Malte Laub
@maltelaub.bsky.social
Teaches critical IPE at the University of Sheffield. Researches policing & authoritarian neoliberalism.
Realised I quoted this post instead of posting here.
It's focus-group disease reinforcing UK state managers' belief that the only legitimate expression of state capacity is through punitiveness. This has a long history, but post-financial crisis austerity has cemented it. Ironically, such displays of strength are destablilising both govt and society.
I simply do not understand how the govt can simultaneously believe (1) they don’t have enough political capital to breach the manifesto on tax and (2) they have enough to political capital to pick an unwinnable fight with their own MPs on immigration.
November 18, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Realised I quoted this post instead of posting here.
These points are of course in addition to the arguments that many have already made about differences in facial hair types (and thus grooming needs) between white and Black men/the general racist obsession with Black hair styles and care.
November 12, 2025 at 5:03 PM
These points are of course in addition to the arguments that many have already made about differences in facial hair types (and thus grooming needs) between white and Black men/the general racist obsession with Black hair styles and care.
..with a broader audience. Which also tells you something about the deep roots of Trumpism, and why it is successful to the degree that it is.
Not happy to link this paper anymore, but there is some more on this imagery here. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Not happy to link this paper anymore, but there is some more on this imagery here. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Labor Department social media campaign depicts a White male workforce
The campaign has drawn scrutiny, with critics saying it is not realistically portraying the country’s diversity and is sending messages that feel exclusionary.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
..with a broader audience. Which also tells you something about the deep roots of Trumpism, and why it is successful to the degree that it is.
Not happy to link this paper anymore, but there is some more on this imagery here. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Not happy to link this paper anymore, but there is some more on this imagery here. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Yet, the (AI) images of white settlers and strong-jawed blond men govt accounts post to X show that the govt sees a (compared to wild bearded Nordic individualists) much "cleaner", more "civilised" & family/nation-centred masculine imagery of European fascism (and the New Deal) as more promising...
November 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Yet, the (AI) images of white settlers and strong-jawed blond men govt accounts post to X show that the govt sees a (compared to wild bearded Nordic individualists) much "cleaner", more "civilised" & family/nation-centred masculine imagery of European fascism (and the New Deal) as more promising...
That he justifies his beard intervention/step toward institutionalising this racial order in the military by criticising (white) soldiers fancying themselves quasi-Vikings is interesting, given the strong appeal anything Nordic has among many far-right men you'd assume are part of his base.
November 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
That he justifies his beard intervention/step toward institutionalising this racial order in the military by criticising (white) soldiers fancying themselves quasi-Vikings is interesting, given the strong appeal anything Nordic has among many far-right men you'd assume are part of his base.
The references to broken-windows policing and zero-tolerance approaches here, neither of which do much about "crime" but lots to justify stop & frisk policing and incarceration of Black people, reveal the deep historical roots of Trumpism & that Hegseth's 'common sense agenda' is about racial order.
November 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
The references to broken-windows policing and zero-tolerance approaches here, neither of which do much about "crime" but lots to justify stop & frisk policing and incarceration of Black people, reveal the deep historical roots of Trumpism & that Hegseth's 'common sense agenda' is about racial order.