Jon Bloomfield
@jonbloomfield.bsky.social
Rooted cosmopolitan. London, Arsenal, Birmingham. Writes on cities, EU, national populism,climate change. Latest The Little Black Book of the Populist Right with co-author David Edgar, a short accessible guide to today's dangers.
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Jon Bloomfield
@jonbloomfield.bsky.social
· Nov 18
My Bluesky starter! David and I signing copies of The Little Black Book of the Populist Right. A short, accessible guide to the dangers of Trump, Farage, Orban et al. Buy at lnkd.in/dpbz5SFS A Xmas bargain for you and your friends.
A vigorous call to arms from @pollytoynbee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
Replacing the TV licence with a means-tested alternative may help disarm the right of one of its most effective weapons, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:38 PM
A vigorous call to arms from @pollytoynbee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Bite the bullet; make the case.
Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇
renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...
If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it
Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.
It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...
renewal.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Bite the bullet; make the case.
Clear and firm. For those who want to understan̈d the BBC story. observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...
The Observer view: political interference at the BBC | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Clear and firm. For those who want to understan̈d the BBC story. observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
A reminder that David Kogan was *not* on the shortlist for the position of head of the football regulator service and that the candidates who *had* been shortlisted were then ignored in his favour. Kogan did not even apply for the position.
Lisa Nandy apologises for breaking rules on football regulator job
Lisa Nandy apologises for breaking rules on football regulator job
Report finds that new football regulator David Kogan had made two separate donations of £1,450 to the culture secretary.
www.bbc.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
A reminder that David Kogan was *not* on the shortlist for the position of head of the football regulator service and that the candidates who *had* been shortlisted were then ignored in his favour. Kogan did not even apply for the position.
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
“Rogue traders exploiting weak enforcement” sums up what’s wrong with the UK: a hollowed out public sector and a culture of lawlessness from the petty to the seriously criminal. We need a massive injection of capacity into local authority regulation not just national agencies. #r4today
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 AM
“Rogue traders exploiting weak enforcement” sums up what’s wrong with the UK: a hollowed out public sector and a culture of lawlessness from the petty to the seriously criminal. We need a massive injection of capacity into local authority regulation not just national agencies. #r4today
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
What is Webb on about: apparently “almost all” university students and lecturers are searching for ways to be victims and that means most complaints of bad management in the workforce are just “victimhood”? Utter opinionated nonsense. 🙄 #r4today
November 5, 2025 at 8:26 AM
What is Webb on about: apparently “almost all” university students and lecturers are searching for ways to be victims and that means most complaints of bad management in the workforce are just “victimhood”? Utter opinionated nonsense. 🙄 #r4today
Just like London. No wonder the populist right hate big cities.
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Just like London. No wonder the populist right hate big cities.
The stampede to the far right continues. No reaction to Glasman’s latest provocation after meeting Ukrainian drone makers. “We could target every boat with a drone. These are not refugees..we’re perfectly entitled to put the Royal Navy in the channel.”
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Maurice Glasman On Nigel Farage, Peter Thiel and Shabana Mahmood
Is a very British tech revolution on the cards? Blue Labour peer Lord Glasman talks to Sienna Rodgers about ‘big AI’ with the union jack on it, get...
www.politicshome.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:23 PM
The stampede to the far right continues. No reaction to Glasman’s latest provocation after meeting Ukrainian drone makers. “We could target every boat with a drone. These are not refugees..we’re perfectly entitled to put the Royal Navy in the channel.”
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
The C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro is a defining moment for city-led climate leadership on the road to COP30.
It will send a clear message: in the face of growing climate denial and delay, Mayors are stepping up.
It will send a clear message: in the face of growing climate denial and delay, Mayors are stepping up.
November 3, 2025 at 5:07 PM
The C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio de Janeiro is a defining moment for city-led climate leadership on the road to COP30.
It will send a clear message: in the face of growing climate denial and delay, Mayors are stepping up.
It will send a clear message: in the face of growing climate denial and delay, Mayors are stepping up.
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
Nigel Farage, who has so far registered a total of £280,500 for four hours a month as a "brand ambassador" for a company selling gold bars, thinks a £10 an hour minimum wage for young people is too high bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Nigel Farage Says Minimum Wage Should Be Cut for Young People
The Reform leader said cutting the minimum wage for young people would boost business, as he attacked plans to raise taxes on the wealthy
bylinetimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Nigel Farage, who has so far registered a total of £280,500 for four hours a month as a "brand ambassador" for a company selling gold bars, thinks a £10 an hour minimum wage for young people is too high bylinetimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
@liambyrnemp.bsky.social in sparkling form at a Labour industry forum in Birmingham. Stresses that way to defeat populists ant the pessimism they thrive on is to stimulate serious devolution and rising living standards.
October 31, 2025 at 5:26 PM
@liambyrnemp.bsky.social in sparkling form at a Labour industry forum in Birmingham. Stresses that way to defeat populists ant the pessimism they thrive on is to stimulate serious devolution and rising living standards.
The forward march of populism halted. It can be done with an inclusive, optimistic message.
www.politico.eu/article/dutc... rise-who-are-they/
www.politico.eu/article/dutc... rise-who-are-they/
Rob Jetten and D66 were the Dutch election’s big surprise. Who are they?
Meet the progressive liberals who raced past other mainstream parties in the Netherlands.
www.politico.eu
October 30, 2025 at 10:28 AM
The forward march of populism halted. It can be done with an inclusive, optimistic message.
www.politico.eu/article/dutc... rise-who-are-they/
www.politico.eu/article/dutc... rise-who-are-they/
Astonishing.
This explains a lot... stay on X where posts are throttled, extremism is boosted and the audience hates you, ignore Bluesky where a lot of current or former supporters have migrated.
I just realised, the Labour Party doesn’t even have an account over here?!
October 28, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Astonishing.
@kenanmalik.bsky.social on the degradation of political and moral thinking as the migration debate stampedes to the far right observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Expelling legal migrants is a move straight from the Idi ...
Katie Lam’s plan for expulsions opens the door to curtailing the rights of us all
observer.co.uk
October 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM
@kenanmalik.bsky.social on the degradation of political and moral thinking as the migration debate stampedes to the far right observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
Nothing on the BBC Radio news this morning. Nothing I could find on their website. This is an MP from the party whose lead in the opinion polls normally ensures them wall-to-wall coverage. She spouts racist nonsense for which even she feels obliged to apologise. What on earth are they playing at?
Reform’s Sarah Pochin forced to apologise after claiming adverts 'full of black people' drive her 'mad’ | LBC
The Runcorn and Helsby MP was responding to a viewer live on air who complained about the demographics of advertising.
www.lbc.co.uk
October 26, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Nothing on the BBC Radio news this morning. Nothing I could find on their website. This is an MP from the party whose lead in the opinion polls normally ensures them wall-to-wall coverage. She spouts racist nonsense for which even she feels obliged to apologise. What on earth are they playing at?
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
I would hope that one of the many MPs who benefits from Sunder's tireless work would take up this case - the defamatory video needs removing urgently, and the person responsible needs to be found and held accountable
A very worrying escalation of online harassment.
Somebody has used a video of me saying "racism in football is a game of two halves" + put a fake voiceover on it saying "what I would say to the girls of Rotherham is it is a game of two halves"
x.com/EuropaIneffa...
Somebody has used a video of me saying "racism in football is a game of two halves" + put a fake voiceover on it saying "what I would say to the girls of Rotherham is it is a game of two halves"
x.com/EuropaIneffa...
Europa Ineffable on X: "In a recent panel at what looks like Labour conference, Sunder Katwala, wearing an England shirt, appeared to compare the R🦍 GANGS to a football match: "it's a game of two halves" 🥴 https://t.co/b5YNKyaQtu" / X
In a recent panel at what looks like Labour conference, Sunder Katwala, wearing an England shirt, appeared to compare the R🦍 GANGS to a football match
x.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I would hope that one of the many MPs who benefits from Sunder's tireless work would take up this case - the defamatory video needs removing urgently, and the person responsible needs to be found and held accountable
@adambienkov.bsky.social on Caerphilly by-election showing that the forward march of Reform can be halted.
🔴The Reform Backlash: Caerphilly By-Election Result Shows Nigel Farage’s Party Is Much Weaker Than It Looks
Despite widespread media predictions of a Reform victory on Thursday, Farage’s defeat shows his party continues to be overestimated, argues @adambienkov.bsky.social
Despite widespread media predictions of a Reform victory on Thursday, Farage’s defeat shows his party continues to be overestimated, argues @adambienkov.bsky.social
The Reform Backlash: Caerphilly By-Election Result Shows Nigel Farage’s Party Is Much Weaker Than It Looks
Despite widespread media predictions of a Reform victory on Thursday, Farage's defeat shows his party continues to be overestimated, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
@adambienkov.bsky.social on Caerphilly by-election showing that the forward march of Reform can be halted.
The stampede to the right continues.
Mass deporting millions of people legally living here in order to make the UK "culturally coherent" is "broadly in line" with Conservative party policy, says Kemi Badenoch's spokesman
October 22, 2025 at 8:30 PM
The stampede to the right continues.
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
That’s more like it. Taken too long to get here but now Labour have found the bright line to draw they need to stick to it.
NEW: Labour condemn Tory plan to strip people of indefinite leave to remain:
“It’s utterly grotesque that Tories want to deport people with the lawful right to be here to achieve ‘cultural coherence’.
“This policy would mean tearing families apart and ripping out our neighbours from communities."
“It’s utterly grotesque that Tories want to deport people with the lawful right to be here to achieve ‘cultural coherence’.
“This policy would mean tearing families apart and ripping out our neighbours from communities."
October 22, 2025 at 7:40 PM
That’s more like it. Taken too long to get here but now Labour have found the bright line to draw they need to stick to it.
Early days, but....
Arsenal points lost from winning positions
• 24/25: 21
• 25/26: 0 (so far)
Thanks for joining, Mr. Zubimendi.
• 24/25: 21
• 25/26: 0 (so far)
Thanks for joining, Mr. Zubimendi.
October 20, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Early days, but....
Thoroughly depressing but so predictable. Trump repeats Putin's lines and pressurises Ukraine. If Europe wants to support Ukraine, it's basically on its own. www.ft.com/content/7960...
Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Putin’s terms or be ‘destroyed’ by Russia
US president tossed aside maps of Ukraine frontline in volatile White House meeting
www.ft.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Thoroughly depressing but so predictable. Trump repeats Putin's lines and pressurises Ukraine. If Europe wants to support Ukraine, it's basically on its own. www.ft.com/content/7960...
Reposted by Jon Bloomfield
Britain's problems in one capsule. If you pay to go to a posh private school and Oxford and do History and marry into wealth you can say anything, do anything, smash anything, fail anywhere. And people will still lap up what you say and nod like donkeys. (1/2) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Dominic Cummings: ‘Keir Starmer’s rubbish at politics’
The former aide to Boris Johnson pulls no punches in his assessment of the current state of British politics
www.thetimes.com
October 19, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Britain's problems in one capsule. If you pay to go to a posh private school and Oxford and do History and marry into wealth you can say anything, do anything, smash anything, fail anywhere. And people will still lap up what you say and nod like donkeys. (1/2) www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Spot on.
Far right policies of mass deportation and revocation of rights for people who have worked and played by the rules are overwhelmingly rejected by the public, based on widely shared anti-prejudice norms. Mainstream politicians who propose them should be pariahs not “rising stars”.
October 19, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Spot on.
@robfordmancs.bsky.social On the need to stand up against this Tory stampede to the ethno-nationalist right.
The first question every journalist who cares about accountability and responsibility should ask this “risign star” is “why do you want to make the conservatives more far right on immigration than the BNP or Enoch Powell?” bsky.app/profile/sund...
Sunday Times interview Tory "rising star" Katie Lam
She is clear she wants lots of legal migrants to be told to "go home" so as "to leave a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people"
(The interviewer suggests she is scrapping ILR or stripping people of it)
She is clear she wants lots of legal migrants to be told to "go home" so as "to leave a mostly but not entirely culturally coherent group of people"
(The interviewer suggests she is scrapping ILR or stripping people of it)
October 19, 2025 at 1:01 PM
@robfordmancs.bsky.social On the need to stand up against this Tory stampede to the ethno-nationalist right.
A welcome corrective to all the government and media scare stories.
There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
October 16, 2025 at 8:10 AM
A welcome corrective to all the government and media scare stories.