Emeritus Prof. Christopher May

Whatever the future holds for Rachel Reeves after a challenge to Keir Starmer's leadership of the Labour Party (and Premiership), her supporters are burnishing her reputation, claiming a range of quiet successes laying the foundations for country to escape the economic malaise into which it fell under Tory rule.

You can take this with a pinch of salt, otherwise consider if Reeves has been misjudged as she's a woman... I'll leave that with you.

#RachelReeves #politics

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/07/rachel-reeves-unpopular-quietly-rebalancing-uk-plc

Rachel Reeves may be unpopular, but she is quietly rebalancing UK plc

Policy U-turns could define her stint at No 11 despite many sure-footed advances on devolved spending to help kickstart growth

The Guardian
Jun 7 at 4:20pmWeb
Show threadStevie's Yer Da'Jun 7
@ChrisMayLA6 there's two contexts here, firstly the internal Labour one where it's so far beyond time Labour had a female leading them, but secondly and more importantly it strikes me that no matter who they elect they'll remain utterly unable, and unwilling too, to challenge the malaise and damage of capitalism. It's a party for careers, not a party that represents the working class or has a hope of recapturing the anger that fuels flags and roundabout painting
Show threadEmeritus Prof. Christopher MayJun 7

@steviesyerda

yes, its part of the more general professionalisation of politics... which starts of sounding like a good thing (who'd want us to continue with amateurs), but then has just given us a self-serving careerist political class, which while occasionally throwing up some one with political nous for the most part caters to a causal 'centre right' technocratism (often mis-labeled neoliberalism, in my view) which is built on the notion of the corporation is the citizenry they serve.

Show threadbeemohJun 7
@ChrisMayLA6 "quietly rebalancing UK plc" is an interesting way of describing "doing fuck-all beyond cutting social security and hoping everything else balances itself", but each to their own.
Show threadLeiaJun 7
@beemoh @ChrisMayLA6 Words cannot encompass how much I loathe the expression “UK PLC” as if the aim of government was to turn a profit rather than look after people.
Show threadEmeritus Prof. Christopher MayJun 7

@leiawelsh @beemoh

Yes, its a particularly corrosive political category error....

Show threadWanWizard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇳🇱Jun 7

@leiawelsh @beemoh @ChrisMayLA6 It sums up everything that is wrong with neo-liberal thinking.

It is the main reason public services are either non-existent or crap, as everything is looked at as a cost to UK PLC, instead of the public services they are (whose value can not be expressed in pounds and pence).

Also, given the amount of money a government wastes, if it was a PLC, it would have been bankrupt a long time ago. Fortunately for them, they are backed by the bank of you and I.

Show threadOyu F'kaJun 7
@leiawelsh @beemoh @ChrisMayLA6 That *is* the aim of the government.
Show threadLeiaJun 7
@Oyu_Fka @beemoh @ChrisMayLA6 Yeah sadly. Noses in troughs.
Show threadImmigrationIsNotACrimeJun 8

@ChrisMayLA6

These appointments will be an early indication of Burnham's planned direction.

I think Burnham will win in Manchester, will win the leadership, but the next general election will be more of a challenge.

Without a major change of direction Labour will flounder and he will just leave the door open for Farage.