“We won’t change anything, but we’ll be less corrupt, look after your money better and not rip you off so much — at least in our first term.”
This, essentially, is Labour’s message going into the election, and what passes …
TikTok won’t win the election
Is this the online election? The AI election? The TikTok election? As somebody who’s been writing about data-driven political campaigning for about a decade, I’m going to stick my neck out and say “no”.
Let’s start with TikTok, which the …
TikTok won’t win the election
Is this the online election? The AI election? The TikTok election? As somebody who’s been writing about data-driven political campaigning for about a decade, I’m going to stick my neck out and say “no”.
Let’s start with TikTok, which the …
Shein has revealed Britain’s cheap heart
It is hard to think of a company that combines as many “evil corporation” tropes as Shein, the Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant. Several investigations have found exploitative conditions in the factories that make its clothing. It stands accused of benefitting …
Shein has revealed Britain’s cheap heart
It is hard to think of a company that combines as many “evil corporation” tropes as Shein, the Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant. Several investigations have found exploitative conditions in the factories that make its clothing. It stands accused of benefitting …
Keir Starmer’s class neurosis
Every morning, at 6.30, Labour’s most senior officials gather at party HQ in Southwark to run through the day ahead. Keir Starmer, who is usually on the road, will dial in if he can. The meeting is chaired by Pat …
New Towns will never be classless utopias
When will Britain’s New Towns stop feeling so new? “Old Labour ideas are right for new times,” insisted Keir Starmer at party conference last year. Yesterday’s manifesto launch embodied this spirit: “A Labour government will build a new generation of …
Gareth Southgate’s ruthless reign
The strange thing about the build-up to these Euros for England is how settled everything feels. There is some doubt at left-back, but only because Luke Shaw’s fitness is uncertain, and there is debate over who should play alongside Declan …
The rise of California’s vanlords
For outsiders experiencing it on YouTube, homelessness in San Francisco has a sort of up-close profile — overdoses and open drug deals, vacant and filthy faces, bodies sprawled on dirty concrete or, sometimes, just standing, bent incredibly in half, forehead …
Why voters love local MPs
You may not have heard of Ed McGuinness. The Conservative candidate for Surrey Heath this weekend posted a picture on social media of him holding a set of keys outside a front door. “Surrey Heath residents,” he said, “expect their …
The bankrupt Queen of the Third Way
Five summers ago, 11 Labour and Conservative MPs quit their parties to form a breakaway faction in parliament. To the then Independent Group, then Change UK and latterly the Independent Group for Change, the motivating issues were Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership …
The populist battle for Ashfield
Something doesn’t seem quite right about Nigel Farage. We’re in the backseat of a car parked outside the Rifle Volunteer, and he’s just spent a solid hour in his element: shaking hands, grinning and taking selfies with supporters in Ashfield. …
The populist battle for Ashfield
Something doesn’t seem quite right about Nigel Farage. We’re in the backseat of a car parked outside the Rifle Volunteer, and he’s just spent a solid hour in his element: shaking hands, grinning and taking selfies with supporters in Ashfield. …
Labour has broken Gen Z’s heart
Summer has finally arrived in London. Beer gardens are packed, Lime bikes whizz through disgruntled traffic. There is a quiet optimism: the election is soon. For the first time that we can remember, we might not have a Tory government. …
Belfast is crumbling
Belfast was once described as “a conservationist’s nightmare”. Not much has changed. Vacant, dying buildings slouch on every other street. You notice the big ones first, places like the Crumlin Road Courthouse, a huge Victorian building cored out by decay. …