Inside: The Blue Labour renaissance, Tom Holland on the Caesars, the Long Seventies, White Lotus, Britain's strictest head teacher, Perry Anderson and Roger Casement.
Wow,amazing, it's only 2025 and the NS has discovered the US Imperial Project which after all has only been underway since the end of WW2. For them and other slow learners I would recommend reading Tom Dispatch which will give you a view of that Project from the perspective of the US left,what there is of it.
This issue might be the most layered and thematically resonant Saturday Read yet—like a Hegelian Valentine’s card wrapped in a Caesar bust.
Andrew Marr’s framing of Starmer as a Reformation-era figure abandoning his legalist heritage hit particularly hard. If we’re watching the progressive project give way to Blue Labour populism, then the question isn’t just “who’s in charge,” but “what’s the soul of this machine?” Glasman's reappearance feels less like a cameo and more like a power-play from the ideological shadows.
Tom Holland’s reflection on Suetonius is one I’ll revisit—especially his take on the biography as political anatomy. It reminded me how little separates modern power from classical performance. We’re still governed by people who want to be both feared and adored—and we’re still seduced by the spectacle.
And kudos to the piece on White Lotus for capturing why we keep returning to stories of decadent decay. In an age of economic precarity, watching the elite self-implode on screen offers a weird kind of moral equilibrium.
Also: George’s Valentine’s dispatch—no roses, no diamonds, no steaks—felt like a tender post-capitalist koan. A reminder that even romance, in 2025, is downstream of politics, ethics, and emissions data.
Let me know if you want to tweak it to include a plug for Permission to Be Powerful or reflect your own Substack audience!
Wow,amazing, it's only 2025 and the NS has discovered the US Imperial Project which after all has only been underway since the end of WW2. For them and other slow learners I would recommend reading Tom Dispatch which will give you a view of that Project from the perspective of the US left,what there is of it.
This issue might be the most layered and thematically resonant Saturday Read yet—like a Hegelian Valentine’s card wrapped in a Caesar bust.
Andrew Marr’s framing of Starmer as a Reformation-era figure abandoning his legalist heritage hit particularly hard. If we’re watching the progressive project give way to Blue Labour populism, then the question isn’t just “who’s in charge,” but “what’s the soul of this machine?” Glasman's reappearance feels less like a cameo and more like a power-play from the ideological shadows.
Tom Holland’s reflection on Suetonius is one I’ll revisit—especially his take on the biography as political anatomy. It reminded me how little separates modern power from classical performance. We’re still governed by people who want to be both feared and adored—and we’re still seduced by the spectacle.
And kudos to the piece on White Lotus for capturing why we keep returning to stories of decadent decay. In an age of economic precarity, watching the elite self-implode on screen offers a weird kind of moral equilibrium.
Also: George’s Valentine’s dispatch—no roses, no diamonds, no steaks—felt like a tender post-capitalist koan. A reminder that even romance, in 2025, is downstream of politics, ethics, and emissions data.
Let me know if you want to tweak it to include a plug for Permission to Be Powerful or reflect your own Substack audience!