34th Most Influential Person in British Progressive Politics
I know it is outrageously self-promoting to do a blog post to say the New Statesman has put me as the 34th most influential person in progressive politics in the UK (or something like that)…
But I do, I hope, have a serious general point to make. Since I arrived in London around 7 years ago to start my PhD research at King’s College, knowing no one and having no network, I have been told continually that if I speak what I believe to be the truth and act upon it, I will make myself “irrelevant”.
I have always thought this is total bollocks. As a matter of principle, I am into speaking the truth and if that makes me irrelevant I have always thought – “well so be it”. But all my research and experience have persuaded me that paradoxically it also happens to be the smartest and most effective strategy. Which is sort of handy of course.
The reason for this is that the system as we know is collapsing around us and thus the bullshit of denial and distraction mounts up by the month. Those who speak the truth then cut through in these “end times”. The tragedy of the political class (many key representatives of which are on the NS list) is that they simply cannot conceive of making decisions outside a narrow utilitarian reductive focus – for them, there is only one question: “Will it give us/me power”.
This is why people hate them so much and why they are doomed.The future, if there is to be one, will be based upon the gloriousness of humanness – ordinary people calling a spade a spade and getting on with the enormous jobs we have in front of us. I am dedicated to designing strategies to remove power from the elites who got us into this terrible mess and put the people into power via assemblies.I personally have zero interest in “power” – I just want to get shit down – and, to the best of my ability, do so with integrity and decency.So maybe next year I won’t be on the list at all. On the other hand…. (you never know!)
Thanks to all of you for all the work you are doing.
Onward.
