Yesterday Blair achieved something rather unusual: he somehow managed to unite the Labour Party.
NEW: The Trump administration signals it is backing off the creation of a $1.8 billion fund announced by the Justice Dept. that could send money to allies of President Trump deemed “victims of lawfare and weaponization.”.
As we look at a rapid and extreme contraction of the university sector, lots of good advice and discussion in the quotes of - and replies to - this post. As the HE world we've known comes to an end, there will be many very painful choices ahead. So we should support each other and share wisdom. ☹️
I’m feeling strangely furious with the people answering “don’t know” in this poll. Faced with ultra racist definition of Englishness, “hmm yeah have to think more about that one”.
YouGov's study of the 2026 local elections shows that just 46% of 2024 Labour voters who went to the polls remained loyal, with more backing the Greens (22%) than Reform (6%) two weeks ago
The Conservatives retained 55% of their 2024 voters, with 33% switching to Reform
yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
2% of LE26 Labour voters consider voting for Reform at the next election. Less than 1% of Reform voters consider Labour. Yet, Labour continues to target exactly those voters. Literally, politics for the 1%.
Meanwhile, 42% of Lab voters consider the Greens. After already having lost tons to them.
The Justice Department said Monday it will abide by a court ruling that blocked the fund as the White House seeks to restart stalled legislation to fund ICE and Border Patrol.
Thomas Massie says in his concession speech that the republican primary contest in Kentucky (a state of 4.5m people) is likely to have cost $35m - about equivalent to what the UK Labour spent in the 2024 general election.
Source: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
YouGov
The conversation we should be having about national security and defence - paper by Mary Kaldor and @lukecooper100.bsky.social here: rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/06/16/o...
Nine countries including the UK, France, and Australia are to announce a package of sanctions this week designed to deter companies from from becoming involved in the E1 development, a proposed West Bank illegal settlement that would split West Bank in two www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Tarik Abou-Chadi
Luke Cooper
🚨 Over 50 leading academics have sounded the alarm on the UK's voting system
⚠️ In an era of multi-party politics, First Past the Post risks “random and arbitrary” results like never before
🗳️ The experts' letter warn Ministers they must address this to stem growing instability and distrust
Move comes as 137 Labour MPs sign letter demanding ‘urgent, concrete action’ to stop settler violence
The reactions to this are mainly focused on the move to the right, but what's really striking in reading Blair's essay in full, is how little Labour's most electorally successful politician understands the current electorate.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
It says an awful lot about the university sector right now that I - a 48-year-old history professor with a child and a mortgage, who loves what she does (mostly) - am having a serious conversation with a colleague about whether I ought to consider a career change.
