We are just in the car back from focus groups this weekend in Beverley, Hull,Scunthorpe & Peterborough and without doubt the disillusionment was the worst I’ve heard, in every group it was anger; despondency or misery about the state of Britain that doesn’t feel sustainable.

This tweet is contemptible. She’s a former MP and minister. There are genuine questions about how she’ll deliver on Reform’s vague promises, or deal with Farage’s ego now she has elected power and he doesn’t, etc But this is just snide. BBC Politics should delete and apologise.

Proper sportsmanship that. Fair play to the batter.

Have to say that I just don’t get the concept of a ‘party colour’, it’s more than a little bit odd isn’t it? (Not picking out the LibDems here, all parties do it.)

Good letter in The Times. What if your diagnosis is wrong? What if you take the assisted suicide drugs but your family only finds out afterwards that you had much longer to live? Why are we treating six months as science - it might as well be tarot cards?

Zia Yusuf seems terribly exercised that Kent County Council has tendered a recruitment contract worth up to £350 million over four years. And on the surface, that does sound punchy and, dare I say, scandalous - until you look at literally any of the detail. This isn’t Kent

Exactly. If you want to ban the burqa for 'public safety', shall we also ban motorcycle helmets or face masks? You cannot claim to be upset about illiberal states in the Middle East ordering women on what to wear, and also want the British state to decide what women wear.

That’s genuinely funny.

Appreciate everyone is focused on the memes but Yusuf quitting Reform & the Musk-Trump spat on same day is a good illustration of how fragile the Populist Right - Libertarian tech bro coalition is. When it works it works for them, but ends up as fundamental interest misalignment

Nice bit of bipartisanship between Rishi Sunak and Alex Norris MP on the excellent Changing Places UK initiative. Gracious politics is so much better and it does not get enough coverage. ~AA

Margaret Thatcher by Iain Dale An excellent short biography that will put meat on the bones to the knowledge of those who don't know Britains most consequential post war Prime Minister. goodreads.com/book/show/2347… via Goodreads

Original Sin by Jake Tapper 🦅 and Alex Thompson A thoroughly accessible book about President Biden's deterioriating health and the conspiracy to keep him in power for a second term. goodreads.com/book/show/2343… via Goodreads

Whatever your politics, it was hard not to feel for Rachel Reeves today. Wishing her all the very best.

My word, this is powerful. Isn’t this the country you want Britain to be too?

Great Britain? How we get our future back - certainly not through nostalgia driven populism I've been reading Torsten Bell's latest book, it's very good. Some initial thoughts (I'm only half way through!) open.substack.com/pub/leonspence…

A general rule in life. If you can't say something nice when someone dies then say nothing at all. The death of Norman Tebbit, mourned by his loved ones, really has shown who the worst people are.

Read my 5-star review of Great Britain?: How We Get Our Future Back by ⁦Torsten Bell⁩ goodreads.com/review/show/77…

Just finished reading 'The Red Brigades' by John Foot and published by Bloomsbury Books UK. It is an impeccably sourced history of a troubling period in Italy's recent past, albeit it with flaws, and something of a morality tale for the present day. goodreads.com/review/show/77…

Just finished Israelophobia by Jake Wallis Simons, an accessible and highly persuasive polemic on the indelible link between anti-zionism and antisemitism. goodreads.com/review/show/77…

Today’s The Times and The Sunday Times column, on Ozzy Osbourne, the origins of heavy metal and the death of industrial middle England. thetimes.com/comment/column…