There’s no point in marching on with national service Letters: Readers respond to the Tory plan to ‘toughen up’ teenagers and make national service compulsory for 18-year-olds The Guardian - UK · Jun 2, 2024
Memo to Labour amid the Diane Abbott debacle: stop the pointless rows, stop making enemies The party needs to move its campaign on from stories about factionalist infighting – and get on with winning, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 31, 2024
The pensioners’ party plays its last moth-eaten card: national service for the young After 14 years of youth bashing, the Tories’ plan to ‘toughen up’ British teenagers might be just what it takes to bring them all out to vote, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 27, 2024
Labour’s top brass know the election battle will be brutal, but they can hardly believe their luck The mood is hyper and buzzy. Starmer is warning his troops that the real enemy is complacency, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 23, 2024
At a festival for the super-rich, the argument for higher taxes couldn’t have been clearer Britain’s jet set insist they will flee if they lose their benefits – but Labour should not be daunted, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 21, 2024
The Tories’ war on foreign students isn’t for the good of the country – it’s about saving their own skins This dying government is happy to see universities in crisis, the economy damaged and soft power lost, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 17, 2024
I’ve seen how firms cheat the law to exploit workers and here’s a warning: those days are ending For all the controversy about Labour’s policy on ‘workers’ rights’, it looks set to be a gamechanger, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 14, 2024
It’s not how old you are that matters – it’s how you are old Letters: Readers respond to a piece by Polly Toynbee in which she ponders how to put a number on old age The Guardian - UK · May 10, 2024
Keir Starmer should be embracing the Tories’ disgruntled voters – not their turncoat MPs After Natalie Elphicke’s welcome, would Labour turn any Tory dregs away? This is beneath the dignity of a party on the verge of power, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 9, 2024
Rachel Reeves is right: this government is gaslighting us over the economy Tories will crow about falling inflation and Britain’s waning recession. But the public sees the reality in its shopping basket, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 7, 2024
How old is too old? I’m 77 and I don’t know yet. But I will when I get there I get advice about my age on social media (not all of it friendly), but I’m sanguine about life without youthful anxieties, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 4, 2024
The right’s Brexit ‘bonfire of red tape’ was just wind and smoke. And even Tories want more regulation now Despite the huffing of ideologues, the world has moved on. Voters and businesses are calling for more effective protections, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · May 2, 2024
It’s Sunak’s doom loop: the more desperate and cruel the Tories become, the more voters reject them The hatred these Conservatives feel for their country isn’t just because of the polls: they also despise the sea change in British politics, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · Apr 30, 2024
The Tories’ poisonous anti-culture politics has crushed the arts. Bring on election night Museums have closed and festivals lost funding – but Labour will restore Britain’s creative superpower status, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee The Guardian - UK · Apr 26, 2024
The Guardian - UK · Apr 23, 2024 The expansion of free childcare has been a Tory-fied mess of a bright Labour idea On a visit to a combined nursery and primary school, I saw how early years provision can really be transformed, says the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Apr 19, 2024 Let’s end the annual torture of GCSE resits – and give students qualifications they’ll actually use Compulsory maths and English retakes speak of a system that ignores pupils’ real talents. But hope is on the horizon, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Apr 17, 2024 Jammed 999 lines and not enough ambulances to go round: come see the sharp end of this NHS crisis At an ambulance dispatch centre in Kent, I saw the sheer scale of the task that lies ahead of Labour to restore the nation’s health, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Mar 11, 2024 How did I mark Mother’s Day? With a dream about putting mine in a home A few hours later, I made the mistake of telling Mum all about it. And she was not amused, writes Zoe Williams
The Guardian - UK · Mar 6, 2024 There’s no such thing as a free lunch for schools – but bring on the Toynbee Glee Scale for Ofsted Letters: Jess Hindes says any new government planning to increase free school meals needs to pay for that, Yvonne Williams extols the benefits of further education, and Dr Helen Care suggests implementing a glee scale for schools
The Guardian - UK · Feb 29, 2024 The Tories have sucked the joy from the education system. Here are three ways Labour can bring it back Keir Starmer should revitalise Sure Start, focus on children’s happiness – and give a crucial boost to further education, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Feb 27, 2024 Most Britons say poor people deserve support. So what do Sunak’s Tories do? Cut, cut, cut Slashing benefits will push even more people into poverty. Neither Labour nor Conservative voters want it, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Feb 22, 2024 The Commons needed to focus on the horror in Gaza. Instead this was a grubby game of political chess The talk today is whether Lindsay Hoyle will survive. That is so wrong, as is the fact that MPs’ safety fears now cloud our politics, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Feb 20, 2024 Labour must overcome its small-c conservatism Letters: Readers respond to articles by Yanis Varoufakis, Polly Toynbee and George Monbiot on Labour’s economic policies
The Guardian - UK · Feb 20, 2024 The Tory press can publish all the tax avoidance guides they like - the rich won’t flee a Labour government The scare-mongering will come to nothing. Britain’s super-wealthy know that moving abroad would be bad for business, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The Guardian - UK · Feb 20, 2024 The Tory press can publish all the tax avoidance guides they like – the rich won’t flee a Labour government The scare-mongering will come to nothing. Britain’s super-wealthy know that moving abroad would be bad for business, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee