What sort of people get into politics?

After reading this fascinating breakdown of Trump and Cruz's Facebook support, I decided to do the same for British politics - to see what sort of people are fans of Cameron and Corbyn.

You can find the results on Medium - this piece on Cameron and the Tories and this piece on Corbyn and Labour.

Some of the results, especially to do with the PM, were pretty surprising. But beyond that, this exercise was another reminder of how much data can tell us about the world, and how much of an advantage accrues to those who own and analyse it.

I could have spent days carrying out similar surveys on pretty much any interest group you can imagine - and if I didn't have to earn a living, I might well have.

In other news, I've written for Politico about the Mark Clarke scandal and the decision to bomb Syria - and reviewed Mike Savage's Social Class in the 21st Century for the Telegraph. It's a fascinating (if flawed) attempt to map Britain's new landscape of wealth, privilege and power - and another reminder of the power of data to tell us important and surprising things about the world...

Labour's week from hell

I have a feeling we'll be seeing that headline quite a few times over the next few months, but this week certainly qualified. I've written two pieces for Politico Europe – one on the march to war in Syria, the other on the Autumn Statement – trying to capture some of the chaos.

Yet it's not just the present that's haunting Labour – as I argued in this piece on Medium, it's the past, as well. I've written a review for CapX of 'Ken' by Andrew Hosken, exploring the connections between Corbyn and Livingstone – do check it out.