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Wherever you stand on the Starmer government, it’s safe to say that their communications strategy hasn’t been the greatest success. Starmer’s approval rating, based on my weekly “poll of pals” in our local pub (which can’t be seen as statistically significant, mind you), went into the negative around the time he announced the decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance (since partially reversed) and it has bumped along at very low levels pretty much ever since.
Rohan McWilliam, a historian of the Labour party, puts Starmer’s first year in context. Unlike its predecessors, his government appears characterised by caution instead of transformation – and by doing some remarkably un-Labour things. However, while Starmer may have failed to really spell out his sense of purpose, similar accusations have been made against every Labour prime minister. And all this obscures some genuine successes. Our author concludes Starmer may well look better in hindsight, although that message will give him little comfort right now.
It was all so different when Tony Blair swept into office in 1997. Looking on from Australia, where I lived at the time, New Labour represented Cool Britannia, Britpop ruled the world and it felt like the new prime minister was rarely seen in public without a pop star on his arm. Well apparently we’re in for a Britpop summer again in 2025 with Oasis, Pulp and a host of their contemporaries on tour again. Or maybe that’s all just a cynical marketing ploy to sell overpriced tickets to the middle-aged?
Unusually for Britain, what seems more certain right now is the weather, with another bout of sunshine on the way next week. Plus there’s cricket on telly, and strawberries and cream at Wimbledon. There’s something so quintessentially elegant, timeless and summery about sportspeople in white.
I’m pleased to report that The Conversation hosted a fascinating and well-attended discussion with Newcastle University this week on youth, masculinity and the political divide. Among many other insights, we heard from academics and young people about how the changing industrial base of Tyneside had affected how men, especially young men, see themselves and their place in society. In an era where our identities are no longer as clearly defined and navigating the journey into manhood is more complicated, it’s a particularly important discussion.
And for your weekly health roundup: what exercise is best for fat loss and other important fitness questions answered, how you can use something called "self-determination theory" to boost your wellbeing, plus everything you need to know about scopolamine – or “devil’s breath” – which some unscrupulous people are using to spike people’s drinks.
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