samwetherell.bsky.social
Historian of Britain and the World at the University of York. Interested in cities, art-making and the future. Liverpool and the Un-Making of Britain out now: www.samwetherell.com
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Wow, it turns out that calling your supporters scum bastards and telling them to fuck off while remixing Enoch Powell speeches is *not* shit-hot brilliant politics, and it is instead an easily avoidable, decades-long rolling catastrophe that is now going to horrendously fuck everyone 🤷🏼♂️
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I should stop arguing with these people but its absolutely fascinating to imagine what they might get out of making an argument that is so demonstrably wrong. What work is this doing for a subset of people?
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To take this argument to its absolute limit, would you claim that Lenin in 1905 was to the right of Joseph Chamberlain because the former lived in Tsarist autocracy and the latter lived in a country with limited forms of suffrage?
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This is an absurd argument that posits that because of the totally contingent fact of being in Britain, Nigel Farage would be to the left of Mamdani right? Starmer is overseeing the gradual erosion, privatisation and debasement of a universal healthcare system, Mamdami is trying to construct one.
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Khan and Mamdani have qualitatively different politics, mobilise different ideological constituencies at very different historical moments and have had diametrically different relationships with their party. Khan spent his first few years in power to the right of his party's leadership.
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But even the most cursory bad faith glance at Mamdami's programme (nationalising transport infrastructure, free universal childcare, rent controls and social housing) shows it is to the left of both Khan and Starmer.
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As someone who has lived many years in both countries and a professional historian who has studied and taught the political cultures of both places I can tell you this is utter nonsense, a 90s caricature of US politics that misunderstands and misidentifies its extraordinary radical tradition...
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Like I get what you are doing and saying here, but what I'm struggling to see is how this supports what I thought was the argument at hand, about whether Khan or Mamdami are comparable?
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I mean aside from this not being true, this was also something (unsuccessfully but repeatedly) levelled at Mamdani too.
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The article you posted above is literally about the insufficiency of Labour's childcare allowance in terms of its scale and scope and the vast number of people it leaves out as well the spiralling costs for those (like me) partially covered. I'd suggest reading it.
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Indeed but Fazia Shaheen, Jeremy Corbyn, Lloyd Russell Moyle and Diane Abbott were (with the latter reinstated after a massive battle), right?
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Well, by far the most left wing Labour MP (Zarah Sultana) is also a Muslim and represents a constituency in the Midlands. Bernie represents a very white rural state. My point is not about the relative presence of a social base for this politics, but the means by which Labour denies its possibility.
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I had no idea Starmer had introduced free childcare. Clearly I'm setting fire to half my income to pay for nursery fees in error!
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The relatively contingent fact that they are both Muslim is the only thing that makes this comparison possible.
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Yes but Khan and Mamdani have qualitatively different politics, mobilise different ideological constituencies at very different historical moments and have had diametrically different relationships with their party. Khan spent his first few years in power to the right of his party's leadership.
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The relatively contingent fact that they are both Muslim is really the only thing making this comparison possible.
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Yes but Khan and Mamdani have qualitatively different politics, mobilise different ideological constituencies at very different historical moments and have had diametrically different relationships with their party. Khan spent his first few years in power to the right of his party's leadership.
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What on earth are you referring to here? By even the most cursory, bad faith narrow view of his platform this is completely wrong.
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Rory Stewart, chuckling: Now Andy and I wouldn't normally agree about *anything* but listeners might be amazed to hear we are actually quite good friends!
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Or he would be given a permanent slot on the Rest is Politics as a representative of the left.
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I feel like the relatively contingent fact that they are both Muslim is doing a lot of work in this comparison.
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I don't know, Khan and Mamdani have qualitatively different politics, mobilise different ideological constituencies at very different historical moments and have had diametrically different relationships with their party. Khan spent his first few years in power to the right of his party's leadership
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Amazing thank you!! Email is sam(dot)wetherell(at)York(dot)ac(dot)uk!
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I mean it’s not like they are teaching either!