Phil Burton-Cartledge

It's publication day! An Injury to All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class is published today, 27 October 2026, by @versobooks.bsky.social. My book is a new history how Britain's formerly powerful working class was pushed to the political margins. Order🔽 www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

Look, I know all the reasons we got here, but we really need to start seriously thinking about what we do in a world where The Markets punish whole countries for voting for decency, compassion, and fairness. We must stop pretending the capitalist machine is an objective, value neutral force.

Cultural Sociology Sage Prize Nominee In 'Music Worlds and Event Networks: An Exposition', Nick Crossley introduces the concept of ‘event networks’ as a complement which allows one to capture much that ‘participant networks’ exclude: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #OpenAccess

The name of the POUM, the Marxist anti-Stalinist militia with which Orwell fought on the Aragón front, inscribed by some militia fighter in 1936-37 on the stone of this old farm hut, all of those years ago. Near Tierz, Huesca.

Solar has overtaken nuclear. A decade ago it supplied 1% of the world's power. In 2025 it met three quarters of global demand growth. Almost nobody saw it coming. I spoke to Jocelyn Timperley at BBC Future about why. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

We know why. The former head of news directed the BBC's news output to pander to Reform voters to keep them onside. It's all there in the documentation. Instead of moaning about it, why not ask our useless culture secretary about why she's letting this continue.

Many comments on the great election victories in Brazil and Serbia state that the authorian right is in decline or that voters have rejected far-right authoritarianism. That is a wrong interpretation of what happened. Progressive movements mobilized and beat the authoritarian right. That's different

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A new survey of 1,000 American adults found that the strongest supporters of transgender sports bans are not the people who admire women most: they are the people who hold the most hostile views about women. www.helenwebberley.com/news/transge...

Some excellent insights and advice here.

Bluesky has four kinds of users.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s wacky stuff but damn, everyone is real brave when the battle is finished and it’s time to bayonet the wounded.

We have a lot to learn from it. I have a Brazilian colleague. She was distraught by the first round result, and couldn't do terribly much because she's in the UK. But she immediately made a concerted effort to talk to any of her friends and relatives back home she thought might be on the fence.

52/48. 'twas forever thus.

It's really important to pay attention to the fact that Lula beat the fascist candidate not by compromising and trying to meet fascist voters in the middle, but by sticking to his guns, promising prosecutions for election interference, and mobilising his own voters to turn out in greater numbers.

Of course Bolsonaro calls the result "inexplicable". He thought him and his mates had had it all sewn up.

Despite the well-documented dirty tricks of Bolsonaro's supporters in state governments, Lula still wins. Today is a better day than yesterday.

The 3rd Annual SciFiScavenger Viewer Survey is OPEN! Tell me your favourite science fiction books of all time, and this year for the first time, also tell me your Top 5 science fiction movies! The link for the survey response is here: forms.gle/fAV4WaKRg3MZ... Open till end of October.

On to my fourth Christopher Priest novel. Barely a few chapters in and I‘m already completely immersed. With so much to read, ‘The Prestige’ has been waiting patiently on my shelves for a few months now. Some things in life are well worth waiting for… #booksky

You have to laugh at the sheer insanity of Turning Point UK being found to be organising literal contract killings and paid agitation at protests up and down the country and it barely even raises a flicker across the press. If that isn't 'terrorism' on some level I don't really know what is

Here's a photo of a helicopter landed on Joanne's 227 foot support yacht that follows around her 290 foot main yacht

“Crime is spiralling out of control under Labour,” Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said about new stats out this morning. “Labour needs to stop making excuses and back the police to ensure criminals face consequences.” 🙄

The immigration doom loop, summed up here by @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A-level Sociology Teachers – join us for an inspiring event on sociological research methods, featuring an interview with the renowned sociologist, Ann Oakley. Book now for 'Interview with Ann Oakley – examining the methods’, a free online BSA-supported event, 1 December. tinyurl.com/8cu5855x

University of Nottingham, right now, is cutting 560 jobs. Do we need to rebrand universities as very large, very clean, land-based oil rigs to get government support?

Everything for sale. Australia investors buy 19 UK ports, previously owned by investors from Canada, Singapore, Kuwait. City of London prefers speculation. Profits will be exported. Unlike many other countries, UK doesn't levy tax on dividends paid to foreign investors. archive.ph/oYm8k

Haven't read the piece, but George's blurb here suggests there is a class dimension.

If there are only "pockets of poor provision" why doesn't OfS just focus on the pockets? One in 10 students are now taught by a for-profit franchise; students taught on these programmes have worse outcomes than students on the universities validating the franchise degrees. Focus on franchising.

There’s been a disappointing lack of coverage of the Serbian election in British media. This piece by Misha Glenny gives a sense of the stakes iin this coming Sunday’s election — a generational political moment, significant for the future politics of Europe. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A taste of what is to come if Reform get anywhere near Downing Street. Every criticism will be reportable to the police.

This is a non story. The police chief cites actual figures. Farage challenges actual figures. Farage has no basis for doing this. Why did the BBC run this?

Jack Ross, CEO of Turning Point UK and a former Conservative election candidate, has been suspended from the party in the wake of undercover sting by Al Jazeera reportedly showing him discussing the cost of hiring contract killers. Story from @benquinn75.bsky.social and me

Not just an appalling decision, but cultural vandalism to boot.