You never know, Reform are running a Hindu priest in North Harrow...

It's always been a Labour-Tory borough but Greens and Reform will eat into traditional vote share of both... although not sure if they can win any seats. We've also got Arise (pro-Gaza Independents) standing in one ward, and a few LDs on the ballot. I'm bowing out myself but following closely :)

As a councillor in Harrow, I genuinely wouldn't want to predict what happens here - not least because the Tory party have recently had to suspend two candidates for racism, one of whom was standing in a very marginal ward

Not surprised by this - Nathan Smith and Will Jackson have been close friends for years. It's appalling to think of them serving on Harrow Council together.

I don't think Seb Payne has remotely grasped that for young women these days, when they hear a man has 'right-wing views', they don't picture some Young Tory keen on fiscal conservatism (ie. a young Seb Payne), they picture a man who celebrates abusing women

Yes, it's a total false equivalence between what men and women are supposed to put up with. It's the whole "men are scared women will laugh at them, women are scared men will kill them" dynamic.

Amazing how the fact the US President is a rapist seems a fact of overwhelming importance to women (admittedly not those who voted for him, but everyone else) and just... not so much for men. It's not some kind of minor detail ffs

This is probably true - but also includes children and teenagers living in Reform-voting areas, and helping those kinds of young people, however they grow up to vote, is such a core part of what most people in Labour see as its mission

The one on the left blossomed for the first time this Spring... 🌸

If you can make it all the way to Zone 5, nothing beats the views from the top of Harrow on the Hill... it's a different world!

would be the kind of big adventure/ personal challenge/ exciting opportunity that would appeal to young men, but it was very hard to recruit an equal number of them. It did make me think younger women are just basically more adventurous and independent in a lot of ways than young men

When I volunteered in Africa on an (almost) fully funded govt scheme in my 20s, the majority of the volunteers were female. You'd think living in a remote African village for three months, with no running water or electricity

Genuinely, I think one of the most impactful things I've done in four years as a councillor is getting some more trees planted around the ward. All councillors have budgets for ward improvements, and it's pretty easy to get them spent on planting new trees. Write to your councillor about it today!

Very proud I managed to stop this guy becoming a Conservative councillor four years ago in Harrow-on-the-Hill - he's been an embarrassment to Harrow and a disgrace to the Conservative party ever since.

FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!

Always reminds of that Simone Weil quote: "Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

Yeah they needed to do this with landlords too WRT Renters Rights Bill

Get off Bluesky and write it :)

Do finish it - I'd like to read

It's amazing how much nuance he thinks he should be afforded when it comes to taking positions on difficult issues, and how little he seems to afford anyone else...

What Elon Has Done Elon Musk's destruction of USAID has faded from public consciousness in America, despite leaving death and destruction in its wake.

"the largest act of mass murder of this decade, and of this century so far, was not perpetrated by militaries or militias, but by the world's richest man in Washington D.C.'s Eisenhower Executive Office Building."

www.liberalcurrents.com/what-elon-ha...

It's very hard for me to work out what she came into politics to actually *do*. She seems to mostly enjoy engaging in discourse.

What a telling quote

He will also be 80 by the (most likely) time of the next election...

I don't know if you're genuinely interested in this, but not today - most people really do stick to local issues. But of course sometimes national ones come up. Have you ever been canvassing yourself? I'd recommend it as an insight into public opinion, whoever you're out supporting!

Position on what? Mainly talked about local issues to be honest

I've been out talking to the electorate all morning...

Yeah. Being a rapist wasn't disqualifying. Who knew.

I have to say, this one did make me laugh!

Really? What power could I possibly have over random ppl on Bluesky? It was more - I don't think we're going to find any common ground so let's leave it here. I don't have the energy or capacity to debate people online all day...