giant 40k battles, but it would have to be very different.
I want the total warhammer 40k game to be real pls be real
November 30, 2025 at 11:11 AM
I love the Total War games, but their mechanics wouldn't fit for anything WW1 onwards. Soldiers in modern (or 41st millennia) warfare don't walk at at other in big rectangles. I'd love to see giant 40k battles, but it would have to be very different.
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
Not sure - 14 years into project - Blue Labour ever previously set out actual proposals before, so this is new
1. Abolish Treasury
2. Leave ECHR
3. Closr/refound half of unis
4. Double army size for anti-EU alliance with Ukraine
5. PM to lead grooming inquiry with arrest powers + televised trials
1. Abolish Treasury
2. Leave ECHR
3. Closr/refound half of unis
4. Double army size for anti-EU alliance with Ukraine
5. PM to lead grooming inquiry with arrest powers + televised trials
May 3, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Not sure - 14 years into project - Blue Labour ever previously set out actual proposals before, so this is new
1. Abolish Treasury
2. Leave ECHR
3. Closr/refound half of unis
4. Double army size for anti-EU alliance with Ukraine
5. PM to lead grooming inquiry with arrest powers + televised trials
1. Abolish Treasury
2. Leave ECHR
3. Closr/refound half of unis
4. Double army size for anti-EU alliance with Ukraine
5. PM to lead grooming inquiry with arrest powers + televised trials
I'd heard that True Detective season 4 was a return to form, and I agree: the form of something that sucks! Pretty generic prestige-slop, some baffling musical choices, decent performances but yeah if you pay for Jodie Foster you'll get that, social commentary that feels like a box being ticked.
November 30, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I'd heard that True Detective season 4 was a return to form, and I agree: the form of something that sucks! Pretty generic prestige-slop, some baffling musical choices, decent performances but yeah if you pay for Jodie Foster you'll get that, social commentary that feels like a box being ticked.
gamers.
November 30, 2025 at 10:29 AM
gamers.
It took the death of Britain's greatest modern playwright, but we finally have a slur for straight people.
November 30, 2025 at 10:13 AM
It took the death of Britain's greatest modern playwright, but we finally have a slur for straight people.
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
This is a really good thread about fandom, art, culture, engagement and escapism in our current context. It reminds me that I should get back to reading Marx's new book "Blank Space" that explores why, in the West at least, culture has stagnated and gone into a cycle of remakes with no innovation.
November 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
This is a really good thread about fandom, art, culture, engagement and escapism in our current context. It reminds me that I should get back to reading Marx's new book "Blank Space" that explores why, in the West at least, culture has stagnated and gone into a cycle of remakes with no innovation.
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
if you haven’t picked up a copy of my book yet, Routledge is having a 25% off sale right now
www.routledge.com/Neo-Nazi-Ter...
www.routledge.com/Neo-Nazi-Ter...
Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege
A new wave of aspiring neo-Nazi terrorists has arisen—including the infamous Atomwaffen Division. And they have a bible: James Mason’s Siege, which praises terrorism, serial killers, and Charles Manso...
www.routledge.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:19 PM
if you haven’t picked up a copy of my book yet, Routledge is having a 25% off sale right now
www.routledge.com/Neo-Nazi-Ter...
www.routledge.com/Neo-Nazi-Ter...
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Being among the first interrogated and ultimately fired by DOGE, I certainly felt we were facing the business end of a right-wing conspiracy theory 🧵
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
It’s become a fandom. You have your proshippers (genAI adherents) and your antishippers (people who invent slurs to use against ai and adherents/luddites) and once something reaches that point you are doomed to a lot of toxicity and mudslinging from both sides.
part of the reason i am genuinely irritated with the gAI/AGI cult is because there is real societal benefits in using ML techniques in medical care + weather analysis, and instead people get annoyed with anything that gets lumped in with the plagiarism machine
November 29, 2025 at 5:48 PM
It’s become a fandom. You have your proshippers (genAI adherents) and your antishippers (people who invent slurs to use against ai and adherents/luddites) and once something reaches that point you are doomed to a lot of toxicity and mudslinging from both sides.
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
Do you think God stays in heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he's created?
Tomorrow Grimes will DJ a livestream of immortality influencer Bryan Johnson tripping on shrooms to determine its effect on longevity. Mr. Beast and the CEO of Salesforce will be there too.
Grimes DJing Immortality Influencer's Shroom Trip With Special Guest Mr. Beast
Grimes is a fan of Bryan Johnson, the multimillionaire and immortality influencer who spends his time trying to fight death. He is perhaps best known for undergoing plasma transfusions with donations ...
stereogum.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Do you think God stays in heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he's created?
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
In 'Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming,' Malm makes a compelling argument that capitalists didn't switch from water power to steam because it was more productive or cost effective, but because it disciplined labor.
AI is the self-acting mule, but even dumber
AI is the self-acting mule, but even dumber
The markets are staying afloat right now on the hope that AI will destroy American workers. What a bleak thing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/b...
November 29, 2025 at 2:54 PM
In 'Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming,' Malm makes a compelling argument that capitalists didn't switch from water power to steam because it was more productive or cost effective, but because it disciplined labor.
AI is the self-acting mule, but even dumber
AI is the self-acting mule, but even dumber
Reposted by Gareth Watkins
Nihilistic violence includes violent acts lacking a unifying ideology or political goal, often driven by misanthropy or a desire for notoriety in online communities.
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November 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Nihilistic violence includes violent acts lacking a unifying ideology or political goal, often driven by misanthropy or a desire for notoriety in online communities.
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