Skip to content

Rafael Behr

Words and things

  • Twitter
  • About
  • The Guardian
  • Other writing
  • Politics on the Couch

Divided Tories can be government and opposition at the same time

This week’s Guardian column is all about the way Boris Johnson’s party is monopolising debate at Westminster and hogging the bandwidth of English* politics.

*Scotland, as ever, tells a different story.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized March 4, 2021 1 Minute

Podcast: on optimism, the pandemic, climate, sourdough

The latest episode of Politics On the Couch, in which I discuss the brain’s innate tendency to overestimate the likelihood of good things, with honoured guest Tali Sharot, professor at the department for experimental psychology, University College London.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized February 25, 2021 1 Minute

Brexit as a machine for generating perpetual national grievance

This week’s column: on the one thing Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is good for, and the self-fulfilling prophecy of euroscepticism that isolates the UK from its neighbours.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized February 25, 2021 1 Minute

Alexei Navalny’s not so secret weapon against Vladimir Putin

A column on the way Russia’s now incarcerated anti-corruption campaigner gets under the skin of the president in a way that no previous opposition figure has managed.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized February 3, 2021 1 Minute

On Tories, inequality, social democracy (and an elephant)

A Guardian column on what the pandemic should be teaching the Conservative party, but isn’t.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized January 28, 2021 1 Minute

Anti-vaxx, fear, and the psychology of misinformation

Here is the latest episode of Politics on the Couch, visiting the front line where science and truth are defended against the massed battalions of weaponised lies and hatred.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized January 28, 2021 1 Minute

A tell-tale heart

Not a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. An essay about a personal brush with cardiac calamity and the connection with a toxic atmosphere in British politics at the time.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized January 18, 2021 1 Minute

Labour’s struggle to be heard

This week’s column is about the reasons why no-one is listening to Keir Starmer. The pandemic is a big one, but far from the online one.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized January 12, 2021 1 Minute

On Gavin Williamson …

A column about the Secretary of State for Education, why he shouldn’t still have his job and why Boris Johnson has kept him anyway.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized January 7, 2021 1 Minute

Johnson’s method of government by sheer force of indecision

This week’s column is on the prime minister’s habit of letting procrastination do the heavy-lifting, letting a crisis build to the point where decisions get easier because the options are fewer, although the downside is that the good options have run out.

Rafael Behr Uncategorized December 16, 2020 1 Minute

Posts navigation

Older posts
Blog at WordPress.com.
Rafael Behr
Blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×