politics Archives

Drinking the political compass

Oxford’s political societies cultivated generations of MPs and PMs. In an era of rising populism, a tour of their drinking events finds a drifting elite with few ideas.

Doctor Zhivago: The banned book the CIA smuggled across the Iron Curtain

“May it make its way around the world. You are hereby invited to watch me face the firing squad.” These were the words of Boris...

St John’s President Sue Black on skinning rabbits, AI, and working in a war zone

“I was up to my elbows in blood and guts and gore and I loved it."

Kashmir: Radicalising a diaspora

A recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, a town in the Kashmir Valley, has led to the escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. Most...

Twelve points to politics: Eurovision is more than it seems

Brits don't care as much as our continental cousins. Still, mixing glitter and geopolitics, Eurovision is more than a laughable song contest: it's a cultural flashpoint.

The infantilisation of young people in politics must end

Despite centring conversations around them, Westminster is following the US into ignoring and isolating entire generations.

Our intellectual self-indulgence is killing social progress

Those who access a world-class education have a special imperative to act.

Rory Stewart on populism, podcasting, and why he left the Bullingdon Club

Rory Stewart has been an academic, podcaster, writer, diplomat and politician. He read PPE at Balliol. While an undergraduate, he tutored Princes William and...

Leave us alone, Donald

Electing a President in the United States is a global event. Why, though, is it so important? In the US, this election will significantly...

Alan Johnson on his time as Home Secretary, raising tuition fees, and why he loves Harold Wilson

"This idea that higher education should be completely free is ludicrous."

Lord Peter Mandelson on New Labour, his time at Oxford, and why he is running to be University Chancellor

"Oxford is a global university, and I believe it needs a global Chancellor"

James O’Brien on Brexit, Boris Johnson, and making radio go viral

"Nigel Farage thought he was coming in to have his tummy tickled. I helped him soil himself."

On Leadership by Tony Blair, Precipice by Robert Harris, and Oxford crime – Books of the Month

On Leadership by Tony Blair; Precipice by Robert Harris; Lessons in Crime: Academic Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

North Korea and the Global Nuclear Order review – “An excellent account”

Dr Edward Howell, whose columns in the Spectator and the Telegraph are among the few intelligent and readable things left in those outlets, has...

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