Enjoyed recording this with @rachelsylvester.bsky.social to discuss the battle of ideas within Labour - over the economy, the role of the state, and what needs to change. open.spotify.com/episode/6UDV...

I’m honoured to be on the shortlist for @orwellprize.bsky.social Exposing Britain’s Social Evils prize alongside so many brilliant journalists

It’s over for Starmer because he never knew why he wanted to be PM. Now Labour must focus on policy not personality - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

First minister to quit the govt, has been on resignation watch for a long time over the handling of immigration and other key topics Seen as v close to many senior figures on the left including Ed Miliband

David Blunkett talking about Rachel's interview on R4 right now - says that talk of a decade in power is entirely unrealistic without wholesale rethink, not tweaks to policy "There is no question at the moment we wouldn't get a second term."

Keir Starmer has told @theobserveruk.bsky.social: “There’s a reason that [Farage] is walking away from interviews where questions are being put to him. He doesn’t want to answer the questions because he knows that those answers are not going to be very good for him.” observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Keir Starmer says he wants a decade in Downing Street and will fight any challengers - my interview for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

The Observer View: Starmer should stay observer.co.uk/opinion-and-...

Helpful research. The problems highlighted are fundamental and can’t be righted quickly. To suppose that Reform or the Greens have answers is naive. Labour needs to acknowledge that the problems are real and put forward a long term plan to address them.

22 years apart but @moreincommonuk.bsky.social polling today and 2004 ‘The Fairness Code’ so similar! @rachelsylvester.bsky.social As one So’ton voter told me ‘You go to work, pay your taxes, play by the rules, but all the help goes to other people.” 🧵 www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/59007...

‘Underpinning their frustrations was a consistent theme: hard work, doing the right thing, isn’t rewarded’ Rachel Sylvester speaks to the disillusioned Labour voters turning to Reform and Green in the upcoming local elections https://bit.ly/4u6BDCR

Five focus groups in five different areas and among former Labour voters considering switching to Reform or the Greens there was one common theme - a sense that those playing by the rules don’t get rewarded. @theobserveruk.bsky.social @moreincommonuk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

The PM has written for @theobserveruk.bsky.social, promising to use the King's speech to "set out our agenda of radical reform"...

Keir Starmer urges Labour not to “descend into political infighting” as leadership speculation swirls. PM writes for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

It’s pretty crackers that FE colleges, part of the ‘defining mission’ of the Govt according to the PM, aren’t funded for tens of thousands of young people they recruit & are having to turn YP away. Reminder: almost 1m YP are not in education, employment or training. @rachelsylvester.bsky.social

This is such a good piece on the hidden homicides driven by domestic abuse @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Neil Kinnock leads calls for UK to rejoin EU to boost the economy and revive Labour’s political fortunes - my piece with @benzaranko.bsky.social for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Keir Starmer is running out of people to throw under the bus - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“What a comparison with antiquity suggests is that vacillation is in fact an extremely important weapon in the armoury of power” - @wmarybeard.bsky.social on Donald Trump in the latest @theobserveruk.bsky.social Walk observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“We definitely saw the exit of a large number of non-doms from London because of the tax changes…Britain should do more to celebrate philanthropists” - I spoke to V&A director Tristram Hunt for this week’s @theobserveruk.bsky.social Walk observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

How genetics freed a mother wrongly convicted of murder - it’s an extraordinary story and The Lab Detective from @theobserveruk.bsky.social is now available on @bbcsounds.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

“There has always been a degree of snobbery that people from working class backgrounds - those with accents - have experienced and I’m no different.” This week’s @theobserveruk.bsky.social Walk is with Bridget Phillipson observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Starmer pledges to ban ‘addictive algorithms’ that keep children online. PM says the government would not be forgiven for failing to sufficiently protect young people from the effects of constant doomscrolling. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3NTgqfv

Good to hear this. Almost every media report invariably says "proposes to double to 10 years in most cases". I feel case for this retreat becones much clearer once it is recognised that what Mahmood proposes is triplimg to 15 years in most cases of 2021-24 visa recipients bsky.app/profile/sund...

Labour moves to water down immigration reforms after MP backlash bit.ly/48cM0f6

Keir Starmer signals government is preparing to water down immigration reforms telling @theobserveruk.bsky.social Labour needs to show it has “progressive” answers to the country’s problems observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Keir Starmer promises to ban “addictive algorithms” and tells @theobserveruk.bsky.social he is now “open minded” on social media ban for under-16s not opposed observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

School system is creating a ‘wasted generation’ which is unprepared for work. As a rising number of children miss more education, a cohort of up to 400,000 unemployable young people are set to have ‘catastrophic consequences’. ✍️ @rachelsylvester.bsky.social https://bit.ly/3NTgqfv

Doctors convicted of serious sexual misconduct will be automatically struck off under @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social reforms to medical regulation - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Attorney general to make full-throated defence of international law and rules-based world order, laying bare tensions between UK and US - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

How tech giant Palantir was recruited by the police, NHS and military The US data analytics company is helping to fight crime, cut hospital waiting lists and bolster asymmetrical warfare. But is it a force for good, asks Rachel Sylvester https://bit.ly/4bV4wLn

I'm in the Observer today looking at why Reform is doing worse in the polls, despite an almost perfect set of circumstances for them. observer.co.uk/news/politic...

@rachelsylvester.bsky.social excellent reporting. I have seen at first hand the serious downside of the lack of connectivity in NHS data and so I favour the use of Palantir with two provisos: we must encourage a UK competitor and we must legislate for accountability. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Palantir - the good, the bad and the ugly. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

There’s a lot you can say rightly about causal factors - poverty, technology, parental behaviour (god knows we’re all trying). But it’s another space in which the decimation of local govt, end of Early Intervention Grant and resulting collapse of Sure Start, leaves us much weaker to respond.

As many of us celebrate our mothers, it is shocking to read how so many today’s infants are being neglected. Thank you for your article @rachelsylvester.bsky.social Teachers are being forced to parent children as Britain faces school readiness crisis observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

New research shows 48 per cent of white working class children are not ready for school - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the crisis in the early years observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Concerns grow about the UK’s dependence on the US for its nuclear deterrent as the “special relationship” wobbles - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Pretty much in line with what he was saying 23 years ago when he opposed our involvement in the Iraq war.

Exc: Mark Carney to visit Keir Starmer as he looks to lobby the PM about a 'World Bank for defence' Last week a Canadian delegation came to p'ment to press the case for the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Understand invitations to join charter negotiations observer.co.uk/news/interna...

If we know one thing about Starmer, it is that he will only act within the law. Maybe that leads him to sometimes worship legality too much (as perhaps with the Chagos Islands which looks like a bad and expensive deal that wasn't really necessary) but it seems to have guided him well this time. /1

Good to see the Observer’s political editor correcting the nonsense in the right wing press and BBC this week that Keir was browbeaten by Cabinet colleagues over #Iran. “The PM, contrary to some reports, had never been willing to allow UK bases to be used for the first wave of air strikes”.

Starmer’s Love Actually moment was deliberate because he believes in the rules-based world order - he was not bullied into it by Ed Miliband. My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social on the rupture in the special relationship observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Labour can’t afford to just insult Green voters - my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Enjoyed taking @rachelsylvester.bsky.social on a walk around some of Manchester’s political and social landmarks-talking about the result in Gorton and Denton, school nights at the Hacienda, and women in politics amongst other things. Even after only 2 hours sleep… observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“We’re not going to be successful as a political party by trying to out-Reform Reform. We have to be the leaders of the so-called progressive alliance that is against the politics of the right.” I spoke to Lucy Powell for @theobserveruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Exc: As many as 80 Labour MPs are braced to oppose the home secretary's immigration policies Dozens of backbenchers and ministers are understood to be hostile to Shabana Mahmood's reforms. After the Gorton by-election they're pushing for a "recalibration" observer.co.uk/news/politic...

“I’ve become tougher to protect the idealist inside. But I cry on the plane” - my interview with the brave and inspiring @tomfletcherun.bsky.social as part of @theobserveruk.bsky.social series of walks observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

“Both sides of the relationship have been disappointed in the other” says former Cabinet Secretary Simon Case of ministers and their officials. My piece on the future of the civil service as its first female head Antonia Romeo takes over observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Legislation designed to strengthen the electoral system against foreign interference contains exploitable loopholes, the Electoral Commission has warned Vijay Rangarajan tells @theobserveruk.bsky.social that the bill as drafted lacks “protection against oligarchs" observer.co.uk/news/politic...