Politics – James Potts

Reflections From Labour Party Conference 2023 🌹

So as another Labour Party Conference concludes and as I make my way back to London, I’ve penned some thoughts on how it all went, which I’ve done in previous years.

Like last year, there was an buzz around conference, a quiet anticipation as the party faithful are buoyed by the upcoming election where we have a real shot of forming the next Government. There was lots of smiling delegates and a sense of optimism which was somehow higher than last year. In the last 12 months we’ve had the implosion of both the Conservatives and the SNP and with Labour doing well in the polls, this quiet optimism gave the conference a positive vibe.

The place was packed, which made getting into some events very difficult, which is a very nice problem to have. Apparently over 16,000 people were at the conference and I heard 1,000 of them were media and a further 2,000 corporate passes were sold. This shows just how seriously we are being taken as a party as a possible Government-in-waiting. This contrasts with tales I heard from Conservative conference a few days before where the exhibition hall was half empty.

The policies announced by the leadership are excellent, especially the housebuilding pledges which to me will help solve many other issues we face as a country. Building new homes across the land helps give people a chance to get on, yet we haven’t built enough as a country over the past few decades. I had to pinch myself that there was such a focus on the policies that I am passionate about, something which was missing from Rishi Sunak’s speech a week ago.

The other thing that struck me was the discipline and focus from pretty much everyone. This shows we are serious and responsible about the prospect of serving the public once again and hopefully it sends a signal that we are a serious alternative to the Tories.

Keir’s speech was superb, offering an inspirational and hopeful vision of the future, mixing in elements of his life with the vision of what the future might look like. I can’t help but feel the future I grew up with has been taken away over the past 13 years, so I fully subscribe to efforts to get that future back. Plus, Keir handled the protester incredibly well, which demonstrated to me that he is calm in a crisis, a very Prime Ministerial quality. A special mention too for the staff whose idea it was to sell “Sparkle with Starmer” T Shirts a few hours after the speech, bravo!

To the fringe events, one common theme from pretty much every organisation was that certainty and clarity are needed from Government, something which hasn’t happened under the chaos of the past few years under the Tories. Thankfully, Labour has promised to deliver stability if elected. This was true for a whole host of policies to enable businesses to invest and get our country on the up once again.

As ever, it was wonderful to see members of the Labour family, both new and old. What I love about conference is the chance to catch up with friends and make new ones from across the movement. Plus, I met my Young Fabian mentee in person for the first time and I even got recognised by a few people, which was really lovely!

My other highlights in brief include: speaking at the LabourList rally, our Young Fabian fringe and the very busy Fabian reception, having coffee with my face on, plus Lisa Nandy’s excellent Beer and Books event and what was probably my last appearance at the Labour Students Disco (I’m getting too old for that sort of thing!)

Until next year’s conference, unless there is a general election called for the autumn, I leave Liverpool feeling hopeful and excited for the challenges ahead. Bring it on!

Reflections from Labour Party Conference 2022

So another Labour Party Conference concluded today and as I penned some reflections on how last years conference went in Brighton, I thought I would do the same for Liverpool 2022, which was the first time I’d been back in that wonderful city since 2016. So how does this year compare to last year?

The first thing to note is the positivity, optimism and hope you could feel buzzing around. In my 11 years of being a member of the Labour Party, I hadn’t felt so optimistic for our party’s future. You could really sense we have a great chance of forming the next government. Plenty of veteran conference goes said to me how this was the best conference since 2010 when we were last in government and some compared it to the 1993/1994 conference when the tide first turned towards Labour before the 1997 election.

There was also a lot more unity from most people there who recognised the positive transformation the party has undergone in the past two years. If anything last year’s conference focussed on internal matters as we sorted our own house out. But this year there was a shift as we look to the electorate to say Labour is back, you can trust us once more with you vote, your money and your country. I was delighted to see us united by a common purpose of winning elections and getting into office. This to me is the mission of the Labour Party. There was also some excellent policy announcements from the Shadow Cabinet which demonstrate how we want to change the country for the better, such as the housing policies announced by Lisa Nandy.

Watching Keir’s speech being screened in the auditorium, I was impressed by the vision and the policies he set out for the future, the announcement of Great British Energy, a publicly owned company, the message of “country first, party second” was very welcome and his pitch to Leave voters who no longer vote for us was clear. All of these are welcome as we head back towards government. Keir also reminded us to remain focussed and disciplined on the task at hand. We cannot be complacent despite the mess the Tories are getting our country into, we still need to win the public’s trust and ensure we do not lose it. We might not have won a general election yet, however, I enjoyed the good feelings I got from this weekend, something I’m not used to as a Labour member!

“I’m back in Liverpool and everything seems the same…”

As always it was delightful to see many friends from across the Labour movement as well as meeting many new ones. Arriving there direct from a friends’ wedding in Poland on Sunday afternoon, I spent my conference floating around and bumping into lots of people, grabbing quick chats to catch up. Many of them asked how my train journey was and I did enjoy the surprise on their faces when I replied saying “I didn’t, I flew in from Krakow!”

I attended a few of the fringes and receptions too. My highlights this year were the Labour in Communications social on the Sunday evening, accidentally ending up in the very fancy International & Business reception followed by the packed Fabian reception on the Monday, our Young Fabians fringe on the Tuesday morning and the welcome return of the Labour Students Disco to top things off on Tuesday night (where Things Can Only Get Better was played four separate times before I made my exit at 4am). Plus those who know me well will know how thrilled I was to bump into Richard Osman and grab a photo with him!

In summary, it was a fantastic conference, easily my favourite and as we head home to our respective communities across the land, the message we bring with us is loud and clear, Labour is back and it means business!

Why I Love Polling Day So Much 🗳️

Yesterday was polling day in the local council elections. Every council seat in London was up for re-election as well as thousands of others across the country. I booked the day off work and spent around 11 hours speaking to voters and volunteering for the Labour Party across four boroughs in the capital. I absolutely love polling day, but why? Why do I book my precious annual leave to speak to strangers on their doorsteps?

Well firstly, I’d say it’s to do with the fact I love elections. Watching the results come in as I write this reminds me of how important elections are and I want to play my part in bringing about change. Polling day is the best opportunity to do that because it’s the day people can make a difference by voting. While the previous weeks and months have also been spent speaking to voters, polling day is when it really matters, so we must have as many activists as possible so we can help win votes. Without this, watching the results would be a much more bleak affair!

But where do all those activists go once they’ve booked the day off? Well, activists congregate in the slightly confusingly termed “Committee Room”. This is usually a fellow activist’s house, often near one of the polling stations, which has been taken over by piles of leaflets, red ring binders with the sheets with the voting data on and a generous helping of refreshments. It serves as a base for party activists to gather and be sent out on a round of door-knocking, as well as a place to have a break before going back out again. An empty committee room is a good one because it means all of your activists are knocking on doors and getting the vote out. Some volunteers bring back the telling data from the polling stations and input that which means we have fewer doors to knock on as the day goes on. One committee room even got the iron out in the December 2019 General Election to iron the sheets of paper with the data that had become soaked in the rain (this really works at drying them out!) So here’s to the committee room, the focal point for each local campaign. Plus the people who give up their houses for the day are true heroes of our movement, without them, we’d be lost!

A montage from the four boroughs I canvassed in on polling day (Wandsworth, Richmond, Camden and Barnet)

Meeting other activists from across the party is one of the best things about the day. United by a shared sense of purpose, I’ve met so many great people over the years who all want Labour to win. More often than not, you never see those people again, but for that hour or two when you’re out on the doors together, you’re joined by that mission for the party to do well. Bonus if you happen to be out campaigning with one of your friends! With the glorious sunshine yesterday, it was a real pleasure to meet people in Wandsworth, Richmond, Camden and Barnet. I’m a big fan of “running the board” and gathering that data and speaking to the public is actually a lot of fun. Pretty much every door you knock on will also be someone who has previously said they would vote Labour, so you have to keep plugging away, even when it got past 9pm last night when I was still knocking on doors in Barnet. Getting those last few votes out could make all the difference and it’s excellent to do it with great people from across the party.

You are also a tiny part of a much larger event. It’s impossible when you’re on the ground to get a real sense of how things are going. But knowing that your Labour colleagues are also campaigning is so reassuring. When you look on Twitter, I feel proud to see so many great people I know also doing the same right across the country. This goes back to the shared sense of purpose I spoke of earlier, it makes me feel so happy to be a part of something much bigger than myself, even if there’s no way of truly knowing how things are going until the votes are counted.

For me, Labour is at its absolute best when it’s polling day. Our focus is solely on speaking to voters and winning votes, which is what we’re all about and it’s excellent to see so many people give up their time to help the party get elected. I’m just a tiny bit sad that it’s 364 days until the next one!

Reflections from Labour Party Conference 2021

Given I’ve had a hectic few days in Brighton at Labour Party Conference, I thought I’d share some short reflections on what was for me, a huge success.

We’re moving on as a party and I very much got the impression that many left Brighton feeling enthused after a positive few days. It was so great to see so many friends and meet many new ones from across the party. Since it was my first conference since 2016, I knew so many more people from across the Labour family that I did five years ago, this meant I couldn’t walk for more than thirty seconds on the seafront without waving, smiling, nodding or giving a thumbs up to someone I know, which was so good and energising, especially seen as I hadn’t seen many of them since the pandemic started or I had only met them on Zoom.

Given I only had a Complex pass, I made the most of floating around the fringe instead of being in the hall. There were some really excellent and positive events, rallies and receptions, which I walked away from feeling positive that we’re back in business. It was also good to prop up the bar until the early hours chatting with so many good friends, plus LabourList Karaoke on the Monday night (you’ll be gutted to hear that I didn’t get to do my rendition of We Didn’t Start The Fire by Billy Joel, which I had been practising for!) But in these conversations I picked up on the this positivity. My other personal highlights was getting a copy of Ed Miliband’s book signed, chatting to Lisa Nandy (who remembered me from her leadership campaign), attending a Centre for Cities reception inside the beautiful Brighton Pavilion, going to a BBQ on the beach and of course attending all the Young Fabians events that we ran.

Some out there would look to say it wasn’t that inspiring and indeed there was some attempts to derail the conference. The resignation of Andy McDonald, the hecklers of Keir’s speech (who frankly made an embarrassment of themselves, particularly when he was speaking about his dying mother) if anything only strengthened the contrast between this era of Labour and the last. This I hope will play well with the public who can see that we have changed as a party and we’re committed to getting back into Government. I would also argue that mid-term is a good time to get our own house in order, and Keir’s rule changes did just that.

No doubt there was a lot of pressure on the party going into the conference. But the policy announcements from the Shadow Cabinet were good and should be repeated in the coming weeks and months to solidify them in the minds of the public. The £28bn a year to tackle climate change being one of the most notable. Louise Ellman re-joining the party was also a huge demonstrable step that we’re moving the in the right direction. Keir’s speech (which I was in the room for) was credible, sets out his vision and some of the policies we would enact when we get back into power and it spoke to the country as well as the party faithful. I’m so glad he spoke about the positives from the last Labour government, we did a lot of good when we were last in power and for a decade, we’ve been too shy to talk about our previous successes. I also don’t buy the argument it was too long, if anything I’m glad he took his time to set out his vision and tell some of his story.

So, I think we should forget the haters, this was a huge success and I’m looking forward to continuing to work hard to get Labour back into power so we can transform the country for the better.

JP

Thoughts on the 2021 Local Elections

As the results are rolling in (and I’m struggling to sleep despite campaigning for 11 hours and walking over 27,000 steps yesterday), I’ve had a number of thoughts swirling round my head about these local elections and the state of UK politics more widely that I thought it’d be best to get those thoughts down and then out there. So here goes…

Brexit/UKIP vote was splitting the Tory vote, this is no longer the case. Many other Labour seats are now at risk. Brexit, plus Jeremy’s leadership and our unrealistic manifesto led to our huge loss in 2019. UKIP and the then the Brexit Party has split the Labour vote in it’s former heartlands at every election since 2015. This has been the gateway for many of those people to vote Tory in 2019. However, the Brexit Party’s vote did still split the Tories enough for Labour to hang on in a number of seats, including Hartlepool. Now, with Brexit done, those voters have not returned to Labour and instead are voting Tory. This puts numerous seats at risk, including the 38 where the 2019 vote of the Tory and Brexit Party combined beats the Labour vote. MPs like Lisa Nandy, Ed Miliband and Yvette Cooper are all at high risk if there was to be a general election. Our strategy must be to defend these seats in the coming years.

Johnson is incredibly popular. Until he leaves 10 Downing Street, Labour is pretty screwed. Since being London Mayor he appeals to many who wouldn’t usually vote Tory. Despite his background and poshness, people like that he’s patriotic and speaks his mind. His bumbling persona also appeals to people in the Midlands and the North. While his shouting as PMQs could be interpreted as a disgrace to many, others will see it as a sign of strength. While the “bodies piled high” comment was recently seen as him “just being frustrated” according to a YouGov poll. The public allow Johnson a degree of sympathy which no other politician seems to have. This means we need a new way to beat him but I struggle to see how Labour can cut through this. Johnson’s “get Brexit done” message was clear and people were willing to vote for him to see if he can “level up” parts of the North. If he fails, however, don’t expect those votes to automatically come back to Labour. We have to demonstrate we have changed and we can be trusted again.

I will also say that no one else in the Tory Party can replicate this kind of magnetism, so until Johnson leaves, Labour will struggle to breakthrough.

2019 was a Tory Government reset. Forget the idea that they have been in power for 11 years. This is a new Government which is just over a year old. Johnson has successfully separated the Coalition and Theresa May’s tenures from his own in the eyes of the public. This means the mantra about the Conservatives being in power for 11 years is factually correct, many people just don’t see it that way.

The Left’s lack of loyalty to the Labour Party is so disappointing. Voting for other parties will only split the left. We care about the same values of social justice, yet the lack of people I saw out campaigning in Islington North (where we have thousands of members, supposedly) was so, so disappointing. I’ve campaigned in the sunshine and the rain for a decade now regardless of who was leader or how they were doing. My loyalty is to the party because of the values it has. Just because the party shifts to the left or to the centre doesn’t mean you should rip up your membership card. It only plays into the Tories hands if you back the Greens, or any of the myriad of small socialist parties which are never going to win an election. So to those out there, sniping against the leadership, calling him “Keith” etc, get on board. This Civil War in the Labour Party has to end. Now.

Having said that, I think we’re at our absolute best when we’re out campaigning together, not slagging each other off on Twitter. I’ve seen it countless times before, we may disagree on this policy or how the leadership is doing but when we’re out there and we’ve got a labour sticker on our chest and we’re clutching a pile of leaflets, that’s all totally forgotten. We have the same values and that’s what should be driving us, otherwise the Tories will keep winning, simple.

The Labour Party, including the current leadership, needs to stop making grand claims of “transformation, 100,000s of jobs and billions of pounds”. Gareth Snell made this point recently on the Young Fabian’s podcast. Saying these statements just isn’t tangible to people and means we’re making the same mistake as 2019 in making unrealistic promises. In the USA, Joe Biden’s successful strategy of campaign as a moderate, govern as a radical is something to be emulated. The public still don’t trust us on the economy and making these claims is doing nothing positive. Our manifestos should be more local and humble in their approach, with actual policies that the public can hold us to. I think the pledge card with those five polices on from 1997 works for this reason. By 2015, Ed’s pledge card had stuff like “An NHS with time to care”. This means nothing. What would have worked would have been “10,000 more nurses and doctors” for example. Make it believable and maybe the public might believe it.

So there’s my thoughts. We need to come together to beat the Tories, otherwise we’re doomed to be in opposition for a very, very long time. As I’ve been writing the Hartlepool result has come in and there’s a near total transfer of the Brexit Party vote to the Tories. Let’s hope the next two days of results aren’t a total bloodbath…

Meet The Exec – Treasurer

This blog originally appeared on the Young Fabians Blog following my election as Treasurer where I talk about why I got inspired to get involved in politics and my plans for the year ahead:

I was first inspired to get into politics when I got involved with my school council back home in Wolverhampton. As chair, I brought benches to the playground, reformed the council and introduced a new sixth form uniform. All of this showed me the change that can be achieved when you get involved and work with others. Several years later and I got involved with the Young Fabians not long after I moved to London in 2015. It’s been a great way to drill down into policy issues and meet so many brilliant like-minded activists, many of whom are now good friends.

My role this year as Treasurer sees me responsible for the financial side of YF. This includes fundraising to fund our work, including our pamphlets and reports as well as ensuring the books are balanced.

My goal this year is to get YF onto a firmer financial footing by bringing in a stable income through our Friends of the Young Fabians scheme. This is a regular donation to the Young Fabians so we can carry on our work. It was set up last year but I really hope to grow it in the coming months.

I also aim to raise extra funds through events such as our famous boat party (if we’re allowed) and other events like quizzes. I hope all of this will ensure we have a regular income stream topped up by the money raised at events so we can cover our regular outgoings plus the costs associated with our pamphlets.

If you want to get in touch with me, especially if you have any fundraising ideas, email me at james.potts@youngfabians.org.uk or follow me on Twitter @JamesPotts.

Why Do Prisoners Struggle To Sleep And Why Should We Care?

The Young Fabians recently held a writing competition, which I entered with the below piece on prisons and sleep. This stems from the Politics of Sleep blog I published a couple of months ago.

Although it wasn’t shortlisted, I’m still proud of this piece and thought I’d share it on my personal blog. I hope you enjoy reading – JP

Prisons can be noisy places. Prisoners who do not get regular, quality sleep are at risk of damage to their health and psychological well-being.

Many factors in prison mitigate against a good night’s sleep. In many prisons, small cells were built in the Victorian era to house one man, now house two. They serve as a place to eat, sleep, defecate and pass (in some cases) up to 22 hours a day^[1]. The Victorian prison estate is dilapidated. Cells can be stifling in summer and freezing in winter. They may also house vermin, contravening minimum standards agreed by the UN^[2].

It’s not just their cells that are a problem. The typical budget for feeding an adult male prisoner is £2.02^[3]. Dinner is often served early in the evening, causing prisoners to go to bed hungry, which also means they struggle to sleep.

Four in ten prisoners^[4] have diagnosed mental health conditions and 15% are substance addicted^[5]. These inmates are likely to be housed on the same wings as the general population. These inmates are likely, in their anxiety and struggle, to be noisy.

While it’s true that some prisoners can nap during the day, the quality of this sleep is poor: the lights are on plus there’s the noise and bustle of the prison. Good quality sleep is fundamental to health. Sleep protects our body from illness and allows it to recover: it is nature’s wonder drug but, all too often, is totally ignored by policymakers.

In his book Why We Sleep, Dr Matthew Walker outlines the negative health effects of not getting enough sleep including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor metabolisms, weakened immune systems, depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s Disease.

There are two main categories of sleep. We first fall into a deep sleep called non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and we shift to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as morning approaches. REM sleep is where we do most of our dreaming. The brain transfers short term memories from the hippocampus to the cortex for long term storage during the deep NREM sleep. If this is interrupted, that memory transfer can be compromised affecting that person’s memory^[6].

Impaired or insecure memory could impact on inmates’ legal cases, their ability to take advantage of education or training opportunities in prison, and their ability to regulate their behaviour. Deprivation of NREM sleep has also been linked to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and ADHD[7].

Prisons should be places of rehabilitation. The fact that over half of those leaving prison reoffend within a year suggests prisons are not giving offenders the tools they need to rebuild their lives.

The last Prisons Act dates from 1952. The composition, size and needs of our prison population is vastly different to 70 years ago. Prison reform is overdue. It must provide for new, fit for purpose buildings, an explicitly stated rehabilitative purpose, therapeutic interventions, real educational opportunities and work readiness programmes as well as a focus on wellbeing that would recognise the need for a good night’s sleep.

Prisoners are deprived of their liberty. We should not be depriving them of their long-term health or their memories. If society is serious about giving prisoners a second chance, we need to ensure they get a proper night’s sleep.

References

^[1] P3 HM Inspectorate of Prisons “Life in prison: Living conditions” https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/10/Findings-paper-Living-conditions-FINAL-.pdf [Accessed 24/7/20]

^[2] P9 ibid

^[3] P4 HM Inspectorate of Prisons “Life in prison: Food” https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/09/Life-in-prison-Food-Web-2016.pdf [Accessed 24/7/20]

^[4] P119 HM Inspectorate of Prisons “Annual Report 2018-19” https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/07/6.5563_HMI-Prisons-AR_2018-19_WEB_FINAL_040719.pdf [Accessed 24/7/20]

^[5] Bulman, May “Twice as many prisoners developing drug problems as five years ago, figures show” The Independent 20/1/20 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-drug-problem-jail-uk-illicit-substances-reform-a9288616.html [Accessed 24/7/20]

^[6] P113 Walker, Matthew (2018) “Why We Sleep”. Penguin Books

[7] P91 ibid

The Politics of Sleep

I recently read one of the most informative books I’ve ever picked up. “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker is excellent and I’d highly recommend it.

But this got me thinking about how we spend a third of our time sleeping, yet it’s hardly discussed in policy making. So what does the politics of sleep actually look like?

We often think of sleep as something to be marginalised and squeezed. We glorify those working long hours such as stockbrokers. Thatcher and Reagan were both famous for working on little sleep.

They are not alone, millions of us either choose not to or struggle to enough shuteye on a regular basis. We’re often watching TV, out socialising or drinking or worse idling browsing social media in bed instead of getting sleep. Let’s be honest, we’ve all done it!

The book talks about the various science behind sleep and the biological implications this has before zooming out to focus on the societal impacts. But the overarching message of the book it to ensure you get around eight hours of sleep a night. Failure to do so regularly can have alarming implications both in the short and long term and if I were you I’d check out the book if you want to find out the details.

But it’s the societal impacts I want to focus on here. Firstly, the economic impacts are huge. According to the book, insufficient sleep costs us 1.9% of our GDP each year in lost productivity, which is the equivalent of $40bn. I’m sure you’ll agree this isn’t an insignificant account. One specific way productivity is lost is that sleep loss affects our memory. During sleep, our brains transfer the memories from that day to a deeper part of the brain for long term storage. Not getting enough sleep stops that from happening as well and can subsequently affect how much we remember the next day.

How do we address this? Well one way is through flexible working, something we’re already heading towards and we should continue to encourage companies to adopt such a policy. Walker describes how there are two types of people, Morning Larks (of which I am one) and Night Owls. Because our circadian rhythms (which tell our bodies when it’s time to sleep) are different, the times in which we are most productive alters. Morning larks peak in the late morning, before slumping slightly in the the afternoon, and night owls peak late in the afternoon. This should be reflected in the hours we work across all sectors so we can help maximize employee productivity.

Additionally, those working at night are damaging their health by going against those natural circadian rhythm. Those people are also more likely to be in low paid jobs such as cleaners. Our society needs to take a look at this. It’s a myth, dispelled in the book, that you can always make up sleep afterwards and the long term effects of not getting enough sleep are stark.

Sleep loss has been linked with a range of different medical issues which are outlined in the book. But to give you an idea, these include: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor metabolisms leading to weight gain, worse immune systems, depression, anxiety and Alzheimer’s Disease. Just going back to Thatcher and Reagan, both of them might have slept little but they went on to develop dementia in later life.

All of this further impacts on our healthcare system, putting it under greater strain and costs billions a year to deal with. Often the best way to prevent these issues is to ensure we get a proper nights sleep. It’s the free wonder drug we never talk or think about and we hinder our own bodies ability to heal, repair and protect itself by not getting enough sleep. This needs to change.

Sleep deprivation is also a major factor in the number of car crashes that occur each year. We spent a lot of money telling people not to drink and drive and hardly any public awareness is given to sleeping at the wheel. Yet more people die from drowsiness while driving than alcohol. Walker deliberately calls them crashes and not accidents as it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure they are not driving when they have not had enough sleep.

One interesting part of the book talked about how teenagers have a later circadian rhythm for that period of their life. This partly accounts for their moody behaviour. If woken up too early, it’s the equivalent of waking an adult at 5am, which I’m sure most of us wouldn’t be happy about! As such, education policy should focus on starting secondary and university education later in the day to help increase learning. Shifting school start times to after 9am or as late as possible would hugely help, especially if your teenager has to be up super early in order to get ready and travel a long way to school. Their academic attainment is greatly improved by proper sleep.

Similarly, Walker debunks the myth that you can pull an all-nighter before an exam and nail it. Your memory works best when you have a proper nights sleep and your brain after an all-nighter is basically a sieve, so little of what you learn actually goes in. Sorry Freshers!

Turning to the world of medicine, some of the most sleep deprived people in society are often our medical professionals, who face long, tough shifts with people’s lives literally in their hands. If you’ve read Adam Kay’s This Is Going To Hurt, then you’ll know how bad it can be. This needs to be looked at urgently as tired doctors and nurses can make more mistakes, which can have deadly consequences.

One area I’ve thought sleep could make a difference is in prisons. The stereotypical image of a prison is of open cells with bars and the ability for inmates to hear each other. This means they get less sleep if one inmate is being particularly noisy. This damages their health and can limit their rehabilitation and eventual reintroduction into society. For example, I mentioned earlier that sleep loss affects your memory. You’re your less likely to remember details of your case if you’re continually deprived of sleep. There should be a greater emphasis on ensuring prisoners get a full nights sleep if we are serious about giving them a second chance.

In conclusion, policy makers shouldn’t be afraid to discuss sleep and as a society we need to stop glorifying those who deliberately deprive themselves of sleep. It is missing from the political lexicon almost completely, which is astounding given we should spend a third of our lives doing it. Indeed the book mentions two avoidable human disasters which were caused by sleep deprivation, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. Both of these could have been prevented by proper sleep.

At the end of the day, our waking day isn’t ignored by policy makers, so why should our slumber be?

It’s 2024. Dominic Cumming’s Actions Still Matter. Here’s Why…

It’s April 2024. Keir Starmer takes a sip of water as the glare of the camera and the heat of the stage lights blast down. His opponent, Boris Johnson, is off waving his arms. Huw Edwards then turns to him, asking him why the British public shouldn’t trust the Tories. He takes a short pause, leans forward on the podium, looks ahead and says just two words: “Dominic Cummings”.

A lot has changed in the four years since Starmer became leader. But a huge amount of damage to the public’s trust in the Conservatives was done years ago, back in spring 2020, not long after he’d been elected. It was during the Covid-19 pandemic which locked down the UK for several weeks, during which time Mr Johnson’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings, breached lockdown rules to take a trip to his parent’s farm in Durham to isolate and to have his son looked after by extended family. He did this rather than sticking to his own government’s advice to “Stay at Home”. While there was significant backlash and anger, the news cycle and the papers moved on after a few days and Mr Cummings survived the storm. However, it was foolish for the Tories to believe that this hadn’t done long-term damage.

“The North Remembers” is one way to look at it. Johnson won a huge majority in the 2019 election by getting a lot of midland and northern voters to switch from Labour, punching holes in the “Red Wall”. However, that trust which was placed in them only lasted a few months when it was broken by Dominic Cumming’s self-determined decision to head to Durham despite having Covid-19 symptoms. This came after millions of people had made tremendous personal sacrifices in the light of the virus. The line “one rule for them, another for you” was all over the 2024 election material, and with good reason.

However, this isn’t the first time that an incident from years before has come to affect the next election. David Cameron famously brandished the “There is no money left” letter in the 2015 election, despite making headline news when it was discovered in the Treasury back in 2010. To correct the record the letter is traditionally a joke between outgoing and incoming Chancellors, only for the Lib Dems to not see the funny side when they entered the coalition and found the letter. The rest is history and Labour wasn’t trusted on the economy for longer than might have been. Going back further, the economic credibility of the 1992 Tory Government was shattered after Black Wednesday when John Major and his Chancellor, Norman Lamont, pulled the UK out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism after spending over £3 billion in one day in an attempt to keep us in. The Tories’ credibility took many years to recover.

These incidents matter because they affect a change in the public psyche. Most people don’t pay a huge amount of attention to politics, but big incidents like this make people sit up and take note. The days of headlines, the Daily Mail turning on Cummings and Johnson, his extraordinary press conference where he tried to justify his actions, the 60 Tory MPs who spoke publicly to condemn them and the effect it had on the polls at the time show this issue had real cut through and made people angry. Particularly given that many suffered from losing loved ones whom they couldn’t say goodbye to or had struggled with COVID and childcare themselves but abided by the rules. As a result, the public didn’t forget about big incidents like this, they remember and this will have consequences at the 2024 election.

Maybe the Tories were willing to sacrifice a few of their MPs in the north and midlands down the line to keep their chief strategist in post and to stay in power, it wouldn’t be surprising. However, as Boris Johnson replies defending his closest adviser, blustering as he usually does, Keir Starmer smiles a little. He knows deep down that this time, the British public isn’t buying it.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle Has Been a Breath of Fresh Air in the Chair. Here’s Way.

This piece originally appeared on the Young Fabians blog on the 19th May 2020 and it can be read here.

Having patiently waited in the wings for the best part of a decade, Sir Lindsay Hoyle has made quietly made an impressive start to his tenure as Speaker. His pledge to bring calm to the Chamber, choosing his battles wisely and opting not to rile the Government has meant he’s been a breath of fresh air in the chair.

Compared to his predecessor, John Bercow, who tended to relish a fight with the Government, drag out interruptions and Points of Order and theatrically exaggerate member’s names, all of which did him no favours, Hoyle calls them with a swift no nonsense approach which is really rather refreshing. It’s this more serious and businesslike approach, dealing with members with “humour and a quiet word” that shows his eagerness to get through business. Don’t be fooled though, he also isn’t afraid to be tough and cut off members for taking too long (an essential skill for any Speaker). His vast experience as Deputy Speaker really shows in these situations and was a key part of him getting elected when he asked members to judge him by his record in the chair. Hoyle also hasn’t disclosed how he voted in the EU Referendum, which is key as it shows he is keen to be as an arbiter of proceedings.

He also appeared to be continuing some of the reforming agenda started by Bercow, but in the light of the Coronavirus crisis, he has led the way. For example, bringing hybrid meetings so that Parliamentary scrutiny of the Government can continue has been a huge step forward. At the time of writing the technology has worked reasonably well and fingers crossed it continues to do so. Remote voting has also being successfully implemented, which has been made necessary to continue business as social distancing is going to be around for a while. This is a much overdue reform and allows Members who are not able to be in the Commons in person to still participate and vote. If these changes are made permanent, it would be a huge step forward in how the Commons works.

These changes are a massive alteration in the way the house operates, dragging it from the 19th Century up to date and they could be made permanent so that members can attend and vote remotely going forward. But he is also keen to promote the rights of Parliament, which was arguably one of Bercow’s better qualities. Hoyle will hopefully continue to grant Urgent Questions to the same level going forward. The Speaker’s role is to be Parliament’s champion and Speaker Hoyle has made a good start. Let’s hope it continues.

James Potts is a Young Fabian and Chair of the Young Fabian Devolution & Local Government Network.

Follow him on Twitter @JamesPotts