Rafael Behr
@rafaelbehr.bsky.social
Political columnist, The Guardian
Author, Politics, A Survivor's Guide
Website: https://rafaelbehr.com/
Author, Politics, A Survivor's Guide
Website: https://rafaelbehr.com/
Reposted by Rafael Behr
Put simply: if you tell voters you don't want them or are unwilling to represent them, they will vote for someone else.
January 28, 2026 at 12:02 PM
Put simply: if you tell voters you don't want them or are unwilling to represent them, they will vote for someone else.
Reposted by Rafael Behr
One of the stories of British politics over last 15 years has been Conservatives and Labour valuing narrower and narrower ideological coherence over their historic, broad coalitions and then being astonished that their vote shares keep falling.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Centrist ideas no longer wanted in Conservative party, says Kemi Badenoch
Party leader tells MPs that one-nation Tories doubting her rightward direction ‘need to get out of the way’
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 12:02 PM
One of the stories of British politics over last 15 years has been Conservatives and Labour valuing narrower and narrower ideological coherence over their historic, broad coalitions and then being astonished that their vote shares keep falling.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
On the Starmer doctrine: pretend there is a way to avoid the hard choice, find out the hard way there isn’t. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
From the Burnham row to the China visit, avoiding hard choices is the Starmer doctrine | Rafael Behr
Whether at home or abroad, the pattern of ducking difficult arguments and calling it pragmatism is the same, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:53 AM
On the Starmer doctrine: pretend there is a way to avoid the hard choice, find out the hard way there isn’t. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Rafael Behr
The BBC coverage is absolutely terrible.
It leads on "sharply contested narratives"
It has a dramatic skew to the US government
It has posted the video but has failed to report on what it shows: it shows the US govt account is untrue
It leads on "sharply contested narratives"
It has a dramatic skew to the US government
It has posted the video but has failed to report on what it shows: it shows the US govt account is untrue
January 24, 2026 at 11:00 PM
The BBC coverage is absolutely terrible.
It leads on "sharply contested narratives"
It has a dramatic skew to the US government
It has posted the video but has failed to report on what it shows: it shows the US govt account is untrue
It leads on "sharply contested narratives"
It has a dramatic skew to the US government
It has posted the video but has failed to report on what it shows: it shows the US govt account is untrue
Someone should ask Kemi Badenoch (or whichever Tory is up for Sunday shows) if the Tories’ proposed “removals force” with “sweeping new powers” will be modelled on ICE www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Tories to pledge to create immigration taskforce modelled on Trump’s Ice
Proposed ‘removals force’ will be tasked with deporting 150,000 people a year in bid to tackle illegal immigration
www.theguardian.com
January 24, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Someone should ask Kemi Badenoch (or whichever Tory is up for Sunday shows) if the Tories’ proposed “removals force” with “sweeping new powers” will be modelled on ICE www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Rafael Behr
January 22, 2026 at 7:46 AM
Starmer maybe rightly doesn’t take bait each time but he needs an outrider - a semi-licensed “off message” attack dog - to make Haw-Haw Farage pay for sucking up to the guy who denigrates British war dead.
Trump on NATO: "I've always said, will they be there if we ever needed them? That's really the ultimate test. I'm not sure of that. We've never needed them. They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan and this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, off the front lines."
January 22, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Starmer maybe rightly doesn’t take bait each time but he needs an outrider - a semi-licensed “off message” attack dog - to make Haw-Haw Farage pay for sucking up to the guy who denigrates British war dead.
Reposted by Rafael Behr
Welcome to the clicktatorship, where everything is content
Border Commander Greg Bovino stands outside a South Minneapolis gas station this morning with BORTAC officers in what seemed like an effort to draw more and more people to the scene as other agents shoot high resolution video of the crowd yelling and blowing whistles.
January 21, 2026 at 6:59 PM
Welcome to the clicktatorship, where everything is content
Reposted by Rafael Behr
The problem when trying to rehabilitate Trump’s attachment to old European alliances is that his politics and character are aligned with the dark forces that had to be defeated for those alliances to exist. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Donald Trump is not forgetting America’s old alliances – his goal is to destroy them | Rafael Behr
European leaders who know their continent’s history must now see that the US president is siding with the forces of tyranny, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:23 AM
The problem when trying to rehabilitate Trump’s attachment to old European alliances is that his politics and character are aligned with the dark forces that had to be defeated for those alliances to exist. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Rafael Behr
Remember the Soviet joke about a man who always goes to look at the papers but never buys one. The news agent asks him what he's looking for and he says, "An obituary" and the news agent points out that they're always in the back section. "This one won't be".
January 21, 2026 at 5:55 AM
Remember the Soviet joke about a man who always goes to look at the papers but never buys one. The news agent asks him what he's looking for and he says, "An obituary" and the news agent points out that they're always in the back section. "This one won't be".
In case anyone missed it in the torrent of mind-slurry, here is the point where Trump’s speech takes an excursion into raw, undiluted unambiguous racism.
Trump: "Somalia -- they turned out to be higher IQ than we thought. I always say, 'These are low IQ people.' How did they go into Minnesota and steal all that money?"
January 21, 2026 at 2:56 PM
In case anyone missed it in the torrent of mind-slurry, here is the point where Trump’s speech takes an excursion into raw, undiluted unambiguous racism.
The problem when trying to rehabilitate Trump’s attachment to old European alliances is that his politics and character are aligned with the dark forces that had to be defeated for those alliances to exist. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Donald Trump is not forgetting America’s old alliances – his goal is to destroy them | Rafael Behr
European leaders who know their continent’s history must now see that the US president is siding with the forces of tyranny, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:23 AM
The problem when trying to rehabilitate Trump’s attachment to old European alliances is that his politics and character are aligned with the dark forces that had to be defeated for those alliances to exist. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Rafael Behr
Kemi Badenoch tells the BBC's Matt Chorley that if she were prime minister, Donald Trump would simply not be like this.
January 20, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Kemi Badenoch tells the BBC's Matt Chorley that if she were prime minister, Donald Trump would simply not be like this.
Interesting how, when pressed to sound more forceful personally against Trump, Starmer restates essential nuclear and intelligence partnership. Wld be interesting to know what, if any, implicit and explicit threats US has made to withdraw that cooperation. Strong whiff of backstage menaces there.
January 19, 2026 at 10:03 AM
Interesting how, when pressed to sound more forceful personally against Trump, Starmer restates essential nuclear and intelligence partnership. Wld be interesting to know what, if any, implicit and explicit threats US has made to withdraw that cooperation. Strong whiff of backstage menaces there.
Reposted by Rafael Behr
If I was President of the United States, the last thing I’d do is start questioning territorial claims based on ‘people arriving in boats hundreds of years ago’.
January 19, 2026 at 9:05 AM
If I was President of the United States, the last thing I’d do is start questioning territorial claims based on ‘people arriving in boats hundreds of years ago’.
Reposted by Rafael Behr
New Politics on the Couch. On Hypocrisy - everywhere in politics, routinely reviled and, maybe, misunderstood? shows.acast.com/politicsonth...
Hypocrisy – why we hate it and why we can’t do without it | Politics on the Couch
Rafael Behr talks to Dr Michael Hallsworth, Chief Behavioural Scientist at the Behavioural Insights Teams in America
shows.acast.com
January 18, 2026 at 10:10 AM
New Politics on the Couch. On Hypocrisy - everywhere in politics, routinely reviled and, maybe, misunderstood? shows.acast.com/politicsonth...
New Politics on the Couch. On Hypocrisy - everywhere in politics, routinely reviled and, maybe, misunderstood? shows.acast.com/politicsonth...
Hypocrisy – why we hate it and why we can’t do without it | Politics on the Couch
Rafael Behr talks to Dr Michael Hallsworth, Chief Behavioural Scientist at the Behavioural Insights Teams in America
shows.acast.com
January 18, 2026 at 10:10 AM
New Politics on the Couch. On Hypocrisy - everywhere in politics, routinely reviled and, maybe, misunderstood? shows.acast.com/politicsonth...
@stephenkb.bsky.social v good on Jenrick defection, opportunity it presents to Tories, unlikelihood of them seizing it giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Jenrick’s sacking is both threat and opportunity for Badenoch
The surprise departure deprives Farage of some Westminster theatre and gives the Tories a chance to reclaim ground
giftarticle.ft.com
January 16, 2026 at 11:09 AM
@stephenkb.bsky.social v good on Jenrick defection, opportunity it presents to Tories, unlikelihood of them seizing it giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Reposted by Rafael Behr
Hello Bluesky - glad to finally be here! I will post EU institutional and democracy stuff, especially Commission presidentialisation, the (party-)politicisation of EU decision-making, inter-institutional dynamics, and the growing influence of far-right actors in the European Parliament and beyond!🇪🇺
January 16, 2026 at 10:24 AM
Hello Bluesky - glad to finally be here! I will post EU institutional and democracy stuff, especially Commission presidentialisation, the (party-)politicisation of EU decision-making, inter-institutional dynamics, and the growing influence of far-right actors in the European Parliament and beyond!🇪🇺
Reposted by Rafael Behr
Badenoch driving the most troublesome rat off her sinking ship, ideally to go and plague Farage with competing ambition, is not the worst move.
January 15, 2026 at 11:31 AM
Badenoch driving the most troublesome rat off her sinking ship, ideally to go and plague Farage with competing ambition, is not the worst move.
Reposted by Rafael Behr
We regret to inform you that Keir Starmer has once again told a joke. My SKETCH of PMQs.
thecritic.co.uk/come...
thecritic.co.uk/come...
January 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM
We regret to inform you that Keir Starmer has once again told a joke. My SKETCH of PMQs.
thecritic.co.uk/come...
thecritic.co.uk/come...
Very informative conversation here about Iran, internal regime dynamics, its brittleness, its options, drivers and limitations of opposition and more. www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/wha...
What Kind of Change Is Coming to Iran?
A Conversation With Karim Sadjadpour
www.foreignaffairs.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:08 PM
Very informative conversation here about Iran, internal regime dynamics, its brittleness, its options, drivers and limitations of opposition and more. www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/wha...
Reposted by Rafael Behr
We are so far past the Rubicon that it isn't worth having a discussion anymore as to whether Trump is acting as an authoritarian. The only question is whether we have the strength and courage to get back to the other side.
January 14, 2026 at 1:13 PM
We are so far past the Rubicon that it isn't worth having a discussion anymore as to whether Trump is acting as an authoritarian. The only question is whether we have the strength and courage to get back to the other side.
When the interior ministry declares its militia to be above the law in terms that equate dissent with treason there really isn’t any question of whether or not we are looking at an authoritarian regime.
January 14, 2026 at 4:05 PM
When the interior ministry declares its militia to be above the law in terms that equate dissent with treason there really isn’t any question of whether or not we are looking at an authoritarian regime.