We’re back after half term looking at the fallacy of ‘progressive education’ and why the left need to learn lessons about the future of the classroom. Featuring @daisychristo.bsky.social & Kristopher Boulton with regulars @annacmcshane.bsky.social, @markdavies67.bsky.social & @ed-owen.bsky.social!
Good to see the focus on what teenagers themselves think about social media, drawing on recent polling we did at The New Britain Project and More in Common. And @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social is right - it's important this sits within a broader vision for childhood.
Good to see the focus on what teenagers themselves think about social media, drawing on recent polling we did at The New Britain Project and More in Common. And @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social is right - it's important this sits within a broader vision for childhood.
Ground rent cap is good news (though peppercorn would be better straight away). Also welcome is promised abolition of new leasehold properties. Better still would be the outright abolition of leasehold altogether, a feudal anachronism virtually unique to England and Wales.
While Westminster wailed about coups and plots, last week @annacmcshane.bsky.social laid out another teething problem - what to do about babies. A popular discussion on the right, what does the left think about declining birth rates and how should we support families? nocows.substack.com/p/oh-baby
Wrote this last week @matthewholehouse.bsky.social labourlist.org/2026/01/brit...
What should we do less of? The question that, in so many different contexts, we all like to duck. All the more so if the answer gets anywhere near private consumption.
Good to see the PM make explicit the link between cost of living and what is happening internationally. As I said in
@labourlist.bsky.social last week, in a world increasingly shaped by war and instability, affordability and security are now inseparable.
But I guess that's exactly why honesty important at this point - if voters are told geopolitics is not a cost of living issue, then as you say fear of inflation becomes a reason not to act abroad.
Wrote this last week @matthewholehouse.bsky.social labourlist.org/2026/01/brit...
Good to see the PM make explicit the link between cost of living and what is happening internationally. As I said in
@labourlist.bsky.social last week, in a world increasingly shaped by war and instability, affordability and security are now inseparable.
A serious deterioration in US-UK relations will be a cost of living issue. This is not bizarre at all.
Germany, Sweden and Denmark are publicly debating conscription, food stockpiles and supply-chain resilience. We're still treating defence as a competing priority.
The PM's not wrong to focus on foreign policy so much- but he needs to be much more upfront with the country on why.
Absolutely. Many places in Europe seem to 'get' that we're on the cusp of an existential threat more than we do. We're often told by those who know what they're dealing with that we're moving towards a war footing but neither public nor government have accepted that means no more business as normal.
What are politicians talking about?—If there is a lesson for the year ahead, it is this: trust is rebuilt not by saying more in increasingly convoluted terms, but by narrowing the gap between promise and proof… www.ft.com/content/6587... @annacmcshane.bsky.social @financialtimes.com
Germany, Sweden and Denmark are publicly debating conscription, food stockpiles and supply-chain resilience. We're still treating defence as a competing priority.
The PM's not wrong to focus on foreign policy so much- but he needs to be much more upfront with the country on why.
💬 "No British political leader has been willing to confront the public with the scale of the challenge now facing Britain, and Europe as a whole".
✍️ Anna McShane on how the government must confront the link between geopolitics and the cost of living crisis...
Read more 👇
Herd member @annacmcshane.bsky.social in the @financialtimes.com today setting out how politicians and the centre left need to speak clearly to people not in some weird totally remote language nobody understands. 👇
A much better read here than whatever the ‘stakeholder state’ is meant to be that’s well worth your time from @annacmcshane.bsky.social.
What politicians should think about in 2026? Excellent advice from @annacmcshane.bsky.social : „Narrow the gap between promise & proof“
www.ft.com/content/6587... What are politicians talking about?
More than half the country don’t know what Keir Starmer stands for.
No such confusion on Farage. Even if they don’t agree.
Interesting polling for New Britain Project by More In Common via Anna McShane labourlist.org/2025/10/labo...
Is Angela Rayner planning her comeback? www.independent.co.uk/voices/angel...
Can anybody hear No.10? We checked. Most big government announcements are forgotten in a day.
The only exception to this rule is Digital ID - which peaked 50 times higher than most other announcements and is still sustaining interest 3 weeks on.
You can read the full research report here - newbritain.org.uk/cananybodyhe...
@noahkeate.bsky.social for @politico.com covers our research in his long read on how Labour’s poorly executed digital ID push has MPs jittery - www.politico.eu/article/we-n...
Digital ID bucks that trend. Digital ID is exactly the kind of clear dividing line that can define a government’s direction, but a dividing line only works if you’re prepared to fight on it.
We tracked Google searches for 15 flagship policies. Most announcements only sustained interest for a day; a handful lingered beyond a day, and not one stretched to three days.
Can anybody hear No.10? We checked. Most big government announcements are forgotten in a day.
The only exception to this rule is Digital ID - which peaked 50 times higher than most other announcements and is still sustaining interest 3 weeks on.
