And then in 1988, he went into even more detail about why he would invade Iran if he were president, to take the oil at Kharg Island & make the world respect us again—a prescient interview with @pollytoynbee.bsky.social republished before his first inauguration: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Note this: Farage wins local elections, real danger of him becoming next PM - Bond markets seemed cool with that. Slight suggestion Labour might move a bit leftwards after Starmer and bond markets shoot up to worst since 1998. Who are they, exactly?

So much good has been done by this government and no one has noticed. Farage is seen as the best potential Prime Minister with zero evidence. I fail to understand! @pollytoynbee.bsky.social your article sets out what else must be done and I agree.

'Labour has to confront what voters said deafeningly in the local elections: not Labour and, crushingly, not Keir Starmer' @pollytoynbee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

'Astounding and terrifying story' @pollytoynbee.bsky.social It's publication day for #GhostsOfIronMountain by @philtinline.bsky.social#GhostsOfIronMountainon how America ended up trapped in a nightmare of conspiracy theories. Out now: https://geni.us/GOIMPBorgsoc

Note this: Farage wins local elections, real danger of him becoming next PM - Bond markets seemed cool with that. Slight suggestion Labour might move a bit leftwards after Starmer and bond markets shoot up to worst since 1998. Who are they, exactly?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Never a truer word said. In this occasion it’s @pollytoynbee.bsky.social in @theguardian.com

She's right. 'The UK’s non-constitution with vast Henry VIII powers would give Farage fewer checks & balances than Trump. His attempt to justify a £5m personal gift suggests this could lead to kleptocracy. There are no guardrails.' via @pollytoynbee.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The conclusion "Reform won the seat from Lab therefore biggest vote swing is Lab to Reform" does not follow from this pattern. There are multiple vote flows here: Lab to Grn, Lab to abstain, Lab to Ref, Con to Ref, abstain to Ref...Lab to Ref is only one part of this, not typically the largest

"Of the editorials and opinion pieces we flagged at the Telegraph, Mail, Express and Sun, between 39% and 60% included at least three misleading statements."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Do great good for minimal effort: join the latest great medical research cohort, Our Future Health, as I urge today. Great that UKBiobank lost virtually no participants after its data was briefly breached. Sign up today, good people.

A pity @pollytoynbee.bsky.social doesn’t still work for BBC News - they really need to give more energy to policy & strategy, less to battles between political personalities & Westminster gossip, her focus in today’s column below⬇️ #bbcnews #r4today #bbclaurak #ChrisMason #bbcqt

Kinnock: “Growing numbers want greater closeness with Europe: not out of sentiment, but out of hard-headed self-interest." Read the piece in The Observer here: https://observer.co.uk/news/opinion-and-ideas/article/the-british-people-know-brexit-has-failed-them-they-also-know-how-to-fix-it-clone-1

‘They’re all the same!’ Has angry anti-politics made leadership impossible? It’s a good question posed here by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social.

My only sadness is that not enough people will read your common sense appraisal of the welfare/defence debate. @pollytoynbee.bsky.social I have argued before that from the Attlee government onwards our attachment to a nuclear deterrent was and is beyond our means www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Enjoy this perceptive Telegraph prediction! www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04...

This 1988 interview by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social is shockingly prophetic—not just the Iran & specifically Kharg Island bits, but her closing question www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

💷"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...