Ben Worthy
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benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy
@benworthy.bsky.social
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benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · Sep 23
My piece on Trump's Fascism for Political Insight 'Authoritarianism, mass arrests, political violence – Donald Trump’s regime fits the historical pattern of fascism' journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
The Fascism of Donald Trump - Ben Worthy, 2025
journals.sagepub.com

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 15h
There's a pdf version on the Google Scholar cite too

Reposted by Ben Worthy

adambienkov.bsky.social
Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 16h
MPs cheering Keir Starmer at the PLP meeting "like the troops at Little Bighorn," remarks one exasperated Labour MP leaving the room

Reposted by Ben Worthy

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 18h
We've had 5 new Prime Ministers since June 2016 Brexit referendum in 9 & a half years
- May (3 yesrs)
- Johnson (3 years)
- Truss (50 days)
- Sunak (20 momths)
- Starner (19 momths, 2 years by July)

Previous 5 PMs lasted 37 years,1979-2016

Average: 7

Thatcher 11
Major 7
Blair 10
Brown 3
Cameron 6

Reposted by Annabelle Lever, Antje Wiener, Ben Worthy

rbellamy.bsky.social
Richard Bellamy @rbellamy.bsky.social · 20h
Details of my book launch are now available - everyone welcome. It will be hybrid for those not in London and recorded.
www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
Defending the Political Constitution: A Book Launch of Richard Bellamy’s latest book
This event is organised by the UCL Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism.
www.ucl.ac.uk

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 1d
This is what I call in my Parliamentary Studies classes the BIG SECRET of British politics, which explains almost everything since 2015, if not 2003 👇👇👇
aliceolilly.bsky.social Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d
There’s a trend among recent PMs of having a poor relationship with and/or not really understanding what their backbenchers’ expectations are and how they view their role (and how that seems to have shifted among backbenchers of all parties in recent years)
jessicaelgot.bsky.social Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 1d
Since Labour has been in government the lack of preparation and depth of thinking has been apparent but I think one of the biggest mistakes was going to war with the PLP so early. It stunned a lot of MPs to be told they could not even table amendments. This resentment is a massive part of the story.

Reposted by Ben Worthy

aliceolilly.bsky.social
Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d
Parliamentary management matters! It matters when you have a small majority but it *also* matters when you have a big majority. And it takes constant work.

Reposted by Ben Worthy

aliceolilly.bsky.social
Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 1d
There’s a trend among recent PMs of having a poor relationship with and/or not really understanding what their backbenchers’ expectations are and how they view their role (and how that seems to have shifted among backbenchers of all parties in recent years)
jessicaelgot.bsky.social Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 1d
Since Labour has been in government the lack of preparation and depth of thinking has been apparent but I think one of the biggest mistakes was going to war with the PLP so early. It stunned a lot of MPs to be told they could not even table amendments. This resentment is a massive part of the story.

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 1d
This great story by @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com is more Brasseye than Brasseye was.
youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 1d
mashallah he is gone, to celebrate I've made the piece I wrote last year about arguably the most embarrassing project I've ever worked on free to read: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/so-about-t...

Reposted by Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Ben Worthy , and 1 more

youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 1d
mashallah he is gone, to celebrate I've made the piece I wrote last year about arguably the most embarrassing project I've ever worked on free to read: youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/so-about-t...

Reposted by Tim Bale

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 1d
It's very important- amid this v serious scandal- that @iandunt.bsky.social reminds of the otherhuge scandal still staring us in the face from the covid inquiry
timbale.bsky.social Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 3d
This—by @iandunt.bsky.social—is the best thing I’ve read on the implications of this week’s shitshow for UK government, diplomacy and democracy
Starmer's moment of reckoning
Where is the competent boring government we were promised?
iandunt.substack.com

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 2d
Just as an ask, can I get top 5 Pacific War histories? Looking for good overviews. I know the Toland and Toll works

Reposted by Ben Worthy, Daniel Kuehn

bostonreview.bsky.social
Boston Review @bostonreview.bsky.social · 2d
“Returning to where we were means going back to a state of affairs that was manifestly unsustainable. To borrow from the architect of the Democratic Party’s most enduring platform, any recovery that simply restores things will see us all right back where we are now.” @rauchway.bsky.social
We need reconstruction, not restoration—as FDR knew.
Eric Rauchway responds in a forum on “How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism.”
www.bostonreview.net

Reposted by Ben Worthy

robertscotthorton.bsky.social
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 2d
Jamelle Bouie hits nail on head: "For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism."
Opinion | This Is Just Who Trump Is
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz, Jennifer Pett‐Ridge, Alan Richardson , and 6 more

jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d
"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)
Opinion | This Is Just Who Trump Is
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Tom Clark, John Horgan , and 20 more

eoinhiggins.bsky.social
Eoin Higgins @eoinhiggins.bsky.social · 2d
Concentration camps: stories of as many as 50 people to a cell — men and women in some cases — with no windows and limited airflow, a single camera-monitored toilet, aluminum blankets, no showers and poor quality food.
ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false.
www.pressherald.com

Reposted by Ben Worthy

timbale.bsky.social
Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 3d
This—by @iandunt.bsky.social—is the best thing I’ve read on the implications of this week’s shitshow for UK government, diplomacy and democracy
Starmer's moment of reckoning
Where is the competent boring government we were promised?
iandunt.substack.com

Reposted by Ben Worthy

mlobelart.bsky.social
Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 3d
Jacob Lawrence, "General Toussaint L’Ouverture, Statesman and Military Genius," from the Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture series, 1938
Portrait of Toussaint L'Ouverture

Reposted by Ben Worthy

ajbauer.bsky.social
A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 3d
Hold up, Donald Trump is racist?

Reposted by Ben Worthy

Reposted by Ben Worthy

laurenleharper.bsky.social
Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 4d
The whistleblower complaint against Gabbard was allegedly that info was being classified for political reasons.

Now seems like a good time for the intelligence community IG to have its own FOIA office so you don't have to submit your requests for IG records through DNI headquarters first.
Congress Receives Redacted Version of Whistleblower Complaint Against Gabbard
Significant portions of the document had been blacked out for executive privilege.
www.wsj.com

Reposted by Ben Worthy

adefty.bsky.social
Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 4d
ISC also being quite clever here - by getting government to mark which parts of the papers are prejudicial to national security, if ISC then produces a report which does not reveal those 'words, phrase or sentences' the government would struggle to legally block the publication of a report.
adefty.bsky.social Andrew Defty @adefty.bsky.social · 4d
The ISC has published its letter to the PM regarding how it will handle the Mandelson papers. It is a carefully worded and fascinating document not least because the ISC has a statutory relationship with the executive but has unusually been asked to carry out a job by Parliament.

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 4d
Great piece here by @colmpm.bsky.social

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Ben Worthy, Philip Cowley

timbale.bsky.social
Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 5d
A useful reminder on today of all days from our @qmulsse.bsky.social colleague @colmpm.bsky.social
Labour's problem isn't Keir Starmer | LSE British Politics
Labour's dismal performance in the polls has lead to Keir Starmer's leadership of the Labour Party being openly contested. But Colm Murphy argues that, while Starmer is a flawed politician, many of th...
blogs.lse.ac.uk

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 6d
But the data only says much and the 2013 story helped bring about Proxy voting www.bbc.com/news/uk-engl...
MP Lucy Powell responds to 'lazy MP' Sun newspaper list
An MP says she is
www.bbc.com

benworthy.bsky.social
Ben Worthy @benworthy.bsky.social · 6d
It is done occasionally-see spectator.com/article/whic... and spectator.com/article/whic... and the local/regional press used to report on it
Which MPs have the worst voting record?
They say that sunlight is the best of disinfectants. But MPs haven’t always be so keen on having their voting records online. Some take issue with how their votes are portrayed; others suggest disprop...
spectator.com

Reposted by Axel Bruns, Ben Worthy

youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com
Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 8d
oh my god

Reposted by Ben Worthy, Peter Allen

philipjcowley.bsky.social
Philip Cowley @philipjcowley.bsky.social · 9d
Thoughts in the FT on why I don't like the idea of an automatic by election if an MP changes party - but understand why some people do, along with a possible compromise...

How to deal with defecting MPs - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
How to deal with defecting MPs
Voters should be able to force parliamentarians who change parties to face the electorate
giftarticle.ft.com

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Kim L. Scheppele, Naomi Klein , and 19 more

sifill.bsky.social
Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 10d
The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are a test for every MSM member with a platform. If you are not voicing your outrage at this blatant violation of the First Amendment, you are utterly discredited as a journalist.

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Scott L. Greer, Ben Worthy

benansell.bsky.social
Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10d
Consistent with everything we know about the Trump administration. Their response to becoming less popular is simply to keep escalating.

Reposted by Ben Worthy

robertsaunders.bsky.social
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10d
It's six years today since Britain left the EU.

I wrote this on Brexit day in 2020, about the strategic dilemmas to which European membership had once been the answer and that would now reopen once Britain left.

I'd stand by most of it today.
gladstonediaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/brex...
Brexit in Historical Perspective: The Age of Britain in Europe
When the bell tolls at eleven o’clock tonight, ringing out Britain’s membership of the EU, an entire phase of British history will ...
gladstonediaries.blogspot.com