On the latest episode of the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social pod, @pronouncedalva.bsky.social and I discuss the latest following Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan's resignations:

When I interviewed Anas Sarwar, he told me he'd warned Starmer: “I want to go into 2026 in the midterm of a popular Labour government, not the midterm of an unpopular” Also warned: “I want us not to say, ‘Elect Labour so we can be better managers than the Tories or the SNP.’”

Inside Keir Starmer’s crisis speech to No 10 staff The prime minister paid tribute to former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney By Ailbhe Rea www.newstatesman.com/politi...

“There is not a vacancy, but I think Shabana Mahmood’s doing a bloody good job”. Great interview with veteran of the Blair-Brown melodrama Jacqui Smith by Harry Clarke-Ezzidio:

On the latest episode of the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social podcast, @meganekenyon.bsky.social and I discuss how Labour MPs are feeling about the Mandelson affair, Angela Rayner's role re the release of documents, and what this could mean for the party:

Informative video on what's cooking in Parliament with the embattled PM. The phrase "usual suspects" is used. Good stuff. @anooshc.bsky.social youtu.be/dS5nsXhmWyo?...

Revealing from @georgeeaton.bsky.social - voters are drawing a contrast between No 10's treatment of Mandelson versus Burnham:

On the latest @newstatesman1913.bsky.social podcast, @pronouncedalva.bsky.social and I discuss Mandelson's influence on No 10, Morgan McSweeney's position, and whether the Epstein files could be the downfall of Keir Starmer:

Great report by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social revealing the influence of Mandelson on this Labour operation:

"Mega-wealth so often erodes a moral compass. Epstein’s appeal was an insidious gift of permission. Girls, tax evasion, private places to play. An underground railway of upper-echelon decadence." Devestating from Tina Brown www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

“without a compass in a maze of realpolitik… justifying the means for ends you never achieve. Our government is stuck at the dead-end of this pragmatic political era, finding the “dirty hands” theory of leadership etched on its own palms.” Excellent on #Mandelson from @anooshc.bsky.social

"We no longer live under New Labour, and Starmer’s cabinet is very different from those in Mandelson’s day. But that impulse for pragmatism – voiced by many suffering nostalgia for the Blair years – still pulses through the political ether" @anooshc.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Labour is lost in the twilight of this pragmatic political era, finding the “dirty hands” theory of leadership etched on its own palms:

Missed this at the time but very interesting and revealing bit on Steve Reed's philosophy re council housing in this interview by @danielhewittitv.bsky.social - thinks it isn't aspirational and just for the neediest (with no aim to change that). Opposite of Rayner's "social housing revolution":

Great piece by @georgeeaton.bsky.social on how Labour has been unable to quit Mandelson: bsky.app/profile/news...

Great titbit exposing the latest in non-devolution: bsky.app/profile/mark...

Labour needs to bake morality into how it campaigns and governs. My @newstatesman1913.bsky.social column on the Epstein-Mandelson story, and the hangover of a post-ideological age:

Labour needs to bake morality into how it campaigns and governs. My @newstatesman1913.bsky.social column on the Epstein-Mandelson story, and the hangover of a post-ideological age:

"Tick-box" playgrounds, rising numbers of "no ball games" signs, play curfews... My column in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social on "deplaytion" - inspired by the Chernobyl-like property developer-run playground on my street:

The hidden cost of "deplaytion" Ban social media for kids all you like – but don’t ignore their crap playgrounds 🖊️ @anooshc.bsky.social

Good to see mainstream coverage of “deplaytion” - the loss and decline of neighbourhood playgrounds, and of a tolerance of children’s neighbourhood play. It’s critical that this issue is taken as seriously - in terms of children’s mental health - as social media. Thanks @anooshc.bsky.social.

'Once a man three years my senior – no, not two children in a trench coat – offered me “dippy” eggs and “soldiers” for lunch.' So well-observed on English food vernacular by @finnmcredmond.bsky.social:

This. Every time I go to the Netherlands I weep, because it is perfectly possible to have lots and lots of playgrounds for children, well kept.

Great piece. This is the developers’ sorry attempt at a new play park near my parents’ house in Lancashire today. (Cc @mayaellismp.bsky.social)

If kids are over-exposed online then they are under-served by our rubbish play culture. My column on the other side to the under-16s social media ban now concerning parents and politicians:

If kids are over-exposed online then they are under-served by our rubbish play culture. My column on the other side to the under-16s social media ban now concerning parents and politicians:

This is excellent by @robfordmancs.bsky.social - read this before you look at any polling or briefings re this by-election! bsky.app/profile/robf...

Will leasehold reform go far enough? @willdunn.bsky.social and I discuss the policy, social and political implications of the government's plans on the latest Daily Politics podcast from the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social:

IMO both traditional main parties have struggled because they haven't been seen to focus on what voters elect them for - for Tories top is economic stability, for Labour it's looking after working class and public services.

Normally with PMQs, I try to review not just the drama and spectacle but what we actually learnt in terms of government policy. Today, alas, I can only give you one takeaway: what a mess www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Excellent behind-the-scenes report by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social which also reveals the strange bathos of being PM - a Teams meeting with Labour apparatchiks sandwiched between a call with Zelensky and trip to China. Must-read!

"Your Positive Story (Optional)"

Great piece by a security guard giving the inside view on shoplifting:

Everything I've learned from life on the frontline of Britain's housebuilding slump - my latest @newstatesman1913.bsky.social column:

What a great interview by @georgemonaghan.bsky.social on the joys and agonies of being the internet's biggest book critic:

Everything I've learned from life on the frontline of Britain's housebuilding slump - my latest @newstatesman1913.bsky.social column:

Building work on the estate I live in was supposed to take two years – it’s now in its fifth @anooshc.bsky.social: Britain’s housebuilding crisis on my block

Exclusive poll of councillors in England reveals: - 86% struggle to recruit or retain enough individuals to stand for election - Abuse (85% concern re online abuse, 78% in-person) is the biggest deterrent to standing - 54% say they're not fairly paid (the average pay is £12,500) + more

Exclusive poll of councillors in England reveals: - 86% struggle to recruit or retain enough individuals to stand for election - Abuse (85% concern re online abuse, 78% in-person) is the biggest deterrent to standing - 54% say they're not fairly paid (the average pay is £12,500) + more

“At the next election Labour will be more pro-European, whether Keir is part of that or not.” Another cracking cover story by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social who has the inside track on Labour's new Brexit wars:

Excellent reporting by @emilylawford.bsky.social on the movement changing the anti-immigration agenda from an argument about "state capacity and fairness to the threat of violence to women":

Worth rereading Harry Lambert's profile of Robert Jenrick from last year in the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social:

Revealing analysis by @willoyd.bsky.social of the thinking behind Jenrick's sacking:

First episode of our brand new culture podcast, The New Society, is out! The brilliant @tanjilrashid.bsky.social interviewing Salman Rushdie. Subscribe!

Scoop! Wes Streeting told Morgan McSweeney that while he wasn't "plotting", he was "planning" - excellent cover story by @pronouncedalva.bsky.social:

Great by @freddiehayward.bsky.social on what could be a " a very modern, very bathetic" end to the special relationship:

"We have a duty to look further than Middle England" Great interview with the new Lib Dem president - a position that can be a stepping stone to party leadership - by @rmcunliffe.bsky.social:

Great to be on Politics Live just now - including having the chance to chat about my latest column on the London crime debate. Catch up here!

London is safer, but I see the criminality we do see rising as part of a wider public realm issue - an atmosphere of "chaos creep". My column for this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social:

London is safer, but I see the criminality we do see rising as part of a wider public realm issue - an atmosphere of "chaos creep". My column for this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social: