Rachel Cunliffe

Also very unpatriotic, all things considering

I guessed that was the one you meant! I was just trying to work out what Kipling would have rhymed with "nuclear weapons"

I don't rememeber that particular Kipling poem

YouTube video by Forbrukerrådet - Norwegian Consumer Council A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator

"Make people dependent enough, and then make it shitty"

Still giggling at this hilarious video from the Norwegian Consumer Council "A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator" which seems a perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley and tech generally these days

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...

Exactly. The old internet was rubbish in lots of ways, but it was so vast, so many different pockets of information and communities, that you could find where you needed to be and the people you needed to be with. And, just as importantly, you could also leave.

Now it's just one huge cesspit

I can see where this is coming from, but there was in fact once an internet that wasn't just six monopoly companies herding you to shout at each other for clout. There was a time when google search took you to pages built by real people pursuing their real, personal interests. That happened.

The old internet is gone but we can still save the new one A love letter to the internet that once was

I started thinking about the consultation to ban social media for under-16s, and ended up thinking about what it was like to BE under 16 and left supervised on the internet, wild and untamed as it was back then.

And then I wrote a love letter to it

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Tracking our *negative* voting intention (who would Britons vote AGAINST):

➡️ Ref 38% (+9)
🌹Lab 34% (-4)
🌳 Con 7% (-1)
🌏 Green 7% (+4)
🐦‍ LD 3% (-)
changes w/ Nov 2025

As Reform has plateaued in the polls, the number of people saying they would also vote *against* Reform has grown

An extreme switch - but surprising how often you hear people saying they're deciding between Green and Reform, or Lib Dem and Reform. Sometimes people just want to kick the system

My guess is either to further right parties (Advance / Restore) as the electorate fractures, or - counter-intuitively - to the Greens. For a lot of voters it’s “a plague on both your houses” (Labour and Tory), casting around for something different that offers seemingly clear answers

Damn it yes

The old internet is gone but we can still save the new one A love letter to the internet that once was

With thanks to @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com and @naomialderman.bsky.social for their insights.

Right now, to use Naomi's line, the internet is a playground full of broken glass.

Maybe we should clean up the glass - and not just for the benefit of teenagers

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

The old internet is gone but we can still save the new one A love letter to the internet that once was

"We have become so used to the damage inherent in online spaces that we treat it as inevitable. Then we act horrified when that damage becomes apparent for young people, but not horrified enough to realise it is actually harming all of us."

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

The old internet is gone but we can still save the new one A love letter to the internet that once was

“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Nobody knew you were a teenager either. And that liberation, that sense of playfulness and experimentation and reinvention that is so crucial to adolescent identity-shaping, got bulldozed by social media

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

The old internet is gone but we can still save the new one A love letter to the internet that once was

I started thinking about the consultation to ban social media for under-16s, and ended up thinking about what it was like to BE under 16 and left supervised on the internet, wild and untamed as it was back then.

And then I wrote a love letter to it

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

YouGov’s latest polling puts the Greens in second, almost level with Reform and ahead of Labour.

We talked on the New Statesman predictions podcast about how and when the Greens would overtake Labour. In a multi-party landscape, the key is rallying your base, not chasing elusive “centre” votes

Trump has told four different journalists completely contradictory things about his aims.

It's going to be over in three days or four weeks... it's about regime change but he also wants to start talks again with the current regime...he's killed all the possible replacement leaders...

Total chaos.

Okay, that’s really sweet of you and not what I expected at all (burned from years on Twitter). Thank you - I’ll delete my other posts too

I didn’t ask you to read it. I suggested the commenter above who clearly hasn’t, and has made themselves look rather stupid writing weird fanfic about a perfectly normal focus group, would find information they seek by reading it. You are both of course free to invent whatever fantasies you like

It’s a response to Stephen’s post above, agreeing with him that the Tory line makes no sense. It’s not my “notion”, it’s part of a conversation

Hi there! Happy to clear this up for people seemingly unable to read the article. It was a zoom focus group led by More In Common. I was an observer - they didn’t even know I was there. The screenshotted post is in a thread clearly criticising Kemi Badenoch’s statement. Isn’t reading fun!

It's vibes. Starmer is doing worse ergo by definition Badenoch has to be doing better - helped by the fact she's starting to occasionally look like she doesn't entirely hate the job. The fact that both of them are doing badly doesn't fit the neat tidy picture

In Gorton and Denton, the Muslim vote is fracturing Voters have decisively turned against Labour

In the focus group of Muslim voters I sat in on, the Greens' policies on trans rights and drug legalisation were brought up. Participants either supported those positions, or didn't much care. Not what you'd expect from an unintegrated, socially conservative bloc
www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

It’s a running joke in academia that Matt Goodwin is bad at maths.

This sort of thing is why: the combined Labour/Green vote could have split in any way possible and Goodwin would have finished 2nd or 3rd. He did not lose because progressives coordinated. He lost *in spite of them not doing so*.

Gisèle Pelicot shows no victim is safe from being shamed Her astonishing act of bravery has changed society

On Gisèle Pelicot, what it takes to be a "perfect" rape victim, and whether we are actually any closer to making shame change sides.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...

Labour's existential crisis The Greens’ by-election triumph is the worst of all worlds for Keir Starmer

One final Morning Call from @georgeeaton.bsky.social, and what a day to go out on!

On the “existential” challenge to Labour of the left-right pincer movement, as evidenced by the Green’s victory today - and why Starmer is starting to resemble Rishi Sunak

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

For some insight into why some Muslim voters were swinging to the Greens @rmcunliffe.bsky.social did a fantastic write up of our focus group of muslim voters in Gorton and Denton bsky.app/profile/luke...

why does Jeremy Corbyn, a man who clearly does not enjoy leading political parties, keep running political parties

Can young voters save British democracy? Extending the franchise to 16-year-olds will change not just the scale of our elections, but their character

Latest New Statesman column, in which I reminisce on being swayed by cupcakes and eyeshadow in a mock election at school, and argue in favour of votes at 16 anyway

www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Truly, the end of an era. The New Statesman will not be the same without you, George!