Janet Daley



Profile:
Full name: Janet Daley Area of interest: Society, morality and arising political issues: philosophical consistency in government and opposition policy

Journals/Organisation: The Daily Telegraph

Email: [mailto:janet.daley@telegraph.co.uk janet.daley@telegraph.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley

Blog: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/janet_daley

Representation: http://www.fletcherassociates.net/Fletcher_Associates/janet_Daley_Biog.html

Networks:



Biography:
About:

Education:

Career: Janet Daley spent twenty years in academic life, teaching philosophy at the Open University, the external department of London University, and the Royal College of Art. She wrote art and literary criticism from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. She left teaching to become a full-time journalist in 1987 writing for the The Times, The Independent, The Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, etc., and joined The Independent as a columnist in 1989. She went to The Times as columnist and leader writer in 1990 where she stayed until 1996, when she joined The Daily Telegraph as a columnist and leader writer (until February 2005). She then wrote for The Times, The Sunday Times, and the Mail on Sunday, before returning to The Daily Telegraph. A recent publication for the Centre for Policy Studies by her is Seeking Common Ground - source: Centre for Policy Studies Current position/role: Commentator


 * also writes/written for:

Other roles/Main role: Research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies since 2005

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * "Living with European socialism turned this Berkeley girl into a conservative": Up from Liberalism from City Journal, New York 2003
 * ConservativeHome: interviews, 2006
 * ConservativeHome platform: Stop talking about changing the Conservative Party and focus on changing the country, August 2007

Broadcast media: For ten years a panellist on Radio 4's Moral Maze, until 2001. Other appearances include Radio 4's Any Questions?, BBC TV's Question Time, Breakfast with Frost. Also a regular on BBC News 24s Head to Head and Dateline London
 * http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2228683

Video:

Controversy/Criticism: Dave Hill: Janet Daley's criminal fallacy

Awards/Honours:

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * All Good Men (Vintage/Ebury, 1987) OCLC 14129042 / ISBN 070113156X
 * Honourable Friends (Ulverscroft, 1990) OCLC 22714065 / ISBN 0708922953

Latest work: What does modernisation mean? OCLC 137207994 Centre for Policy Studies, 2006

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

The Sunday Telegraph:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Society, morality and arising political issues: philosophical consistency in government and opposition policy

Section: Features / Comment

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email:

Website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 1100 words



Articles: 2015

 * Politics is now a puerile game – and we’re not playing along - It’s reasonable to conclude that everyday politics isn’t about you and me at all – that it’s about George and Ed and which of them has made the other look like a fool this week - 29th March
 * The unacceptable ambiguity at the very heart of the BBC - While the corporation plays on its public service pedigree, it is also peddling its wares to the detriment of its commercial competitors - 15th March
 * Does anyone really know what this election is about? - What we are witnessing is a tedious build-up in which virtually no proper government business is being done - 8th March
 * Avoiding the debates will hurt David Cameron – and the Conservative Party - The precedent for having televised debates has been set. Trying to turn back the clock is very unwise indeed - 5th March
 * The Tories’ 'attack ads' are cruel, flippant and unfunny - These YouTube campaign videos that ridicule Ed Miliband and Ed Balls smack of crass, elitist bullying - 22nd February
 * Ed Miliband knows all about politics but nothing about life - Voters are not interested in hearing platitudes about an ideal world - they want hard-headed realism about security and prosperity - 8th February 2015
 * Labour's lost its mind if it think a 'death tax' is fair - Note to Labour: most people do not think that inheriting their parents' home is anything like winning the lottery - 8th February
 * Ed Miliband tried to 'weaponise’ the NHS – it ended with a bang - Labour’s caricature of attitudes to the health service backfired spectacularly. Real people know what’s wrong and are open to ideas that will make things better - 1st February
 * At last: the Tories have a slogan that works - Nobody wants to talk about Long Term Economic Plans. But they do want to talk about being rewarded for working hard - 28th January
 * Labour has forgotten all the lessons it learnt under Blair - The Old Left has returned, with Miliband and Balls plunging their party back into the well of class vengeance - 25th January
 * Of course the TV debates are risky – that’s the whole point - It's the danger inherent in these confrontations that could re-invigorate public engagement with politics - 18th January
 * True freedom is rarely painless or comfortable - The West has come close enough already to creating a category of thought crimes in the form of 'hate speech' - 14th January
 * To call the Paris attacks a 'war’ dignifies pointless slaughter - The terrorists’ actions in Paris were anarchic adventures by people who wouldn’t know what to do with 'victory’ if it came upon them - 12th January
 * Ed Miliband has started a class war - This was a speech which brazenly put vacuous moral blackmail before economic or social reality - 5th January
 * There’s no way we’re heading for another carping coalition - Predicting the future is a tricky task – but there are encouraging signs for David Cameron as the general election looms - 4th January



Articles: 2014

 * If we don’t stand up to our enemies, they’ve already won - If there’s a risk in confronting the individuals, states and terrorist groups who are hell-bent on doing us harm – then it’s a risk we must be prepared to take - 21st December
 * With Cuba, Barack Obama has his Nixon-in-China moment - All the US president has done is pave the way for Cuba to turn from a communist dictatorship into a capitalist one - 19th December
 * America lost its mind after 9/11 – but did it lose its soul? - Resorting to techniques every civilised society regards as a criminal abuse of power does the terrorist’s job for him - 14th December
 * Torture report: America is not the only country that confesses to past sins - How did a nation that so prides itself on being free and open come to this - 11th December
 * In their hearts, voters want a smaller state - Why has George Osborne denied that he wants to reduce the functions of the state - 7th December
 * Lots of bragging and some clever politics - The Chancellor's final pre-election set piece should have knocked Labour's campaign well off course - 3rd December
 * David Cameron is all fine speeches and no action - Does anyone in Downing Street really believe that this strategy will win over the voters - 30th November
 * Lee Rigby murder: is it really Facebook's fault? - If we undermine one of the most basic principles of personal freedom, what sort of life is it that we will be protecting - 27th November
 * Are we citizens of the United Kingdom or the European Union? - The EU trying to force all its citizens into one country - 23rd November
 * Fairness – is it really so hard for our snobbish political elite to understand? - When voters find the governing parties do not respect them, they turn to parties like Ukip - 22nd November
 * The European Union has interfered once again - The EU has once again undermined its own supposed attempt to create fairness and justice - 21st November
 * Don’t the Tories know whom they stand for? - However competent the Conservatives are, they are seen as unsympathetic and insensitive - 16th November
 * Disagree with Obama? Then you’re evil - The Democrats still want to impose their views on the electorate - 9th November
 * Today's remote and insulated politicians are responsible for the new People’s Revolt - From America to France, the people in power have lost all connection with voters, prompting the rush to protest politics - 2nd November
 * The perverse NHS bureacracy that means five months after my GP shut for '10 weeks', it is still closed - Management problems make it all but impossible for health care to be delivered competently - 19th October
 * Politics is now a bare-knuckle fight again - For the first time in a generation, voters will have a chance to make a real difference - 5th October
 * The Tories want an ethical society too - It’s not selfish to take responsibility for yourself, your family and your community - 28th September
 * A useful lesson in the limits of fiery activism - In the inviolable privacy of the polling booth, the ordinary citizen gets his revenge - 21st September
 * This isn’t what democracy is supposed to be - The new elitism says to those who will not fall into line: 'We will bury you’ - 14th September
 * Without American leadership, freedom is in peril - Putin is on a roll, Nato is a busted flush and Obama looks weak - 6th September
 * Barack Obama refuses to decide and fails to act - Instead of a strategy to deal with Isil and Russia, the presidency offers veiled threats - 31st August
 * The world must tackle this mass psychosis - Take away Isil’s success and the glamour will go, leaving only a rump of fanatics - 24th August
 * Soft Marxism is back with a vengeance - Even the Tories are afraid to challenge the idea of tax as a system of social retribution - 3rd August
 * An 'EU foreign policy’ is a total nonsense - European nations are too cowardly to stand up to President Putin - and you can't blame them, when their economies are so fragile - 27th July
 * As the West declines, Russia fills the vacuum - The Coalition has no foreign policy: no solutions to offer in the growing chaos of a world without moral leadership - 20th July
 * British guilt over jihadis is for dummies - In order to persuade young Muslims that their allegiance belongs here, this country will have to question its own casual self-loathing - 13th July
 * Two parties in headlong flight from the past - Blairism has become the analogue of Thatcherism – the spectre that must be expunged - 6th July
 * The brave British abhor uniformity - Brits' self-sacrificing behaviour in wartime is linked to their attitude to the EU authority - 8th June
 * 'We hear you’ is just pious codswallop - Politicians don't know how to react to the anti-EU vote, and they won't change their policies as a result - 1st June
 * London-land can’t ignore this Ukip protest - Most voters see the major parties as members of a self-affirming, insular coterie - 25th May
 * This time, the 'vision thing’ is the key to No 10 - The Conservatives have failed to clarify who is on the receiving end of their garbled appeal - 11th May
 * Labour’s policy ghosts stalk the earth again - The Tories have only themselves to blame for discredited socialist policies being taken seriously - 4th May
 * Hurling insults at Ukip is not the solution - There is a better way to defeat what you see as dangerous populism: address the need that it is filling - 27th April
 * New world order? It’s just like the old one - Vladimir Putin’s destabilising of the Kiev government is about territory and power, not ideas - 20th April
 * Here’s a lesson in how to repel your voters - The Maria Miller debacle added to voters' sense of alienation - 13th April
 * The political class is mired in delusion - The reaction to Nigel Farage's victory over Nick Clegg illustrates how deep our leaders' self-deception goes - 5th April
 * The people feel ignored – and they are angry - Not one leader of a major party has a true connection with ordinary folk. This is dangerous - 29th March
 * At last, a real supply-side revolution - George Osborne has brought the great pensions annuity scandal to an end - 23rd March
 * Budget: The Tories’ crime against democracy - The growing group of higher-rate taxpayers is being disenfranchised - 16th March
 * Obama and the West are weakened by a fatal narcissism - In an unstable world, we are unsafe too - 9th March
 * Cameron’s lack of conviction is his undoing - The Tory rank-and-file believe that anything David Cameron says is purely for effect - 2nd March
 * Vladimir Putin has marched into the void left by Barack Obama - The end of US 'domination' of world geopolitics has brought a free-for-all for rogue states, lunatic extremists and long-dead imperial powers - 23rd February
 * A deluge of political insensitivity - One moment of kindness would have been worth more than all the stage management - 16th February
 * The Left’s long march will be hard to stop - Committed political agitators tell lies, even if with honourable intentions - 9th February
 * Fudge is more of a threat than Dominic Raab - There is a widespread belief that politics has become a conspiracy against the people - 2nd February
 * IDS is the unsung hero of the jobs recovery - Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reform, as much as Osborne's austerity, is pushing British people into work - 26th January
 * Ed Miliband doesn't speak up for the lost middle class - and no one else does either - For a short while it seemed as if the Labour leader was acknowledging that the bourgeoisie are the engine of the economy. Then, like the Tories, he forgot about us again - 19th January
 * Lessons from the US on mass immigration - Newcomers to a country can be successfully absorbed given the right circumstances - 12th January
 * Welcome to 2014 - the year we ignore our problems - None of the big issues facing us this year will be resolved, or even properly addressed - 5th January



Articles: 2013

 * The people should be free to choose - This belief that the state is the sole purveyor of social goodness is Marxist claptrap - 15th December
 * What about us, ask the striving classes - If the recovery is bought on the backs of the aspirational it will be a disaster for the Tories - 8th December
 * Niceness is the UK's real problem, not nastiness - Our miraculously bountiful welfare state even surprises destitute incomers - 1st December
 * Maoist class war wrecked our state schools - For too long teachers have thought it wrong to transmit 'posh' standards of literate speech - 17th November
 * Could Chris Christie’s magic work for the Tories? - Appealing to the blue-collar middle class does not come naturally to any party in Britain - 10th November
 * Trusting the state is costing us our freedom - It is as if we learnt nothing from the 20th century about values that delivered a life worth living - 3rd November
 * Western health care is 'stuck in the sickbay' - Every democratic society has to address practical questions about the availability and distribution of medical services - 27th October
 * The power of the people is being stolen - How strong should central government be - that's the question - 20th October
 * The BBC foists on us a skewed version of reality - The news media are engaged in a political argument about whether the purpose of journalism is to report the world as it is or to purvey an idealised view - 13th October
 * Socialism's return is a gift for the Tories - Now David Cameron and the Conservatives must make the case for individual liberty over state power - 29th September
 * 'Führerprinzip’ is killing off genuine debate - The balance between state power and free markets needs to be constantly discussed - 22nd September
 * Why so cheerful Ed Miliband? You've nothing to smile about - Labour voters are unhappy, so are the unions, and colleagues admit he's struggling - 15th September
 * Fail to act on Syria, and tinpot tyrants will triumph - What must they make in the refugee camps of the West's squalid manoeuvring and endless paralysis - 8th September
 * The eternal truth that sets America apart - If the US loses its sense of historic purpose, then what is it - 1st September
 * It's Left-wing prats who are defending our freedoms - The visit by national security agents to smash up computers at the Guardian newspaper is shocking - 25th August
 * Why Labour’s downfall is not all good news - Ed Miliband has an obligation to the country to pull his party into some sort of plausible shape - 18th August
 * Obama’s not to be trusted on foreign policy - The US president no longer has any clear idea of his country's global role - 11th August
 * There’s nothing social about social media - The little boys with their dirty talk have brought on a fully fledged crisis of confidence - 4th August
 * For Miliband and Labour it’s back to 1982 all over again - Everything that Blair accomplished to bring the party into touch with modern Britain is being undone - 27th July
 * Patients are badly treated by politicians - President Obama should learn the lessons about governments controlling health care from the recent failures in the NHS - 21st July
 * Modern voters are receptive to the Right's old economic values - Many ethnic minority populations are aspirational and hard-working. They should be natural conservative voters - 14th July
 * The damaging 'neutrality’ at the BBC’s core - When the fairness rule was finally revoked in the US, a thousand flowers bloomed - 7th July
 * It’s no longer unthinkable to shrink the state - The political parties are having to scramble to keep up with the realism of most voters – and not just on the matter of welfare reform - 30th June
 * The rise and rise of greedy government - The most powerful countries are going to see to it that no little upstart island can sit on a penny that they might decide is rightfully theirs - 23rd June
 * Hate mustn’t be made a thought crime – only acting on it is - Words must be regarded differently in law from acts. It distinguishes a free nation from a totalitarian one - 2nd June
 * More people renting houses rather than owning them would be better for our economy - In April, mortgage lending fell for the fourth month in a row. It seems that the British are so determined to get on top of their personal debt that repayments have exceeded borrowing for eight of the past 12 months - 29th May
 * Even for liberals, Obama has crossed a line - Those who have spoken out against the President’s expansion of government power have been investigated and intimidated - 26th May
 * David Cameron is so relaxed I want to slap him - To truly impress the country, the oil-price fixers will have to be prosecuted and the cartels smashed - 19th May
 * No party can truly speak for everyone - All leaders argue that their beliefs will inevitably benefit every group. This is, of course, not true - 12th May
 * Has the Conservative Party learnt any lessons from Ukip's success? - There has been a groundswell in the big world – the neglected majority of conservative voters has moved on - 5th May
 * Good policies can transcend Right and Left - The welfare reform programme is a true instance of compassionate conservatism - 28th April
 * Leaders need convictions – and courage – like Lady Thatcher - The nostalgia of the past week following the death of the former Conservative prime minister has shown that voters want a sense of moral mission - 21st April
 * Britain was set free by this class warrior - The radical idea of Thatcherism’s social philosophy was that everyone had a right to progress - 14th April
 * The death of Lady Thatcher: is that the end of conviction politics? - We knew it was coming but somehow – as people always say – when it happens, it is still a shock - 9th April
 * Can Auntie survive in the iPlayer age? - The new director general may be sucked back into the BBC’s institutional egomania - 7th April
 * George Osborne is the problem, not the solution - The Chancellor refuses to deal with arguments, interpreting every disagreement as an act of treachery or a personal attack - 30th March
 * Aspirations are now so much harder to fulfil - Every generation up to now has been able to expect to have a better life than the previous one - but that has all changed - 24th March
 * Now it’s a battle for the soul of David Cameron - Forget the issue of who might make a plausible new leader for the Conservative Party - the question is, can the Prime Minister reinvent himself now that the modernisation project is dead - 17th March
 * Taxing the 'rich’ may be good politics but it's bad economics - To pull the country out of recession, Chancellor George Osborne needs to cut taxes on the better-off - 10th March
 * What voters really want is a proper choice - Nigel Farage hit the nail on the head with his quip about three social democratic parties - 3rd March
 * The public sector mustn't be a sacred cow - The NHS and the BBC are protected by an aura of sanctity - 24th February
 * Osborne and Obama have got it wrong - The passing down of inherited capital is one of the most important and fruitful features of modern capitalism - 17th February
 * Cameron: From triumph to disaster in just two weeks - The PM did the impossible on Europe, then chucked the gay marriage grenade - 10th February *The time has come to put families first - How have parents of this generation been persuaded that the sovietising of day care is the best solution for them? - 3rd February
 * Democracy is on the brink of a sea change - Obama looked to the discredited past; Cameron to an impossible future - 27th January
 * For President Obama, al-Qaeda is our problem now - The US no longer sees itself as the world’s bodyguard - 20th January
 * A moment of truth on the welfare state - A system intended to promote social solidarity has had the opposite effect - 13th January
 * The Tories can win if they put real people first - Voters worry about the cost of living and immigration controls, not gay marriage - 6th January



Articles: 2012

 * The truth is that politicians are telling lies - Government is simply unaffordable - 23rd December
 * What a week that was for idiotic politics - The commitment to gay marriage is seen, preposterously, by George Osborne and David Cameron as some sort of analogue with the Blairite renunciation of Labour’s Clause Four - 16th December
 * Fairness is at the heart of George Osborne’s radical strategy - Voters may hate 'scroungers’, but they would recoil from cuts to benefits for those in work - 9th December
 * Ukip may yet gatecrash the private party - Ukip's advance is a poke in the eye for those who people the corridors of power - 2nd December
 * Unlike Europe, the Tories can bind together - The EU is the model of what happens when a governing class remains in denial - 25th November
 * We’re heading for economic dictatorship - The whole of the West is falling into the economic black hole of permanent no-growth - 18th November
 * America has become an Old World country - The Gordon Brown vision of government as omnipotent benefactor is now the model in the US -11th November
 * Mitt Romney can still win – and he deserves to - While Obama has suffered in televised debates, Mr Romney has become himself - 3rd November
 * At last, Cameron gets the Right message across - The Prime Minister and Mitt Romney now make similar claims: we want to extend wealth, not protect the wealthy - 14th October
 * Mitt Romney teaches the Tories a lesson in conviction - Mr Osborne needs some good headlines this week – and that means tax cuts - 7th October
 * 'Likeability’ is the bane of modern politics - Clowning around on a chat show, or even being a devoted Dad, may count for less than having a serious grasp of economic reality - 30th September
 * Mitt Romney’s message is good – it just needs restating - The benefit-addicts gaffe by Republican candidate Mitt Romney hid a valid point about people who pay taxes - 23rd September
 * Obama’s foreign policy of reconciliation lies in tatters - The President appears to be rethinking his stance on American interference abroad. Will he let the electorate know before the election? - 16th September
 * Are you radical or reactionary, David Cameron? - With fresh thinking, the Conservative Party can finally become genuinely modern: radical, progressive and liberated from the Left and Right vocabulary of the past - 9th September
 * A celebration of everything the Left hates - The prohibition on competition in primary schools has been a horrendous handicap to the academic performance of boys - 12th August
 * Cameron needs to shake up his inner circle - The Prime Minister must make it clear that he can deal with constructive criticism - 5th August
 * People would be happy to see a smaller state - We’ve had a lot of talk of austerity and little of the actual thing - 29th July
 * You can’t blame capitalism for this 'shambles’ - Real free markets require genuine competition if they are to offer constantly improving quality of service - 22nd July
 * A political truce finally exposed as a conspiracy - Open discussion of opposing views is essential to a free society - 15th July
 * The law cannot curb greedy bankers, but morals might - Perhaps capitalist enterprise cannot be properly conducted without religious principle - 8th July
 * The centre has moved Right, not Prime Minister David Cameron - The Conservatives are not 'lurching' to the Right but struggling to keep up with the people’s change of mood - 30 June
 * The Beast is beyond your control, George - The global market has become too big, too automated, too rapacious and ungovernable - 17th June
 * Universal benefits have had their day - We are all paying in, and then we are all receiving dollops of money. This is crazy - 10th June
 * Spain is in 'total emergency’, the EU in total denial - After a Spanish exit from the euro, there would be nothing left to exit from - 3rd June
 * David Cameron and George Osborne will not even argue their case - According to their Conservative critics, David Cameron and George Osborne are isolated and impervious to advice - 27th May
 * Europe finally awakes from its utopian dream - A defiant Angela Merkel is doing no more than defending the interests of her own electorate - 20th May
 * We still don’t really know David Cameron - The Prime Minister is not the bluff county dimwit his ill-advised friends portray - 13th May
 * Left and Right politicians are singing from same hymn sheet - But the market economy can’t afford enormous social security programmes - 6th May
 * The new Tory 'club’ belongs to a bygone age - The Cameron-Osborne-Letwin-Maude team ignore the era of meritocracy that saw a truly modernised party emerge - 29th April
 * The great transatlantic tax divide - Any American politician who proposed our punitive tax system would be vaporised - 15th April
 * David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband - focus groups won’t win you our love - Politicians have never been so unpopular, while never has so much effort been expended in finding out what voters think and want - 8th April
 * The Wets are reclaiming the Tory party - There’s a sense among voters that no one can believe what the leaders say - 1st April
 * So it’s good to create wealth, but bad to be rich - The Budget has victimised those who represent the essence of Conservative values - 25th March
 * Backing business, but punishing the rich. Eh? - Osborne wants to support business and punish the rich. How does he think that will work - 21st March
 * Osborne has nothing to learn from America - When the US economy springs to life, it will be because of the resilience of the people - 18th March
 * Our leaders are trapped in contradictions - The Tory leadership is offering a confused message - 11th March
 * It is not too late for a Tory tax revolution - The 'unfunded’ tax cut of today is the economic stimulus of tomorrow - 4th March
 * The Government should stand up to rent-a-mob - The BBC has paid reverent, and wildly disproportionate, attention to even the most ill-informed objections - 26th February
 * A good week for the smiting of the ungodly - The anger against the anti-religion brigade was startling - 19th February
 * Our leaders lost their hearts to focus-groupies - Politicians are in thrall to the marketing experts - 12th February
 * The lessons of the fall of communism have still not been learnt - The events of 1989 are crucial to any understanding of the present world - 5th February
 * Barack Obama is trying to make the US a more socialist state - The ideas the President outlined in the State of the Union are based on the very model that is causing the EU to implode - 29th January
 *  We shouldn’t try to outlaw bankers’ greed - Making excessive pay criminal is a step to tyranny, and it wouldn't work - 22nd January
 * There’s more to politics than nice v nasty - The logic of free-market wealth creation must be clearly explained - 15th January
 * The Tories shouldn't be frightened by the Republican Right - The trenchant moral case for the free market being made in America's election campaign should be heard in Britain, too - 8th January
 * My predictions for 2012? Much of the same, sadly - The euro won't collapse, Barack Obama won't lose the White House - and Labour's lumbered with Ed Miliband - 1st January



Articles: 2011

 * Europe is the least of Labour's problems - The insularity that consigned the Labour Party to the wilderness in the 1980s has taken hold again - 18th December
 * We in Britain should pity those still trapped in the euro nightmare - Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are engaged in something that has little to do with democracy - 11th December
 * Eurozone crisis: the US has to ride to the rescue once again - The politicians of Europe seem determined to make themselves irrelevant - 4th December
 * A daring idea to fix the economy: try doing less - The Government's solutions to the economic crisis are worryingly reminiscent of Gordon Brown's - 27th November
 * Would a judge like to be told to eff off in court? - To permit people to swear freely at police undermines the rule of law and civilised society - 21st November
 * There’s nothing new about this European folly - The governing class in Europe thinks it knows what is best - and once again, the people are being forced to accept it - 13th November
 * Europe's democratic deficit grows wider by the day - The Eurocracy's contempt for the nation-states it governs is growing ever more flagrant - 6th November
 * This was the week that European democracy died - The plan to tackle the eurozone crisis will only render ordinary people more powerless - 30th October
 * Being slightly poorer might actually enrich our lives - It is not just relations between families that have been disrupted by prosperity - 16th October
 * If women won’t spend their way out of the financial crisis, then we’re doomed - The only way to stimulate the economy is to return real money to the people who control the purse strings - 9th October
 * The Tories must make clear what they really believe in - If the Conservative leadership really do want an outright election victory, they must start making the case for it now - 2nd October
 * What is the point of the Labour Party? - The old Labour core vote is now irrevocably split and at odds with itself what ever Ed Miliband or Ed Balls says - 25th September
 * The European dream lies in ruins - Europe's leaders seem incapable of solving the crisis unfolding in front of them - 18th September
 * we have the courage, more tyrants like Gaddafi will fall'' - Those who have argued that the Arabs aren't ready for democracy are being shown up as hypocrites - 28th August
 * riots: The end of the liberals’ great moral delusion'' - The Left has gone into overdrive in its attempts to rewrite the history of the riots, but the public knows the truth - 21st August
 * we are to survive the looming catastrophe, we need to face the truth'' - The idea that a capitalist economy can support a socialist welfare state is collapsing before our eyes - 7th August
 * know how to get us out of this mess – cut taxes'' - The Government putting political considerations ahead of sound economic sense - 30th July
 * euro bail-out is a conspiracy against democracy'' - The bail-out of the euro represents the introduction of socialism on a continental scale - with the British government's cynical endorsement - 24th July
 * 'BBC Left' is using hacking to get revenge'' - Left-wing politicians and broadcasters do not want to debate ideas but they do want to remove their opponents - 17th July
 * politics has been corrupted by a cosy camaraderie'' - The excessive intimacy between press and politicians has tainted our political culture - 10th July
 * middle-class militants will get a striking lack of sympathy'' - White-collar workers protecting their unjustifiable pensions stir far less compassion than the working-class militants of old - 3rd July
 * to the era of reform by stealth'' - After the NHS debacle, the Government will have to bring in reforms via the back door - 26th June
 * Westminster's dirty little secret: the Right is right'' - Politicians on all sides know that reform is needed, but they haven't the courage to tell the voters - 19th June
 * anything be salvaged from the wreckage of New Labour?'' - The publication of Ed Balls's personal files shows how Gordon Brown and Tony Blair's project was doomed from the start - 12th June
 * Tories' own faint hearts have scuppered their NHS reforms'' - If the Tories had pitched the need for health service reform directly to the public, it might not have turned into such a debacle - 5th June
 * President Obama all talk and no action?'' - The US President has produced little of substance to underpin his high-flown rhetoric about being willing to stand up for freedom - 29th May
 * Tories must give the voters what they want'' - Tory modernisers have baffled their supporters by turning their backs on policies the voters actually like and embracing ideas - such as carbon regulation and higher spending on overseas aid - that are actively unpopular - 22nd May
 * handouts aren't fair – and the public knows it'' - A new survey shows that despite years of propaganda from the Left, Britons retain a deep-seated sense of fairness and individual responsibility - 24th April
 * is taking us back to the feudal'' - The party appears to have returned to the old model of gentry-led Conservatism - 17th April
 * Tories have made success look like a train crash'' - The Conservatives' flagship policies are in good shape - but their grasp of politics is woefully lacking - 10th April
 * Miliband offers even less than Neil Kinnock'' - Labour is now an undisguised front for the public sector interest and apologist for untrammelled state power - 3rd April
 * taxes would make us all better off'' - Ronald Reagan cut the top rate from 70 per cent to 28 per cent. That’s what you call a tax cut - 27th March
 * the Founding Fathers could see Obama now'' - The President's reluctance to act over Libya signals a new worrying direction for the United States - 20th March
 * 2011: Why the Tories can't talk about cutting taxes'' - Embracing the language of the Left won the Conservatives power, but has left them unable to make the case for lower taxation - 13th March
 * you feel the Government is on your side?'' - The Coalition says it wants to motivate people, but it is undermining their ability to live a normal life - 6th March
 * and the Arabs deserve democracy - and our help'' - we must decide whether to give active help to those who want freedom, or to consign them to the Middle Ages - 27th February
 * simple question for David Cameron - are coalitions good or bad?'' - The Prime Minister cannot use the single best argument against the monstrous proposal to switch to AV - 20th February
 * Big Society starts with our wedding vows'' - Marriage is the perfect example of the moral vision that Mr Cameron hopes to rekindle - 12th February
 * Middle East needs more than elections'' - If the end result of the Egyptian crisis is a game of musical chairs between autocrats, we will be no further on - 6th February
 * or spend – you can't have it both ways'' - Where is the cabinet minister who will say that private prosperity is liberating - 30th January
 * must be rushed, or it won't happen at all'' - For the Coalition to deliver real reform, the vested interests in the health and education sectors must be confonted or simply bypassed - 23rd January
 * Obama captured the mood of a nation. Can David Cameron do the same?'' - The president's speech in Tuscon showed the transforming power of language - a power that David Cameron has thus far been unable to master - 16th January
 * battle is on for the soul of the Tory party'' - A brand new form of Conservatism has emerged wet and wriggling from Oliver Letwin and Francis Maude's laboratory - 9th January
 * New Year's prediction: The Coalition won’t collapse - just be hated'' - All the contortions and concessions required to keep the alliance going will lead to irreparable dissatisfaction - 1st January



Articles: 2010

 * the next election, the Tories will be on their own'' - The speculation over the Coalition's long-term future ignores the reality - 19th December
 * is delinquent and anti-democratic'' - The website's insistence that it is a voice of open ‘freedom of expression’ is simply absurd - 12th December
 * Cameron needs to show us the leader, not the brand'' - The Conservatives are turning out to be far more principled than their critics feared - but will people believe it - 5th December
 * don't we love David Cameron?'' - The Prime Minister is doing most things right, but he just can't capture the public's imagination - 28th November
 * freedom to excel should be extended to all'' - The Coalition’s proposals should have a tumultuous and welcome effect on public services - 21st November
 * can't afford moral certainty about torture'' - David Cameron's repudiation of George Bush's policy on waterboarding is logically flawed - 14th November
 * West is turning against big government - but what comes next?'' - The struggle to curtail the social democratic state could have ugly consequences - 7th November
 * elections 2010: Prepare for a new American revolution'' - Popular rage against the elite could change the nature of US politics - 31st October
 * England is sacrificed for symbolism'' - The absurdity of middle-class welfare is now almost universally accepted - 17th October
 * Conservatives' child benefit plans sent precisely the wrong signal'' - The concept of fairness is not being applied to the middle classes - 10th October
 * Cameron must stand firm against Ed Miliband's unprincipled assault'' - Labour will attack the Coalition from every vantage point it can find - 3rd October
 * Tories must make the case for capitalism'' - Even if Labour becomes irrelevant electorally under Ed Miliband, its assumptions could dominate debate - 26th September
 * nightmare of union power is back again'' - The TUC conference shows that the dark days of the 1970s are not as distant as we might have hoped - 19th September
 * Terry Jones saga shows the strength of anti-Americanism'' - The 'pastor' who threatened to burn the Koran shows how eager Europe is to believe the worst of America - 11th September
 * must free itself from its ideological shackles'' - The unions, and the Labour Party, have been corrupted by the power of the state - 5th September
 * can take the middle class's benefits – if you lower their taxes'' - Child Benefit offers some recompense for what would otherwise feel like legalised robbery - 22nd August
 * can rise again as a party of the people'' - The authoritarian Big State is as much a threat to Labour’s values as Right-wing ideals - 15th August
 * house row: why David Cameron is wrong'' - Putting time limits on tenancy would destroy any sense of community - 8th August
 * Coalition will split, but it won't be Labour's doing'' - The Coalition must be preserved until the Tories have won the Great Argument - 1st August
 * Gove can earn the gratitude of a generation'' - If the education revolution on offer succeeds, it will earn the Coalition a place among the great reforming governments - 25th July
 * politics has caught the British disease'' - Under Barack Obama, the phenomenon of class resentment is a live political issue - 18th July
 * the NHS is the last thing the US should do'' - The future health care in both countries must involve a mix of state and private provision - 11th July
 * the jobless look for work is hardly cruelty'' - Paid unemployment as a lifestyle option is no longer sustainable - 4th July
 * to protect the poor? Then give them jobs'' - Most people who are 'forced’ into minimum wage jobs move quite quickly up the earnings ladder - 27th June
 * will accept tax rises if they are truly fair'' - If its decisions are at odds with the moral values of the voters, the Coalition is finished - 20th June
 * everyone could win from the 'cuts’'' - There is a way to get, quite literally, more for less in public spending - 6th June
 * is the natural party of opposition'' - Opposition suits New Labour, just as power suits the Conservatives - 30th May
 * must admit it - Big Government is dead'' - The political debate needs to move on to new and genuinely progressive territory - 16th May
 * anyone else notice that the Lib Dems lost?'' - Electoral reform is not the issue of the day, but an issue the voters decisively rejected - 9th May
 * undecided will not decide this election'' - The people will make a conscious choice to take a clearly marked fork in the road - 2nd May
 * Election 2010: Gordon Brown rejects Lord Mandelson's cosy stitch-up'' - The Prime Minister seems to have spurned a deal with the Lib Dems - and rightly so - 25th April
 * optimism have a place in British politics?'' - The great national tradition of ennui and cynicism is pouring out its acid rain - 19th April 2010
 * someone please tell us the truth?'' - The chorus of public frustration is deafening - and still the parties back away - 11th April
 * New Labour project was always destined to fail'' - The power of language defeated the forces of logic - 4th April
 * Tories have the vision but not the nerve'' - The Tories have a compelling plan for government, but they are too fearful to spell out what it is - 29th March
 * Tories have the vision but not the nerve'' - The Tories have a compelling plan for government, but they are too fearful to spell out what it is - 28th March
 * Cameron is selling a new Tory brand - but I'm not buying it yet'' - after years of modernisation, the Tories have still to convince enough of us that they should be given power - and wonders what became of the party that inspired her to vote Conservative in 1979 - 14th March
 * the passion in our politics has passed away'' - Michael Foot's death reminds us of a time when politics was a matter for everyone - 7th March
 * Conservatives must dare to defend their ideas'' - David Cameron is in danger of appearing too smooth and too comfortable in his own skin - 28th February
 * is our best chance to make the state work'' - We have a golden opportunity to rethink the way we provide public services - 21st February
 * a plan to alter the nation's soul'' - The government's policy of mass immigration was intended to remodel the social fabric of the nation - 14th February
 * wasn't a wobble for the Tories, but a fiasco'' - David Cameron's backtracking on spending represented a major loss of nerve - 7th February
 * finds out who really holds power'' - On both sides of the Atlantic, the same group of people decide who wins elections - 31st January
 * Cameron has found a defiant voice at last'' - The Tories seem to have rediscovered the rewards of authenticity - 24th January
 * immigrants' success is not down to Labour'' - The white working class should learn from the achievements of Britain's ethnic minorities - 17th January
 * Tories must tackle Labour's attacks head-on'' - The Conservatives must realise a wounded Labour can be more dangerous than a healthy one - 10th January
 * You can 'aspire', but don't you dare achieve'' - The people that Mr Brown calls 'privileged' are just those who were once aspirational - 3rd January



Articles: 2009

 * be nowhere to run from the new world government'' - 'Global' thinking won't necessarily solve the world's problems - 20th December
 * tax increases are a priceless gift to the Tories'' - Alistair Darling's pre-Budget report showed that New Labour has abandoned the aspiring classes on which its power was built - 13th December
 * can't David Cameron seal the deal?'' - The Tories' wobble in the polls shows that David Cameron needs to be respected as well as liked - 6th December
 * terrorism: our values are not optional for minority groups'' - It would be better if we enforced Britain's cultural values on immigrant communities, rather than allowing them to dictate government policy - 30th November
 * frightening thing about the Queen's Speech was that Labour really believe it'' - The Queen's Speech shows that the Labour Government now acts as though the state is the only source of goodness - 22nd November
 * says it's too expensive to keep you alive'' - If we are to escape from dilemmas such as Nice's fateful decision on Nexavar, it can only be by permitting additional revenue streams into the NHS - 20th November
 * Bill in the Queen's Speech is absurd'' - What could it mean for a government to 'guarantee' good education - 19th November
 * the EU? Then I beg you to vote Tory'' - David Cameron may have backed down on the Lisbon Treaty, but in power the Conservatives will work hard to decrease the power of Brussels - 8th November
 * have failed to learn from the death of communism in 1989'' - Capitalism cannot 'collapse' because, unlike Marxism, it is not imposed from above - 1st November
 * lessons of Obama's healthcare programme for Britain'' - There is a difference between letting people keep their own money and the state giving them an equivalent amount - 25th October
 * talk from David Cameron, but the real war lies ahead'' - David Cameron's promise of a smaller state has finally given the Conservatives real moral force - 11th October
 * must make the moral case for spending cuts'' - Better to have spending cuts made by the Tories, who believe in them, than by Labour, who don't - 4th October
 * global brings a world of problems'' - The idea of global governance is meaningless without mechanisms to enforce it - 27th September
 * Cameron must finally tell us what he stands for'' - A new commitment to fairness would provide a compelling reason to vote for David Cameron's Conservatives - 20th September
 * is no class left in British politics'' - The revivalists of the Left summon a vision of working- class life as a peasant idyll - 14th September
 * bomber: David Cameron's straight talk is what the public wants to hear'' - The Tory leader's sincerely felt anger over the Lockerbie case has been a glorious sight to behold - 6th September
 * man's instinct for violence can never be 'cured''' - Chris Grayling's trivial reference to the cult TV show 'The Wire' sabotaged the real message - 30th August
 * Kennedy death: how the Kennedys changed America'' - Janet Daley reflects on the three brothers whose politics inspired Sixties idealism, but whose sordid private lives helped to destroy it - 27th August
 * election: Would you risk your life to cast a vote?'' - People who make pains to deride the Afghan election are deliberately missing the point - 23rd August
 * is as liberating as prosperity'' - It was the Conservatives who broke the mould by offering economic self-determination - which is the real hallmark of a progressive society - 16th August
 * real reason for all those louts on holiday'' - From Riga to the West End, a certain section of British society behaves appallingly because there is nothing to stop it doing so - 9th August
 * Obama's oratory loses its oomph'' - The President's eloquent yet vague rhetoric is not enough to drive through difficult health care reform - and there is a lesson here for David Cameron - 26th July
 * are too scared of their own shadow'' - David Cameron's party must find the courage to stick to one over-arching Conservative tenet - 19th July
 * have had enough of con artists'' - In art as in politics, people have begun to see through the charade to the emptiness that lies beneath - 12th July
 * 'fairness' is not what people want'' - Labour has completely misunderstood the public's opinion on inequality - 5th July
 * a Tory war cry – power to the people'' - Individuals must be given control of that portion of their wealth that they hand to the state - 28th June
 * use the politics revival to kill class war'' - This ridiculous obsession poisons public discourse and distorts attempts at reform - 21st June
 * all prefer spending cuts to tax rises'' - Both Labour and the Conservatives have failed to grasp that there is a huge public appetite for cutting government spending - 14th June
 * Tories must beware the rise of Lord Mandelson'' - David Cameron looks set to win the next election, but there is still a remote chance that Gordon Brown might do something tactically clever in his final months of power - 7th June
 * 'new politics' depends on basic disagreement'' - The reforms that are being put forward to fix our political system are, at best, beside the point and, at worst, pernicious - 31st May
 * expenses: Our politicians could learn a lesson from congressmen'' - American politicians see their time in Washington as a period of public service, not an alternative lifestyle - 17th May
 * still remember politicians who had principles'' - MPs once devoted their lives to resolving issues that matter, rather than gathering material goods - 10th May
 * Tories must do more than simply wait for victory'' - To convince voters, David Cameron's Conservatives need to develop a positive alternative programme for when they take power - 3rd May
 * gravest danger is a 'false' economy'' - The Government seems to want to turn the market into a fiction which would not only fail to create wealth but would lose any sense of the real meaning of that term - 25th April
 * under Barack Obama is taking a long, cold look at its transatlantic relations'' - Europe's passion for the States is unlikely to be reciprocated - 13th April
 * Obama can't make rogues like North Korea play by his rules'' - The US President is in no position promise to rid the world of the Bomb - 6th April
 * If capitalism is 'overthrown', we'll lose our political freedom'' - International regulation to manage the economic crisis could have dangerous results - 30th March
 * should be 'honest and straight' with the public sector'' - Getting it Right: As part of a series of articles on how the Conservative party should tackle the future, Janet Daley argues that we should consult those who work in state services if we want sensible criticism - 23rd March
 * Republicans can take heart as Obama staggers to the Left'' - The President's recent display of liberalism – and confusion – can only help the opposition - 16th March
 * Barack Obama and Gordon Brown see 'opportunity', we really do have a crisis'' - The Left is threatening our freedom by using the downturn to bolster the power of the state - 9th March
 * a form of state capitalism really what Gordon Brown wants?'' - When the Prime Minister spoke of 'creating an economy' he was talking nonsense - 2nd March 2009
 * is the next big idea in politics. But why stop at banking?'' - The Prime Minister should extend his focus on old-fashioned values to schools and crime - 23rd February 2009
 * more we discuss religious differences the safer we will be'' - Banning any discussion about the nature of the Koran just plays into the hands of bigots and demagogues - 16th February 2009
 * prize in sight for David Cameron's triumph in the schools debate'' - how can we deliver high-quality state schooling to everyone, or at least to more than the small minority who manage to wrestle their way into the few outstanding institutions where proper academic standards are maintained? - 9th February
 * oil strikes: Europeans are finally waking up to the demise of democracy'' - Angry people across the EU are discovering the fine print in all the treaties signed by their leaders - 2nd February
 * is right to ban Gaza appeal, but for the wrong reasons'' - It is not the job of an impartial broadcaster to decide issues of foreign policy - 26th January
 * Obama: It's time for action from the man of words'' - Barack Obama has a remarkable gift for oratory, but does it mask a fatal indecisiveness - 19th January
 * of the Blairites spells trouble for Cameron'' - Alan Milburn's radical ideas for public service reform could make the Conservatives irrelevant - 12th January
 * Cameron must show that Gordon Brown is wrong about big government'' - Our Prime Minister has begun the year by making his plans for the future absolutely clear: he is going to grab every conceivable headline and perpetrate every systematic lie that is required to outmanoeuvre the Conservatives - 5th January



Articles: 2008

 * If you want people to spend, don't take their cash away'' - Any attempt by the Government to print money to stimulate the economy will make things worse, because it won't cure the lack of consumer confidence - 15th December 2008
 * an Ofsted inspector have helped?'' - the Ed Balls-Alan Johnson social services circus shows once again that Labour has only one 'solution' - and that is bureaucracy - 8th December 2008 (see: Government to reform social services after Baby P case - Daily Telegraph, 7th December 2008)
 * MPs happen in dictatorships'' - Our freedoms are under threat from a government desperate to save its own credibility - 1st December 2008
 * is the whole state that needs cutting'' - The desperate attempts to ease the financial crisis miss the central point that it has been caused by governments over-extending themselves - 24th November 2008
 * battle with the Right, Ken Clarke'' - the former Chancellor's loyalty to George Osborne is misplaced - 21st November 2008
 * must offer middle class tax cuts'' - The Opposition should shed its position as the guardian of 'fiscal responsibilty' and radicalise tax cuts by offering them more widely - 17th November 2008
 * lesson to UK: tax cuts win votes'' - British politicians from both parties misunderstand the true nature of the President-Elect's victory and its meaning for this country - 10th November 2008
 * Obama victory will hurt US firms - and world economy'' - America is about to elect the most inexperienced candidate at a time of great international risk and unprecedented economic instability - 3rd November 2008
 * times could get worse under the Left'' - The real revelation of this past week has been the impotence and irrelevance of government policies - 13th October 2008
 * were you when Europe's leaders had their cosy little chat?'' - The American bail-out battle was certainly undignified at times, but at least the hopes and fears of the electorate were taken into account - 6th October 2008
 * is under attack - and Cameron is steadfast in defence'' - In the face of the banking crisis, all the lost arguments of the last century are returning, so it's vital that the Tories stay true to pro-market principles - 29th September 2008
 * must be free'' - Tighter financial regulations can only ever be temporary in a world where money can move anywhere in an instant - 22nd September 2008
 * woes are not a Labour problem'' - That the Prime Minister's ineptitude is presented as a party political matter is a measure of just how out of touch our rulers are - 15th September 2008
 * across the pond for lessons in listening'' - We may snigger at Sarah Palin, but Britain's patronising political elite could learn a lot from an election where ordinary voters still call the shots - 8th September 2008
 * gets spiteful Thatcher treatment'' - The viciousness of the attacks on Sarah Palin is a testimony to the degree of panic her appointment has generated in Leftist circles - 4th September 2008
 * needs to get serious - and warn about a global tempest'' - The Republicans could steal the show if they appear grave and grown-up against Obama's 'happy-clappy' extravaganza - 1st September 2008
 * will lose for not being American enough'' - The race for the White House will not be determined by skin colour, despite what so many Left-wing pundits are saying - 25th August 2008
 * cheek of Democrat bloggers'' - Only one candidate in the US Presidential contest is getting an easy ride from the media and it's not John McCain - 20th August 2008
 * and McCain would defy Russia'' - As Gordon Brown lies low and Barack Obama looks insubstantial, their opponents are coming to the fore - 18th August 2008
 * of pick-pocketing politicians bearing fuel allowance gifts'' - Is there no limit to Gordon Brown's infinite mercy? - 11th August 2008
 * Miliband will galvanise Labour so the Tories should get ready '' - The challenge to Gordon Brown will shake this Government into action. Now David Cameron must stop teasing and start talking policy - 4th August 2008

archive



News & updates:

 * The new poverty and a happy society - Janet Daley, the worst columnist in Britain, excelled herself recently. Writing over the weekend, Daley argued that being slightly poorer would enrich our lives. Amol Rajan, FreeView from the editors at i, The Independent.



References:


Links:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Daley