1. Logged on to find lots of people saying there are lessons to be learned from Hartlepool. But, quite honestly, I don't think there are.
Flag-waving Tory-aping doesn't work.
But shouting Rejoin or promising huge investment in education and public services doesn't either.

2. Telling people they're stupid does nothing other than make you look mean.
But then nodding frantically and telling them that they are absolutely right and all the experts were wrong and Brexit is wonderful won't do it either.

3. The 52% of people who voted Conservative in that by-election knew about the catastrophically huge covid death toll and the negligence that fuelled it. They also knew about the corruption of the PM and his cabinet.
None of that was enough to stop them voting Tory.

4. I've got multiple frustrations with Labour under Starmer, but I honestly don't think any other leader would have performed better
What lies behind these votes is a tight knot of pride, defiance and (perceived) threat to identity Honestly, I'm not sure what will untie it.

5. I mean, you can try triangulation, but frankly that triangle will be stretched so wide it will look more like a very squashed parallelogram.
This problem is beyond focus-group tinkering.