[ad_1] Joe PikePolitical correspondentGetty ImagesIn politics the summer holidays offer a major opportunity for opposition parties.A quieter news agenda means the chance to break through with policies.Multiple government sources have told me that they think Reform UK has beaten both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the August battle of attracting attention.That may have been helped by Tuesday's finale in Nigel Farage's summer crime campaign: the unveiling of the
[ad_1] Jennifer McKiernanPolitical reporter, BBC NewsGetty Images/THE THIN BLUE PAWJeremy Clarkson and police dogs have featured among the petitions on the Parliament website since its launchAs long as humans have been writing down important information, others have been pulling their leg.So it's no surprise that serious petitions to governments have always been interspersed with tongue-in-cheek campaigns designed to raise a laugh.Some of the greatest civil rights advances started with petitions
[ad_1] Jo HollandA political divide appears to be opening up between young women and young men - and no one is really sure why.Polling suggests young men are more likely to vote on the right than their female counterparts, who increasingly tend to view the world through liberal eyes.In a 2025 survey of more than 2,000 16-to-29-year-olds by Focaldata, for the John Smith Centre, 20% of young British women said
[ad_1] Jeremy BowenInternational editorBBCOne of the major reasons why Britain's prime minister Sir Keir Starmer - following France and then in turn followed by Canada - has a plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September is to turn the two-state solution into a real diplomatic plan again, instead of the empty slogan it has become since the Oslo peace process collapsed into bloodshed 25 years
[ad_1] Laura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura KuenssbergBBCWho is in charge? You might think the answer should be obvious."This government should be walking on water, there should be nothing it can't do," a Whitehall insider suggests, given the rows and rows and rows - and yes, rows - of Labour MPs who line up behind the prime minister every Wednesday.But, by booting out a small band of backbenchers this week, Sir
[ad_1] Henry ZeffmanChief Political Correspondent andLeela PadmanabhanBBC NewsBBCBy the time polls closed at 10pm on 4 July 2024, the Labour Party knew they were likely to return to government - even if they could not quite bring themselves to believe it.For Sir Keir Starmer, reminiscing 10 months later in an interview with me, it was an "incredible moment". Instantly, he said, he was "conscious of the sense of responsibility". And
