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Labour lost almost four times as many voters to the Greens as they did to Reform UK in the local elections, according to new YouGov polling

Claire Jones' latest piece for Bearly Politics. "This isn’t information delivery, or even ‘mildly politically biased’ news. It’s social engineering – on a massive scale, with deeply dysfunctional consequences" -

Nuance like this thoughtful, insightful piece is exactly what we need right now -

Should be mandatory reading in the UK. US commentators noting what some of us have been shouting about for at least 2 years -

1. The 2026 election Labour bloodbath was, arguably, McSweeney's final legacy - the roll out, in real time, of a country infuriated by Blue Labour's pathological hatred of the left and it's dogged, truly vote-shedding move to the right. The price has been paid.

I've thought through causes of the UKs political malaise: FPTP, the effects of economic crises, social media, far-right infiltration ... Causation is rarely unitary, but I now see the ability of our poorly regulated press to destroy politicians at will & determine election outcomes as pivotal.

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

westenglandbylines.co.uk/politics/cro... As the existential Makerfield by election draws closer, Claire Jones explores key pitfalls in left-wing campaigning that could make or break our democratic prospects. Claire writes for West England Bylines, Left Foot Forward & Bearly Politics on Substack

As for what happens next, we could stay in a multiparty impasse, resolved only with PR. But Reform & the Greens obtained the biggest projected national vote share between them. So, as I suggested in Nov 25, we might instead shift towards a different duopoly westenglandbylines.co.uk/politics/far...

@mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social "This isn’t information delivery, or even ‘mildly biased’ news. It’s social engineering – on a massive scale, with deeply dysfunctional consequences ..." - substack.com/@clairejones...

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