Society

Some say it’s natural optimism that makes the Americans so different from the British, and some say it’s a lack of cynicism. Either way, our cousins over there have long had difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction, and are forever finding ways to make their public life look like the action movie that always ends well for the hero, or the TV series in which some of the good guys turn out to be bad but the really good guy lives to fight another season. The ultimate expression of this national naivety — for that’s surely what it is — occurred on 1 May 2003 when President George W. Bush, apparently

Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, has been busy tweeting comments from Jill Abramson, the new executive editor of the New York Times, basically in support of his newspaper’s Snowden disclosures. For some reason, he does not seem as interested in her comments about press freedom given on Newsnight last night. Perhaps this is became New York Times has given the reaction that the Guardian should have: that any involvement of politicians in the regulation of the press is appalling and should be rejected. As Abramson put i:- ‘I think that the press in Britain has more restrictions on it than we do. The framers of our country, in the

After last week’s reshuffle and the gap left by Jesse Norman’s departure from the policy board, Number 10 has announced a number of promotions which increase the board’s size –  and its brainpower. Alun Cairns, Andrea Leadsom, Priti Patel, Chris Skidmore and Nadhim Zahawi have all been promoted, which is interesting as all of them bar Skidmore are rebels to a greater or lesser extent. So it’s a sign that the Tory leadership wants to forget past troubles and use all the best brains to forge 2015 policy. But it’s also useful to have independently-minded MPs joining the group anyway, as the last thing the board tasked with developing flagship

When you started your first job, did you arrive on time on your first day? Did you come dressed in the right clothing, show willingness to help with any and every task, ask questions when they were necessary and take advice even if you privately disagreed? You might think such behaviour would be obvious, but plenty of employers say that today’s young people don’t have a clue what to expect when they join the working world. According to an OECD study published last week, there is a shrinking talent pool of skilled young people entering the UK workforce, while British young adults trail behind their international peers on numeracy and

In his five years as Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer  has shown a striking appetite for (self-) publicity and given the job a higher profile than ever. He’s just informed the world, from Andrew Marr’s sofa, that he’s opposed to plans by the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, to tear up the egregious Human Rights Act which is playing havoc with the English justice system. I can see why he’s alarmed: the confusion caused by superimposing European law on English law gives huge power to people, like him, who adjudicate. It has encouraged, in England, the emergence of American-style judicial activism. And the confusion elevates people who should be legal technocrats,

Should the government simply give up on Middlesbrough, Burnley, Hartlepool and Hull? In a leader titled City slickers, The Economist argues that these towns are trapped in a spiral of decline and attempts to ‘save’ them are futile: ‘Middlesbrough, Burnley, Hartlepool, Hull and many others were in trouble even before the financial crisis. These days their unemployment rates are roughly double the national average, and talented young people are draining away (see article). Their high streets are thick with betting shops and payday lenders, if they are not empty.’ Their solution? Pay people to relocate to successful areas: ‘Governments should not try to rescue failing towns. Instead, they should support