This is as moving now as it was way back when it was first published. He’d have loved your Substack!
Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Lol!
Absolutely brilliant column by @patrickmaguire.bsky.social: every word of it true:
There's a name for this psychological phenomenon – the Baader-Meinhof effect!
I spent today with Nigel Farage and watched Robert Jenrick’s rumoured defection become reality in the space of minutes, listening to a phone call from my vantage point in the back seat of a people carrier. Here’s how it happened.
www.thetimes.com/article/12d3...
Millions of people in this country wouldn't be able to tell you who exactly Liz Truss is
Indeed. The overriding essay question that Reform needs to answer in the next three years is: if you are on the right and hate Keir Starmer, which of a) Reform UK or b) The Tories is the bigger, stronger, more viable vehicle for change? In many ways it is a basic issue of showing mass and velocity
Plus psephologically they surely need a bit of they-can’t-be-that-bad-he-used-to-be-chancellor-they’re-just-the-Tories-now-I-may-as-well-vote-for-him to grow beyond 30 per cent consistently
99 per cent of analysis I’m reading about Zahawi is way too involved. To the extent people pay attention to this at all, it will be to note that Reform are doing well and hear someone else say Farage will/can be PM. Also: are Reform the same old Tories or something new and scary?
Stephen Flynn’s already done it. Keir Starmer’s PPS did it a few months ago too. As has his former political director. Polanski would be great!
Errrr... no. It's "oh dear" because this is a self-inflicted disaster for No 10, who assumed - wrongly - that this wasn't going to happen. If I thought what you think I thought, I'd just write it.
I've gone completely insane. New Substack on – variously – Harry Enfield, Alan Bleasdale, Walter Greenwood, Dennis Potter, Jimmy Reid and Damian McBride.
maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/in-defence...
This station is now managed by Great British Railways on behalf of the people
Insightful piece from @patrickmaguire.bsky.social on what makes some voters tick, and how to tickle them
maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/the-voters...
New Substack: why Labour Together's membership survey matters. And how to define "helpful"
maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/how-not-to...
It's so good, isn't it? Beautifully written, often laugh-out-loud funny, and – while obviously sympathetic – never anything less than fair, and duly critical of his excesses. The Brinkley book I mention is more sceptical, as I say, but broadly concurs in how it assesses him.
I've written a Substack about what I've been reading and writing recently – on the voters who make populism happen, and why Labour isn't speaking to them.
maguirepatrick.substack.com/p/the-voters...
I think at least some of it was conscious imitation of the man he still calls "Grandpa"
New on my similarly new Substack: why Keir Starmer needs fat men around him, the person actually doing a good job inside No 10, and the best books on Brownism
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Column: not many people appreciate just how many Brownites there are at the top of this Labour government. But are they the right ones for a PM with his back to the wall?
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
I've joined Substack to share more thoughts on my reading, writing and thoughts on the history that helps explain our political moment. Subscribe here, if you like.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
State comprehensive actually, great guess, you muppet 👍🏻
A podcast intro that is actually funny!
@patrickmaguire.bsky.social sings I Think We're Alone Now at Maggie Thatcher’s 100th birthday to explain Kemi’s position at conference.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Start taking the Beano if you don't like it pal
Nigel Farage is leading Labour round in circles
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
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