I told you so. The other week on UnHerd, I argued that it is time that the UK had a proper written constitution – but not the kind of constitution that the establishment would like to write for us, which would establish the establishment more deeply than ever.

In fact, it is already happening. The Remain parliament, the Speaker, the Supreme Court are effectively re-writing the constitution and doing it without a democratic mandate. Their cheerleaders insist that this is just our existing constitution working as it should do. Well, I’m no position to gainsay the expertise of Lady Hale and her colleagues – their grasp of the letter of the law would appear to be firmer than that of the Government’s legal advisors. ...  Continue reading

Yesterday’s video of Greta Thunberg makes uncomfortable viewing, showing as it does someone in great distress. I’ve read many hot takes about how the 16-year-old climate campaigner triggers middle-aged white men because they’re threatened by a young female who stands up for the truth.

Personally, she makes me uncomfortable because her fame is obviously going to make it very hard for her to live a happy life, and her supporters are not making this prospect any more likely. Some, no doubt, will blame her torment on conservative critics, as if thrusting a child into the most important debate of our time is not going to carry huge psychological risks. ...  Continue reading

Well, you don’t get much more ‘unheard’ than this.

A fringe event entitled ‘Who gives A(nything) about England?’ this afternoon, dedicated to the Labour Party’s efforts to appeal to England’s coastal and rural areas, answered its own question when two of the four panellists, Paul Mason and Lisa Nandy, didn’t even show up.

Tucked away in a tiny room at the top of the Friends’ Meeting House here in Brighton, the event was a heart-breaking showcase of what life must be like for the hundreds of local Labour politicians and activists from these predominantly Tory, and Brexity, parts of the country – abandoned to their fate by a centralised party that is more and more exclusively interested in cities. ...  Continue reading

Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary Dawn Butler has used the Labour Party conference to renew her call for British banks and businesses to pay “massive” reparations for slavery.

The money should be used, she explains, to support the work of the “Emancipation Educational Trust” launched by Labour in October last year. This trust would use education to encourage “a deeper understanding of British history”, especially empire and colonialism, with the aim of telling a new national story that would help stem the rise of the far-Right.

Butler quotes Glasgow University’s decision to make available £20m in reparations to atone for its historic connection to slavery (though this money is for scholarships and grants, not Labour’s education initiative). She asserts that “other banks and businesses must follow”, and that Labour will encourage this process via “consultation hubs” in Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow and London. It is Butler’s view that this is especially urgent at present because “for the first time in our country’s history we have a Prime Minister who the far-right regard as their leader”. ...  Continue reading

The term ‘evangelical’ has been so distorted by American politics that is meaning is now a million miles away from its historical formulation – so laments Thomas Kidd in a bracing new book Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis.

What began in the eighteenth century as a movement for renewal within the ailing Church of England has morphed into a white nationalist God-and-country movement within the United States, with those who self-identify as evangelicals often not having the faintest idea of its history or how far it has strayed from its roots.

Writing about this book in The Atlantic this week, Alan Jacobs claims: ...  Continue reading

You know something has really hit the mainstream when Alain de Botton starts talking about it.

We’ve been focusing on the importance of community here at UnHerd since our very first days – it’s great to see the theme so prioritised in de Botton’s new book from the School of Life stable. “What we long for and are slowly dying without is: community,” he writes in The Book of Life:

Popped down to the Climate Strike protest in Westminster.

Some families having a nice day out in the sun, lots of sleeping children and babies with headphones on, and a whole cluster of different issues being thrown in along with climate change: anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, pro LGBT, pro marijuana…. Here were some of our favourite signs (the “positive parenting, nurturing activism” protester looked a wee bit scary, not sure I’d like to be positively parented by her…)

Today marks the start of the Global Climate Strike – a week-long series of protests against environmental destruction.

There’ll be lots of griping from the cynics: “it’s not a real strike”, “what do these kids know?”, “they should be at school” etc. But for all the rough edges, I’m glad there’s a climate protest movement big enough to be noticed. And why shouldn’t young people be front-and-centre? They’re the ones who’ll have to live with the long-term consequences of our polluting lifestyles.

That said, let’s not ignore the good news. Progress is being made towards a low carbon economy – not least in Britain. Indeed, this very day we got the results of something called the ‘Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 3’. ...  Continue reading