Mike Tucker
@michaeltucker.bsky.social
Retired from IT, eco-socialist and a big fan of Karl Marx but, not necessarily of Marxists or elements of the Marxist tradition.
Reposted by Mike Tucker
Here is a review I wrote of Sven Beckert’s impressive new book, *Capitalism: A Global History*, for the New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...
How Capitalism Took Over the World
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Here is a review I wrote of Sven Beckert’s impressive new book, *Capitalism: A Global History*, for the New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/b...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
NEW | Wading through coverage of the Budget…
THE BUDGET, THE BRITISH PRESS, AND THE LONG SHADOW OF BENEFITS STREET
Why a TV show from 2014 is still easy shorthand for creating division.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-budget...
THE BUDGET, THE BRITISH PRESS, AND THE LONG SHADOW OF BENEFITS STREET
Why a TV show from 2014 is still easy shorthand for creating division.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-budget...
The budget, the British press, and the long shadow of Benefits Street
Why a TV show from 2014 is still easy shorthand for creating division.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:22 AM
NEW | Wading through coverage of the Budget…
THE BUDGET, THE BRITISH PRESS, AND THE LONG SHADOW OF BENEFITS STREET
Why a TV show from 2014 is still easy shorthand for creating division.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-budget...
THE BUDGET, THE BRITISH PRESS, AND THE LONG SHADOW OF BENEFITS STREET
Why a TV show from 2014 is still easy shorthand for creating division.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-budget...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
The people powerful enough to make heads roll at the BBC are also telling us the BBC is anti-Israel. It isn't. It's vigorously anti-Palestinian, as film-maker Richard Sanders explains: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ROB...
Israel Lobby EXPOSED: What REALLY Happened at the BBC
YouTube video by Double Down News
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM
The people powerful enough to make heads roll at the BBC are also telling us the BBC is anti-Israel. It isn't. It's vigorously anti-Palestinian, as film-maker Richard Sanders explains: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ROB...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
if you came of age in the 20th century then this really sits you down about how much the Worlds changed in 21st century. no going back….
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the UK economy was bigger than China and India combined.
November 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
if you came of age in the 20th century then this really sits you down about how much the Worlds changed in 21st century. no going back….
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
NEW | Analysing a pre-budget blood pressure raiser:
Rage-bait articles about people angry they're getting free money are the real inheritance tax….
Is the future of British newspapers just endless stories of well-off people pretending to be victims?
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/rage-bait-...
Rage-bait articles about people angry they're getting free money are the real inheritance tax….
Is the future of British newspapers just endless stories of well-off people pretending to be victims?
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/rage-bait-...
Rage-bait articles about people angry they're getting free money are the real inheritance tax...
Is the future of British newspapers just endless stories of well-off people pretending to be victims?
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
NEW | Analysing a pre-budget blood pressure raiser:
Rage-bait articles about people angry they're getting free money are the real inheritance tax….
Is the future of British newspapers just endless stories of well-off people pretending to be victims?
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/rage-bait-...
Rage-bait articles about people angry they're getting free money are the real inheritance tax….
Is the future of British newspapers just endless stories of well-off people pretending to be victims?
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/rage-bait-...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
Reposted by Mike Tucker
I have an essay in @nybooks.com about a compelling new book by Paul Preston, a masterful British historian of 20th- century Spain. Deepest thanks to the remarkable editorial staff at the Review for all their help.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
‘We’ve Got to Kill and Kill and Kill’ | Dan Kaufman
As Francisco Franco’s reputation grows on the far right, a new history of his regime reminds us of its unrelenting violence toward Jews.
www.nybooks.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I have an essay in @nybooks.com about a compelling new book by Paul Preston, a masterful British historian of 20th- century Spain. Deepest thanks to the remarkable editorial staff at the Review for all their help.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
"In 2025, a conflict-ridden Congo remains one of the world’s deadliest commodity frontiers, even more so for the extractive assets required for the global green transition"
Anton Jäger, Complicities — Sidecar
On Lumumba’s assassination.
newleftreview.org
November 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
"In 2025, a conflict-ridden Congo remains one of the world’s deadliest commodity frontiers, even more so for the extractive assets required for the global green transition"
Reposted by Mike Tucker
A new piece for @thenation.com on everyone's favourite industry -- private equity; in conversation with one of the many new books on PE, by Megan Greenwell.
Here:
Here:
Can We Blame Private Equity for Everything?
Did PE firms make the world worse? Or was it something else?
www.thenation.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:32 AM
A new piece for @thenation.com on everyone's favourite industry -- private equity; in conversation with one of the many new books on PE, by Megan Greenwell.
Here:
Here:
Reposted by Mike Tucker
Michael Prescott’s leaked BBC memo led to two senior resignations but was riddled with errors, omissions and distortions. Irfan Chowdhury and Peter Oborne set out the questions MPs should ask Prescott when he appears in the Commons on Monday. www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-...
Why Michael Prescott's BBC memo was misguided on Israel-Palestine
In an open letter to the corporation's former adviser, Middle East Eye catalogues many surprising omissions and outright errors
www.middleeasteye.net
November 24, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Michael Prescott’s leaked BBC memo led to two senior resignations but was riddled with errors, omissions and distortions. Irfan Chowdhury and Peter Oborne set out the questions MPs should ask Prescott when he appears in the Commons on Monday. www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
Trump’s ‘peace plan’ will never be meaningfully realised – and was never intended to be. It is simply a way to justify prolonging Gaza’s living hell.
Read my latest: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/trum...
Read my latest: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/trum...
Trump is turning Gaza into a brutal colonial protection racket
Trump’s ‘peace plan’ will never be meaningfully realised – and was never intended to be. It is simply a way to justify prolonging Gaza’s living hell
www.middleeasteye.net
November 21, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Trump’s ‘peace plan’ will never be meaningfully realised – and was never intended to be. It is simply a way to justify prolonging Gaza’s living hell.
Read my latest: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/trum...
Read my latest: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/trum...
I feel soiled reading about Alison Pearson's views on immigration. I can well imagine that she with other current Daily Telegraph pundits will be lauding British values, such as those that enabled the too little, too late, Kinder Transport of refugees into the UK.
NEW | The Daily Telegraph, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and some very weird Winnie the Pooh fan fiction...
A column from Allison Pearson shows how Labour's attitude to asylum seekers will never be cruel enough for the Right.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-daily-...
A column from Allison Pearson shows how Labour's attitude to asylum seekers will never be cruel enough for the Right.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-daily-...
The Daily Telegraph, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and some very weird Winnie the Pooh fan fiction...
A column from Allison Pearson shows how Labour's attitude to asylum seekers will never be cruel enough for the Right.
brokenbottleboy.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I feel soiled reading about Alison Pearson's views on immigration. I can well imagine that she with other current Daily Telegraph pundits will be lauding British values, such as those that enabled the too little, too late, Kinder Transport of refugees into the UK.
Reposted by Mike Tucker
Reposted by Mike Tucker
New on @the-breakdown.bsky.social, Casey Williams rereads Stuart Hall in an age of climate breakdown
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
Reading Stuart Hall for the Climate Crisis
Stuart Hall’s politics of culture offers the left a blueprint for confronting the climate crisis.
www.break-down.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:59 PM
New on @the-breakdown.bsky.social, Casey Williams rereads Stuart Hall in an age of climate breakdown
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
www.break-down.org/reading-stua...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
“He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers" www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
‘Deeply shocking’: Nigel Farage faces fresh claims of racism and antisemitism at school
Bafta-winning director among contemporaries urging contrition and apology from Reform UK leader, who denies the allegations
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:28 PM
“He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers" www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
🚨YOUR PARTY BIRMINGHAM RALLY🚨
Join us at The Bordsley Centre on SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER - 2PM with:
Zarah Sultana MP
Alongside BFAWU President - Ian Hodson, Stop the War Patron - Salma Yaqoob, Unite Bin Workers and many more.
See poster for details or email: YPBrumIndG@gmail.com
Join us at The Bordsley Centre on SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER - 2PM with:
Zarah Sultana MP
Alongside BFAWU President - Ian Hodson, Stop the War Patron - Salma Yaqoob, Unite Bin Workers and many more.
See poster for details or email: YPBrumIndG@gmail.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:51 AM
🚨YOUR PARTY BIRMINGHAM RALLY🚨
Join us at The Bordsley Centre on SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER - 2PM with:
Zarah Sultana MP
Alongside BFAWU President - Ian Hodson, Stop the War Patron - Salma Yaqoob, Unite Bin Workers and many more.
See poster for details or email: YPBrumIndG@gmail.com
Join us at The Bordsley Centre on SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER - 2PM with:
Zarah Sultana MP
Alongside BFAWU President - Ian Hodson, Stop the War Patron - Salma Yaqoob, Unite Bin Workers and many more.
See poster for details or email: YPBrumIndG@gmail.com
Reposted by Mike Tucker
This is a great article on how the Isreal-Palestine conflict is reported upon in the west.
The western media's failure to report the reality of Gaza didn’t start on 7 October 2023. It’s always been like this.
Here’s why journalists won’t tell you the truth about Palestine: jonathancook.substack.com/p/breaking-f...
Here’s why journalists won’t tell you the truth about Palestine: jonathancook.substack.com/p/breaking-f...
Breaking free of media group-think is a scary, lonely journey. I know. I was forced to do it
The western media's failure to report the reality of Gaza didn’t start on 7 October 2023. It’s always been like this. Here’s why journalists won’t tell you the truth about Palestine
jonathancook.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:29 PM
This is a great article on how the Isreal-Palestine conflict is reported upon in the west.
Reposted by Mike Tucker
"There is an irony in the fact that as the Tory party has fallen apart as a political force since 2015 so its grip on the BBC has tightened". More ...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
The End of the BBC
As in so much of her policy, Margaret Thatcher paved the way for the americanisation of British life.
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:57 AM
"There is an irony in the fact that as the Tory party has fallen apart as a political force since 2015 so its grip on the BBC has tightened". More ...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
Impartiality is an impossible standard. It leads to all the awful both siding on most issues. Accuracy and honesty is what is needed in presenting everyone's views.
"Partisans are so keen to attack the BBC for having a leftist or rightist bias that they don’t notice that basic standards are slipping. And the BBC is so keen to pacify the loudest that it thinks impartiality is sufficient, to the detriment of honesty."
chrisdillow.substack.com/p/on-incompe...
chrisdillow.substack.com/p/on-incompe...
On incompetence
Much of our political culture is fundamentally incompetent.
chrisdillow.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Impartiality is an impossible standard. It leads to all the awful both siding on most issues. Accuracy and honesty is what is needed in presenting everyone's views.
A carefully written pice which corresponds to my view.
"A dynamic independent of the centre's gatekeeping and the dithering is underway, and is refusing to be snuffed out by the idiocies leading figures keep inflicting on the project."
The Your Party Debacle
The left in this country doesn't need agents provocateurs to stuff things up, it's more then capable of doing that itself. And here are two...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:56 AM
A carefully written pice which corresponds to my view.
On the differences between how the experiences of Palestinians and Israelis and their supporters and the reports and academic analysis, upon their experiences, are treated differently in public debate in the western world.
My talk on freedom of expression in the new age of genocide. From my Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/martinsh...
open.substack.com/pub/martinsh...
Freedom of Expression in the New Age of Genocide
My talk (given by video-link) at the symposium, "Freedom of Expression in a Time of Genocide", at Stavanger, Norway, 12 November. (Pictured with Maha Abdallah, University of Antwerp.)
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:21 PM
On the differences between how the experiences of Palestinians and Israelis and their supporters and the reports and academic analysis, upon their experiences, are treated differently in public debate in the western world.
Reposted by Mike Tucker
Class societies didn’t begin with capitalism: the ancient and medieval worlds had their own systems of exploitation.
Marxist historians have set out to explain how those systems worked — and what their eventual demise tells us about what might lie ahead.
Marxist historians have set out to explain how those systems worked — and what their eventual demise tells us about what might lie ahead.
How Marxists View the Middle Ages
Class societies didn’t begin with capitalism: the ancient and medieval worlds had their own systems of exploitation. Marxist historians have set out to explain how those systems worked — and what their eventual demise tells us about what might lie ahead.
jacobin.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Class societies didn’t begin with capitalism: the ancient and medieval worlds had their own systems of exploitation.
Marxist historians have set out to explain how those systems worked — and what their eventual demise tells us about what might lie ahead.
Marxist historians have set out to explain how those systems worked — and what their eventual demise tells us about what might lie ahead.
Reposted by Mike Tucker
New: for @equatormag.bsky.social I spent months talking to BBC journalists, from front-line reporters to the former head of the World Service, about how the corporation came unstuck over Gaza. But as I was working on the story, it collided with something... bigger... www.equator.org/articles/ins...
Inside the BBC’s Gaza Fiasco • Articles • EQUATOR
How the world’s most trusted media organisation fell apart
www.equator.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:50 PM
New: for @equatormag.bsky.social I spent months talking to BBC journalists, from front-line reporters to the former head of the World Service, about how the corporation came unstuck over Gaza. But as I was working on the story, it collided with something... bigger... www.equator.org/articles/ins...
Reposted by Mike Tucker
A particularly fine read from @adamtooze.bsky.social adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...
Chartbook 461 Ordering not order: Thinking about the future of the world economy in 2025, with historians, journalists, political scientists and ... Nietzsche.
We are in a moment in which in the face of Trump’s turmoil, China’s Belt and Road Initiative is booming again.
adamtooze.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:56 AM
A particularly fine read from @adamtooze.bsky.social adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...