This book is a game changer, alongside @holland_tom's Dominion👇

Ancient Athenian family life - the rights of women & children, for example - was more like life under the Taliban than it was the Renaissance.

Men held the power of life & death over women, children & slaves. 1/

https://twitter.com/MattPolProf/status/1952469677239939316

The idea that foreigners - "barbarians" - had any rights, even to live, was alien to pagan Greeks & Romans.

Caesar returned in triumph to Rome having slain a million Gauls - & was greeted with jubilation.

The Romans crucified 8,000 slaves along the Appian way as punishment. 2/

Over 15 years of stagnation & lost opportunity in 1 graph. 👇

Because of this, living standards are a third lower than in the US - when before 2008 they were around the same.

The French earn as much as we do - but work fewer hours.

Why? 🧵 It isn't that the rich are stealing all the pie.

Or rather - it isn't that people on *high incomes* are stealing all the pie.

Higher earners are shouldering a bigger & bigger share of the tax burden.

🚨The most important graph in British politics👇

Why are average wages no higher than in 2008?

The argument for capitalism is that gradually everyone becomes better off.

But for 17 years that hasn't been happening.

Why is Britain's economy stuck?🧵 For all politicians' talk of the "fastest growing economy in the G7", Britain is falling behind.

UK incomes are similar to French ones - but the French work less long hours.

GDP per capita has been declining as our economy fails to keep pace with population growth.

🚨Why did the Tories lose so badly in 2024?

The single biggest failure of the last government from the POV of nearly ALL voter groups was immigration.

Tories said they'd cut it but trebled it. The preferred approach of all defector groups & loyal Tories is to cut it "a lot". 🧵 6 months ago @ukonward released Breaking Blue - the largest post-election survey of its kind - with @focaldataHQ & @J_L_Partners.

We've released a short documentary summarising our findings - which we believe are crucial for the Tory Party. 👇

🚨NEW - key findings from @ukonward's Breaking Blue, our major post-election analysis on where the 2019 Tory vote went & what the party's lost voters want - summarised in @ConHome today.

1st up: ALL defector groups say they want immigration cut "a lot". This may surprise some! Crucially, Lib Dem and Reform defectors are much more likely to say they would consider voting Tory again than Labour defectors. Winning back Labour voters is more efficient, but harder.

When asked how likely they are to consider voting for a given party (0-10), voters said:

St George hasn't always been England's patron saint!

Before the founding of the Order of the Garter in 1348 it was St Edward the Confessor, King of England (r. 1042-1066).

So how did a 3rd Century Roman soldier become the patron of England (+ 8 other countries?)...1/

Edward, King of the English. From the House of Wessex, he was a descendent of Alfred the Great. He was the son of King Aethelred the Unready, who lost the throne of England to the Vikings, & Emma of Normandy.

He was the second cousin once removed of William the Conqueror. 2/

All set up and ready to go with our second @ukonward Future of Conservatism🇬🇧 event here at the @unherd Club!

Speakers about to be mic'd up, guests arriving. Essay question: can the Tories reclaim the realignment & find a path to electoral success? 👀 Watch live here:

youtube.com/live/5Mg--NoFT…