💷"What’s needed is a ceiling on donations, such as other countries impose." Insightful analysis from @pollytoynbee.bsky.social in the @theguardian.com last week on why bolder action is needed to clean up politics and end big money corrupting our democracy. More below⤵

This ⬇️ Paul Nowak @tuc.org.uk: “This anti-worker agenda is massively out of step with the British public... “Farage likes to claim he’s taking on the elites. But the reality is he wants to hand more power to vested interests and his wealthy corporate backers."

GB News must be held accountable. "In our 'What’s-wrong-with-this-country?' soul-searching, we ignore our distorting media ownership as if it were just British weather. Living forever in its shadow, we have shrugged at this democracy-warp, even after it inflicted Brexit’s lethal harm."

Humanists UK called out the fable that christianity is quietly reviving in the UK: now YouGov and the Bible Society confess their error. As all evidence shows, the church continures its decline in all age groups. humanists.uk/2026/03/26/b...

The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, Washington DC

@pollytoynbee.bsky.social thank you for yet again shining a light into darkness, this time the trap that the most deprived infants fall into through no fault of their own. This damages them, their parents but also society as a whole. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I really hope @pollytoynbee.bsky.social is right on this one. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... See next post for why I fear she might not be. 1/2

In her letter to the health secretary, Casey says dementia should be regarded not as “an inevitable part of ageing” but as “a clinical matter”, a disease – its sufferers treated as patients “with neurological, health conditions” @pollytoynbee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

‘A decent care service needs to pay care staff NHS rates with NHS-style careers.’ This would help solve recruitment and offer meaningful jobs to some of the many NEET. @pollytoynbee.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... All friends of public broadcasting: Before March 10th, hurry to answer the DCMS questionaire on the future of the BBC, as it comes up for Charter renewal. Find it here:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... All friends of public broadcasting: Before March 10th, hurry to answer the DCMS questionaire on the future of the BBC, as it comes up for Charter renewal. Find it here:

Inequality in Britain is rampant, writes @pollytoynbee.bsky.social, and has become so with the help of our electoral system. Our new research paper, 'Lifting the Lid', links our fragmenting voting system to mass regional deprivation, and regional deprivation to the all-powerful nature of FPTP.

🇪🇺 “The truth is that the public have just sort of shrugged their shoulders and said, well, yeah, get on with it,” Emily Thornberry MP said. 👏 Thornberry is right. The public are hugely supportive of the government negotiating closer ties with the EU.

Good article by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social It used to be said that the one major advantage of the UK's First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system was that it keeps the extremists out. That's clearly no longer true. We need proportional representation (preferably STV) for the next General Election!

I have seen the scale of the mountain Labour has to climb in Gorton and Denton – but also the way it can do it | Polly Toynbee

Abandon pointless+expensive council re-disorganisation. Towns like Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Exeter, Ipswich etc swallowed into counties, losing their identity. Councillors are backbone of fragile civic life:75,000 in 1965, only 14,000 after this. Wasn't in manifesto, doesn't save money, so why?

We’re super excited to announce a new Editorial Board for @newhumanist.bsky.social, bringing together some of the UK’s most prominent thinkers in science, politics, the arts, and philosophy. A bright future for humanist publishing 🧵 humanists.uk/2026/02/11/l...

Dinner with Peter Mandelson open.substack.com/pub/suzannem...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre.... nuanced well argued @pollytoynbee.bsky.social But I would hope the great majority of Labour MPs, members, voters and potential voters want to put up the strongest contender, setting aside factionalisms of small difference in the face of a grave national threat”

"If the Lords block this, it should be their last gasp." - @pollytoynbee.bsky.social @theguardian.com #AssistedDying

via Private Eye

@pollytoynbee.bsky.social in @theguardian.com exposes deliberate filibustering of the assisted dying Bill by a small group of long-opposed Peers. She captures growing frustration at, and rising pressure, on hardline opponents to allow the Bill to move forward. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'There is no sign yet of either happening. It’s said that Starmer worries about two religious figures in his cabinet who are outspoken opponents, but Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood have had their shout and would hardly resign over this.' @pollytoynbee.bsky.social

Trump has crossed all lines: it is time to cut off his global credit card

@pollytoynbee.bsky.social you are right to point to good experiences with the NHS. I am certainly enjoying excellent treatment. The more important point you make is that waiting lists are falling fastest in areas of greatest need. This needs to be trumpeted. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is an important cause - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/fa...

It's true that Labour hasn't done nearly enough to publisise the good thing its done 2025, so @pollytoynbee.bsky.social has written this to help!

@pollytoynbee.bsky.social I don’t think I have ever felt more passionately about a government succeeding. Your piece made me quite emotional. @teamlabouruk.bsky.social is doing so much good where it matters. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A friend keeps a similar ‘the good things the govt is doing and no one seems to know’ list. A real boost to see this by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social - we really need Labour to be able to communicate this vision clearly too instead of wooing Reform voters!

BREAKING: Labour's landmark Employment Rights Bill has PASSED both Houses of Parliament. Its new rights will be transformational. This is a massive step forward in delivering Labour's New Deal for Working People - passed by a Labour Government, delivered with the labour movement. Let's celebrate 🎉

Lines are open 📞 Phone in to our 2025 telethon and speak to your favourite journalists from the Guardian on 0203 353 4368. We'll be accepting donations by credit or debit card. You can also support the 2025 charity appeal at theguardian.com/charityappeal25bsk

"With the US threatening to support ‘patriotic’ parties here, we need better defences" @pollytoynbee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... More wise words from @pollytoynbee.bsky.social on #brexit harms

Quite the correction by the Telegraph. The publication in question is @freemovement.bsky.social

@pollytoynbee.bsky.social I do so hope that Labour MPs read your article. I quote ‘it should make the most of power, ignore unpopularity and fearlessly do what it knows must be done.’ I was why I voted for them. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Timely warning from @pollytoynbee.bsky.social The hard right is out to destroy the BBC (for both commercial & ideological reasons) just as Trump’s Maga are doing in the USA. They want to replace facts with propaganda. Dangerous times. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The BBC's senior leadership resigning en masse over one dodgy edit in one programme, simply because the right wing press demands it, tells you everything you need to know about where the power really lies in that relationship

One nice detail that can easily be lost in this graph - even right wingers trust the BBC more than the right wing tabloids

“The Guardian asked Farage if he still adheres to his lifelong support for Proportional Representation. Silence. It’s become clear he has changed his mind, now that our wildly distorting First Past the Post system is his only path to power.” ✒️ @pollytoynbee.bsky.social

only in the small print of this article do they make clear that the pensioners paying an extra £2,500 of tax would have to have “earnings over £125,140” I know many pensioners are asset rich but how many have income at that level?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Wise words from @pollytoynbee.bsky.social here Note also #brexit has taken away £110bn of spending @uklabour.bsky.social please note

🗣@otsfestival.bsky.social is just around the corner! Grab your tickets to @martinplaut.bsky.social's event: Unbroken Chains: A 5,000-Year History of African Enslavement. ‘An eye-opening revelation and a transfixing read.’ @pollytoynbee.bsky.social 🗓12th October ⏰2 pm GMT 🎟️ tinyurl.com/4xbeayve

And that's a wrap! You can watch back our event - Snakes and ladders: The shifting sands of wealth in Britain - with @pollytoynbee.bsky.social Professor Mike Savage @mollybroome.bsky.social & Lord Willetts here www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/snake...

Some very kind words in @pollytoynbee.bsky.social's latest column about Full Fact, "the exceptionally valuable UK factchecker whose word is a gold standard for honesty" - she highlights the financial challenges we and other fact checkers are currently facing www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Kinnock is one of the finest proponents of progressive thought in this country and the best prime minister we never had.