Cam Vargas
@camvargas.bsky.social
Strategy, comms, delivery at Labour Together | 🇵🇪🇬🇧 | COYI ⚒️
Reposted by Cam Vargas
🚨🚨 NEW BLOGPOST 🚨🚨
The right wing should be worried about young men. Unlike Europe and the US, British young men are swinging wildly behind progressive parties. Some thoughts on why, and why most of the right are ignoring it.
open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
The right wing should be worried about young men. Unlike Europe and the US, British young men are swinging wildly behind progressive parties. Some thoughts on why, and why most of the right are ignoring it.
open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
The Revolt of the Young Men?
Britain's second wokest cohort might surprise you
open.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 7:55 AM
🚨🚨 NEW BLOGPOST 🚨🚨
The right wing should be worried about young men. Unlike Europe and the US, British young men are swinging wildly behind progressive parties. Some thoughts on why, and why most of the right are ignoring it.
open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
The right wing should be worried about young men. Unlike Europe and the US, British young men are swinging wildly behind progressive parties. Some thoughts on why, and why most of the right are ignoring it.
open.substack.com/pub/joxleywr...
Reposted by Cam Vargas
Terrific report on that by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social for Labour Together, this:
Build the rail! Save the snails! — Labour Together
Why does British infrastructure cost so much? This paper, by economist Dan Davies, argues that Britain’s adversarial planning system forces developers to gold-plate solutions to hypothetical problems....
www.labourtogether.uk
January 28, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Terrific report on that by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social for Labour Together, this:
x.com/Tesla_Muffin lol this is his alt... which explains a *lot*
Tesla Muffin (@Tesla_Muffin) / X
Tesla Muffin (@Tesla_Muffin) / X
x.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:23 PM
x.com/Tesla_Muffin lol this is his alt... which explains a *lot*
Related-ish - we polled banning MPs from having second jobs. *Unbelievably* popular, especially with Reform voters...
January 13, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Related-ish - we polled banning MPs from having second jobs. *Unbelievably* popular, especially with Reform voters...
Excellent thread and piece by JP
The renaissance in local news is an exciting trend driven by online platforms. And one of the largest of these, @millmedia.bsky.social, was founded by @joshih.bsky.social in Manchester in 2020. It has now expanded to over 200,000 people subscribed across its 6 cities; over 13,000 of these pay.
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January 8, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Excellent thread and piece by JP
Reposted by Cam Vargas
It’s crazy to me there’s not been *one* decent intervention by a senior politician on AI, what it’s for, should be about and our society. Unless I missed it? It’s just people saying ‘productivity’ and ‘jobs’ with literally no thought, thinking or ideas. But then I suppose same on everything.
December 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
It’s crazy to me there’s not been *one* decent intervention by a senior politician on AI, what it’s for, should be about and our society. Unless I missed it? It’s just people saying ‘productivity’ and ‘jobs’ with literally no thought, thinking or ideas. But then I suppose same on everything.
The results are in lads
November 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
The results are in lads
Reposted by Cam Vargas
How could I forget, here's the UK version
November 26, 2025 at 8:23 AM
How could I forget, here's the UK version
Reposted by Cam Vargas
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
November 23, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The fact that in both 2019 and 2024, the winning party did so with a set of manifesto promises that could not be kept and dissolved upon contact with actual office is something that as an industry we should be much more bothered by than we are.
Reposted by Cam Vargas
Yesterday, we put out a report on the most important issues to voters.
We know that immigration now tops the traditional most important issues question (see below from @yougov.co.uk).
But that doesn't tell the full story.
Here is a rundown of the experiments we did to test this out (A THREAD):
We know that immigration now tops the traditional most important issues question (see below from @yougov.co.uk).
But that doesn't tell the full story.
Here is a rundown of the experiments we did to test this out (A THREAD):
November 17, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Yesterday, we put out a report on the most important issues to voters.
We know that immigration now tops the traditional most important issues question (see below from @yougov.co.uk).
But that doesn't tell the full story.
Here is a rundown of the experiments we did to test this out (A THREAD):
We know that immigration now tops the traditional most important issues question (see below from @yougov.co.uk).
But that doesn't tell the full story.
Here is a rundown of the experiments we did to test this out (A THREAD):
Top top work here from @cwp-weir.bsky.social
As immigration dominates the brief this morning, here’s my two cents on the salience vs. the importance of the issue:
labourlist.org/2025/11/immi...
(Full report linked below - Many thanks to @emmaburnell.bsky.social!!)
labourlist.org/2025/11/immi...
(Full report linked below - Many thanks to @emmaburnell.bsky.social!!)
'Bread, circuses, and polling errors: Are we truly measuring what matters?' - LabourList
Pollsters who ask questions that add nuance are rewarded with a richer look at the public’s outlook argues Labour Together's Calum Weir.
labourlist.org
November 16, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Top top work here from @cwp-weir.bsky.social
Reposted by Cam Vargas
This is an interesting piece but I just read it going “the missing bit is the section on how the internet has fried everyone’s brains”.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Buxton: Why one small town with very little immigration turned to Reform UK
How national concerns affected a local election in the heart of the Peak District.
www.bbc.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:26 AM
This is an interesting piece but I just read it going “the missing bit is the section on how the internet has fried everyone’s brains”.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Cam Vargas
The map below shows how far behind France and Germany we are in mass transit. In France, every place with over 150,000 people has some form of tram or metro.
But if mayoral areas can 'become builders' as @tracybrabinmayorwy.bsky.social puts it in the foreword, we can turn this around.
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But if mayoral areas can 'become builders' as @tracybrabinmayorwy.bsky.social puts it in the foreword, we can turn this around.
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October 9, 2025 at 7:10 AM
The map below shows how far behind France and Germany we are in mass transit. In France, every place with over 150,000 people has some form of tram or metro.
But if mayoral areas can 'become builders' as @tracybrabinmayorwy.bsky.social puts it in the foreword, we can turn this around.
🧵
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But if mayoral areas can 'become builders' as @tracybrabinmayorwy.bsky.social puts it in the foreword, we can turn this around.
🧵
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Reposted by Cam Vargas
A few weeks back, I wrote a post on why Greater Manchester is the fastest growing part of England.
Today, I’ve followed this up by creating a Northern productivity leaderboard and then looking at the second fastest: Cumbria.
futurenorth.substack.com/p/is-cumbria...
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Today, I’ve followed this up by creating a Northern productivity leaderboard and then looking at the second fastest: Cumbria.
futurenorth.substack.com/p/is-cumbria...
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Is Cumbria seeing a resurgence in manufacturing?
And a Northern productivity league table
futurenorth.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:04 AM
A few weeks back, I wrote a post on why Greater Manchester is the fastest growing part of England.
Today, I’ve followed this up by creating a Northern productivity leaderboard and then looking at the second fastest: Cumbria.
futurenorth.substack.com/p/is-cumbria...
🧵
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Today, I’ve followed this up by creating a Northern productivity leaderboard and then looking at the second fastest: Cumbria.
futurenorth.substack.com/p/is-cumbria...
🧵
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Reposted by Cam Vargas
Ministers could give mayors control of schools and hospitals in devolution shake-up
Ministers could give mayors control of schools and hospitals in devolution shake-up
Exclusive: Labour Together report, endorsed by Steve Reed, says devolving power can improve services while saving money
*
Labour thinktank hopes Starmer will devolve more power to his potential rivals
Ministers are drawing up plans to give mayors significant new powers over hospitals and schools as part of a new wave of devolution that could change how public services are run in England.
Steve Reed, the local government secretary, wants to give mayors control over many more local services, and is weighing up handing over some NHS services and even parts of the criminal justice system. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
September 22, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Ministers could give mayors control of schools and hospitals in devolution shake-up
Reposted by Cam Vargas
So google maps updated some satellite footage, here’s one single Ukrainian village. One out of thousands
September 21, 2025 at 6:22 PM
So google maps updated some satellite footage, here’s one single Ukrainian village. One out of thousands
Reposted by Cam Vargas
September 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Cam Vargas
See also the *massive* cocaine epidemic among 40- to 50-something men. The media keeps talking about young people and drugs but peak deaths are among 40-49 year olds now.
The discourse is all around deradicalising young men and the crisis among young men.
The discourse would be much better targeted if it was about deradicalising boomers (and increasingly Gen Xers).
The discourse would be much better targeted if it was about deradicalising boomers (and increasingly Gen Xers).
Shot, chaser
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
September 14, 2025 at 11:59 AM
See also the *massive* cocaine epidemic among 40- to 50-something men. The media keeps talking about young people and drugs but peak deaths are among 40-49 year olds now.
And yet... Under qualified pollsters fighting for attention in an oversaturated market, working with shit quality panels, will continue to churn out this polling, and sell it to naive reporters, whose editors desperately want this to be true
Shot, chaser
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
Young men more likely to vote Green than Reform. Young men second most progressive group of any demographic. Combined right-wing vote barely bigger than Green vote alone for young men
September 14, 2025 at 9:01 AM
And yet... Under qualified pollsters fighting for attention in an oversaturated market, working with shit quality panels, will continue to churn out this polling, and sell it to naive reporters, whose editors desperately want this to be true
this is v good
It's shocking how much consensus there is amongst tax policy wonks and economists of Left and Right on the tax reforms the UK needs to boost growth & make the tax system fairer
More shocking: they're reforms that are never mentioned by any politicians
buff.ly/rTfNmFC
More shocking: they're reforms that are never mentioned by any politicians
buff.ly/rTfNmFC
Stop talking about wealth taxes — make these reforms instead
Any sane discussion of changes that both right and left could agree on is being crowded out by tax populism
buff.ly
September 13, 2025 at 9:42 AM
this is v good
Reposted by Cam Vargas
A majority of Labour party members - who are on any metric rather more socially liberal than the average voter - back ID cards. Plenty of polling showing they are popular with voters in general. Perhaps the zombie myth that British voters oppose them will die at last?
labourlist.org/2025/09/digi...
labourlist.org/2025/09/digi...
Majority of Labour members back digital ID card rollout, poll reveals - LabourList
A majority of Labour members want to see the government introduce a digital ID card system, an exclusive poll for LabourList reveals.
labourlist.org
September 3, 2025 at 11:38 AM
A majority of Labour party members - who are on any metric rather more socially liberal than the average voter - back ID cards. Plenty of polling showing they are popular with voters in general. Perhaps the zombie myth that British voters oppose them will die at last?
labourlist.org/2025/09/digi...
labourlist.org/2025/09/digi...
Reposted by Cam Vargas
Greater Manchester has been the fastest growing part of the country in the past decade – measured either by total growth or by productivity growth. I’ve had a look into the data to try to work out what is growing and why.
Below are some of the things I have found.
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Below are some of the things I have found.
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September 4, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Greater Manchester has been the fastest growing part of the country in the past decade – measured either by total growth or by productivity growth. I’ve had a look into the data to try to work out what is growing and why.
Below are some of the things I have found.
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Below are some of the things I have found.
🧵 1/7
Reposted by Cam Vargas
Perhaps also you could interview some of those making editorial decisions in the media about whether they are taking their responsibilities seriously?
August 30, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Perhaps also you could interview some of those making editorial decisions in the media about whether they are taking their responsibilities seriously?
Reposted by Cam Vargas
Parks and playgrounds are integral to places, allowing people to relax, children to play and more. Hard to imagine NYC without Central Park, or Ilkley without its moor! This builds on a historic legacy of Victorian era council developing them for the good of their communities.
Short 🧵
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Short 🧵
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August 28, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Parks and playgrounds are integral to places, allowing people to relax, children to play and more. Hard to imagine NYC without Central Park, or Ilkley without its moor! This builds on a historic legacy of Victorian era council developing them for the good of their communities.
Short 🧵
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Short 🧵
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Reposted by Cam Vargas
What has London’s Bakerloo line got to do with the government’s ability to invest in the North?
Put simply, if we let London raise more money from high land values to pay for its infrastructure, this frees up more government spending for the rest of the country.
Read below to see detail 👇
Put simply, if we let London raise more money from high land values to pay for its infrastructure, this frees up more government spending for the rest of the country.
Read below to see detail 👇
This is how we pay for the Bakerloo Line extension FREE TO READ!)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/bakerloo-e...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/bakerloo-e...
This is how we pay for the Bakerloo Line extension
One weird trick can extend the Tube, level up the north and make the Treasury happy.
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
August 27, 2025 at 1:35 PM
What has London’s Bakerloo line got to do with the government’s ability to invest in the North?
Put simply, if we let London raise more money from high land values to pay for its infrastructure, this frees up more government spending for the rest of the country.
Read below to see detail 👇
Put simply, if we let London raise more money from high land values to pay for its infrastructure, this frees up more government spending for the rest of the country.
Read below to see detail 👇