Writing on the 75th anniversary of the first Nuremberg trial, I found myself thinking about memory of war as a kind of cultural inoculation, among other things.
Category: Uncategorized
Podcast: on the madness of King Donald, and his dark charisma
A conversation with the very engaging Professor Drew Westen, of Emory University, on the US election result, the incumbent president’s refusal to recognise it and some clinical answers to the perennial question of what, exactly, is his problem …
Column: the two Brexit speeches forming in Boris Johnson’s head
Column: Trump, Johnson and the dark side of politics as showbiz
I had the peculiar, but not unfamiliar task this week of writing to a deadline that fell before the outcome of the US presidential election would be known; before the polls had even closed. It’s not my favourite challenge but it is always interesting – looking for something to say the night before that has a fighting chance of still being relevant the morning after.
I’m not best qualified to judge whether or not I managed it. At least the reference to Strictly Come Dancing in the intro is probably timeless.
Read it here: What Trump and Johnson show us about the need to restore a boundary between news and entertainment; politics and show biz.
Column: Rishi Sunak, ambition and the perils of loyalty
Latest Guardian column, on a catch-22 for the Chancellor: serving in the cabinet puts him in pole position to succeed Johnson, but the longer he is loyal to the incumbent serves the less attractive he gets as a prospective prime minister. Here.
Guardian Podcast: On global ripples from the US election
In this episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast I talk about possible consequences of the upcoming US presidential election on politics in the UK, Europe and elsewhere.
Column: Boris Johnson, covid rules and a rubber sandwich
Latest Guardian column on the difficulty legislation for changes in behaviour, especially when the government is led by a man who is conspicuously attracted to unruliness and disobedience: here.
Podcast: Brexit, the revolutionary mentality (and the Italian Job)
The latest episode of Politics on the Couch is live.
Me in conversation with the reliably insightful and fluently erudite Fintan O’Toole
Latest Guardian column: is Tory government the default setting?
No. And least of all in Scotland. But that doesn’t stop the Conservative party and Boris Johnson behaving as if they are destined to rule the country. Such phenomenal self-belief is a strength, right up until it becomes a liability.
That’s the theme of this week’s column.