Patriotism and the Daily Mail
The newspaper says it wants to discuss "the views of his father and their influence on Britain’s would-be Prime Minister." No man can hear the "distant footsteps" of another's father, as the poet Cesar...
View ArticleWhy we need more politics at the dinner table
A sequel to the earlier post about the battle between the Daily Mail and Ed Miliband. This morning, the Labour leader wrote to the paper's proprietor to request an investigation into why a reporter...
View ArticleThe only cost-benefit analysis of HS2 that matters
There is no obvious middle ground between building all of HS2 and not building all of HS2. The estimated benefits are higher over time and the further it goes towards Manchester and Leeds. And if the...
View ArticleTesco is the real test of the Living Wage
In 1894, Mark Oldroyd, a Liberal MP with a fondness for mill girls and justice, published a pamphlet about the living wage. The textiles factory owner from Dewsbury, Yorkshire wrote that: "A living...
View ArticleWhat we know from one month of Help to Buy
David Cameron announced the figures in the Sun, which shows a picture of him next to a snap of Margaret Thatcher promoting her Right to Buy scheme. It should not take too long to figure out the prime...
View ArticleMiliband finds ‘the new centre ground of politics’
"Equality of What?" asked Amartya Sen in 1979. The question pithily captures the defining debate of the political left. On Monday evening, in his Hugo Young speech, Ed Miliband gave an answer to Sen's...
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How to read Miliband’s Europe policy
Ed Miliband’s announcement on the EU in the Financial Times today is partly a recognition of this: But it is also made with a keen awareness of this: The Labour leader is trying to stem the bleeding of...
View ArticleThe power of the pension reforms
The pension reforms announced at the Budget have jolted Westminster from its pre-election ennui. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are cock-a-hoop. But "It has been a disorienting few days for the...
View ArticleWhen politicians can ignore the public
A politician wants to vote for the decriminalisation of marijuana. But she knows that opinion polls suggest that her electorate is against easing access to weed. Although she cares about the issue, she...
View ArticleThe void in British politics
If opinion polls prove accurate, on Thursday the UK Independence party will win its second-ever by-election – and its second in two months. Victory in Rochester and Strood – whose demographics are less...
View ArticleWelcome to capitalism, Miliband-style
Ed Miliband is not the only political leader to recognise the importance of rising energy bills. But in promising a price freeze he now “owns” the issue. The move tells us a lot about the Labour leader...
View ArticleGet out of the kitchen(s)
Perhaps it's because it's Friday, but the big story of the day is related to kitchens. Sarah Vine, a Daily Mail columnist (and wife of Michael Gove, a leading Conservative politician), wrote a column...
View ArticleWhy Miliband wouldn’t need the SNP to become PM
I highly recommend this post by Carl Gardner, a barrister and former government lawyer, about the legal basis for what happens when there is a hung parliament. In it, Gardner makes a critical...
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