Patrick Dunleavy

The Labour Together scandal goes right to the heart of No 10 – Starmer has nowhere to hide | Peter Geoghegan He can sack who he wants to protect himself, but all roads currently lead back to the prime minister, says Peter Geoghegan of Democracy for Sale

The malversation scandals keep dogging Labour. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Is No 10 seeking its own destruction? Why else would it botch its council plans and hand a victory to Farage? | Polly Toynbee Labour promised ‘ambitious reforms’, but it was fixing things that were not broken. And the moral: focus on what matters and stop making stupid mistakes, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

The arrogance of power, produced by genuinely, unreflectively believing that 34% of the votes is a “mandate”. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Hanson issues partial apology for suggestion there are no 'good' Muslims The One Nation leader qualified her earlier remarks, which had been met with condemnation, while reiterating calls for tougher vetting processes for Muslim migrants.

In Australia www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

What does “good” EdTech look like – and what do schoolchildren think about it? - LSE Business Review The British government encourages schools to use education technology and AI. But the sector is largely unregulated and its use differs considerably.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...

Are jobs getting better?: The ability to work from anywhere will redistribute talent around the world - LSE Business Review How "work from anywhere" technology is reversing the brain drain.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...

When designing reparations policies, authorities must ensure Black Americans have a seat at the table from the start | United States Politics and Policy As the beneficiaries of reparations policies, Black Americans must have a close part of the policy development process.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...

Can AI support the assessment of REF research environments? - LSE Impact ChatGPT’s can closely replicate expert evaluations of REF research environments. How might research managers use these tools in the run up to the next REF?

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Good impact narratives must connect to our everyday lives - LSE Impact Research impact is often communicated in abstract and bureaucratic language. To be meaningful it needs to connect to peoples' everyday lives.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

How Petr Pavel and 100,000 protesters held illiberalism at bay Czech President Petr Pavel’s unflinching position combined with organised civic mobilisation have shown how liberal democracy can prevail against illiberalism.

blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

Reform by-election candidate described Farage’s economic plans as ‘utterly toxic’ Exclusive: It comes after The Independent revealed that Matt Goodwin called for ‘young girls’ to be given ‘biological reality’ check

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Court orders restart of all US offshore wind construction Trump admin's "it's classified" ploy put on hold in five different cases.

arstechnica.com/science/2026...

Bank of England should cut rates to boost consumer spending, says TUC Union analysis finds consumers lag behind international peers as some rate-setters remain anxious about inflation

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Reform candidate called it ‘insane’ to jail man who said ‘burn asylum hotels’ Exclusive: It comes after The Independent revealed that Matt Goodwin called for ‘young girls’ to be given ‘biological reality’ check

Goodwin is a dangerous extremist. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Reform no longer the favourites to win next election Reform UK is no longer the bookmakers’ favourites to win the most seats at the next general election, it has been revealed.

Reform no longer the favourites to win next election
www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/ref...

Reform lead over Labour down to tiny 5% now, in 5 party system in England, & 6 in Scotland & Wales

Westminster Voting Intention:
REF: 24% (-3)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (=)
GRN: 17% (+1)
LDM: 13% (-1)
SNP: 3% (=)
OTH: 4% (+2)

Via @YouGov, On 15-16th February,
Changes w/ 8-9 February.

Bannon, Epstein, Farage and Johnson and the Plot to 'Topple' Theresa May The far-right former Trump adviser told Jeffrey Epstein that "we are overthrowing May right now" as he worked with Boris Johnson to remove the then Conservative Prime Minister from office

Bannon, Epstein, Farage and Johnson and the Plot to 'Topple' Theresa May – Byline Times bylinetimes.com/2026/02/16/b...

Isn't national polling kind of pointless? I want to know that Reform can be beaten in my constituency. 13% Lib Dem spread over only a few constituencies can pack a punch and it's marginally higher than the Lib Dem share at the 2024 election.

This comes as something of a relief.

🙏 it’s not wishful thinking 🤔

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis

Words spoken many years ago that are just as relevant today.

We must continue the fight to get big money out of politics.

There’s only 1 person in Congress who doesn’t trade stocks, doesn’t take corporate PAC money, and has a public schedule. That’s me. And it should be the standard.

Maybe the solution is not to adopt genAi

Reform no longer the favourites to win next election Reform UK is no longer the bookmakers’ favourites to win the most seats at the next general election, it has been revealed.

Reform no longer the favourites to win next election
www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/ref...

Cabinet Office looking into Starmer-linked thinktank after it investigated journalists Liz Kendall says officials will be ‘establishing the facts’ about report that made false claims about journalists

It shows just how well funded Labour Together was that it could waste £30,000 on spying on its critics. For most genuine Labour activist groups that’d be most of their budget for a year. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The politics of fear in a broken Britain: lessons for progressives in an age of political theatre The resignations of Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan - Chief of Staff and Starmer has governed without substance and without vision, failing to articulate a coherent definition of Starmerism or a convin...

The resignations of Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan - Chief of Staff and Starmer has governed without substance and without vision, failing to articulate a coherent definition of Starmerism or a convincing account of what this government is for

northeastbylines.co.uk/news/opinion...

Reform lead over Labour down to tiny 5% now, in 5 party system in England, & 6 in Scotland & Wales

Westminster Voting Intention:
REF: 24% (-3)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (=)
GRN: 17% (+1)
LDM: 13% (-1)
SNP: 3% (=)
OTH: 4% (+2)

Via @YouGov, On 15-16th February,
Changes w/ 8-9 February.

Gosh, no-one expected that the Tories cutting the investigation side of the agency by 80% would have this effect.

I agree on the funding. But if the purpose was intimidatory, perhaps the money was not wasted.

I particularly enjoyed the idea of the Cabinet Office investigating a politician running the Cabinet Office.

- Did you do anything wrong, Minister?
- No.
- Ok, thank you.

Investigation ends.

Cabinet Office looking into Starmer-linked thinktank after it investigated journalists Liz Kendall says officials will be ‘establishing the facts’ about report that made false claims about journalists

It shows just how well funded Labour Together was that it could waste £30,000 on spying on its critics. For most genuine Labour activist groups that’d be most of their budget for a year. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Reform candidate called it ‘insane’ to jail man who said ‘burn asylum hotels’ Exclusive: It comes after The Independent revealed that Matt Goodwin called for ‘young girls’ to be given ‘biological reality’ check

Goodwin is a dangerous extremist. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...