johnmerrick.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

The Energy That Made Modern Scotland is a new audio documentary which I made with @dominicmhinde.bsky.social. It explores how fifty years of oil and gas production and the more recent renewables revolution have transformed the Scottish economy and society and politics. You can listen to it here.

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This evening i'll be in conversation with Mike Braddick about his new biography of the great Marxist historian of the English Revolution, Christopher Hill, at @housmansbookshop.bsky.social housmans.com/event/book-l...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

BAFTA & Oscar nommed doc ‘No Other Land’ is now streaming on @Channel4 in UK. It’s a remarkable & moving film about life under occupation in the West Bank @ the friendship between Israeli journo @yuval_abraham and Palestinian activist @basel_adra. www.channel4.com/programmes/n...

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Awful to hear that CRMEP, where i did my MA and to which i owe a huge debt, is under threat AGAIN. Disgusting from @kingstonuniversity.bsky.social management

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Looking for some weekend reading? Take a peek at our new Virtual Special Issue on The New Left This collection of 22 articles & podcasts is free-to-access - with work on May 68, the SCUM manifesto, Spies for Peace, Women's Liberation, the ANC, the Hungarian Uprising & more www.historyworkshop....

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This evening i'll be in conversation with Mike Braddick about his new biography of the great Marxist historian of the English Revolution, Christopher Hill, at @housmansbookshop.bsky.social housmans.com/event/book-l...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Unionization in the US falls to new lows. Visit today’s Chartbook Top Link to find out more. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/4ba29dwf

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

A crazy statistic from the German elections: only 3.4% of voters yesterday were new voters; while over 40% are over 60. Nearly half of all German voters are aged over 50!

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If you make it possible for working class people to tell stories to the nation, you reduce the openings for despair-driven far-right populism. This would seem a cost-effective investment.

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

Earl Grey tea with advance reading copy of Didier Eribon’s new book. His Returning to Reims is a modern classic and an essential book about changing work and place, the decline of the Left and the rise of the Far Right. His new book is about class, ageing, and his mother.

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

Very moved by @johnmerrick.bsky.social's brilliant and thoughtful essay on my favourite, melancholy TV chef in @vittles.bsky.social

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I recently went on the Full English podcast to talk about two of my passions in life: the TV programmes of Keith Floyd and Rick Stein. Episode is out now shows.acast.com/the-full-eng...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

I'm going to use you all to stay honest –– I also have plans for three sort of related projects: one on the history of the C20th British right; one on the history of religious + political dissent; and one on Doris Lessing, EP Thompson, the new left and 1956. Hit me up if these sound of interest!

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: Labour to subsidise Drax's wood-burning power station from 2027-31. Currently, Drax receives nearly £1bn/yr in subsidies, which could now half. Drax is the UK's single biggest CO2 emitter — but its subsidy price has been set at 2x that of renewables such as wind.

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Big news! We're delighted to welcome @johnmerrick.bsky.social to the team as an Editor.

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Beyond thrilled to have the brilliant editor + writer @johnmerrick.bsky.social joining us at @the-breakdown.bsky.social to lead our editorial program! For those unfamiliar with John's game, I recommend starting with his latest for the NS: www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/0...

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

I also finished @gabrielflynn.bsky.social's book, Poor Ghosts last night, and it's incredible. A brilliant and moving novel about class, family, home and the changing face of Manchester. Out in May – don't sleep on it!

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

I've posted this on the other place already, but as of the end of next week i'll no longer be at Verso Books. It's been an interesting decade, to say the least, and I've been incredibly lucky in working with some superb writers on brilliant books. Much to be proud of, and there's much i'll miss.

submitted 22 days ago • 3 comments

The commonplace story about the rational and transparent ‘neoliberal subject’ is simply wrong, at least when it comes to the movement’s founders.” —@medinamora.bsky.social on neoliberalism's unconscious rationality: www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/neo...

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

Popularity v. prestige - a zero sum game? What the conglomeration of the publishing industry means for literary quality and why independents are more vital than ever. Great piece by @versobooks.bsky.social editor @johnmerrick.bsky.social

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newleftreview.org/sidecar/post... Here is a piece I wrote for NLR's blog.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

✒ Do you want to write for The Break Down? We’re now taking pitches for our first issue, which will explore what Trump’s second term and the new right mean for the climate. Deadline: 14 Feb, 2025 Pitching guidelines — break-down.org/about 💸 Paid!

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

First issue of The Break Down is on Trump, the new right and the climate, and is now open for pitches ([email protected]) Details below!

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

I thought this was a lovely piece, not least because I found watching Rick Stein such a comfort after my own dad died. They say one of the stages of grief is being surprised by your own tears during Rick Stein's German Bite.

submitted 32 days ago • 2 comments

I did a piece about the political economy of climate breakdown for @londonreview.bsky.social, pivoting off the essential new book by Andreas Malm and @wimcarton.bsky.social. Please give it a read!

submitted 33 days ago • 7 comments

Read this yesterday (courtesy of a recommendation from a colleague) and thought it was excellent.

submitted 33 days ago • 3 comments

Finally made time to read this by @rhyskamjones.bsky.social, a very fine essay about transphobia & the 18th century Celtic revivalist Iolo Morganwg's druidic Gorsedd (recall the name of Nina Power's alt ecofashy account?), by way of Adorno on ideologies of nature. www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/a...

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment