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In public life, unlike in business, there is no reward for being right
There isn’t a simple clash between democracy and autocracy
His big government activism wasn’t demanded and lets Republicans frame him for inflation
‘Tokyo Story’ is an eternal film but peddles the myth that urban life is corrupting
Britain has turned against radical politics faster than other rich nations because it has lost more from it
Europe is hard to reform because things are tolerably bad
Liberals fret too much about dictatorship and not enough about chaos
It doesn’t mean ‘being nice’, and masters of it are quite often the opposite
From Donald Trump to the Brics, a feeling of exclusion from the in-crowd drives political actors
Tech bros, woke theorists, psychobabblers — George Orwell endures because his plainness is relief from them all
Scepticism is precious in a world in thrall to the power of the state
Indifference to a coup of potentially world importance reveals a parochial intelligentsia
Both men are uncharismatic, populist pretenders — and prematurely written-off
Complex and unreliable, the wine region resembles the experience of living
It took hold in a world of low inflation and national confidence that is long gone
Dislike of the French president reveals how shallow and tribal politics now is
Harry Truman was travestied in the movie — but he built the world we live in and stand to lose
The new Wham! documentary reminds us that there is nothing profound or daring about gloom
The rise of protectionism empowers a ‘deep state’ that demagogues claim to hate
And the second is much harder to achieve
Britain tends to only give the party a clear win when the country is feeling robust. It isn’t
In thought, speech and habit, the UK left has spurned Europe for the US
The utilitarian case for democracy is stronger than the moral one
Ignorance of the continent is the biggest hole in western education
Unlike the eastern kind, of the likes of Viktor Orbán, it is not about very much
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