Rolling Stone British, Author at Rolling Stone British

Americans are doing a good job of misunderstanding Britain

By Rolling Stone British | August 25, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT A RESTAURANT critic for the New York Times informs us that, on returning to London after a ten-year absence, he was astonished to discover that the local restaurants have moved beyond “porridge and boiled mutton”. Robert Draper has been widely mocked for this nonsense. What next on his list of amazing discoveries? That…

Labour is no longer the party of the traditional working class

By Rolling Stone British | July 6, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT ON JULY 3RD Jeremy Corbyn told Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, that “Labour is back as the political voice of the working class”. This would be nice if it were true: the Labour Party was after all founded to represent the working class, and the working class has been severely battered, in recent…

Some thoughts on the crisis of liberalism—and how to fix it

By Rolling Stone British | June 12, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT BREXIT is such an all-consuming process for the British—at once a drama, a muddle and a mess—that it is easy to forget that it is part of something bigger: a crisis of liberalism in the west. A growing number of countries have had their own equivalents of Brexit: Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary…

Sounding the death knell for Corbynmania

By Rolling Stone British | May 4, 2018 |

Labour’s so-so performance in the local elections raises questions about Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership Source link

Amber Rudd’s resignation throws Theresa May’s government into crisis

By Rolling Stone British | April 30, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT IN THIS week’s Bagehot column I ventured that Amber Rudd, Britain’s home secretary, was probably not fatally wounded by recent events, “unless there is another scandal festering in the Home Office’s basement”. It turned out that there was a lot of festering going on. Just before 10pm on April 29th Ms Rudd tendered…

Coming face to neck with Vladimir Putin

By Rolling Stone British | March 21, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT T.H. MARSHALL, one of the founders of modern economics, and one of the most brilliant analysts of the economics of place, argued that “there was something in the air” in the English city of Sheffield that made it good at making steel. I think it is equally true that there is “something in…

Some thoughts on the open v closed divide

By Rolling Stone British | March 16, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT ONE of the most popular interpretations of modern politics is that it is increasingly defined by the difference between open and closed rather than left and right. Openness means support for both economic openness (immigration and free trade) and cultural openness (gays and other minorities). Closedness means hostility to these things. Source link

Theresa May wastes an opportunity to regalvanise her party

By Rolling Stone British | January 8, 2018 |

By BAGEHOT TODAY’S Cabinet reshuffle was billed as a golden opportunity for Theresa May to achieve two things: stamp her authority on the Conservative Party after the debacle of the general election and regalvanise her party in order to meet the rising threat from Jeremy Corbyn. She failed spectacularly to achieve either goal. Source link

Damian Green’s exit gives Theresa May a problem—and an opportunity

By Rolling Stone British | December 21, 2017 |

By BAGEHOT AT THE last prime minister’s questions of the year, on December 20th, Damian Green loyally sat on Theresa May’s right and bellowed his support at all the right moments. Later that day Mrs May forced him to resign from his job as first minister of state, which in effect had made him Britain’s…

A strange disease has taken hold of British politics

By Rolling Stone British | October 3, 2017 |

By BAGEHOT | MANCHESTER BRITAIN is suffering from a very un-British affliction at the moment: millenarianism. A country that has always prided itself on its support for common sense and gradual change is being hijacked by people who believe that the end is nigh and the kingdom of God is upon us. Source link

The Tory conference reflects the dismal state of the party

By Rolling Stone British | October 2, 2017 |

By BAGEHOT | MANCHESTER IF I had to sum up the Labour Party conference in Brighton last week in a single word, it would be “frightening”. A major British political party has been captured by a hard-left clique that has little respect for the basic principles of a liberal society. If I had to sum…