Fantastic bit of reporting by @sianushka.bsky.social for @opendemocracy.net

"Immigration is projected to decline further to below 100,000 by the end of 2026 — levels not seen since the late 1990s (excluding the pandemic period)." Yet half the population believes it is rising. www.britishfuture.org/britain-thin...

This. A piece of design either needs to look professional and high quality or it doesn't. If it does, you need a human designer. If it doesn't, AI will just make it look horrible.

Public First conducted new public attitudes research ahead of yesterdsy's marches. Tommy Robinson had 17% approval and 47% approval. He is barred from the Reform Party, as a former BNP member, but its supporters are split 35% approve & 31% disapprove

From the other march, apparently, for those who missed the point of my second post.

[incidentally, some people here who claim to be on the left/anti-racist, but think that it can't be antisemitism if you just say "Zionists" instead of "Jews" would benefit from reading this.]

If this isn't "designed to stir up hatred" against Jews, what is? Why are the Met not arresting them?

"Strategic incomprehension" is such a perfect phrase. Not just the culture on X. This is infuriatingly common in politics and media more generally. "Are you actually that stupid, or do you just think I'm that stupid?" is possibly the most common thing I want to yell at the TV these days.

Wide ranging and timely interview with Sadiq Khan from @adambienkov.bsky.social. A good read. bylinetimes.com/2026/05/12/s...

Interesting thread for anyone trying to better understand the Labour party process for changing leader mid-parliamentary term

Think some of you are starting to do the Corbyn thing again with Polanski (making an individual the sole paragon for progressive politics despite flaws and dismissing or getting defensive over repeated instances of questionable character or judgement that you wouldn't accept from other politicians)

"The letter, coordinated by British Future and shared with Jewish News, brings together more than 30 Muslim leaders, imams, academics, youth workers and community figures from across Britain." www.jewishnews.co.uk/muslim-leade...

🧵There is no doubt that Labour’s losses to the left hurt them, but just doesn’t seem to be borne out that what we are seeing is fragmentation of the left vote alone and Reform eating ex Tories. The right bloc is actively growing, likely some defections from Reform Labour some differential turnout.

I fear Labour people risk falling into an ecological fallacy visible from space when reacting to these results. Here is what is very clear in results so far: Labour are losing *seats* to Reform, but... Labour are losing *votes* to the Greens Greens split the vote, Ref comes thru middle

Local elections are tomorrow 🗳️ If you can vote, make it count. Candidates are knocking on doors. Ask what they stand for. • Will everyone have a safe place to live? • Will people seeking asylum be treated with dignity? • Do you support safe routes? Even one question makes a difference.

Don’t. Outsource. Your. Morality. To. “How is this playing in a West Midlands marginal”. It is corrosive.

(It happened when legal immigration was still low so people explained that actually it was nothing to do with legal immigration ... then legal immigration picked up so they explained that actually it *was* about legal immigration and dubbed it the "boriswave")

Immigration didn't make the Conservatives unpopular leading to the Return of the Farage - the Conservatives getting (dramatically) unpopular brought about the return of the Brexit Party and the return of focus on immigration that comes with that.

People support the Radical Right the same way they support any party family - because they agree with it's values and because they aren't at that moment so keen on the rival parties competing for that patch of value space.

I just don't think the connection exists the way people hope it does - i.e. that "support for Radical Right parties is some weird side effect of particular circumstances - legal immigration is Too High, illegal immigration is Too High".

Great thread on the dangers of using AI in your writing, for editing, or structural changes tl;dr don't do it

the first between Tidal, Apple, and Spotify to ban AI songs will get a windfall of new subs and the other two will get crumbs

@louknightsmccudden.bsky.social in @cosmopolitan.co.uk : "“This is a landmark moment for women in England and Wales and a decisive shift to a more compassionate society." Today, England and Wales have ended prosecution of women who end their own pregnancies. www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a...

“We can’t have a situation where a rapist who has raped a woman in Germany can go to Hungary and isn’t prosecuted because the law is different. And that’s what this report is about.” share.google/K0dItvh3LETh...

16/17 year olds are also much more evenly distributed across the country than 18-24 year olds, meaning their collective impact will be diluted. At a push, there are maybe four seats at the last election - one with an abnormal level of marginal races - where 16/17 year olds would have changed things.

As always, a reminder that adding 16 and 17 year olds would not impact any party's vote share by more than a quarter of a percentage point either way, with the net bloc impact only standing at about a third of a point.

Assisted dying bill fails to become law as it runs out of time, as supporters vow to continue fight

I met my spouse through work. Find it fascinating that this could be considered problematic. (I suspect it wouldn't be?) I do think dating etc in a work context requires *very* good communication skills, self awareness, thoughtfulness, experience, ability to accept rejection, lost interest...

Who is in the mood for some good news? Not only are most people pro-choice (we knew that, but always nice to hear it repeated), but there is a pro-choice consensus shared by - 94% of Labour voters - 91% of Conservative voters - 95% of Green voters - 86% of Reform voters

Good lord this is alarming. “This isn’t a fraud case. It is a political attack on standard investigative tradecraft. We are talking about high-stakes intelligence work where discretion isn’t a form of deception, it is a matter of survival." share.google/PEtI7TbwOnEn...

'Luba Kassova, lead author of the report, said: “What we concluded by doing this analysis is that the gender-inequality lens is all but missing from coverage of the Epstein story. This means that news coverage does not get to the root causes of the problem."' share.google/nplmufAS6pdd...

A good thread from @monkemma.bsky.social "How likely does that sound?" is always a great sense check. If we find ourselves thinking "you couldn't make it up!" then it's always worth checking whether someone did, in fact, make it up (or leave out a huge piece of context that changes everything)

being autistic w/ a loving partner is so sick because growing up you're conditioned that you're weird and offputting when you speak passionately about things and that fear is still in you even as you grow older but then you just nerd out at your gf and she goes "god I love you so much"

I think that as economists we should be a lot more concerned that everyone feels like they've got poorer when the data show they haven't. We certainly shouldn't just be assuming that the customers are wrong, rather than that we're no longer measuring things that are most relevant to wellbeing

This is so sad and scary. Solidarity to @sarahowen.org.uk. The perpetrators of these incidents are responsible for their own actions. But I do wish the various voices in public discourse that thrive so greedily on stirring up hate would feel a little bit of shame, too www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 7: If you find it hard to get into the zone, you may need a sensory trigger. A “getting ready” song on your phone; a square of dark chocolate; a special scent; a series of movements. See which one works best, and keep using it. It will work faster every time you do.

📰 @louknightsmccudden.bsky.social, Head of External Affairs in BBC News: "At a time when we are seeing rollbacks in reproductive rights around the world, most notably in the US, it's encouraging that our parliament is standing up for women." Read more: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"It is unacceptable that women in England and Wales are still being arrested and investigated on suspicion of ending their own pregnancies under a Victorian law created in 1861." @louknightsmccudden.bsky.social in @cosmopolitan.co.uk ahead of Wednesday's House of Lords vote. shorturl.at/SHh34

@theguardian.com reveals that women in England are still facing investigations - despite MPs voting last June to decriminalise people ending their own pregnancies. Abortion is healthcare. Not a crime. Read more: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

I read something (I can't remember where) that being a woman in your 40s is just getting back to being the girl you were in your teens and 20s, except this time, you love her. I haven't been able to stop thinking about that since.

“That right protects gender identity and obliges Member States to provide for clear, accessible and effective procedures for the legal recognition of it…” This is a welcome decision. All trans people, regardless of where they live, should be able to transition without humiliating legal obstacles.

After Trump was reelected, he quickly pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted of harassing and threatening clinic patients and staff. Federal investigations into bomb threats against clinics suddenly vanished.

The ‘Sappho’ fresco from Pompeii. A beautiful Roman portrait of a young woman for #InternationalWomensDay She holds a writing tablet, and raises a writing stylus to her lips in thoughtful contemplation. 55-70 AD. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples 📷 by me #Archaeology

Okay, so I am definitely going to have to go freelance, at least for a while. So, if anyone has any advice on actually building up and finding freelance policy and comms works, including providing media and advocacy training, campaign planning and strategy please let me know.

People making these decisions do know you can't completely separate "successful policy outcomes" from "electoral and political success" right? Right? Bad policymaking will lose you votes in the end even if people say they want the bad policy idea in a thousand focus groups.

Plus the fact that the story is headed up by an article titled "how to make your brain three years younger in three months" should also be a clue that whatever you're about to read may not be scientifically or factually sound

"Totally unregulated sexual economy" is an incredible turn of phrase

A reminder that LGBTQIA+ orgs need you to follow them on Bluesky to free themselves of social media platforms that are getting harder to do meaningful advocacy on. I made a starter pack for you and them to make it easy. go.bsky.app/PSBhHbT

Official Opposition is designated in statute. There is support for other opposition parties, in parliament, who are not the official opposition. They all appoint party spokespeople; these other opposition teams are not the "Shadow Cabinet" researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN...

Reform's Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf = accurate. Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf = inaccurate Reform's Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf, who Reform seek to project as an alternate "shadow home secretary", though they are not the official opposition party with 8 seats v 116 = accurate