In defence of the Illiberal Arts Is the current state of exhaustion and nihilism in the arts the logical consequence of our liberal civilisation?

Mary Harrington

Friday

01.11

Should religious leaders tell you who to vote for? Rabbi Jonathan Romain has written to his congregation urging them to vote tactically against Labour. I'm not sure it's right...

Becoming formed as well as informed As another election gets going, it's not just information that matters

Elizabeth Oldfield

Thursday

31.10

The real horror of Halloween Watch out for cars more than ghosts this halloween eve

Spare a thought for the troops whose Christmas just got cancelled The Christmas election is having consequences beyond Westminster

Eleanor Doughty

Workington Man must be one part of a coalition Onward director Will Tanner responds to Freddie Sayers on the 'Belonging in Politics' report...

Obama’s warning on wokeness The former president upsets everybody with an important message

Wednesday

30.10

What about Workington Woman? A new report on 'Workington man' is interesting, but there's no mention of women

The real reason why people hate vegans The hostility that vegans get from their ‘own side’ is especially intriguing...

Tuesday

29.10

Rory Stewart on Love, Brexit and Boris Johnson Rory Stewart talks to Freddie Sayers about love, Brexit and how Boris Johnson made him feel like an abused wife

Democratic attitudes to Israel are shifting Listening from Israel, is was hard not to be aware of the gap that exists between US Democrats and the sorts of conversations being had among politicians over here

Monday

28.10

Trouble in Umbria as Salvini soars Italian regional elections aren't exactly headline news in the UK, but what happened in Umbria this weekend matters.

Will climate sceptics save us from global warming? A new report suggests that climate sceptics have more pro-environmental habits than climate activists

Mary Harrington

‘Never apologise, never explain’ turns out to be right A new study from Columbia University suggests that public figures who apologise are more likely to seen as needing punishment

How capitalism replaced religion Eugene McCarraher's book has been hailed as 'a landmark in American cultural and intellectual history'

Saturday

26.10

Blake’s visionary imagination Jenny Uglow reviews the current William Blake exhibition at the Tate Britain, in this week’s long read pick...

Mary Harrington

Friday

25.10

Did Oasis cause Manchester’s 21st-century economic boom? One thing I left out of my article on “soft power” the other day was music...

Grace Blakeley: What the Left can learn from Thatcher Freddie Sayers talks to the Left-wing economics writer about what her plans would mean in the real world

Do Leave voters really think ‘violence is a price worth paying’? The media is constantly saying things about how Brexit extremism and violence and it usually turns out to be overstated

Woke students should think again about jazz hands Oxford University students are moving to encourage jazz hands instead of clapping. But is it actually politically correct?

WeWork tells us what works in the wider economy Could a renewed loss of confidence in the tech sector tip the entire economy into recession?...

Thursday

24.10

Liberals against democracy? Don't miss this magnificently provocative essay from John Gray in the New Statesman..

Five demolished buildings we should rebuild How about nominating buildings that were destroyed in the 20th century by cultural vandals of both the German and British variety, and rebuilding them?

MPs can’t be crybabies Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick revealed on the Victoria Derbyshire programme that some MPs had been in tears during Saturday’s parliamentary sitting — I have to say I find it all a bit feeble....

Wednesday

23.10

Time for our political packages to be re-sorted I have been doing some online dating recently which gives you a lot of practise in presenting yourself and in noticing tribal politics in other people.

Are Americans becoming less Christian? While Britain and France are way ahead on the path of godlessness, the recent drop in Christian religious identification in the US is pretty staggering...

Northern Ireland could still have MEPs after Brexit Northern Ireland may well have the option to petition The European Courts to have representation in the European Parliament through the continued election of MEPs...

Tuesday

22.10

Watership Down reveals the radical centre, rabbit-style The rabbits of Watership Down, in escaping their doomed warren and seeking to found a new one, show the way to a new political order

John Simpson’s two thirds idea is half-baked The veteran BBC broadcaster suggests a new supermajority rule - but has he thought it through?

What will singleton society do to politics? More than a third of households now consist of someone living alone...

Monday

21.10

The truth about immigration in Sweden Freddie Sayers talks to Swedish activist Siavosh Derakhti about antisemitism and violence in Malmö

Will the EU shut down its tax havens? New analysis confirms Ireland is the EU's home grown tax haven

Why I baptised my son without asking him first Liberal arguments against baptism misunderstand the nature of faith...

Saturday

19.10

Weekend Long Read: Inside China’s Gulags In this sobering interview, a survivor of a Chinese 're-education camp' tells her story...

Mary Harrington

Friday

18.10

Daylight robbery: how lack of sunlight is keeping us awake Lack of sleep is hitting Britain's economic productivity...

Is Nick Cave right about Christianity and Woke Culture? In a recent letter, Nick Cave criticised not just religion, but also atheism, and also woke culture in general...

Why Poland’s Law and Justice Party appeals That Poland currently enjoys an economic growth rate superior to many of its European neighbours should command attention...

How Russell Brand won me round The ex-junkie sex-addict comedian is a healthy voice for men in our culture

Elizabeth Oldfield

Thursday

17.10

Not so fast. Boris Johnson will have an uphill battle with voters Whilst it’s still too early to say how the deal will go down, the Conservative Party leader certainly faces a challenge...

Important news of the day: the Eleanor Cross is safe Yes, the Eleanor Cross in Northamptonshire is off Historic England’s “endangered list” of buildings...

The politics of Donald Trump’s stoopid language Using childish language seems to have served Donald Trump quite well...

Wednesday

16.10

There is nothing wrong with neoliberalism… as a word ‘Neoliberalism’ is not the loveliest of words, but it is a useful one...

Hassan Damluji: How to build a global nation I sat down with author Hassan Damluji to discuss his new book, The Responsible Globalist...

Tuesday

15.10

LeBron James kowtows to China Lakers basketball hero LeBron James poured burning oil on already-troubled waters when he appeared to row back from supporting freedom of speech...

Mary Harrington

Late Capitalism? Don’t you believe it. In the 1930s, the capitalist system faced an existential threat from communism and fascism; but what does it have it worry about today?...

Where’s the EU outrage at Spain’s brutal sentencing of separatists? Can you imagine policemen from the Home Counties being sent up to Glasgow to crack heads because the SNP had dared to hold a referendum?...

Monday

14.10

Trust me, Tony Blair is not as brilliant as you think I’m afraid I just cannot share Freddie Sayers's view that Tony Blair is this brilliant...

Sorry Lady Hale, that’s not quite an answer Lady Hale's response to anxieties about legal overreach didn't convince me...

Prince Charles hints at a blueprint for his reign When Prince Charles becomes King, the monarchy will overnight once again become a court of ideas

Saturday

12.10

Weekend long read: China’s illiberal Confucianism This week’s long read recommendation looks at the rise of authoritarian Confucianism as an increasingly dominant state doctrine in modern China...

Mary Harrington

Friday

11.10

Why haven’t you seen your friends recently? With our hectic work-lives now increasingly directed by the demands of a 24-hour gig economy, shared time with friends or the old fashioned idea of the family weekend have been destroyed...

How the Knights Templar explain Portuguese politics Historical regions map onto contemporary politics with remarkable accuracy...

Thursday

10.10

Why would anyone buy a negative yield bond?

Tax evading billionaires will put Warren in the White House Well, it's finally happened – America now has a regressive tax system in which the 400 richest families pay a lower effective rate than the poorest 50% of Americans...

You don’t have to be lefty to love Extinction Rebellion Boris Johnson acknowledged that Thatcher was ahead of her time in acknowledging the impact of “greenhouse gases”...

Elizabeth Oldfield

Wednesday

09.10

Not a soul on the streets for Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv It is not illegal to drive here on Yom Kippur. You can if you want, but people don’t...

Why #WeHeartGermany Survey after survey shows that British people feel very warmly towards Germans...

RIBA makes the right decision, for a change The judges made the right decision in last night’s Stirling Prize...

Nicholas Boys Smith

Tuesday

08.10

Are socialists liberal? A response to Maajid Nawaz I'd argue that most of the contemporary Left, including the self-declared socialist component, is liberal though-and-through...

When will the Left get over WW2? No sooner had news filtered through that Pizza Express was in trouble when, inevitably, some people suggested nationalising it...

When war becomes like mowing the lawn 'Just war' theory had much to say about when it was morally acceptable to start a war, and very little about how to end them...

Monday

07.10

Why does everyone hate inheritance tax? The case for inheritance tax is a supremely rational one – but that's precisely the problem...

Is Joker meant to be Donald Trump? I worry that in the political furore around Joker, the violent backstory of the iconic Batman character, people might be missing the obvious...

Why won’t the Islamic Republics criticise China? Both Iran and Pakistan are shamefully silenced by China's economic muscle...

Saturday

05.10

Weekend Long Read: The Myth of Boundless Growth This weekend's long read looks at the implications for our world economy of a future seeking either to prioritise growth or decarbonisation.

Mary Harrington

Friday

04.10

Satire isn’t as powerful as you think

Urban Guy versus Flyover Man

Fake blood won’t do it: the climate change movement needs to lead by example A protest to spray the Treasury with fake blood left the organisers red faced...

Thursday

03.10

Marina Hyde’s selective feminism Am I being po-faced, or is Marina Hyde's latest riff on the Conservative Party conference downright misogynistic?

Tory MP: kleptocrat “bling” oligarchs should be unwelcome in London Tory MP John Penrose made a splash at the party's conference by criticising the capitalist system in such strong terms that members in the audience complained that he sounds like a Labour MP...

Why do some people find more purpose in life than others? A YouGov survey commissioned for a report by the libertarian Cato Institute reveals significant existential inequalities between Americans...

Wednesday

02.10

My technology lesson for Boris Let's take a closer look at some of those science projects the prime minister mentioned in his speech...

Chinese Christians face real danger Officially, there are over 40 million Christians in China. Unofficially, the figure is probably closer to 100 million and growing...

‘Stop funding hate’ is a dangerous campaign Sometimes the campaigns that appear the most unthreatening and innocuous turn out to present the greatest danger...

Tuesday

01.10

Why #MeToo is a Christian movement

Watch: UnHerd goes to Tory Conference Freddie Sayers asks David Goodhart, Matthew Goodwin and Madeline Grant whether the Tory Party are really answering the demands of Brexit voters...

One step forward, one step back in the battle for beauty It looks like the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission is being listened to...

Monday

30.09

Get real. Politicians were never morally superior

Who matters more, your family or the wider world? A new paper by Jonathan Haidt shows an intriguing correlation between our moral priorities and our political leanings

The politest man in parliament defends rude words At a fringe event in Manchester, Michael Gove epitomises the contradictions of the Tory Party in 2019

Saturday

28.09

Weekend long read: In defence of being an arsehole On Being An Arsehole: A Defence is this weekend’s long read pick, by Jonny Thakkar in The Point...

Mary Harrington

Friday

27.09

Hissing at dissent, at women’s event Just because women need to be protected from violence, it doesn’t mean we need to be protected from disagreement...