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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · 2d

New #Substack post

#Authoritarianism is on the rise, and the institutional safeguards that prevent abuses of power are buckling. I wanted to examine why.

My hypothesis is this: institutions can't safeguard democracy because they are not themselves democratic.

substack.com/@milooneil/n...

Dictatorship by Default. Why institutional safeguards keep failing.

Non-democratic institutions cannot be relied on to preserve democratic norms.

substack.com

Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · 8d

My latest #Substack article.

There’s a stark contradiction in the Conservative Party. It advocates preservation whilst causing destruction.

I argue that this contradiction is responsible for its historical dominance, its contemporary collapse, and for Reform.

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

Wither the Conservatives. The Strange Death of the UK Conservative Party and the Rise of Reform.

On the contradictory mechanics of the Conservative Party, and its relationship to Reform UK.

open.substack.com

Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · 16d

New #Substack article

There’s been a bit of discussion in the media lately about whether Farage and Reform UK count as fascist, which I’ve here tried to answer.

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

Fascism and Farage. Should Reform UK be understood as a Fascist movement?

The nature of fascism and authoritarian rule

open.substack.com

Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · 21d

My most recent #Substack article: Politics as Comedy

I’ve the last decade, politicians have behaved in increasingly ridiculous ways (especially the authoritarian right).

Here I’ve made some preliminary observations on the nature and mechanics of this trend.

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

Politics as Comedy

Politicians who revel in absurdity are easy to ridicule and likely to succeed.

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Milo O’Neil

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 26d

UK workers using food banks, bosses feast.

Melrose CEO, 1,112 times the average employee wage.
Tesco, 375
Person, 355
Compass, 330
Marks & Spencer, 261
British Associated Foods, 218
Sainsbury's, 195

Can't rebuild economy/society without equitable distribution of income and wealth.

The government must ensure fair distribution of income

'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

leftfootforward.org

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Oct 1

New #Substack article

I’m normally pretty optimistic when I write about #YourParty but, while I’m still somewhat optimistic, recent events do have me thinking about leftist infighting

The new article is a hypothesis on the material nature of leftist factionalism

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

The Crisis of Your Party and the Factions of the UK Left. A Theory

Preliminary observations and theories on the dominant factions of the UK left.

open.substack.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Sep 25

New #Substack article

My thoughts on Trump's second state visit. The UK's subordination to the US was made very explicit, I think.

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

The UK’s subordination is on full display. Trump’s Second State Visit.

The UK’s vassal status has long been explicit. Now they’re revelling in it.

open.substack.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Sep 18

New #Substack article

Some comments on the onset of political repression under Trump’s #authoritarian drive

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

Trump, Fear, and Political Repression

The Repressive Fallout of Political Violence

open.substack.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Sep 13

Yeah it kind of rests on an assumption that nothing bad could possibly happen in the next four years.

The fact they’re polling so badly means they’ll struggle to weather any further mistakes or negative press.

Starmer’s only hope is for the world to miraculously sort itself out in record time.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Sep 11

We have struggled to explain the Starmer government. But I think the explanation comes down to two simple forces:
1. A visceral, obsessive hatred of the Labour left. Any progressive policy, however necessary and popular, looks to the inner circle like a dangerous concession to the left.
🧵1/2

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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · Sep 10

Dependence on food banks is the new norm in the UK.

In a rich country 14m people, including 3.8m children, food insecure. One in six households went hungry last year.

Result of low wages/benefits, unchecked profiteering, govt indifference.

1% have more wealth than 70% of the population combined.

Failure to tackle dependence on food banks in UK driving public discontent

One in six households went hungry last year, says Trussell, with Britain facing ‘new normal’ of severe hardship

www.theguardian.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Sep 9

New #Substack article

Focused on the re-emergent UK left: Zack Polanski, the Greens and Your Party. It also has some points on #ProportionalRepresentation, which is made more likely by having multiple left wing parties

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

The Return of the UK Left

Zack Polanski, the Greens, and the reconstituted UK left

open.substack.com

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Sep 7

If Farage wins the next election, it will be down to one person. His name is Keir Starmer.
This thread explains why.
1. Destroying faith in democracy. The UK decisively voted out the Tories, only for Starmer to give us a Continuity Tory government, shamefully beholden to economic power.
🧵

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Sep 2

New Substack Post

Material observations on two trends that, I suspect, are closely linked. Labour’s pandering to the UK far right (which only serves to benefit Reform, and the collapse of their Blair era base.

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

Labour's Right Wing Pandering and the Centre's Collapse.

Two Material Dynamics of Labour's Right Wing Drift

open.substack.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Aug 31

In general, there seems to be two, mutually reinforcing, #authoritarian drivers. An active driver, caused by narcissistic ambition and exemplified by Trump, and a reactionary driver underlined by self-preservation and fear.

The UK is now exhibiting the latter, which I worry will enable the former.

Reposted by Milo O’Neil

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · Aug 30

Interest rate-rigging convictions of five more UK bankers may be unsafe, says Serious Fraud Office.

The SFO has a history of failures. Despite a plethora of laws the UK is very poor at prosecuting corporations and key players.

Is that by design, lack of will or resources?

Rate-rigging convictions of five more bankers may be unsafe, says SFO

Serious Fraud Office has assessed six more cases after supreme court quashed convictions of two traders last month

www.theguardian.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Aug 30

#corruption underpins #authoritarianism

Augustus never called himself king and he retained the Republic’s institutions, merely corrupting them

By trying to put his supporters in control of institutions like the #FederalReserve, #Trump is centralising power whilst maintaining a veneer of separation

Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Aug 29

Barely a day seems to by in which #RachelReeves doesn’t float a new idea for raising government revenue.

Which makes the government’s refusal to introduce a #WealthTax kind of baffling.

The #UKGovernment is pursuing every conceivable source of revenue except the really obvious and popular one.

Reposted by Milo O’Neil

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Aug 28

Are we really going to drown in six inches of water?
The central far right claim - that our problems are caused not by those with power and wealth but by utterly powerless people (asylum seekers etc) - is obviously and pathetically wrong. Yet millions, once more, are floundering in that puddle.

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Aug 28

Rising #inequality can often create pockets of increased luxury due to the inherent wealth transfer, from poor to rich, that underpins inequality.

I suspect that leading #UK politicians live in these pockets and subsequently can’t see that the UK is in bad shape, let alone understand why.

Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Aug 26

New #Substack post

These are some preliminary observations (and a brief hypothesis) about the internal composition of #ReformUK

There are some notable contradictions in Reform’s internal structure, hence its infighting and chaos, which ought to be studied

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

The Internal Divisions of Reform UK

The Composition of the UK Right

open.substack.com

Reposted by Milo O’Neil

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · Aug 23

Hmm. Politico: "Reform UK has announced that Jeremy Kyle has joined the presenting line up for its party conference in two weeks. Kyle says that he wants to “put a smile back on the face of politics, because it’s a bit bloody miserable isn’t it?”

His show was axed for good reasons...

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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · Aug 21

UK Govt takes over Liberty Steel’s South Yorkshire plants.

Steel was last privatised in 1988. After vast subsidies it achieved little. Low investment, jobs lost.

Govt rescued the Scuthorpe plant in April. Jingye wants more subsidies, people will own nothing.

Nationalise essential industries.

Government takes over Liberty Steel plants in South Yorkshire after collapse

Court ends Sanjeev Gupta’s control of UK’s third-largest steelworks as ministers seek to save 1,450 jobs

www.theguardian.com

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Milo O’Neil @milooneil.bsky.social · Aug 19

New #Substack Post!

My thoughts on Trump’s takeover of DC.

Perhaps I’m catastrophizing, but if #Trump has #authoritarian intentions (and I don’t doubt it), he would need to control the security apparatus to be successful. The DC takeover is a step towards that.

open.substack.com/pub/miloonei...

The Washington, DC Takeover Explained.

Trump’s authoritarian ambitions and the role of organised violence.

open.substack.com

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Damion @damionmatthews.bsky.social · Aug 16

My Word of the Day: MECONNAISSANCE

The brutal méconnaissance of the ruling class is its tendency to mistake inherited advantage for innate genius. This is a willed blindness, a collective misreading of history that sees a titan in the mirror where only a fortunate, and often foolish, child stands.

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