Reform UK is the tarts and vicars party: a curious alliance of libertines and traditionalists. The tarts will win. economist.com/britain/2026...

www.economist.com/britain/2026... Great column by @matthewholehouse.bsky.social on Reform's weird coalition

as @duncanrobinson.bsky.social said www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Once again, British foreign policy being eaten alive by cost-of-living concerns. Starmer's announcement - that mobilising a 35-state diplomatic coalition to reopen the straits, mobilising the military and tilting further to Europe... overshadowed entirely by rearguard defence of CoL assistance...

But look how happy he is

It’s important to start daylight saving while you’re young, because it leverages the power of compound interest, allowing small, consistent amounts to grow significantly over time.

All my life people have been saying Europe is unable to do things that it then does.

Aghhhhhh!

Great piece! "If soft power exists, it comes in the form of “Hey Duggee” as much as a native-language news broadcast. The cartoon has been translated into dozens of languages and hit a billion views in China within a year... Britain may be the “Little Satan”, but the devil has the best toons."

Was absent-mindedly reading this to two year old and forgot that it began with Babar’s mother being gunned down and him sprinting away in terror

All hail Hey Duggee. Did I write a column to do this disgusting pun? Perhaps CBeebies or barbarism! economist.com/britain/2026... from The Economist

In the latest addition to a series of increasingly self-indulgent columns, this 37 year old father has written about the vital strategic importance of CBeebies www.economist.com/britain/2026...

In the latest addition to a series of increasingly self-indulgent columns, this 37 year old father has written about the vital strategic importance of CBeebies www.economist.com/britain/2026...

The idea that anyone on the wrong end of a government decision must be compensated now has thick, deep roots in Britain. In a Compo Nation, should policy change, someone will demand to be paid

“He never had the makings of a varsity athlete”

I initially wondered if this was about US-style class action culture (In light of the stuff around hidden car finance commissions) but it's so much more fundamental to our current politics than that. It's a great piece.

great piece

Forthisme

Most of governing is picking losers. So idea that no-one can ever lose out is pretty fatal for good governance. www.economist.com/britain/2026...

www.economist.com/britain/2026... Compo face: entire country edition

OMG, @duncanrobinson.bsky.social’s only gone and written about the meme: economist.com/britain/2026...

Hope this ends with an Ed Miliband white van apology but for dogs

You’re remembering the 'mini-Budget' wrong. Yes, the unfunded tax cuts and gilts crisis. But it was the Energy Price Guarantee — priced at £60bn for the first six months(!) wot done it. My newsletter, out now.

Britain’s rejoining of the EU would be immensely difficult and fractious. It might, however, feel right

Emigrants always leave a mark on the country they depart. Usually, they are discussed in sorrow. By contrast, the flow from Britain to Dubai triggers apoplexy

Trump: “How do you like the performance?”

This is very good from @duncanrobinson.bsky.social on what Dubai discourse tells us about ourselves economist.com/britain/2026...

🚨CAN YOU AFFORD TO IGNORE THESE FACTS about the carpet at trade shows? www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...

“It’s quite exhausting being an addict. All that running round, raising the money, scoring, meeting horrible people. It’s much lovelier to have lunch with you in a nice restaurant.”

Daily Telegraph owned by Axel Springer is quite Jonathan Coe-plot coded

Brilliant column: bsky.app/profile/dunc...

Massive UK media scoop - Germany's Axel Springer is poised to agree a shock £500mn deal for the Telegraph in a move that will scupper the acquisition of the UK newspaper group by the Daily Mail. W/ the FT's finest @JFK_America @ArashMassoudi www.ft.com/content/e5cb...

Excellent column

"Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader with a knack for the kind of populism that will not have you kicked out of a dinner party..." <chef's kiss> @duncanrobinson.bsky.social www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Honestly the contempt I feel for Dubai 'ex-pats' isn't based on class so much as their willingness to embrace a life of luxury and excess in a society propped up by slavery, exploitation and human rights abuse as though they were living in a JG Ballard novel they refuse to understand

This is fascinating, and reminds me of Jilly Cooper's observation that British people specifically detest the class immediately above and below them (eg middle to upper and vice versa) but are fine with a bigger gab (working to upper). As the class system get flattened, everyone hates everyone else

Days getting warmer, sniff of pollen in air. Means one thing: discourse about parks in London being partly closed off for festivals!

Why is Dubai discourse so rich? Class identities all mangled and so everyone thinks they are punching up and letting rip. Full column 🫵 www.economist.com/britain/2026...

What the Dubai expats discourse says about blurred meanings of class in today's Britain: "Social hierarchy has become an Escher painting, an optical illusion in which everyone is both above and below one another. And so everyone thinks they are punching up. The result is a searing, mutual contempt"

From @duncanrobinson.bsky.social's take on the schadenfreude over the plight of British expats in Dubai www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Why is Dubai discourse so rich? Class identities all mangled and so everyone thinks they are punching up and letting rip. Full column 🫵 www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Hadn't clocked quite how Dubai-coded Reform was before this piece www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Good way to think about British politics has been the redistribution of humiliation (ht @cesigno.bsky.social), with everyone in a zero-sum status game. "They're not laughing now, are they?" now the common mantra

www.economist.com/britain/2026... Column on Dubai and how everyone thinks they are punching up

:(

Since 2007, real median postgrad salaries have declined by 17% and 12% for undergrads (*before* accounting for student loans!). The narrative of the 2010s was dominated by the status-loss of industrial workers, the 2020s might be the decade of disappointed grads

Reform UK and the Greens are hoovering up financially insecure voters. My piece this week looks at the return of Britain's class politics (with a twist) www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Forthisme