Heresy of the week: Tolerance for smokers should start with an apology to non-smokers
The idea of the smoker as victim obscures a history (much of it recent) in which non-smokers were the victims
Thomas Piketty says that rich people are eating capitalism, but what does Bill Gates think?
Bill Gates invites us to consider three types of wealthy individual: the entrepreneur, the philanthropist and the playboy.
No, the Iraq disaster was not caused by us leaving too early
The attempt to scapegoat Obama relies on the assumption that a good job was left unfinished when, in reality, it was doomed from the start
The German economic model? Nein danke!
The ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ image of the German economy induces an inferiority complex among the British
Educational diversity in North Korea
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any stranger
Heresy of the week: Black Americans don’t have much to thank Barack Obama for
The Democrats can afford to be complacent – the comprehensive failure of the Republicans to reach out has left black American voters with nowhere else to go
The rightwing case against nuclear power
Nuclear politics is complicated: Thatcher stopped the construction of further nuclear power stations in the UK, and Cameron reversed the decision.
The two battlegrounds that hold the key to a Conservative majority
The Conservative Party clearly has a UKIP problem, but it also has an urban problem. Too many Tories seem to recognise one without acknowledging the other.
Our green and pleasant land has become a global commodity – so let’s tax it
You can loosen the planning system all you like, but money is still going pour-in to whatever gets sold for whatever purpose.
Why won’t Boris stand up to the screw you school of architecture?
The question isn’t whether one is for development, but rather what development is for
Heresy of the week: Religion is hugely overrated…as a cause of war
Some the darkest deeds in modern history were justified and committed by those convinced of the rational, practical and downright progressive nature of their cause.
If Labour wins the next election as a core vote party it will govern as a core vote party
Despite appearances, Labour hasn’t lost the plot – quite the opposite in fact.
The right to free speech includes the right to complain about what other people do with it
Has political correctness gone mad to the point of eating itself?
It’s time to end the apartheid of the generations
Western society has become segregated by age.
If there is room for a new centre party in British politics, what should it look like?
A resurgent reforming centre would speak for those of us who don’t want populism, but do want a genuine alternative