"Tick-box" playgrounds, rising numbers of "no ball games" signs, play curfews... My column in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social on "deplaytion" - inspired by the Chernobyl-like property developer-run playground on my street:

The Greens will eventually have to abandon their opposition to Nato – defence is their biggest electoral weakness. www.newstatesman.com/politics/gre...

there's a lot in this piece but the Mandelson email about angling for some kind of job at JP Morgan because 'i do not want to live by salary alone' just exemplifies everything people hate about politicians, the City, and revolving doors between the two www.ft.com/content/91e8...

The Greens will eventually have to abandon their opposition to Nato – defence is their biggest electoral weakness. www.newstatesman.com/politics/gre...

Genuinely curious to understand why so many Labour MPs backed the Waspi cause - one with such limited merit - other than that being the kind of thing one does in opposition. I’d love to read a long read on the campaign and how the cause became so widespread…

And 25k is basically minimum wage for a full time job!

Even more fun: assume they have children and add in child benefit withdrawal and the childcare cliff edge.

Marginal tax rates for graduates with student loans – add interest and another 6% for postgrads. £25,000: 37% £50,270: 51% £100,000: 71%

Wonderful protest song in the tradition of Dylan, all the more moving for the speed with which it was written and recorded. youtu.be/GDaPdpwA4Iw

🚨🚨 NEW BLOGPOST 🚨🚨 The right wing should be worried about young men. Unlike Europe and the US, British young men are swinging wildly behind progressive parties. Some thoughts on why, and why most of the right are ignoring it. open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...

Will Labour face a graduate revolt? Why I think the student loan scandal could be reaching a tipping point. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

"It always animated readers: the left dislikes tuition fees, the right dislikes high marginal tax rates. But at Westminster it remained an irrelevance." @georgeeaton.bsky.social capturing how weird (also good!) it is that student loans are finally headline news www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Will Labour face a graduate revolt? Why I think the student loan scandal could be reaching a tipping point. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Kemi Badenoch can’t win without centrists – why she needs to accept there isn't space for two parties of the populist right. www.newstatesman.com/politics/con...

Yes - even if every single Reform voter had voted Tory in 2024 they still would have lost their majority. And as we know, not all Reform voters are merely disgruntled Tories.

Kemi Badenoch can’t win without centrists – why she needs to accept there isn't space for two parties of the populist right. www.newstatesman.com/politics/con...

Packed room for last night’s Who Governs Britain? event, bringing together a panel of thinkers & former insiders to discuss how power really operates The NS's @georgeeaton.bsky.social has written it up, tracing the intellectual currents shaping this debate in govt👇 Thanks to everyone who joined us

Very kind of @georgeeaton.bsky.social to mention my Power Failure report herein, and our launch event last night:

This report by @philtinline.bsky.social is brilliant on how power in Britain is both too centralised and too dispersed and what a progressive response looks like: reasserting the democratic state. www.futuregovernanceforum.co.uk/resource/pow...

Labour’s search for a doctrine: The party is craving intellectual definition of the kind that Margaret Thatcher enjoyed. 📫 Today’s Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

Labour’s search for a doctrine – why the party is craving intellectual definition of the kind that Thatcher enjoyed. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Why a Green victory in Gorton and Denton would be so dangerous for Labour – the "wasted vote" argument would no longer hold. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Labour should fear a Green surge The Gorton and Denton by-election gives Zack Polanski’s party a chance to prove it is not a wasted vote Today's Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

Why a Green victory in Gorton and Denton would be so dangerous for Labour – the "wasted vote" argument would no longer hold. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

The scale of Tory defections to Reform is proof that the party has no serious post-Thatcherite economic model – the ideological bars to entry would be far higher otherwise.

Who wins from the Burnham veto? The mayor’s exile is a boost for rivals such as Wes Streeting and could soon backfire on Keir Starmer 📫 Today’s Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

Why the biggest winner from the Burnham veto is Wes Streeting. www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...

Labour NEC sources say they have barred Andy Burnham from seeking selection in Gorton and Denton.

Interviewing Wes Streeting at Fabian Society conference today where he denounced “disgraceful” briefings against Andy Burnham. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Ed Miliband tells the Fabian Society conference: “I very much hope the local party will have the option of selecting Andy Burnham as the candidate”.

Sadiq Khan calls for progressives to “fight back and champion the benefits of legal migration” in Fabian conference speech. He warns of the “construction sector grinding to a halt, care homes left understaffed, our universities badly hit, and even greater challenges for the national finances”.

The right’s Trump curse strikes again: Canada, Australia and now Denmark. Rather than exporting the revolution he’s aiding centre-left incumbents.

The hurdles in Andy Burnham’s way Unlike Boris Johnson in 2014, the mayor’s path to No 10 is fraught with challenges Today's Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

The British right's Trump problem: why he's an electoral albatross rather than an asset. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

The British right’s Trump problem For conservatives, the president is an electoral albatross Today's Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politi...

The British right's Trump problem: why he's an electoral albatross rather than an asset. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Mark Carney’s lessons for Keir Starmer – his Davos speech outlined the “progressive realist” doctrine that should be Starmer’s own. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Carney has found his home. He hated being confined to speak about monetary policy + financial stability as a central banker + took every opportunity he could to stray into grander, political things. Now talking grand, political things is his job and he is not passing up the opportunity to do it.

Mark Carney’s lessons for Keir Starmer Today's Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

Mark Carney’s lessons for Keir Starmer – his Davos speech outlined the “progressive realist” doctrine that should be Starmer’s own. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

“The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.” As a piece of prose and geopolitical analysis Carney’s Davos speech feels history-making. paulwells.substack.com/p/the-carney...

What should we do less of? The question that, in so many different contexts, we all like to duck. All the more so if the answer gets anywhere near private consumption.

Why the Greenland crisis is an opportunity for Starmer: pursue a far more ambitious reset with Europe + remake fiscal policy for a new era of self-reliance. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Carney's embrace of China is a big geopolitical moment and where Europe will end up by default if US aggression persists. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Really good. A highlight:

An underexplored question is what Trump and Milei’s partnership and the “Donroe Doctrine” could mean for the Falklands.

The Greenland crisis is an opportunity for Starmer. Trump’s threats have given the Prime Minister a chance to embrace a new direction on Europe and fiscal policy. 📫 Today’s Morning Call, with @georgeeaton.bsky.social

Why the Greenland crisis is an opportunity for Starmer: pursue a far more ambitious reset with Europe + remake fiscal policy for a new era of self-reliance. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

[1/6] A reminder: Europe has cards to use against the US. Lots of them. To cite some examples: - Tighten screws on US digital giants (taxes, fines, even bans) - Export taxes disrupting US supply chains eg pharma - Exclude US firms from European procurement, inc defence ecfr.eu/publication/...

Starmer’s most unambiguous criticism of Trump: “Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong.”