Five Most Popular Posts in December

We begin the new year as we do every year - by looking back. Here are the posts that did the numbers in 2024's final month.

1. The Futility of Chasing the Right
2. The Class Politics of Rising Water Bills
3. The Death of a Dictatorship
4. On the Road to Somewhere
5. Labour's Defence of Billionaire Influence

Where would this blog be without the Labour Party to riff off? It claims three of the coveted five spots on the end-of-month run down. At one there is the political pointlessness - even from the standpoint of the Labour right's self-interest - of Labour aping and chasing the right. Labour are not losing voters to Reform hand over fist, and they're not interested in being convinced that Keir Starmer takes their anti-immigrant fantasies seriously. Then we have the do-nothing stance of the government over rising water bills. Which links nicely to the screed on billionaires. Labour are not about to upset the applecart, even though there is real electoral mileage in doing so. Because our new ministers are called to a higher purpose: the management of the class relations of production. In at three was the need to mark the justified and overdue collapse of Bashir Al-Assad's regime. And this was followed by news that there might be some movement in the interminable talks about putting together a new left wing party.

Two posts qualify for second chances, and they are a pairing. The worst and the best science fiction I read in 2024.

What's the new year got in store? The reduced pace of posting suits me well, so I'm keeping that. Rather than just chew people's ears off about politics all the time, I might try and do a few more straightforward sociological/theory pieces like the sort I used to do - and that always landed well. The science fiction content is here to stay. And yes, the politics might be reduced but I've said that before and it always clutters up the monthly post tallies. We'll take it as it comes. As ever, if you haven't already don't forget to follow the (very) occasional newsletter, and if you like what I do (and you're not skint), you can help support the blog. Following me on Bluesky, Facebook, and for what it's worth Twitter, are cost-free ways of showing your backing for this corner of the internet.

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