NM's blog

“The number of people who believe “Britishness” is something you are born with has almost doubled in two years, according to research that warns of a rising tide of ethno-nationalism in Britain. “Although a majority of the public still believe being British is rooted in shared values, a growing proportion see it as a product of ethnicity, birthplace and ancestry, according to analysis carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and shared with the Guardian. “About one-third of people (36%) thought a person must be born British to be truly British, up from one in five (19%) in 2023, a YouGov poll carried out this month for the thinktank found. “Supporters of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK held the most  extreme views  of any party backers, with 71% saying that having British ancestry was a prerequisite for someone to be truly British, and 59% saying they believed the nation was an ethnic, not a civic, community.“

It was fuelled by years of Tory & Labour support for anti-immigration policies

Martin Wolf wants “to awaken the conscience of the global bourgeoisie and to produce a virtuous class consciousness that will render it capable of solving the problems it has created for itself. He fears that it is unconsciously generating its own gravediggers, in the twin forms of resentful populist demagogues and a more efficient Chinese state capitalism. “Policies that might otherwise seem to be expressions of ruthless class interest are reframed as basic truths known or prevailing assumptions held by competent, reasonable people, who served to implement and safeguard them from dreamers and despots. But if they are reasonable truths, Wolf is left unable to explain how they have led to such unreasonable ends and empowered such unreasonable people.” Full review via a google account

“If profitability is threatened, reforms must go.” Roberts should have added: but the state intervenes to maintain stability in society because absence of reforms sharpens class struggle. In orde to save capitalism, the capitalist state initiates reforms even if those reforms are minor or undermined in a later stage. The debate continues …

An interesting liberal take on Jordan and how liberals now are saying enough with supporting authoritarian and monarchical regimes. The Arab uprisings have exposed everything, including many hypocritical liberals. A U.S. satellite and protectorate on the verge of implosion 

    Hampton Institute

The French rail workers do not want to take England as a role model

The wrong kind of Universal Basic Income

"Astonishingly, the US mainstream media have barely covered what everyone here calls “the massacre.” Make no mistake: If police in Venezuela had shot down 11 unarmed demonstrators, a pack of American reporters would have raced there." Rebellion spreads in Mexico after police massacre

Paradoxes of Arab Refo-lutions by Asef Bayat