Reposted by Cory HazlehurstSam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 7hThis was a lot of fun to do and I could claim to be watching TV "for work". 3503
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 15/10/2026Oh blimey. Well there's no mention of dead babies, at any rate. Love the idea that AV is some magical system nobody could possibly understand. 010
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/10/2026An extract from an article is not a headline. I’ve never denied writing it. 100
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/10/2026I’m not denying that the extract you quote is an extract. Far from it. But it’s not a headline. 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/10/2026I don’t know what to say other than post this: 200
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/10/2026That’s a quote from the article. The headline is “Making waves or treading water?” 100
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 12/10/2026Pretty sure that’s what the article says. 100
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 12/10/2026"especially given that the role of Britain in Europe has proven a uniquely intractable problem which all modern British governments have tried to deal with, with varying degrees of success."coryhazlehurst.substack.comMaking waves or treading water?Burnham faces the same dilemma on Europe as all of his predecessors 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 12/10/2026"Burnham said that he wanted to draw a line under the last decade of discussions about Europe. Good luck, as they say, with that..." coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/making-wav...coryhazlehurst.substack.comMaking waves or treading water?Burnham faces the same dilemma on Europe as all of his predecessors 310
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 09/10/2026I was your one listener who hadn't heard the stories of Alec Guinness in London, so thank you for including those. 110
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Having spent two weeks avoiding political news on holiday in Vienna, I've written instead about war memorials, Nazi bunkers, and how to deal with statues of antisemites. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/dealing-wi...coryhazlehurst.substack.comDealing with the twentieth centuryWhat strolling through historic Vienna can tell us about the power of remembering, and forgetting. 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Can definitely see the logic given what you say about FPTP. Davey seems obviously shifting the Lib Dems into potential coalition partner territory but there’s a space for the Greens there too in some circumstance. 010
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Thanks for reading and also for the feedback. It’s a really interesting point of view that I hadn’t considered: much appreciated. 110
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Ed Davey, Zack Polanksi and Nigel Farage are all facing the same issue this Party Conference season: how to cope with “jam lust”. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/the-perils...coryhazlehurst.substack.comThe perils of “jam lust”Ed Davey, Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage all face the same dilemma this party conference season. 100
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Latest instalment of Political Fictions sees @markpackuk.bsky.social and I talk about The West Wing episode 'Let Bartlet Be Bartlet'. Really enjoyed discussing this, and in particular thinking about whether its central message has been misunderstood. politicalfictions.substack.com/p/is-let-bar...politicalfictions.substack.comIs “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet” good advice or not?Mark and Cory talk about a giant of American political drama for the first time this week, as they tackle The West Wing. 001
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 16/09/2026One of my favourite political maxims is that of Steve Richards: that the seeds of a leader’s fall is sown in how they rise. I've written about that in this post: coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/andy-burnh...coryhazlehurst.substack.comAndy Burnham’s in-tray of doom“I foresee lots of unforeseen problems”: Sir Humphrey Appleby 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Really enjoyed The Candidate’s Husband - you’re very welcome Wendy :) 021
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 07/09/2026I've written about the latest election results for Labour's National Exectutive Committee and what they tell us about the current state of the party. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/labours-va...coryhazlehurst.substack.comSome thoughts on the recent NEC election resultsLabour’s vanishing membership and the surprising resilience of the party’s left 001
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Feels odd writing this on a blustery Bank Holiday Monday, but here are some thoughts on the politics of heatwaves and where we go from here. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/the-politi...coryhazlehurst.substack.comThe politics of the climate crisisPerhaps people do, in fact, notice things in front of their nose 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 24/08/2026I’ve written about why more spy novelists feature real world leaders as characters in their books. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/the-growin...coryhazlehurst.substack.comThe growing trend for world leaders to appear as characters in spy novelsIt’s down to geopolitics, social media and the new trend in espionage fiction 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 17/08/2026I've written about how it would make far more sense for the conservative movement to be celebrating The Odyssey as a celebration of their values, rather than complaining about how morally bankrupt it is. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/the-odysse...coryhazlehurst.substack.comThe Odyssey is the least woke blockbuster you'll watch this yearWhich makes the objections to it on the Very Online Right even more mystifying. 000
Reposted by Cory HazlehurstMark Pack @markpackuk.bsky.social · 29/07/2026I have a VERY Lib Dem take on Mr Smith Goes To Washington. More here: politicalfictions.substack.com/p/mr-smith-g... 0122
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 29/07/2026It's a really interesting question which I tried to answer here: substack.com/@coryhazlehu... TLDR: in the absence of a proper narrative to define his Premiership, Starmer's approval ratings suffered from Pasokification as every section of the electorate found a reason to dislike him.substack.comWhy have Keir Starmer's approval ratings fallen so far, so quickly?The Pasokification of the Prime Minister's personal ratings tells us a lot about British Politics today. 040
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 27/07/2026We could do a joint episode with plumbers on Watergate maybe? 010
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 27/07/2026I’ve tried to make sense of people trying to make sense about the cabinet reshuffle. open.substack.com/pub/coryhazl...open.substack.comInterpreting Burnham's cabinet reshuffleA purge, or a lurch, or neither? 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 24/07/2026It’s all a bit like courtiers of Henry VIII criticising the King of France for marrying too many wives. 010
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 23/07/2026I’ve never seen Evita. Should I add it to the list? 110
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 23/07/2026I also love that the title of the episode sounds like you're going to Washington along with Jimmy Stewart, in some unspecified goon/confidant/bag carrier capacity. 120
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 22/07/2026Am slightly trepidatious that people who know more political history than me will find reasons to disagree with these two paragraphs. 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 22/07/2026There are two stories which a political journalist in need of a story can always pull out of their hat. One is speculating about a snap election. Coincidentally, that’s what I’ve written about this week. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/is-andy-bu...coryhazlehurst.substack.comIs Andy Burnham really going to call a snap election?You're joking, aren't you? 100
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 18/07/2026While we wait for the World Cup Final, it's a good time to take a wander in the sunshine and listen to our latest chat about the Iranian football film Offside. politicalfictions.substack.com/p/offside-po...politicalfictions.substack.comOffsideTo coincide with the men’s football World Cup, Mark and Cory talk about the 2006 Iranian film Offside 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/07/2026I should take a moment to repost this before England’s semi final on Wednesday too. 010
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/07/2026I've written about how Labour's electoral crisis has been caused by the collapse of its moral authority. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/labours-el...coryhazlehurst.substack.comLabour's electoral crisis is really a moral crisisWe should think about moral authority more when explaining how political parties rise and fall. 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Don't want to feel like a massive party pooper, but surely the rise of Count Binface is very stoppable? 001
Reposted by Cory HazlehurstDuncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 04/07/2026Starmer saying it’s impossible for a prime minister to spend less time on foreign affairs has got me thinking that we need a cabinet position dedicated to foreign policy. Ideally they’d have their own department. 3981794
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 04/07/2026This seems a good excuse to repost this. Whatever happened to Starmer's constant evocation that Labour in government would put “country-first, party second"? coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/keir-today...coryhazlehurst.substack.comKeir today, gone in a few weeksStarmer's resignation speech was like so much of his premiership: weirdly odd and incoherent, without a strong central message. 011
Reposted by Cory HazlehurstAdam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 03/07/2026I gather the football’s moved. Fear not, it still doesn’t clash with the World Cup Final that England are actually playing in. Lord’s 15:30 BST, England v. Australia. 🏏 612731
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 29/06/2026It sounds like it could be political though. 110
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 29/06/2026I've written about the weird arguments Starmer made in his resignation speech. open.substack.com/pub/coryhazl...open.substack.comKeir today, gone in a few weeksStarmer's resignation speech was like so much of his premiership: weirdly odd and incoherent, without a strong central message. 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 22/06/2026Just recorded an episode of Political Fictions with @markpackuk.bsky.social and @plashingvole.bsky.social about “Mr Smith Goes To Washington”. We talk about the scene in which Jimmy Stewart’s character goes round punching journalists. I wish I’d known about this story then! 121
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 22/06/2026The Keir Starmer hot takes can wait. I've written about something that brings me joy instead. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/the-joy-of... 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 19/06/2026It reminds me a bit of their by-election win in Uxbridge during the last Parliament - a freak result in the context of the political climate that was one of those by-elections where the lesson was over-learned. By both Tories and Labour, particularly around climate issues. 010
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 15/06/2026I've written this on Andy Burnham, jumping the gun slightly. coryhazlehurst.substack.com/p/burnham-be...coryhazlehurst.substack.comBurnham before ReadingAndy Burnham isn't going to save the Labour Party. Perhaps nobody can. 000
Cory Hazlehurst @coryhazlehurst.bsky.social · 13/06/2026Recording this episode was a lot of fun. Watching Yes, Minister for the first time in years made me realise just *how good* the acting is. 072
Reposted by Cory HazlehurstStephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 11/06/2026Every poll, on every issue, shows the folly of the Starmer-McSweeney “treat Reform voters as your lodestone and Tory voters like lepers” strategy. 931960