Steven Fielding
@polprofsteve2024.bsky.social
Emeritus Prof, writing (slowly) about Labour’s existential struggles since 1976 for Polity. Knows stuff about politics & culture.
Labour List: https://labourlist.org/author/s-fielding/
Zeitgeist Tapes: https://shorturl.at/nwdO4
Labour List: https://labourlist.org/author/s-fielding/
Zeitgeist Tapes: https://shorturl.at/nwdO4
In the 60s when a Labour govt first addressed immigration & so racism Harold Wilson introduced 2 racist immigration measures to appease popular sentiment but then believing Labour would always be seen as ‘soft’ on immigration told his party to shut up about it. 🧐
Although the public might support some of Labour's proposed tougher immigration rules in isolation, Britons still tend to see Labour as a pro-immigration party
Pro-immigration: 47%
Anti-immigration: 28%
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
Pro-immigration: 47%
Anti-immigration: 28%
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
November 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
In the 60s when a Labour govt first addressed immigration & so racism Harold Wilson introduced 2 racist immigration measures to appease popular sentiment but then believing Labour would always be seen as ‘soft’ on immigration told his party to shut up about it. 🧐
I can’t believe these are still flowering 🧐
November 17, 2025 at 1:38 PM
I can’t believe these are still flowering 🧐
Labour is going to introduce safe routes for those claiming refugee status while everybody here is talking about ‘jewellery theft’ proposals. I strongly suspect the latter was meant to divert Sun readers’ attention from clocking the former while you are meant to be welcoming the former. 🫤
November 17, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Labour is going to introduce safe routes for those claiming refugee status while everybody here is talking about ‘jewellery theft’ proposals. I strongly suspect the latter was meant to divert Sun readers’ attention from clocking the former while you are meant to be welcoming the former. 🫤
This, written specially for what they imagine are Guardian readers’ sensibilities, sounds reasonable unless you believe in open borders. The creation of safe routes has in particular been a missing element in the govt’s agenda. But let’s see the detail. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Dark forces are stirring up anger in the UK. My asylum reforms are our chance to stop them | Shabana Mahmood
I know some of these measures will face opposition. But a country without secure borders is less safe for those who look like me, says Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:45 AM
This, written specially for what they imagine are Guardian readers’ sensibilities, sounds reasonable unless you believe in open borders. The creation of safe routes has in particular been a missing element in the govt’s agenda. But let’s see the detail. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Steven Fielding
Late to this, but if the Sunday Times is correct that Morgan McSweeney spent one and a half hours last week with Lord Glasman then he isn't fit to fill any senior position in government.
November 16, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Late to this, but if the Sunday Times is correct that Morgan McSweeney spent one and a half hours last week with Lord Glasman then he isn't fit to fill any senior position in government.
Just another happy Sunday in Communist run Czechoslovakia. A very funny family satire with a sly bit of politics at the very end.
November 16, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Just another happy Sunday in Communist run Czechoslovakia. A very funny family satire with a sly bit of politics at the very end.
Starmer got cheers from the Labour conference when he made that speech. I wonder how many of those present now feel somewhat different about the Labour leader? And surely any aspiring successor needs to make their views plain now?
The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road. These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum system in UK ‘out of control’ and dividing country, home secretary says
Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Starmer got cheers from the Labour conference when he made that speech. I wonder how many of those present now feel somewhat different about the Labour leader? And surely any aspiring successor needs to make their views plain now?
Appropriately enough Callaghan really was a square.
Callaghan Square trams by 2028
Details revealed of 'mammoth' Cardiff tramway project
Emily Price Further details have emerged of a “mammoth” new tramway in Cardiff which is expected to close a critical gap in the Welsh capital’s connectivity. The collaborative Crossrail scheme will s...
nation.cymru
November 16, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Appropriately enough Callaghan really was a square.
In the past when Labour has appeased racist sentiment - which it always has done - there has usually been some electoral reason for it & a measure to balance it that actually addressed racism in some way. But this is electorally crazy and is not mitigated by anything. I am dumbfounded.
Shabana Mahmood has vowed to end Britain’s “golden ticket” for asylum seekers by forcing people arriving illegally to wait 20 years before they can apply for permanent settlement
Shabana Mahmood: ‘Illegal migration is tearing Britain apart’
The home secretary is planning to introduce a 20-year wait for permanent stay to end a ‘golden ticket’ for asylum seekers
www.thetimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:16 AM
In the past when Labour has appeased racist sentiment - which it always has done - there has usually been some electoral reason for it & a measure to balance it that actually addressed racism in some way. But this is electorally crazy and is not mitigated by anything. I am dumbfounded.
He’s running. He’s never stopped running.
David Miliband's closing paragraphs in his Observer article today are quite ... striking.
November 16, 2025 at 8:48 AM
He’s running. He’s never stopped running.
Despite the dismay expressed on here, the public take a different view.
November 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Despite the dismay expressed on here, the public take a different view.
Arguably Starmer has poisoned the pitch for a potential successor from the Labour right. He (or in reality McSweeney) has - for now - destroyed the reputation of the right to be hardheaded but able to govern. So why not go for someone who at least evokes your own idea of what are ‘Labour values’?
Most Labour members make an informal trade-off: we accept that the party leader is well to the right of the members, in exchange for competent leadership and actually winning. If I wanted weak leadership and no plan I could have done that myself.
November 14, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Arguably Starmer has poisoned the pitch for a potential successor from the Labour right. He (or in reality McSweeney) has - for now - destroyed the reputation of the right to be hardheaded but able to govern. So why not go for someone who at least evokes your own idea of what are ‘Labour values’?
My Instagram feed is currently full of men and women smearing what they describe as ‘bum cream’ on their eye bags and that seems completely appropriate for today.
November 14, 2025 at 9:41 AM
My Instagram feed is currently full of men and women smearing what they describe as ‘bum cream’ on their eye bags and that seems completely appropriate for today.
I’m beginning to wonder if a Corbyn government could’ve achieved these heroic levels of incompetence.
November 14, 2025 at 8:22 AM
I’m beginning to wonder if a Corbyn government could’ve achieved these heroic levels of incompetence.
In 2023 Starmer promised Labour would be “the rock of stability“ that would ensure a politics that would “tread lightly on people’s lives”. I don’t think Morgan McSweeney & his pals got that memo.
November 14, 2025 at 7:55 AM
In 2023 Starmer promised Labour would be “the rock of stability“ that would ensure a politics that would “tread lightly on people’s lives”. I don’t think Morgan McSweeney & his pals got that memo.
Reposted by Steven Fielding
Morning all.
Photographer John Bulmer, untitled 1976.
Photographer John Bulmer, untitled 1976.
November 13, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Morning all.
Photographer John Bulmer, untitled 1976.
Photographer John Bulmer, untitled 1976.
And I barely know who she is.
The Sydney Sweeney political divide. TikTok hates her. Twitter loves. @brooke discusses.
youtu.be/hyDiZzH9h7g
youtu.be/hyDiZzH9h7g
CULTURE WARS MEET POP CULTURE
YouTube video by Pop Culture Mondays on Thursdays
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
And I barely know who she is.
I know the Labour membership has changed somewhat, but a lot still in the party voted for Keir Starmer of the very left sounding 10 pledges and can remember how that turned out.
Wes Streeting talking two years ago about how he would win the Labour leadership.
November 13, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I know the Labour membership has changed somewhat, but a lot still in the party voted for Keir Starmer of the very left sounding 10 pledges and can remember how that turned out.
This confirms not that Trump is cooked but the temperature at which he will be cooked.
A bipartisan effort to force the House to vote on a measure that would compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files advanced to the next stage after it received a 218th signature on Wednesday.
Here's how the process will work.
Here's how the process will work.
What’s Behind the Coming House Vote on Releasing the Epstein Files
Proponents of fuller transparency used an arcane rule to prod their leaders to act. When it became clear they had succeeded, the speaker agreed to hold a vote.
nyti.ms
November 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
This confirms not that Trump is cooked but the temperature at which he will be cooked.
Reposted by Steven Fielding
🎉We are pleased to announce new Applied History Fellowships in partnership with @royalhistsoc.org & @findmypast.bsky.social.
Join us on the 19 November at our launch event to find out more about the Fellowships and how to apply:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Join us on the 19 November at our launch event to find out more about the Fellowships and how to apply:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
October 27, 2025 at 9:38 AM
🎉We are pleased to announce new Applied History Fellowships in partnership with @royalhistsoc.org & @findmypast.bsky.social.
Join us on the 19 November at our launch event to find out more about the Fellowships and how to apply:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Join us on the 19 November at our launch event to find out more about the Fellowships and how to apply:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
I’ve never read anything by Ray Bradbury: maybe I should? www.instagram.com/reel/DQ8XAAs...
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November 13, 2025 at 8:02 AM
I’ve never read anything by Ray Bradbury: maybe I should? www.instagram.com/reel/DQ8XAAs...
November 13, 2025 at 7:33 AM
It is only now that this film has come to my attention. I wonder why it’s taken so long?
November 12, 2025 at 6:02 PM
It is only now that this film has come to my attention. I wonder why it’s taken so long?
And just like all the others who have found themselves in a similar position, they would ignore that pressure.
“Somewhere in all of the mutinous talk, one insider says everyone has forgotten something: if anyone else became PM, they would be under immediate pressure to go to the country” @PronouncedAlva on the precedents of Brown, May and Sunak www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...
Does Keir Starmer realise how much trouble he's in?
The Prime Minister is facing a crisis of contempt among his own MPs
www.newstatesman.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
And just like all the others who have found themselves in a similar position, they would ignore that pressure.