Say what you will about Trump, but unlike Starmer he knows his own power and how to use it | Aditya Chakrabortty

"Last weekend, as the world wondered whether Donald Trump would swipe Greenland, Keir Starmer made his own big geographic intervention: he published a map of which councils were fixing potholes. Yes, potholes. Yes, a map. Barely 18 months into office, with crucial elections just ahead and his party lagging behind the ragtag troops of Nigel Farage and even Kemi Badenoch, this was how Team Starmer kicked off 2026. To be fair, as the young people say, the map is colour-coded."

"Spurred on by fury at Grok, the AI service that doubles as a factory for child porn, he threatened Elon Musk's X with losing the right to self-regulate. No 10 doubtless considers this fighting talk, but no one would call it action. For that, look to other countries, which simply went ahead and suspended X. This week, tens of thousands of families and schools and pubs and restaurants across Kent and Sussex have had no water."

Keir Starmer published a colour-coded map showing which councils were fixing potholes, deploying a symbolic geographic intervention barely 18 months into office. He threatened Elon Musk's X with losing the right to self-regulate after outrage at Grok, an AI service linked to child-abuse images, but no substantive action followed. Other countries suspended X. Tens of thousands of households, schools, pubs and restaurants across Kent and Sussex lost water after South East Water again failed customers. Tory MPs demanded the company's boss quit and the Liberal Democrats sought licence withdrawal. Starmer described the fiasco as 'totally unacceptable,' a response presented as insufficient.

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