Concrete Achievements

Tag: media

  • I wouldn’t necessarily start with LA but I would be fascinated to see this sort of…

    I wouldn’t necessarily start with LA but I would be fascinated to see this sort of experiment actually executed for a fixed 8/10-year period in a reasonably-sized city (“has its own newspaper” size). twitter.com/ArthurSmid/sta…

    This is such a whole-system all-at-once change that you can’t really pilot it without doing it. I personally think it would create more democratic problems that it solves, but I’m very open to being proved wrong. And better to try it at a scale where you can find the problems

    I’m not naïve – I know the logic of political power is that no one will make the sort of self-denying decision that would be needed to make it happen, and even if it failed we would endlessly hear it was because it had not been done right … but still, it *would* be interesting.

    (I am also conscious of the argument that sortition lawmaking is a denial of fundamental human rights as they are defined in some places, ECHR Paris Protocol Art 3 for instance).

  • I think this is spot on from today’s ⁦@TheEconomist⁩ but the reason this was possible is…

    I think this is spot on from today’s ⁦@TheEconomist⁩ but the reason this was possible is a failed media-political culture that focused on horse race and both-sidesism rather than scrutiny and challenge.

    And scrutiny of policy was replaced by either Paxman-style shouting or breathless court journalism, both of which make politics all about the personality across the table rather than the ideas or policies they are standing for.

    Everyone with five minutes policy experience saw that Brexit could not succeed politically or in policy terms except at a huge price that had never been presented to voters. Where was the challenge? Opinion pages of the FT don’t count.

    There is an enormous reckoning needed in British media and politics and now the fever is starting to pass the UK needs to look at what cultures and process need to be put in place to prevent this sort of system collapse ever happening again.

  • It’s very sobering reading and absolutely right.

    It’s very sobering reading and absolutely right. The PMOS lying to the press, very senior officials permitting a culture of rule-breaking. An unbelievable breach of the code, and I cannot understand how Case has not resigned. twitter.com/jdportes/statu…

    Trying to imagine Robin Butler or Richard Wilson allowing it. And it’s easy to say “not in my day” but this is of a piece with the wider Berlusconisation of the British state machinery. And even il Cavaliere didn’t have as much personal control as Johnson enjoys.

    The next government needs a plan (written now) for state reform.

  • The Brexiteer wager is that no matter how outrageously they screw up, a combination of…

    The Brexiteer wager is that no matter how outrageously they screw up, a combination of right wing press, TV both-sidesing and basic nationalism will mean British people will just blame the bad EU. So far, it’s working for them.

    The logic of this is that they should be as outrageous as possible, because then the both-sidesing will be dragged even more towards “breaking our own agreements is good, actually”. This is also working for them.

    So, for all the Brexit project has failed and will continue to fail in terms of making anyone’s lives better, it is unfortunately delivering for the nationalist right (prop. V. Putin).

  • Links from the week of 6 December 2021

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 1 February 2021

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • It might seem a bit “I didn’t think leopards would eat MY face” for the seafood industry…

    It might seem a bit “I didn’t think leopards would eat MY face” for the seafood industry to be parading lorries through London in an anti-Brexit protest, but the Brexit campaign promised everyone lovely cuddly puppies who didn’t even need house training.

    I think the total absence of any communication on problems, difficulties or trade-offs is going to bite the current UK government hard in the next 6-12 months (longer if it takes longer for travel to resume fully).

    They’ll give “spiteful EU are being mean because they want Brexit to fail” a good try, but even with press support I don’t think it’ll work.

  • Last Brexit tweet, because this is all you need.

    Last Brexit tweet, because this is all you need. Today, almost a month after Brexit was due to happen, the UK is still doing unicorns. twitter.com/tnewtondunn/st…

    And when I say last Brexit tweet, I’m not kidding. Muting the words, unfollowing British journalists, I’m done. I enjoyed Brexitless Easter and I’m going to keep rolling like that.

    There’s enough to be getting on with. European elections. Spain. The whole democracy thing. Go vote. Do democracy right. #ThisTimeImVoting #tymrazemglosuję

  • Last Brexit tweet, because this is all you need.

    Last Brexit tweet, because this is all you need. Today, almost a month after Brexit was due to happen, the UK is still doing unicorns. twitter.com/tnewtondunn/st…

    And when I say last Brexit tweet, I’m not kidding. Muting the words, unfollowing British journalists, I’m done. I enjoyed Brexitless Easter and I’m going to keep rolling like that.

    There’s enough to be getting on with. European elections. Spain. The whole democracy thing. Go vote. Do democracy right. #ThisTimeImVoting #tymrazemglosuję

  • #marr show letting Sun “Brexposed” claims be repeated unchallenged.

    #marr show letting Sun “Brexposed” claims be repeated unchallenged. EU “secret plans” were press releases on Friday. They don’t make no deal OK. They give a seven-month grace period (révocable at any time) during which UK lorries/planes can work to and from EU *but not within it*

    Fact checking post-lie is not ideal but not aiding in their spread is surely the bare minimum role of journalism.

    Here is the press release – in English, on the website – on air travel: consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press… and here on road transport consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press… – have a read and see whether it makes it seem that everything be OK for British travellers.