She was a fictional character, but Margo Leadbetter from The Good Life represented middle class women who were staunch Conservatives. The problem for the party is that there are very few Margos left.
If 16 and 17-year-olds are deserving of the franchise and capable of choosing, the state should start from that assumption. In that world, internet curfews for almost adults make little sense. But if being online in the evening imperils them, then keep harmonising things around age 18.
We are already years behind in properly and adequately funding defence for the challenges we face. Deferring comes with real costs to both our armed forces and the companies that supply them. It is also revelatory: if governments want things to happen, they need more than ambition.
It’s easy to see why Labour is losing working-age votes. By discouraging employment, the government has cost jobs and stymied wage growth.
Realistically, saving the high street as it was would require the flexing of state power. The alternative is accepting the reality that high street shopping is not coming back and probably means redeveloping high streets into housing and providing community spaces.
Our electoral system means that perhaps two-thirds of the electorate could find themselves shut out, and there is no opposition to speak of.
Starmer’s government was already struggling to articulate a coherent economic vision before the crisis; the renewed inflationary pressure now arrives like a second wave before the first has receded. Higher prices strained public finances, renewed pressure on wage settlements.
The night itself matters less than what the party does with it, and whether it advances our understanding of what Conservative local governance can offer.
If the voters are going to accept the costs of rearmament, the positive case needs to be made. This includes bluntly explaining the risks that those of us who obsessively monitor the news are already aware of. It also requires setting out why our military power matters.
The scheme risks further diluting the NHS’s performance, introducing a new layer of bureaucracy, and undermining our democratic choices about how money is spent. Services are best when they are focused – not when they are trying to do everything.
As another premiership falters, it is worth thinking of why we end up in this situation so often, and the wider costs it brings. If tenures are shrinking, it is a sign not of constitutional weakness but of repeated political misjudgement.
Metro-mayoralties were meant to cultivate leadership beyond Westminster. The role was introduced with the hope of attracting innovative outsiders—operators and builders with strong local leadership.
Announcements of new infrastructure are met with a weary sigh and the expectation that they will arrive decades late and billions over budget. We are world leaders in this. Getting this fixed is not flashy, but slow, involved and detail oriented.
The Government’s proposals risk a rushed abolition of one of our most fundamental and historic rights – and removing one of the key features that holds up public trust in the judicial system – for a hurried attempt at backlog cutting that is unlikely to work.