What I'm reading and writing
Welcome to my Substack
If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with my work in The Times, where I am chief political commentator. You can find my column there every Thursday evening – or in Friday’s newspaper – and analysis most other days of the week, too. To read that, and much more from my colleagues, subscribe here: it’s only £3 for your first three months.
On Wednesdays you can hear me analyse Prime Minister’s Questions live on Times Radio and I’m also one of the hosts of The State of It, our political podcast. Unlike others, we don’t do pure punditry. Instead, we invite you to hear the conversations that inform our reporting – and tell you what the people who matter tell us, and each other.
Much like we do on the podcast, I’ll be using these notes to explain some of the context to my journalism. Save for weekly intrusions by Liverpool Football Club, I spend almost all of my time thinking and reading about politics – and the history that made the moment we’re living in.
Not all – not much – of what I read is directly relevant to what I write about the Labour government and the many dangers it faces. But it’s mostly about what happens when the political and economic systems we take for granted begin to break down, and what motivates people to challenge them. It’s also about power, how it’s wielded, and on whose behalf.
If you like the sound of that, this Substack will tell you what I’ve been reading and what it’s made me think about the here and now of British politics – and why I’ve written what I’ve written in The Times. This stuff will be free, and a little more left field than the rest of my output. But if you aren’t already, I recommend you take out a Times subscription to read the commentary and reporting it all informs across the week. You won’t regret it.