The State of the Bear: January 2026
On growth, accountability, and treating your attention with the respect it demands
Morning All,
We all officially find ourselves 19 days into 2026 - though according to my internal batshittometer1 this should be much closer to around July based on the number of defections, illegal invasions of countries and just the insanity that has been January so far.
This also means that it is time for the monthly State of the Bear update on Bearly Politics as a project.
I’ve been doing these “States of the Bear” on a monthly basis basically as a stakeholder update, which all of my readers are, and that’s true whether you’re just reading and popping in now and then, or whether you’ve taken out a paid subscription - all of you do have a direct stake.
Seven months ago now, I came to you as a community with an idea - to put a soft paywall in place and monetise Bearly Politics with the promise of treating the work as seriously as it deserves. Many, many people believed in me enough that they have paid and invested in Bearly Politics.
I sincerely hope you feel you’ve had a good return so far.
These monthly updates are my way of being accountable to that trust - to show you where we are, where we’re going, and what your support has made possible.
Performance Update:
To note that while I am not doing Bearly Politics just as a way of getting nice numbers and impressive stats, these do tell a story I’m genuinely proud of, and one that belongs to all of us who’ve built this community together.
Subscriber Growth:
Bearly Politics now sits at 6,620 subscribers after starting at 2,719 subscribers in June 2025.
This represents an increase of approximately 143.5%, which I can’t help but be incredibly chuffed with, and very grateful for.
Traffic and Reach:
June 2025 baseline: Around 30,000 reads per month when the project of professionalising my shouts of rage into the internet began.
Current performance: Consistently hitting 110,000 reads per month
Unique visitors: Around 25,000 people coming in per month
That’s a 267% increase in readership in seven months, and most importantly, it’s been steady and not spiky, which the strategist in me loves to see.
To be completely honest, the performance over the past seven months has overtaken my own expectations, never mind my plans. There are moments when I look at these numbers and I genuinely can’t believe it’s happening - but it is, and I am very grateful for it.
2026: Plans for Bearly Politics
Many of you will have noted that there’s been a lot of activity from me lately, and that’s kind of to be expected. In December 2025, I resigned from my senior leadership role in the NHS, and have been looking ahead to what I want to do going forward, and Bearly Politics is a big part of my plans - now more so than ever.
While I am still on the lookout for a new job (and getting a little nervous about it if I’m being very honest since I’ll officially be unemployed by the end of February), I did decide to take control of what I can control and start planning for the year ahead.
So below are a few plans that I have in place for Bearly Politics going forward.
Contributors
The first change that has come to Bearly Politics is contributors.
We’ve had our first contribution last week from La Reine Des Metaphores about change and the complexities thereof, and I have a great piece lined up for this Thursday from an author that I personally thoroughly enjoy.
As part of professionalising Bearly Politics one of the key things I had to do was have a conversation with myself about how I want to do this - and a big part of the answer was “not alone”.
I have no intention of becoming the Matt Goodwin of the left, and I’m very keen on other people’s voices and thoughts and ideas being heard as well. I have said from the start, this is a community effort, and now more so than ever.
If you have an idea for a piece that you believe aligns with Bearly Politics‘s mission or that you’d really like to get out there, email me on iratusursusmajor@gmail.com or DM me through the social media sites where I have an account.
Bear and Monk Debunk
Secondly, one of the biggest piece of news for this year so far (for me at least) is the launch of Bear and Monk Debunk - the podcast Emma Monk and I have recently started. We’re currently aiming for regular episodes (episode one and two are already out) where we’ll be debunking commonly believed myths in politics, health, technology, culture and a wide range of issues.
If you haven’t given it a listen, the first two episodes are below:
We are in the very early stages of this project, and approaching it with a PDSA2 mindset, so if you have listened to it and have any thoughts, please let myself or Emma know about what we could be doing better, differently, more of or less of.
Social Media Changes
Third is you will have noticed that I’ve been more active on other social media sites, and have completely disappeared from another one.
Addressing the latter first - earlier this month, I fully deactivated my X account which I had still been using to distribute posts and articles.
After Elon Musk’s Robot, Grok, had been found to be making non-consensual sexual imagery of women and children, I made the decision that this had crossed a line that I could no longer reasonably accept.
In addition to this, I have also started more regularly using Instagram and Threads, and have even made a LinkedIn profile. These are, for the most part, practical considerations as I do want Bearly Politics to grow, and part of that is partaking in the systems there are.
In terms of where I can be found, all links are available below:
As to the question of TikTok - for the moment, that’s far too intimidating. One step at a time!
More Concise Posts
Fourth, you’ll have noted that my posts have been becoming a bit more concise, and at the same time a little bit less shouty as well.
This is something that has come up a few times is that people have thought I waffle on a bit - and there is some truth to that, so I’ve been making an attempt to rein myself in a bit and self-edit more.
In terms of the tone that has become a bit more restrained, that has a slightly more important side to it. While I have found that venting my anger into the internets has been from time to time quite helpful with working out my frustrations, and had the extra benefit of being very algorithm friendly, I did have to do a bit of introspection about how much I’ve been personally contributing to the outrage economy.
I’ve already mentioned that I’m not keen on being the Matt Goodwin of the left - and this plays into that. I want to do more than just shout - shouting was great when I wanted attention. I now have it, and I have an increasing feeling that I need to treat that attention with more respect.
It doesn’t mean that the long-form pieces are gone - nor does it mean that I won’t have a good old vent into the intervoid again from time to time; they’ll just be punctuation now instead of process. I would love to hear thoughts on this.
The Great Brexit Debunk
Finally, the Gully Foyle/Great Brexit debunk, and there is an update.
While I was busy writing these, I had contact from someone who made a suggestion - and a very good one, and following that, I reached out to people who actually know what they’re doing, and a different plan has been made.
More will be coming in the following months, and it will potentially be quite exciting news when it does come.
Goals for 18 June 2026
Something that I haven’t done explicitly up to now is put clear markers in the ground, however, given that many of you backed the move to a soft paywall seven months ago - and backed me - that feels like something I now owe you.
So with that said, these are the two goals I’m working towards by Bearly Politics’s first grown up birthday on 18 June 2026:
10,000 total subscribers
I’m aiming for this particular number not because it’s a pretty round number (though admittedly it is), but because this represents safe scale - consistent reach, increased resilience, and a community large enough to absorb platform shocks, algorithm changes, and the occasional misfire without wobbling.
1,000 paid subscribers
This number is also not about growth for growth’s sake, but rather about future sustainability. Reaching this number would ultimately mean Bearly Politics can remain independent, properly resourced, and structurally boring in the best possible way.
I’m putting these targets here not as promises, and not as pressure, but as transparency. As ever, free readers remain central to this project, and while paid subscriptions support the structure - they don’t define the value of the work or the people reading it.
Thank You
All in all, a very busy first month of the year, and a coherent plan for the rest of it.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Bearly Politics in becoming what it has. Through your shares, reads, comments, guidance, coffee donations and paid subscriptions, Bearly Politics has moved, and is moving, into something I’m immensely proud of.
As a reminder, if you would like to have access to the Bearly Politics archive, but are claiming UC, a pensioner, a student or just not in a position to pay, please feel free to email me on iratusursusmajor@gmail.com and I will be more than happy to comp you.
And if you are in a position to support financially and would like to do so, you can by taking out a paid subscription - though this is always gratefully accepted and, even more importantly, not expected.
Thank you for your time in reading through what has, yet again, turned into a bit of a novel - I promise I am trying to bring things a bit more in line.
Wishing everyone an excellent month,
All the best,
Bear
Yes, I will be patenting this.
If there was ever a giveaway that I work for the health service, it would be this four letter acronym which stands for “Plan, Do, Study, Act” - please send your thoughts to Emma for having to deal with me and my neuroses.
PDSA- it must be an age thing.
I immediately thought of People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals.
Not sure that this bear is sick though.
While not a citizen of the UK I do like your analysis of what is going on over there. I dip in and out and find your content engaging. Haven’t had time to listen to your podcast with Monk but will do soon. What can I say? We need more bears in this forest if we are to resist the slash and burn profiteering. Keep on doing what you’re doing.
X Baz