Saturday 14 May 2022

Celebrating 4,000 Posts

It has taken three years, two months, and one week to get here but we can lay down another milestone. This is the 4,000th post! Arguably I'd have reached this sooner without Covid and if our house hadn't been invaded by an unruly stray cat who decided to stay. But still, 4,000 posts. And what a time this has spanned. When we hit the 3,000 mark Donald Trump was in the White House, and Theresa May faced Jeremy Corbyn across the dispatch box. Brexit was an intractable political mess that would never be resolved, we were ignorant of something called Covid-19, the notion Russia would invade Ukraine was preposterous, and the idea of having a proper book written and published was a pipe dream.

To mark this ridiculous occasion, which was never entertained when I began blogging 15 years ago, in reverse order here are most-read 100 posts since 8th March, 2019:

100. The Whys and Wherefores of Keith (December 2020)
99. How the Tories Smashed Stoke Labour (January 2020)
98. If Remain Had Won (December 2020)
97. The Tories Are Winning the Necropolitics (September 2020)
96. Retirement at 75? It's About Class, Stupid (August 2019)
95. Cancelling Tom Watson (September 2019)
94. On Hammering the Left (June 2020)
93. On Tory Incompetence and Stupidity (October 2020)
92. The Green Threat to Labour (February 2021)
91. Why is Labour Ignoring the Teaching Unions? (January 2021)
90. Marxists for Liberalism (September 2019)
89. Why Farage Snubbed Galloway (May 2019)
88. Facing Up to the CHUK Up (July 2019)
87. Trump and the Tory Imaginary (June 2019)
86. Ten Points on Trump's Attempted Coup (January 2021)
85. On Tim Roache's Resignation (April 2020)
84. Adios (March 2019)
83. Thinking and Chewing Gum (April 2019)
82. Covid is Killing Britons Faster than WWII (January 2021)
81. The BBC's Anti-Corbyn Hit Job (July 2019)
80. Keir Starmer's Pathetic Witch Hunt (July 2021)
79. The Uses of Captain Tom (February 2021)
78. Remembering Simon Speck (April 2019)
77. Starmerism and Fabianism (January 2021)
76. Why Isn't Keir Starmer 20 Points Ahead? (January 2021)
75. Dear Lisa Nandy (February 2020)
74. Keir-azy For You: Why Starmer Leads (January 2020)
73. Dear Jo Swinson (October 2019)
72. The Labour Politics of Backing the Brexit Deal (December 2020)
71. What is John McDonnell Playing At? (October 2019)
70. The Zoomers and Class Politics (August 2020)
69. How to Screw Up a Leadership Election (January 2020)
68. The Right Wing Defence of Starmerism (February 2021)
67. Boris Johnson and Thatcherism (February 2021)
66. Communism as Public Luxury (June 2019)
65. Opposition as Colourless Managerialism (August 2020)
64. Chuka Umunna and the Liberal Democrats (June 2019)
63. The Silences of John Harris (January 2020)
62. Margaret Hodge's Attack on Unite (June 2021)
61. The End of Theresa May (May 2019)
60. A Note on Ruthlessness (January 2021)
59. Veering to the Right (September 2019)
58. Esther McVey and the Working Class (May 2019)
57. The Long-Term Decline of the Tories (August 2019)
56. Caroline Flack and Social Murder (February 2020)
55. On Jeremy Corbyn's Defence Fund (July 2020)
54. The Moral Turpitude of Cllr Ally Simcock (August 2020)
53. Why I've Left the Labour Party (November 2020)
52. The Curious Case of Tom Watson (August 2019)
51. Stoke's Racist Lord Mayor (June 2020)
50. Losing Long-Time Labour Members (November 2020)
49. The BBC's Anti-Labour Bias (November 2019)
48. The Demonology of Jeremy Corbyn (December 2019)
47. Stanning for Corbyn and Other Twitter Tribes (August 2019)
46. John McDonnell: Be Nice to Keir (August 2020)
45. Labour and the New Working Class (January 2020)
44. How May Could Have Won (May 2019)
43. The Liberal Democrats' Worst Nightmare (August 2019)
42. Is This the End for Boris Johnson? (September 2019)
41. The Left and Keir Starmer (April 2020)
40. Obligation and Class Consciousness (July 2020)
39. Brexit and the ERG (March 2019)
38. Corbynism and the Second Referendum (June 2019)
37. On Corbynphobia (August 2019)
36. What is the Great Reset? (November 2020)
35. Defending Decayed Democracy (April 2019)
34. Boris Johnson and 21st Century Class Politics (December 2019)
33. Why Labour Isn't Serious About Winning (March 2021)
32. The Problem With Old People (November 2019)
31. Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud (November 2020)
30. Whither the One Per Centrists? (April 2019)
29. The Class Politics of the Indicative Votes (April 2019)
28. On Labour's Poll Collapse (February 2021)
27. A Cultural Sociology of Mass Stupidity (September 2020)
26. Is Politics Melting Down? (May 2019)
25. The Miserable Collapse of Jess Philips (January 2020)
24. Finance Capital and the Conservative Party (September 2019)
23. Is a New Conservative Party Possible? (April 2019)
22. Critiquing the Anti-Lockdown Left (December 2021)
21. The Newport West By-Election (April 2019)
20. Ian Lavery Should Not Stand (December 2019)
19. Sympathy for Gavin Williamson (May 2019)
18. Why Labour Went Backwards in Stoke (May 2019)
17. Why Do the Tories Hate the Arts? (October 2020)
16. Priti Patel, the Tories, and the Death Penalty (December 2020)
15. Theresa May and the Death of the Tory Party (March 2019)
14. The Weakness of Starmerism (July 2020)
13. The Demise of Caroline Lucas (August 2019)
12. The Tory Food Parcel Scam (January 2021)
11. Keir Starmer's Falkirk Moment (April 2020)
10. Why Do the Tories Want to Cut Furlough Payments? (May 2020)
9. Against the New Corbyn Coup (July 2019)
8. After Jo Swinson (December 2019)
7. One Abysmal Year of Keir (April 2021)
6. Labour's Crisis of Decomposition (March 2019)
5. The Problems With Jess Phillips (January 2020)
4. The Genius of Dominic Cummings (October 2019)
3. Obsolete Politics and the Socialist Party Split (June 2019)
2. On Lefties for Farage (April 2019)
1. The Working Class Politics of Brexit (December 2019)

What would you know, it's not a Jeremy Corbyn fest! Politically, I think the list fairly reflects the struggles and clashes of the last three years: Brexit, Covid, Starmerism, Boris Johnson's Tories. It's all there, along with a smattering of theory pieces, explainers, and character assassinations from a solidly pro-labour movement, pro-working class perspective. But this is not about being a celebratory ego fest. This blog has always been a collective effort, and so to those who occasionally "lend" me their content via freely taken podcasts, videos, music, and guest posts - many thanks!

Whatever next? More of the same, alas! Readers might have noticed a decreasing frequency of posts of late, and so perhaps I'll take things a little easier and read more books, play more games, and do more writing for elsewhere. It all depends on motivation, time, head space, and other demands. But right now, I'd like to thank all readers, the regular and the infrequent alike for giving me the motivation to keep plugging away. Here's to the next thousand!

8 comments:

Blissex said...

«Politically, I think the list fairly reflects the struggles and clashes of the last three years: Brexit, Covid, Starmerism, Boris Johnson's Tories.»

And yet all those, however central to the New New Labour, Conservative, LibDem cosplay of "Westmister politics" have mostly been mere distractions from the central issue of UK politics and economy, housing cost inflation.

Real life in the UK is all about property, as any conversation at middle-class parties shows. Those are secondary topics about which "progressive" or "reactionary" upper-middle and upper class property owners, whether occupiers or landlords, can amuse themselves with posturing politics as their capital profits and incomes effortlessly balloon, while the lower classes who pay those profits double up and compress their living standards ever more.

NB: by "Covid" above I mean "the politics of Covid", the epidemic itself is not a secondary topic.

Ken said...

Congratulations!! No one would deny you the pleasure of playing more games.

Blissex said...

«It all depends on motivation, time, head space, and other demands. But right now, I'd like to thank all readers, the regular and the infrequent alike for giving me the motivation to keep plugging away.»

I am thankful for these efforts because a good blog is not just interesting to read, like this one is, but also it is a good starting point for further reflection, looking up topics, and for discussion in comments.

Richard said...

Thanks for you always interesting and informative blog posts - look after yourself and keep going !!

Karl Greenall said...

Congratulations,Phil, and well done! You always give us plenty of food for thought, and unlike some bloggers, maintain a consistent position from which to commentate.
And the book is a jolly sight better than "not bad" either.
Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations - I've learned a lot from you, even if I don't always agree. Keep up the good work.

Zoltan Jorovic said...

Congratulations, and thank you for many hours of thought provoking reading.

Phil said...

Thanks for the kind words, folks. I endeavour to continue!