Fred Cowell
@fascowell.bsky.social
International Law Academic and Local Government.
South London based. Also Arsenal, Guitars, Eagles and Indian Cooking. Scfi-Fi and History of WWII buff.
South London based. Also Arsenal, Guitars, Eagles and Indian Cooking. Scfi-Fi and History of WWII buff.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Am very unimpressed by people who only challenge racism, antisemitism and other vile behaviours when it's committed by a political opponent. . Ps the word weaponisation should be banned
December 6, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Am very unimpressed by people who only challenge racism, antisemitism and other vile behaviours when it's committed by a political opponent. . Ps the word weaponisation should be banned
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Feel happy that I’ve made peace with the fact there’s no hope of the title this year. The buffer is too small to take this.
That felt almost cruel the way that winner went in. We'd put bodies on the line to block everything and it broke for Buendia.
A point apiece would probably been fair enough, I think, but that's not how it goes.
Sort of lost for words at how late that was. A real gut punch
A point apiece would probably been fair enough, I think, but that's not how it goes.
Sort of lost for words at how late that was. A real gut punch
December 6, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Feel happy that I’ve made peace with the fact there’s no hope of the title this year. The buffer is too small to take this.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
So much of the story of this Labour government is about it giving a platform to a load of people (Blue Labour, Falkner) who just then use it to wreak evil and then sound off that the government is shit anyway. Where has it got you? Are you going to learn at some point?
December 6, 2025 at 10:47 AM
So much of the story of this Labour government is about it giving a platform to a load of people (Blue Labour, Falkner) who just then use it to wreak evil and then sound off that the government is shit anyway. Where has it got you? Are you going to learn at some point?
Reposted by Fred Cowell
That only manufacturing is real work, (done largely by real men), is a very old idea which however many times it's debunked keeps staggering back into view like the extras in a John Carpenter film. www.ft.com/content/a525...
Fetish for making things ignores real work
Only a small proportion of the value of goods is represented by manufacturing and assembly
www.ft.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
That only manufacturing is real work, (done largely by real men), is a very old idea which however many times it's debunked keeps staggering back into view like the extras in a John Carpenter film. www.ft.com/content/a525...
Reposted by Fred Cowell
The essence of Blue Labour thought is that somewhere in Downing Street there is a button marked “reindustrialise” that Tony Blair could have pressed, but instead he opted for the “more Woke Studies” button.
My brother in Christ, reindustrialization is based on international capital flows, not dumbass ideas to move down the value chain by turning colleges into vocational schools. You do realize that modern industry is almost always *high* skilled automation?
Read your Michael Pettis, you utter clown.
Read your Michael Pettis, you utter clown.
No reindustrialising? Our academic institutions are a part of the problem, overproducing elites and funnelling them into bullshit unproductive jobs. Half the universities need to close or become vocational colleges. You didn't even mention productivity.
Brexit is in the past. That ship has sailed.
Brexit is in the past. That ship has sailed.
December 5, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The essence of Blue Labour thought is that somewhere in Downing Street there is a button marked “reindustrialise” that Tony Blair could have pressed, but instead he opted for the “more Woke Studies” button.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
*youth pastor voice*
Let me tell you kids about another carpenter who wasn’t very popular with the authorities
Let me tell you kids about another carpenter who wasn’t very popular with the authorities
Sabrina Carpenter made the White House delete their fuck ass tweet.
December 5, 2025 at 9:10 PM
*youth pastor voice*
Let me tell you kids about another carpenter who wasn’t very popular with the authorities
Let me tell you kids about another carpenter who wasn’t very popular with the authorities
Reposted by Fred Cowell
"Why is anti-semitism tolerated in the UK?" asks Suella Braverman, shortly before defending man accused of saying "Hitler was right" and telling Jewish people they should be sent to the gas chamber
December 4, 2025 at 9:06 AM
"Why is anti-semitism tolerated in the UK?" asks Suella Braverman, shortly before defending man accused of saying "Hitler was right" and telling Jewish people they should be sent to the gas chamber
Reposted by Fred Cowell
The article explicitly notes WI had had a trans-inclusive policy *since the 1970s*!
December 3, 2025 at 10:57 AM
The article explicitly notes WI had had a trans-inclusive policy *since the 1970s*!
Reposted by Fred Cowell
“Put bluntly, net migration fell because 400,000 fewer foreigners arrived, and 200,000 more foreigners left the UK. This is precisely what Reform, the Mail, and the new, nastier Tory Party have claimed – again and again – they wanted to happen. And now that it has, they have ignored it entirely.”
The crazy right will never be satisfied about migration
Keir Starmer slashed net migration as the Mail and Farage demanded - and still got hammered for it
www.thenewworld.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM
“Put bluntly, net migration fell because 400,000 fewer foreigners arrived, and 200,000 more foreigners left the UK. This is precisely what Reform, the Mail, and the new, nastier Tory Party have claimed – again and again – they wanted to happen. And now that it has, they have ignored it entirely.”
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Islamophobia is rampant domestically, but the West's withdrawal from the international stage - in terms of military, but also aid and soft power - means more and more countries succumbing to militant Islamist regimes.
How do we square that circle? Absolutely fascinating discussion.
How do we square that circle? Absolutely fascinating discussion.
In Mali's capital, the city is surrounded by militants from an Al-Qaeda affiliate. But would the fall of a Russian-backed military govt be worse? And is this inevitable result of cutting aid to the world's poorest nations?
I spoke to Tessa Deveraux of #LSE.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
I spoke to Tessa Deveraux of #LSE.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
Crisis in the Sahel: the end of Western intervention and the collapse of Mali
Podcast Episode · Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · 02/12/2025 · 38m
podcasts.apple.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Islamophobia is rampant domestically, but the West's withdrawal from the international stage - in terms of military, but also aid and soft power - means more and more countries succumbing to militant Islamist regimes.
How do we square that circle? Absolutely fascinating discussion.
How do we square that circle? Absolutely fascinating discussion.
So proud of my friend Jess. This vital work will make a real difference.
I'm honoured to have been asked to advise the Health Secretary on how our health system can contribute to this Government's mission of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.
December 2, 2025 at 12:05 PM
So proud of my friend Jess. This vital work will make a real difference.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
I ask again ...
Is Caicedo just allowed do what he wants?
November 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I ask again ...
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Honest to God the funniest thing about the Cold War is that the first, clearest, most totalising sign that the Soviet system was going to lose had to be "the Soviets do not have rock"
November 29, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Honest to God the funniest thing about the Cold War is that the first, clearest, most totalising sign that the Soviet system was going to lose had to be "the Soviets do not have rock"
Reposted by Fred Cowell
I love how Xi Jinping really, properly loves football, has pushed massive amounts of money into building up football, is the most powerful Chinese leader since the Great Helmsman, and this sort of thing still keeps happening.
November 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I love how Xi Jinping really, properly loves football, has pushed massive amounts of money into building up football, is the most powerful Chinese leader since the Great Helmsman, and this sort of thing still keeps happening.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
This is how the Mail has covered a 70% fall in net migration.
The Government should stop kidding itself it will ever get credit for being anti-migration. They could cut numbers to zero and there would still be front pages blasting them for making the UK a socialist wasteland no one wants to come to
The Government should stop kidding itself it will ever get credit for being anti-migration. They could cut numbers to zero and there would still be front pages blasting them for making the UK a socialist wasteland no one wants to come to
November 28, 2025 at 12:35 PM
This is how the Mail has covered a 70% fall in net migration.
The Government should stop kidding itself it will ever get credit for being anti-migration. They could cut numbers to zero and there would still be front pages blasting them for making the UK a socialist wasteland no one wants to come to
The Government should stop kidding itself it will ever get credit for being anti-migration. They could cut numbers to zero and there would still be front pages blasting them for making the UK a socialist wasteland no one wants to come to
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was released on this day (Nov 28) in 1986. The film had originally been planned for release in mid-December. The studio believed this would allow it to maximize earnings because the film would be in theaters during the Christmas holiday.
November 28, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was released on this day (Nov 28) in 1986. The film had originally been planned for release in mid-December. The studio believed this would allow it to maximize earnings because the film would be in theaters during the Christmas holiday.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
the other thing though is that the government only gets so much "airtime" (in whatever format) in which to communicate to the public, and all the airtime it wastes banging on about immigration is airtime it's not using to talk about it's stronger suits (free childcare)
November 27, 2025 at 10:09 AM
the other thing though is that the government only gets so much "airtime" (in whatever format) in which to communicate to the public, and all the airtime it wastes banging on about immigration is airtime it's not using to talk about it's stronger suits (free childcare)
Reposted by Fred Cowell
A brief note on polling on tax. It can be really good. But it's actually the issue which is hardest to get right. There's no issue where Tony Blair's description of the difference between a three-second conversation, a 30-second conversation and a three-minute conversation is starker.
November 27, 2025 at 9:50 AM
A brief note on polling on tax. It can be really good. But it's actually the issue which is hardest to get right. There's no issue where Tony Blair's description of the difference between a three-second conversation, a 30-second conversation and a three-minute conversation is starker.
Reposted by Fred Cowell
I also think that part of this is the weird disappearance of economics from our national debate.
It just... doesnt seem to matter that much to many people
It just... doesnt seem to matter that much to many people
Starmer and Reeves run probably the most economically left-wing government of past five decades and yet bleeding support to its left thanks to dumb strategy www.economist.com/britain/2025...
November 27, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I also think that part of this is the weird disappearance of economics from our national debate.
It just... doesnt seem to matter that much to many people
It just... doesnt seem to matter that much to many people
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
UK net migration fell to 204,000 in year to June - live updates
Net migration, the difference between those entering and leaving the country, was 345,000 in 2024 according to revised figures.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Net migration fell sharply agaim to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, having been 344k in 2024 and 848k in 2023. But falling immigration has been the biggest secret - and it is time for the media and political debate to catch up with this change
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
Reposted by Fred Cowell
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by Fred Cowell
That second half from Arsenal was fucking sensational. As good as you could possibly hope to put in against a team as good as this.
Bossed it 100%. Madueke with his first goal, and then Martinelli, no less than we deserved. And Bayern offered NOTHING after the break.
Hello Europe, we're Arsenal
Bossed it 100%. Madueke with his first goal, and then Martinelli, no less than we deserved. And Bayern offered NOTHING after the break.
Hello Europe, we're Arsenal
November 26, 2025 at 9:56 PM
That second half from Arsenal was fucking sensational. As good as you could possibly hope to put in against a team as good as this.
Bossed it 100%. Madueke with his first goal, and then Martinelli, no less than we deserved. And Bayern offered NOTHING after the break.
Hello Europe, we're Arsenal
Bossed it 100%. Madueke with his first goal, and then Martinelli, no less than we deserved. And Bayern offered NOTHING after the break.
Hello Europe, we're Arsenal