I happen to have polled this very question earlier this year. It's complete nonsense to say that X is the most popular platform for news. However its news audience is still very large.

Government/Starmer/Reeves' unpopularity isn't so surprising imo. - pervasive mood of discontent - voters are increasingly volatile and dealigned from parties - economic stagnation/cost of living - polarised/toxic information environment - weak govt/PM comms - flawed strategy (alienating core vote)

Utterly meaningless finding. thejobsfoundation.com/family-busin...

Here we go then

Lost amid the discussion of why the Government should get off X is its utter uselessness as an engagement tool and the fact departments are wasting vast sums making content for it. Take this:

See also: dogs in offices. "Hey look we're a funky and inclusive workplace but also one where we expect people to do work that requires concentration and have calls with clients"

Me and the cat seeing in the new year the right way

As someone else afflicted by the condition of "big TV and a PS5" (the struggle is real!) I really liked this

I think the key to answering this question is understanding Starmer/Reeves unpopularity among natural allies. A majority of Laboir voters disapprove of him, as do large majorities of LD/Green voters. Hostility from natural political opponents is normal. Hostility from natural supporters is not.

I had a long thread written out but the app closed and it's deleted so here are some mostly-formed thoughts: it's a mixture of their central problem (lack of a clear mission), unforced errors (WFA) and a failure to recognise the information environment they're operating in

It won't be, because that's not the political environment we live in, but being in the first team here should be the absolute minimum threshold that any candidate to replace Starmer should meet.

I once saw Hugh Grant at Labour Party conference and, despite @priyaminhas.bsky.social's urging, declined to follow him into the toilet

The stage show of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is even better than I was hoping, an absolutely brilliant realisation of one of my all time favourite books

FWIW I don’t think it will, at least in 2026, but it will come down further. Suspect frantic efforts by Labour to take the credit and from Reform to change the subject (to small boats, problems with migrants already here. Reform efforts likely more successful 1/2 bsky.app/profile/adam...

Donald Trump is unpopular in Europe, according to the new POLITICO Poll. Even among the supporters of right-wing populist parties he sees as allies.

Emotional moment as my parents' microwave, which they've had since 1979, has finally shuffled off this mortal coil.

If the king's speech montage had a quick shot of Andrew's stuff being hurled out of the palace by bailiffs

I watch this at least once every few months, a bit like those (I think improvised?) George Parr interviews, just wonderful

What % of the population right now are turning boxes of Celebrations into boxes of Bounties

I actually really like this, but then I'm about the same age and Back to the Future was nothing like as big a thing for me so I'm not particularly precious about it

Then: Arkham Asylum Now: Uncharted 2 But only because I never had a PS3 and I played a LOT of Arkham City so got a bit Batman'd out

You just know that someone, somewhere in the Home Office has proposed doing an event when the number hits 0, complete with a George W Bush style "Mission Accomplished" banner

Minor pet peeve: films set in London where it's really snowy at Christmas. Lads it's 5 days to Christmas and it was 10° today, snow is a late January thing, sometimes even March

2012: Mass Effect 3 despite the ending Now: Mass Effect 3 despite the ending

I've been a bit behind with things but I finally saw the animated Animal Farm trailer and it might be the worst thing I've ever seen in my life

Really interesting

Probably speech writers could have phrased it better but I think the public would have been receptive to part of the budget speech being "we need to raise taxes to un-fuck the justice system and make crime illegal again"

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

I don't work on voting intention any more but when we went through this with CUK/TIG we ran parallel polls for a few weeks, version with them and a version without. Then they flamed out before we had to make a decision.

This is typically excellent and it's striking that at no point have I heard a politician use the words "ageing society"

It's part of the electionification of everything, which is why we as a country are failing to have a proper conversation about our actual problems. It's bad for the left *and* the right.

Yes but mainly because they're going to the Greens because "Labour isn't left wing enough"

Nothing but respect if Reeves says "shall we all just have the hour back if everyone's read it?"

US House of Cards was never exactly great but the final season (hastily rewritten after the Kevin Spacey news) is possibly the worst bit of scripted drama I've ever seen

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Strong agree. Also: "Rogue One is fine" and "Rogue One is the best Star Wars film made in my lifetime" are both true

I finally counted it all up last year and I think for like 75-80% of budget measures we polled there was a majority saying "good idea". Lists were always taken from the BBC News summary article. There's a reason those were the things they announced!

NEW! How should Labour respond to the two key issues to voters of the economy and immigration and what are the electoral stakes this week of the budget? Read on for our answer... @nprcoxford.bsky.social @jrf-uk.bsky.social

Taps the "lads you're on 17% without breaking the pledge, could it really be worse?" sign

I had a reaction to last week's income tax U-turn news.uk.cityam.com/story/238012...

Great piece by Peter Kellner, in which he gives us what will now be a must-use example of how not to report polls... kellnerp.substack.com/p/how-whiteh...

Latest piece for the @thehousemag.bsky.social, on the island of strangers speech and similar. Also ft Bob Hawke. www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

This is one of those pieces that has stuck in my mind ever since I read it

It's worth noting that there's already substantial heterogeneity in the polling industry in terms if capacity and capability to mitigate the threat of AI to online surveys.

ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

Not everything is a metaphor (in the same way that most things aren't a dead cat strategy). But parliament is falling down and the chronic delays to its rebuild isn't *unrelated* to a political class seemingly unable or unwilling to address long-term challenges. My newsletter, out now.

Really interesting experiment by @cwp-weir.bsky.social labourlist.org/2025/11/immi...

Apropos of nothing but I think all major parties should commit to leadership elections that happen while they're in government being restricted to MPs only, not a vote of the party membership.