Peter Wilby



Profile:
Full name: Peter John Wilby

Area of interest: Media, Public policy, Education

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian | New Statesman

Email: [mailto:peter.wilby@gmail.com peter.wilby@gmail.com]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/peterwilby

Blog:

Representation:

Networks: https://twitter.com/WilbyPeter



Biography:
About: "Peter Wilby is a distinguished journalist with a strong interest in educational policy. He has been Editor of the “Independent on Sunday” and of the “New Statesman”. He still writes a weekly column for the New Statesman and also writes for the “Guardian”. He was a columnist for the Times Educational Supplement for 12 years up to 2008." - University of Leicester biography

Education: University of Sussex: History (BA)

Career: Founded a short-lived university paper called Sussex Outlook, after graduation joined The Observer, 1968; was the New Statesman’s education correspondent in the 1970s and at The Sunday Times in the 1980s; joined The Independent on Sunday in 1990, becoming editor, 1995/1996; and New Statesman: editor, 1998/2005; The Guardian: columnist, 2005- Current position/role: Columnist


 * also writes/has written for: writes occasionally for Public Finance magazine (articles)

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * British Journalism Review: Swimming (weakly) against the tide Vol. 16, No. 3, 2005, pages 23-30
 * How journalism's nerds became masters of the universe: 'Once upon a time, business journalists almost never made it to the editor's chair. Why has that all changed?' - The Guardian, 17th December 2007

Broadcast media:

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours:

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Anthony Eden OCLC 70672734, 2006

Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

The Guardian:
Column name: On the press

Remit/Info: Press and media (nb Education articles also listed here)

Section: Media

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:peter.wilby@guardian.co.uk peter.wilby@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/peterwilby

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Monday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:


 * also contributes to EducationGuardian weekly



Articles: 2014

 * GCSEs are obsolete and have been for years. Let’s scrap them - Governments can tinker all they like, but exams at 16 have no function in today’s society – it’s time to do the decent thing - 23rd August
 * David Green of Civitas: 'The state should run hardly any schools itself' - The thinktank head on why all schools should be fee-paying, tangling with Ofsted and what 11-year-olds should know - 8th April
 * Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries - Tony Benn left behind 11 volumes of his diaries. What do they reveal about his political ambitions, beliefs and refusal to compromise? Peter Wilby reflects on how Benn's failure to get the top jobs led to his true vocation as preacher and prophet - 22nd March
 * New 'college' of the humanities that's not just for the rich - A new project aims to set up free liberal arts courses for poorer students, using London as a 'giant lecture hall' - 18th March
 * Psychologist on a mission to give every child a Learning Chip - Prof Robert Plomin wants educators to take notice of genes, and has a new big idea – personalised learning, discovers Peter Wilby - 18th February
 * So Michael Gove, want state schools like private ones? Fine – if you can spare half the English countryside - Gove's prescription for state schools – and his crusade against the educational establishment – is driven by an instinct for good headlines, not evidence of what works - 3rd February



Articles: 2013

 * How Labour can stop itself worrying about immigration - Ed Miliband must repair the leadership's historic bargain to look after the economic interests of working-class members - 28th December
 * Ed Miliband can only create a fairer Britain with Europe's help - Labour's energy price freeze must be the start of a wider battle with organised capital – but the party can't win on its own - 12th December
 * Don't let dubious Pisa league tables dictate how we educate our children - Once again Britain has done badly in the international assessment of schooling. But there is more to learning than this - 1st December
 * Benefit and immigration cuts won't make a single person better off. In their hearts, voters know this - As Labour's Chris Bryant struggles, the party must realise it can't win on Tory terms and should instead fight for decent wages - 13th August
 * The NHS will fail us so long as we look on it as a market - The health service is saddled with impossible expectations. When it doesn't meet them, yet more 'reform' is prescribed - 8th August
 * Primary school tests follow the Piccadilly Circus rule - Wait long enough and every education policy comes round again. New exams for younger pupils is the latest example - 18th July
 * Why Ofsted is wrong about bright children in comprehensives - Ofsted is playing to Michael Gove's agenda by scaremongering about bright children. The facts tell a different story - 14th June
 * Ministers who misuse statistics to mislead voters must pay the price - Politicians resign for fake expenses or receiving favours, but not for making false statements. They should be punished - 1st June
 * Prince Charles is a danger to democracy – even when I agree with him - I support Charles's views on climate change, but still believe he should stay silent – as the Queen probably does - 11th May
 * A nudge and a nag won't end our throwaway culture - Of course food waste is a scandal. But instead of tackling wider structural issues, Tories mess with the content of our fridges - 29th April 2013
 * Teachers' unions would do better to get parents on side rather than talk tough - Most people hold teachers in high regard and are sympathetic to their cause until they hear the militant language of the union - 3rd April
 * In Michael Gove's world who needs teachers? - The education secretary's obsession with 'spellings, facts and rules' ignores the professional consensus on child development - 29th March
 * A-level reforms: Michael Gove's bid to grab headlines will merely narrow pupils' learning - The education secretary, an ex-journalist, knows how to sell reforms for the rightwing press. But it's no way to run our schools - 28th January
 * Britain's qualification spiral is beginning to unravel - For years, education promised to make us more equal. Finally, politicians are realising it achieved the opposite - 8th January



Articles: 2012

 * Michael Gove does not deserve to be hailed as a rising star - Gove's policies are not a disaster for our schools or our children. They are just an irrelevance and a waste of money - 8th December
 * On Leveson, David Cameron's dilemma is that the press can still ruin careers - Coverage of the Leveson inquiry proves why the press must be reformed – but it also shows the risk involved in doing so - 27th November
 * Media hysteria creates a new set of victims - Allegations of child abuse must only be made after rigorous testing of the evidence - 12th November
 * How to break the stranglehold public schools have on Oxbridge entrance - To widen entry from comprehensive students Oxbridge should identify, at 15, the two or three most academic pupils in each school and give them every possible support - 18th September
 * Blair's era is finally over. Now Labour can shift from the centre ground - After the reshuffle, Ed Miliband should realise that voters are focused on jobs, benefits and rents, not on pensions, shares and house prices - 6th September
 * Gove is stuck in the past. We must look beyond grades - The left once debated bold reforms that valued skills over certificates. As the row over GCSE grades shows, they are needed now more than ever - 27th August
 * Philip Hammond has seen the light over privatisation. Sadly, the government hasn't - The army's Olympic performance challenged the defence minister's private 'ethos'. So why is the government currently negotiating £4bn of new tenders – many in defence? - 18th August
 * Profit and PR are the real enemies of innovation - From drugs to computers, the big rewards are now in tweaking existing products and presenting them as ground-breaking - 11th August
 * Aside from football, sport in Britain is still a game for the elite - Britain alone expects privilege-perpetuating schools to take sole responsibility for developing young sporting talent - 2nd August
 * For-profit schools would be no more virtuous than other private-sector firms - Rightwing thinkers are keen for free schools to be allowed to make money, says Peter Wilby, but there is little evidence that this would improve children's education - 31st July
 * It's not fear of debt that stops poorer young people going to university - Most disadvantaged youth are barred from the best universities long before they reach 18. It's early education that matters most - 12th July
 * Forget the Queen's jubilee. Let's have a knees up for the Magna Carta - If we want parties and pageantry, let's have them to celebrate our story of democracy, not an unelected monarchy - 28th May
 * Tory toffs must woo well-connected upstarts like Coulson and Brooks - As the Leveson inquiry makes clear, the ruling classes have overcome their distaste for people they treated as social inferiors - 12th May
 * This sentimentality over old people is hitting our young - Any whiff of a 'granny tax' causes public uproar, but the older generation are not the real victims of this recession - 20th April
 * Teachers get angry every year. Now it's time to listen - Through academies, Gove has destroyed the power structure that governed English education for more than a century - 9th April
 * Does Gove realise he is empowering future dictators? - Michael Gove should take care – he is giving a future education secretary the power to simply abolish academies - 31st January



Articles: 2011

 * If George Osborne and co forget the common good, the planet will fry - As Durban limps towards failure, it seems the west's leaders, bankers and citizens refuse to take a lead on climate change - 3rd December
 * A Walk-On Part by Chris Mullin – review - There is much to enjoy in Chris Mullin's diaries of his influential years before his time in office - 25th November 2011
 * The EU crisis demonstrates that free trade has gone far enough - It's not just the European Union that needs a rethink – it's the whole world trade regime and its unelected overseers - 14th November 2011
 * The signals to motorists are setting a dangerous course - Road deaths had started to rise again, even before the M5 horror. Ministers should beware blithe talk about speed and safety - 7th November
 * Prince Charles is the voice of Mel Phillips, not the people - From Chelsea barracks to education, the Prince of Wales's abuse of position cries out for constitutional action - 1st November
 * Energy tariffs run on the 'confusing and cheating' principle - When energy companies were nationalised we were, no doubt, ripped off a bit. But now many are ripped off a whole lot more - 22nd September
 * jargon is all Greek to me save one word – debt'' - The economics of global trade with China and the creation of the euro long seemed to defy logic. But what would I know? - 6th August
 * Tebbit's cricket test means nothing when you're winning'' - Combined with its team's prowess on the field, India's economic clout has turned the tables on the old colonial master - 29th July
 * more debt. No more taxes. So how can we pay for care?'' - Public and politicians want better services, particularly for elderly people – but reject any means of paying for them - 15th July
 * shouldn't rejoice in the death of the News of the World'' - Yes, the NoW coarsened British culture, but with Murdoch's paper gone, the PR industry and Mail will be stronger than ever - 11th July
 * of the World closure: Murdoch revives the spirit of '86'' - Rupert Murdoch knows this much: in a crisis, don't let things drift but do what your opponents least expect - 7th July
 * a half-baked Ivy League that spells two tiers of unfairness'' - In imposing a market on universities, ministers are reproducing the divisions that scarred grammars and secondary moderns - 30th June
 * private equity will mean more Southern Crosses'' - Without tight regulation, this institutionalised corporate irresponsibility – capitalism at its most barbaric – will triumph - 10th June
 * agree, none act: to ease untold misery, legalise drugs'' - The war on drugs is lost, as a global commission is set to admit. But no one in power has the courage for a switch to regulation - 2nd June
 * keeps the super-rich safe from middle-class rage'' - The pay gap at the top should change the terms of political trade. But the squeezed middle must first learn to look up - 19th May
 * kill free markets as well as our communities'' - Across the country local shops have been wiped out by supermarkets. This is an issue for the right as much as the left - 4th May
 * must rule on privacy – because parliament hasn't'' - MPs have left a vacuum that superinjunctions have filled. Editors can't be left to judge if adultery is worthy of exposure - 27th April
 * shouldn't Murdoch get what he wants? Others do'' - The phone-hacking affair is just one example of how politicians have lost the will and moral compass to control corporate interests - 12th April
 * awful truth: education won't stop the west getting poorer'' - Skilled jobs will go to the lowest bidder worldwide. A decline in middle class pay and job satisfaction is only just beginning - 1st March



Articles: 2010

 * charity is never a substitute for public welfare'' - Francis Maude may lecture us on 'big society', but he would do well to remember the government's role too - 31st December (Comment)
 * his act of betrayal, Clegg will lose his greatest reward'' - The Lib Dem leader broke his election promise. Now the voters will punish him by denying the AV result he craves - 14th December (Comment)
 * Miliband is wrong. Tuition fees gave poorer students hope'' - Extra funds meant more university places. The real issue now is cuts to education maintenance grants - 7th December (Comment)
 * who studies Blair is forced to the conclusion that what is really at the core of him is Christianity'' - The New Statesman and Guardian writer gives his verdict on Tony Blair's memoir - 5th September (Comment)
 * is right to sound the alarm over state schools'' - From the postcode lottery to free schools, government policy is entrenching social segregation in our education system - 28th August (Comment)
 * kindly words of Nudge are Cameron's ideal veneer'' - He's in the coalition tent, but Thaler's book isn't what the Tories wish us to think – just sanitised old free-market dogma - 16th August (Comment)
 * rich want a better world? Try paying fair wages and tax'' - A generous billionaire is preferable to a mean one. But Bill Gates et al could make pledges that mean more than just charity - 6th August 2010 (Comment)
 * new names, same results'' - Only by facing economic inequalities can we offer a fairer schools system. Rebranding is pointless - 27th July (Comment)
 * election reinvigorates the persuasive power of the press'' - Most newspapers ended campaign more hysterical and less balanced than ever - 10th May (Election 2010)
 * social justice demands higher tuition fees'' - Far from opposing higher tuition fees, argues Peter Wilby, the left should embrace them to enhance social justice - 5th April (Comment)
 * protecting pensioner benefits. We need to prioritise real hardship'' - Older people in Britain have never been so well off. Yet because of their voting power, politicians are scared to upset them - 29th March (Comment)
 * other newspapers ignored the News of the World phone hacking story'' - Press prefer to ignore rival's exclusives and some fear alienating Andy Coulson - 1st March
 * death tax is the fairest one. Yet now no voter will buy it'' - It's the most socially just means of funding old age. But it runs up against the emotional mythology of a home-owning population - 16th February (Comment)
 * Is Mossbourne academy's success down to its traditionalist headteacher? - Mossbourne academy has achieved outstanding results under head Michael Wilshaw – but is it a triumph for the academies programme, or for his strict approach – or neither? - 5th January 2010 (Education)



Articles: 2009

 * champion'' - The choice of the next children's commissioner has been mired in controversy, but what legacy does the present incumbent, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, leave his successor? - 3rd November
 * Big health flexes its lobbying muscle. Democracy quivers - In finance as in health, public interest is tamed by unaccountable corporate interest. It was meant to be the other way round - 15th August (comment & debate)
 * This hand-wringing has to stop. Get rid of exam grades - Our national obsession with meaningless marks is hobbling any serious attempt to reform the UK education system - 8th August (comment & debate)
 * bins, political leaks and a little bit of historical context'' - Ten days ago, the Daily Mail launched a 'Not In My Front Yard' campaign against 'plastic monstrosities blighting our streets and gardens' - 27th July
 * The biggest media story in years - so why the silence? - How are News International and its top executives likely to emerge from the phone-hacking scandal? Relatively unscathed, it seems - thanks to the dog-nip-dog world of Fleet Street - 13th July (OrganGrinderBlog)
 * The biggest media story in years - so why the silence? - How are News International and its top executives likely to emerge from the phone-hacking scandal? Relatively unscathed, it seems - thanks to the dog-nip-dog world of Fleet Street - 6th July (OrganGrinderBlog)
 * bins, political leaks and a little bit of historical context'' - Ten days ago, the Daily Mail launched a 'Not In My Front Yard' campaign against 'plastic monstrosities blighting our streets and gardens' - 29th June
 * different Sunday service'' - most arguments about the future of Sunday newspapers can be settled by looking on the web - 8th June
 * of the old-fashioned scoop'' - For three weeks Daily Telegraph filled the front pages with stories about MPs' expenses and readers bought it in droves - 1st June
 * the Sun lost its clout?'' - Are we nearing the end of the Sun's love affair with new Labour? - 25th May
 * much news, but so little comment'' - Papers went big on foreign news and story counts were high, but celebrities, features and columnists were a rare commodity - 18th May
 * story with an inevitable ending'' - Gordon Brown has lost hold of the media narrative - and it is no wonder that ministers' statements are examined for criticism - 11th May
 * in a pandemic'' - The outbreak of swine flu is an opportunity for newspaper editors to provide more reliable coverage than can be found on the internet - 4th May
 * course in economics'' - What the pundits said about the budget - 27th April
 * is the No 1 commodity'' - Will journalists have to become wire reporters, producing instant information of monetary value? - 13th April
 * Our tax system is a mess. But Darling has a chance to fix it - The crisis will cost us all, and the bill needs sharing more fairly than it is now. Let's see this budget used for a Labour masterplan - Saturday 11th April
 * of press, foaming at the mouth'' - The press eagerly anticipated not just the G20 itself but also the protests and prospects for mayhem - 6th April
 * evil is a question of bias'' - Whatever you do in the Middle East, don't try to sit on the fence. There aren't any fences to sit on - 30th March
 * New Statesman should thank Suzanne Moore'' - Suzanne Moore's complaints about Alastair Campbell guest-editing the New Statesman will only benefit the magazine - 23rd March
 * reporting's stock falls'' - Financial journalists too often forget that their stories have a direct effect on people's retirement nest eggs - 23rd March
 * the son shine at the Independent?'' - Is there a future for the Independent and its Sunday sister? The first place to look for the answer is to the paper's board - 16th March
 * the truth'' - Monthly national newspaper circulation figures should always be approached with scepticism - 9th March
 * admissions trauma is down to gross inequality outside school gates'' - Results depend most on pupils' background. It is the segregation of rich and poor that underlies school performance - 5th March
 * importance of finding a niche'' - Business-to-business publications will weather this financial storm far better than the mainstream media - 2nd March
 * prince of darkness to shining knight'' - Could the present crisis take Murdoch to the brink of ruin again, or even send him over the edge? - 16th February
 * What, exactly, is the PCC for? - It rarely takes a proactive role in monitoring standards or enforcing them and few newspapers publicise its existence or invite readers to use it - 5th February
 * in numbers'' - Like most newspapers the FT faces cuts, but its' union is determined to resist - 2nd February
 * critics don't flog souvenirs'' - Barack Obama is more than a president. He's also the world's No 1 celebrity - 26th January
 * prejudice all round'' - The royals, I believe, have no rights to privacy because they are not and can never be private citizens - 19th January
 * meeting the family Standard'' - The Rothermeres are famously indecisive when it comes to trading assets - 19th January
 * we have to let pictures tell the real story'' - British media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict has changed radically over the past five years - 12th January
 * to the new seriousness'' - Will the post-recession newspaper industry become more serious? More niche? Abandon print publishing altogether? By the end of 2009 the future will be a whole lot clearer - 5th January



Articles: 2008

 * chapter for book reviews?'' - If they marginalise books, newspapers risk marginalising themselves - 15th December 2008 (see: Literary editor Sam Leith becomes latest Daily Telegraph redundancy, The Guardian, 2nd December 2008)
 * talk costs livelihoods'' - Has media reporting deepened the present financial crisis? - 8th December 2008
 * they wrote'' - There was no abuse at Haut de la Garenne so why did the press devote so many pages to the case? - 1st December 2008
 * is inevitable'' - How many journalists do you need to bring out a newspaper? - 24th November 2008
 * the care in social work coverage?'' - No professional group gets such a consistently bad press. Even politicians and estate agents get a more respectful hearing. The press berates failings by doctors, teachers and police, but they often get positive coverage, while social workers get virtually none. Why? - 17th November 2008
 * banner headlines'' - Obama's story was too good for the press to drizzle even a light shower on his parade - 10th November 2008
 * it means for the press'' - With its coverage of the Brand/Ross affair, the Mail has provided a masterclass in leading the agenda - 3rd November 2008
 * wrong scapegoats'' - On the day Alistair Darling launched his rescue package for the banks, using £500bn of taxpayers' money, what did the Sun choose for its front-page splash? - 20th October 2008
 * shaky state of independence'' - Can Roger Alton, now in his fourth month as editor, save the Independent? - 13th October 2008
 * another manic Monday'' - When newspapers ask 'is this the end of capitalism?' it's time to head for the hill - 22nd September 2008
 * poor show on UK poverty'' - A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report has found that, in 43% of cases, references to poverty in the media was little more than a throwaway - 15th September 2008
 * of the day'' - If you wonder why politicians don't give straight answers to straight questions, consider the case of RA Butler - 8th September 2008
 * the gang turned on Gary'' - The papers' coverage of Gary Glitter's return to the UK has been marked by hypocrisy - 1st September 2008
 * of despair'' - What explains the steep decline of the regional and local press? - 25th August 2008
 * has won the PR war'' - Saakashvili's government has won the press over with a skillfully deployed PR campaign - 18th August 2008
 * media's addiction to controversy can seriously damage your health'' - Unfounded newspaper campaigns on MMR may have left fewer children vaccinated. And now a measles epidemic looms - 13th August 2008
 * tale of Poles and prejudice'' - The recent influx of East Europeans has allowed the Mail and other papers to revive their traditions of stoking xenophobia - 11th August 2008
 * Circles of deceit - Here's a game to keep children amused until September: I-Spy phrases in a political correspondent's copy … - 4th August 2008
 * Horror stories - knife crime and the press, the Mail's support of David Cameron and the future of the newsagent - 28th July 2008
 * Murat's £800,000 - a minor marketing expense - For the poor and powerless, against whom the mass circulation press commits its most pernicious libels, the law still provides inadequate protection - 21st July 2008
 * Publish and be damned - We journalists are accustomed to dishing it out, but have the thinnest of skins - 7th July 2008
 * In dangerous denial - Sceptics themselves merit scepticism, and journalists should give their scientific credentials and their relationship to vested interests the most careful scrutiny - 30th June 2008
 * The rush to rubbish Davis - You've all heard the story,' wrote Kelvin MacKenzie in the Sun. Not if we are among the 10m who allegedly read the Currant Bun - 23rd June 2008
 * Experts should mark the comment spot - Nothing is for ever. Before the second world war, regular signed opinion columns scarcely existed in British newspaper - 16th June 2008
 * Follow the leader - The Times is probably the only newspaper that can draw attention to itself just by moving things around - 9th June 2008
 * Overhyped health stories? They're all pants - We live in a medically anxious society where newspapers believe that health coverage attracts readers - 2nd June 2008
 * The mob power of the commentariat - For the most part, I aim merely to entertain and engage readers, to inform and make them think. So is there any such thing as "the power of the commentariat"? - 5th May 2008
 * How did Gordon become the Wizard of Oz? - Is Gordon Brown finished? To read the papers over the past few weeks, you might have thought so - 28th April 2008
 * Can Fleet Street veteran Roger Alton turn the Independent around? - Can Fleet Street veteran Roger Alton turn the Independent around - 14th April 2008
 * Falling for the Sarkozys - If anything, the upmarket papers are even more smitten with Carla Sarkozy than the red-tops - 31st March 2008
 * Errors in omissions - By far the most riveting read in the Saturday edition of the Independent is a column called "Errors & Omissions" - 17th March 2008
 * Portraits of a killer - The power of words | Telly critics should not be under review | Sages on the pages - 10th March 2008
 * 'Harry's war' - it's just a blatant PR stunt - By signing up to a news blackout of Prince Harry's tour of duty, the press became pawns in a PR game - 3rd March 2008
 * More consideration, less volume - Even by Daily Mail standards, their leader on the spate of suicides in Bridgend was breathtaking hypocrisy - 25th February 2008
 * The Statesman staggers on - Why is it so difficult to edit the New Statesman? Since 1960, it has bid hail and farewell to 12 different editors - 18th February 2008
 * The expenses story is allrelative - Sometimes news moves in mysterious ways - 11th February 2008
 * Campbell's media critique is only half the story - It is hard to disagree with Alastair Campbell's analysis of the failings of the media - 4th February 2008
 * Crash! There goes our sense of perspective - The day before Black Monday (2008 version), the Sunday Telegraph was already preparing its readers for hard times ahead - 28th January 2008
 * Britney remains big business - The red-tops have been cruel and tasteless in their coverage of Britney Spears - 21st January 2008
 * Why the media loved Bhutto - Bhutto was not just a glamorous woman but, as William Dalrymple put it in the Observer, 'one of us' - 7th January 2008



New Statesman:
Column name: Peter Wilby's "First Thoughts" column

Remit/Info: Politics, Society, Education

Section: Columnists & Columns

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: New Statesman / Peter Wilby

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Thursday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:



Articles: 2014

 * George Osborne’s jobs, magazine messiahs, Tina Brown’s losses and why Giles Clarke should walk - 10th April
 * Cashing in pensions, the Baby Boomers inheritance tax, and the bad maths of student fees - 3rd April
 * Tony Benn’s banana diet, lapsed Christians and ignoring no smoking signs - 27th March
 * Getting into state school Gove-style, milking the dairy industry and going bananas about sugar - 20th March
 * Containing Putin, Paul Dacre’s revenge on Labour, and parenting advice from Boris - 13th March
 * Pricking the Ukip bubble, the Baftas’ gender agenda, and the real lesson of the Chinese maths scores - 27th February
 * Xenophobia from the Daily Mail, and perhaps it is Tristram Hunt who should concentrate in class - The silence of the climate-change deniers, subsidising Dacre’s acres, and Tristram Hunt’s silence - 20th February
 * Newspapers: still the most important medium for understanding the world - Once new media themselves, newspapers have gone on to outlast cinema and television – but for how long? - 12th February
 * Why the 50p tax is lenient, sponsoring the Queen and how to deal with noisy pigeons - The Queen, we learn, is down to her last million - 6th February
 * Ariel Sharon’s left-wing roots and how to handle a scandal, the British way - The French press still has a lot to learn from the British tabloids in how to break a scandal, plus the unenlightening secret of British succession - 23rd January
 * The sacked editor, the art of failing better and the Lib Dems’ portly “groping peer” - The old yardsticks of success no longer apply in a digital age: profitability, circulation, scoops. And with the Guardian's sale of its stake in Auto Trader, the newspaper world is taking huge risks - 22nd January
 * Gove’s Great War, a speechless Simon Hoggart, and teaching the young to vote - Though he always had lightness of touch, Simon began his career as a journalist covering Northern Ireland, Washington and then Westminster as a political editor - 16th January
 * Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain - He's the most successful and most feared newspaperman of his generation. But after a bad year in which he was forced to defend his methods, how much longer can Dacre survive as editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail - 2nd January



Articles: 2013

 * Marching barefoot for Mandela, rebel cricket tours and children’s Gothic imagination - Mandela was above all a politician, but also became like Jesus in that his name was invoked to support all sorts of improbable causes - 19th December
 * The "murder" of Stephen Ward, a prize reporter's courage and Boris the buffoon - Boris Johnson used the third Margaret That­cher Memorial Lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies in London to make a fool of himself, and the results of the British Journalism Awards would be hard to disagree with - 4th December
 * The stresses of cricket, a Maoist conspiracy and Iran comes in from the cold - 27th November
 * Heseltine’s act of faith and the redesign of the Independent - Plus: an incident down a dark alley - 21st November
 * As the Daily Mail and Guardian slug it out over MI5 and press reform, who really hates Britain? - Even the editor of the Mail seems less than confident about 'the man who hated Britain' now. Meanwhile, the Guardian featured "the world's leading editors" in a piece that failed to include a single journalist employed by Rupert Murdoch - 24th October
 * Selling the Royal Mail, and the country that banned fee-paying schools - Finland, where fee-paying schools are illegal and league tables don't exist, does consistently well in educational surveys and produces some of the cleverest children. Plus: a magic formula for regulation - 17th October
 * Miliband v the Mail, Gordon Brown’s confessions and football’s endgame - The Mail gave Ed Miliband an opportunity to show that, far from being a calculating figure who knifed his brother, he is motivated by a profound love of “my Dad” - 10th October
 * Why Labour politicans hate each other and I loved reading Melanie Phillips - Tory tensions, "cowardly" killers, and Cameron's bunny ears - 3rd October
 * Why do political parties need such lavish finance? - The problem with Universal Credit, the return of the TSB and a memory lapse at the theatre - 19th September
 * Socially useless activity by socially useless people - Peter Wilby's "First Thoughts" column: the day I dined with David Frost, why we should stay out of Syria, and who will really benefit from Vodafone selling its stake in Verizon Wireless - 12th September
 * Jamie’s mangetout dinner, a fool’s bargain, and why West Side Story is better than opera - 5th Septemberhttp://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/05/reviewed-little-wonder-remarkable-history-wisden-robert-winder
 * The manliness of fracking, bad intelligence, and English Test cricket’s selection problem - 28th August
 * The new Murdoch, getting personal with Andrew Marr, and foodies in the East End - 15th August
 * Lobbyists in the spin crowd, the folly of “the third umpire” and opting out of the royal birth - 7th August
 * NHS horror stories, my life as a Twitter fogey, and cricket’s robot generation - 25th July
 * Nigella’s media marriage, staying out of the Middle East, and a future “Sir” Andy Murray - 18th July
 * Nelson Mandela’s last days, paying for boar stew in Corsica, and the Tories of Generation Y - 11th July
 * Michael Gove’s exam fetish, Hong Kong mystery and Tim Yeo’s Nobu lunch - 20th June
 * Mandelson’s lizard, in bed with Michael Douglas, and sponsoring the Tube - 13th June
 * Islamists and liberals, making Hay without David, and my visit to church - 6th June
 * Eton’s tower block pupils, hoarding disorders and eating pies on the NHS - 23rd May
 * A dissenting tradition: The New Statesman and the left - 20th May
 * Nightmare drinking pals, Fergie’s good fortune and why Ukip has already peaked - 16th May
 * The BBC’s real bias, journalists’ role in the measles epidemic, and a modest proposal about tax - 2nd May
 * Keeping my Freedom Pass, blowing things up from inside and the invisible crime wave - 1st May
 * The looting of bank deposits, a whiff of regulation and self-hating Mail readers - 27th March
 * The death of an oligarch reminds us how much we and the Russians have changed - 26th March
 * Fussing over the Queen, Clegg’s Oratory, and how to deal with terrorist threats - 14th March
 * Osborne the green hero, weird Lib Dems and things aren’t getting better for O’Farrell - 7th March
 * The Indie’s woes, the end of Sunday papers and what happened to me last week - 28th February
 * Huhne’s honest hypocrisy, Leicester’s lost king and Gove’s smear tactics - 14th February
 * The turn against the BBC, a new role for Nigel Farage and London’s sewage problem - 7th February
 * Daylight robbery, clubbing in Loughton and getting Algeria wrong - 31st January
 * The perils of intervention, new prospects Down Under and snow in Essex - 24th January
 * Jumping off cliffs, bankers in our schools and cricket’s apartheid years - 18th January



Articles: 2012

 * The death of the Sunday newspaper, slow sport and heroic alcohol intake - 19th December
 * Food banks, working in an education warzone and the most annoying man I ever met - 13th December
 * Corporate power, lies about Leveson, and why the royals don’t deserve privacy - 6th December
 * Canada’s Genghis Khan, newspaper regulation and Ukip’s “bastard” vote 29th November
 * Kite marks for paying tax, the end of the energy industry and Paul Dacre’s ten-foot lizards - 22nd November
 * How to get ahead in journalism, the meaning of trust and Nadine Dorries’s brain - 15th November
 * Cover-ups, conspiracies and why journalists should sometimes break the law - 8th November
 * New York’s lack of storm protection, the social mobility myth and lollipops in Loughton - 1st November
 * Jimmy Savile’s “innocence”, Rio and racism and next-day deliveries - 25th October
 * Glitter’s girls, “difficult” choices and the problem with English hotels - 11th October
 * Gove’s full English, Kate’s body and Boris as prime minister - 20th September
 * Wealthy strikers, kissing in public and half-built conservatories - 12th September
 * Grade inflation, Rhodes Boyson and shooting chief execs - 6th September
 * The Apollo spirit, Prince Harry’s bottom and banning Orwell - 29th August
 * The myth of lazy Brits, brand NHS and the rainbow cricket team - 23rd August
 * Why I remain an Olympics humbug, life on Mars and souvenir tweets - 15th August
 * Lords reform, Louise Mensch and the Olympic snack race - 8th August
 * Blair’s comeback, the Guardian’s woes and what I found in Corsica - The Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, is patting himself on the back - 18th July
 * Bad banking, Lords reform and how I avoided David Starkey’s rage - David Cameron’s proposals for welfare reform are lacking not only in compassion but also in common sense - 28th June
 * Leveson's problem, modal verbs and bills, bills, bills - 13th June
 * The Beeb under fire, drone strikes and small hope for republicans - 6th June
 * Alan Rusbridger: the quiet evangelist - Alan Rusbridger can claim to be the Guardian’s greatest editor. But, asks Peter Wilby, will he also be its last? - 30th May
 * Boring politicians, Dave’s toe job and my brush with a detective - 9th May
 * Rupert’s revenge, a dodgy dossier and a minister on the run - 25th April
 * Media Islamophobia, the paranoid style and dodging flying cars - 18th April
 * ''The great hosepipe revolt, muppet cilents and football's mawkish side - 22nd March
 * Private police, a cure for headaches and my promise to vote Tory - 12th March
 * First Thoughts - Peter Wilby’s week of ducking and diving in the media as Rupert returns and Greek drama breaks out - 27th February
 * The closure of the Sun? Be careful what you wish for - The most likely buyer for the Sun and NoW is Richard Desmond, owner of Express Newspapers - 17th February
 * The Sunday Times’s change of heart, Abu Qatada and English food -12th February
 * Vampire squids, Blair’s bête noire and the rot about yachts - 23rd January
 * Kelvin’s honest amorality, Mitt’s weird faith and Toby’s school rules - Peter Wilby offers a guide to interpreting the red tops, worries about - 16th January
 * Why isn’t our press more diverse? - 16th January



Articles: 2011

 * Press restraint on Gary Speed, a Lib Dem war and the blazer squad - 5th December
 * What is the point of democracy? - Peter Wilby on the second man in the Basil D’Oliveira story, why capitalism still has legs - 28th November
 * My euro prediction, Olympics travel and another cricketing suicide - Prediction is nearly always dangerous, but here is one that I believe to be absolutely safe - 16th November


 * The week with Peter Wilby - Desmond v Dacre redux, the clamour from Occupy LSX, questions of faith and university bingo - 10th November
 * Why stockbrokers love a crisis, Murdoch’s spies and a Mail apology - One of the puzzles of the latest financial crisis is that share prices haven't tanked, as they did in 2008 - 9th November
 * Tony’s mate Muammar, Marr the monarchist and my poetry triumph - Now that Muammar al-Gaddafi has been summarily bumped off by our new best friends in Libya, along with 53 "loyalists" in his home town of Sirte (are we quite sure they don't include "innocent civilians" who require humanitarian intervention?) - 31st October
 * Idealists in tents, murky lobbyists and the Mail getting it wrong - Peter Wilby peers at lobbyists working the corridors of our parliaments, government attempts to play - 24th October
 * Fox’s friendship, newspaper revamps and getting lost in Westfield - Watching the drama engulfing Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, I am reminded of my late father. He had little patience with theatre - or TV drama - and would say: "If everybody told the truth from the start, there wouldn't be any play." - 17th October
 * Knox’s trial by Dacre, Rio’s own goal and Tory (dis)appointments - Most newspapers thought that, given the paucity of evidence against her, Italian judges were right to acquit Amanda Knox of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher. Not the Daily Mail - 10th October

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Articles: 2010

 * Beware of Tory co-operatives - The proposals are a back-door device for more privatisation - 18th February
 * Why the Eurosceptics were right all along - The abstract principle of national sovereignty has been made very real by this crisis - 12th February
 * John Terry, tree-hugging and Blair - What exactly does a football captain do, and why is he important? - 11th February
 * Pope on the ropes, and Maggie’s soap - When I became the editor of the New Statesman in 1998, several readers protested after I appointed Cristina Odone, a prominent Roman Catholic, as my deputy - 4th February
 * Mad stares, Thatcher and dodgy stats - New Labour has proved capitalism's best defence against social-democratic change - 28th January
 * Would you have Rod Liddle in your house? - The Independent was once the most high-minded of papers - 22nd January
 * Rod Liddle, class and Pinter’s poetry - The split among Labour leaders, we are told, is between those who want to appeal to the working-class "core vote" and those who prefer to woo the middle classes - 21st January
 * Alastair Campbell, Chilcot and snow - The Chilcot inquiry is a win-win for Blair and Campbell - 14th January
 * Switching suppliers and minor flyers - The great sociologist Richard Sennett has often written about how a sense of long-term commitment - to an employer, job or skill - has all but disappeared from working life - 7th January

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Articles: 2009

 * Bombing, burgling and banking - Some US presidents and British prime ministers would be well described as "fanatics" - 30 December 2009
 * False alarms and just deserts - The pundits are virtually unanimous. Alistair Darling, they say, hasn't done enough to show that Britain can reduce its £178bn budget deficit - 17th December 2009
 * Deniers, bankers and royal snappers - Climate change deniers should reveal whether they hold lucrative 'catastrophe' bonds - 10th December 2009
 * Blair, Iraq and climate comrades - Apologies to Mark Lynas, George Monbiot, Ed Miliband and all my other green friends, but I have decided I no longer believe in man-made global warming - 3rd December 2009
 * Iraq, Palin and building bridges - A trial is what those of us who consistently opposed the Iraq war desperately want - 26th November 2009
 * Nurses, cricket and anti-Semitism - We should value nurses' distinctive qualities, not force them to take degrees - 19th November 2009
 * Lisbon, chaos theory and poppies - The Tories have deluded themselves that Britain can enjoy trading advantages without the drawbacks of reduced sovereignty - 12th November 2009
 * In Search of England, By Roy Hattersley - Roy Hattersley’s political career was largely a failure, but he has enjoyed a late blossoming - 12th November 2009
 * Drugs rows, Aids denial and the post - Legalising all drugs would raise billions in revenue - 5th November 2009
 * Schools, fools and Rod Stewart - My modest proposal to undermine public schools - 15th October 2009
 * Another Freud, Mrs Brown and cats - Perhaps David Freud could devote some of his time to getting bankers into useful work - 8th October 2009
 * Pangloss, pills and dinner ladies - Gordon Brown can delay the election until 3 June. By then, the feel-good factor should be at its maximum - 1st October 2009
 * Cuts, consultants and book-buying - The failure to address the underlying causes of crime, drugs and family breakdown costs the UK economy billions - 24th September 2009
 * My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times, by Harold Evans (book review) - 24th September 2009
 * Eat canapé, avoid catastrophe ...Eat canapé, avoid catastrophe - 10th September 2009
 * Sell off the Roads! on James Murdoch’s bananas, political dynasties and a game of cards - 3rd September 2009
 * Go on, boycott America ...on Lockerbie, knighthoods and the futility of Richard Dawkins - 27th August 2009
 * I sued and won ...on know-alls, league tables, and my soft spot for Norman Tebbit - 20th August 2009
 * Never work for a liberal boss ...on MPs’ wages, Sunday newspapers and being too soft on oldies - 13th August 2009
 * A private affair ...on a legal muddle, ranting historians and the wretched Rantzen - 6th August 2009
 * Brown’s Churchill moment ...on affordable debt, the dangers of exercise, and cricketing legends
 * The world’s busiest virus ...on a Heathrow pandemic, the supportive state and Stockholm stress - 23rd July 2009
 * The death changes nothing - First thoughts on Press TV, the Jacko industry and hard-hat zones - 9th July 2009
 * The empire strikes back - On the eve of an eagerly awaited Ashes series, Peter Wilby reveals how the forces of globalisation are killing off the old game of cricket and predicts that the future belongs to India - 2nd July 2009
 * The meaning of freedom ...on meddling in Iran, pay cuts for bosses and wasteful words - 25th June 2009
 * No room for closure ...on the Iraq inquiry, public spending cuts and Mandy’s manoeuvres - 18th June 2009
 * The plot to kill off Labour ...on boardroom, bathroom and Purnell’s sideburns - 11th June 2009
 * What Price Liberty? How Freedom Was Won and Is Being Lost, By Ben Wilson - Reviewed by Peter Wilby - 4th June 2009
 * Reform is for anoraks - First thoughts... on an elected second chamber, essential citizens and Esther Rantzen - 28th May 2009
 * Up the workers - ...on pedantry, trouser presses and British primary elections - 21st May 2009
 * Turn your back on a bad lot ...on toffs’ expenses, C P Snow and why sometimes it’s best to walk away - 14th May 2009
 * The masses smell blood ...on the Gurkhas, Gordon Brown’s tin ear, and penalty shoot-outs - 7th May 2009
 * Pass the sickbag, Alice ...on tax dodgers, deportations, crocked fast bowlers and women drivers - 30th April 2009
 * Limping along on the left ...on teaching music, taxing drugs and taking on the right-wing bloggers - 23rd April 2009
 * Pile up the politicians ...on profligate MPs, policing and a predictable Premiership - 16th April 2009
 * Let them eat celery ...on dodgy claims, dead 'slebs', delightful menus and a notorious school - 9th April 2009
 * Not barmy about the army ...on British attitudes to battles, bald leaders and booze - 2nd April 2009
 * Ed Miliband must resign ...on political heroes, nationalised banks and family confessionals - 26th March 2009
 * The ego has landed ...on sectarianism, social ills, selection, sports appeals and self-regard - 12th March 2009
 * Outrage on a sliding scale ...on scapegoats, scandal, serial snubs, sentencing and civil liberties - 5th March 2009
 * "We know each other well" ...Peter Wilby on punts, pints, "Peston" and Premier League cricket - 26th February 2009
 * Who's sorry now? ...on Tebbit, tokens, transfers and Test pitches - 19th February 2009
 * All of us live by the logic of finance - Margaret Thatcher promised wealth for all in her new society. First, though, we all had to become capitalists. Peter Wilby on our long road to ruin (Economy) - 9th February 2009

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Articles: 2008

 * Lunchtime notes - The Hugo Young Papers: Thirty Years of British Politics - Off the Record (Books) - 11th December 2008
 * Getting and spending - The Ascent of Money: a Financial History of the World - (Books) 27th November 2008
 * The last best hope - Can a United States led by Barack Obama really change its attitudes towards the rest of the world? - (Books) 13th November 2008
 * As the champagne corks pop... - Yachtgate leaves voters with the uncomfortable feeling that the super-rich own our politicians - 23rd October 2008
 * Religion and science do mix - Schools need to rethink the curriculum - 18th September 2008
 * myth of the super-rich'' - Most of our tycoons are not wealth creators, but wealth drainers - 11th September 2008
 * Inequality kills - Politicians take heed: social injustice is, literally, deadly - 4th September 2008
 * Why capitalism creates a throwaway society - How to deal with waste is the great policy failure of our age - 28th August 2008
 * The myth of private sector efficiency - When it comes to health and social care, in-house staff still do it better - 21st August 2008
 * Nice deal for the drug companies - The NHS should exert its purchasing power - 14th August 2008
 * In a league of their own - The testing regime in schools does pupils no good - 7th August 2008
 * More important than post offices - Why governments must protect our pubs - 31st July 2008
 * Cameron's free-market guru - Richard Thaler simply gives Friedman a makeover - 24th July 2008
 * No, class counts more than ever - Richard Thaler simply gives Friedman a makeover - 24th July 2008
 * Fannie and Freddie go broke - The truth about the duo threatening US capitalism - 17th July 2008
 * An age-old problem - New anti-ageism proposals are themselves unfair - 3rd July 2008
 * What voters really want - Leaders offering old-fashioned state welfare are getting elected everywhere - 26th June 2008
 * The price of failure - Labelling schools undermines customer confidence - 19th June 2008
 * Suffer the poor children - Child poverty rises as the underclass falls behind - 12th June 2008
 * Bright ideas will damage Labour's health - Threatening GPs is bad politics - 5th June 2008
 * For the good of others - The public sector ethos may be on its last legs - 29th May 2008
 * Fewer weddings? Blame the Tories - Who killed marriage? Not the left - 22nd May 2008
 * Behave yourself - The state now regulates us instead of the economy - 15th May 2008
 * Humanity's last rage - Was it a great beginning... or just the final great street festival before the darkness closed in? Peter Wilby wonders whether the year changed everything - or nothing at all - 8th May 2008
 * The balancing act of tax reform - Winners keep quiet, losers raise hell - 1st May 2008
 * Everybody out! - The workers are getting restless. Last year, for the second time in five years, more than a million days were lost to strikes. This year the figure is likely to be higher. Is this a return to the militant Seventies? Plus check out the rest of our May Day special - 24th April 2008
 * The not-so-good-any-more life - In the US, as here, inequality is a middle-class issue - 17th April 2008
 * Failing upwards - The Remarkable Lives of Bill Deedes by Stephen Robinson - 10th April 2008
 * The unhealthy choice - Once the National Health Service put equality first - 3rd April 2008
 * Class size isn't everything - Why teachers may be wrong about this class issue - 27th March 2008
 * It's better to give than receive - Philanthropists aren't being that altruistic - 19th March 2008
 * Gordon and Gertrude - Brown should resist his penchant for US gurus - 13th March 2008
 * Under the influence - Alcohol advertising needs severe regulation - 6th March 2008
 * The toxicity of poverty - Ed Balls should read his own department's reports - 28th February 2008
 * Bossing the bosses around - Democracy at work ought to be a human right - 21st February 2008
 * Bobbies on the beat - Management-speak has no role in police reform - 14th February 2008
 * Tax and the coping classes - How the rich keep the Revenue at bay - 7th February 2008
 * Benefits on the brain - If you can't get a job, you need help - 31st January 2008
 * New crisis, old solution - Capitalism's failure finds the left without a plan - 24th January 2008
 * It's wrong to publish league tables - New scores tell parents nothing about schools - 17th January 2008
 * When there's no more room at the top - you move up, somebody will have to move down - 10th January 2008

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News & updates:
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References:
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Links:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Wilby_(UK_journalist)