This has always been my experience of Stereolab. Forgetting about them for ages and then hearing them unexpectedly and thinking “oh yeah, *Stereolab!*”

Epic congratulations! X

Everything to fear, including fear itself

Well yes. And the long tail of 2007-08 financial crisis. Hard for liberal centre to rally in defence of a system that is, on many metrics, failing to provide its advertised advantages.

Yes, there was a slippery mix of naivety and disingenuousness in eurosceptic “liberalism” that derived, I think, from the buried kernel of imperial nostalgia - “free trade” elided with buccaneering Britannia exceptionalism.

Yes, someone just raised v similar point and I think my response would be the same: the difference is that Brexit was nationalism - craving unity with homogeneous identity and I’m talking about something liberal - pluralism with shared norms, democratic values and recognition of mutual commitments.

Not really. They are nationalists. Nationalism craves unitary collective identity through restored homogeneity (usually ethnic). I’m talking about a liberal democratic model that embraces pluralism but recognises that it only works if there are common norms, values sense of shared enterprise.

That’s a good question. I’ll look into it. Strikes me as the sort of thing AI should now be able to handle quite comfortably.

(I have no memory of writing that. Drink may have been taken.)

This inspired me to go back and check, and, while I definitely don’t always get it right this, published at 1am on election night 2019, actually holds up surprisingly well www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...