Robert Smith

@middletemple Well done Leonie. Such a magnificent achievement and inspiration for everyone you know and all that see this. I'm sure you will thrive in your legal career and I wish you all the very best. Keep doing what you're doing and being who you are. 🙏

Being Called to the Bar is a moving experience for many newly launched barristers. Leonie Hughes describes what it feels like to achieve her goal.

@GWandShows Cannot wait. It's been a long hard winter this year (oh, and too bloomin damp obvs). 💐

Friday 13 March marks the start of our new series and Ned just can't wait! Is it a date? 🐶 #GardenersWorld

@NickBryantNY Thank you Nick. @fergalkeane47 has been the most important / influential reporter throughout my life and he has represented the absolute best of the BBC journalism, setting the highest standard that you followed. You both continue to show the true value of reporting the truth.🙏

Fergal challenged us all to write better, to think more deeply and to show more empathy for the people whose stories we were entrusted with. Letter to Daniel remains the FOOC of FOOCs (From Our Own Correspondent). His lyricism was on full display. A true great.

@fergalkeane47 Sad news Fergal as it marks the end of such a wonderful era. But I'm sure the time is right for you and you will continue to report, comment and author outstanding material in whatever shape your new ventures take. Thank you and good luck in your new ventures. 🙏

@DamianLow3 @campbellclaret Excellent post Damian. The vitriol aimed at Starmer is bewildering. Yes, he lacks dynamism and the Government has struggled, but who wouldn't given the inheritance. It's dangerous for democracy.

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer over the last week deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics. 1. Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues. 2. Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence. 3. This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness. 4. The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives. 5. There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting. 6. None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals. 7. A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

@RestIsPolitics @campbellclaret Thank you Alastair for this frank, clearly heartfelt post. It was obvious from this week's episode that you were struggling to articulate in your usual way. Completely understandable because, as you say, this is such a dangerous and deeply disappointing moment for Labour.

@HelenHet20 @nytimes Great to see and read all of your recent commentary Helen and, as usual, all of it illuminating and superbly informed. Hard to disagree with anything you say, but of course the shifts and uncertainty are worrying - resource, market and power conflicts from every angle. 🙏

It's the international disorder before it is the Trump disorder. In conversation with John Guida for the @nytimes: nytimes.com/2026/01/27/opi… (Paywall).

@galendruke @HelenHet20 And thank you Galen for one of your regular forays into UK politics. Not a good sign though when we are this dysfunctional (again). 🙏

Today on the GD POLITICS podcast... "How The UK Became Ungovernable" w/ @HelenHet20 and David Runciman. gdpolitics.com/p/how-the-uk-b…

@HelenHet20 @galendruke Thanks Helen it was a superb if somewhat depressing listen. Hard to know what happens next because as stated, the FPTP system wasn't designed for this scenario. Hope to hear you podcasting again soon. 🙏

Why Labour self-evidently can no more govern than the Conservatives: David Runciman and I discuss with @galendruke the singular failings Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bring to the UK's political problems. gdpolitics.com/p/how-the-uk-b…

@adam_tooze Excellent choice Adam. Polymath, brilliant historian & political commentator, economist and great taste in music to boot. 🙏.ps. For good measure was relistening to Crashed on audiobook today - still fascinated by the 2007/8 crash and great recession.

Freedom ‘25 Stunning reinterpretation of George Michael’s classic by the always brilliant Kae Tempest open.spotify.com/track/7IXAOzkE…

@fergalkeane47 Thank you Fergal and all. I'm sure this will be a very hard but unmissable and important viewing. 🙏

@Samfr @cjayanetti And it was an excellent and illuminating post so thank you both. Hope everything ok Sam after this week. 🙏

New post just out: Delighted to have a guest post today from the excellent @cjayanetti "The 'something for nothing myth" Why screaming headlines about the net contribution of immigrants and the low-paid are profoundly wrong. (£/free trial) samf.substack.com/p/the-somethin…

@gavinesler Excellent and well argued piece Gavin. Thank you. 🙏

@AllieRenison Wonderfully nerdy. I heartily approve and I'm sure it was worth every penny Alison. 🙏

I spent almost every week in Northern Ireland during #Brexit NI gets into your skin and it never really leaves you Personally bidding for this was worth it

@PJTheEconomist @HelenMiller_IFS A hard act to follow but best of luck Helen. And thank you and all the best in your new role Paul. I look forward to your continued comments and expertise on all things economics. 🙏

Thank you Helen. It has been a huge honour and privilege to work at IFS with the most brilliant and talented colleagues imaginable. Sad to be leaving but delighted that the wonderful @HelenMiller_IFS is taking over. I know she will take the IFS from strength to strength.

@glgerstle Thanks Gary. If there are any other resources (papers, recordings etc.) from the conference, please let us know. It looked fascinating and very timely. 🙏

Another terrific clip from the Cambridge #BeyondNeoliberalism conference 29-31 May

Iain is correct. We still live in the shadow of the financial crisis and collapse in growth that followed. Median earnings today are at least £10k below where they would have been if continued on previous 50 year trend. From that has followed a lot of our political dysfunction.

@iainmartin1 Excellent substack Iain and hard to disagree with any of it. The succession of crisis (Scottish independence, Brexit, COVID, Johnson /Truss) simply distracted from what was a seismic and era ending occurrence that we still haven't finished (end of the neoliberal era). 🙏

Available to read here. Plus, stop the boats or Farage becomes unstoppable. And on feeling sorry for young trans protestors who were misled by adults who should have known better. All that and more in my latest newsletter. open.substack.com/pub/reactionpo…

Britain’s economy and our politics were broken by the financial crisis. My latest newsletter for subscribers - on RBS and the ongoing impact of 2008…

@robertshrimsley Don't be so harsh on yourself Robert - he would have norksed the tea order up for sure!

On my new-found respect for Boris Johnson ft.com/content/a70890…

@edcmpbl Robert Jenrick has just kicked my door in and demanded I return my overdue library books. 😳

Having a lot of fun with these if anyone else wants to join in