For a few days at least, political attention is focused on young people aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training (known as Neets). A report from the commission led by Alan Milburn, a former health secretary, shines a bright light on a group that needs it. The document concentrates on analysis, with…
The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that to everything there is a season: birth, death, planting, plucking, killing, healing … you get the gist. So can someone please tell me when it will finally be time for America to move past its unhealthy attachment to the Kennedy political dynasty? America’s royal family has been on…
A paradox lies at the heart of Sir Tony Blair’s latest sermon to a Labour party that he seems actively to dislike these days. The 5,700-word intervention, published on the website of his Institute for Global Change, emphasises the sheer novelty of challenges such as the AI revolution and the rise of insurgent populism in…
A week after launching the war with Iran, President Trump was asked whether the map of the country would still look the same after the end of hostilities. His response was striking: “That I can’t tell you. Probably not.” In an administration that frequently confuses swagger with strategy, this remark was nonetheless extraordinary. Iran is…
Among other defeats, the recent local elections saw Labour lose heavily across the Midlands and the north of England. The results are reminiscent of the 2016 Brexit vote and, with the return of those electoral geographies, some of the old tropes have resurfaced, too. Once again, England’s post-industrial towns are cast as the angry, reactionary…
Turning those frustrations into sustained organization requires grappling with legal obstacles. Unlike in much of Western Europe, where workers are unionized at high levels and can bargain as an entire sector to address problems in their industries, in the United States the legal system makes organizing and bargaining exceedingly difficult. The National Labor Relations Act,…
Opinion piece by Isaac Hammouch Modena, May 16, 2026. Salim El Koudri, a man of Moroccan origin in his thirties, deliberately drives into pedestrians in the center of the Italian city. Eight people are injured, four of them seriously. A woman loses both her legs. He exits his vehicle with a knife in hand before…
Before a vote is counted, this much we know. More results than ever will involve the winning party getting a disproportionate amount of power, considering the number of votes cast for it; fewer people will get what they voted for. The ever more random roulette wheel of our voting system will produce wildly odd winners…
There are many reasons to block this deal, but we now believe the most fundamental one is what we encountered when asking artists to use their voices: fear. A deep, ugly and pervasive fear of speaking out. We heard time and time again from artists, when asked to sign this letter, that they supported it…
Most people have made up their minds, and nothing you can say will change them: that’s the credo of parties such as Labour and the Democrats. Don’t challenge voters on the doorstep. Use focus groups to find out what they want, and give it to them. Follow, don’t lead. But all that’s on them, not…
