Politics
Politics: How Boris could rescue Dave
Downing Street is, in the words of one senior aide, in a mood of ‘sober reflection’ about how and why…
Politics: The cost of giving
David Cameron was in a foul mood on Monday night. ‘Cash for Cameron’, the scandal about a Tory treasurer trying…
Politics: Osborne goes for growth
This Budget was a reminder that political tactics alone are not enough to explain George Osborne’s actions. The most striking…
Siege mentality
The mirrored sunglasses worn by Putin on the cover of Angus Roxburgh’s The Strongman give the Russian president the look…
Politics: Taking back the cities
When the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, Steve Hilton, quits Downing Street in May, he’ll leave behind what he believes to…
Politics: A struggle for the Tory soul
Walking back to the Palace of Westminster the other day, I bumped into a new Tory MP. He was eager…
Politics: The Liberal Democrats hold the key to boundary reform – and therefore the next election
The Cameroons believe they have come up with a policy that will deliver at least 20 more Tory seats at…
Politics: At last, we can have it both ways on Europe
In all the controversy about the eurozone and Greece, it is easy to ignore one simple fact: that the bailouts…
Politics: Britain’s new gang of four
We have a new system of rule in Britain: Quad government. The coalition has not, as is often claimed, restored…
Politics: Cameron cannot escape a verdict on Strasbourg
‘I don’t really worry about David and the European Court of Human Rights,’ one right-wing member of the then shadow…
Politics: Parliament’s power surge
Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays bank, is not a man inclined to bend to the public mood. ‘There…
Politics: Why a double dip won’t save Ed Miliband
It wasn’t meant to be this way. The Tories used to joke that after a year and a half in…
Politics: Is Britain ready for an optimistic Prime Minister?
David Cameron is a sunny-side-up politician. At his first party conference as leader, he declared, ‘Let optimism beat pessimism. Let…
Politics: Alex Salmond’s three-card trick
Not since 1745 has the union been in such danger. It now seems certain that there’ll either be a referendum…
Politics: Who will speak for the middle 98 per cent?
The year has begun with the British political class obsessing about the government’s new housing benefit cap. The cap is…
Politics: Can the coalition survive a good year for the Tories?
Westminster used to think that 2012 would be the year that the ‘feel-good factor’ returned. Back in May 2010, all…
Crusader on the attack
Why have we forgotten John Bright? In his day he was a massive political celebrity. He could command audiences of…
Politics: Cameron is at his best when he is boldest
David Cameron must sometimes wonder if the gods are against his modernising project. Events have forced him back on to…
Politics: Whitehall’s own Scottish nationalist
The notion of Scotland being reoriented as a ‘Scandinavian’ country, at the expense of links with England, the Commonwealth and…
Politics: Osborne’s Autumn Statement was about creating more Tories
It was political jujitsu. The coalition turned the public sector unions’ strike back against them. When the unions first decided…
Politics: When it comes to the crunch, Cameron will choose his party over Europe
Downing Street’s negotiating team returned from Berlin last Friday afternoon in good spirits. Angela Merkel had accepted that Britain deserved…
Politics: Recovery begins at home
There’s a pattern emerging to George Osborne’s autumn. He gives a big domestic set piece speech on growth and then…
Politics: Miliband pitches his tent with the protestors
During the Depression, tent cities sprung up across America. Today, in the second great contraction, they are appearing in the…
The Price of Civilization by Jeffrey Sachs
Half a century ago J.K. Galbraith’s The Affluent Society changed the political consciousness of a generation in the English- speaking…