Tom Fielder
@tjfielder.bsky.social
Psychoanalysis and politics (Brexit), recent PhD: “Admitting Demons” https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/55010/ Associate lecturer in psychosocial studies at Birkbeck.
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Very much enjoyed talking to Josephine Burton last week about why political power conceived of purely as violence will...inevitably... fail.
www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast-1/we...
www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast-1/we...
We Are Free To Change The World: Lyndsey Stonebridge — DASH ARTS
In this episode of OffScript Josephine Burton is joined by Professor Lindsay Stonebridge. They delve into Hannah Arendt's belief in collective action as the essence of freedom. Lindsay discusse...
www.dasharts.org.uk
January 21, 2026 at 11:08 AM
Very much enjoyed talking to Josephine Burton last week about why political power conceived of purely as violence will...inevitably... fail.
www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast-1/we...
www.dasharts.org.uk/podcast-1/we...
Reposted by Tom Fielder
This is our Rubicon
www.politico.eu/article/dona...
www.politico.eu/article/dona...
Trump administration demands Britain adopt US standards in trade talks
The U.S. push would derail Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union.
www.politico.eu
January 19, 2026 at 10:52 AM
This is our Rubicon
www.politico.eu/article/dona...
www.politico.eu/article/dona...
“Westminster memoirs and biographies have tended to dominate publishing, reinforcing a narrow, elite view of political life. But political writing has always existed far beyond Parliament…”
Sounds like a fascinating collection.
Sounds like a fascinating collection.
"So the next time a political book appears it is worth asking not just what it says, but what it is trying to do."
Excellent (and very teaching friendly) blog from @garylove.bsky.social and @richardtoye.bsky.social, teeing up their new edited collection.
cambridgeblog.org/2026/01/what...
Excellent (and very teaching friendly) blog from @garylove.bsky.social and @richardtoye.bsky.social, teeing up their new edited collection.
cambridgeblog.org/2026/01/what...
What Political Books Do (Even When No One Reads Them)
When we think about politics today, we tend to think about speeches, soundbites, social media posts, or rolling news. Books can seem almost incidental: slow, old-fashioned, and increasingly marginal.
cambridgeblog.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:52 AM
“Westminster memoirs and biographies have tended to dominate publishing, reinforcing a narrow, elite view of political life. But political writing has always existed far beyond Parliament…”
Sounds like a fascinating collection.
Sounds like a fascinating collection.
Reposted by Tom Fielder
‘The real question is whether psychoanalysis can liberate us, not just from the violent divisions of our individual psyches, but from the violent divisions and resulting despair of our political moment.’
Amia Srinivasan’s Winter Lecture:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Amia Srinivasan’s Winter Lecture:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Amia Srinivasan · The Impossible Patient: Return of the Unconscious
What has returned of late is not the unconscious itself, but the felt need, in some quarters, for the unconscious and...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 8, 2026 at 10:50 AM
‘The real question is whether psychoanalysis can liberate us, not just from the violent divisions of our individual psyches, but from the violent divisions and resulting despair of our political moment.’
Amia Srinivasan’s Winter Lecture:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Amia Srinivasan’s Winter Lecture:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Essential reading
‘What we come to know, when we have psychoanalytic knowledge of politics, is the reason things remain stubbornly as they are, even when it seems obvious that they should be otherwise.’
From ‘The Impossible Patient’, Amia Srinivasan’s Winter Lecture from 12 December.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
From ‘The Impossible Patient’, Amia Srinivasan’s Winter Lecture from 12 December.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Amia Srinivasan · The Impossible Patient: Return of the Unconscious
You may not wish to commit yourself ontologically to some thing called the ‘unconscious’, and you may reasonably...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 19, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Essential reading
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Labour’s 2025 budget focuses on planning reform.
But better allocation of the current housing stock can do more to combat the housing shortage than new housebuilding, and more quickly.
By leading economist Christine Whitehead.
But better allocation of the current housing stock can do more to combat the housing shortage than new housebuilding, and more quickly.
By leading economist Christine Whitehead.
Housing in the Budget: The Sound of Silence (And What we Should Have Heard)
Labour’s 2025 budget focused on planning reform, but the housing market needs reforming in other ways.
politicalquarterly.org.uk
December 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Labour’s 2025 budget focuses on planning reform.
But better allocation of the current housing stock can do more to combat the housing shortage than new housebuilding, and more quickly.
By leading economist Christine Whitehead.
But better allocation of the current housing stock can do more to combat the housing shortage than new housebuilding, and more quickly.
By leading economist Christine Whitehead.
Reposted by Tom Fielder
📯 APS Conference 2026
Trust, Mistrust and Community
www.psychosocial-studies-association.org/conference-2...
Trust, Mistrust and Community
www.psychosocial-studies-association.org/conference-2...
November 6, 2025 at 4:23 PM
📯 APS Conference 2026
Trust, Mistrust and Community
www.psychosocial-studies-association.org/conference-2...
Trust, Mistrust and Community
www.psychosocial-studies-association.org/conference-2...
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Concluding words from Jacqueline Rose and Lisa Baraitser at the Birkbeck psychosocial postgraduate conference. Jacqueline says “We need to hold on to psychoanalysis as an anti-fascist tradition of thought.”
September 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Concluding words from Jacqueline Rose and Lisa Baraitser at the Birkbeck psychosocial postgraduate conference. Jacqueline says “We need to hold on to psychoanalysis as an anti-fascist tradition of thought.”
Reposted by Tom Fielder
For @dmk1793.bsky.social with respect www.opendemocracy.net/en/compulsor...
Compulsory voting alone won’t fix the UK's broken politics
Simply insisting people vote in elections run by a system they rightly distrust will not improve British politics
www.opendemocracy.net
August 5, 2025 at 9:51 AM
For @dmk1793.bsky.social with respect www.opendemocracy.net/en/compulsor...
Reposted by Tom Fielder
New piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk with @davidfeldman.bsky.social and @brendanmcgeever.bsky.social (@bisa-bkk.bsky.social) on recent comments on antisemitism and racism.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...
(Thank you to @aloner.bsky.social for such great editing.)
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...
(Thank you to @aloner.bsky.social for such great editing.)
The truth in Diane Abbott’s ill-judged remarks
Politicians need to find better of ways of thinking about racism—and of acting against it
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
July 29, 2025 at 10:44 AM
New piece in @prospectmagazine.co.uk with @davidfeldman.bsky.social and @brendanmcgeever.bsky.social (@bisa-bkk.bsky.social) on recent comments on antisemitism and racism.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...
(Thank you to @aloner.bsky.social for such great editing.)
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...
(Thank you to @aloner.bsky.social for such great editing.)
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Do this. It's an extraordinary book.
Having entered the stage in which the author and the commodity are the same thing, I’m here to say that IF you were thinking of pre-ordering INDIGNITY, @Waterstones has selected it for their summer pre-orders promotion and you can get 25% off by entering “SUMMER25” until 31/07🫣
July 28, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Do this. It's an extraordinary book.
Reposted by Tom Fielder
#NewAssociations 46 (2025) has been published. This is the 1st complete issue of the #psychoanalytic magazine Emmanuelle Smith & I have edited. We’ve framed this issue around the themes of conflict & trauma. Email emmanuelle.smith@bpc.org.uk & noreen.giffney@bpc.org.uk for a copy of our editorial
July 21, 2025 at 10:07 PM
#NewAssociations 46 (2025) has been published. This is the 1st complete issue of the #psychoanalytic magazine Emmanuelle Smith & I have edited. We’ve framed this issue around the themes of conflict & trauma. Email emmanuelle.smith@bpc.org.uk & noreen.giffney@bpc.org.uk for a copy of our editorial
A bold response to the pervasive crisis of UK democracy. Against the flood tide of political disenchantment, should we be thinking about the “duty” rather than simply the “right” to vote?
I’m in the @newstatesman.com making the case for compulsory voting as a response to Peter Mair’s “void”
Compulsory voting can save British democracy
Our political crisis is grave. Muscular measures can solve it.
www.newstatesman.com
July 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
A bold response to the pervasive crisis of UK democracy. Against the flood tide of political disenchantment, should we be thinking about the “duty” rather than simply the “right” to vote?
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Read our cover story today, from the great @willdunn.bsky.social.
Reeves is painfully aware that reforming the tax system will require a major political battle. But she’s already being battered by endless squabbles as it is. This is the fight she needs to have.
newstatesman.com/politics/econo…
Reeves is painfully aware that reforming the tax system will require a major political battle. But she’s already being battered by endless squabbles as it is. This is the fight she needs to have.
newstatesman.com/politics/econo…
https://newstatesman.com/politics/econo…
July 2, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Read our cover story today, from the great @willdunn.bsky.social.
Reeves is painfully aware that reforming the tax system will require a major political battle. But she’s already being battered by endless squabbles as it is. This is the fight she needs to have.
newstatesman.com/politics/econo…
Reeves is painfully aware that reforming the tax system will require a major political battle. But she’s already being battered by endless squabbles as it is. This is the fight she needs to have.
newstatesman.com/politics/econo…
Reposted by Tom Fielder
For all that has been written about Starmer, no journalist has really been able to access the man within. This unmissable profile is the first to do so: www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
What Keir Starmer can’t say
The Prime Minister believes he will heal Britain – but can he find the words?
www.newstatesman.com
June 12, 2025 at 9:23 AM
For all that has been written about Starmer, no journalist has really been able to access the man within. This unmissable profile is the first to do so: www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
Thank you for organising such a fantastic conference Jacob!
APS 2025 - We are ready! See you tomorrow
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social
June 12, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Thank you for organising such a fantastic conference Jacob!
Reposted by Tom Fielder
APS 2025 - We are ready! See you tomorrow
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social
June 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
APS 2025 - We are ready! See you tomorrow
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social
@assocpsychosocial.bsky.social
Reposted by Tom Fielder
“We’ve built an economy that profits from making us sick—and calls it progress.” @timjackson.org.uk joins the Cities 1.5 podcast to unpack how growth-at-all-costs fuels illness, inequality—and war. Full episode via ⏯️ cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/...
cc #TheCareEconomy #ÖkonomieDerFürsorge #PostGrowth
cc #TheCareEconomy #ÖkonomieDerFürsorge #PostGrowth
May 22, 2025 at 10:24 AM
“We’ve built an economy that profits from making us sick—and calls it progress.” @timjackson.org.uk joins the Cities 1.5 podcast to unpack how growth-at-all-costs fuels illness, inequality—and war. Full episode via ⏯️ cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/...
cc #TheCareEconomy #ÖkonomieDerFürsorge #PostGrowth
cc #TheCareEconomy #ÖkonomieDerFürsorge #PostGrowth
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Brilliant from @mortenmorland.bsky.social on yesterday's UK-EU Summit.
And why those shouting 'betrayal' are, thankfully, no longer the adults in the room.
And why those shouting 'betrayal' are, thankfully, no longer the adults in the room.
May 20, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Brilliant from @mortenmorland.bsky.social on yesterday's UK-EU Summit.
And why those shouting 'betrayal' are, thankfully, no longer the adults in the room.
And why those shouting 'betrayal' are, thankfully, no longer the adults in the room.
“Behind this anti-establishment mood… lies the nastier promise of Faragism. It is not only that his voters are angry or disenfranchised… It’s that he offers a kind of political desublimation, a pleasurable release of all the prejudicial impulses kept under wraps”
‘If your country appears to be presided over by a caste of broadly interchangeable, hectoring and insincere politicians, none of whom ever delivers on their promises, why not vote for someone to upend the table?’
@piercepenniless.bsky.social on the local elections: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@piercepenniless.bsky.social on the local elections: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Butler · Short Cuts: Labour at the Cliff Edge
Behind this anti-establishment mood, which has rankled in British politics for many years now, lies the nastier promise...
www.lrb.co.uk
May 19, 2025 at 10:23 AM
“Behind this anti-establishment mood… lies the nastier promise of Faragism. It is not only that his voters are angry or disenfranchised… It’s that he offers a kind of political desublimation, a pleasurable release of all the prejudicial impulses kept under wraps”
Reposted by Tom Fielder
Congratulations to the editors of this exciting new collection, which interrogates psychosocial studies as a scholarly praxis of “creative disruption”. Including a playful piece of my own about Brexit, drawing on @profcand.bsky.social work on political culture: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
May 9, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Congratulations to the editors of this exciting new collection, which interrogates psychosocial studies as a scholarly praxis of “creative disruption”. Including a playful piece of my own about Brexit, drawing on @profcand.bsky.social work on political culture: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
Reposted by Tom Fielder
And to think, Hunt pushed through tax cuts the country obviously couldn’t afford in a reckless attempt to avoid precisely this scenario. Party before country and it’s ended up screwing both.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘Massive earthquake’ in politics could lead to Tory extinction, says Hunt
Former chancellor also said the ‘old two-party system’ could be coming to an end
www.theguardian.com
May 7, 2025 at 7:12 PM
And to think, Hunt pushed through tax cuts the country obviously couldn’t afford in a reckless attempt to avoid precisely this scenario. Party before country and it’s ended up screwing both.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
A reminder for the next @assocpsychosocial.bsky.social reading group - 6pm tonight! Please join us to discuss the allure of fascism in liberal societies, with Alasdair Cannon and @profcand.bsky.social
Please join us for our next reading group! Writer and podcaster Alasdair Cannon will be presenting a psychosocial perspective on fascism, based on his timely new book. Thursday 1 May, 6pm.
@profcand.bsky.social @tjfielder.bsky.social @heidis-ann.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-allure...?
@profcand.bsky.social @tjfielder.bsky.social @heidis-ann.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-allure...?
The Allure of Fascism: Infinite Discontent with Alasdair Cannon
Join us for our next APS online reading group, with Alasdair Cannon on the allure of fascism in contemporary societies.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
May 1, 2025 at 11:56 AM
A reminder for the next @assocpsychosocial.bsky.social reading group - 6pm tonight! Please join us to discuss the allure of fascism in liberal societies, with Alasdair Cannon and @profcand.bsky.social