Jonathan Hopkin
@jonathanhopkin.bsky.social
Professor of the Political Economy of Europe at LSE. Interested in democratic representation and inequality, worried about the survival of democracy. Author of Anti-System Politics (OUP, 2020). Also random thoughts on football, cycling, the weather etc
Wow. Quite a post, leaving me thinking the situation at the Beeb is even worse than I feared
The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think.
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
New piece from me.
open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Wow. Quite a post, leaving me thinking the situation at the Beeb is even worse than I feared
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
When was the last time anyone at the BBC had to resign for misrepresenting a leftwinger?
November 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM
When was the last time anyone at the BBC had to resign for misrepresenting a leftwinger?
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Should Gibb be sacked? yes, obviously. He's an abomination of basic journalistic standards. His GB News channel spreads conspiracy theory & disinformation. His Jewish Chronicle newspaper spreads invented stories. He is plainly trying to undermine the BBC so it's as bad as everything else he touches.
November 10, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Should Gibb be sacked? yes, obviously. He's an abomination of basic journalistic standards. His GB News channel spreads conspiracy theory & disinformation. His Jewish Chronicle newspaper spreads invented stories. He is plainly trying to undermine the BBC so it's as bad as everything else he touches.
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
It is utter bullshit that the mistaken splicing of two bits of his January 6th 2021 speech on Panorama in October 2024 had any significant impact whatsoever on the reputation of Donald Trump in Britain, or globally, and the claim for $1 billion damages is bullshit and bullying by the US president
November 10, 2025 at 10:09 PM
It is utter bullshit that the mistaken splicing of two bits of his January 6th 2021 speech on Panorama in October 2024 had any significant impact whatsoever on the reputation of Donald Trump in Britain, or globally, and the claim for $1 billion damages is bullshit and bullying by the US president
😂
November 10, 2025 at 10:18 PM
😂
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Haha he has no idea how broke this country is
November 10, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Haha he has no idea how broke this country is
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
A piece I wrote about the manufactured ‘impartiality’ panics that greeted Tim Davie’s arrival just over 5 years ago, when GB News was still a glint in Robbie Gibbs’ eye www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
William Davies · Short Cuts: Woke Conspiracies
A British equivalent of Fox News, wherever it may come from, would have its own distinctive character – less...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
A piece I wrote about the manufactured ‘impartiality’ panics that greeted Tim Davie’s arrival just over 5 years ago, when GB News was still a glint in Robbie Gibbs’ eye www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
The evidence keeps accumulating that Brexit was an astonishing self-inflicted economic policy disaster. The fact that it is a slow-moving one bodes ill for those who think that populist economic mismanagement will translate into voters punishing populists. www.nber.org/system/files...
November 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The evidence keeps accumulating that Brexit was an astonishing self-inflicted economic policy disaster. The fact that it is a slow-moving one bodes ill for those who think that populist economic mismanagement will translate into voters punishing populists. www.nber.org/system/files...
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
One nice detail that can easily be lost in this graph - even right wingers trust the BBC more than the right wing tabloids
Here’s the same data, but with trust broken down by political views (circles are trust among people on the left, +s the right).
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
It’s not just that the BBC is widely consumed — it also has solid trust on both left & right, whereas trust in the biggest US media brands is hugely polarised.
November 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
One nice detail that can easily be lost in this graph - even right wingers trust the BBC more than the right wing tabloids
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Must have missed the explosive row & resignations over the claim, wrongly made by many including here in the Telegraph last week, that this prematurely-released prisoner was an "asylum seeker"
uk.news.yahoo.com/prison-chief...
uk.news.yahoo.com/prison-chief...
Prison chiefs must face justice for such unbelievable ineptitude - Yahoo News UK
It’s happened again. A prisoner has been released by mistake. This time it’s understood to be Ibrahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian asylum seeker with a record of committing sexual offences. He was rele...
uk.news.yahoo.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Must have missed the explosive row & resignations over the claim, wrongly made by many including here in the Telegraph last week, that this prematurely-released prisoner was an "asylum seeker"
uk.news.yahoo.com/prison-chief...
uk.news.yahoo.com/prison-chief...
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
November 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
Finally some courage
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full*
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
November 10, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Finally some courage
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
March 14, 2025 at 10:24 PM
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
“The BBC’s error, from a survival point of view, was breaking from its practiced game of distorting the history of the powerless, and instead messing with the big dogs it customarily serves.”
The BBC Thought It Could Save Itself by Serving the Powerful. It Was Wrong | Novara Media
The corporation's cardinal sin was messing with the big dogs it usually serves, writes Steven Methven.
novaramedia.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:59 PM
“The BBC’s error, from a survival point of view, was breaking from its practiced game of distorting the history of the powerless, and instead messing with the big dogs it customarily serves.”
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
You shouldn’t make fun of people for their apparence but
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM
You shouldn’t make fun of people for their apparence but
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
I have two missions in life:
- securing world peace
- dissuading people from organising a "quick preparatory call ahead of next week's panel".
- securing world peace
- dissuading people from organising a "quick preparatory call ahead of next week's panel".
November 10, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I have two missions in life:
- securing world peace
- dissuading people from organising a "quick preparatory call ahead of next week's panel".
- securing world peace
- dissuading people from organising a "quick preparatory call ahead of next week's panel".
There’s a story you could be telling about remembrance that it was all about fighting tyranny and we’re going to have to be ready to do it all again, but no. Nobody wants to run with that obvious line, not even the left wants it.
November 10, 2025 at 10:17 AM
There’s a story you could be telling about remembrance that it was all about fighting tyranny and we’re going to have to be ready to do it all again, but no. Nobody wants to run with that obvious line, not even the left wants it.
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Relying on LLMs to get your diploma and is similar to forging PhD research for boosting your political career in Germany
You think it creates shortcuts and notability for getting the top job. But as you are only interested in the CV line, you don't learn anything.
And one day, you are exposed.
You think it creates shortcuts and notability for getting the top job. But as you are only interested in the CV line, you don't learn anything.
And one day, you are exposed.
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Relying on LLMs to get your diploma and is similar to forging PhD research for boosting your political career in Germany
You think it creates shortcuts and notability for getting the top job. But as you are only interested in the CV line, you don't learn anything.
And one day, you are exposed.
You think it creates shortcuts and notability for getting the top job. But as you are only interested in the CV line, you don't learn anything.
And one day, you are exposed.
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Michael Prescott and Sir Robbie Gibb both bailed out of journalism years ago, and enjoy lucrative careers in corporate PR. And now they are the arbiters of BBC editorial standards. Go figure www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
The BBC has bigger impartiality problems than its coverage of Trump
It is the BBC’s entire governance structure–rather than individual stories–that should cause most concern
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Michael Prescott and Sir Robbie Gibb both bailed out of journalism years ago, and enjoy lucrative careers in corporate PR. And now they are the arbiters of BBC editorial standards. Go figure www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Can’t wait to hear fuel duty get frozen again in the budget in ten days or so!!
Govt scraps all electrification investment. Midland Main Line to stay forever diesel Leicester Nottingham Derby Sheffield. Hugely embarrassing and inexplicable
www.ft.com/content/5ecd...
www.ft.com/content/5ecd...
UK transport secretary says full electrification of railways ‘not affordable right now’
Heidi Alexander says focus will be on other projects such as HS2
www.ft.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Can’t wait to hear fuel duty get frozen again in the budget in ten days or so!!
From Empire to Colony. It’s been quite a ride
Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage
Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage
Davie tells staff departure was “my own decision” but it comes with the BBC preparing to apologise for the way it edited a Trump speech
Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and the head of BBC News have resigned after a former adviser to the corporation accused it of “serious and systemic” bias in its coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.
In a shock move, Davie said his depature was his own, but comes with the BBC preparing to apologise for the way the broadcaster edited a Donald Trump speech. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:13 AM
From Empire to Colony. It’s been quite a ride
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
…which could bankrupt this tiny business. I’ve shown my support by subscribing to the Tribune. Please consider following suit
*Full disclosure - my wife is a small investor in Mill Media
*Full disclosure - my wife is a small investor in Mill Media
November 9, 2025 at 9:22 AM
…which could bankrupt this tiny business. I’ve shown my support by subscribing to the Tribune. Please consider following suit
*Full disclosure - my wife is a small investor in Mill Media
*Full disclosure - my wife is a small investor in Mill Media
Reposted by Jonathan Hopkin
Rather amusing to watch the British and political media establishment tear itself apart over fear of insulting Trump just at the same time as Trump's myth of invincibility is falling apart in America
November 9, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Rather amusing to watch the British and political media establishment tear itself apart over fear of insulting Trump just at the same time as Trump's myth of invincibility is falling apart in America