Paul Kelly
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pjthinker.bsky.social
Paul Kelly
@pjthinker.bsky.social
Professor of Political Theory

Former Head of Department of Government and PVC Education
London School of Economics

Author Against Post-liberalism: Why Faith, Family and Flag is a Dead End for the Left, Polity Press 2025
Reposted by Paul Kelly
I agree with this, but I think if the BBC were better led, it would make fewer culpable errors and it would both directly and indirectly be better placed to fight the real and concerted campaign against it.
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
November 10, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
November 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
I think this might’ve been the reason here. This forces them to swear her in. Then the vote to release the files I’m hearing has plenty of republican support if it ever gets to a vote. Which sounds like impeachment support. I hope this play doesn’t backfire. Because ACA subsidies are real.
The only silver lining to last night’s cave.
November 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
So BBC #wato has John Whitingdale on - someone who has campaigned for the end of the licence fee. Impartial?
November 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
This was a diagram illustrating a piece I wrote in @prospectmagazine.co.uk in January 2024. Some faces have since changed but you get the general gist …
November 10, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
"They attack the BBC precisely because it is intended to be unpolarised. The entire notion of objective, impartial public-service broadcasting is anathema to them. It means there is a core area of public life which they struggle to dominate." - Ian Dunt 👇

open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
Extra edition: The populist assault on the BBC
Johnson, Gibb and the Telegraph are trying to turn the BBC into GB News.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
The BBC belongs to Britain, not Trump.

Political leaders across the spectrum must defend it.
November 10, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Chris Mason said something on #r4today but I have no idea what his point was …
November 10, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
If you liked that chart you may like this cartoon
November 8, 2025 at 9:37 PM
November 8, 2025 at 5:21 PM
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November 8, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
Congrats @pjthinker.bsky.social! And watch this space for a review...
November 8, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
He spent Biden’s entire presidency calling him ‘Sleepy Joe’. Still does. But this guy nods off in the middle of the day in meetings almost every day. Fell asleep in court all the time too.
November 7, 2025 at 12:03 PM
In case anyone is worried that I’m spending too much sabbatical on here I am also reading this wonderful ‘monster’. Kevin Schultz’s brilliant ‘Why Everyone hates White Liberals’ gives special pride of place to Buckley and to James Baldwin - Nicholas Boggs’ biography is next but in UK not til 2026
November 7, 2025 at 2:12 PM
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Beautifully captures most debates about AI in UKHigher Education and Government… (think of all the jobs AI peas would create)
Give peas a chance – even AI peas: the Stephen Collins cartoon
AI can transform all areas of our lives – even boiling a bag of frozen veg
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Posting again for the benefit of new followers. Two weeks since publication and no less relevant to UK or US political discourse. @politybooks.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 10:11 AM
AI is a technology in search of a market hence its efforts to co opt HE. Renewable Energy tech has a pretty obvious market - China seems to have taken the bet on a global market for energy ( perhaps noting AI is nothing without cheap and abundant energy). The US has gone for AI only - let’s see…
November 7, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
Gen X. This is our moment in history.

Ah. Our minds have been turned to jelly by Facebook.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Meet gen X: middle-aged, enraged and radicalised by internet bile | Gaby Hinsliff
Who is driving the populist insurgency? It’s not grumpy pensioners or vulnerable teenagers – it’s my generation, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
This is not only exceptionally good work, it is also presented in a very clear visual way. Bravo, Sky News!

news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
How the world's richest man is boosting the British right
How the world's richest man is boosting the British right
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
A magnificent piece of work. Comprehesive, revelatory & shocking. Journalism this good is always rare & precious but never moreso than at times like this. Latter day Lord Haw Haws being plumped, preened & delivered to your doorstep in plain sight by a Nazi-saluting goon
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
Our very own Bruno @brunoleipold.com wins an ERC Synergy Grant! We are thrilled!! Huge boost for political theory @lsegovernment.bsky.social.
November 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
So far I have the Economist, Matt Yglesias, Ross Douthat and of course The Telegraph (lol) cautioning that the Democrats are learning the wrong lesson from yesterday. We have no idea (a) what lessons have been learned, (b) whether Democrats would follow them, and (c) if they are the wrong lessons.
November 5, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelly
The feed keeps on giving bsky.app/profile/numb...
November 4, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Sabbaticals are not just for Against Post-Liberalism Polity 2025 - they also for grand daughters. A few hours taken out of thinking about the so-called crisis of liberalism
November 3, 2025 at 6:52 PM