There's a Makerfield by-election poll from @JLPartnersPolls going around: This does not appear to be a voting intention poll, but primarily a focus group. Respondents were also asked their voting intention, but this doesn't seem to be a representative constituency poll 112 Makerfield residents were asked six open-ended questions, which included their views on areas and changes they wanted prioritised, and also asked voting intention Voting intention among respondents: Labour: 31.2% Reform: 30.4% Green: 10.7% Conservative: 10.7% Lib Dem: 3.6% Others: 13.4% Article: theguardian.com/politics/202…

It's hard to oversell this map - make sure to bookmark it and share it with your friends. Fantastic research that must have been soooo labour intensive: How has the population of evert single small geographic region across Europe changed from 1961 to 2024? You will want to study this map in detail. Source (keep scrolling for a while): correctiv.org/aktuelles/2026…

Alarming story from @georginaquach: At one UK university, the scramble to attract lucrative international students to the new London campus saw thousands admitted without the necessary English or academic skills, widespread use of ghostwriters, and fraudulent attendance logging

NEW: GB voting intention The Green Party overtakes the Liberal Democrats, powered by university graduates REF 27% (-4) CON 20% ( 1) LAB 20% (-3) GRN 14% ( 5) LDEM 12% (-) OTH 8% ( 2) Fieldwork: 2-5 March, 2,573 GB adults

Classic - ministers let students carry on importing relatives on particular course type, universities suddenly LOVING that course type

Bizarre editorial from @thetimes, whose leader writers seem increasingly scrambled by Reform. “The most promising unoccupied electoral space in British politics would combine a re-embrace of free market principles, while shunning populism in all of its economic and cultural forms.” Err? 🤨

Latest @JLPartnersPolls voting intention sees Reform reach their highest poll rating since September, following a wave of Conservative defections After losing momentum late last year, the party is back above 30%, signalling a renewed upward trend

Latest @JLPartnersPolls voting intention sees Reform reach their highest poll rating since September, following a wave of Conservative defections After losing momentum late last year, the party is back above 30%, signalling a renewed upward trend

(Models Available For Subscribers) Federal Polling: CPC: 42% ( 1) LPC: 41% (-3) BQ: 7% ( 1) NDP: 6% (-) GPC: 2% ( 1) PPC: 1% (-) Others: 1% Mainstreet / Dec 12, 2025 / n=1043 / Online (% Change w 2025 Federal Election) Visit @338Canada for polling details: 338canada.com

Are the Conservatives once again succumbing to Tory syndrome? The recent criticism of Pierre Poilievre from within conservative circles has to be understood through the lens of a recurring condition on the Canadian Right: what political scientist George Perlin famously coined the “Tory syndrome.” It’s an enduring impulse—part psychological, part political—that leads Conservatives to question and doubt their own leaders even when they’re succeeding. The Tory syndrome has deep roots in our political history. It’s the nagging sense among Conservatives that being too forceful or too popular somehow betrays the party’s deeper sense of itself as the defender of order, restraint, and moderation. From Robert Stanfield to Erin O’Toole, Conservative leaders have often faced as much hostility from inside their own tent as from outside it. The result is a pattern of self-doubt and internal critique that can sap the party’s confidence at moments of opportunity. That dynamic is playing out again. While Poilievre has maintained support at or near record levels—polling roughly where the party stood at the time of April’s election call—Conservatives have spent the week debating his tone, his tactics, and even his temperament. If you didn’t know any better, you’d mistakenly think the party’s support was collapsing instead of actually being tied or leading several polls. Meanwhile, the governing Liberals have been busy reversing themselves on one major issue after another. The latest about-face on bail reform follows reversals on carbon taxes, Canada Post’s operations, and more. At this point, the Carney government’s most notable accomplishments involve undoing Trudeau-era policies that elected and non-elected Liberals were defending mere months ago. Yet one doesn’t get the sense that Liberals are subjecting themselves to any comparable self-recrimination. One could say that the Conservatives’ higher standards for themselves and their leaders are admirable. They reflect a seriousness about ideas and institutions that stands in contrast to the Liberals’ reflexive opportunism. But as a matter of politics, it’s hard to see how this kind of infighting advances the Conservative Party’s core goal of winning the next election. The merger that created the modern Conservative Party in 2003 was supposed to mark the end of these old Tory complexes. It was meant to produce a confident, united party that could compete for power on its own terms. The past week’s sniping and self-doubt suggest that the Tory syndrome still lingers and that Conservatives haven’t yet fully given up their historic tendency toward internecine politics.