Elections 2026: the people have spoken, AND we need to keep on talking
Elections in England, Scotland and Wales have shaken up politics – but democracy isn't just about the ballot box.
The polls are closed, votes are still being counted, and a great democratic exercise has taken place that will shake up politics as we know it for good. ‘It’s an earthquake’, ‘end of Labour as a national party’, ‘history is being made with the end of the two-party system’. The people have spoken, loudly despite the fact that the government tried to postpone elections in 30 English councils – effectively cancelling citizens’ rights to decide on local governance – and only changed course when threatened with court action.
It’s always exhilarating when the electorate overthrows apple carts. This is what change looks like: a lively, messy, visceral upheaval, not just a capitalised word on the front of a manifesto. Reactions from mainstream party politicians were exemplified by our tone-deaf prime minister, who seems convinced all that voters want is more of the same, but ‘further and faster’.
We will be back with a commentary on the results after the weekend. But however the government stumbles on, however personally popular Kemi Badenoch is – the voters know they’ve been taken for granted, patronised, treated with contempt from Southport onwards.
But for politics to change for good, we need to ensure the mood doesn’t just fade away with the rosettes and election leaflets. While the ballot box is a necessary component of ensuring that people’s voices are heard loud and clear, it is not sufficient. What we need is an engaged citizenry, involved regularly in free and open conversations and debates about the challenging times we live in and how WE can shape the future. And we ourselves should not be complacent about how tricky that can be, full of pitfalls and more dilemmas.
One such challenge is how to deal with the rise of the normalisation of antisemitism, until recently too often dismissed as criticism of Israel. The recent spate of violent attacks on Jews, and controversies about a disproportionate number of Green Party candidates – many of them newly elected councillors, who openly espouse a sectarian Israelophobia that too often creates fertile ground for Jew hatred – has at last, and at least, made the issue a matter of public debate.
The tricky part of this is when some policy announcements, such as the demand for the enactment of fast-track hate crime prosecutions and the banning of pro Palestine marches, inevitably create moral dilemmas for free speech, as I discussed with Ian Collins on Talk:
Rally against antisemitism
It is crucial that we build solidarity with the Jewish community in the UK and we’d urge as many of you as possible to attend the rally this SUNDAY 10 MAY, 1pm opposite Downing Street.
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Claire
FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND RECENT MEDIA APPEARANCES
“A book that made me think, even when I argued with it”: Baroness Fox reviews Lord Biggar’s The New Dark Age
The House magazine / Politics Home, 27 April 2026
Claire Fox was the guest on the latest edition of The Brink podcast, 7 May 2026
LEEDS SALON
Christianity and existential freedom
Speaker: Dolan Cummings
SATURDAY 9 MAY, 2:30PM
Venue: Mill Hill Chapel, City Square, Leeds
Full details and tickets
THE HANNAH ARENDT STUDY GROUP
On judgement (Part 2) – Arendt and Kant
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY, 7PM (UK) via Zoom
Free to take part – More information and registration
EAST MIDLANDS SALON
Is connoisseurship dead?
THURSDAY 14 MAY, 7PM
Venue: The Brunswick Inn, Station Road, Derby, DE1 2RU
Speaker: Dr Michael Savage (AKA The Grumpy Art Historian)
Tickets via Eventbrite
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY READING GROUP
Plato’s Republic: Session 4
SUNDAY 17 MAY, 6PM (UK) via Zoom
Free to take part, register here
For session 4 – read Stephanus number 376 to 412
BREXIT UNLEASHED: SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITIES
TUESDAY 19 MAY, 9am – 6pm
Venue: Westminster, London
Come along and visit the Academy of Ideas stall.
Introduction:
Nearly ten years on from the historic referendum, the United Kingdom stands at a pivotal moment. Brexit delivered the freedom to govern ourselves, shape our own laws, control our borders and pursue an independent global future. The question now in 2026 is: how do we fully seize those opportunities — and defend them from those seeking to reverse them? A VIP line-up of leading political figures, economists, commentators and campaigners examine how Britain can make the most of its independence and ensure that the promise of Brexit is fully realised.
Tickets and speakers here.
Related content: watch Claire Fox on Talk discussing Starmer’s Brexit betrayal:
DIDO POWELL’S LONDON ART GALLERY TOURS 2026: OBJECTS IN ART
Sunday 24 May, meet 2.45pm for 3pm start. Length 90 mins. Cost: £15 pp.
Venue: National Gallery, London
You can book a place by contacting Wendy Earle wendyearle@talktalk.net
Find out more at the Academy of Ideas events page
SPECIAL OFFER - The spiked summit 2026
SATURDAY 27 JUNE
Emmanuel Centre, Westminster
Join spiked for its biggest live event yet – a one-day conference featuring leading writers and thinkers including Konstantin Kisin, Lionel Shriver, Katharine Birbalsingh, Toby Young, Allison Pearson, Brendan O’Neill and Tom Slater.
Academy of Ideas supporters can get 20% off full price tickets here.
LIVING FREEDOM SUBSTACK:
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX CASE: LAW DEFEATED BY CULTURE IN BATTLE FOR FREE SPEECH
Free-speech campaigners were disappointed that the High Court overturned the Office for Students fine this week. But free expression won’t thrive till we overturn the culture of censorship itself.
Read the commentary here.
Living Freedom Summer School is open to anyone aged 18 to 30 and takes place in London on 9 to 11 July.
Apply here.
Support a scholar here.
THE ACADEMY 2026:
HOLLOW LEVIATHAN: THE STATE AGAINST THE DEMOS
SATURDAY 22 AND SUNDAY 23 AUGUST
Wyboston Lakes Resort, Bedfordshire
EARLY BIRD TICKETS UNTIL 31 MAY
Join Ideas Matter for this annual residential weekend of bold ideas, lectures and discussion.
The modern state is bigger than ever. It reaches further into our lives, demands more of our obedience and claims more authority than at any point in modern history. Yet at the same time it feels strangely hollow, unable to keep order, deliver competence or command legitimacy. Our institutions remain standing, but increasingly as empty facades: grand in language, feeble in practice.
This is not just incompetence. It is a deeper political failure. The state has broken its contract with the demos. Instead of protecting the people, it increasingly manages, disciplines and mistrusts them. It cannot perform the hard tasks of public authority, yet it grows ever bolder in policing speech, rationing services and lecturing the public.
The Academy 2026 will examine the rise of this hollow leviathan. Why does the modern state expand as its capacity drains away? Why does it seem so often to work against the people in whose name it claims to rule? And what would it mean to restore authority, legitimacy and political agency?
Lectures include:
What is the National Interest? – Professor Frank Furedi
Islamo-Leftism and the roots of contemporary Third-Worldism – Dr Tim Black
Coming apart: authoritarian strategies for a fractured society – Chris Bayliss
What remains? Art and memory in the Post-Cultural State – Lola Salem
Tickets and info here.
BATTLE OF IDEAS FESTIVAL 2026
SATURDAY 17 AND SUNDAY 18 OCTOBER
Church House, Great Smith St, Westminster, London, SW1P 3BN
Buy early bird tickets here
Debating Matters Transatlantic (DMTA)
DMTA will take place in the heart of Westminster from 11-14 November 2026, featuring a programme of seminars with guest speakers, discussions on key issues of our time, and tours of some of London’s greatest cultural landmarks. There will be three teams of American pupils and three teams of UK sixth-formers. More info soon.
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The issue of politicians not listening to the lectorate is not just a UK issue.
There is currently major unrest in NL because of immigration. The Dutch people’s tolerance has hit a ceiling and they have had enough.