Sean Kemp
@seankemp.bsky.social
Advised the Lib Dems during coalition. Somehow still able to get work
Next time somebody says young people need to be taught media literacy I’m going to show them all the old sods replying to this post with utter nonsense.
Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
February 10, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Next time somebody says young people need to be taught media literacy I’m going to show them all the old sods replying to this post with utter nonsense.
Every time someone floats Shabana Mahmood as a leadership contender it’s worth remembering that she is regularly saying things designed to give her no chance of winning it.
Max Wilkinson (LibDem)
Will Home Sec condemn Trump’s ICE squads & reassure us that we will not see ICE squads on Britain's streets?
Shabana Mahmood (Labour)
"Unlike most of Westminster, I am not plagued with “America brain”. I do not spend any of my time worrying about what is happening in America"
Will Home Sec condemn Trump’s ICE squads & reassure us that we will not see ICE squads on Britain's streets?
Shabana Mahmood (Labour)
"Unlike most of Westminster, I am not plagued with “America brain”. I do not spend any of my time worrying about what is happening in America"
February 9, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Every time someone floats Shabana Mahmood as a leadership contender it’s worth remembering that she is regularly saying things designed to give her no chance of winning it.
Reposted by Sean Kemp
Indeed! People keep talking about 'oh, the soft left this', 'oh, his rivals in Downing Street that'. No, it's not the soft left on the backbenches or the Blairites in the Cabinet or No 10. It's the 'alliance of MPs who can count and would like to remain MPs'.
In danger of repeating myself, but the tone mismatch between the way they talk about MMcS and then the facts of Labour polling around 19% average (and Starmer at -50) is very disorienting.
February 9, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Indeed! People keep talking about 'oh, the soft left this', 'oh, his rivals in Downing Street that'. No, it's not the soft left on the backbenches or the Blairites in the Cabinet or No 10. It's the 'alliance of MPs who can count and would like to remain MPs'.
Reposted by Sean Kemp
SW1: 'The Keminaissance! That More in Common poll that definitely wasn't an outlier!'
Actual public: 'The party that has people joining it and a clear message is doing better than the one that doesn't'.
Actual public: 'The party that has people joining it and a clear message is doing better than the one that doesn't'.
Voters think defections help Reform UK – and not the Tories
Voters think defections help Reform UK – and not the Tories
Most voters think that political defections by the likes of Robert Jenrick will help Reform UK in elections but not the Tories.
buff.ly
February 4, 2026 at 1:24 PM
SW1: 'The Keminaissance! That More in Common poll that definitely wasn't an outlier!'
Actual public: 'The party that has people joining it and a clear message is doing better than the one that doesn't'.
Actual public: 'The party that has people joining it and a clear message is doing better than the one that doesn't'.
This is interesting. But also, my goodness, Shriti Vadera was a big fan of caps lock
Who leaked this Number 10 discussion to Jeffrey Epstein? And are there consequences for the leaker?
It’s an internal discussion re. getting markets moving in the aftermath of the financial crisis. No doubt of great interest to Epstein and his financial market clients.
It’s an internal discussion re. getting markets moving in the aftermath of the financial crisis. No doubt of great interest to Epstein and his financial market clients.
February 2, 2026 at 10:12 AM
This is interesting. But also, my goodness, Shriti Vadera was a big fan of caps lock
Nothing is more Kemi Badenoch than beginning a speech by attacking others for 'psychodrama' then dedicating a chunk of it to slagging off some centrist members of your own party for politely suggesting some policy ideas.
January 28, 2026 at 11:37 AM
Nothing is more Kemi Badenoch than beginning a speech by attacking others for 'psychodrama' then dedicating a chunk of it to slagging off some centrist members of your own party for politely suggesting some policy ideas.
This is good and, more generally, it's always welcome to have someone talking about AI and politics that has actually worked in both AI and politics.
My new Substack launched yesterday with this piece on whether there’s a future for AI and geopolitics beyond the US-China binary. It’s something I’ve been thinking and writing about for years, but which is more urgent to consider now than ever. Please check it out and subscribe for future posts👇
A third way for AI and geopolitics
Better leadership on AI is needed – it needn't come only from the United States
open.substack.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:12 AM
This is good and, more generally, it's always welcome to have someone talking about AI and politics that has actually worked in both AI and politics.
I disagree with the vast majority of this thread, but this is true. So many non-fiction books on current topics contain huge amounts of padding
One bonus, heretical thought: if you’re interested in a topic, a long essay can be more informative than a (non-fiction) book.
There is a silly publishing convention that a "serious" book needs to be 300 pages++. The result is tomes that are mostly filler.
Might the 5,000-word New Yorker be better?
There is a silly publishing convention that a "serious" book needs to be 300 pages++. The result is tomes that are mostly filler.
Might the 5,000-word New Yorker be better?
January 23, 2026 at 11:30 AM
I disagree with the vast majority of this thread, but this is true. So many non-fiction books on current topics contain huge amounts of padding
Also, no ‘best Traitor ever’ discussion should take place without the first Australian series being mentioned
I still don't understand how a roomful of British people responded to "I've been trained by the FBI" with credulous awe and wonderful rather than "and my dad was taught karate by Bruce Lee." She's been so lucky in her opponents
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Is Rachel the best Traitor ever – and will she win?
She’s got the smarts, the FBI training and the CBeebies wardrobe. Will the bookies’ favourite become the first female Traitor to win a UK series?
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Also, no ‘best Traitor ever’ discussion should take place without the first Australian series being mentioned
I’m sure it’ll be fine if we just announce Trump as the winner of The Traitors
January 17, 2026 at 5:28 PM
I’m sure it’ll be fine if we just announce Trump as the winner of The Traitors
The thing about the Grid is that it’s not just meant to be just a comms tool. The idea really is that it also gives Downing St oversight of what departments are doing and more central grip. If you’re just letting gaps in the Grid dictate the No10 agenda then the whole thing is working backwards.
Quite fun that government still reliant on communication technique honed three decades ago, like Tony Blair aping Alec Douglas Home
This is why there's a whole chapter in my book about the damage the grid has done to policy making.
January 17, 2026 at 8:53 AM
The thing about the Grid is that it’s not just meant to be just a comms tool. The idea really is that it also gives Downing St oversight of what departments are doing and more central grip. If you’re just letting gaps in the Grid dictate the No10 agenda then the whole thing is working backwards.
Badenoch has missed a trick not doing her sacking Jenrick video like his fare dodging one. Chasing him through Portcullis House saying 'you're bang to rights'.
January 15, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Badenoch has missed a trick not doing her sacking Jenrick video like his fare dodging one. Chasing him through Portcullis House saying 'you're bang to rights'.
If the government genuinely believes this stat then boy am I confused about what they think the next election is going to look like for them
If there is an argument then this is the argument. But lol I can’t find where this obviously false stat is coming from. And if the government does believe more than half the families in the UK are using it as their primary news source then woah maybe time to up the scrutiny of it!
January 5, 2026 at 8:09 PM
If the government genuinely believes this stat then boy am I confused about what they think the next election is going to look like for them
Reposted by Sean Kemp
this thread has the most incredible levels of american bluesky I've ever seen. no need to have an opinion on any of it. just sit back and enjoy.
January 4, 2026 at 9:54 PM
this thread has the most incredible levels of american bluesky I've ever seen. no need to have an opinion on any of it. just sit back and enjoy.
Reposted by Sean Kemp
Five RTs. Six Likes. It would be more cost effective for Defra comms officials to dial random phone numbers and launch into a spiel about otters or whatever.
January 2, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Five RTs. Six Likes. It would be more cost effective for Defra comms officials to dial random phone numbers and launch into a spiel about otters or whatever.
Reposted by Sean Kemp
Not saying there's unconscious racial bias in this country but...
#TheTraitors
#TheTraitors
January 2, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Not saying there's unconscious racial bias in this country but...
#TheTraitors
#TheTraitors
These are all boring dad choices?
Farage, Polanski and Corbyn's choices are all good, Davey's is a typical boring dad choice, and Badenoch's response is characteristically unhinged
December 31, 2025 at 8:09 PM
These are all boring dad choices?
Reposted by Sean Kemp
not the kind of behavior I expect from the winner of the fifa peace prize
December 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM
not the kind of behavior I expect from the winner of the fifa peace prize
My gut instinct on this is that so much of the Reform surge is down to the power of Farage's personality that there are maybe three or four Tories where this is actually a risk. For the rest I just think it adds to their sense of momentum
There is a risk to Reform that if they take too many Tories they just start to resemble the 14-year government that the public resoundingly rejected last year. Not sure they’re really thinking through these defections…
Former Tory MP Ben Bradley has now defected to Reform. They really are taking all the worst people from the Boris era.
December 11, 2025 at 1:07 PM
My gut instinct on this is that so much of the Reform surge is down to the power of Farage's personality that there are maybe three or four Tories where this is actually a risk. For the rest I just think it adds to their sense of momentum
As this great thread is doing the rounds again, for me it will always be this
December 4, 2025 at 10:05 PM
As this great thread is doing the rounds again, for me it will always be this
Reposted by Sean Kemp
Relatedly, one of the most tedious things people do is go 'wow. How profound. My pre-school child, who I literally taught to speak and whose brain is a highly powerful and retentive sponge, has paraphrased my politics back at me in a cute way'. I mean, no kidding.
What exactly is the end game here? Fail at banking, fail at being a business guru, try to become fixture of right wing think tank set?
Finally home after > 27 hours of grindset creating shareholder value through AI agentic workflow and guiding a warrior-ethos meditation during my ketamine break.
My 8 year old dog: "Do you have to slay so hard because the villain misrepresented an OBR analysis to Parliament?"
Me: "Bitcoin."
My 8 year old dog: "Do you have to slay so hard because the villain misrepresented an OBR analysis to Parliament?"
Me: "Bitcoin."
December 4, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Relatedly, one of the most tedious things people do is go 'wow. How profound. My pre-school child, who I literally taught to speak and whose brain is a highly powerful and retentive sponge, has paraphrased my politics back at me in a cute way'. I mean, no kidding.
Reposted by Sean Kemp
Man, the Bluesky Wrapped 2025 is pretty brutal
December 3, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Man, the Bluesky Wrapped 2025 is pretty brutal
This, from the FT, is almost the perfect encapsulation of what is so maddening about this government. ‘If a convenient thing had happened we wouldn’t have had to agree to do something which we actually think is stupid.’
Does he also believe in the Tooth Fairy? That, and other questions raised by this excellent piece: www.ft.com/content/cc83...
December 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
This, from the FT, is almost the perfect encapsulation of what is so maddening about this government. ‘If a convenient thing had happened we wouldn’t have had to agree to do something which we actually think is stupid.’
Reposted by Sean Kemp
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse
December 2, 2025 at 1:39 AM
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse