Maria Sobolewska

Gosh I’ve forgotten about this 🙈

Given child poverty levels this feels a little ‘let them eat cake’

Reeves to plough millions into playgrounds after years of Tory neglect A Treasury source told The Mirror: 'This funding will breathe new life into play areas across England, creating safe, exciting spaces for thousands of children'

A brilliant Labour announcement!

We know the difference money for decent playgrounds could make. It’s good for children, families and neighbourhoods.

From Stopsley to Lewsey and all the parks in between, there are playgrounds across Luton that need this funding.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Labour is desperately trying to appeal to Reform supporters. In October, we asked people in the UK if they perceive a party as a "party for someone like them". Only very few people say this for both Labour and Reform. The correlation is negative. Labour is chasing an electorate that does not exist.

this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself

it is also free to read

youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

Any President who calls for the opposition party to be hanged should be immediately impeached and removed from office.

Simply to say we should also worry about girls on FSM

Gender gap is similar size for boys and girls not eligible for FSM which makes me think this is more a story of poverty - on top of an already known story that what is now judged good at schools is severely biased towards girls possess earlier. But we also know gender gap closes while $ doesn’t

Teenage knife deaths 11 year low in London

I'm sure the Londinistan guys will be delighted to read this... really good news... they'll be talking about something else altogether now... sure of it... because they were genuinely concerned weren't they

Typically entertaining piece with a review of the research set out here: bsky.app/profile/turn...

Is it a threat to free speech when the President of the United States threatens to yank the broadcast license of a channel whose reporters are asking him challenging questions?

I ask because I feel like there used to be tons of pundits worried about free speech. Where'd they go?

I am sure there will be no economic or structual consequences to this, in a country with a rapidly aging population and unsustainable population pyramid

Labour needs a way out of the infernal circle of immigration policy Politics today is about ‘open vs closed’, but the UK government’s approach risks appeasing no one

Excellent column from @stephenkb.bsky.social on what
@alanmanning4.bsky.social refers to as the “infernal circle” of immigration policy www.ft.com/content/1144...

ONS is so bad. (This is about specifically British nationals.) www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

One hand of Labour: what can we do to keep liberal voters?
The other hand of Labour: lets out-Reform Reform
Voice of reason: you realise both sides have eyes and ears, right?

You actually have to stand for something… make a choice already otherwise none of these groups will vote for you.

Going to leave you with a Home Office chart from their most recent asylum stats so you can decide whether the UK is a magnet for asylum seekers with a uniquely generous asylum system www.gov.uk/government/s...

“We're seeing a level of proliferation of bodies & body piles from space that's unlike anything I've ever seen…”

Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond explains how more people could be killed within a week in Sudan, compared to the past two years in Gaza.

🔗 zeteo.com/p/sudans-dea...

Ok- hear me out. I have a teenage daughter, so no judgement about what I watch pls. I’m just genuinely concerned about the shit we feed our kids about love. How is anyone who is team Conrad not sectioned and in therapy yet?! The emotionally manipulative man child. So glad I was there for her 😱

Greens’ ‘undeliverable’ promises will let voters down, says Labour minister Exclusive: Darren Jones says Labour has to convince young people it is ‘modern party of the future’

It seems pretty risky to tell people they won't see the change they want if they vote Green, given that they already voted Labour and didn't see the change they wanted.

Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowships in Politics - Nuffield College Oxford University

We have just published the call for the Nuffield Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowships in Politics. These are 3-year fully-funded postdocs that will allow you to focus on your research in a great academic environment. (And with excellent food)

www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/...

It is.
They are just so lovely and joyful.
Mine is also funny looking (not only in silly outfits, though this helps) so he puts a smile on strangers’ faces as we walk past. Always makes my day that.

One of the most wondrous effects of dog ownership is that it seems like an entirely positive, constructive and socially acceptable use of my time to aimlessly wonder around and sit around- doing absolutely nothing, as long as I have my dog with me. I basically have no cortisol left. Loving it 🥰

Motorcyclist on shopping trip arrested amid Labour’s crackdown on undocumented migrants Fernando Fontoura, who moved to the UK aged 12, detained in drive to find people ‘illegally working’ as delivery drivers

Fernando (33), who was 12 when he came to the UK, was detained by the Home Office as part of their upgraded immigration raids. Held for 29 days. We are supporting him with an application for settled status. No way to know, but this is unlikely to be isolated. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Once again, the Actual Thing the Actual Democrats Must Actually Do is to make institutional reform the platform & to explain to voters why & how Doing A Popularism is the <consequence> of that, not a prerequisite.

Elon Musk’s legacy

Those brown Muslim men, coming over here, settling down for decades and then bloody going and saving dozens of peoples' lives in an act of astonishing self-sacrificial bravery that nearly cost him his life.

All my heart is with Samir Zitouni and his family and loved ones right now.

The first thing Yaxley-Lennon did on leaving court was to thank Elon Musk for funding his legal costs.

That's Elon Musk who has repeatedly called for civil war in the UK.

As of typing this - all of the major politicians and platforms maintain a presence on X and it is time for them all to leave.

Sadly the direction of travel for all of our countries despite the lack of public understanding or any proper economic benefit.

Perhaps. In personal interactions I often find that people who moan most about the prices are actually the richest of my friends, so perhaps our whole nation is like this. We’re fine and should pay more taxes and shut up about it. I know I would if it means better pavements and less child poverty