Welcome to Lines To Take

One big story of the day, every day.

Welcome to Lines To Take. My name is Jack Kessler and I’m so pleased you could make it. Whether you’ve waded through several hundred of my previous newsletters or are brand new, I hope to earn your faith in me.

This free newsletter aims to bring you insight into and analysis of one big story of the day, every day. By which I mean weekday. And by big story, that also might be anything from breaking news on the Budget unravelling to the rise and fall of Anchorage Airport.

Ultimately, I want to help you understand what is going on. Whatever the subject, my ambition is no less than to add value to your day in an easily digestible and rigorously researched package.

Who am I and why should you trust me?

I’m a journalist based in London. Ok, going by this polling data, that’s not a good start. But, I have worked in parliament, as a policy advisor at HM Treasury, and for the last six years as a journalist. 

Many of you will know me from my award-winning newsletter, West End Final, which I grew to more than 100,000 subscribers. Now I’m starting from scratch. 

Friends, family and occasional strangers have told me how much they appreciate my style, dorky knowledge and sporadic wit – and they can’t all have been fawning and polite. So I’m taking the plunge and starting my Substack.

I would therefore be thrilled if you subscribed and, for those looking for extra credit, tell a friend about it. Personal recommendations are the best way to grow anything like this.

What can you expect?

Well, a daily newsletter. But about what? So, it depends on the news cycle and stories that have caught my eye. Some examples might include:

• Why are UK industrial electricity prices four times higher than America’s and why should we care?

• Why don’t Transport for London face facts and split the Northern Line in two?

• Why did Novak Djokovic hire Andy Murray to be his coach and should that make us like him?

• Why did British Airways cancel its route to Beijing, and what does it tell us about geopolitics (and who should you book with instead?)

Why Lines To Take?

If you read any of my previous work, you’ll likely recall my low key obsession with ‘lines to take’ – that is the set of pre-agreed talking points politicians stick to. My all-time favourite example came from general election night 2001. Labour was romping towards a second successive landslide, and the media was searching for a more interesting story. Turns out, it was turnout.

The percentage of people who bothered to cast a ballot fell from 71.3 per cent in 1997 to 59.4 per cent. The media sensed blood, or at least a way to kick a seemingly unstoppable political movement.

At their counts or in the studio, Labour MPs and ministers were repeatedly asked to comment on the low turnout, and what it said about the country, the government, and whether it might even dilute the electoral mandate. My favourite answer came from then home secretary Jack Straw who, with delightful insouciance, brushed it off as evidence of the “politics of contentment”.

Sheer brazenness aside, could this be true? Does apathy equate to happiness? I don't know, but it sounded plausible enough and got exhausted and giddy MPs through to the morning.

What do you want?

I’d be super keen to hear from you about what subjects you’d like to read about. So please email me or comment below and I’ll get back.

What do I want?

If you haven’t already, please subscribe and even better, tell a friend/colleague/random stranger on the Tube who you think would be interested in this newsletter.

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