How Rishi Sunak tried to weaponise information only to shoot himself in the foot

By Matthew Flinders, Founding Director of the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics, University of Sheffield

Could it be that British politics is slipping into some post-satire phase of confusion and condemnation?

The second full week of the 2024 election campaign was definitely beyond satire – and will probably be remembered for three things.

First and foremost, this was the week Rishi Sunak went populist. His claim that Labour’s tax plans would cost households £2,000 in tax was a form of fake news. There was never any intention to be truthful about this figure, it was merely a device for forging a simple mental association between the words “tax” and “Labour”.

It…

Read complete article

~	FEMA’s flood maps often miss dangerous flash flood risks, leaving homeowners unprepared

~	Togolese and pan-African entrepreneur, Gervais Koffi Djondo, is a role model for economic integration in Africa

~	ICRC Annual Report 2024

~	OEWG: ICRC address to the final meeting on IHL and ICT activities during armed conflict

~	Podcast: Fighting to be seen with Sihle

~	How citizenship chaos was averted, for now, by a class action injunction against Trump’s birthright citizenship order

~	Desperate Afghan refugees return to an unfamiliar home

~	Whispers across borders: Nirmal Kumar Thapa on art, identity, and the voice of Nepal

~	What would it take for a new British leftwing party to succeed?

~	Why it can be hard to warn people about dangers like floods – communication researchers explain the role of human behavior