Yusuf
LightNews LightNews
banner
yusufimaadkhan.com
Yusuf
@yusufimaadkhan.com
1.9K followers 1.6K following 2K posts
political philosophy, social epistemology, anarchy, sometimes charts 📈 | PhDing @LSEGovernment | he/him

yusufimaadkhan.com/watermelon
Posts Replies Media Videos
yusufimaadkhan.com
ok but also
BOOK Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing Get access > Miranda Fricker Published: 1 June
November 23, 2025 at 3:15 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
New Yorkers: “IF YOU CAN MAKE IT HERE, YOU CAN MAKE IT ANYW-“
Meme of Japanese Parliament Trying To Stop Shinichi Yokoyama on the mic
November 22, 2025 at 2:03 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
I think this is helpful analysis.

bsky.app/profile/yusu...
The fundamental problem is rather one of competing claims to legitimacy: an inability to decide who has a mandate to represent "the left", which stems from the peculiarities of its formation in this country. The ideology of Labourism - which holds that the Labour Party is the only route to any progressive change - has long kept British socialists shackled to a party that, for most of its history, and especially since its Blairite takeover, has worked tirelessly against their aims. The result has been to deprive them of an independent identity or institution, which has made it almost impossible to coordinate across their various forces - activist collectives, single-issue campaigns, trade unions - or to cultivate universally recognised leaders. While Corbyn's Labour briefly transcended these divisions, bringing the left together under the authority of a single figure, it later foundered over Brexit and capsized completely in 2019, initiating a bleak period in which socialists mostly retreated into local organising and bickered over whether to stay in the party or leave it. Five years later, that debate finally appeared to have been settled. The mobilisations against the assault on Gaza saw the left return to the political mainstream - not as a loyal opposition within Labour, but an insurgent force outside it. This revolt, powerful enough to elect five independent MPs to parliament on pro-Palestine platforms, looked like the basis for a historic rupture, in which the left would no longer strive for concessions within a hostile organisation but finally cast out on its own. Corbyn, previously reluctant to throw his weight behind such a project, began to heed the overwhelming pressure from its supporters. And yet, as soon as practical discussions got underway, the barriers became clear - for the left's apparent unity, forged by the Palestine movement, was brittle. The hope was that co-leadership would allow Your Party to display both these strengths: looking outward to the country at large while also activating its core cadre. But, again, because socialists in Britain do not have many robust political institutions, nor even a coherent political culture, they have struggled properly to balance these two priorities - and a polarisation has instead asserted itself. This structural issue has, in turn, been exacerbated by dubious decisions on the part of both factions. Team Corbyn is scarred by the memory of letting people into the inner circle in 2015-19 only for them to sabotage the project. They have therefore treated Sultana with suspicion and hostility. Team Sultana has been so confident in its claim to legitimacy, and so outraged by its perceived exclusion, that it has made unilateral decisions - the co-leadership announcement, the membership system - which have further inflamed tensions. Contrary to the narratives circulating among many Your Party supporters, it is not necessarily that either side is more "democratic" than the other. It is that they have irreconcilable visions of what democracy means in this sui generis context: appealing to the masses or the movement, empowering those who have made historic electoral breakthroughs or those who have proved their mettle outside the parliamentary sphere. For Your Party to become a meaningful force, it must combine these sensibilities. Many of us hope that it will. But with a potential leadership election between Corbyn and Sultana looming, the present mood is far from one of reconciliation.
November 18, 2025 at 8:10 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
IT IS A BANGER OF A PIECE
Screenshot of tweet from: Michael Caine @themichaelcaine Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up. Batman Begin
November 17, 2025 at 10:01 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Sorry for being mean to the Americans that I like
Zohran Mamdani campaign font that says: “FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO”
November 16, 2025 at 6:48 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Pls
Meme of guy posing in front of gravestone: Gravestone labelled: “special relationship” Guy labelled: “me”
November 12, 2025 at 2:11 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
“Radical suggestion” for the EU to avoid becoming a basket case

on.ft.com/4p7kiXs
Another radical suggestion from Dalia Marin, professor of economics at TU Munich, is to "reverse-engineer China's industrial policy" and only give market access to Chinese companies that form "joint ventures with European firms".
November 12, 2025 at 1:55 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
I watched the coda version of godfather 3 and ngl this seemed like an inappropriate way to end it
November 9, 2025 at 5:03 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
"We now cut live to the very serious UK green transition national security nexus"

on.ft.com/3JAtODj

transitionsecurity.org/cold-war-war...
screenshot of a financial times article: "UK probes whether buses made in China can be turned off from afar: Investigation comes after Norway found Yutong vehicles could be ‘stopped or rendered inoperable’ by Chinese company" image of a Yutong pink and blue bus in York
November 9, 2025 at 4:46 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/f...
Text that reads: “BASE FOR SUPERSTRUCTURE” Rendered in the style of Mamdani’s mayoral campaign material
November 8, 2025 at 4:14 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
HT @brusselermel.bsky.social
Phone sticker that reads: “CLIMATE BADDIES FOR ZOHRAN”
November 8, 2025 at 4:10 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
“To reach $1tn, he must sextuple Tesla's valuation to $8.5tn, boost earnings 24-fold to $400bn and sell millions of robots and autonomous driving subscriptions. Over the 10 years the plan covers, Musk will receive no salary or bonus.”

Truly insane and I’m sure this will go well.

on.ft.com/3WLGcDp
Screenshot of FT article with chart showing “Musk's market cap milestones are massive Tesla's historical market cap — and Musk's future milestones” Text under chart reads: “ The deal sets up ambitious targets for Musk to unlock his stock payouts in a series of instalments. To reach $1tn, he must sextuple Tesla's valuation to $8.5tn, boost earnings 24-fold to $400bn and sell millions of robots and autonomous driving subscriptions. Over the 10 years the plan covers, Musk will receive no salary or bonus.”
November 7, 2025 at 11:02 AM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Oh you’re not gonna like what Geuss has to say about drawing inspiration from his work lmao
AS: Finally, do you have any advice for those who have drawn inspiration from your work? RG: I hold two views which some might think are incompatible with each other, but which I think are complementary: a. All human thought can (eventually, directly or indirectly, or very indirectly) be connected to action. b. In many cases, the most useful thing that can be done is not to connect thought directly to any particular course of action. The second of these is of great importance. Sometimes the most practical thing one can do is not to act, not to think directly about what is to be done in this particular situation and not give any advice. Advice can be solicited or unsolicited, and people can take advice even from individuals who do not intend to be giving it. Saying anything is, of course, an action that may have consequences and which one may wish to evaluate relative to those consequences. That is not the only way one can evaluate what I say, but it is one way. If I simply mention as a matter of fact that King Charles is coming to Cambridge tomorrow, you may simply consider whether this statement is true or false without considering its practical effect, or you may look at it relative to the effects it has or could have or is intended to have. These are all in principle legitimate ways of approaching what I say. You may take my statement as advice to stay out of the center of town because traffic will be blocked, even if I did not intend that. Finally, people find "advice" in the most unlikely places, if that is what they are looking for. In the 1960s and 1970s in New York some of my friends used to consult the I Ching before acting. None of them actually believed that this oracle gave them advice in the way in which I could have given them advice (but usually did not), or in which a doctor might give one advice on health matters. They did not in general think one should necessarily follow what the oracle seemed to imply-that in any case was often, as befits an orac…
November 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Geuss on attempts to rehabilitate the liberal framework to deal with the crises we face:
As my old teacher Sidney Morgenbesser used to put it: "The last house on the block is not really the last house, because you could always build another beyond it." This "could" is almost infinitely plastic. There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with engaging in any of these abstractive maneuvers; no one will stop you, if that is how you wish to spend your time. Why, though, is this really any different from introducing epicycles to "save" the Ptolemaic system? Also, did not much of the attraction of traditional liberalism lie in its close connection with economic, and other, realities? It wasn't supposed to be a mere airy-fairy speculation, but something more hard-nosed. These "realities," however, include, in the case for instance of Locke, slavery and the Manchester capitalism we know from the mid-nineteenth century with its descendants today. If you took them away, why bother with the peculiar conjunction of ideals you would be left with? And wouldn't the real work consist in discussing exactly how one modified traditional ideas about autonomy, individual rights, free discussion? The work wouldn't, as it were, be being done by the abstract liberal framework, but by all the revisions you would need to build in to deal with inequality, the environmental crisis, the gradual crumbling of our social institutions and services, the degradation of the public sphere, polarization and social violence and the assorted further problems that face us. Why not just do that work on its own terms without the detour of this abstraction? Frankly I don't see how encouraging people to conceive of themselves as autonomous choosers whose preferences may not be interfered with, or the further institutionalization of that conception, is going to help us with any of those problems. In fact, I find it hard to see it as anything other than an obstacle.
November 5, 2025 at 4:17 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Come for the grumpiness, stay for the insight.

Many gems in Alicia Steinmetz’s interview with Raymond Geuss.

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
ALICIA STEINMETZ: You are one of the most important figures in the recent revival of realism within political philosophy. Can you define what realism means for you and why it is important for political philosophy? RAYMOND GEUSS: I much regret that, despite the warnings of several of my friends, I ever used the term "realism." They
November 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
They grow up so fast. One day they’re a kitten, the next they’re a snake.
A cute black cat (still a kitten tbh) lies on the floor belly down, elongated, almost like a snake
October 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
"Marshall’s network, laid out to its full extent for the first time by The New World’s special report, gives him end-to-end influence in the right wing sphere...Marshall is a one-man demonstration that donating directly to political parties is an outdated way of influencing politics."
Diagram showing Paul Marshall and Christopher Chandler linked to various companies, think tanks, and media outlets including GB News, The Spectator, and UnHerd
October 22, 2025 at 10:19 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Mr potato head wearing a topi/kufi/prayer hat
October 22, 2025 at 9:01 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
“…central bankers like Powell or Ueda are now the resplendent agents of world history, whose every word is of global systemic and political import and whose meticulously scripted press conferences weigh on the minds of financial analysts like a dull nightmare.” - @newlefteviews.bsky.social
Workflow for embedding, topic modelling and visualisation of central bank communications. Figure 2 from - Mapping the space of central bankers' ideas BIS Working Papers | No 1299 | 16 October 2025 by Taejin Park, Fernando Perez-Cruz and Hyun Song Shin
October 16, 2025 at 11:18 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/o...

emilygrubert.org/wp-content/u...

www.imf.org/en/Publicati...
Stylised illustration (not actual data) titled ‘The Unstable Mid-Transition?’ showing the energy transition. Chart displays market share (NOT BASED ON DATA) over time from 2010 to ~2060. A red shaded area labeled ‘High-Carbon Capital’ starts high in 2010 and declines. A blue shaded area labeled ‘Low-Carbon Capital’ starts low in 2010 and rises. The two areas intersect around 2030, marked with a question mark and labeled ‘Uncertain/unstable mid-transition period.’ The right side notes: ‘Stranded assets, Unstable demand, Oversupply/undersupply, Volatile oil/gas markets.’ Source: Illustration from IMF WP/23/184.
October 12, 2025 at 4:05 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
Me ever since my barber moved to Luton:
October 12, 2025 at 3:25 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
A possible defence of scrolling as inquiry?

philarchive.org/rec/SIETPO-11
The Journal of Philosophy ONLINE FIRST published on October 9, 2025 Susanna Siegel ® https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil202510213 Wandering Inquiry Inquiry is guided, in the minimal sense that it is not haphazard. It is also often thought to have as a natural stopping point ceasing to inquire, once inquiry into a question yields knowledge of an answer. On this picture, inquiry is both telic and guided. By contrast, mind-wandering is unguided and atelic, according to the most extensively developed philosophical theory of it. This paper articulates a puzzle that arises from this combination of claims: there seem to be plenty of examples of inquiry progressing within mind-wandering, yet theories of inquiry and mind-wandering can make wandering inquiry seem impossible or incoherent. I offer several solutions to this puzzle and make the case that taken together, they illuminate a prevalent form of inquiry that the burgeoning literature on that topic overlooks, to its detriment: "low" inquiry- inquiry that progresses spontaneously, without executive control.
October 10, 2025 at 10:09 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
New addition:
“Quit it you want to quit”
October 10, 2025 at 12:42 PM
yusufimaadkhan.com
“Motivational” quotes on the PhD office whiteboard
Whiteboard in PhD office displaying various motivational quotes and seminar timetable (with apologies for the copy paste handwriting tracking via bluesky): mon 14.00-630 SPP app 1580 econ* A good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan executed next week. TE 1400- 1530 PSPE* HED 200-1300 Pol Ben wiP 1200 -1315 SEAC 1300 - 1400 PSRE WiP 1500-1600 COMentiOuS" 1600 - 1700 SSPPAR TOUGH TIME NEVER LAST ONLY TOUGH PEOPLE LAST Publish Perish Parish Тни 100: 1600 GU SXI 1600-1700 Pol Beh 1600- 1800 POTY 1400 - 1500 SPEECH （7∞！ 14-00 - 1500 methadolery * not every weck * Publish Top publish not Ar It's nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice MOTIVATIONAL" QUOTES Institations fail, Daron Acemoylu doesn't
October 10, 2025 at 11:51 AM
yusufimaadkhan.com
*"Come Outside" pls
photo of Auntie Mabel and Pippin the dog from the tv show "come outside"
October 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM