‘We were missing in the conversation’: how Zack Polanski hit on plan to beat Reform at their own game
Zack Polanski finally decided to stand as the Greens’ leader, he says, after witnessing the party being eclipsed by Reform in last May’s local elections across England, and realising that British politics had changed for good,While the Greens made yet more steady gains, Reform won nearly 700 councillors from a standing start,As deputy leader, it was Polanski’s job to speak to losing candidates to both offer consolation and ask what lessons could be learned,“The ground game was as solid and as effective as it could be,” he told the Guardian,“Where they felt we were missing was in the national conversation.
Reform was this new beast that had clearly dominated the air game,I realised we needed to match that,”Soon after the local elections, Polanski announced his candidacy, promising to shake up the party with a Reform-like dose of what he called “eco-populism”, a phrase he made up on the spot in an interview launching the campaign and which became its unofficial slogan,Four months after he became leader, membership of the Greens in England and Wales has shot up from about 70,000 to well over 180,000, and poll ratings have risen such that a handful have shown the Greens above the Liberal Democrats and even Labour,This is uncharted territory for a party that had specialised in the patient long game, building up networks of councillors before challenging for parliamentary seats.
Even senior Green members who were sceptical about his candidacy now credit Polanski for boosting the party’s profile – as well as his own.A year ago, Polanski was a member of the London assembly who was barely known outside the party despite being its deputy leader.But since trouncing two of the party’s MPs, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, in the leadership contest, he is everywhere; on the airwaves and on social media.He also has his own podcast that he says has a million listens a month.Even sitting at the very back of a cafe in north-east London, Polanski is recognised.
If he walks in the area on his own, “within about 30 seconds someone will come and lobby me about something”, he says.Polanski appreciates that such approaches are to be welcomed, particularly for a party which has traditionally struggled to get attention.Amid all his other tasks as leader, he tries to spend an hour every day replying to people who message him on social media.Why? Because many of them are new supporters, who then eagerly share his reply with family and friends, setting off, he hopes, a domino effect of enthusiasm and activism.“I’ve gone around the country and bumped into people where that was the beginning of their journey, and who now have an important role in their local party,” he says.
“And it started with that first engagement.”Rising membership numbers are mainly a source of bragging rights for other parties, but for the perennially cash-strapped Greens it has brought a welcome surge of income.This has been supplemented by crowdfunders, with one Christmas-themed video that Polanski fronted raising £260,000.It is all relatively small-time in a world where Reform can receive £9m from a single wealthy donor, but Polanski says it is an advantage.“We really require that membership surge for funding, because the vast, vast majority of our finances come from regular donations from members,” he says.
“That’s an important principle, because that frees you up to never have a vested interest, never have someone that you’re beholden to.”It is allowing the party to recruit more staff, with a planned increase of nearly 80% in paid personnel this year including a senior communications aide for Polanski, who writes all his social media posts as well as replying to messages.“It’s been really bad for my reading life,” he says.The next 12 months will bring two significant challenges, one shorter term, the other more structural.The first involves May’s local elections in England and for the Senedd in Wales, while the Scottish Greens fight their own campaign for Holyrood.
Polanski’s arm of the party is forecast to make large gains in London.It has never before held a Senedd seat, but polls suggest a tally of up to three, potentially giving the Greens the balance of power.At the same time, the party has to finesse a programme for the next general election, one that will not only attract much more scrutiny than ever before, but that will be drawn up without the big parties’ retinue of thinktanks and other policy specialists.“Increasingly, experts in all fields are offering their services or advice, and that’s something I do want to lean into, not just for me, but for the party more generally,” Polanski says.“People rightly want to know, beyond the principles, what do these practical policies look like and how we pay for them? I think they’re all legitimate questions.
I think it’s also a legitimate answer that we’re three or four years away from a general election.”Would he do it all again? Polanski says he has no regrets.“It’s been amazing.When I was first elected as leader, Sadiq Khan [the London mayor] said he had not seen a politician enjoy a campaign quite so much.And I think that’s continued.
“There are definitely days that are less enjoyable than others, particularly personal attacks on my loved ones or my family, but actually, 99% of the time, it’s the most privileged, wonderful position to be in, and I’m loving every second,”
Majestic Smith passes Hobbs to leave only Bradman clear on top of Ashes mountain | Geoff Lemon
There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career-lasting two decades. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long. Smith was untouchable for six years before returning to the realm of the merely very good.The combination of those phases, though, took him to a rare position on the third day of the fifth Test in Sydney
The Breakdown | Rugby’s leaders should show courage of their convictions as Stephen Jones did
He never won an international cap nor played a single minute of professional rugby. So why did a national newspaper devote four and a half pages of its sports section to celebrating him at the weekend? There have been generational British & Irish legends who spawned less coverage than Stephen Jones in recognition of the latter’s 42-year stint as rugby correspondent of the Sunday Times.Just think about that for a second. Forty-two years of journalistic thunderbolts and lightning, some of it very, very frightening for those in the firing line. One or two world heavyweight champs have landed fewer career knockout punches than our mate Steve dished out in print every week
Bethell admits ‘tired’ England need to ‘graft’ after hitting Ashes wall in Sydney
England hit the wall on day three at the Sydney Cricket Ground, or at least the latest in a series of walls, at the end of which Jacob Bethell admitted mental and physical fatigue was understandably, playing a part. There were dropped catches and some scattergun bowling lengths as Australia batted all day to reach 518 for seven, 134 runs ahead on first innings.“This is proper Test cricket now in terms of the graft and the stuff that you have to put in,” Bethell said afterwards. “It was a tough day, but that’s what it’s about. We’ve got to come out tomorrow, take the three wickets early and get back in again
Conscript Potts is England’s paratrooper fighting a lonely Ashes war in Sydney | Barney Ronay
Forty-five minutes into a quietly overcast morning at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Matt Potts came into the England attack from the Randwick End, and immediately began running through his variations.His first ball was wide and smashed through cover by Travis Head. His second ball was both short and wide and hacked over gully by Travis Head. His third ball was short and straight and smashed past midwicket by Travis Head. His fourth ball was defended with a show of furrowed caution, to loud, mocking cheers from a crowd that had begun to tuck into the day
Smith and Head hit centuries to help Australia grind England into the dust
They do things well in Australia. On the first day of this fifth Test came a fitting tribute to the victims and first responders of the Bondi atrocity, and on the third day the Sydney Cricket Ground was turned into a sea of pink to once again raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.Out in the middle, however, Australian charity was in far shorter supply. Across three sessions their batters ground England’s bowlers into the dust, answering any questions about their motivation since securing the Ashes and throwing up a few more about their beaten opponents.Faces flush from the ordeal, Ben Stokes and his team trudged off at stumps seeing pink elephants
Nick Kyrgios may be resigned to tennis fringes as singles career fizzles out
Nick Kyrgios appears set for little more than a peripheral role during Australia’s summer of tennis after a brisk, anticlimactic and – for fans of the 30-year-old – worrying defeat at the Brisbane International in his first competitive singles outing in almost 10 months.The Canberran, who is recovering from knee and wrist surgeries and played only five times on the ATP Tour in 2025, offered little resistance against American Aleksandar Kovacevic in the first round at the Pat Rafter Arena on Tuesday. The 27-year-old American, ranked 58 in the world, breezed past the Australian 6-3 6-4 in just 66 minutes, without giving up a break point opportunity.The match disappointed the capacity crowd in Pat Rafter Arena, who had hoped a first singles ATP Tour match since March for the sport’s self-styled maverick would springboard Kyrgios back to relevance, after a promising doubles performance on Sunday. Instead, it vindicated the ongoing reluctance of Australian Open officials to hand the former world No 13 a precious place at the Melbourne Park grand slam starting on 18 January
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