Failure to acknowledge the truth, and a desire to prevent other people from doing so, allowed people to get away with the some of the very worst crimes committed in this country in living memory.
The impact of social media in schools is visible in friendship groups destabilised overnight by the fallout from group chats; in the heightened anxiety that stems from constant comparison; in the quiet but persistent erosion of self-regulation.
Children do not just use social media platforms. They are manipulated to generate value for them. A serious country protects its children. Not just in the physical world, but in the digital one too.
Robert Jenrick – as well as his team – appear to have been trapped inside an internet echo chamber, and it is clearly having some very damaging effects on his popularity and prospects.
The groups talked about Reform’s new shadow cabinet, local elections, social media, the fallout from the Mandelson saga, prospects for the Tories and what constitutes Peak Starmer?
Many social media platforms now allow accounts to be monetised. When an elected representative becomes more invested in posting daily rage-bait than in carrying out the duties of office, the line between public service and personal profit begins to blur.
Protecting children is a primary duty of the state, especially when parents are up against global corporations with resources and influence far beyond their own.
We also ask how people would describe the party leaders and which parties they would want to see in coalition in the event of a hung parliament.
My latest focus groups took place in two constituencies in the west country: North East Somerset and Hanham, where we heard from 2024 Conservative switchers to Labour and Reform, and Taunton, where we spoke to Tories who went to the Liberal Democrats.
The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wants to ban under 16s from “addictive” social media.
Our culture has classified words as weapons, fostered victim mentalities, and accordingly expanded what constitutes harm to the point that speech itself is equated with violence.
From GoPros on aprons to Come Fly With Me spoofs, the Conservatives are quietly becoming the UK’s most-watched political brand – outstripping its targets and giving Westminster something to talk about.
We should still want to see young people up and down Britain navigating their own digital journeys up and down Britain – and the Conservative Party should play a fundamental role in ensuring that can happen.