Politics & campaigns.

This is not a party political site and not very partisan in any way. My emphasis has tended to be on the quality of debate and campaigning, and especially on the need to appreciate represtentative democracy (government through elected representatives whose own views matter), and to be sceptical of the claims of vox pop, "the people", social media, Crowd Wisdom, and "direct action".

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Undercover cops and protest

The case against six protestors collapsed today in the wake of an extraordinary saga involving an erstwhile undercover policeman. Even now, early in the story's unfolding, it is worth saying that in principle the police are probably right to operate undercover amongst protestors, even at considerable expense. Read more...

Published

10 January 2011

Student protest needs a rethink

I won't rehash my previous arguments about protest: you can find them here easily in the "handling protest" category. Now's the time to redefine the right to protest. Read more...

Published

10 December 2010

Is Cameron a small state Tory?

It is a famous mystery whether David Cameron believes in a smaller state and indeed whether this of any other beliefs matter to him or his politics. This weekend, we seem to be a little nearer a plausible answer. Read more...

Published

24 October 2010

RDN, the Pope’s visit, and BBC R4’s “Sunday”

I had a v brief outing on Radio 4's Sunday religious current affairs programme, and it's a privilege to be asked.  Here's the crib I prepared for the event, in which I was asked about the protest dimension of the Pope's forthcoming visit. Read more...

Published

12 September 2010

Bjorn Lomborg’s game-changing “volte face”

Climate change politics is creeping into a kind of inevitable realism. (If you will forgive me, I'll mention that I have argued for nearly 25 years that it would, sooner or later.) It is becoming clearer that it is now legitimate and necessary to say that there will be no silver bullet. Bjorn Lomborg's new book (discussed in 2 new Guardian prepublication pieces, here and here) looks like helping quite a bit. Read more...

Published

03 September 2010
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