This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? The news that healthy life expectancy is in decline in Britain exposes a serious truth about the state we’re in, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet?

My column on the headline you probably haven't heard, yet which affects you, your family and friends.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The fracture of the left wing vote will have two contradictory results:

There will be a swing away from Labour to the left in local elections.

Reform will benefit in any national election.

Thanks to Starmer, the left is splintering just as the right is unifying around Farage.

I know the polls aren't great, but this is a bit harsh

Ratcliffe says immigrants cost too much, while Ineos lobbies for state funding Billionaire’s business has in recent years claimed UK and EU support for refineries and chemicals plants worth about €800m

The Guardian's Jillian Ambrose unpicks the many tens of millions in state support that Jim Ratcliffe's businesses have accepted, after the billionaire railed against people on benefits (and claimed Britain was being "colonised" by immigrants while himself having moved to tax-free Monaco).

"everyone has to get back to the office because the important thing about business is human interaction" is dying, but "white collar jobs will be replaced by AI agents within 18 months" cannot yet be born; in this interregnum a variety of morbid symptoms appear.

If the PM reckons Jim Ratcliffe should apologise for spreading this exact same lie, should the Home Office apologise too, or? 🤨

Behold the incredible shrinking Starmer: the PM who promises more while giving less | Aditya Chakrabortty It is not just this doomed government but the Labour party itself that is disappearing before our very eyes, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

The essential, fatal truth about Keir Starmer: there is less to him than meets the eye. Much less.

My column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Gary! Great to see you again. I hope all is well

maybe! but this piece isn't doing that

that's fair

I'm sure you do, but it doesn't run counter to my piece

hi ed, I hope you're well
i don't say it is the work of one man, do i?
"At the height of the banking crisis, the class of financiers who brought about this disaster were eyeing up fresh assets, whether superyachts or young women.. and they did so with the willing aid of the centre-left elite..."

Are Britain’s big parties dying because class politics is finished?

Maybe, for “class” in terms of jobs. But class defined by property is only getting more powerful NEW COL

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/723...

The Green surge shows British politics has reached a turning point - and it has surprisingly little to do with Zack Polanski | Aditya Chakrabortty At a party event in a school hall in Lewisham, people told me how disillusionment with Labour has led to this moment, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

The Green surge shows UK politics has reached a turning point – and it has surprisingly little to do with Zack Polanski
One man is driving the rapid realignment of the British left, and his name's not Zack.
My column

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Minneapolis revolt tells us this: even in Trump’s America, the people have power too | Aditya Chakrabortty After months of community resistance, the president backed down. Leadership from below succeeded when politics as usual

An important reminder ❤️

The people have power, too.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/29/minneapolis-revolt-donald-trump-america-people-power

The Minneapolis revolt tells us this: even in Trump’s America, the people have power too | Aditya Chakrabortty After months of community resistance, the president backed down. Leadership from below succeeded when politics as usual failed, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

The Minneapolis revolt tells us this: even in Trump’s America, the people have power too

My column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What happens when the taps run dry? England is about to find out | Aditya Chakrabortty It’s not just Tunbridge Wells – a country famous around the world for its rain is in danger of self-imposed drought, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Really important piece this. We urgently need to wake up to the scale of the risks faced by the water system. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What happens when the taps run dry? England is about to find out | Aditya Chakrabortty It’s not just Tunbridge Wells – a country famous around the world for its rain is in danger of self-imposed drought, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

'The UK is lurching into a future that, when you stop to think about it, is both alarming and remarkable: a country famous around the world for its rain imposing on itself a drought.'
My column
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Say what you will about Trump, but unlike Starmer he knows his own power – and how to use it | Aditya Chakrabortty The right is unafraid to show its might on the world stage – meanwhile the PM is tinkering with potholes, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Say what you will about Trump, but unlike Starmer he knows his own power – and how to use it

My column

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It’s worth asking: what would be too much for these people? What would they not be willing to do, if this is fine. And the answer, realistically, is “nothing, all is terribly possible”.

Don’t dignify Trump with talk of a ‘new world order’ – there’s nothing new or ordered about this chaos | Aditya Chakrabortty The US president’s grotesque theatrics on the world stage are an opportunistic distraction from his falling domestic ratings, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Don’t dignify Trump with talk of a ‘new world order’ – there’s nothing new or ordered about this chaos

My column on Greenland, Venezuela and Donald

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Want to understand the sickness of Britain today? Look no further – a novel explained it all 20 years ago | Aditya Chakrabortty The racism, the predatory politics, the banality and cruelty: we struggle to make sense of it, but JG Ballard foretold everything we are living through now, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Want to understand the sickness of Britain today? Look no further – a novel explained it all 20 years ago

My column
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Great essay here by Tom

What will be the cost of Keir Starmer’s new medicines deal with Donald Trump? British lives | Aditya Chakrabortty More than £3bn that could have been used for UK patients will go to big pharma for its branded products, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

Keir Starmer has signed a new trade deal with Donald Trump, on medicines.
British ministers claim it is "world-beating" and will help tens of thousands of NHS patients.
The reality is it will cost the NHS billions and lead to thousands of deaths.
My column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What will be the cost of Keir Starmer’s new medicines deal with Donald Trump? British lives | Aditya Chakrabortty More than £3bn that could have been used for UK patients will go to big pharma for its branded products, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

I’d naively expected the “deal” requiring the NHS to pay more to US drugs giants would become a scandal

But Fleet Street has looked away. Except for Aditya Chakrabortty

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Children’s home providers in England putting profit over need, says Ofsted Watchdog says trend of care homes being registered in cheap areas, not where need is greatest, is ‘national scandal’

Ofsted says says trend of children’s homes being registered in cheap areas, not where need is greatest, is ‘national scandal’

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

The most misleading thing about Rachel Reeves’s budget? Who it was really for | Aditya Chakrabortty Labour backbenchers have been cheering it as a win for the most vulnerable in society. In fact it was aimed at the bond markets, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

📢 "Britain clings on to an exhausted 40-year-old economic model, to which it makes odd small adjustments in the hope they will change things. But they don’t." 🔽 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

These anchors that smaller economies use to demonstrate credibility to attract investment ARE always arbitrary - but that arbitrariness only truly becomes tangible when they are being tested.

A budget to save Britain’s finances? More like Operation Save Our Skins | Aditya Chakrabortty Only 20% of tax rises will go towards making people better off. The vast majority will be spent meeting Labour’s fiscal rules and paying for U-turns, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

What better day than Budget day to post for the first time here?
Here is one of my typically cheery takes www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

God it's so cool that so much of British and European nationalist politics has broadly been shaped by warehouse clickfarms rented by guys in South Asia running "how to make money from racist old people" workshops, and that this has had more influence on media and politics than any grassroots group