Speaking as a centre-left person in the UK, yeah this is definitely not a road the Democrats want to go down.
Have been a bit frustrated by some of the conversation about Labour's voter coalition.
I've written about who the "Hero Voters" actually were, how we won them, and what we need to do to earn their support next time.
chriscurtismk.substack.com/p/who-actual...
We've published the 2025 local elections handbook in collaboration with the University of Exeter's Elections Centre. This includes ward- and candidate-level results from last year's locals. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/2025-local-e...
Cheers luv, Ted Heath’s crying.
I’m curious if counties being split into separate unitaries (that are not big cities) makes any difference. Eg I wonder if Somerset being lower than Dorset/Devon has anything to do with NS/BANES.
The Police Fed really is an awful organisation, even as someone who is more sympathetic to police than most. Incredible mix of people who are useless, reactionary or both.
I’m hesitant to do away with the ward link entirely (ik you could do wards with PR but they’ll have to be big) cause I think there is value in the Cllr as a hyperlocal problem solver & rep for small communities esp minorities who might be overlooked otherwise.
I’ve been convinced on directly elected mayors at a strategic level, but I think a big reason they work is having to appeal to a wider constituency. Single-council mayors seem to have the same issue as ward cllrs in being easily captured by hyperlocal interest groups.
I agree & the record of Scottish local govt is a big reason I’m sceptical of local PR. And as much as I dislike directly elected executives, metro mayors have clearly been good at corralling other local figures & are (mostly) better cause they have to appeal to a wider constituency.
I have mixed feelings about PR at a local level but the standard of politics you see in safe councils of any stripe makes a compelling case for any electoral system that makes them more competitive.
Anytime I find myself frustrated with the local politics of my area I remember the London councils exist and immediately feel better.
Off topic, but this reminds me of a store near me growing up called Home Office that sold office supplies and occasionally had people show up to enquire about their immigration status.
Agreed. Blairism’s haziness as a tradition, along with the factional forever war, is also really important to why half the people from that era have ended up in Starmer’s govt arguing against their past selves.
As much as I support people having the right to work remotely where they need to, the productivity difference from being physically in the office is crazy, at least for me.
Like you cannot have Blair-style political economy (growth to pay for core public sector spending increases) with Old Right policies that the Blairites rightly ditched as terrible for growth the first time round. Yet the personnel overlap has convinced a bunch of ppl this is doable.
Starmer’s tendency to bring back Blair-era figures to serve in a government very much in the Old Right tradition has obscured the very meaningful differences between the two traditions in a way I think has been unhelpful for adherents of both.
I will die on the hill that we should a blanket prohibition on constituencies (and local authorities) using ‘and’ anywhere in their name.
Indeed. Part of what is beautiful about so many metro systems is also what makes them sad: that they often represent a very brief moment of municipalities having money, ambition and power that vanished like breath on a mirror.
New Swingometer - Gorton and Denton Final Update!! Featuring seat polling, new adventures in abstract leaflet art, and a last word from Liam and Noel: open.substack.com/pub/swingome...
Oh my god we need to yeet this into the sun. Absolute clown car nonsense
Building 👏 more 👏 housing 👏 reduces 👏 housing 👏 prices 👏
Even when the new housing is more expensive, it lowers the cost of the pre-existing housing, as richer people move out of older housing into the new ones.
Perhaps a minor point given the scale of the Send system’s out of control costs, but these were the sorts of “hidden” things that went first when councils began cutting budgets post 2010. It’s taken 15 years, but the consequences of local govt cuts are increasingly a national problem
I think it’s funny that for all our manifest failings on this issue, Britain in many ways executes the American notion that anyone can become a fully fledged member of the community better than they do.
The definition of the Volk will keep shrinking until it’s six 4chan users in a circle playing Russian roulette to decide who gets excluded next.
‘The state is bad and the individual is good’ wow that’s cool, I bet they have some great stances on women and LGBT rights. Now to take a big swig of coffee and check their tweets on X the everything app.
This is the thing, why be so scathing?. As someone who 1) has spoken to thousands of people on the doorstep and 2) really hates small acts of rudeness, like leaving cafe doors open in winter, I'm not really surprised by this answer.
i jokingly refer to my politics as "red abundance" primarily because i'm a social democrat who primarily thinks we should be building things
people want to be part of a grander narrative, i feel
"5 Pillars" runs a Podcast called "Blood Brothers", which has hosted some of Britain's most notorious neo-Nazis & far right activists, like Nick Griffin (BNP), Mark Collett (Patriotic Alternative) & Jayda Fransen (ex-Britain First), to rant about Jews.
Now the Greens are cosying up to them.
This is my view as well. I do hear my Lib Dem friends who say they want the party to be better, especially on housing, but I fundamentally do not think it’s possible to get there with their existing electoral coalition. Moving left alienates a lot of their current voters and Davey knows it.
