Philip Collins



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Journals/Organisation: The Times

Email: [mailto:phil.collins@thetimes.co.uk phil.collins@thetimes.co.uk]

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Website: The Times / Philip Collins

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Networks: https://twitter.com/pcollinstimes



Biography:
About: http://www.demos.co.uk/people/philipcollins

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Career: Between 2000 and 2004, he was Director of the Social Market Foundation (SMF), an independent think-tank and charity. Prior to that, Mr. Collins spent five years as an investment banker, ending his time in the City as the top ranked equity strategist in the smaller companies sector. He has also worked as a political assistant to Frank Field MP, for the Institute of Education at the University of London and for the BBC and London Weekend Television. He was Chief Speech Writer for the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the Director of the Social Market Foundation think tank

Current position/role: Times' columnist and chief leader writer


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Other roles/Main role: Chair of the Demos Board of Trustees and Visiting Fellow in the Department of Public Policy at Oxford

Other activities: Chair of the board of trustees at the independent think tank Demos www.demos.co.uk/people/philipcollins

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight: as his boss, on the unique challenges of crafting a prime minister’s rhetoric - The Times Magazine, 5th May 2012
 * Blair's speechwriter speaks for himself - In an exclusive interview, Philip Collins, the man behind the PM's quip about Cherie and the bloke next door, talks to Matthew Baker about the prospect of leaving No 10 - Daily Telegraph, 7th June 2007
 * Life as Tony Blair’s speech writer - Philip Collins, who left Downing Street on the same day

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Website: The Times / Philip Collins

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Articles: 2017

 * Now I can see the point of ID cards - Hostility to illegal immigration was a principal reason for leaving the EU - an identity card scheme is the way to calm those fears - 30th June
 * It’s time to drop the pretence about Corbyn - Moderate Labour MPs who disagree with the party’s left-wing policies must stop sucking up to its dangerous leader - 16th June
 * May has no one to blame but herself - The prime minister’s hubris, an addiction to short-term thinking and a surge in the youth vote has sealed her fate - 9th June
 * This has been Corbyn’s best week - and Labour’s worst - The surge in support for the party cements the leader in his post and puts paid to any hopes of creating a new party - 2nd June
 * Mrs May has been rumbled as not very good - As the election campaign resumes, the PM will find that nobody has forgotten the character flaws exposed by her U-turn - 25th May
 * Labour needs a new Limehouse moment - In planning the party’s post-election future, sensible Labour MPs need to ask themselves some existential questions - 19th May
 * This is Labour’s ticket to the Dignitas clinic - The manifesto is full of things that will be banned, compulsory or free but offers no credible way of paying for them - 12th May
 * May’s price cap is as Marxist as Miliband’s - The prime minister’s hamfisted intervention in the energy market shows how little we can expect from her - 28th April
 * The only doubt about Labour is how far they will fall - Jeremy Corbyn is a cast-iron dud leading the party to oblivion - but look beyond the election and there may be hope for the next leader - 21st April
 * EU must wake up and defend democracy - A row over a Budapest university is about more than arcane regulations — it is a battle to preserve essential freedoms - 14th April
 * Compulsory voting can make Britain fairer - Intractable issues such as housing and pensions would be tackled if politicians knew they had to appeal to all voters - 8th April
 * Compulsory voting can make Britain fairer - Intractable issues such as housing and pensions would be tackled if politicians knew they had to appeal to all voters - 7th April
 * It’s time May returned power to the people - Britain’s wealth and power is concentrated around London in a way that would have appalled Benjamin Disraeli - 31st March
 * Westminster attack teaches cynics a lesson - If any good comes from Wednesday’s atrocity, it’s to remind us that parliament deserves respect, not sneering - 25th March
 * Tory stupidity doesn’t mean politics is corrupt - We could rule out electoral fines by giving the parties state funding — but actually, political success isn’t based on money - 17th March
 * Trump is dreaming if he thinks he’s a rebel - For all his bluster, the president isn’t rewriting the rules, he’s following a nationalist path favoured by many US leaders - 3rd March
 * Famines are caused by politicians, not God - The disaster in South Sudan, like so many others, has more to do with a lack of democracy than a lack of food - 24th February
 * Famine is made by poor politics not drought - The shocking scenes in South Sudan follow an all too predictable pattern, but can be quickly alleviated - 23rd February
 * There’s only one way to defeat fake news - A raucous press that knows the difference between a lie and mere distortion is the best remedy against demagogues - 17th February
 * Can May avoid falling into the migration trap? - The prime minister urgently needs to balance the needs of the economy with voters’ dislike of mass migration - 9th February
 * When it comes to Brexit, I agree with Jeremy - MPs who voted against Article 50 were fighting a phoney war - decision-making was devolved to the public last June - 3rd February
 * Corbyn is leading his party into the grave - Labour could easily lose two of its northern strongholds in by-elections next month in a sign of things to come - 26th January
 * May has no mandate to turn us into Singapore - The prime minister has little choice over leaving the single market but that doesn’t justify a dreadful economic model - 20th January
 * Desperate NHS needs a desperate remedy - If the medical profession continues to cry out for more money, the health service will have to start rationing care - 13th January
 * Europe could engineer a second referendum - If Germany and France want to test Britain’s resolve to leave they should offer us a root and branch reform of the EU - 6th January



Articles: 2016

 * Businesses are the skinflints of charity giving - While the British public and wealthy philanthropists are handing away billions, corporations are making a feeble effort - 30th December
 * Never forget that we live in the best of times - There has been much to mourn in 2016 but by almost every measure the world is becoming wealthier and fairer - 23rd December
 * Ministers must stand and fight RMT Marxists - The rail union deserves to be defeated not just for the good of passengers but to save trade unionism itself - 16th December
 * How Britain can make the best out of Brexit - Let’s spend more time arguing about the schools and workplaces we need and less about obscure points of law - 9th December
 * Dead parrot of politics rises from the ashes - The Liberal Democrats were crushed at last year’s general election but Labour’s weakness has given them a way back - 2nd December
 * Why Le Pen is more dangerous than Trump - Beneath its glossy PR, the Front National plans to change France in ways that would alarm even the US president-elect - 25th November
 * How May can break free from Brexit muddle - Rather than rushing through a bad agreement the PM needs to seal a transitional deal to take us past the election - 18th November
 * The working class can no longer be ignored - Hillary Clinton, like the Labour Party, made the mistake of thinking that the blue-collar vote had nowhere else to go - 11th November
 * Clinton’s biggest problem is her husband - America’s negativity about the former first lady is partly sexism but also a punishment for Bill’s misdemeanours - 4th November
 * The socialist storyteller has the wrong ending - Ken Loach’s latest film shows the injustice of life on benefits but fails to grasp how the state is the problem, not the solution - 28th October
 * Rumours of Ukip’s death are wishful thinking - For all the pantomime surrounding its leadership, the party retains a following that Labour and the Tories can’t ignore - 21st October
 * Momentum can be Labour’s unlikely saviour - The party needs to stop treating idealistic new members like the enemy and instead harness their campaigning energy - 30th September
 * The centre ground is still the place to build - Even at a time of political volatility, a balance between social justice and economic competence will win over voters - 23rd September
 * Meritocracy is the last thing Britain needs - Real social mobility means creating as many losers as winners, and an unacceptable expansion of the nanny state - 15th September
 * Corbyn is a pygmy next to Citizen Clem - As the first anniversary of his election approaches, the Islington messiah is without doubt Labour’s worst leader - 9th September
 * Ending poverty need not be a utopian dream - Thomas More’s vision of a perfect society may be outlandish but it reminds us that Britain can change for the better - 2nd September
 * Why Mrs T in a tank crushes Corbyn’s train - Photo opportunities must tell an essential truth, which Thatcher achieved. Labour, though, can no longer master spin - 25th August
 * Great political fiction is good for democracy - After decades of cardboard characters and daft plotlines, a new novel at last portrays politicians as they really are - 19th August
 * Split is the only answer to the Labour farce - Although dividing the party is fraught with problems, it’s the least bad option in its present unsustainable state - 11th August
 * If you don’t like the establishment, change it - There will always be a governing elite but if its doors are open to everyone there is no need for angry populism - 5th August
 * How May can win over working-class voters - Lowering the school leaving age and boosting practical skills could restore hope to those left behind by globalisation - 29th July
 * The real battle begins after Corbyn wins again - Moderate Labour MPs will soon be faced with several options to save the party, all of which are fraught with problems - 22nd July
 * Brexit ministers can clear up their own mess - Davis, Johnson, Fox and Leadsom were instrumental in creating the EU disaster, so it’s poetic justice that they put it right - 15th July
 * Party members choosing leaders is pure folly - Our democracy is badly served by such a tiny and unrepresentative number of people choosing the next prime minister - 8th July
 * Knife-wielding Gove deserves the Tory crown - The justice secretary has the intellectual ability, political courage and decisiveness to be a great prime minister - 1st July
 * It will take an age to recover from this victory for the exit fantasists - They are going to find that everything is their problem now. So then exit fantasist, it is time to make good on your histrionic promise of liberty - 24th June
 * United Kingdom has never been more divided - The campaign was a ten-week horror show that exposed fault lines by age, place, class and education. Now we have to heal - 24th June
 * Jo felt being an MP mattered. She was right - The principled MP for Batley and Spen reminded us that, whatever the cynics claim, most politicians are honourable - 17th June
 * The Leave camp has no clue where it’s going - The fatal weakness of the motley crew who argue for Brexit is that they all appear to believe in different things - 10th June
 * Bans on religious clothing at work are absurd - We should always err on the side of tolerance. I would prefer people not to wear veils, but ultimately it is their right - 3rd June
 * Here’s how to solve the immigration problem - Higher wages and better training for local workers will make them more competitive against their foreign counterparts - 27th May
 * Cameron’s toughest time will begin on June 24 - Even if he wins the referendum, the prime minister will face growing calls for his departure. He needs a 1,000-day plan - 20th May
 * To call the BBC biased is dangerously wrong - The culture secretary clearly wants to hobble the corporation, but for the most part the white paper is uncontroversial - 13th May
 * The best way to ditch Corbyn is just to wait - Some in the party think the leader will soon step down anyway, but a coup is more likely from the left than the right - 6th May
 * This is the last straw. Livingstone must go - The former mayor of London has a history of objectionable views that cannot be allowed to poison Labour any longer - 29th April
 * God bless Queen Victoria, the quiet subversive - Wood’s ability to combine warmth, comedy and biting satire helped her to break taboos throughout a brilliant career - 22nd April
 * Lack of trust is what makes our MPs so good - We’ve never had a high opinion of our politicians, which has helped make them some of the least corrupt in the world - 15th April
 * Left and right need to stand up for free trade - The best way to improve the lot of the poor is to do tariff-free business, though this may mean letting steelworks close - 7th April
 * Here’s how to restore our trust in the BBC - The corporation has plenty of money but needs to sort out its dysfunctional governance to retain popular support - 31st March
 * Labour needs to speak up on Europe, quick - Without the party’s votes Remain can’t win, so the left needs to hold its nose at working with Tories and get canvassing - 25th March
 * The anti-academy brigade are talking rubbish - Critics claim reforms mean privatisation and loss of local democracy. In fact, it’s the only way to make teachers accountable - 18th March
 * Labour is finding an attractive voice at last - In the thoughts of Dan Jarvis, Rachel Reeves and Tristram Hunt the party may have the makings of a coherent vision - 11th March
 * Spend more on children and less on pensioners - Cameron’s childcare pledge looks increasingly unaffordable. It can only be salvaged if we’re less generous to the elderly - 4th March
 * Only you can stop the swivel-eyed activists - If the prospect of Trump or Corbyn in power scares you, it’s time to make sure that the voice of moderation is heard - 26th February
 * Cameron should never have been in this mess - Only an incompetent leader would find himself with an overall majority but face possible resignation within months - 19th February
 * Mayoral hopefuls need the Bloomberg magic - The capital deserves better than the lacklustre leadership offered by Tories and Labour. If only Mayor Mike could run - 12th February
 * Backlash against the elite may lead to Brexit - Voters don’t care about Cameron’s renegotiation. It’s just In versus Out . . . which could easily become Us versus Them - 5th February
 * Robots could exterminate the middle class - They don’t call in sick, get tired or waste time chatting. And if you think your white collar job is safe, think again - 29th January
 * The less you know about politics, the better - For all the millions spent on polls and strategists, the basics hold true. Which is great news for the Conservatives - 22nd January
 * Thank heavens we’re all losing our religion - Far from being something to regret, declining church attendance shows that society is getting wealthier and wiser - 15th January
 * Labour clowns need the wisdom of Wilson - The leader who won four elections and a referendum could teach Corbyn a thing or two about winning power - 8th January
 * Our honours are entirely without merit - Britain must replace its Ruritanian prizegiving ceremony for grown-ups with something we can all be proud of - 2nd January



Articles: 2015

 * Good parents are the enemy of social mobility - We all want the best for our children. The trouble is that we don’t care enough about lifting other children out of poverty - 18th December
 * Labour’s turning into the stupid and nasty party - Unless it moves quickly to oust its hopeless leader, the opposition will end up as a toxic and irrelevant force in politics - 11th December
 * We need to stay in Syria, not just bomb it - The rhetoric in the Commons was stirring but it was mainly about England and wasn’t looking nearly far enough ahead - 3rd December
 * Osborne’s lesson in getting away with murder - Labour would do well to accept that state spending will never again reach the dizzy heights of 45 per cent of GDP - 27th November
 * Paris has exposed Corbyn for the fool he is - Labour MPs can’t decide whether their leader’s incompetence or beliefs are to blame. In fact, one stems from the other - 20th November
 * Hold your nose and shake Modi by the hand - The egregious PM is not a man who shares our values but Britain’s relationship with India is bigger than one man - 13th November
 * Cameron’s army of apathy will win EU vote - The prime minister is closer to public opinion on Europe than on any other subject. He, like voters, is bored stiff by it - 30th October
 * Labour’s new mantra: blame it all on America - What the utopian left cannot understand is that liberal democracy is the best system that humanity has come up with - 23rd October
 * Labour’s guilty men should all hang together - Cameron’s conquest of the political centre ground has been made possible by the vanity and incompetence of his foes - 9th October
 * Imitating Tony Blair will do the Tories no good - The reactionaries of the left have routed the modernisers. Now their equivalents on the right are up to the same trick - 2nd October
 * Here’s the speech Corbyn should give next week - The Labour leader has a chance to improve his standing with the British people and announce that politics has changed - 25th September
 * The left will never really love this country - Jeremy Corbyn’s petulant refusal to sing the national anthem tells you all you need to know about his true sympathies - 18th September
 * Ignore the slippery critics of assisted dying - Justin Welby claims a new law will turn suicide into a social norm. Rubbish. Unlike religion, it will actually ease suffering - 11th September
 * Get ready for Labour: the Zombie Years - A Corbyn-led party will be too weak to be alive but too strong to die. The moderates must - and will - stay and fight - 4th September
 * Indian tortoise will overtake the Chinese hare - The scale of China’s recent economic growth has blinded us to its fundamental flaws. India has democracy on its side - 28th August
 * Italians can’t be trusted to run their own heritage - Notebook - 25th August
 * Weekend patients aren’t second-class citizens - The demand for consultants to work on Saturdays and Sundays is perfectly reasonable. They have a duty to agree to it - 21st August
 * How you can’t reheat your passion for a novel - Notebook - 18th August
 * These amateurish charities aren’t fit for purpose - Kids Company shows you need more than charisma. Charities must amalgamate and tap into the wealth of the super-rich - 7th August
 * Corbyn’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy - Lefties are turning Labour into the stupid party. They have nothing to offer but puerile slogans and a road to oblivion - 31st July
 * Get ready for a re-run of this political farce - Not one candidate for Labour leadership is a credible prime minister. Who ever is elected will be gone before too long - 24th July
 * Labour and the unions make a bad marriage - Workers are being let down by their leaders. They deserve a party that isn’t just anti-business for the sake of it - 17th July
 * Face it, Labour: he’s taken you to the cleaners - George Osborne has given the opposition a masterclass in how to wield power and steal your opponents’ best ideas - 10th July
 * Henley is so English it isn’t really English at all - 7th July
 * It’s another fine mess of Cameron’s making - By painting himself into a corner, the prime minister has turned Heathrow into the biggest test yet of his leadership - 3rd July
 * How G&S celebrated a timely gift for business - The main speaker at the Clinton Foundation seminar on Inclusive Capitalism is President Clinton himself... 30th June
 * The royals are Britain’s real welfare junkies - The House of Windsor is sitting on a fortune and should manage its finances better, especially at a time of austerity - 26th June
 * Why Conrad was never lost in translation - Milan Kundera has released The Festival Of Insignificance which, at 86, might be his last novel - 23rd June
 * Tories look like blowing their big opportunity - A potentially popular strategy is in danger from overzealous cuts and self-indulgent battles on Europe and human rights - 19th June
 * Kennedy’s legacy will lead Lib Dems nowhere - For all his decency, the late party leader was wrong to pursue popularity over power. What’s the point in that? - 5th June
 * Britain mustn’t become a second-rank nation - If we continue to cut our armed forces and vacate the world stage, less enlightened nations will fill the vacuum - 29th May
 * Labour’s strategy is unfathomably stupid - The supposed Ukip threat in the north is not the real problem. It’s the south where Labour needs to make inroads - 22nd May
 * Am I angry at vain, arrogant Ed? Hell, yes - Despite the scale of Labour’s defeat, siren voices blaming it on the media or lazy supporters are in full cry. What idiots - May 15th
 * Ed’s bitter lesson: you can’t win from the left - Despite having a unconvincing leader and being poor on the economy, Labour thought it could defy the laws of politics - 8th May
 * Labour will be punished for snatching power - It’s not just about cobbling together a majority. A Miliband government without popular consent will face a backlash - 1st May
 * High score for Labour in football club election - Notebook - 28th April
 * The Nick and Ed dream team gets my vote - A minority Labour government would realise that a deal with the Lib Dems is far better than one with the SNP - 24th April
 * The political class must think we’re all idiots - The lavish spending pledges made by the parties this week belong in a make-believe world where money is no object - 17th April
 * Ed’s real vice is caution, not ruthlessness - If only Labour’s “backstabbing” leader led his party with the same decisiveness he showed in defeating his older brother -10th April
 * Have a good Easter, if you haven’t had it yet - Notebook - 7th April
 * Give people good art and they’ll lap it up - Notebook - 31st March
 * Charles wants power without responsibility - The Prince of Wales has to understand that he can’t lobby ministers and expect to keep his nagging letters secret - 27th March
 * Osborne: a Tory carrying out Labour policies - The chancellor has turned failure into success by stealing the opposition’s clothes and passing them off as his own - 20th March
 * Labour must rule out a deal with the SNP - Scottish voters are switching in droves from Labour to the nationalists. They need to realise how much is at stake - 6th March
 * Looking back, it was a party boobytrap - Notebook - 4th March
 * The return of Prescott gives Labour more punch - Notebook - 24th February
 * Lib Dems will prove to be the great survivors - Ignore the other small parties. Nick Clegg’s lot will be alive and kicking the Tories (probably) in the next coalition - 20th February
 * Cut out the lattes . . . and save three lives instead - My Week - 17th February
 * Toxic Tories are digging themselves into a hole - A series of gaffes has reminded many voters why they hate the Conservatives and highlighted Cameron’s complacency - 13th February
 * A careless change of address for Blair’s father - Notebook - 10th February
 * Miliband is just going through the motions - Labour’s business policy is in tatters because voters have rumbled the party leader’s lack of interest in wealth creation - 6th February
 * Charles: the best ally Republicans could ask for - Notebook - 3rd February
 * State handouts for all isn’t such a daft idea - From Thomas More to Natalie Bennett, people across the political spectrum have long advocated a citizen’s income - 30th January
 * Wanted: a restricted hearing seat at the opera - Notebook - 27th January
 * The mansion tax is typical of blinkered Labour - Clobbering the rich is not the aspiration of a serious party. A more durable plan would be to adjust council tax bands - 23rd January
 * This Elvis is the king of British pop music - Notebook - 20th January
 * Osborne’s brave new Britain is a pipe dream - Our antiquated education system, unskilled workforce and poor productivity suggest his optimism is misplaced - 16th January
 * My father-in-law, the fully trained terrorist - Notebook - 13th January
 * There is no peace unless Muslims can reform - Islam was once a religion of enlightenment. It must turn its back on terrorist radicals and rediscover its true roots - 9th January
 * Lost a book? You’ve only your shelf to blame - Notebook - 6th January



Articles: 2014

 * My perfect present: a jumper that doesn’t fit - Notebook - 30th December
 * How to measure progress? It’s rocket science - We are lucky to live in dull political times. But our leaders could learn a vital lesson from the march of technology - 27th December
 * Harmonious meals we all eat at the wrong time - Notebook - 23rd December
 * Welfare in Britain isn’t fair, as Ukip knows - To counter the prevailing sense of injustice, we need a benefits system where people take out what they’ve paid in - 19th December
 * Nancy, Sven and football truces with a rugby twist - Notebook - 16th December
 * The right speech – but three years too late - Ed Miliband is trapped in a Brownite mindset, reluctant to face reality and prone to kneejerk denunciation of the Tories - 12th December
 * Osborne can’t get away with this blatant spin - The chancellor’s plans have failed at almost every turn, but his political canniness means he has survived unscathed - 5th December
 * A baguette, please, and don’t try to diddle me - Notebook - 2nd December
 * It’s just the smiling that makes me miserable - Notebook - 25th November
 * Dave’s Big Society has become the Big Lie - The modernisers who helped Cameron win the Tory leadership have been betrayed. Only Boris can save them now - 21st November
 * Abracadabra! That’s magic (except we know it isn’t) - Notebook - 17th November
 * Labour’s had all the luck, but it’s going to lose - The excuses are coming out, but the brutal fact is that Ed Miliband has not convinced voters that his party is electable - 14th November
 * Yes he could. Obama is a truly great president - He succeeded where illustrious predecessors such as FDR, JFK and Clinton failed – and he’ll leave an impressive legacy - 7th November
 * To save the NHS we must let Mrs Smith run it - Integrating the fractured parts of the health service will achieve nothing unless the patients who use it are in charge - 24th October
 * Let’s halt the pensioners’ runaway gravy train - The baby-boomer generation costs us a fortune to look after in retirement. What about the squeezed middle-aged? - 17th October
 * Two truths that Labour doesn’t want to hear - Voters like good leadership and economic competence: no wonder Ed Miliband had the worst conference showing - 10th October
 * The biggest danger to Britain? Dave, not Ed - The prime minister’s gamble on Europe is far more risky to the country’s future than the Labour leader’s airy plans - 3rd October
 * Prepare for a terrible mess if Ed becomes PM - The Labour leader isn’t ready for the dirty work of office but an accident of the electoral system could hand it to him - 26th September
 * Labour are the biggest losers from this fight - Although the opposition has been found wanting, voters have been excited again by good, old-fashioned politics - 19th September
 * A Yes win means the return of the Blairites - It is dawning on old Labour in England that Scottish independence would mean the death of their brand of politics - 12th September
 * Ed better persuade the Scots or he’s doomed - If Labour loses its Scottish MPs after independence it can wave goodbye to winning a general election - 5th September
 * Call this a competition? You’re having a laugh - The Premier League is a broken market, with gross inequality and overpaid stars. Perhaps Ed Miliband has the answer - 22nd August
 * Computers won’t outsmart us any time soon - Fear of artificial intelligence is unfounded — we do not understand human consciousness so we can hardly create it - 8th August
 * France should be a disaster – but it’s glorious - Our strike-ridden neighbours have a bloated public sector, high taxes, huge debts . . . but they’ve made clever choices - 1st August
 * Put an end to this unspeakable organisation - Quite apart from the Commonwealth’s hypocritical mission statement, many of its members should be expelled now - 25th July
 * Sack your most dynamic minister? Pathetic - Removing Michael Gove will not make teachers vote Tory. It just means educational reforms will go backwards - 18th July
 * Power to the regions! We mean it, honest . . . - We don’t, actually. Britain is grotesquely lopsided because of London’s dominance, but we shy away from the remedy - 4th July
 * Petulance will get you nowhere, Mr Cameron - The prime minister’s misjudgments over Juncker and Coulson are sadly typical of a flawed and mediocre politician - 27th June
 * The Tory split on Europe can’t be reconciled - Cameron’s isolation over Juncker is just the latest manifestation of a 150-year fault line running though his party - 6th June
 * The crushed Lib Dems have a bright future - The protest vote has gone, but Nick Clegg’s party can still hold the balance of power. Ditching him would be suicidal - 30th May
 * How to read between the lines of this election - Britain is locked into tribal politics. So there will be more things that matter in these results than a passing protest - 23rd May
 * Why Singh outranks Thatcher and Reagan - India’s prime minister is about to be roundly defeated, but the world’s largest democracy owes him a colossal debt - 15th May
 * Ed will never have the look of a prime minister - The real Miliband is not a madcap Marxist but an aloof, awkward intellectual incapable of convincing the voters - 9th May
 * The gap widens between the right and reality - The left recognises growing inequality and ludicrously high executive pay. Capitalists, on the other hand, are in denial - 1st May
 * All the oohs and aahs are unfair on George - We should allow the the baby prince to grow up in peace. Remember how fame devoured his grandmother - 18th April
 * I agree with Nick. He’s making a difference - By stopping the Tory Right, the Deputy Prime Minister should be applauded by all liberal voters - 15th April
 * Javid needs to know about money, not Monet - Those who bleat about culture secretaries not appreciating the arts are missing the point. It’s the politics that matter - 11th April
 * You can read this. Everyone should be able to - Michael Gove is right. As our forefathers aimed to eradicate TB and polio, we must do the same for illiteracy - 4th April
 * Children don’t earn their inheritance. Tax it - A fair society would let people keep as much of their earnings as possible but take a cut from property and land - 28th March
 * One by one, Labour is losing the arguments - Because Ed Miliband never apologised for overspending he may never convince voters that he’ll keep control of their taxes - 21st March
 * We must give up our faith in religious schools - Schools with good teaching, leadership and discipline are the successful ones. Religion has nothing to do with it - 14th March
 * India’s democracy faces its toughest test yet - The likely winner of next month’s election wants to Modi-fy his country. Crucially he must make it work for the poor - 7th March
 * A symptom of broken Britain is fixed at last - Teen pregnancy is falling, thanks to decisions made 15 years ago. That’s how long it takes to tackle big social problems - 1st March
 * Yakety-yak doesn’t give power to the people - Ed Miliband’s instincts on helping the little guy are right – but you don’t achieve this by forming committees - 14th February
 * England shouldn’t have let Pietersen pick them - Sporting rules on national qualification are mess. Players should have to choose one country at 18 and stick to it - 7th February
 * Ed’s 100-year-old recipe won’t work today - The Labour leader’s ambitions to reform capitalism will not suit the regulated, global nature of today’s UK economy - 24th January
 * We should keep our noses out. This is private - Our interest in the Hollande affair is mere prurience. We don’t need new laws, just a new attitude - 17th January
 * Living on benefits has no drama, just crisis - Notebook - 13th January
 * Only trust can dampen this inflamed anger - Recruiting more black officers is the best way to bring calm to the combustible streets of Tottenham - 10th January
 * Little England should prepare a big welcome - We need immigrants and most see themselves as British. So what happens if Britain gets broken up? - 3rd January



Articles: 2013

 * Will Welby ever make the case for God? - We know what Anglicans think about food banks. We don’t know their arguments against atheism - 27th December
 * A History Boys education is not for everyone - The real problem for our schools is helping the majority who are left untouched by academic selection - 20th December
 * We can’t wait for a miracle cure for old age - More funding for dementia research is welcome, but won’t help the NHS deal with an ageing population - 13th December
 * As usual, we’re addicted to the short term - The Chancellor’s good news should not obscure Britain’s appalling lack of investment in the future - 6th December
 * There is no link between porn and sex crime - Rape and violence are about power and the male nature. Moral panic about legal images is pointless - 29th November
 * Dear Ed, there still isn’t any money left - Miliband misunderstands the 2008 crash. It didn’t save him, it wrecked his only plan – higher spending - 22nd November
 * We will never talk Sri Lanka into decency - The Rajapaksa regime is happy to butcher its citizens. Britain should have joined the summit boycott - 15th November
 * It’s all hot air unless they learn from defeat - Talk of who leads Labour next (Chuka, perhaps, or Yvette?) ignores the sentimental policies of today - 8th November
 * Frieze! You are under arrest for juvenile tosh - Notebook - 2nd November
 * Memo to the Big Six: cut your prices now - If they don’t want to become as hated as bankers, energy companies must wise up to political reality - 1st November
 * Cop-cameras won’t rebuild trust in the police - Filming every encounter will make officers more defensive and members of the public less candid - 25th October
 * How upward mobility went down the drain - It’s a depressing picture: Britain is now a country where it is extremely hard to break out of poverty - 18th October
 * Forget Blairite v Brownite. We’ve moved on - These old labels, now tainted, have become redundant. It’s Right v Left now — and I know which is right - 11th October
 * No one party can unite this divided nation - Cameron cannot speak to the North, Miliband relies on his core vote. Only Clegg can bridge the gap - 4th October
 * Ed can win from here. But he can’t govern - At last Miliband has defined what he stands for — it is not challenging his party’s comfort zone - 27th September
 * Labour’s salvation? The hated Lib Dems - Fear and loathing of Nick Clegg’s party runs deep on the left, but wooing them is the way back to power - 20th September
 * Liberalism triumphs while Lib Dems sink - Nye Bevan, Roy Jenkins, Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher advanced liberalism more than Clegg’s party - 13th September
 * Labour can’t allow the unions to win this - The GMB union has called Ed Miliband’s bluff. Despite the financial cost to the party, he must stand firm - 6th September
 * They don’t make speeches like that any more - Unlike much of today’s rhetoric, Martin Luther King’s words made a difference — and their music is unmatched - 31st August
 * They don’t make speeches like that any more - Unlike much of today’s rhetoric, Martin Luther King’s words made a difference — and their music is unmatched - 30th August
 * I’m feeling the genesis of a name complex - Notebook: strange meetings; novelistic fast bowling; Treasury outswinger - 24th August
 * Will people really stay married for £150 a year? - If Conservatives are serious about protecting the family it would make more sense to tighten up divorce laws - 23rd August
 * Ignore the (other) advice, Ed. Be your own man - The Labour leader should argue for his egalitarian vision and policies that close the gap between rich and poor - 16th August
 * The royals are not like us. But they should be - Prince George’s birth is no time for republican arguments. But it does show the need for a stripped-down monarchy - 26th July
 * The world must learn from India’s two nations - The fatal poisoning of 23 children shows that growth and democracy are not enough. You need good government too - 19th July
 * Abolish rugby. Then we might win at football - The British do not dominate any one sport because we refuse, unlike most countries, to specialise in just a few - 12th july
 * Miliband must defeat Labour’s union barons - Could it look any worse for Ed – losing control of his party to a public sector union that demands an end to cuts? - 5th July
 * Cut the welfare bill. Pay people proper wages - You can’t live a decent life on under £17,000 a year. Yet we expect those on the minimum wage to get by on far less - 28th June
 * Ian Brady is bad, not mad. Let him die if he wants - Insanity is difficult to define. But we should not keep the Moors murderer alive just to prolong his punishment - 21st June
 * Labour’s addicted to meddling, not spending - The party must stop thinking the State can solve every problem and trust ordinary people to fix their own lives - 14th June
 * This slow march will get Miliband nowhere - At last Labour has crept towards reality on welfare spending. Now it must find the courage for a decisive leap - 7th June
 * Muslim or otherwise, we are more than a label - Religion itself is not the problem – it’s when people lose sight of the many layers that make up their identity - 31st May
 * Tories should not be prisoners of tradition - Tom Paine is hardly an icon of conservatism, but he has important lessons about marriage for David Cameron - 24th May
 * History is more than one thing after another - Whether its art, books or political ideas, arranging things in strict order of time is not as logical as it looks - 17th May
 * Despite the cynics, don’t give up on politics - Alan Johnson’s memoir of childhood poverty is a reminder that our leaders are not all from an out-of-touch elite - 10th May
 * That Keeler face haunts us even more today - Pity the guileless young victim of John Profumo who, like Jimmy Savile later, believed himself unassailable - 3rd May
 * Miliband believes the age of Ed began in 2008 - For the Labour leader the financial crash marked a historical turning point and the end of the Thatcher-Blair era - 26th April
 * Small solutions should be Miliband’s big idea - One Nation is just a slogan. If Labour looks after the everyday issues everyone will know what it stands for - 19th April
 * You can’t buck reality. But you can soften it - Thatcher was right that Britain needed a radical overhaul and also proved the need for a party of compassion - 12th April
 * Labour can’t win if it’s on Mick Philpott’s side - The voters have decided that we spend too much on welfare. Miliband must offer them more than silence in reply - 5th April
 * Let schools make money and we will all profit - Turn teachers into entrepreneurs and we will get the cash for the places we so badly need - 29th March
 * Don’t bury new Labour along with Miliband - Forget the fancy theories about divisions and distractions. The simple truth is that David never got over Ed’s victory - 28th March
 * Osborne should stick to what he does best . . . - ... and that’s not being Chancellor. This Government badly needs a full-time political strategist to stop the rot - 22nd March
 * With this mess Labour should be miles ahead - The Chancellor should be toast – but the Opposition would not be credible even if it repented of its spending sins - 16th March
 * Benefit tourists are just political phantoms - It’s a myth that lazy foreigners are sponging off our welfare state. Our leaders ought to be straight with us - 8th March
 * Together the prudent can beat the profligate - Eastleigh’s lesson is that no party can win on its own. But the coalition could see off Labour’s deficit deniers - 1st March
 * Leave London and you’ll find fantasy island - Labour’s vision of a banker-free economy already exists. It’s in the regions, it’s poorer and it’s not the future - 15th February
 * The NHS is run for the staff, not the patients - It’s not heresy to demand that hospitals treat people like customers. More listening would have meant fewer deaths - 8th February
 * For Cameron aid is not a badge. It’s a mission - When the PM is compared to Harold Macmillan it’s usually derogatory. But Africa shows them both at their best - 1st February
 * Orwell endures because his nightmares do too - Fanatics in Mali, Syria and Iran prove the timeless truth of his words on the horrors of unrestrained power - 25th January
 * Don’t reject a referendum, Ed. Fast-track it - The Labour leader should seize his chance to appeal to British business and voters. He must offer an in-out vote now - 18th January 2013
 * To do or not to do – that is the PM’s question - If David Cameron wants to win in 2015 he must find a big problem to take on. Championing care of the elderly fits the bill - 11th January
 * I blame the English for India’s backwardness - The country’s terrible problems can be traced back to those who brought in a culture of pettifogging regulation - 4th January



Articles: 2012

 * End this failed marriage of Church and State - Even the Archbishop can see the benefits. It’s Anglicans who have most to gain from disestablishment - 28th December
 * That speech on Europe ... can we put it off? - The Prime Minister is in a fix. There is nothing sensible he can say about the EU that will also satisfy his backbenchers - 21st December
 * Disraeli was wrong. Coalition has worked - You may not like its record, but on health, schools and welfare the Government has been extraordinarily active - 14th December
 * At last, compassion is coming back to the ward - In the rush to raise nursing’s status, caring got left behind. A new generation can and must force this to change - 7th December
 * The Palestinians need business – not bombs - A thriving West Bank and Gaza would have no truck with religious extremists who threaten their prosperity - 23rd November
 * Force is the only way to change the police - Low turnout doesn’t matter: the last great unreformed public service must be opened to outside pressure - 16th November
 * Our twin dangers: cynicism and nostalgia - Western democracies are losing ground to the East. Blame our sour anti-politics mood and hidebound leaders - 9th November
 * Labour needs real cuts as well as real ideas - What happens to the benefits bill under a Miliband government? Voters need details as well as philosophy - 28th September
 * Ignore the slogans. It’s all about leadership - Three parties, three themes, but only one real question – can the man in charge make his followers back him? - 14th September
 * These grand designs won’t solve the problem - The Tories think that housing is the key to growth. But too many people still don’t have the key to their own house - 7th September
 * Opposition to free schools is nonsensical - They force standards up. They bring in new money. They take power from bureaucracies and give it to teachers - 31st August
 * School sport is not declining. But it will now - Forcing teachers to do games and get pupils active was a smart idea. Now the coalition has stupidly dropped it - 10th August
 * Boris for PM? Seriously, we must be joking - The London Mayor trades heavily on being the antidote to politics. That doesn’t work if you’re aiming for the top - 3rd August
 * Happiness? No, give me the misery of devotion - Olympians, artists and writers go through hell in pursuit of perfection. But we’re the beneficiaries of their suffering - 27th July
 * Not being a loser doesn’t make you a leader - Ed Miliband is being taken seriously at last, but he has a long way to go before the public will put him in No 10 - 20th July
 * The slow death of liberal Conservatism - On tax, the NHS, the Big Society and the environment, modernisation is failing. Was it ever more than skin-deep? - 13th July
 * It’s the BBC’s job to decide what’s good for us - The new Director-General must take risks, not chase ratings. But he still has to find ways to bind the nation together - 6th July
 * Pushkin, Frank Bough. He loves them both - The reason Clive James is so underrated is that he blurs the distinction between highbrow and lowbrow - 29th June
 * Can you live a good life on 40 grand a year? - We call the super-rich’s billions silly money because it’s silly to have so much. We must work harder at sharing it out - 22nd June
 * A waste of good talent – give Gordon a job - We can’t let the former PM degenerate into Ted Heath. He should resign his seat and find a new purpose - 15th June
 * What did the British ever do for the English? - Ed Miliband is right to celebrate Englishness. But he risks undermining the Union that is vital to his party - 8th June
 * Pity the poor republican this jubilee weekend - The wall-to-wall unthinking devotion is almost too much to bear. Aren’t we actually celebrating a blank slate? - 1st June
 * No social engineering can ever fix our genes - To improve social mobility we must nurture the poorest in society. But nature will always hold some people back - 25th May
 * Switch to Plan B before resurgent Labour does - The coalition is in trouble, stuck in its austerity mindset. The Opposition can cash in if it seizes the initiative - 18th May
 * If this is a broken society, it’s one I called home - The sex scandal in Heywood and Rochdale shows how communities have two faces and one of them is frightening - 11th May
 * Stick up for fags, booze and porn, you Liberals - You don’t have to be in favour of vices to feel uneasy about banning them. This is a test of Nick Clegg’s credentials - 4th May
 * The all-powerful press baron is just a myth - If the Machiavellian figure being hunted at the Leveson Inquiry ever existed he belongs to a long-gone era - 27th April
 * May I suggest to the PM what he’s thinking? - David Cameron is accused of not knowing what he wants to do. But if he did, it might sound like this... - 20th April
 * The Labour Party is the really nasty party - The dark arts of the backroom fixers will not survive in the new age of openness. Nor do they deserve to - 13th April
 * How Cameron can put the big into Big Society - It’s not about nebulous do-gooders, but using business methods to solve problems in health, welfare and justice - 6th April
 * I’m a Labour member, but I can’t vote for Ken - Making money from dubious sources is bad enough. Stoking divisions between communities is a disgrace - 30th March
 * Those hard Tory heads and hearts are back - Not only is the 50p tax cut indefensible, but the Chancellor’s cuts are grossly unfair in their effect on the poor - 23rd March
 * The strife is not o’er. The battle may be lost - The monarchy has adapted itself well to the modern age. The Church has not – and, sadly, is dying out - 16th March
 * A true reformer – or an old Tory in disguise? - David Cameron has not decided himself. If he wants to be as successful as Blair or Thatcher, he must make up his mind - 9th March
 * The no-fuss way to elect the House of Lords - Here’s how to make the Upper House more democratic without stuffing it full of third-rate party hacks - 2nd March
 * The upshot of inaction is rape and murder - Intervention in Syria will bring bloody chaos, but we have that already. As humans we have to respond - 24th February
 * How workers lost their jobs – and their nobility - Over 60 years the nature of work has changed. This is Labour’s moment to extol the virtues of its name - 17th February
 * The guardian angels of the NHS are killing it - The health service must change to survive. Its friends should put aside sentimentality and embrace patient choice - 10th February
 * Ed shouldn’t get too excited about François - If Hollande wins in France and Obama in the US, it doesn’t follow that the Left in Britain would regain power - 3rd February
 * Fairness isn’t the be-all and end-all of welfare - Everyone says you shouldn’t take out unless you’ve paid in. But only Nick Clegg really believes it (and the voters) - 27th January
 * That’s the unions’ death rattle, not Labour’s - The barons are so many Wizards of Oz. If they won’t back 21st-century workers, we need new unions that will - 20th January
 * Ed’s plan for Britain: be more like Germany - Few took note of the Labour leader’s speech on the crisis in capitalism. But its ideas would change our country - 13th January
 * The law’s a muddle. Is that such a bad thing? - Both sides in the assisted dying debate make convincing cases. So the present legal stand-off may be the best solution - 6th January



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