The headline results of the local elections in England are clearly bleak for Labour and rosy for the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats are, in effect treading water, while the Greens and independents have made some gains in terms of numbers of councillors.
But these are the aggregate council results. The top-level masks so many discrepancies. When listening to so much of the media coverage about these local elections, many candidates and councillors must get disheartened. They campaign as vigorously as possible, only for everyone to obsess about what the results mean for Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson.
The focus has been on how the “red wall” in the north of England is continuing to crumble. Labour lost control of Sheffield City Council and of Durham County Council for the first time, while the Conservatives have gained control of Northumberland County Council. But by zoning in on these, we miss that Labour had either no or only small losses in Gateshead Council, Liverpool C
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FURNITURE giant Ikea has apologised for a social media blunder after posting photographs of a model in a wearable quilt - next to the edge of a cliff. The Swedish firm said it was sorry for sharing a string of snaps featuring the cliffs at the Seven Sisters Country Park, while promoting the unusual staycation accessory . The images, showing a man called Sven wearing the must-have garment at Beachy Head, come after a campaign encouraging people to stay away from crumbling cliffs. Instagram posts, which urged people to staycation like Sven, were removed from the internet after The Argus got in touch with Ikea to raise concerns.