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Liam Evans

@liam-evans.bsky.social
99 followers 53 following 21 posts

Comms at @ippr.org

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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
And if you found it REALLY interesting, I will be launching a fortnightly Substack to share insight from my early-warning system telling you what topics are hot, which ones have legs, and how you should prepare before you need to answer it at speed 👇 liamevans93.substack.com
liamevans93.substack.com
Liam Evans | Substack
Former journalist, now working at a Westminster think tank. Progressive politics, right-wing media diet. Studying how the right wins attention, sets the agenda, and persuades voters... so the left can...
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
If this was of any interest you can read the full article here 👇 labourlist.org/2026/08/poli...
labourlist.org
'The next right-wing talking point is already online. We must learn to spot it early' - LabourList
If politics is increasingly downstream of the internet, we should spend more time looking upstream.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
That’s the point of watching this stuff early. Not because every claim will break through. And not because progressives should pile into niche accounts and amplify them. But because once an argument does travel, it’s much harder to establish the facts and challenge the framing.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A week later that story was in the mainstream news with the framing: buying a lottery ticket means funding the “migration industry”.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
And there’s a useful example of how quickly this can travel. The week before, the same account published a “National Lottery migration audit”, identifying 1,694 grants worth £114.7m to charities supporting refugees, asylum seekers or immigrants.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
But the claim was quickly picked up by another account and translated into something much simpler and more potent: that MPs are financially benefiting from mass migration.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The underlying facts and the political claim are two different things. A donation from a company is not evidence that an MP has shaped asylum policy for personal gain.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Take one account on my watchlist: Big Time Charlie (@shadowcanman). A few days ago, he published an analysis of the asylum-accommodation supply chain, claiming to have found financial connections involving 21 sitting MPs through donations, campaign funding or paid roles.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
We’ve already seen this happen with Max Tempers (@maxtempers) & the “Boriswave”. It was circulating in parts of the online right months before it was picked up by mainstream newspapers and Reform politicians. And there are other arguments going through that process right now.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
They don't first appear in the Telegraph/GB News. They often start on X/Telegram/podcast. There are three groups worth watching: 👉Originators create the argument or policy 👉Incubators repeat and refine it 👉Translators turn it into something that can travel into the mainstream
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The next big right-wing talking point is already online. Progressives need to get better at spotting it. I’ve written for @labourlist.bsky.social about the early-warning system progressives need to spot these arguments before they break into the mainstream. 🧵
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This will be a monthly @labourlist.bsky.social column examining how the right builds audiences, moves ideas from the fringe into the mainstream, and what progressives should learn from it. Read the first piece here 👇 labourlist.org/2026/07/what...
labourlist.org
'What 1,000 hours of right-wing media taught me about persuasion' - LabourList
The right isn’t trying to persuade audiences it's building affinity with them. The left must stop mistaking communication for persuasion.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The left is losing voters it once took for granted. If we want different results, we can’t keep communicating in the same ways we always have, hoping things will change. The left should not copy the right’s politics. But we do need to understand why their communications work.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Third, they distribute ideas through clips, not essays. While Farage’s GB News programme reportedly attracts 100,000–200,000 viewers, his X clips averaged around 885,000 views. The right only make long-form content to generate short-form content.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Second, they reach people when they are emotionally receptive. Forget the morning media round, some of the most influential political content lands between 9pm and midnight, when the 'second-screeners' are scrolling, reacting and sharing.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
How do they do this? First, they meet people where they already are. While the left are obsessed with preaching to the converted on BBC Radio 4 & Bluesky, the right are winning on local Facebook groups, Telegram channels, podcasts and hyper-niche online communities.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Progressives tend to think persuasion means presenting better facts and policies. The right doesn't bother with this. They recruit through vibes, feelings, affinity etc. People join them emotionally before they agree intellectually.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I’ve launched a new monthly column for @labourlist.bsky.social on what progressives can learn from the right’s media machine. For the first piece, I consumed 1,000 hours of GB News, right-wing podcasts and the darker corners of the internet. Here’s what I learned 🧵
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Reposted by Liam Evans
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 29/05/2025
Last year we analysed some of Reform UK's tax proposals exclusively for @gurpreetnarwan.bsky.social and @news.sky.com. The tax cuts announced by Reform were both hugely expensive (costing £59bn a year) and highly regressive, benefiting the wealthiest households the most 🧵
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Reposted by Liam Evans
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 21/05/2025
We are delighted to be joined by Rt Hon Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to hear about the government’s plans to encourage and support people – particularly disabled people and those living with ill-health – back into meaningful work.
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Read their full report here ⤵️ www.ippr.org/articles/pla...
ippr.org
Planes, trains and automobiles: How green transport can drive manufacturing growth in the UK | IPPR
Along with investment in infrastructure, the production of green transport equipment – electric trains and cars, for example – here in the UK, is the solut
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Fantastic new research from my colleagues @praneshippr.bsky.social & Simone Gasperin on threats to the UK manufacturing sector from Trump's tariffs... But it's not all bad news, by going for green we can save jobs, boost growth and help the climate. Story on tomorrow's Mirror front page 👇
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Reposted by Liam Evans
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 20/03/2025
📺 Tune in to BBC Politics Live now to catch @harryqp.bsky.social discussing today's big issues!
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Reposted by Liam Evans
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 25/02/2025
The government is right to boost defence spending—global threats are growing. But cutting the aid budget weakens UK influence. When we help countries, we build alliances. If we withdraw, China & Russia will step in. 📺 #ICYMI: @harryqp.bsky.social on BBC News 👇
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Reposted by Liam Evans
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 20/02/2025
"The man leading the think tank behind Starmerism." The @newstatesman.com profiles our executive director, @harryqp.bsky.social. @rmcunliffe.bsky.social 👇 www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
newstatesman.com
Harry Quilter-Pinner: “Progressives need better answers”
The man leading the think tank behind Starmerism on reinventing the economy.
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Reposted by Liam Evans
Institute for Public Policy Research @ippr.org · 20/01/2025
🗽 Is Britain ready for Trump v2? No, says Dr Parth Patel. For the first time since 1945, the UK and the USA might not stand for the same things. #ICYMI: IPPR's Parth on BBC #PoliticsLive 👇
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Liam Evans @liam-evans.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
First front page story of the year for @ippr.bsky.social, check out the full report here 👉 www.ippr.org/articles/mod...
ippr.org
Modernising elections: How to get voters back | IPPR
One in every two adults living in this country voted at the 2024 general election. This is the lowest share of the population to vote since universal suffr
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