March
Europe’s welfare state is over
Europe must never again find itself in a position where the likes of US vice-president JD Vance have life-and-death power over it.
February
Why we need simple signals of elite status more than ever
The more information there is in the world, the more we need simple signals of elite status to cut through it all.
January
Rich democracies need an acute crisis to trigger real change
It is almost impossible to sell voters on drastic reforms until their nation is in acute trouble. The chronic kind isn’t enough.
December 2024
How Assad hoodwinked a naive West
Bashar al-Assad, Putin, Gaddafi – the free world too often gets its hopes up about despots.
November 2024
How the Democrats can win in 2028
The electoral coalition that Donald Trump forged last week was sensational – almost Disraelian in its marriage of the overclass and the working class. But it won’t last.
Whoever wins, we will be living in Trumpland for decades
The trade protectionism that the Republican nominee brought back into fashion now has a momentum of its own. How does profound and lasting change happen?
October 2024
America’s fickle foreign policy is destabilising the world
The swings between Democratic and Republican presidents weren’t so wild in the heyday of the US. Now it’s like the New England weather.
September 2024
Why even good politicians are unpopular these days
It’s not just Keir Starmer – political leaders are on the nose around the world, and it’s not all their fault. Decades of peace and affluence have raised expectations.
A Trump loss could stabilise US politics for a generation
The lesson of 2024 so far is that American populists have no replacement for the former president’s star power. Donald Trump has political superpowers almost unique to him.
August 2024
Biden was good at managing America’s decline
Between the peak of something and its ultimate demise, a vast amount can be achieved. Perhaps it took a man who became president at 78 to see the point.
Harris should distance herself from Bidenomics
The US president’s high-spending protectionism is bad policy and worse politics. It has no answer to America’s brewing public debt crisis.
As a childless man, a new coffee machine is my priority
A Londoner admits his life mirrors the no-kids stereotype criticised by Republican JD Vance: an obsession with food, wine and coffee beans
How Kamala Harris might still lose
After almost a decade of chasing or holding the White House, Donald Trump’s oddities are priced in while Harris remains ill-defined and half-tested.
July 2024
Feckless liberals are to blame for Biden’s downfall
The left worldwide ignores problems on its own side, and recent history has turned on that failure.
June 2024
Why billionaires support Trump
Business people struggle to understand fanaticism. In commercial life, all actors are negotiable, even if their price is high. They also tend to overrate contrarianism.
The last best hope against populism is to expose it to government
Emmanuel Macron has concluded that power often tames radical parties or demonstrates their incompetence. His election call might be the most prudent thing he could have done.
April 2024
Screen addiction is a disease. Blame wealth
Smartphone addiction, culture wars and low birth rates are all byproducts of modern success that are difficult to fix.
March 2024
Biden must promise a more conservative second term
The US president has to do what he has always done, except recently: upset his party. The moderates who trusted him in 2020 have to know that he is theirs, not the left’s.
February 2024
Why losing US elections is a lucrative business
Life is much cushier in opposition, especially in the United States, so there’s no reason to moderate to try and win power.
January 2024
The world is better seen from Dubai than Davos
When the world was American-led, market-based and ever more democratic, Davos was a useful distillation of it. Dubai is now a more faithful portrait.