The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters #953

Leading the Lions to the final – what we can learn from Southgate’s leadership style - ILM

Diversity leadership – why Gareth Southgate has played a blinder - Lewis Silkin

England may have lost, but Southgate’s team shows us the nation we can be - The Guardian

Racist abuse of England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho & Bukayo Saka 'unforgivable' - BBC Sport

Euro 2024: For England's black players, football better come home - The New Arab

Paul Elliott reveals his pride as FIVE footballers of black heritage smash racial stereotypes to stand up under pressure for England in penalty shootout against Switzerland and banish Wembley ghosts - Daily Mail

You need migration for kickball - BladeoftheS - Twitter

Reform are mad about illegal immigration, anyway how about the diverse football team? - HackneyAbbott - Twitter

Air Strikes - BBC News

Twitter footage - Visegrad24 - Twitter

Sky - Sky News

More air defence systems - "Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail." - BBC News

Keir urges allies to spend more - Politico

Keir urges NATO members to spend more - The Guardian

Keir refuses to guarantee 2.5% spending increase - Evening Standard

Biden speech about winning - Reuters

Pro NATO Tweet - NATO - Twitter

General election 2024 results - House of Commons Library

This is because the vast majority, particularly at CCHQ, seem intent on learning all of the wrong lessons from the historic defeat and stubbornly ignoring all of the correct ones. Incapable of sober self-reflection, they have instead gone into full-blown huffy teenager mode. - 93vintagejones - Twitter

The Tories will keep losing if they chase Reform. - DavidGauke - Twitter

Low immigration levels were somehow possible in the 1990s, regarded by people like Gauke as a golden age, led by sensible centrists like John Major. By the standards they invoke today, their own 90s paradise was some kind of Fourth Reich hell-hole: - Migration Watch UK

“Labour rebuilt the Red Wall with a vote share of 41%, despite climbing just three percentage points on 2019. The party won 37 of the 38 Red Wall seats, with Ashfield going to Reform UK. The Conservatives lost all 28 Red Wall seats they won in 2019, dropping 24 percentage points in the process.” Supporting graphic below - Supporting graphic

“The Liberal Democrats won a majority of ‘Blue Wall’ seats, with the party picking up 23 of these 43 seats that were won by the Conservatives in 2019. Labour’s vote share (17%) didn’t move, but the party gained 9 seats, with the Conservatives reduced to just 11.” Supporting graphic below - Supporting graphic

Those who, albeit to varying degrees, do seem to get it: - miriam_cates - Twitter

“We have just suffered our worst ever defeat.” - RobertJenrick - Twitter

No surprise to see that Eric Kaufmann, one of the shrewdest observers in the business and a friend to both this show and the New Culture Forum, perfectly grasps why the Tories lost so monumentally: - epkaufm - Twitter

Reform UK came second in almost 100 seats across the country. Roughly two thirds of lost Tory seats had a Reform vote larger than the swing away from the Conservatives. Matt Goodwin draws out many key lessons, including this one: - Matt Goodwin

Carl Benjamin - Sargon_of_Akkad - Twitter

Connor too - Con_Tomlinson - Twitter