Phil Edwards

@philedwards

"Research fellow" (i.e. retired) at MMU, still writing. Interests: legal theory, folksong, real ale, the Left, cinema, Bowie, Aickman. Blogs: gapingsilence.wordpress.com & ohgoodale.wordpress.com . If I was left to my own devices, I possibly would.

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Phil Edwards@philedwards· 23d

How did he do? Here's Tom Holland's father (59)

Phil Edwards@philedwards· 23d

Matt Damon (56)

Phil Edwards@philedwards· 23d

"Matt Damon looks old enough to be Tom Holland's father" - Mark Kermode on THE ODYSSEY Tom Holland (30)

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jul 9

Oh I say.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jul 7

I'd like to thank FIFA this morning for reminding us so powerfully of the true meaning of their motto.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jul 6

Never realised they could do *that*.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 29

There already is a 10 Downing Street in Manchester, anyway.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 23

I'm optimistic about Andy Burnham's premiership. I think his government will make the country a noticeably less mean, less hateful and better functioning place.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 22

Why, it's Something Someone Has Known For Quite A Long Time And Not Seen Fit To Mention Until It Was Absolutely, Unequivocally Safe To Do So (Despite Notionally Being In The Business Of Informing The Public).

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 22

Served cold.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 20

What else did he learn that day, about who was calling the shots in getting Labour's message out and why? About the gulf between "Keir Starmer, left-wing lawyer" and "Keir Starmer, solemn, sententious block of wood*", and why it was so wide? *Beckett's words, not mine

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 19

It’s a trap! When ICE get hold of a few Socialist Alternatives his feet won’t touch the ground!

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 18

Well well well well well well well. There’s a thing. Who’d have thought.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 18

Go home, bookies' odds on Makerfield, you're drunk.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 15

Anyone got any stats on homicide involving blunt trauma and improvised weapons? Just wondering.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 12

I believe it was Thudycides who said... Absolute state of this.

A Tweet from Al Carns, Labour MP, reading as follows:
Britain spent a decade choosing to be smaller in the world.

Right now the rules on communications, energy and trade are being rewritten. By China. By Russia. By countries that take their own security seriously. We need to be at that table. That's a choice we must make.

Strong countries get cheap energy. Weak countries pay whatever the strong ones decide.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· Jun 2

But I agree it was a fork in the road. Morgan McSweeney's entire career seems to have been dedicated to denying this:

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 30

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 26

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 19

I have a bad habit of opening what could otherwise be quite a readable blog post with three paragraphs of conceptual analysis, to which I gave full rein in this post; apologies for that. Here's the key graf:

So the Leninist threat to the Labour Party in England and Wales numbers, at most, 5,000 people - most of whom, so far from having a common purpose, hate one another's guts in true Life of Brian style. And there's nothing really there for them to 'enter' anyway - most of the old levers of power have been dismantled or locked away. And even if they all did have a collective rush of blood to the head and decide to sink their differences (pauses for hollow laugh) and become born-again Corbynites - and even if their applications for membership were accepted - five thousand people would hardly make a dent
on the party these days, what with the rate that people are joining...

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 18

"A hard line on Israel" can't be permitted in the light of "the attack in Manchester". This is utterly disgraceful and shouldn't go unchallenged, including by whatever hack wrote down these conveniently anonymous whispers.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 17

I guess there are people who are 'libertarian' but not 'pro-liberty', but I'm happy to say I'm not one of them.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 16

"Keir! You've got to hear this! They're chanting your name – I mean, they're actually *singing* your name! I couldn't believe it, it's just like when they used to... oh, wait... No, it turns out I got the wrong end of the stick. Never mind."

a chant heard at almost any protest of any political persuasion in 2026: the reliable "Keir Starmer's a wanker," to the tune of "Seven Nation Army".

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 16

(What it says about the state of the party is "nothing good".)

Keir Starmer was not the start of something new but the resumption of a long history of decline - decline in the sheer capacity of a certain kind of Labour politics to understand the world and act on it, as well as decline in popular support for the party. The local election results demonstrate how far the second of these has gone; McKinnell's letter, the first.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 14

OK, I did *not* see that one coming.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 14

Very disappointed to see that

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 13

But they've done it in such a way that nobody notices, including having train operating companies launch new advertising campaigns after being renationalised. Can't get called socialists for nationalising rail if nobody knows you've nationalised rail!

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 6

I imagine it does.

Phil Edwards@philedwards· May 6