Tom Griffin
LightNews LightNews
tcgriffin.bsky.social
Tom Griffin
@tcgriffin.bsky.social
730 followers 2.7K following 140 posts

Author of State-Private Networks and Intelligence Theory (Routledge 2022). Writing on intelligence history on substack. https://intelligencehistory.substack.com

Videos
Political science 30%
Sociology 27%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Martin Shaw, Tom Griffin

writesbright.bsky.social
Sam Bright @writesbright.bsky.social · 11h
It takes an obscene amount of hubris to lecture the BBC when you have The Telegraph’s record on truth-telling.

Some of the paper’s errors this year are so bad they’re almost laughable 👇🏻
The Telegraph’s BBC hypocrisy
A paper that knows a thing or two about editorial f*ck-ups...
writesbright.substack.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

hardeepmatharu.bsky.social
Hardeep Matharu @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social · 15h
A key victory in Trump's road to power in America was successfully branding the majority of its established press as "fake news". Now, he is bringing this across the pond to the BBC – where these same tactics are favoured by prominent politicians and media outlets on the right. A dangerous moment.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Paul Davies, Jonathan Hopkin , and 1 more

pippacrerar.bsky.social
Pippa Crerar @pippacrerar.bsky.social · 15h
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full*

"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.

Reposted by Tom Griffin

Jock ‘Anonymous Low Level Loser’ Bruce @jockbruce.bsky.social · 17h
Really, NYT?

"The F.B.I.’s relationship with MI5 is arguably the most important in Five Eyes"

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/w...
F.B.I. Director Is Said to Have Made a Pledge to Head of MI5, Then Broken It
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d
Prescott's 19 page memo criticising specific programmes in 6 different areas. It is much more subjective - coming from his own perspective across issues - than the thematic reviews conducted by the BBC with a clear methodology & engagement with all perspectives

www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/...
www.bbc.co.uk

tcgriffin.bsky.social
Tom Griffin @tcgriffin.bsky.social · 3d
IIRC correctly it was the Telegraph that reported that Richmond was the best London Borough and Brent. Having just got soaked walking from Gunnersbury to Kew Gardens, I submit there's a lot to be said for being on the Jubilee line.

tcgriffin.bsky.social
Tom Griffin @tcgriffin.bsky.social · 3d
I thought the PLP was right to push back over welfare, but it has to be for the sake of a coherent alternative. Fortunately, in the absence of the the Fixed Term Parliament, somebody will have to make some hard decisions.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Steve Peers , and 7 more

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d
Dominic Cummings has this racialised take on David Lammy

There is an increasingly prevalent kneejerk online rightwing trait to call the presence of any black or Asian person a diversity hire

Reposted by Juliet Lodge, Tom Griffin

annettedittert.bsky.social
Annette Dittert @annettedittert.bsky.social · 4d
What a wonderful portrait and interview with the great @anthonybarnett.bsky.social
Have a look for yourselves.. 👇
Anthony Barnett: “The Sixties were a catastrophic failure”
The writer and campaigner on nationalism, the rise of the new right and how a fractured left can organise in response
www.newstatesman.com

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Mary Corcoran, Gary D. Rawnsley , and 1 more

mcslaven.bsky.social
Mike Slaven @mcslaven.bsky.social · 4d
Wrote something with @emile-chabal.bsky.social in @foreignpolicy.com about how the immigration debate in the UK has gotten so off the rails recently: foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/05/b...
Britain Is Having the World’s Most Extreme Immigration Debate
The British discourse makes even the Trump administration look moderate.
foreignpolicy.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

theguardian.com
The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d
Lucy Powell says Labour must stand by promise not to raise key taxes
Lucy Powell says Labour must stand by promise not to raise key taxes
New deputy leader also calls on government to lift two-child benefit cap urgently and in full • UK politics live – latest updates Lucy Powell, Labour’s new deputy leader, has said the government should stand by its manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, amid signs that it may be preparing to break that promise. Powell, who left Keir Starmer’s cabinet in the reshuffle before being elected deputy leader last month, said the budget needed to be about putting more money, not less, into ordinary people’s pockets. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Alan Richardson, Tom Griffin, Cullen S. Hendrix

johnrogers.bsky.social
John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 4d
The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.
marklemley.bsky.social Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 5d
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co

Reposted by Will Jennings, Steve Peers, Tom Griffin , and 1 more

philipstephens.bsky.social
Philip Stephens @philipstephens.bsky.social · 4d
For as many years as anyone been counting two or more inmates been mistakenly released from British prisons most weeks. Record does not make it acceptable. System needs to be fixed. It does leave me asking why BBC now gripped by end-of-civilisation hysteria heard on Radio 4 Today programme.

Reposted by Marc Lynch, Loretta Lees, Christian Odendahl , and 7 more

alisonkilling.bsky.social
Alison Killing @alisonkilling.bsky.social · 4d
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com

Reposted by John F. McCarthy, Joe R. Feagin, Will Jennings , and 17 more

marklemley.bsky.social
Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 5d
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative

electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co

Reposted by Tom Griffin, Iñaki Aldasoro

financialtimes.com
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 5d
FT Exclusive: Jensen Huang has warned that China will beat the US in the artificial intelligence race, thanks to lower energy costs and looser regulations.

Read more from his interview with the Financial Times: on.ft.com/4oQbYuP

tcgriffin.bsky.social
Tom Griffin @tcgriffin.bsky.social · 5d
Never classed myself among the Beltway obsessed UK politics nerds, but in the course of trying to understand the difference between 1st and 2nd-term Tony Blair, I ended up deep in the weeds of New York State ballot lines in the 1940s. Possibility of a blue wave next year does matter to Britain.

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings, Tom Griffin , and 1 more

dylandifford.bsky.social
Dylan Difford @dylandifford.bsky.social · 5d
The crucial bit of this tactical 'only Labour or Reform can win here' VI poll, though, is that Labour and Reform would be tied.

Not enough Lib Dem or Green voters are (right now) prepared to tactically vote for Labour to offset the number of Tories willing to tactically vote for Reform.
adambienkov.bsky.social Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 5d
Inspiring campaign messages of our time

Reposted by Tom Griffin, Nancy M. Wingfield

moreperfectunion.bsky.social
More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 5d
BREAKING: Former FTC chair Lina Khan to serve as co-chair of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral transition team.

Reposted by Tom Griffin, David Darmofal

jonwalkerpdx.bsky.social
Jon Walker @jonwalkerpdx.bsky.social · 5d
Amazing how much 2025 was a hyper correction for the fact that in 2024 voters clearly didn't know what they were voting for because the media didn't report on Trump's actual policies/voters refused to believe what they were voting for.
kevintmorris.bsky.social Kevin Morris @kevintmorris.bsky.social · 5d
Between 2020 and 2024, no New Jersey county moved further right than Passaic County (11pts). At 43% it's also the most the most-Latino county in the state, and is among the least-white overall.

Last night, it moved 18pts to the left, surpassed only by Hudson County (the second-most Latino county)

Reposted by Steve Peers, Tom Griffin, Maria Abreu

peterwalker99.bsky.social
Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 5d
The full transcript of Zohran Mamdani's acceptance speech is very much worth reading in full. Even if you don't agree with your politics, it's very beautifully put together.

archive.is/8VqQJ

[this is a useable link to the NYT transcript]

Reposted by Tom Griffin

engelsbergideas.bsky.social
Engelsberg Ideas @engelsbergideas.bsky.social · 5d
Trade wars are never solely about economics, as the Anglo-Irish tariff war of the 1930s reminds us.

Ireland’s David and the British Goliath | @duncanweldon.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/essays/irela...
Ireland's David and the British Goliath
Trade wars are never solely about economics, as the Anglo-Irish tariff war of the 1930s reminds us.
engelsbergideas.com

tcgriffin.bsky.social
Tom Griffin @tcgriffin.bsky.social · 5d
The long march of the pre-1972 Socialist Party of America.
sharonk.bsky.social Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 6d
the 2028 democratic party is going to be 50% DSA and 50% CIA at this rate

Reposted by Tom Griffin

lizziedearden.bsky.social
Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden.bsky.social · 5d
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has congratulated Zohran Mamdani on his election victory and what he called a “historic campaign"

"New Yorkers faced a clear choice - between hope and fear - and just like we've seen in London - hope won," he said

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/n...
‘Hope Won’: Sadiq Khan, London’s Mayor, Congratulates Mamdani
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Tom Griffin

lucympowell.bsky.social
Lucy Powell MP @lucympowell.bsky.social · 5d
Congratulations to Zohran Mamdani on such a clear win in New York.

His victory shows that boldness and a story of economic change in the interests of the many not the few, defeats the politics of division and despair.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Zohran Mamdani seals remarkable victory - but real challenges await
After entering the race largely unnoticed, the new mayor of New York City can expect to face serious scrutiny in office.
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Tom Griffin

timoconnorbl.bsky.social
timoconnorbl.bsky.social @timoconnorbl.bsky.social · 5d
“What lessons on pan-European politics can we draw from an election to an executive mayoralty?”

“No more than we can that of Anne Hidalgo?”

“But if we *had* to?”

“That it helps to be running on local issues against a loathed sex-pest who’s being savaged by the local lunatic in a beret?”

Reposted by Tom Griffin

sharonk.bsky.social
Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 6d
the 2028 democratic party is going to be 50% DSA and 50% CIA at this rate

Reposted by Tom Griffin

attackerman.bsky.social
Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 6d
I wrote this in June and the disgusting way since then that Cuomo and the oligarchs have been willing to tear the social fabric of the city apart to stop him has only made it more true and Zohran’s victory more thunderous.

Next we stop ICE.
This Is The Beginning of The End of The 9/11 Era
Capital and nativism will fight even harder against Zohran Mamdani now. But in capital's seat of power, socialism defeated barbarism. I fucking love New York
www.forever-wars.com

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Jonathan M. Gilligan, Laurent Dubois , and 6 more

santiagomayer.com
Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 6d
Republicans thought they had a permanent hold over young men. They didn't.

Spanberger wins men 18-29 by 14%, Sherrill by 10%, and Mamdani by a stunning 40%.

Reposted by Tom Griffin

drjennings.bsky.social
Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 6d
Important context to the electoral punishment that the GOP is receiving tonight is that arguably the American economy has not yet endured the full effects of Trump's policy agenda. This may not be the bottom, by any stretch of the imagination.