@aerond
Prof of Political Communication at THW-VUW in Wellington. Also, research on Media/Journalism, Elites, Economic Sociology and Policy/Financialization, currently looking at the Housing Crisis in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Catching up on @poltheoryother.bsky.social and reminded of the continued relevance of @aerond.bsky.social analysis of the 'reckless opportunists' in the formation of today's political class (manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526127280/)
Great what AI can do ...
Britain is very much not the US but this is a nice example of such research
It's not trickle down, it's trickle up ...
And the UK? Not in the top 10 here?
This week's cover, on the newsstand from tomorrow.
The Lib Dems (Vince Cable) was on side as was Nick Macpherson top dog at the Treasury...Dunn's review draws on Aeron Davis's book- Bankruptcy, Bubbles and Bsilouts - another must-read.
The extraordinary thing was Labour going along with the lie, on the grounds that they didn't want to challenge the right wing papers (a Blairite obsession with the idea that doing so will lose you votes). Even Corbyn didn't challenge it directly enough, maybe felt he had enough fights on his plate.
People looking back on this period will never understand, because there is no way to understand, how Israel deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza, how food aid piled up at every border of the Gaza strip and the entire world could not compel Israel to let it through
Dear Grok
How corrupt is Elon Musk?
How many days have passed since Trump said he would end the Russian-Ukraine war (invasion really) on day one of his presidency ...?
The US is now almost alone in climate change denial. Worse, the Trump administration is destroying even our capacity to understand it
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/c...
Musk is enabling election interference against political parties he dislikes. He will keep doing it until governments stop him.
So gutted that one of the last people the pope saw, probably under duress, was JD Vance.
please keep spending Elon ... all the way to those mid terms
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
New from 404 Media: a site called 'Dogequest' claims to be doxing Tesla owners across the U.S. Verified that at least some of the people in there are Tesla/Musk supporters. Comes as Trump has said that violence against Tesla would be domestic terrorism www.404media.co/dogequest-si...
or anyone remotely critical of MAGA
In fewer than 2 months, the US is approaching North Korean levels of Dear Leader sycophancy--not just at the federal level, but in the states.
Oklahoma, which already forced public schools to buy Trump Bibles, is now trying to get them to teach "Stop the Steal."
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/u...
The best bit is noone actually signed the letter for fear of getting fired 😂
Make Billionaires Fret Again
When Trump was sworn in, Elon Musk's corporations were under more than 32 investigations conducted by at least 11 federal agencies.
Most of the cases are now closed or likely to be closed soon, and the federal agencies are being defanged by DOGE.
Funny how that works, huh?
Today on Volts: you may have noticed that some climate/energy types (like me) have become obsessed with housing & urban land use lately. Why? Why are they climate issues? What's the connection? The great @mateosfo.bsky.social and I attempt to answer those questions.
Nothing will ever trickle down.
