Lucy Dunn

Why haven't the Greens cut through more? Coffee House Shots · Episode

🎙️ Spoke with @luketryl.bsky.social on the podcast today about the Green party’s leadership contest, the dynamics between the rivals and why frontrunner Zack Polanski is taking inspiration from Reform ♻️

Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/4obv...

Could Reform's Scottish surge provoke indyref2? Coffee House Shots · Episode

🎙️ Great to have @markdiffley1.bsky.social on The Spectator’s Coffee House Shots discussing John Swinney’s indyref strategy, who constitutes the group of pro-indy non-SNP voters and if there’s a ceiling to Reform support in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

👉 open.spotify.com/episode/4wmP...

Some personal news: I am delighted to have been promoted to Political Correspondent at The Spectator.

Drop me an email/message for tips, stories or if you’d like to grab coffee 🗞️

Ash Regan: Scottish politicians have been gaslighting the public for years Ash Regan quit Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government almost three years ago in protest at the former first minister’s controversial gender reform bill. Regan rose to prominence after she left her role as c...

Ash Regan finds Nigel Farage’s ability to ‘shake things up’ refreshing at a time when Scottish politics has become ‘quite dull’: ‘It’s virtue-signalling politics where everyone’s trying to out-compete each other to show how perfect they can be.’

Read here 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/ash-...

Reform’s next challenge is delivery The Cholmondeley Arms is set just off the main road of the quaint, red-bricked market town of Frodsham. Not that this watering hole is much of a tranquil escape: it’s lavishly draped in Union Jacks an...

New: I visited the pub Mike Amesbury drank at before going on to punch a constituent. The barman and locals explain how they voted in Thursday’s by-election… and what they actually think of Reform 🍻

www.spectator.co.uk/article/now-...

Your guide to the 2025 election results Tomorrow, voters will go to the polls in Sir Keir Starmer’s first big electoral test as Prime Minister. Across England, there are 1,641 wards, 14 county councils, eight unitary authorities, six mayors...

Invaluable election day guide from @lucyidunn.bsky.social: key timings, contests and narratives shaping up

www.spectator.co.uk/article/your...

Who do voters trust most on the economy? Coffee House Shots · Episode

🎙️ Was great to host today’s Coffee House Shots podcast with Spec Econ Editor Michael Simmons and More in Common’s Luke Tryl – on the Chancellor’s plans in Washington and how big a part the economy will play in next week’s local elections 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/2TfI...

Louise Haigh’s officials lose two phones a week Just what is it with the Department for Transport and phones? Back in November, Louise Haigh was forced to quit as Secretary of State after allegations about missing mobiles came to light. Then, last ...

💥 NEW: Since Keir Starmer’s Labour party swept to victory last summer, the new government’s DfT has logged 76 mobiles as missing while eight have been reported stolen – a rate of more than two a week 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/loui...

Are the Scottish Tories becoming irrelevant? Another day, another poll that shows Reform could, from a standing start, pick up at least 14 seats at the 2026 Holyrood election. Nigel Farage’s party is attracting supporters from all of Scotland’s ...

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Are the Scottish Tories becoming irrelevant?

Wednesday's Survation poll suggested the group could be halved at next year's election – and they don't yet have a Reform-specific strategy as support for Farage's party continues to rise in Scotland

www.spectator.co.uk/article/are-...

The ‘physician associate’ will see you now… There is a war being waged in NHS hospitals. On one side are overstretched junior doctors in understaffed wards. On the other: physician associates (PAs) or, to use the more disparaging term, ‘noctors...

Great to be in The Spectator magazine this week on the rise of physician associates in the NHS 🏥

While there are areas where overworked clinicians would be desperate for extra help, there is no future for a health service that sees PAs acting like doctors

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-...

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 On The Spectator’s Coffee House Shots podcast today discussing former first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s news that she will stand down as an MSP in 2026

🎙️ Can listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/6iMl...

Can Reform land a knockout blow in Hull? It was to a packed-out auditorium that Nigel Farage announced his party’s mayoral candidate for Hull and East Yorkshire on Thursday night. Reform pulled out all the stops for its reveal of former Olym...

I was in Hull last night for the unveiling of Reform’s new mayoral candidate: ex-Olympian Luke Campbell

‘It’s with his earnest, straightforward style that Campbell will endear voters to him. Certainly on the policy front, the boxer is much less well-versed’ 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/can-...

Medical students are being let down It’s allocation day for junior doctor jobs – where soon-to-be medical graduates across the UK find out what deanery they will work in upon finishing university. While it should be an exciting time for...

The system that allocates UK med students to foundation jobs is in desperate need of change. Punishing medics by sending them across the country against their will won’t improve retention

Blog on how the recruitment process has left medical grads disillusioned 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/juni...

Scotland’s education stats pose a problem for the SNP The SNP may be outperforming Scottish Labour in the polls, but the party of government still faces tough questions on its record as it approaches the 2026 Holyrood election. Today’s education attainme...

The SNP may be outperforming Scottish Labour in the polls, but the party of government still faces tough questions on its record as it approaches the Holyrood election – not least given the widening deprivation gap

Blog on this week’s education figures 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/scot...

so much for Trump’s 4% claim

Reform makes more gains in Scotland Well, well, well. As Nigel Farage’s Reform party continues to poll well across the UK, north of the border the right-wing group is making yet more gains in Scotland. Now yet another Scottish Tory coun...

The Scottish Tories lose a sixth councillor to Reform – and the Farage-led group claims it now has 9,000 members north of the border

Meanwhile Scottish Labour is performing poorly in polls and politics professor John Curtice warns RefUK will split unionist vote

www.spectator.co.uk/article/refo...

Scottish Labour U-turns on trans stance Well, well, well. Gender is back on the agenda in Holyrood again after the ongoing Sandie Peggie v NHS Fife case sparked outrage across the country. Scottish politicians held off on declaring their su...

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and his depute Jackie Baillie U-turn on gender bill stance on the Holyrood Sources pod – as public opinion changes with Sandie Peggie/NHS Fife case. Another less than favourable headline just days before their party conference

www.spectator.co.uk/article/scot...

🎙️ Lovely to be on BBC Radio Scotland this morning with Bernard Ponsonby chatting about new polling ahead of 2026, the challenges facing both SNP and Labour & the rise of Reform 👇

Why we should heed warnings about weight loss jabs Embarking on the quest to lose weight can be a risky business. Yo-yo dieting, compulsive binging, muscle wasting and brain fog are just some of the many challenges that have waylaid dieters over the y...

The popularity of weight loss drugs is soaring – but there remain unanswered questions about side effects and long term impact 💉

Wrote on why we should be wary of seeing semaglutide as a quick fix 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-...

What's behind Reform's surge in Scotland? Five years ago, Reform UK had no presence in Scotland. Its Facebook and Twitter pages emerged during the latter half of the pandemic and despite briefly experiencing four months in Holyrood courtesy o...

In my first post on here, I’d love to highlight this piece on Reform’s surge in Scotland – after a Tory council leader defection and polling suggesting the party could take as many as 15 seats at the next Holyrood election 👇

www.spectator.co.uk/article/what...