65 per cent of Britons are owner-occupiers. General elections are won in the Midlands. Most people have a middle class occupation. The United Kingdom's comparative advantage is in services. These aren't facts that Philip Gould invented in order to make Labour feel sad.

Really recommend Springwood at the Hampstead Theatre, very nice character study of George VI meeting with FDR and the latent tensions and hidden truths about all the principal characters. www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/202...

Why I'm betting on a 2028 election www.ft.com/content/358c...

Extraordinary thing. Who knew that if you just invited the other team to attack you for 30 mins that they would score

Today's PMQs had the right tone for the moment. But contrary to the cliche, this is not the Commons at its best. The Commons at its best is forensic, challenging and yes confrontational. A battle of ideas and a place of scrutiny. Some of the worst laws are those no-one opposed.

Very shrewd piece from @stephenkb.bsky.social In politics you never know when the bada will bing www.ft.com/content/e2eb...

"It would be like Darth Vader changing into rainbow robes and dancing at Death Star Pride Week" The problem with trying to rebrand Palantir. Rutherford Hall explains. www.ft.com/content/4032...

Very very hard to see past France in this World Cup. Spain perhaps the only team I can imagine stopping them but France are just at another level in all areas

The Conservative party once had three serious traditions: 1) economic liberals, 2) paternalist social liberals 3) social conservatives. It got great allowing those strands to tussle with each other. Kemi Badenoch only has room for her idea of Conservatism. www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/9029dba...

Liz Kendall on what the British government’s role in the era of AI is for SovereignAI’s initial Substack. DSIT ended up in a really good place by the end of the Starmer era IMV: it shed some of its Kyle era “intellectual property intellectual schmoperty” boosterism while retaining strong MoSes:

Sad news about Ann Widdecombe. Very good and nuanced obit from the Times. Didn't share many of her social views but she was a woman of strong principles, far better and kinder than her caricature. This last par captures here well: www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

One last thought on Binface. If I were Reform my line on this would be the London elite is mocking Clacton. The town has as much of a sense of humour as anywhere else but no-one likes being laughed at.

Fascinating how rattled Farage allies are by Count Binface. I doubt he can really marshal a serious challenge - perhaps they do. Or maybe they just need to build him up into more than a guy with a bin on his head so this contest doesn't look, well, silly

this made me laugh

It is far harder for Farage to run a people vs the establishment campaign when the only otter candidate is wearing a dustbin on his head

The prospect of Nigel Farage fighting a people vs the establishment by-election in which the only other candidate is Count Binface - is too hilarious for words.

Nigel Farage is taking back control. At least that’s the theory. www.ft.com/content/4317...

Your occassional reminder that the Midas touch was a curse, not a blessing.

Or perhaps statement is that he's been cleared to run for the French presidency.

If I were Farage I'd resign to fight a by-election - take back control of the story - try to make it about establishment hounding him out. Also get a much needed by-election win and take away some of the attention from Burnham

I didn’t stay up for match but when I awoke England had still won.

Would love to see some stats on stutter penalties v straight run up

Which past is your future? With the imminent arrival of Andy Burnham, the UK is being offered two competing and highly ideological versions of nostalgia, Farage's Empire toryism or Burnham's pre-Thatcher northernism. But Burnham's at least is optmistic and uniting www.ft.com/content/1743...

Next time we should bring a full back

Watching Brazil Japan - can’t see England beating either of these teams

The possibilities and perils of Burnham's devo max: smart piece by @stephenkb.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/7375fdb8-c...

In today's edition of the FT Swamp Notes newsletter, @joemillerjr.ft.com and I discuss how AI money is shaping America's elections as.ft.com/r/37dbccfa-a...

“Someone from HR would be appointed Head of Hydration to ensure that everyone is optimising their hydration journey. All staff will be issued with copies of the new office bible The seven habits of highly hydrated people” Do we all need a hydration break? www.ft.com/content/3154...

Top marks and kudos today go to @robertshrimsley.bsky.social for a nuanced and balanced take. If only there were more like this!

@forestbike.bsky.social e-bikes are the worst I've used. Dangerously sluggish from stationary position. Can't see the front wheel and hopelessly slow app.

For Brexit anniversary week - I wrote this about the Tories just ahead of the last election. How the Conservative Party became of of Brexit's great casulaties. www.ft.com/content/820d...

The key criteria for choosing a chancellor: Are they up to the job? Are they politically aligned with the PM? Do they have the confidence and intellect to dominate the Treasury? Do they instil confidence in markets? Do they work politically? Are they Ed Miliband? www.ft.com/content/b846...

Andy Burnham's Ed Miliband test. Dare he make him chancellor and dare he not? www.ft.com/content/b846...

With the the appointment of James Purnell as Burnham's chief of staff, this lovely piece by @GeorgeWParker Parker on their five aside football team Demon Eyes is a must read. as.ft.com/r/4097ab21-b... Power games

Andy Burnham may not just save Labour - he could save the Tories too. This is very good from @stephenkb.bsky.social

Ouch

Volodymr Zelenskyy has now outlasted four British prime ministers.

Steve Bray really is an ass

Even by the standards of serial underperformers, that was a spectacular underperformance from Belgium

@robertshrimsley.bsky.social has a direct feed to my innermost thoughts. “Standing firm against Father’s Day is a last bastion, a final fortress against vacuous commercial exploitation. In fact, fighting this nonsense is one of the central missions of being a dad.” www.ft.com/content/d33f...

They’re calling it the quote on British politics that ended the need for all other quotes

In which @robertshrimsley.bsky.social while writing about hope has managed to depress the bejeezus out of me www.ft.com/content/756b...

This is lovely and very touching

Ooh. . .exciting. Karla's Choice set the bar reassuringly high. Now this to look forward to

"I've no idea whether Musk is an engineering genius, or just a savvy and lucky venture capitalist. The scientific world is divided on that question. I do know that he's a monstrous human being."  My Swamp Notes with @robertshrimsley.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/6b1d09da-4...

I see no reason to be worried that a variety of people with at least some claim of proximity to Burnham are offering wildy different views of what he will do in power. (Truth is that his real inner circle is very small)

The same employers who witter on about young people lacking the basic social skills, see nothing wrong with not bothering to tell job applicants that they have not been successful. www.ft.com/content/2af1...

"A relative, now happily employed, is still, technically speaking, waiting to hear from Goldman Sachs nearly two years on from his application. His hunch is that they’ve probably gone with someone else." Why businesses think it's ok to ghost job applicants. www.ft.com/content/2af1...

Al Carns letter - esp page 2 - where he goes off the defence topic - is the most nakedly ambitious resignation letter Ive seen in a fair while - well since Wes Streeting's anyway. Part resignation, part put the kettle on I'll be back before you know it.

Burnham looking at the Wasp1 missile to boost defence spending.