Politics
How Foreign Money is attacking British Democracy
Foreign influence in British politics is no longer theoretical. Last month I wrote about some unusual patterns of political funding flowing into Reform. British electoral law doesn’t allow foreign donations, but Reform appeared to have found a way around this—using UK-registered companies as a kind of front. It turns out I may have been too … Read more
How America gave the electric vehicle market to China
A decade ago, the United States looked like it owned the future of electric vehicles. Tesla had redefined what an electric car could be. The technology, the brand, the cultural momentum—all American. With early policy support under Barack Obama, the US had both the innovation and the initial market lead. And yet, today, the centre … Read more
Trump, Farage Vice Signalling and the Politics of Being Awful
I was working in Leeds when I first started seeing adverts for WKD. Billboards, TV spots—loud, garish, and oddly confrontational. They didn’t look like advertising as we understood it. Traditionally, advertising sold aspiration. Buy this and you’ll be better, cooler, more successful—more attractive, even. WKD did the opposite. Its campaign—“Have you got a WKD side?”—didn’t … Read more
Gorton and Denton: Fragments of a Party System
By-elections are supposed to be strange. Low turnout, odd swings, protest votes. But every so often they tell you something real about the direction of travel. This one did. Start with the Greens. On the face of it, good news. They can clearly mobilise a vote and, in the right conditions, win. But their real … Read more
What Does “Far Right” Mean?
Once upon a time, defining the far right was easy. Britain had fringe parties like the BNP and the National Front. Mainstream politicians kept their distance. Their ideas were toxic, and everyone knew it. That boundary has now broken down. The far right has been partially absorbed into mainstream politics. Just as Jeremy Corbyn opened … Read more
