democracy
A democratic future for the 75 per cent
You needed only to look at the headlines to realise things had not gone to plan. They were damning; Time…
Long life
As we prepare in Britain for our momentous referendum in June, Italy has just had one. It happened last Sunday…
Long may we laugh at our absurd demagogues
In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke warned that ‘pure democracy’ was as dangerous as absolute monarchy. ‘Of…
The wisdom of pitchfork-wielding crowds
In a way the headline to my fellow columnist Dominic Lawson’s Sunday Times commentary on 12 April said it all.…
Whoever invented referendums needs a kicking
My favourite quote of the year so far comes from the author Fay Weldon. ‘If this were an all-woman society,’…
Land of the Donald
Welcome to Trump’s America, where greed is great and viciousness beautiful
A conservative case for staying in
Europe has enjoyed an exceptional three decades of freedom and prosperity. Why risk that?
The 5 per cent of people who get to decide everything
What happens when 95 per cent of people like something, but 5 per cent of people prefer something else? You might think…
Rwanda’s new tragedy
The ultimate ‘donor darling’ is becoming a dictatorship whose critics live in fear
Theatre and transgression in Europe’s last dictatorship
Juan Holzmann goes underground in Minsk with the Belarus Free Theatre
Corbyn’s democracy
The virtuous Mr Corbyn is insisting that New Old Labour should return to its traditional republican ways and take decisions…
The royal road to peace
What the Middle East needs is more constitutional monarchies
In praise of the ‘Don’t know’ voter
I am scraping the edges of my memory here, but I am fairly sure that opinion polls in my childhood…
Voting for heroes
To judge from elections, the purpose of politics is to win power by promising to make people better off. Plato,…
Mao’s violent disciple
Much has been written about Deng Xiao-ping (1904–1997), most recently by Ezra Vogel in Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of…
Demosthenes vs Russell Brand
Voters explain their apathy about politics on the grounds that the politicians do not understand them. No surprise there, an…
Hong Kong vs China
Hong Kong’s protests reflect not just tension with the mainland, but a great Chinese tradition. That’s what really scares Beijing
The shadow of the tanks
Looking at these protests, I fear another Tiananmen
High life
Athens This grimy semi-Levantine ancient city has its beauty spots, with childhood memories indelibly attached. There is a turn-of-the-century apartment…
The political prophet
The problem with a futuristic thesis — particularly when summarised by a futuristic title — is that it is likely…
Nicias vs Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond claims to be thrilled that so many people in Scotland are suddenly gripped by politics. The importance of…
A vote for real politics
Whatever the outcome of the referendum, Scotland will be better for having had the debate
General paralysis
America has let Egypt’s old military oligarchs take hold again. Must it carry on paying for them, too?
With Paxman gone, there are even fewer reasons to like the BBC
In a double blow for the beleaguered BBC, the corporation has lost three of its most compelling attractions in little…
Boris’s Periclean optimism
What is Boris’s great secret? Does it lie in the bust of the Athenian statesman Pericles (c. 495–429 bc) that…
