Sam Freedman
Sam Freedman examines how governing parties turn political promises into real policy, institutions and outcomes, and what that means for the way the state works in practice. He writes Comment is Freed, a politics and policy newsletter that mixes rapid analysis of government announcements, longer thematic pieces on trends and detailed policy explainers. His core focus is UK policy and politics, but he regularly reaches into US and European domestic politics and questions of state capacity, technology and foreign affairs. He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and has held senior roles in education policy and teacher training in government and the charity sector, which gives his political commentary a practitioner’s understanding of how systems operate.
Burnham's policy agenda
Freedman treats the arrival of new governments as an opportunity to map their policy machinery, not just their slogans.
In his work on Burnham’s policy agenda he breaks the programme into the economy, political system reform and public services, following how proposals are being studied across the Treasury and Cabinet Office and how they are likely to translate into an actionable agenda. He connects this with scrutiny of the Downing Street operation, highlighting frustration inside government at a Number 10 that is not providing clear direction or effective coordination.
Taken together with his analysis of Burnham’s early missteps, this gives his coverage a continuous thread: he is interested in how leadership style, institutional set‑up and policy choices interact over time. His writing in this area is explanatory rather than tactical, aimed at setting out what is known, what is being considered, and where the pressure points for implementation will sit.
How to beat Reform
Freedman has a recurring strand on the rise, limits and handling of right‑wing challenger parties, with a particular focus on Reform. In his analysis of “How to beat Reform” he uses exclusive polling from Persuasion UK to test different attack lines, explore how their vote share can be depressed and assess the scope for tactical voting, grounding his argument in data rather than intuition.
He pairs this with broader work on immigration and public opinion, showing how falling net migration has coincided with immigration remaining the top issue for the public in long‑running poll series. His writing on Labour’s struggles and strategies, including how the party might fight back from difficult by‑election results, situates Reform within a wider shift in political momentum and voter alignment rather than treating it as an isolated phenomenon.
Across these pieces he brings together polling, behavioural psychology and long‑term party trends, making his coverage valuable for anyone needing to understand how messages land and how new parties reshape the electoral landscape.
Why England's schools are doing so well
Education policy is a distinctive sub‑beat for Freedman, informed by his career in the field. In “Why England’s schools are doing so well” he digs into PISA results and other comparative data, explaining how England has risen to become one of the highest‑performing countries outside the Far East and has pulled ahead of other UK nations. He translates score differences into years of learning and uses this to frame which reforms have mattered and what needs attention next, giving readers a clear sense of both progress and remaining gaps. His piece “SEND help” offers a similarly granular treatment of the government’s plans for special educational needs, spelling out the problem ministers want to solve, the key proposals and the three issues most likely to cause difficulty, including the impact on Education and Health Care Plans.
These articles show him as a reporter who can move from headline performance metrics to the detail of system design and frontline consequences, making his politics coverage unusually strong on schools and children’s services.
The Agency Gap
Freedman often uses specific policy questions to explore deeper themes in psychology, autonomy and the health of democratic societies. “The Agency Gap” looks at why young people have become more anxious and depressed over the last thirty years, drawing on multiple measures of wellbeing and linking them to changes in perceived control over life and politics.
In “My generation thought in argument” he structures an interview with Alan Milburn around how politics has changed, the challenge of youth unemployment and the differences between the current government and the one Milburn served in, using the conversation to probe how political culture affects outcomes for young people. Elsewhere, in “Sovereignty for sale”, he examines how tech monopolies such as satellite networks affect the future of the nation state, using examples like decisions over access in wartime to illustrate how private power can constrain state action. He also conducts in‑depth interviews with senior practitioners, including Dame Emily Lawson on the vaccine rollout and other figures involved in AI security and foreign policy, to show how complex programmes were actually delivered and what that implies for state capacity.
Across these pieces, his distinguishing feature is an interest in how institutions, technology and psychology combine to expand or shrink people’s real agency, rather than treating politics as a purely Westminster‑bound game.
4 more politics journalists.
Abbi Garton-Crosbie
Abbi Garton-Crosbie is a multimedia political reporter who treats independence as a live process shaped by Holyrood power struggles, party manoeuvres and grassroots pressure. She works at The National, a pro-independence newspaper, covering how political power is contested and exercised in contemporary Scotland, with a core focus on parties, parliament and the mechanics of constitutional change. She reports on parliamentary votes, government strategy around future independence referendums, and elections across Scotland in the wider context of devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland. Her work centres on party leadership, resignations and internal conflict, including long-form interviews with senior politicians and coverage of emerging and smaller parties. She examines far-right activity, protest politics and movement organisation, and runs policy-driven reporting on rent caps, AI data centres, health boards and public services, across written, video and podcast formats.
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu is a politics reporter with Premium Times who treats politics as a system of rules, contests and consequences rather than personalities. He focuses on power struggles, security shocks and governance disputes shaping party competition in northern Nigeria, especially how violence, corruption investigations and economic strain intersect with political authority. He reports on Bauchi’s 2027 governorship race, APC primaries and PRP realignment, tracking defections, party constitutions and factional manoeuvring. His coverage of Jigawa and Yobe follows power-sharing fights, candidate substitutions and Tinubu reelection mobilisation efforts. He links banditry and local security crises in Kano and Zamfara to political structures, using precise locations and casualty figures. His investigative work on alleged shady dealings around the Dala Inland Dry Port and reporting on soaring cooking gas prices add a corruption and economic hardship lens.
Aisha Iqbal
Aisha Iqbal covers local and regional politics for the BBC, with a distinct focus on grassroots power and how local decisions shape trust, representation and public services. She reports on Bradford Council decisions, waste services, cultural funding, regeneration grants and the use of public money. She also covers grooming gangs, community safety, political trust, elections, Muslim voters, Gaza, ceasefire campaigns and the links between faith, foreign policy and representation. Her work includes culture and public figures when they intersect with civic identity, including a feature on David Hockney. She connects committee-room votes, neighbourhood disputes and national debates, showing who gains, who loses and how communities respond. She reports across broadcast and online platforms in a clear, explanatory style. Earlier, she covered politics, culture and consumer issues for regional newspapers.
Alessia Simona Maratta
Alessia Simona Maratta stands out for showing how political decisions, regulations and conflicts ripple through communities, pairing national and global stories with on-the-ground voices and clear policy explanations. She is a digital reporter, producer and editor with Global News’ network news desk, covering breaking news, crime, politics, public health, housing, labour, immigration, environment and climate, social issues and features. Her recent work spans politics, public health regulation, labour and technology, and human-interest features that ground complex issues in everyday experience. She reports on politics, policy and community impact, public health and social debates, and labour and regulation at the intersection of technology, globalization and worker rights. Alongside hard news, she produces features that use individual stories, straightforward narrative arcs and accessible explanations to connect history, science and policy to everyday life.