Tom Mills
Public sociologist & socialist. Interested in elites, knowledge & communication. Author of 'The BBC: Myth of a Public Service'.
- Finally got my copy at an event this evening.
- This is exactly it. People presented Mandelson a certain way because they saw it in their interests to do so.
- Before I was an academic I did quite a lot of investigative research on the super-rich. Arms dealers, freewheeling financiers, power brokers etc. The world of the Epstein files is very familiar.
- Apropos of some recent revelations, here’s some thoughts from me on conspiratorial network analysis. TL;DR: You can’t just impulsively map connections & hope to reveal anything meaningful, except perhaps a reflection of your own assumptions. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
- Reposted by Tom MillsThe Dig is one of my favourite podcasts, so it was a real honour to be able to chat with Daniel about all things AI
- The Dig you’ve been waiting for to understand the political economy of AI as it becomes fulcrum of global contests and conflicts over economic and military dominance. My interview w/ @nsrnicek.bsky.social on his book Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI www.thedigradio.com/podcast/sili...
- Made a website called ‘Society from the Top Down’ where I’ll post my general thoughts on society & politics, work in progress, half-formed ideas, & little bits of research that never become, or never found their way into, books or articles. tamills1981.github.io/society-from...
- I only ever prepare for things that have already happened. #SmartThinking
- Can't believe what's happening right now. Love Nato so much.
- Academics: We shouldn't reduce our analysis of political events to the whims & idiosyncrasies of individuals Trump: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace
- I think rather than overreacting to this crisis we should speak to allies & find a sensible & grown up solution. Namely humiliating ourselves by ceded to all of Trump’s demands.
- This is a really good essay from Juliet Jacques on intellectuals & the politics of the media. novaramedia.com/2026/01/15/t...
- In addition to occasionally pointing out that no one has cited my work, ResearchGate is now resorting to Twitter style trolling.
- Look, I'm a minister of the British state, which is a member of the UN Security Council. It's not for me to comment on international affairs.
- Reposted by Tom MillsBlows my mind that some of the same journalists who see Trump as a want-to-be dictator at home are earnestly discussing the "challenges" for this same man to "bring democracy" to a country it just illegal invaded. Please grow up.
- Reposted by Tom MillsJonathan is correct here but this was the point where the leaders of the white people world decided there would be no laws or rules any more: they had won the Cold War, they were heroes and moral titans and they could kill anyone they wanted, destroy other countries for any reason they fancied.
- Reposted by Tom MillsAmerica's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth. The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%. Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
- Accessible summary from Goldthrope of his argument on description & causation in sociology (see also 'Sociology as a Population Science'). link.springer.com/article/10.1...
- Cool. Just need some synthetic social scientists now. Much more efficient. 👍
- Not to pull punches on the general political culture at the BBC, but the Moral Maze is unusually reactionary.
- The Government finally published its Green Paper on the BBC today. So here’s a very timely piece from Tom Chivers on the future of the BBC as we go into the Charter Review. 'The choice is a democratic BBC or no BBC at all.' fabians.org.uk/whose-bbc/
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- In which I wizz through the long history of the BBC in 17 director generals & 35mins. Thanks Paul for having me on.
- In case you're also thinking of applying, here's the job ad for the new Director General of the BBC. careers.bbc.co.uk/job/Director...
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- Interviewed in this week's 'The Listening Post' show on the crisis at the BBC. You can watch the full episode here ▶️ youtu.be/BNAPd_ur4-s
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- Spoke to France 24 English about, you guessed it, the crisis at the BBC. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgkP...
- With the BBC discourse still raging, here's my take. www.bylinesupplement.com/p/the-direct...
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- Delighted you all enjoyed Celebrity Traitors, & especially that the debate on the future of public media will focus on that fact.
- Network of Reform donors who have donated to another 'regulated entity'. Basically the same methods as previous network I posted on Labour Together. £36,750,057 donated in this network.
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- Over 3 million life-years lost in Gaza www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
- Thanks to Paul Holden’s ‘The Fraud’, the Labour Right’s vehicle Labour Together is in the spotlight again. Here’s the core of its funding network constructed from Electoral Commission data. Donors blue, ‘donees’ red.
- ‘Grudging acts are those activities in which we really would rather not participate but which we perform nonetheless’. Feel seen. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Tom Mills[Not loaded yet]
- This sweeping discussion is focused on the US, but there's so much that's directly relevant to the UK's dysfunctional political economy. Covers so much ill have to listen twice I think.
- It was so clear to so many of us - ignored or ridiculed - the disastrous path we were on since 2008 (at the earliest). And here we are. We've arrived at our destination.
- Still funny to me that academics have to organise 'retreats' to find time to write anything.
- Interesting read on the roots of MAGA in early 90s conservatism. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
- Reposted by Tom MillsNigel Farage is the biggest charlatan in British political history. And here's what his constitutents in Clacton really think:
- We now go live to our Westminster correspondent who will explain with inordinate enthusiasm why keeping all the same people but changing their roles is in fact extremely interesting & important.
- One of the things I enjoy the most in life is producing a highly detailed Gantt chart for a project that will never be funded.
- Great initiative. Transformative politics needs its own media. Mad Corbyn never did this.
- Missed this. Very clever and interesting paper.
- Our paper on clusters of schools across the UK is out. We find five clusters: multi-racial & super-diverse middle & working-class schools of towns & cities, suburban white middle class schools, established elite schools & (post-)industrial white working class schools. doi.org/10.1002/berj...
- '...the International Association of Genocide Scholars: Declares that Israel’s policies & actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide' t.co/HigtT0Ldrl
