Jonathan Shainin
@shainin.bsky.social
We have just published Equator's editorial declaration — our commitment to build something new. Read more and be a part of what comes next: equator.org
October 10, 2025 at 11:20 AM
We have just published Equator's editorial declaration — our commitment to build something new. Read more and be a part of what comes next: equator.org
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
The end of the West is not the end of the world.
EQUATOR: a new magazine of politics, culture, art.
** If you haven't signed up to our mailing list, do so at equator.org **
EQUATOR: a new magazine of politics, culture, art.
** If you haven't signed up to our mailing list, do so at equator.org **
September 22, 2025 at 5:37 PM
The end of the West is not the end of the world.
EQUATOR: a new magazine of politics, culture, art.
** If you haven't signed up to our mailing list, do so at equator.org **
EQUATOR: a new magazine of politics, culture, art.
** If you haven't signed up to our mailing list, do so at equator.org **
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
trump’s numbers are tanking and there is a palpable desire in the electorate for a real alternative and yet the only money in democratic politics is for doing starmerism
September 17, 2025 at 3:20 PM
trump’s numbers are tanking and there is a palpable desire in the electorate for a real alternative and yet the only money in democratic politics is for doing starmerism
Our new magazine, Equator, is officially out in the world — and here @equatormag.bsky.social
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
September 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Our new magazine, Equator, is officially out in the world — and here @equatormag.bsky.social
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
Sign up for preview emails, donate, and get tickets to our launch event in London: equator.org
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
I think a key UK political science question is how the current government can shoot itself in more feet than it actually has. And for theorists the issue is how to characterise a form of rule in which the government shoots itself in the foot, then puts the foot in its mouth and shoots it again.
September 3, 2025 at 9:46 PM
I think a key UK political science question is how the current government can shoot itself in more feet than it actually has. And for theorists the issue is how to characterise a form of rule in which the government shoots itself in the foot, then puts the foot in its mouth and shoots it again.
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Indeed. Far too much worrying about Polanski, about Farage, about the Ipsos' issues index, about individual polling, and not enough on 'how can we deliver election-winning budgets and spending rounds in 2027-8 and 2028-9'.
Labourites seem to have gone from "ha ha hypnotits" to "oh fuck Polanski will make Farage PM, is that what you want???" very quickly.
But lads, if you want people's votes, win them. You're the government ffs.
But lads, if you want people's votes, win them. You're the government ffs.
September 3, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Indeed. Far too much worrying about Polanski, about Farage, about the Ipsos' issues index, about individual polling, and not enough on 'how can we deliver election-winning budgets and spending rounds in 2027-8 and 2028-9'.
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
In Britain it's always 1933 (if we need to sell arms to someone) or 1942 (if we want to increase the Barratt Homes profit margin)
July 22, 2025 at 10:08 AM
In Britain it's always 1933 (if we need to sell arms to someone) or 1942 (if we want to increase the Barratt Homes profit margin)
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
How it started How it's going
June 30, 2025 at 6:43 AM
How it started How it's going
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
It feels like it ought to be possible for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to avoid giving a running commentary on a music festival.
Starmer criticises 'appalling' Bob Vylan IDF chants
The prime minister describes the punk duo's chants calling for death to Israel's military as
www.bbc.co.uk
June 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
It feels like it ought to be possible for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to avoid giving a running commentary on a music festival.
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Oh no not criticizing Israel’s demonstrated practice of apartheid, a practice identified by human-rights groups the New York Times frequently quotes with credibility, or describing Zionists as oppressors just because they oppress Palestinians!
June 29, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Oh no not criticizing Israel’s demonstrated practice of apartheid, a practice identified by human-rights groups the New York Times frequently quotes with credibility, or describing Zionists as oppressors just because they oppress Palestinians!
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
The immediate success of congestion pricing, after the Dem establishment insisted it would discredit the entire party, was a great advertisement for Trying Shit.
on Mamdani's city-run groceries idea, "laboratories of democracy" are one of the great U.S. strengths - even if you don't think it's likely to work, it's really interesting to see it tested. Maybe it'll be really successful! Maybe it'll fail for reasons we don't expect!
June 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM
The immediate success of congestion pricing, after the Dem establishment insisted it would discredit the entire party, was a great advertisement for Trying Shit.
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
"The problem with the polling and all the emphasis on data in contemporary politics is that it does not take into account that the electorate doesn’t really exist until election day, and the politician and his or her campaign are actively creating that electorate."
What It Took To Win
Thoughts on Zohran Mamdani's Popular Front
www.unpopularfront.news
June 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
"The problem with the polling and all the emphasis on data in contemporary politics is that it does not take into account that the electorate doesn’t really exist until election day, and the politician and his or her campaign are actively creating that electorate."
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
All a bit feral www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Feral Labour: why Sir Keir Starmer’s MPs have had enough
And why his government is in trouble
www.economist.com
June 26, 2025 at 3:27 PM
All a bit feral www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Very unusual to wake up to find good news overnight from the United States.
More of this, please, Americans.
More of this, please, Americans.
June 25, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Very unusual to wake up to find good news overnight from the United States.
More of this, please, Americans.
More of this, please, Americans.
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Great piece by @will-davies.bsky.social on TikTok, "clustered publics" and their role in far-right resentment. (I've found this shift profoundly challenging to respond to as a journalist. Ignore it and trust what I write reaches readers anyway? Dive in? Something else?)
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
William Davies · TV Meets Fruit Machine: Faragist TikTok
In my own For You journey into Faragism, I was struck by the recurring assumption that the ultimate prize was exit of...
www.lrb.co.uk
June 24, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Great piece by @will-davies.bsky.social on TikTok, "clustered publics" and their role in far-right resentment. (I've found this shift profoundly challenging to respond to as a journalist. Ignore it and trust what I write reaches readers anyway? Dive in? Something else?)
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
There are New Yorkers who don’t want Zohran to be mayor but there are no New Yorkers who actually want Andrew Cuomo to be mayor, including Andrew Cuomo
June 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
There are New Yorkers who don’t want Zohran to be mayor but there are no New Yorkers who actually want Andrew Cuomo to be mayor, including Andrew Cuomo
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
I would like to say that I support all sports posters. Your occasional, rapid fire 1-5 word posts that make no sense unless you are watching a game are beautiful to me.
June 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
I would like to say that I support all sports posters. Your occasional, rapid fire 1-5 word posts that make no sense unless you are watching a game are beautiful to me.
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
who would the New York Times and Wall Street want in charge of New York's fire department: an upstart young firefighter or a serial arsonist? The answer may surprise you
June 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM
who would the New York Times and Wall Street want in charge of New York's fire department: an upstart young firefighter or a serial arsonist? The answer may surprise you
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Interesting essay: fruit machine meets television the best description of TikTok
From @will-davies.bsky.social's brilliant LRB piece on Nigel Farage and TikTok.
This reinforces my belief that the MPs' expenses scandal, as reported endlessly by the Telegraph in 2009, has been the UK's most damaging/influential political story of the last 20 years.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
This reinforces my belief that the MPs' expenses scandal, as reported endlessly by the Telegraph in 2009, has been the UK's most damaging/influential political story of the last 20 years.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
June 22, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Interesting essay: fruit machine meets television the best description of TikTok
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
After months of reporting (and even my own attempt at a jiu jitsu class), my FT Magazine cover story on Mark Zuckerberg’s metamorphosis to red-blooded “Maga Mark” is out!
Is this political expediency, a midlife crisis or who Zuck has been all along?
on.ft.com/4nsoktx
Is this political expediency, a midlife crisis or who Zuck has been all along?
on.ft.com/4nsoktx
How Mark Zuckerberg unleashed his inner brawler
[FREE TO READ] The boss’s transformation shocked liberals at Meta, but his closest allies say this is who he was all along
on.ft.com
June 20, 2025 at 10:05 AM
After months of reporting (and even my own attempt at a jiu jitsu class), my FT Magazine cover story on Mark Zuckerberg’s metamorphosis to red-blooded “Maga Mark” is out!
Is this political expediency, a midlife crisis or who Zuck has been all along?
on.ft.com/4nsoktx
Is this political expediency, a midlife crisis or who Zuck has been all along?
on.ft.com/4nsoktx
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Having read for research purposes no fewer than four articles by opinion columnists about how dreadful Bluesky is, I think my conclusion is "kind of interesting except I notice that Financial Times and Bloomberg journalists seem to get on fine and have lots of mates here"
June 21, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Having read for research purposes no fewer than four articles by opinion columnists about how dreadful Bluesky is, I think my conclusion is "kind of interesting except I notice that Financial Times and Bloomberg journalists seem to get on fine and have lots of mates here"
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Huge implications from this: Microsoft cut off the email of the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, because of his work on Israel www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/t...
June 20, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Huge implications from this: Microsoft cut off the email of the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, because of his work on Israel www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/t...
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
I rant about this a lot but I can’t for the life of me understand why BBC 6 Music News gives a daily update of how many people crossed the channel in small boats yesterday
From a news values perspective alone, it makes no sense
From a news values perspective alone, it makes no sense
June 14, 2025 at 9:32 AM
I rant about this a lot but I can’t for the life of me understand why BBC 6 Music News gives a daily update of how many people crossed the channel in small boats yesterday
From a news values perspective alone, it makes no sense
From a news values perspective alone, it makes no sense
Reposted by Jonathan Shainin
Somehow seems that despite all the big success stories of politics over the last **three decades**, we're averse to concluding "people who appear to believe in something sincerely are popular, being the kind of person perceived as someone who would say anything to get elected is unpopular"
June 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Somehow seems that despite all the big success stories of politics over the last **three decades**, we're averse to concluding "people who appear to believe in something sincerely are popular, being the kind of person perceived as someone who would say anything to get elected is unpopular"