ConservativeHome’s round-up of ten of our best articles from the preceding week.
The Green Party gained a seat from Labour in Rossendale. Reform UK gained a seat from the Conservatives in Bury and a seat from the Lib Dems in Luton. But the Lib Dems gained a seat from an independent in North Devon.
The question now is whether policymakers are willing to respond. For those shaping education policy, this is not simply a challenge. It is an opportunity to rebuild a system that young people can trust again.
It is the third Shadow Cabinet League Table in a row in which she has come first. The first time she reached pole position was shortly before Robert Jenrick’s defection to Reform UK. It underlines the marked shift from her earlier performances.
Recently, prayer seems to have wandered away – perhaps like lost sheep? – from St Thomas More’s entreaty for minds that are “humble, quiet, peaceable, patient and charitable”. The act of praying, and its prevention, are becoming weaponised.
The wise politician addresses the questions of his age with a view to passing a society’s fundamental values on to future generations, allowing for adjustments that do not compromise its deepest character.
This was a David versus Goliath fight. People from all backgrounds came together with a shared purpose: to protect our farms and greenbelt whilst advocating for the appropriate development that our community needs.
A modest rebalancing of alcohol taxation would deliver disproportionate benefits: stronger community life, healthier drinking patterns, more resilient high streets, and thriving local businesses.
When senior figures in the Green Party of England and Wales rush to condemn Western democracies but seem to really struggle to speak with the same alacrity about Tehran’s persecution of its own citizens, something is awry.
Degrees still matter in many professions, but research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that a growing share of graduates earn little more than non-graduates ten years after leaving university, particularly outside a handful of high-demand fields.
Whether any politician, and any party, have the verve and ambition to match the ethos and motivation within a moon mission, to get actual delivery and without standing up and offering hollow monologues, really remains to be seen.
There’s a bigger picture here, beyond Trump hatred. The hard reality is that Britain, in the eyes of our Middle East allies, has appeared to be a fair-weather friend. Iran is the latest crisis to expose our Prime Minister’s inadequacies. I suspect it won’t be the last.
Our manifesto won’t make promises we can’t keep, but will set out a credible plan – for fixing the finances, getting the basics like bin collection back on track, putting more police officers on Wandsworth’s streets, giving more renters the chance to own, and more.
Rational policy design still matters enormously, because bad policy can wreck lives, economies and ecosystems, but it has to work through emotional and identity‑based channels first, rather than pretending to hover above them.