Gus O’Donnell: The insider’s guide to preparing for power
The former head of the civil service on the cost of Brexit, the case for electoral reform, and Keir Starmer’s…
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The dissident is dead
Dividing global politics into camps of angels and demons is no longer fashionable.
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In praise of sluggish politics
Deliberation and reversals are democracy’s great virtues, writes Jonathan White. But can it keep pace with a world in crisis?
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The year of voting dangerously
Over two billion people in more than 60 countries will go to the polls in 2024, in elections that could…
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Democracy in the era of deepfakes
In October a fabricated clip of Keir Starmer swearing at staff was shared. Imagine the impact if it had happened…
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Why South Yorkshire needed a citizens’ assembly for net zero
Oliver Coppard, the regional mayor, on his new approach to formulating climate policy.
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The great crack-up
We inhabit an economy too small to deliver the social goods British people expect.
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How Sweden lost the plot
The country is no longer a model for the world.
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Anarchy unbound: the new scramble for Africa
Caught between climate change, migration and social upheaval, Niger and the Sahel are the crucible of Western failure.
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Keir Starmer will bury Blairism
In office, circumstances will force the Labour leader to break with his party’s liberal progressivism.
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Inside the assassination bureau
The 1922 Committee is adept at removing prime ministers. How long before its head prefect pays Rishi Sunak a visit?
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How Silvio Berlusconi privatised democracy
Throughout his career, the Italian politician combined extravagance and offence with a fundamental hollowness.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg doesn’t want you to vote
An admission in the former minister’s recent National Conservativism conference speech was revealing.
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Making democracy safe from capitalism
Market radicals have established economic spaces free of democratic constraint. What would a politics of the zone look like if…
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The arrest of Imran Khan foreshadows a dark chapter for Pakistan
The surprise arrest has sparked riots, fears of torture and a violent crackdown.
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As strongman leaders around the world begin to fall, has authoritarianism peaked?
Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro both tested the democratic system and lost power. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could be next.
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The Tories’ voter ID laws have damaged our democracy
Far too many of those who were needlessly turned away at polling stations did not return to vote.
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The Red Christian
How Jacques Maritain, the most influential Catholic intellectual of the 20th century, changed the world.
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From nimbyism to the trans right debate, today’s politics is all about taking back control
What does it mean for our society when some people believe their word on what happens in their back yard…
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Why Tocqueville matters
Travel was a vital part of the French thinker’s political philosophy, but this has largely been forgotten in today’s secluded…
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