Leave didn't win in 2016 because of the £350m for the NHS claim, any more than Remain won by claiming the economy would shrink by 6% (the current OBR estimate is 4%). The people who will vote for deportation aren't interested in the money. This is just a diversion for the media.

This isn't a "Labour argument". Mutatis, mutandis, this is the same argument that the political establishment has been pushing since the Aliens Act of 1905. In short: the claims of nativist bigots must not be challenged and immigrants must accept second-class status to preserve social hierarchies.

Given that "resisting Faragism" is also the aim of Labour and the Tories, I'm not sure this offers the Lib Dems any particular "clarity of purpose", but the Guardian's determination to keep them in the game overrides logic. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The violence of the colonies will find its way back to the metropole. Historically, the US has relied on deniable proxies in the Caribbean and Latin America, but since 9/11 it has expanded the reach of the domestic security state. Extrajudicial killings won't stop at the border.

The fragmentation of British politics means we may be facing a the prospect of a national government after the next general election as the prelude to electoral reform and the establishment of a permanent centrist coalition. More ... fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/09/shif...

David Gauke thinks that the Tories must eschew rightwing populism and reinvent themselves as the party of the centre right. The only flaw in this plan is that that is the space that Labour under Starmer are aiming for too.

I see people are still trying to defeat Farage with facts. A strategy that worked so well in 2016. The lesson of Brexit was that the most stupid idea will become current if the media wishes it, and that the willingness of centrist politicians to dance to the media's tune will then legitimise it.

The govt long ago conceded that there were many people in this country who shouldn't be here and that deportation was a suitable response. All Farage is doing is taking the next logical step to up the ante. Anyone expecting Starmer to suddenly stand up for migrants hasn't been paying attention.

New blogpost: Shifting Sands - Who exactly are the Greens these days, and who exactly supports Reform? The answers are alienated Labour voters and alienated Tories respectively, pointing to the fragmentation of the political centre. fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/09/shif...

It's lazy of Malik to recycle a previous column like this, but it's also misleading to characterise the Unite the Kingdom crowd as working class and frankly patronising to assume they are motivated by neglect rather than bigotry. observer.co.uk/news/columni...

The key line in this is "I knew a sympathetic junior editor at the Daily Mail". 50% of newspaper columnists were privately educated, which means they were plugged into networks of influence from an early age. The "forces" are social, not just wealthy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

So, they're finally going to scrap the two-child cap in order to win a factional contest. And the Guardian will applaud them for it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Turns out Jonathan's cunning plan is to cite opinion poll data. I can just see Farage stunned into silence as yet another YouGov survey drops. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Leaving aside the evident glee of the Guardian political desk, there is a fundamental issue at stake here beyond the personalities and bickering. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

John couldn't bring himself to say "council", so he ends up advocating simply a bit more of the current policy ("social and affordable"), which is hopelessly inadequate.

Doesn't really matter as in all cases you get to eat Italian.

The "Debate me, bro" grift ... www.techdirt.com/2025/09/17/t...

"Murder is bad. It's the easiest call." drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/09/17/t...

Predictably, the grown-ups have decided that a wealth tax is unworkable, which means the mass of the population must pay more to fund public services and benefits. Talk about not reading the room. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

I'd far rather read Jonathan Liew on sport in the Guardian than Barney Ronay (who seems to hate the subject), but expanding into politics just reveals him as another centrist who can barely conceal his contempt for the politically-enagaged. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Lol. Two types of stupidity on display here. Only around 6% of pupils go to private schools, and 5% to grammars, so these separate charts are not meaningfully comparable.

The idea that Corbyn might be considered responsible is hilarious, given the chat was intended to undermine him, but so too is "leaked by journalists at a critical moment". This stuff came out years ago but the press decided that then was not the time. What's changed?

With growth currently at 1%, this would return us (assuming an avg 2% p.a.) to the level last seen (briefly) in 2000, and before that in 1972 and the 1950s. Also worth noting that at the height of the Industrial Revolution the UK was only pushing 5% with novel steam engines etc.

The mythos of Sparta - a small, determined warrior state fighting alone against the barbarian hordes (Thermopylae etc) - ignores its actual history as the leader of a broad coalition, the Peloponnesian League, against Athens (see Thucidydes). www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

"If any movement to the Left is precluded, even directionless drift and random responses to events will translate into a slow but steady march to the Right." gapingsilence.wordpress.com/2025/09/16/w...

All lovely stuff, but unsurpringly no mention of Labour antisemitism 2016-2019. I guess when the subject is "How to defeat the far right", recalling how you derided "lifelong anti-racists" as culpable isn't germane. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Streeting only presents as a diversity champion, even in front of a sympathetic audience, when he is on leadership manoeuvres. Otherwise it's dire warnings about the parlous state of the NHS and paeans to the value that the private sector can add. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Your reminder that Labour won a landslide on 34% because the right was split.

Is democracy about to break out in the Labour Party? QTWTAIN.

If that's your "best brain", no wonder the govt is a shambles. These people really seem to have no idea how ridiculous they sound.

Whatever you do when you praise Britain and its unique virtues of tolerance and good sense, do not under any circumstances mention the E word.

The division between the far-right in the streets and in electoral politics reflects not simply a sociological gulf but a strategic division of political labour based on the prioritisation of different hierarchies of race and class. More ... fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/09/line...

What exactly was it that these guys were free to say yesterday? Was it "I support Palestine Action"? Or was it "Drown the lot of them"?

The tragedy of the British left is that the uncovering of the spycops scandal has left them lacking the muscle to do a lot of the heavy lifting.

New blogpost: Linehan's Law - The Americanisation of British politics is driving bigotry and hate-speech, but above all a monstrous sense of entitlement. fromarsetoelbow.blogspot.com/2025/09/line...

The Guardian politics desk has found its happy place: "inside the plot". www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

The Senior Political Correspondent of the Daily Express self-radicalising before our very eyes.

Either the BBC is actively engaged in disinformation or its reporters are buffoons.

Everything has to be dialled up to 11. coreyrobin.com/2025/09/11/s...

The political theme across the Guardian today is: who should the government listen to? In the opinion section, you have George Monbiot saying they should not listen to the "dark-money junktanks", while Larry Elliott cautions the Chancellor against fearing the bond vigilantes.

"To resign in disgrace once, Mr. Mandelson, may be regarded as a misfortune; to resign twice looks like carelessness; but a hat-trick is just taking the piss".

This is a perfectly commendable piece on the direction of travel, but it's notable that while the Tories and Reform get mentions, the Labour Party doesn't. To mix metaphors, you cannot pull your punches when faced with the drift towards Fascism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

In plain English, the City will now have a seat at the table when deciding economic & fiscal policy. Taken together with that CBI piece in the Guardian, it looks like you can forget a wealth tax on the few but expect higher taxes on the many. www.ft.com/content/0121...

Surely at some point an editor at the Guardian will point out to Rafael Behr that despite his Olympian tone he can't even manage to be internally consistent in his columns. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

People generally don't trust any of the parties on the economy because they know none of them will effect any real change to low wages, precarious employment, rentier-controlled utilities etc. The problem isn't the credibility of one choice versus another, but the lack of a meaningful choice.

That would be like asking them to admit that they were never really progressives, and that would hurt their feelings.

Many Scottish Labour Party voters are Unionists. Who knew?

The curse of the new manager bounce about to hit Arsenal for the umpteenth time.

We all understand that Labour's Deputy leader role is a sentimental anachronism that Starmer intends to ignore, so it seems fitting that the last occupant should be a void.

The Guardian's coverage of French politics has been notable for the almost complete occlusion of the LFI & others on the left and the prominence given to the PS. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...