Starmer does this chattier stuff really well, (cf. the ITV Life Stories interview fairly early on in his leadership, the various podcasts he does), and Labour will try to make sure that's most of how we hear from him during this very long election campaign.

My column in the FT Weekend: we have a broader culture that prizes the importance of (or at least the performance of) 'authentic' communication. Some politicians are managing the transition better than others: ft.com/content/112ac3…

I cannot believe this quote. YOU wrote this farewell, Jonas.

Feels like only yesterday, the end of Jonas’ first season, we all chanted “we want you to stay” at Viv. Meadow Park would have been, what, half empty? Can’t believe we are moving to the Emirates fulltime without her.

Terrific piece on Cyril Ramaphosa's career and his last presidential campaign by Alec Russell: ft.com/content/cabeae…

Strange to trail this if you actually think you’re going to do it: though whether we should read this as getting-his-excuses-in-early or a plan for an earlier election than we expect is unclear: ft.com/content/a268da…

Putting the 'fun' in fundamentals: come for some thoughts on the ones shaping the 2024 election, stay for some entirely unwanted supposition about the 1970 one: ft.com/content/b5b914…