Social Market Foundation The Midland Hotel, Chester Suite How can the Conservatives win the youth vote? Allie Jennings (Thinks Insight and Strategy, Director); Gareth Davies MP (The Conservative Party, Shadow UK Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Invited)); Shivani Raja MP (Leicester East, Member of Parliament (Invited)); Matt Vickers MP (The Conservative Party, Deputy Chairman (Invited)); Chaired by Jamie Gollings (Social Market Foundation, Deputy Research Director) With only 8% of Britons under 30 voting Conservative in the last election, does the party need to work harder to appeal to younger generations? Join us to discuss why the Conservatives should care about the youth vote and how they can better engage with young people across the country. See smf. co.uk for speaker updates.
The meeting might also have pondered that in 2024 the age when more people vote Tory than Labour was 63
The ex-Labour MP John Woodcock, the self-styled Lord Walney was until 2024 a Government advisor on political extremism.
In October 2024 Walney discussed his thoughts on protests (he opposes them) at the London Assembly. He was due to produce a report in 2021 and finally managed to do so earlier in 2024
One proposal was that there be a charge for protesting in London beyond one-off. This is aimed at climate protesters and those supporting Palestine. Walney has paid lobbying interests opposed to both causes..
The report is mainly built on his personal prejudices so he mentioned again weekly protests on Palestine in London. This is a familiar theme of the right-wing media. In fact the 31st march for Palestine on 11th October 2025 (since October 2023) underlines that marches take place every three or four weeks
Walney was told that his proposals were unlawful and unworkable not just by those who support protests but by those who are rather less keen. He appeared to concede that perhaps there were issues…..
However he remains an active lobbyist to restrict and ban protests and was urging the same in a comment piece in the Times last week. The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood before announcing a Government attempt to curtail not far right marches but those on Palestine noted that she had been speaking to people beforehand. Walney seems a likely candidate..
The picture is of the main conference hall at the Tory Conference in Manchester as Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride delivered a keynote address.
It seems to tally with reports that attendance at the conference is both lower than 2024 and lower than expected. It provides a sort of empirical check on widespread media commentary about the demise of the Tory Party.
As anyone who organises a meeting knows if you want it packed make sure the room is smaller than the anticipated attendance. It appears that even this basic point is now lost on the Tories
Broadwater Farm 6th October 1985 The Met Police & what Government Papers later said
It is 40 years since events at Broadwater Farm in Tottenham made the headlines. A police intervention led to the death of a local resident Cynthia Jarrett. In the resulting in my view justifiable unrest a Muswell Hill based police officer PC Keith Blakelock lost his life. No one has ever been convicted of his death, despite several attempts
I was Chair of Haringey TUC which covers Tottenham (I remain a delegate) at the time and I am a local resident, living 10 minutes’ walk from Broadwater Farm.
My other interest is as an historian. I’m the Editor of a History of Riots (CSP 2015).
The historical angle is complex but important
In 2015 three files were released by the National Archives which amounted to around 500 pages of documents.
The first (and smallest) file of just under 100 pages related mainly to Tottenham. It contains some material including official reports on the Broadwater Farm riot (or uprising depending on perspective) a b that was in the public domain at the time.
It also includes some correspondence from Tottenham Tories to the Prime Minister’s Personal Secretary (March 1986) asking her to visit. She declined although the Home Secretary paid a private visit.
There is also a note, based on police evidence, that after Broadwater Farm there continued to be concern about civil unrest. It appears that a milk float with many milk bottles had been ‘abducted’. The thought was that the milk bottles would end up as petrol bombs. They didn’t and whatever the view about the police is now, this was the Met in the 1980s. The chances are this report was based on a rumour or just made up.
The five page report jointly authored by Oliver Letwin which attracted media attention in 2015 is on pages 68-72 of the third of the released documents. This and its companion relate to wider issues of Government policy in the mid-1980s.
In the report Letwin argued against funding to deal with social and economic issues in areas like Tottenham on the grounds that local people had a ‘bad moral attitude’.
Aside from the comments highlighted in the media in 2015 there is a line about the need to engage ‘sensible churchmen’ in Government attempts to improve morality in the inner city. We may take it that ‘not sensible’ churchmen were those who were not over enthusiastic about the Tories.
The leader of Haringey Council in 1985, later Tottenham MP, Bernie Grant was reported to have said that the police got a bloody good hiding on the Farm on 6th October. Bernie was known for robust statements but he actually said that ‘the youth think that the police..’
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that a man with a beard has been spotted in the audience for Kemi Badenoch’s opening rant to the Tory Conference in Manchester on Sunday afternoon.
The identity of the man is not known, he is not one of the BLF observers who keep an eye on Party Conferences to check how beard friendly they are.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there is no suggestion of course that there is any issue beyond someone with a beard does rather stand out in a very clean shaven audience. It may of course be that under his beard he is hiding One Nation Tory ideas…
This picture (Robert Hutton, The Critic) is of the bar at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, taken on lunchtime, Sunday 5th October. The Midland is the main conference hotel, inside the secure zone, and the Conference is already in progress…
John Crace reports in the Guardian (5th October) that it will be a long four days
There was the same sense of existential futility inside the conference hall. The place was like a ghost town. The bars and stands empty. As if no one had cared enough to come, apart from those who were contractually obliged to be there. A place where the Tory party had come to witness its own extinction. The conference highlights were ghosts of the past. Some Margaret Thatcher mementoes and a Winston Churchill AI.
The Campaign for Real Conkers which backs no rules conker games has said that the Peckham Conker Championships held on 4th October underline what the future of conker playing could and should be.
Noteworthy is that there are no particular rules, cheating is allowed and perhaps even encouraged, the participants are mainly on the younger side and diverse in character.
CFRC Organiser Keith Flett said, conker playing should be about fun, and Peckham certainly achieved that. It’s a world away from the rules obsessed World Conker Championships next weekend which are very largely spectator rather than participant focused.
Ruling class crisis lurches on as the tectonic plates of capital shift
Justin has informed Brian that he is selling all his shares in Borsetshire Land leaving the way open for someone else to take charge. He suggests Brian could do it, although he would need to leverage things a bit to actually do it. Brian who is 80 and eats gammon at The Bull does not seem impressed.
Kirsty has confronted Justin in the bar at Grey Gables (where else) about what this means for the Rewilding project. Aside from a lot of waffle Justin underlined that there is a five year contract in place and whoever now controls Borsetshire Land would have to note that. Very reassuring..
Meanwhile on the ground floor Adam and Ruairi are continuing with plans for the day to day running of the farm
Donkey lover Starmer must sort a Joe Grundy Memorial Monument for Bartleby the pony
Joe Grundy’s favourite pony Bartleby is no more. There is a more important reality. A Starmer Government must act to ensure a decent memorial to Bartleby is constructed and create a worker’s trust in memorial of the late Joe Grundy. Starmer has considerable familiarity with ponies and particularly donkeys and so this is at least one thing he can accomplish immediately.
George is innocent (on this occasion)
George faces a Monday hearing about the sharp implement found in his cell. On this occasion he is innocent. However his earlier actions in grassing up Markie might cause him to reflect that actions have consequences. Dialectics
In other news
Dogs have featured a lot this week. Again. The Ambridge Socialist also likes cats
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the 2025 Official Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season has now closed.
The official season runs until the end of August each year but is usually extended throughout September and sometimes into October.
However BLF observers have noted that the popularity of beard, shorts and sandals wearing has remained largely undiminished and for this reason the first Close Season has been announced. This will run from October 2025 to March 2026
Closed Season 2025/6
The Beard Liberation Front, one of whose founding principles is that people should be able to dress and appear as they want is increasingly concerned about official diktats about how people should or should not appear.
However the BLF urges those participating in the 2025/6 Beard, Shorts and Sandals Closed Season to take care out there:
1 Inclement weather. Appropriate action should be taken in respect of rain and wind
2 Pogonophobia. Participants should beware beard haters
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the Beard, Shorts and Sandals season has been a major influence on fashion in recent times. We recognise that while Spring and Summer weather represents the peak period for beards, shorts and sandals, numbers do continue into the autumn and even the winter months. We are all about a permissive and safe framework which allows people to dress and appear as they want, whenever they want. We hope that for many the Close Season will be a chance for their beards to regenerate and their shorts and sandals to be renovated
