Owen Michael
@owenwmichael.bsky.social
Welsh and European. Biromantic Asexual. @UKLabour, @unisontheunion, and @thefabians. Data person and all round geek. He/him/o
Reposted by Owen Michael
Remember all the articles about 'Workington Man' back in 2019?
Well, commentators should have been writing lots of pieces about 'Macclesfield Woman' in 2024, but they were obsessing over 5 Reform MPs instead
Well, commentators should have been writing lots of pieces about 'Macclesfield Woman' in 2024, but they were obsessing over 5 Reform MPs instead
February 9, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Remember all the articles about 'Workington Man' back in 2019?
Well, commentators should have been writing lots of pieces about 'Macclesfield Woman' in 2024, but they were obsessing over 5 Reform MPs instead
Well, commentators should have been writing lots of pieces about 'Macclesfield Woman' in 2024, but they were obsessing over 5 Reform MPs instead
Reposted by Owen Michael
I find it endlessly infuriating that most commentators are chronically uninterested in who and where actually moved from Tory to Labour in a big way in 2024
Also, that wasn't their aim! They aimed to win over 'hero voters', and failed, and that failure also cost them votes and (potentially) seats, but more importantly is why the government has been such a wall-to-wall set of crises.
"we were so great at having a perfectly efficient vote" err guys that might not be a good thing actually!
February 9, 2026 at 10:31 AM
I find it endlessly infuriating that most commentators are chronically uninterested in who and where actually moved from Tory to Labour in a big way in 2024
Reposted by Owen Michael
The remarkable thing is Labour have basically made 'anti-child poverty' and 'climate change' the two core missions or this Government and...
... basically refuse to talk about one or them. Genuinely bizarre.
... basically refuse to talk about one or them. Genuinely bizarre.
This is the key point that is lost in so much Westminster bubble talk on net zero. It is popular. It’s hugely popular with Labour’s base and with the progressive voters it needs to vote tactically to defeat Reform. And it’s even popular with Tories who Labour needs not to switch to Reform.
…as well as being supported by the vast majority of Lab/Lib/Gn voters, almost all Labour MPs, a 2-1 majority of voters overall and – even now – a healthy majority of Con voters
February 9, 2026 at 8:48 AM
The remarkable thing is Labour have basically made 'anti-child poverty' and 'climate change' the two core missions or this Government and...
... basically refuse to talk about one or them. Genuinely bizarre.
... basically refuse to talk about one or them. Genuinely bizarre.
Reposted by Owen Michael
The way Chris pincher has been basically been erased from boris downfall is really instructive in Westminster culture and how these people get away with it
I see we're back to "Johnson resigned because of a party" and not because he employed a known sex pest, lied about what he knew, and more than half his cabinet resigned as a result.
Madeley. FFS.
February 9, 2026 at 1:34 PM
The way Chris pincher has been basically been erased from boris downfall is really instructive in Westminster culture and how these people get away with it
Reposted by Owen Michael
I’m sorry, but this story is completely unbelievable. Not the Brown or Obama bits, but that level of modesty and self-awareness from Nicolas Sarkozy? Nah.
February 9, 2026 at 9:11 AM
I’m sorry, but this story is completely unbelievable. Not the Brown or Obama bits, but that level of modesty and self-awareness from Nicolas Sarkozy? Nah.
Reposted by Owen Michael
I have today been informed that, despite personal assurances to the contrary, the Green party have once again used my image and misrepresented my words on a second leaflet circulated in Gorton and Denton ahead of the by-election. I have now lodged an official complaint with the returning officer.
February 9, 2026 at 11:25 AM
I have today been informed that, despite personal assurances to the contrary, the Green party have once again used my image and misrepresented my words on a second leaflet circulated in Gorton and Denton ahead of the by-election. I have now lodged an official complaint with the returning officer.
Reposted by Owen Michael
Yes. People love to paint Corbyn and Starmer as opposites but there are throughlines over their tenures atop the Labour Party: corrosive, faux macho bullying, horrible appointments made for loyalty rather than competence, a sneering indifference to racism & gaslighting of its victims
(If No.10 and its outriders had an ounce of self-awareness, they’d be asking themselves why the government’s flaws are uncomfortably similar to the Corbyn leadership’s flaws)
February 9, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Yes. People love to paint Corbyn and Starmer as opposites but there are throughlines over their tenures atop the Labour Party: corrosive, faux macho bullying, horrible appointments made for loyalty rather than competence, a sneering indifference to racism & gaslighting of its victims
Reposted by Owen Michael
(If No.10 and its outriders had an ounce of self-awareness, they’d be asking themselves why the government’s flaws are uncomfortably similar to the Corbyn leadership’s flaws)
February 9, 2026 at 1:04 PM
(If No.10 and its outriders had an ounce of self-awareness, they’d be asking themselves why the government’s flaws are uncomfortably similar to the Corbyn leadership’s flaws)
Reposted by Owen Michael
I will stop going on about this soon, but it is striking how so many of the McSweeney people's lines to take a) describe things that aren't, in fact, the chief of staff's *job* and b) have no relation, good or bad, to what the government is actually *doing*.
Yes, god help we risk a floundering government that feels like no one is in charge.
February 8, 2026 at 8:10 PM
I will stop going on about this soon, but it is striking how so many of the McSweeney people's lines to take a) describe things that aren't, in fact, the chief of staff's *job* and b) have no relation, good or bad, to what the government is actually *doing*.
Reposted by Owen Michael
The one thing I do find mildly irritating is hearing from certain Labour people who spent the Corbyn years telling people like me to fuck off and join the tories complain about factionalism, ngl.
February 8, 2026 at 8:05 PM
The one thing I do find mildly irritating is hearing from certain Labour people who spent the Corbyn years telling people like me to fuck off and join the tories complain about factionalism, ngl.
Reposted by Owen Michael
The differance between *what the govt is actually doing* and ehat 90% of people, including its MPs apparently, think its doing is remarkable.
The government is spending tens of billions of pounds on net zero! The government is softening Brexit! The government is consulting on getting every business to do ethnicity pay gap reporting!
February 8, 2026 at 6:30 PM
The differance between *what the govt is actually doing* and ehat 90% of people, including its MPs apparently, think its doing is remarkable.
Reposted by Owen Michael
One of Boris' Cabinet ministers used to say that Dominic Cummings was like Richard II: 'everything is going badly, he just kept going "hey, remember when I stopped the Peasants' Revolt?" and Dom is like that, but with Vote Leave' and so much of this is the same.
That was one of the more astounding things of reading the various “Morgan’s buddies” post-mortems, a total refusal to even acknowledge how the Government’s electoral performance is going while still touting this guy as a brilliant strategist heading off the soft left or whatever
And that's ultimately who he was: the preferred chief of staff of the 'no policies, just vibes' crowd, who are in denial even now that they have driven Labour to the brink of death.
February 8, 2026 at 7:11 PM
One of Boris' Cabinet ministers used to say that Dominic Cummings was like Richard II: 'everything is going badly, he just kept going "hey, remember when I stopped the Peasants' Revolt?" and Dom is like that, but with Vote Leave' and so much of this is the same.
Reposted by Owen Michael
Once again, people are being unfair to CLPs here
Good. The UK is not a big CLP to have fun fighting factional battles with.
BREAKING: Morgan McSweeney quits as Keir Starmer's chief of staff amid fall-out from the Mandelson scandal
February 8, 2026 at 2:32 PM
Once again, people are being unfair to CLPs here
Reposted by Owen Michael
Sorry, who in the Parliamentary Labour Party is using "net-zeroist" like it's derogatory? Are they aware what the climate policy of their own government is?
Yes, god help we risk a floundering government that feels like no one is in charge.
February 8, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Sorry, who in the Parliamentary Labour Party is using "net-zeroist" like it's derogatory? Are they aware what the climate policy of their own government is?
Reposted by Owen Michael
Yeah, I think it's outlived its usefulness as a descriptor
Slightly adjacent conversation but I really think the term “Blairite” needs to be retired from modern politics.
Tony Blair doesn’t even really seem to be a Blairite anymore - the whole term and grouping barely makes sense anymore
Tony Blair doesn’t even really seem to be a Blairite anymore - the whole term and grouping barely makes sense anymore
February 8, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Yeah, I think it's outlived its usefulness as a descriptor
Reposted by Owen Michael
Boring opinion: if people know the name of the Downing Street Chief of Staff, the CoS is not doing a good job.
February 8, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Boring opinion: if people know the name of the Downing Street Chief of Staff, the CoS is not doing a good job.
Reposted by Owen Michael
As Jonathan Powell wrote in his terrific book: “for the first few years, the press didn’t even have a photo of me”.
Boring opinion: if people know the name of the Downing Street Chief of Staff, the CoS is not doing a good job.
February 8, 2026 at 3:29 PM
As Jonathan Powell wrote in his terrific book: “for the first few years, the press didn’t even have a photo of me”.
Reposted by Owen Michael
Maybe he can be the new Envoy to the Nations and Regions.
February 8, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Maybe he can be the new Envoy to the Nations and Regions.
Reposted by Owen Michael
So now that Imane Khelif has revealed that she apparently has a SRY gene, people who were already calling her a man before are saying she's been "proven" to be a man.
My question is, what would they do? Should she be forced to change sex markers? To have genital surgery?
My question is, what would they do? Should she be forced to change sex markers? To have genital surgery?
February 7, 2026 at 5:20 PM
So now that Imane Khelif has revealed that she apparently has a SRY gene, people who were already calling her a man before are saying she's been "proven" to be a man.
My question is, what would they do? Should she be forced to change sex markers? To have genital surgery?
My question is, what would they do? Should she be forced to change sex markers? To have genital surgery?
Reposted by Owen Michael
Not to mention the whole reason she took up boxing was that she wanted to play football as a kid but boys kept trying to beat her up because they didn't want girls to play.
So now that Imane Khelif has revealed that she apparently has a SRY gene, people who were already calling her a man before are saying she's been "proven" to be a man.
My question is, what would they do? Should she be forced to change sex markers? To have genital surgery?
My question is, what would they do? Should she be forced to change sex markers? To have genital surgery?
February 8, 2026 at 9:02 AM
Not to mention the whole reason she took up boxing was that she wanted to play football as a kid but boys kept trying to beat her up because they didn't want girls to play.
Reposted by Owen Michael
i’m not on nextdoor but my wife has shown me anxious posts of adults worrying about the “youths loitering at the end of the road”
at the end of the road there is: a playground
they’re complaining about kids going to a playground
at the end of the road there is: a playground
they’re complaining about kids going to a playground
Kids can't hang out in parks. They can't hang out at the mall. They don't have 3rd spaces because no one wants kids around and then we are surprised when they rely on SM for connection.
If you take that away, what do they have left?
If you take that away, what do they have left?
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
The impacts of locking under 16 yos from their social media networks are now beginning to bite for those young people who relied on them for social connection
The impacts of locking under 16 yos from their social media networks are now beginning to bite for those young people who relied on them for social connection
February 8, 2026 at 9:47 AM
i’m not on nextdoor but my wife has shown me anxious posts of adults worrying about the “youths loitering at the end of the road”
at the end of the road there is: a playground
they’re complaining about kids going to a playground
at the end of the road there is: a playground
they’re complaining about kids going to a playground
Reposted by Owen Michael
This! Labour’s leadership is being talked about as if it’s some kind of poisoned chalice.
In reality it’s a chance to take over the first term of a government with a huge majority. It’s the political opportunity of a lifetime.
In reality it’s a chance to take over the first term of a government with a huge majority. It’s the political opportunity of a lifetime.
Yet this is a government with three years left to run and an enormous Commons majority. For all the problems, there is an enormous opportunity there for someone with the political nous to take it and use it.
Starmer's reported condition - incredibly unpopular, shorn of authority, probably un-reelectable and yet will stagger on for want of an alternative - is just the new normal of how Britain is governed. It was also true for two-thirds of May's premiership, half of Johnson's and all of Sunak's.
February 8, 2026 at 11:27 AM
This! Labour’s leadership is being talked about as if it’s some kind of poisoned chalice.
In reality it’s a chance to take over the first term of a government with a huge majority. It’s the political opportunity of a lifetime.
In reality it’s a chance to take over the first term of a government with a huge majority. It’s the political opportunity of a lifetime.
Reposted by Owen Michael
Developing 1): the major political parties in Weimar Germany were monarchists, right-wing socialists, left-wing socialists, the Nazis, anarchists, and conservative democrats who were *de facto* allied with the monarchists until the latter pivoted to the Nazis.
February 7, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Developing 1): the major political parties in Weimar Germany were monarchists, right-wing socialists, left-wing socialists, the Nazis, anarchists, and conservative democrats who were *de facto* allied with the monarchists until the latter pivoted to the Nazis.
Reposted by Owen Michael
This is the mistake Labour keeps making. THEY'RE NOT IN OPPOSITION ANYMORE. Farage can say what he likes. Labour can do & doing small things well makes people happy Their focus on infrastructure has negated that advantage because they're spending money on stuff that won't happen until the far future
Farage is offering a big picture programme of national renewal. If Labour's answer is "fewer potholes, bins get collected weekly and we throw a few local jamborees every year", then I worry it will make us look very pedestrian.
February 8, 2026 at 12:07 AM
This is the mistake Labour keeps making. THEY'RE NOT IN OPPOSITION ANYMORE. Farage can say what he likes. Labour can do & doing small things well makes people happy Their focus on infrastructure has negated that advantage because they're spending money on stuff that won't happen until the far future
Reposted by Owen Michael
the vassal states of the famously non-colonialist soviet union might beg to differ.
January 30, 2026 at 6:12 PM
the vassal states of the famously non-colonialist soviet union might beg to differ.