Yesterday
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
West’s enemies may be evil, but there’s no ‘axis’
Democracies should tease out the contradictions between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, instead of dangerously lumping them together as a bloc.
This Month
- Opinion
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
America finds there is more to the world than China
The US is going through the most awkward phase in the life cycle of an empire. Its relative power in the world is down from its peak, but its burdens aren’t.
September
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
What the world should expect from a second Trump term
Admirers and enemies alike are forever reading grand visions into a man with an almost touchingly banal, dollars-and-cents worldview.
August
- Opinion
- Trump's America
Rotting rule of law a bigger problem than threat to democracy
Liberals fret too much about dictatorship and not enough about chaos on the streets.
Is Britain’s net zero consensus crumbling?
Britain will look back on a seemingly banal by-election in this ostensibly quiet northern summer as the beginning of the end of its net zero consensus.
May
- Opinion
- US election
Why Ron DeSantis is losing Republican voters to Donald Trump
Populist voters are not looking for a smart version of Trump. They are still more interested in kicking the establishment than running a government.
February
- Opinion
- Workplace
Why we can’t stop making fun of managers
There is grandeur in ownership. There is dignity in labour. It is the management tier in between that has to plead for its reputation.
- Opinion
- Leadership lessons
Why a good speaking voice will get you ahead
Boris Johnson isn’t funny. But he’s the perfect example of how a good speaking voice is as much of an asset in work and life as physical beauty.
January
- Opinion
- Globalisation
The West will rue its protectionism
Elite guilt about globalisation is handing an intellectual victory to the zero-sum world of populists and dictators.
November 2022
- Opinion
- World politics
This was the year liberal democracy fought back
Populists have lost elections and autocrats have lost the aura of competence.
October 2022
- Opinion
- World politics
Sunak will be a cleaner but not much better prime minister
His competence is overrated, but his rectitude offers a reprieve for Britain’s despoiled democracy. The UK is closer to US-grade civic rot than it realises.
- Opinion
- World politics
Labour’s progressive dream has died along with the Tories’ libertarian one
If he is elected UK prime minister, Keir Starmer won’t have the money to do very much.
- Opinion
- Liz Truss
The tragedy of Liz Truss is that she had a serious point
The supply side reforms that she has now managed to make toxic are what a low-growth Britain actually needs.
September 2022
- Opinion
- Royal family
Britain’s love of tradition comes at a price
The UK gives its traditions far too much credit. At best, they are innocuous. At worst, they impose a material cost on the nation.
- Updated
August 2022
- Opinion
- World politics
Don’t be too quick to write off Biden (or Starmer)
Political obsessives demand that leaders should be inspirational, but swing voters aren’t so needy. Diligent, unprepossessing, best-of-a-bad-bunch candidates have long thrived in politics.
- Updated
July 2022
- Opinion
- UK election
Why the UK Conservative leadership race is all about ‘vibes’
Policies matter, of course. But so do tribal signifiers. That’s why Rishi Sunak has to try much harder to seem the same level of right-wing as rival Liz Truss.
- Opinion
- World politics
Western democracies have a talent problem
There is something rote-learnt and formulaic about former UK chancellor Rishi Sunak. But he’s plainly the best candidate for PM in a dire Conservative field. This is why.
- Opinion
- UK leadership
How Britain giggled its way into crisis
Boris Johnson has exposed the costs of Britain’s addiction to humour. The beauty of humour is that it allows one to avoid difficult subjects. The tragedy of humour is that it allows one to avoid difficult subjects.
June 2022
- Opinion
- Globalisation
Western liberals must learn from the Merkel years
The gas dependence on Russia, the turn against nuclear power, the inadequate defence spending: parts of her record as German chancellor have aged as well as milk.
- Opinion
- GDP
GDP isn’t everything? Wait ’til the recession hits
Growth will be harder to dismiss as a bean counter’s tawdry obsession when there is so little of the stuff to go around.
