The troubles with trust and ‘the truth’ in democratic politics — In a TED Talk on ‘Why democracy matters’ Rory Stewart tells a little joke. He recounts the story of a schoolboy: “let’s call him Little Billy” who is one day asked by his teacher what his father does for a living. The boy replies ‘my father plays the piano in…

This year marks a hundred years since Clement Attlee was first elected to parliament in 1922. By 1935 he had risen to the party’s leadership in Westminster. Yet none of his contemporaries (or probably even himself) ever expected him to one day serve as Deputy Prime Minister during a world…

Hardliner? Compared to what? Elected? Elected how? — Back in June 2021, the ‘Islamic Republic’ of Iran held its thirteenth presidential ‘election’. Yet for the first time since the 1979 revolution and the founding of the ‘Republic’, less than 50% of Iranians turned up at the polls and many millions spoilt their ballots. In fact, the spoilt ballots…

Is there any hope yet for the Labour Party? — The local elections and the by-election in Hartlepool had been branded as a test if not a referendum on Starmer’s first year as Labour leader. Was his lawyerly or ‘forensic’ scrutiny of Boris Johnson getting through to the electorate? Most importantly, was his strategy of consensual accommodation of the Tory…

The inevitable fate of any centrist leader? In about 8 weeks' time, the Islamic Republic of Iran faces an existential threat or a public display of a crisis of legitimacy. The country is set to have its presidential election (the 13th since the republic’s founding in 1979). Though what makes…

Joe Biden faces a stark choice. By reviving the nuclear deal, he could put some wind under the wings of the reformers or he could just watch them be clipped further. — As Biden’s team was handed over the keys to the White House (and presumably given the wifi password), they speedily set out to (in their own words) “undo the damage done by Trump”, to rebuild the old alliances and ‘restore America’s place in the world’ (naively assuming that America’s decline…

There are no shortages of dead philosophers (or indeed just writers) whose books go unread, gathering dust on the library shelves or at second-hand bookshops. But what does a romantic ‘Trad Con’ philosopher has to offer to those whom he’d disagree with (and they with him)? Roger Scruton spent his…

Lessons from around the world to help solve Britain’s housing crisis. — Recently a tweet by a DW Journalist picked up quite a bit of attention. And it was on the (quite frankly) dull topic of housing. It included two infographics comparing rent as a proportion of monthly earnings in London Boroughs and German cities. It showed that in every London borough…

Since its short-lived ascent to influence under Ed Miliband in 2011, Blue Labour has come under strong attacks from both the left and the right of the Labour Party, ranging from Diane Abbot to Peter Mandleson. Perhaps opposition to Blue Labour is the only thing Momentum and Progress supporters have…