The Greenland episode from Borgen

This simply doesn’t cut it. Saying Britain should be at the heart of Europe means nothing if Labour keeps ruling out the very steps that would get us there. If Starmer thinks vague words on Europe will keep him in Number 10, he is badly mistaken.

It's a neck and neck race between number of ministerial aides resigning and number of newly elected Reform councillors departing.

Reform UK councillor in Essex quits after social media claims - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... I am already having to update my list - www.markpack.org.uk/176783/how-m...

How many councillors has Reform UK lost since the May 2026 elections?

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Chair of the Racial Diversity Campaign

How did the local election predictions do? A first look buff.ly/7cKu6Xo

How did the local election predictions do? A first look buff.ly/7cKu6Xo

Tribal Politics: How Brexit Divided Britain - and lessons for pro-European campaigners

My first take on how the various local election predictions did is out at 6pm in The Week in Polls: theweekinpolls.substack.com I may just hide away from all those who did predictions when they see my league table...

Ed Davey calls on Labour leadership contenders to drop red lines on EU

This must be the closest three fight in the country: Liberal Democrats 31.8% Labour 30.6% Greens 29.5% Others 8.8% This is a 20% Labour to Lib Dem swing and 4% Green to Lib Dem swing.

First more collected thoughts on the Lib Dem results: libdemnewswire.substack.com/p/first-thou...

Government both sacks Capita and gives it a new contract

Liberal Democrats take control of both new councils in Surrey

East Surrey County Council Results (new council) 🔶 LDM: 40 (+34) 🌳 CON: 10 (-34) 🌍️ GRN: 8 (+4) ➡️ RFM: 5 (+5) 🏘️ LOC: 5 (-9) ⚪️ IND: 4 (=) Liberal Democrat GAIN Changes based on notional results from previous councils.

The Cornwallification of the South seems to be continuing. It's not just that the Lib Dems are doing well, it's that the divisions within the left and right blocs are leaching out to leave a much straighter LD v Reform fight. @markpackuk.bsky.social's LD vs Ref thesis works well here.

Very striking what's happened in just a decade in the London Borough of Richmond: Gone from 2 Conservative MPs to to 2 Lib Dem MPs Gone from a Conservative GLA member to a Lib Dem one Gone from 38 Cons and 15 Lib Dem councillors to... 54 Lib Dems I believe there are church roofs in the borough.

A vision of a differebt future, for those sensibly asleep duribg the night.

First Lib Dem win of the night!

A decade ago, the Electoral Commission messed up over use on indelible pencils - www.markpack.org.uk/143476/indel... Obviously, it'd be foolish to think that if they'd got it right there would be no conspiracies, but also fair to say that if they'd got it right, there would be much less of a risk.

Want to learn about political campaigning? Sign up for a free 10-week email course. https://www.campaignmasterclass.com/

Very important non-2026 election news.

Rise up and show your disdain for this anti-hardback polling by getting my book about polling, available in wonderous hardback: www.pollingunpacked.com

47% of Britons now have a negative opinion of Zack Polanski, up 8pts from just prior to the Golders Green attack, and his worst rating since becoming Green leader Favourable: 22% (-2 from 28-29 Apr) Unfavourable: 47% (+8) yougov.com/en-gb/articl...

This is what is striking about Keir Starmer’s “whole society” approach: it really just is the parts of society he is intellectually comfortable talking about. Nothing on online hate, nothing really on hatred driven by religious differences in the UK.

Brilliant gem of a movie. And even more thought provoking when you realise the obliquely worded caption at end means the young hero went on to fight alongside Nazis in Finland. And now the Algorithm Gods are showing me a whole clutch of Scandi movies I'd never heard of.

"Polanski has also liked posts accusing Starmer of “defending a paedo ring as well as enabling genocide”…one calling Labour “a bunch of rancid, murderous bigots”, another calling Starmer a “genocidal Zionist” and numerous posts labelling Starmer a paedophile apologist or enabler."

Could it be you? New vacancy listed on Lib Dem website: Organiser & Constituency Support Officer (Taunton and Wellington Liberal Democrats & Gideon Amos MP)

A £5,000,000 gift from the party’s largest backer, is neither ‘purely personal’ nor a commercial loan. It is without precedent.

6 ways to judge the Liberal Democrat election results (LDN#209)

Quite the trio of leaflets arrived at home today (in Jeremy Corbyn's constituency): all using very similar colour sand typography, but one is from an independent, one from an Islington Community Independent and one from an Islington Independents. One of the three touts an endorsement from Corbyn.

I see that Ed has had a wetter campaigning day than me today.

bsky.app/profile/pete... The last review having been done in 2023.

A reminder once again that the Home Office specially encourages people to use X ahead of other social networks - open.substack.com/pub/lordseye...

Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters

It's quite the impressive two-step from Capita: being sacked from one government contract and yet winning another one. What's going on?

Q. It has been reported that Keir Starmer is considering bringing Angela Rayner back into the Cabinet.Do you think he should or should not do this? Should: 24% Should not: 50% Source: @opiniumresearch.bsky.social 29Apr - 1 May

It's an excellent book! You can hear more about it in my latest podcast: www.markpack.org.uk/176753/triba...

This picture of Zack Polanski's falling ratings is similar to the trend from other pollsters too, as I covered a few weeks ago - theweekinpolls.substack.com/p/the-good-t...

If this is more than a passing fancy by someone at The Times, this could be rather good news for reducing X's grip on political journalism and related chatter in the UK.

Another day, another borough, though well behind @luketaylorld.bsky.social on the borough tally!

Ed Davey: ‘Zack Polanski has taken up where Jeremy Corbyn left off’

Tribal Politics: How Brexit Divided Britain – and lessons for pro-European campaigners

I really enjoyed discussing our new book Tribal Politics with Mark Pack @markpackuk.bsky.social on his podcast Impressively Mark had even noticed some of the more unusual stories in the footnotes… 📻 You can listen here: www.markpack.org.uk/176753/triba...

Meet some of the people who made it through Reform UK's candidate vetting process, a process that the party likes to boast about being very rigorous

Alice's Adventures in Woolworths

New tech or traditional expertise: who will get the local elections right? theweekinpolls.substack.com/p/new-tech-o... Includes a chess analogy comparing likes of @samfr.bsky.social, @moreincommonuk.bsky.social, @stevefisher.bsky.social & @hannahbunting.bsky.social to various chess world champions.

What's most remarkable about this is that the Home Office is insistent on sticking to its own social media use policy - which specially encourages people to use X (!): lordseyeview.substack.com/p/the-home-o...

Did some canvassing today in-between reporting broken street lights.