OPINION

UK Politics: Tweedledrear and Tweedletrump

— The most notable thing about Keir Starmer’s speech last week was the way in which the Labour leader shamelessly nicked so many Tory and Vote Leave slogans. Will he be touring the UK in a bus with £350 million a week for the NHS on the side of it next?

OPINION

Simple arithmetic with Rishi Sunak

— It’s either very bold or gob-smackingly arrogant for the leader of a party that has been in charge for the past 13 years to demand a clean slate and to be judged on future results based on some self-serving criteria.

Austerity

The long-term effects of austerity last for generations

— Public spending cuts and the soaring cost of living will not only affect people’s lives now but could trickle down through generations.

Long-Read

Brexit is slowly being discredited, but there’s still a long way to go

— Professor Chris Grey’s latest Brexit analysis, looking at how and why even over Christmas the Brexit debate continued, and the case for caution as well as optimism in reading the most recent opinion polls.

Children's Rights

Why aren’t children allowed to vote?

— Our assumptions about what it means to be young have left millions of people disenfranchised. What if children were allowed to vote?

Voting Rights

Voter suppression: How democracies around the world are using new rules to make it harder to vote

— Laws making it more difficult to vote are being introduced around the democratic world, an expert says. They risk undermining democracy.

UK Politics

70 years of data suggest the Conservatives will suffer a big defeat at the next election

— Polling only provides a snapshot of the current moment but modelling across decades can help us predict the next election result.

Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries and the history of the redemptive memoir

— Matt Hancock isn’t the first politician to attempt redemption through memoir but the image that will stay with most readers of his diaries is unlikely to be that of a nation bravely facing a crisis.

Analysis

Calling politicians ‘clowns’ is a disservice to clowns

— Clowns and jesters have positively contributed to society for centuries. Calling politicians ‘clowns’ is a disservice to them.

Long-Read

Post-Brexit Britain: A country broken by lies

— Two years into full Brexit there is a palpable sense of a broken country. Last week’s dishonesty about regulation, foreign policy, and trade, continues the pattern of lies that broke it.

UK Strikes

Why ambulance workers in England and Wales are going on strike

— Ambulance services are facing unfair criticism for a situation which is not of their making. The workforce is in crisis, with system-wide pressures seriously hampering their ability to do their jobs.

COMMENT

Oyster farm under threat from sewage dumping

— Water companies dumping sewage poses a serious threat to a 300-year-old oyster family business and to marine life if they are allowed to continue.

Immigration

Asylum claim rejections show the UK government has little understanding of what people are fleeing – and it’s costing lives

— Many asylum applications are rejected on grounds that dismiss the dire situations in applicants’ countries of origin.

Cost of Living Crisis

Universal free school meals would make a huge difference to the cost-of-living crisis

— Widening access to free school meals would be an investment in England’s children.

Long-Read

There is a better Brexit strategy available to Labour

— With Labour looking like a government in waiting, the understandable caution of its Brexit policy faces calls to be bolder. Actually, it just needs to be more imaginative, Professor Chris Grey argues.

UK Politics

Six reasons Britain’s impending voter ID law is a bad idea

— Controversial new voter ID rules are due to affect local elections in May 2023 despite warnings from officials that there isn’t enough time.