Philip Stephens



Profile:
Full name: Philip Stephens

Area of interest: Economics, Foreign Affairs, Politics

Journals/Organisation: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:philip.stephens@ft.com philip.stephens@ft.com]

Personal website:

Website: http://www.ft.com/comment/columnists/philip-stephens

Blog:

Representation: http://www.felicitybryan.com/FelicityAuthors.html#philipstephens

Networks: https://twitter.com/philipstephens_



Biography:
About:

Education: Wimbledon College; Oxford University: Modern history; Fulbright Fellow

Career: Reuters correspondent in London and Brussels; joined FT in 1983: Economics editor, political editor

Current position/role: Associate editor, chief political commentator


 * also writes/has written for:

Other roles/Main role:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Broadcast media:

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours: David Watt Prize for outstanding political journalism, 2005; What The Papers Say awards: Political Journalist of the Year, 2008

Scoops:

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Politics and the Pound: The Tories, the Economy and Europe OCLC34635475, 1996 - a study of the British government’s exchange rate management and its relations with Europe since 1979
 * Taking a pounding: achieving currency stability in the global economy OCLC3435218, et al, 2002

Latest work: Tony Blair: The Making of a World Leader OCLC53435218, 2004 Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate:



Financial Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Economics, Foreign Affairs, Politics

Section: Comment

Role: Associate editor, chief political commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:philip.stephens@ft.com philip.stephens@ft.com]

Website: FT.Com / Philip Stephens

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Tuesday & Friday

Regularity: Twice weekly

Column format:

Average length: Tues: 850 / Frid: 1050 words



Articles: 2017

 * How Britain’s Brexiters lost control of Brexit - Cabinet ministers are in open conflict about the shape of a deal with the EU - 29th June
 * Macron and May tell the tale of two nations - Rather than gloating at Britain’s Brexit discomfort, France is looking to the future - 22nd June
 * A path that would avoid Brexit calamity - Theresa May’s government has to put national interest before party loyalty - 16th June
 * Hammond is the politician to salvage a Brexit deal - The chancellor has the experience and temperament for complicated negotiations - 12th June
 * Post-election chaos promises Britain Brexit salvation - Theresa May faces negotiating in Brussels with partners who know she is a lame duck - 10th June
 * The Brexit election that leaves Britain the loser - May refuses to talk in any detail about life outside the EU - 2nd June
 * May must acknowledge costs of immigration pledge - But the prime minister finds it hard to face up to difficult trade-offs - 30th May
 * Sectarian fires fuel European terrorism - Choosing sides in the Sunni-Shia conflict will only ensure safe spaces for jihadis - 27th May
 * From Middle East sectarianism to European terror - Picking sides in the Sunni-Shia conflict will only ensure safe spaces for jihadis - 25th May
 * Washington must plug the intelligence leaks Premium - The US risks undermining a crucial five-nation alliance - 25th May
 * Crises, chaos and the world according to Trump - The organising goal of US foreign policy is the avoidance of fresh calamities- 19th May
 * Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump and a moment for optimism - The French election serves as a reminder that voters will listen to a reasoned case - 11th May
 * What Theresa May has learnt from Margaret Thatcher - Measured against Jeremy Corbyn, the prime minister can claim to occupy the centre - 8th May
 * May, Corbyn and an election trapped in the past - One leader pines for the 1950s, the other for the 1970s - 6th May
 * Macron offers patriotic antidote to nationalism - Populism prospers because many of the grievances it has tapped into are real - 28th April
 * What Theresa May’s election gambit means for Brexit - A strong personal mandate would give the prime minister a margin of manoeuvre - 21st April
 * What Theresa May’s election gambit means for Brexit - A strong personal mandate would give the prime minister a margin of manoeuvre - 20th April
 * Trump, Xi and a great power bargain - The singular threat to Sino-American relations comes from North Korea - 7th April
 * Brussels takes back control of Brexit - All the power lies with Europe and Britain holds no cards in the coming negotiations - 30th March
 * A Franco-German bargain to save Europe - After a deluge of crises the next few years will confound the doubters - 24th March
 * Brexit maps the path to Scottish independence - The break-up of Britain may not be inevitable but the wind is blowing that way - 18th March
 * Why Britain may not want a US trade deal - UK’s large surplus with America makes it a prime target for Trump’s protectionists - 17th March
 * How not to negotiate Brexit — the essential guide - The risk is that mutual interest in an agreed outcome is lost to emotion - 11th March
 * How Corbyn has remade British politics - The Labour leader is not interested in the politics required to win votes at home - 3rd March
 * What Orwell would have made of Donald Trump - The energy of populist insurgents is about more than flat living standards - 23rd February
 * Can Trump be tripped up by constitutional codicil? Premium - Members of the president’s own party think the unthinkable - 20th February
 * Trump, Putin and a fatal attraction - After Flynn’s resignation, smiles are turning to scowls in Moscow - 17th February
 * Why the liberal order is worth saving - For all its faults, the existing system is better than the alternatives - 8th February
 * France could turn the populist tide - A critical mass of voters has decided that the country needs reform - 3rd February
 * What the world hears from President Trump - Foreign powers prepare to live with a rogue US leader - 28th January
 * Brexit, Donald Trump and the threat to Europe - Britain is courting a president-elect who looks forward to the unravelling of the EU - 20th January
 * Memo to Theresa May: it is vital that the NHS gets more money - She is wrong on the health service and only extra funding will solve short-term ills - 14th January
 * What Vladimir Putin really wants from Donald Trump - The Kremlin craves a world in which national interests replace international rules - 13th January
 * The UK mindset that heralds a disorderly Brexit - Britain has regarded the EU as a commercial transaction not a political project - 5th January



Articles: 2016

 * How Brexit may not mean Brexit - Leavers should be dancing in the streets but are instead gripped by near-paranoia - 16th December
 * Xi Jinping, Davos and the world in 2017 - There is a tidiness that disappears when rules are replaced by competing powers - 9th December
 * Donald Trump stands to lose from a break with Europe - US commitment to the alliance has always been rooted in self-interest - 25th November
 * Now Angela Merkel wears the west’s mantle - It is hardly a surprise that Obama chose Berlin for his farewell to European leaders - 18th November
 * America can survive Trump. Not so the west - Few checks and balances apply to the conduct of diplomacy and foreign policy - 11th November
 * Theresa May pitches for a ‘long’ Brexit - The UK prime minister appears to prefer an extended transition period out of the EU - 7th November
 * Four rules for a realistic reset with Vladimir Putin - Tough management of relations should not preclude recognition of mutual interests - 28th October
 * Hard Brexit heralds a closed Britain - An open economy cannot work without welcoming foreign workers - 21st October
 * How the west has lost the world - We are at a hinge point and the postwar settlement has been eroded - 13th October
 * Demagogues reach beyond the bigots - Populism has become a wrecking force by appealing to the decent but downcast - 7th October
 * Britain sets off in search of a role – again - Boris Johnson looks more comfortable in the role of court jester than thoughtful policymaker - 29th September
 * The Trumpian threat to the global order - The liberal rules-based system established after 1945 is under unprecedented strain - 23rd September
 * How to save capitalism from capitalists - The cross-border activities of big companies make it harder to map a level playing field - 15th September
 * Britain is falling into denial about Brexit - Leave supporters view an EU deal as an event. In truth, it will be a long, tortuous process - 9th September
 * May is right about reforming capitalism - Officials say it is more like a change of government than just a new PM - 28th July
 * Global disorder: from Donald Trump to the South China Sea - The belligerence of domestic politics is spilling on to the world stage - 21st July
 * Five tips for Philip Hammond, UK chancellor of the exchequer - He must resist Treasury fundamentalism with tough but intelligent action on finances - 16th July
 * Theresa May (and Angela Merkel) should play Brexit long - Unravelling four decades of political and economic integration will be complex and costly - 15th July
 * Chilcot report exposes Tony Blair’s sin of certitude - This is a withering critique of the righteous certainty that led to conflict in Iraq - 8th July
 * Britain is starting to imitate Greece - Our two-party system has been under strain for some time. Now it is splintering - 1st July
 * Brexit: a vote that changes everything - A vote against the EU could also turn out to become a vote against the United Kingdom - 24th June
 * The perils of a populist paean to ignorance - Social media has muddied the line between prejudice and facts - 23rd June
 * The Brexiters’ ugly campaign to vilify Turks - Those in favour of leaving the EU judge that rational argument is best met with mendacity - 10th June
 * Brexit would tear Britain apart - If England left, it would make sense for Scots to swap one union for another - 3rd June
 * A Brexit myth of Brussels (mis)rule - Good or bad, imaginative or dull, the important decisions have been taken at home - 26th May
 * Brexiters have bet the bank on the triumph of emotion over reason - The goal was always to harness the myriad grievances of voters to revolt against Brussels - 20th May
 * Asia risks repeating Europe’s errors - The handling by China and the US of North Korea is an important test and opportunity - 13th May
 * British politics has broken out of the two-party system - The elections reveal a patchwork of cultural and regional divisions - 9th May
 * Donald Trump would tear up the Pax Americana - He is proposing to dismantle the global architecture established by the US after the war - 6th May
 * Millennials would bear the cost of Brexit - The paradox is that those most likely to be affected are the least likely to vote on June 23 - 28th April
 * Brexit may break Britain’s Tory party - The Leave campaign has opted for invective over rational argument - 22nd April
 * Why the Brexit crowd wants to silence Obama - The notion that there is a choice to be made between the Channel and the Atlantic is flawed - 14th April
 * Donald Trump has torn up the boundaries of politics - The Republican candidate has cast aside the idea that public service can serve a moral purpose - 25th March
 * Fatalism taints the Obama doctrine - To observe that the US cannot solve every problem should not be to conclude it is powerless - 18th March
 * How has the EU mismanaged the migrant crisis? - FT Debate: Our columnists (Roula Khalaf, Gideon Rachman, Tony Barber, David Gardner, Martin Wolf) pore over the bloc’s collective and individual mis-steps - 13th March
 * Trump has friends across the Atlantic - Populists replace argument with blame, facts with prejudice - 11th March
 * The Valley should step out of the cloud - As custodians of the digital future, they believe this higher calling should grant them immunity - 4th March
 * Why Boris Johnson is wrong about Brexit - How does a sovereign country make itself more sovereign by declaring itself, well, sovereign? - 25th February
 * The Outs could easily win the referendum - Britain’s place in the world cannot turn on benefits for Polish plumbers - 22nd February
 * Putin bombs and the west blinks - Even as Europeans accuse Moscow of wanting the break-up of the EU, they flirt with easing sanctions - 19th February
 * The sun sets on the petrodollar age - The drop in oil price adds a twist to the forces driving fragmentation and conflict - 12th February
 * Admit it, Europe needs Britain - To suggest that an ‘out’ vote would see Eurosceptics rise up elsewhere is probably an exaggeration - 4th February
 * Hard-headed humanity can save Merkel - European leaders need to show that they have regained command of events - 29th January
 * Hard interests battle potent emotion over Britain and Europe - The in-out choice is one between being a maker or a taker of the rules - 21st January
 * Poland’s threat to European solidarity - Democracy, as often happens with authoritarians, is being redefined as the will of the majority - 15th January
 * Saudi-Iran paradox that haunts the west - Riyadh is viewed as a close ally and vital collaborator in the fight against jihadism - 8th January



Articles: 2015

 * Politicians pay bill for the crash - Economies may be limping back to health, but the political elites are still reeling - 18th December
 * Le Pen not Trump is the bigger danger - The National Front leader promises return to a past Europe thought it had left behind forever - 11th December
 * How history echoes Syria’s unholy war - As in 17th-century Europe, it is the involvement of outside powers that has kept the fires burning - 3rd December
 * How not to deal with a humbled Putin - Sanctions are biting and Ukraine has turned into a mire: the west must be canny from now on - 27th November
 * Paris attacks must shake complacency - The idea that the west should shoulder blame rests on a corrosive moral relativism - 20th November
 * No hiding place from global disorder - Syria’s civil war transfers to the heart of one of Europe’s great cities - 16th November
 * The fatal flaw in the case for Brexit - Britain would struggle to advance national interests in splendid isolation - 13th November
 * If Merkel falls, Europe will unravel - She has been the rock of certainty. Without her the fractures would multiply - 30th October
 * China spurs Modi’s pivot to Washington - The world’s largest democracy needs the investment of the most advanced one - 9th October
 * Do not blame Merkel for the refugees - Nationalist rhetoric cannot deliver national solutions — co-operation is what the EU is for - 2nd October
 * Britain bets the bank on a pivot to China - UK assumes an economic relationship requires submission on everything else - 25th September
 * Obama gets it right and wrong about Iran - Chance to engage beyond nuclear deal will be lost if US reverts to strategy of coercive containment - 18th September
 * Corbyn for leader? Blame the bankers - The frontrunner is adept at faking sincerity but an air of menace stalks his campaign - 11th September
 * Merkel’s plan shames Cameron’s fear - German chancellor is getting it right while UK PM misreads the national mood - 4th September
 * Corbyn spoils the holiday for Cameron - The fissures in British politics reach well beyond the spectacle of Labour’s leadership race - 7th August
 * The Calais migrants are Europe’s shame - Asylum seekers must be offered legitimate routes to settlement if they are not to cross the Channel - 31st July
 * Corbyn and Trump are two of a kind - The plutocrat and the self-styled tribune of the people are both in the business of politics as protest - 24th July
 * Answer to Greek question - The 1989 blueprint for the euro emphasised responsibility and solidarity would sit side by side - 17th July
 * Three cheers for a flawed Iran deal - Nuclear agreement should be applauded as alternatives were worse - 15th July
 * Europe will pay the price for Greece - The rest of the EU should take no pleasure in Tsipras’s discomfort - 10th July
 * Britain would not survive Brexit - It is understood in Berlin that Cameron cannot return from negotiations admitting defeat - 26th June
 * Merkel’s big reason to hold on to Greece - People close to the chancellor say she is prepared to see Athens tumble out of the euro - 19th June
 * Middle East peace needs UN resolution - Since 1967 the assumption has been that only the US could broker a ceasefire - 11th June
 * An offer that Greece should not refuse - It is evident Tsipras cannot deliver. Pain is unavoidable with or without default - 5th June
 * Now China starts to make the rules - Xi’s project is about expanding and securing maritime routes to the Middle East and Europe - 29th May
 * How politics will seal the fate of Greece - Can Europe really allow Athens to fall into the arms of Moscow? - 22nd May
 * The mistake that could trigger Brexit - If Britain is to vote for staying in the EU, the argument must turn to the merits of engagement - May 15th
 * An ever more fragile union - This election may go down as a collision of resurgent Scottish, and resentful English, nationalism - 9th May
 * Broken parties that may break Britain - The surge in SNP support has not overturned the outcome of September’s referendum - 8th May
 * Britain needs a new settlement - The UK has much to boast about — if it can modernise its politics - 2nd May
 * US and China’s frosty future - Washington is giving up on Beijing becoming a stakeholder in the present global order - 1st May
 * Britain should celebrate an election stalemate - Whatever happens, the old political order is unravelling - 30th April
 * Republicans want a bumper sticker world - It is easier to say that Obama never gets it right than to come up with an alternative strategy - 24th April
 * Why the SNP cannot call the shots - Sturgeon’s party is the biggest winner from the scaremongering - 22nd April
 * Five things to know about UK election - ‘Hung parliament’ is not on the ballot, but polls suggest stalemate is the nation’s choice - 17th April
 * Lies, damned lies and the British election - Promises mean little when the parties have only the vaguest idea of how things will turn out - 16th April
 * Europe faces more than a Greek tragedy - Debt crises have distracted from the structural flaws and political challenges that imperil the euro - 9th April
 * Doubts that threaten a deal with Iran - The west’s only real option is to press ahead with negotiations - 3rd April
 * The prince plots to steal Cameron’s crown - Those who think the Tories would not move against a sitting prime minister forget Thatcher’s fall - 28th March
 * Confounded by China’s rise - British opportunism met with US fumbling - 27th March
 * Cameron takes a vacation from the world - A nation that aspires to be a global hub cannot be indifferent to international disorder - 19th March
 * Netanyahu’s answer is war against Iran - A statesman would have made his country a partner in the talks, not an angry voice on the side - 6th March
 * The short telegram about Putin’s Russia - At times it has seemed patience is a substitute for strategy - 20th February
 * We are all victims now - Politicians, bankers and corporate bosses have joined the swelling ranks of the oppressed - 17th February
 * Guns are only half an answer for Kiev - Modern weaponry will not overturn the facts: Ukraine alone cannot defeat the Russian army - 13th February
 * Ukraine is only part of Putin’s game plan - A collapsing oil price and the impact of sanctions have made him more dangerous - 6th February
 * The stand-off that may sink the euro - Sensible policy makers should see Syriza’s election success as a wake-up call not a nightmare - 31st January
 * After Charlie, an opening for Le Pen - The softening of its image scarcely conceals the essential character of the National Front - 23rd January
 * White House truths for David Cameron -Fear of more defence cuts and possible Brexit weaken the UK’s privileged access to Oval Office - 16th January
 * Extremists are united in an unholy alliance - In the clash of identity politics, neither side has time for ideas, for debate or diversity - 9th January



Articles: 2014

 * Forces reshaping world in two words - The splintering of the old order is at its most stark, and brutal, in the Middle East - 19th December
 * London should break free from England - The M25 orbital motorway would be a ready-made border - 12th December
 * Angry electorate makes politicians fearful - The mainstream UK parties are on the run – left, right and centre - 6th December
 * The year of the political strongman - They are busy retelling history as a way of rekindling past glories and reviving old grievances - 5th December
 * The halfhearted threat to the US superpower - Obama shows no inclination to rethink his foreign policy - 28th November
 * India’s Modi joins great power game - PM has disappointed at home but been energetic and assertive internationally - 21st November
 * Gorbachev is wrong about a new cold war - Facts of geopolitics demand that the west continue to do business with Putin - 13th November
 * The high price of the Google guarantee - A balance must be struck between individual privacy and the state’s duty to safeguard security - 12th November
 * Germany needs a foreign policy - The danger is that Europe’s response to Ukraine is driven by the lowest common denominator - 7th November
 * The forces set to overturn the British order - Panic has driven Cameron into a bidding war about the EU and immigrants - 24th October
 * Israel is losing its friends in the world - Europeans view settlement expansion as a tactic to destroy hopes for a two-state agreement - 17th October
 * Obama’s options in Syria are deteriorating - The world’s most powerful leader has a blind spot about the exercise of power - 10th October
 * The fatal flaw in the fight against Isis - Preventing the collapse of Iraq was one thing. Waging an open-ended war is quite another - 2nd October
 * England risks losing the war for Scotland - Disenfranchising Scottish MPs in the Commons amounts to English secession - 26th September
 * Scotland vote exposes established order - If elites fail to provide more accountable government, politics of exclusion will sweep them aside - 19th September
 * Brown could be the man who saved the union - The former premier’s indisputable Scottishness has made him so effective in campaigning for Britishness - 18th September
 * Vibrant nationalism fights shy unionism - The Scots have faced dismal economic times, and it is much easier to champion a brave new future - 16th September
 * The world says No to Scottish separation - The Yes campaign has elected to play a cynical, bewildering and finite game of identity politics - 12th September
 * A world retreating from globalisation - The US does not see a vital national interest in upholding an order that shifts power to rivals - 5th September
 * Scottish patriots can vote for the union - If like-minded nations are to prosper in security they will have to pull closer together - 29th August
 * Britain’s new enemies: immigrants and capitalists - The nation is left with an unhappy choice of populisms - 1st August
 * Europe needs a lesson in deterrence - Europeans have been slow to recognise the world as it is rather than as they imagined - 25th July
 * Putin’s next move – invade? - Europe has half-colluded in the ludicrous pretence that Russia is a concerned bystander in Ukraine - 21st July
 * Britain slams the door on Hong Kong - Weakness wins no special favours for UK business from China - 18th July
 * Worst threat to euro is a lack of trust - The argument between Italy and Germany asks a question at the heart of the currency’s future - 11th July
 * History tells us not to cling on to the past - Leaders must confront the world as it is, not as they know it - 4th July
 * Drifting Britain needs a foreign policy - A sales force is ill-suited to pursuits such as strategic analysis and diplomacy - 26th June
 * A tawdry deal on jobs will hurt Europe - Whatever questions a chastened EU asks itself, the choice of Mr Juncker is not an answer - 19th June
 * Braveheart nationalism shows its dark side - Even with a No vote in September much needs to be done for England and Scotland’s relationship - 13th June
 * What Xi and Putin think about the west - Stable relationships will require understanding and a willingness, when necessary, to be tough - 6th June
 * A weak France could be the end of Europe - The vote for Marine Le Pen’s National Front was a powerful warning of the perils of inaction - 30th May
 * Europeans shake their fists at the world - The populist trick has been to channel wider discontents into antipathy to the EU - 15th May
 * German angst turns Europe back to Yalta - Following events in Ukraine, Berlin has to face the sort of choices it has sought to avoid - 9th May
 * Man on a mission: Blair’s dismal last act - His arguments have been lost to the lust for personal riches and attention - 1st May
 * Putin still has friends in the west - Clarity of the counter-message by US and Europe is clouded by differences among governments - 18th April
 * Salmond has UK on the road to break-up - Britain’s most skilled retail politician is adept at snatching victory from the jaws of defeat - 11th April
 * Orban cocks a snook at European values - The EU cannot continue to look the other way as a member undermines its democratic standards - 8th April
 * How to avoid war in the East China Sea - The US wants to constrain China while restraining Japan. It must show that it will not step back - 4th April
 * The best of times is making way for the worst - Globalisation’s great prosperity sits beside the risks that accompany the passing of an old order - 27th March
 * Russia’s test for America’s odd couple - Ukraine presents both danger and opportunity to the analyst Obama and the activist Kerry - 21st March
 * Crimea proves contradictions of ‘self-rule’ - Secession cannot be used to stage territorial grabs, and the process must respect local constitutions - 17th March
 * The answer to Putin is support for Ukraine - It is time for Europeans and Americans to open their wallets to the new government in Kiev - 14th March
 * Miliband closes route to Britain’s EU exit - Labour leader removes ‘referendum risk’ that hung over the prospect of his party’s election victory - 13th March
 * Visa bans will not deter Putin - In its own mind Moscow can break any rule it likes and then deny the fact of the transgression - 7th March
 * Russia’s invasion marks Putin’s failure - Vanity has always trumped strategic logic in president’s foreign policy - 4th March
 * Merkel will not bend EU rules for Britain - The union will always be a club that the UK does not lead - 28th February
 * Europe must stop hiding under the covers - The continent cannot escape the costs of illegal migration, jihadi terrorism and global crime - 21st February
 * How to find the needle in Snowden’s haystack - The revelations have yet to cast the spooks as a law unto themselves or a threat to our freedom - 14th February
 * Yellen, tapering and a moribund G20 - Interdependence cannot be wished away; rising world turbulence may yet exact a toll on the US - 13th February
 * English make case for Britain’s break-up - Where is the admission that England has something to lose from Scotland’s departure? - 7th February
 * India is still in the great Asian race - The chaos of democracy blunts the impulses that once held the threat of break-up - 30th January
 * Britain and France are in the same boat - Cross-channel rivalry cannot hide the reality that any ideas about superiority are misplaced - 24th January
 * Nothing can dent the divine right of bankers - Multimillion-dollar bonuses are still given even as multibillion-dollar fines are shrugged off - 17th January
 * Tomorrow holds both risks and riches - Pressures for conflict in a more disordered planet are there for all to see - 10th January



Articles: 2013

 * A good year for Putin but bad for Russia - Pardoning Khodorkovsky was the act of someone who pretends his nation is still the equal of the US - 20th December
 * Osborne joins futile quest for holy grail of economics - One economic objective after another has been embraced with religious fervour - 16th December
 * Europe’s biggest threat - A chronic aversion to risk stunts decision-making across the continent - 13th December
 * A lesson in how not to deal with China - Britain apparently has nothing to say on the rising tensions in the East China Sea - 6th December
 * China has thrown down a gauntlet - Beijing has turned control of the air space around the Senkaku islands into a test of the US - 29th November
 * Trade trumps missiles in power plays - China is waking up to the fact it is being left behind as the west clings to economic power - 22nd November
 * Four big truths are shaping Iran talks - You cannot bomb knowledge and technical expertise - 15th November
 * US will not escape the Mideast fires - Iraq and Libya show the dangers of intervention, Syria the perils of inaction - 8th November
 * Hollande holds key to Merkel’s euro plan - Germany believes the long-term future of the single currency rests with France link - 1st November
 * If Britain leaves EU, Scotland leaves Britain - Scots who support the union will have second thoughts if England heads for the door - 25th October
 * Cameron should heed Major on energy - Siding with the providers will buttress the Labour charge that for Tories it is the rich versus the rest - 24th October
 * America and Europe go their own way - The close calls experienced by both sides will influence their relationship - 18th October
 * Why Europe needs lawnmower regulation - Deepening the single market will require passing more EU legislation - 16th October
 * America’s retreat threatens China’s rise - In US eyes, the new trade deals are looking more like a useful strategy to lock out the Chinese - 10th October
 * We need Snowden’s secret state - Politicians must keep a close eye on the security services, but they are necessary - 10th October
 * Britain’s choice: pessimists or dreamers - Both main parties are strangely fleeing the middle ground, the home of most election winners - 4th October
 * Only talks can reset Iran’s atomic clock - The US must take risks or accept a stand-off, with Iran trundling further towards the bomb - 27th September
 * Syria deal holds a lesson – talk to Iran - After all the mistakes with Damascus, the US has a chance to put things right with Tehran - 20th September
 * Merkel’s stealthy plan for the euro - The German chancellor grasps that there is more to leadership than rhetoric - 13th September
 * No one left to enforce the rules - Europe’s posture in the face of spreading unrest is best described as hiding under the bedcovers - 6th September
 * The end of decades of delusion - MPs gave voice to a weariness that reflects the reality of British power - 31st August
 * Summers or Yellen? Toss a coin - Barring a new emergency, the decisions taken by the Fed will be at the margin - 12th August
 * Oh! What a shabby war - The west’s errors in Afghanistan – strategic, political and military – are too legion to list - 9th August
 * Snowden is the least of US problems with Russia - Putin’s Kremlin is habitually destructive in its approach to international relations - 8th August
 * Britain is shutting out the world - A champion of the liberal, open international system is redefining itself as a resentful victim - 2nd August
 * The Middle East faces years of disorder - Arabs have concluded that if the US is quitting, they had better start fighting their own corners - 26th July
 * Facts collide with ideology on Europe - The UK audit of relations with the EU is coming up with awkward answers - 23rd July
 * Italy must throw out its racist politics - The nation is stranded a generation in the past regarding gender and racial equality - 19th July
 * China offers Brits a lesson in manners - Some may balk at governments prescribing how their citizens behave when abroad. I disagree - 17th July
 * The imperative that keeps the US in Asia - By leaving, Washington would invite chaos; by staying it provokes Chinese resentment - 12th july
 * Coup in Cairo is a rude awakening - The help the Middle East needs is not of the type the west has been giving - 5th July 2013
 * Why doors slam in Snowden’s face - Who wants to pick a fight with the US over someone who has revealed what we knew? - 3rd July
 * Prosperity fuels protest in the new age of unrest - The leaders most likely to survive are those who will act on corruption and inequality - 28th June
 * How well did Sir Mervyn do? - Chris Giles and Philip Stephens appraise the governor’s decade in charge of the Bank of England - 26th June
 * The best cut of all? Shut the Treasury - It is not easy to find any other body that has made so many mistakes - 24th June
 * Abe’s bold vision shows up Obama - The Japanese PM at least sounds like he really means things - 20th June
 * A US bomb will not stop an Iranian one - No one imagines the change of president offers a get-out-of-jail card, but it does open a door - 20th June
 * China is giving Europe a harsh lesson - A proposed trade and investment pact with the US offers the EU a chance to avoid irrelevance - 14th June
 * Nations and the illusion of sovereignty - The concept of freedom to act is as compelling as it is unrealistic - 7th June
 * Erdogan is proving the protesters right - The reaction to a protest against heavy-handed rule has been heavy-handed - 4th June
 * A race between growth and populism - The threat to the euro now comes from populists seeking to overturn the liberal order - 31st May
 * Why Google really doesn’t care about tax - The group may meet its legal obligations but it fails to be a good corporate citizen - 30th May
 * Abe will not help by rewriting history - The Japanese prime minister offers two positives but one dangerous negative - 24th May
 * Britain is hurtling to the exit from Europe - Cameron’s strategy to staunch pressure for a departure is falling apart - 16th May
 * Why America and Europe can’t agree - The gulf between the two sides reflects a difference of culture - 13th May
 * Democracy is not to blame for populism - Globalisation and technology have provided fertile ground for the politics of grievance globally - 10th May
 * Balance of power in Asia is less than stable - The world’s most vibrant region is also potentially its most combustible - 3rd May
 * More reform, less austerity for Europe - The War of the Coding Error is a reminder that the economy is too vital to be left to economists - 26th April
 * Germany should face the German question - Berlin must show willing to carry the responsibilities of power - 19th April
 * Radical Margaret Thatcher showed the power of character - Her death is a reminder that leadership can still shape events - 17th April
 * Europe, sterling and Thatcher’s handbag - Her troubled relationship with the EU wrote the Iron Lady’s political obituary - 12th April
 * Radical Thatcher showed power of character - Her death is a reminder that leadership can still shape events - 9th April
 * Spend and borrow will not save the left - The welfare state was built on growth. That is what social democrats should focus on - 5th April
 * Middle East needs more than fine words - John Kerry’s good intentions are worthless if the US president is not ready to take risks - 22nd March
 * An end to self-righteous Vatican rule - The new Pope’s rejection of absolutism gives some hope for a faith founded on redemption - 15th March
 * After hubris in Iraq, hesitation in Syria - The tough lessons from an invasion a decade ago do not apply today - 15th March
 * Pay up for Nato or shut it down - Being prepared for new threats requires military capabilities but no one wants to pick up the bill - 7th March
 * Six Moments of Crisis - Gill Bennett’s history of critical UK decisions shows they were messier than they look in hindsight - 4th March
 * The sneaky device that is devaluation - Short-term policies can collide with an intelligent long-term view - 2nd March
 * Wary Obama cannot shut out the world - A risk-averse White House neglects the obligations of a global superpower - 1st March
 * Settler policy imperils Israel’s foundations - The country is losing legitimacy among allies around the world. Netanyahu bears responsibility - 22nd February
 * Open for business, closed to foreigners - Cameron will never win the argument for ‘good’ immigration by bowing to populists - 21st February
 * Transatlantic pact promises bigger prize - The real reward of a US-EU free trade area would be geopolitical - 15th February
 * Intervention: the US won’t, Europe can’t - Europeans have caught the bug just as the US has shaken it off – but they lack the means - 8th February
 * Merkel holds the cards for next UK poll - The German chancellor will decide the fate of Cameron’s EU strategy - 5th February
 * Gloomsters buried the euro too soon - The end point looks likely to be tighter economic union that falls short of political federalism - 1st February
 * Political cracks imperil China’s power - The party is mistaken if it thinks growth answers all questions - 25th January
 * Cameron’s incurable European headache - Rising Tory europhobia meets geopolitical reality - 18th January
 * Obama’s pivot to Europe is a blessing - John Kerry and Chuck Hagel hail from a generation with Atlanticism in their blood - 11th January
 * The new prisoners of ideology - The parties of the right have forsaken centrist broad appeal - 4th January



Articles: 2012

 * Rules of the road for world leaders - Pointers for politicians to ponder as they map a route for 2013 - 21st December
 * State versus citizen in tomorrow’s world - On their own, governments will struggle with the insecurities that trouble their citizens - 14th December
 * Forget the fiscal cliff: buy America - The strengths of the US far outweigh its weaknesses even without cheap gas - 7th December
 * A taxing problem for Google et al . . .  - Tax dodgers – corporate and individual – are running out of places to hide - 4th December
 * Towards a grand bargain with the press - Newspapers should speak truth to power, not trample over the powerless - 30th November
 * A British survival guide for Mark Carney - The architects of the mess have hailed the man they hope will get us out of it - 28th November
 * Winning wars will not make Israel safe - Khamenei shares the view of Netanyahu that military force is the sole source of security - 23rd November
 * Merkel has decided to pay up for the euro - The German chancellor will need assurances that she will not have to tap the voters later on - 16th November
 * BBC needs to relearn its journalistic ABC - Layers of checking by lawyers cannot replace experienced professional judgment - 12th November
 * World crowds in on Obama’s second term - To recast the US as a selective superpower will not be easy - 9th November
 * Cautious president deserves second term - The case for Barack Obama is he navigated the storms with careful intelligence - 2nd November
 * Turkey stumbles on the road to Damascus - Ankara has come to realise that it has been overtaken by events - 26th October
 * Brexit: Europe loses patience with London - There have been many crises in the UK’s relationship with the EU, but this one feels different - 19th October
 * High-stakes choices for China’s leaders - Changes at the top will shape the international order for decades - 12th October
 * A bad time for Britain to say auf Wiedersehen - The UK needs allies but is not spoiled for choice - 11th October
 * Republicans are losing the US culture wars - The party seems ever more out of touch with a public mood framed by greater tolerance - 5th October
 * US must not hide from the Middle East - The American president would benefit by setting out a decisive regional strategy - 28th September
 * British foreign policy should be realist - Emotion draws the country across the Atlantic but hard calculation pulls it back to Europe - 21st September
 * The US is becoming a selective superpower - The country’s global reach will be reduced in a gradual reshaping of the postwar order - 14th September
 * Bombing Iran is the way to make sure it gets the bomb - There has never been a better time to test Tehran’s intentions - 7th September
 * Cameron’s English lesson for the French president - Circumstance demands a strategist. Hollande, like the British prime minister, looks too much the tactician - 31st August
 * Murdoch is wrong on Prince Harry pictures - The Sun’s move to publish photos has nothing to do with press freedom - 28th August
 * My night at the rodeo with China’s elite - The question is whether the Sino-American relationship can be contained within a framework of co-operation - 24th August
 * Obama needs a plan to cut the deficit - The president is giving the impression that he is shirking fiscal reality - 17th August
 * There is no need for Mitt to bait the old Russian bear - Where the US and Russia can and should co-operate - 10th August
 * London serves up the good, the bad and the ugly - The capital is a constant reminder of how unequally the bounty of globalisation has been shared - 13th July
 * Truth and retribution replace age of excess - We have seen a much-needed reassessment of acceptable standards of behaviour - 6th July
 * Diamond’s exit alone won’t restore banking’s reputation - The government must grasp the challenge of reform - 4th July
 * Soviet collapse holds a lesson for the euro - Faith in currency’s survival offers an increasingly threadbare shield against - 29th June
 * Penitent comedian offers lesson to bankers - Bob Diamond, like Jimmy Carr, should recognise that societies are not defined by tax laws - 26th June
 * Cut adrift between America and Europe - In this eternal triangle, the alliance with Washington rests on the leverage Britain exercises on its own continent - 22nd June
 * Do not put your faith in the false deities of economists - The fervour with which they propagate each new theory is often in inverse proportion to the evidence - 19th June
 * Hollande walks in the shadow of De Gaulle - The facts of European power have turned against France - 15th June
 * Cameron bids Europe a Churchillian goodbye - Britain’s position is attracting a mix of exasperation and indifference - 12th June
 * The madness of attacking an unknown enemy - The US should at the very least be able to say that it has explored all the alternatives on Iran - 8th June
 * Oil, blood and the west’s double standards - Recent history has weakened the capacity of leaders to effect change in the Middle East - 1st June
 * At last I see the genius of London’s Olympics - For a month or so London will actually work - 29th May
 * Summits that cap the west’s decline - The rebalancing of power was never going to be easy but the speed of the turnround has been breathtaking - 25th May
 * Cameron has forgotten his first political lesson - This PM should understand better than most the need to navigate according to circumstance - 22nd May
 * The last chance to rescue the euro - Austerity policies designed to sustain credibility have begun to have the opposite effect - 18th May
 * How to shame those overpaid executives - Shareholders and politicians must shine a brighter light on offending companies - 15th May
 * Greece is falling out of Europe - Athens can say no to Brussels, Berlin and the IMF, and it can unshackle itself from the euro, but it cannot avoid austerity - 11th May
 * A European tip for David Cameron: listen to Mario Monti - Differences between Cameron and Hollaande are as much about tone as substance - 8th May
 * Stop fretting about a French revolution - The really ‘dangerous’ notion in Europe is the assumption that things can go on as they are - 4th May
 * Cameron can save his premiership – by fixing Heathrow - At times like this the best a prime minister can do is take the side of the voters against the government - 1st May
 * The great middle class power grab - Even the most conservative assumptions point to an irrevocable redistribution of economic power - 27th April
 * What do you want to do with all that power, Mr Cameron? - Unflattering assessments of the PM are seeping into public consciousness - 24th April
 * A transatlantic tale of paralysis - They say they know what must be done, but politicians in Europe and the US prefer to be prisoners of circumstance - 20th April
 * Philanthropy is no alternative to paying tax - Mr Osborne’s charity proposal is reasonable – possibly over-generous - 17th April
 * France votes to shut out the world - This campaign has no glimmer of recognition of the constraints imposed by globalisation or the shifting geopolitical balance - 30th March
 * Baby boomers are the wrong target - To listen to the debate about equity between generations is to be swept up in distortions - 27th March
 * Obama gets the conservative vote - The Republicans are trailing in places where they have traditionally had a strong edge – both home and abroad - 23rd March
 * A Budget steeped in politics - Osborne’s measures were all about the dynamics of the UK coalition - 21st March
 * Business, beware, the rules of the game have changed - Custom and practice is no longer sufficient defence - 20th March
 * New friends race to end an old war - If the war was ever winnable, it was lost when the US decided to invade Iraq - 16th March
 * Irrelevant tax debate shows the sorry state of the coalition - The Tory right thinks the PM lacks backbone. Clegg’s troops worry he has sold out to Cameron - 13th March
 * Don’t play politics with the bomb - A military strike on Iran now would be positively perverse. Diplomacy and sanctions are beginning to bite - 9th March
 * Forget Boris v Ken – mayors can matter - The election of powerful figures across Britain would help re-energise municipal democracy - 6th March
 * Danger in Xi’s rebuff to Obama - Likely to be tougher leader than Hu Jintao - 2nd March
 * Nothing wrong with a job in a supermarket - A voluntary spell in the workplace should be uncontroversial - 28th February
 * Europe says goodbye to solidarity - Many Europeans don’t believe Athens will keep its promises; many Greeks think austerity is calculated to punish - 24th February
 * The answer to Scottish separatism is a federal union - Salmond’s insistence on a referendum provides a unique opportunity - 21st February
 * The US can learn to deal with chaos - Zbigniew Brzezinski sketches out a new architecture for the global system - 20th February
 * Gotcha! The Sun sinks Murdoch - The days of dominance by a largely unchecked and swashbuckling News International are all but over - 17th February
 * The coalition is prescribing bad policy and worse politics - There is still time for a change of course on the NHS - 14th February
 * A veto worthy of the Brezhnev era - Russia has cast itself as defender of the authoritarian status quo - 10th February
 * The way to cut bonuses: scrap public subsidies for banks - Cameron is getting a reputation as a weather vane - 7th February
 * A telling tale of two Mitterrands - Does France want to keep up with Germany or lead a rebellion? - 3rd February
 * A little less bombast and a little more humility, Mr Cameron - Telling Germans to work less, to borrow more and to produce shoddy cars is not the answer - 31st January
 * Europe rests on Monti’s shoulders - Italy has returned to the centre of the world’s stage and Mario Monti’s fate may be Europe’s - 27th January
 * Forget the empty chair: Cameron needs a seat at the table - Perfidious Albion has something to offer - 24th January
 * Downgrade the rating agencies - After their ill-starred role in bringing the financial house down, why does anyone still take them seriously? - 20th January
 * The awkward truths in the debate about torture - Upholding the rule of law often comes with a price tag - 17th January
 * How a self-sufficient America could go it alone - US the only power with real global reach - 13th January
 * Cameron belatedly signs up to the Occupy movement - PM is right to question bonus culture - 10th January
 * A Hungarian coup worthy of Putin - The troubles of Europe’s small powers can be a harbinger of bigger dangers around the corner - 6th January



Articles: 2011

 * A torrid affair has become a loveless marriage - With trust gone, the UK coalition is now much more a transactional affair - 20th December
 * The highs and lows of democracy - Tyrants have fallen, while elected leaders have been frozen in crisis - 16th December
 * Was this the moment UK stumbled out of Europe? - Cameron’s inept strategy threatens two unions - 13th December
 * How long will Britain stay in the EU? - Cameron signals beginning of long goodbye to Europe - 10th December
 * Now the Franco-German question - The new German question asks whether Europe can find a new equilibrium now that Germany is the preponderant power - 9th December
 * The euro crisis: some dos and don’ts for Cameron - Britain requires creative diplomacy and some unaccustomed humility - 6th December
 * This time they may save the euro - Agreement to share sovereignty must be at the heart of a credible deal - 2nd December
 * Long live plan A as George reaches for plan B - Autumn statement and growth review 2011: The chancellor is sticking to a policy of hoping for the best - 30th November
 * Fairness has to be part of the austerity story - The collapse of decent pensions in the private sector is not much of an argument for cutting provision for nurses - 29th November
 * A story of Brics without mortar - Slotting rising states into neat categories betrays a western-centric world view - 24th November
 * A Murdoch dynasty that is never to be - Whatever the truth about who knew what and when, the damage has been done - 11th November
 * Our pro-Europeans must prepare for a plebiscite - Freedom of action outside Europe sought by sceptics is no more than a mirage - 8th November
 * A Beijing cabby’s view of the world - The Chinese are complaining that they have domestic politics to consider too - 4th November
 * Welcome to London 2012: the apparatchiks’ games - Britain’s capital city is promised an exercise in authoritarian elitism to rival Leonid Brezhnev’s Soviet Union - 1st November
 * A return to the world of Hobbes - The era of multilateralism is giving way to a new age of nationalisms - 28th October
 * Little England: Britain sleepwalks towards break-up - The argument about the union binding Scotland to England has been recast. Will they be together in 15 years? Don’t bet on it - 25th October
 * Fox’s leap not so bad for Cameron - Outcome is better for the prime minister than it might have been - 15th October
 * Putin’s Russia: frozen in decline - Russian foreign policy is defined by his embrace of victim-hood - 14th October
 * NHS calamity to keep Cameron awake at night - What has emerged is a dangerous hotchpotch of measures - 11th October
 * Save the euro – let Greece default - The numbers cannot be made to add up - 7th October
 * Britain’s eurosceptics are right to call for a referendum - Emotionally, there are plenty of ministers on the side of let’s-get-out. Practically, they know Britain cannot go it alone - 4th October
 * An indecent rush to the Afghan exit - The future appears bleak for the country once most western forces leave in 2014 - 30th September
 * ‘I told you so’ is not enough to save a left in crisis - Ed Miliband is missing a model for modern social democracy that fits its aspirations to the new economic realities - 27th September
 * a plan to save Europe'' - The unravelling of what Europeans of a certain age call solidarity began well before the onset of the present crisis - 23rd September
 * How to confront the UK’s fiscal fundamentalists - The Lib Dems should cast themselves as the champions of policies for growth - 20th September
 * Israel should back a Palestinian state - The Arab spring has upended the region: Israel has to adjust - 16th September
 * Vickers hands victory to the bankers’ shop steward - My guess is that ordinary citizens are not much impressed by scare tactics - 13th September
 * The dangers of American retreat - US oversight of a rules-based system has helped spread prosperity - 9th September
 * A last hurrah for Britain’s global pretensions - Libya has stretched UK armed forces to their limit - 5th September
 * No, 9/11 did not change the world - Bin Laden grabbed a decade’s worth of headlines but the future was being written in Beijing, Delhi and Rio - 2nd September
 * times for the west’s odd couple'' - Barack Obama and Angela Merkel appear to be secret soulmates - 5th August
 * time to name and shame the corporate scroungers'' - Shaming boardroom culprits will do more good than worrying about politicians’ holidays - 2nd August
 * for a slimmer, more distinctive BBC'' - After the humbling of News Corp, Britain’s public broadcaster needs to rediscover its public service mission - 26th July
 * or spiral? The west’s choice'' - How will Europe and the US react to the twin crises they face - 22nd July
 * great drama but scarcely decadent decline'' - Standards in public life have probably risen despite the hacking scandal - 19th July
 * to the harlot’s prerogative'' - The settling of scores against Murdoch’s media empire has not been pretty - 15th July
 * all about it! All the news is bad news'' - David Cameron, Rupert Murdoch and the police are each struggling to salvage a reputation - 12th July
 * Murdoch missed the news'' -Executives failed to realise the story was running out of their control - 9th July
 * to Cameron: tactics are not enough'' - The prime minister seems to have assumed he could bluff his way through - 5th July
 * out what China wants'' - There are too many natural constraints on its power to be global hegemon - 1st July
 * way to save the NHS – close hospitals'' - Few things frightens politicians more than campaigns against closure of constituency A&E or maternity units - 28th June
 * return to Westphalia'' - The Brics’ model is 1648, not the Treaty of Rome - 24th June
 * two: the rest versus the rest'' - Rising global powers have aspirations in common, but also rivalries that are often deeper than those with the west - 17th June
 * must own its past to build its future'' - Anything interesting that Ed Miliband’s party might have to say is drowned out by introspection and infighting - 14th June
 * Berlin is resetting its compass'' - A look at the changing dynamics of Germany’s relationships - 10th June
 * rights and wrongs of Britain’s deficit'' - The chancellor has been too intractable while his shadow has been too reluctant to spell out an alternative - 7th June
 * Tahrir Square comes to Israel'' - Benjamin Netanyahu’s ambition may extend no further than clinging to office - 3rd June
 * health fiasco is becoming contagious'' - The poll tax was probably the last example of a policy as badly conceived as it was politically self-destructive - 31st May
 * to lead our hectic world'' - Trends beyond their control demand urgent attention, but governments are losing their capacity to act - 27th May
 * and Obama: it’s strictly business'' - Junking the emotional baggage in the UK-US relationship is long overdue - 24th May
 * choice of minefields for Obama'' - Having set out his hopes, will the president invest serious political capital to support them? - 20th May
 * times for Europe’s centre-left'' - The investment of so much hope in one politician shows the depth of the French malaise - 17th May
 * enjoys his hour in the sun'' - Everything about 10 Downing Street fits the prime minister like an expensive suit - 13th May
 * Catalan secret of Salmond’s success'' - More than two-thirds of Scotts oppose separation. Complacency is foolish - 10th May
 * promise of a post-jihad world'' - As long as stability is seen as synonymous with the old order, the west will surrender moral authority in the region - 6th May
 * chance for president caught in quagmire'' - Obama should intensify efforts to promote Afghan political reconciliation - 3rd May
 * of a lapsed republican'' - You don’t have to be an ardent Roundhead to scorn the fuss and flummery surrounding the royal couple. On second thoughts, though, you need not be a Cavalier to enjoy the attention - 29th April
 * cynical campaign, but a worthwhile step'' - A switch to AV would not solve all the problems. But it would make the Commons more representative of the electorate - 26th April
 * mandarins must say ‘No, minister’'' - Senior civil servants were too ready to suppress their doubts - 19th April
 * The Yanks are going home'' - As long as they nestle under the US security umbrella, Europeans will continue to inhabit a postmodern utopia - 15th April
 * banks get away with it again'' - Politicians eager to hurl rhetorical brickbats have been a lot more reluctant to embrace the radical regulatory reforms - 12th April
 * new global geometry of power'' - China’s expanding economic ties mean that competition with the US is inevitable - 8th April
 * plan that will damage Cameron’s health'' - The coalition should scrap Mr Lansley’s scheme and start again - 5th April
 * not so eternal triangles'' - Shifting alliances lead to a new geometry of Europe - 1st April
 * dangerous ride in the Treasury Trabant'' - Failures in the boom years amplified the consequences of the crash - 29th March
 * to Europe: bon courage'' - As the west’s fighter jets patrol the skies over Libya, we have glimpsed a new geopolitical landscape - 25th March
 * chancellor’s autopilot is locked to Plan A'' - The political storm clouds are gathering over the coalition - 24th March
 * stand on Middle East peace'' - The west is in disarray. Once familiar positions on the merits or otherwise of intervention have been upended - 18th March
 * Libyan no-fly zone is only half an answer'' - The pressure for military action would surely be irresistible were Mr Gaddafi to be seen slaughtering his people as western planes patrolled the skies overhead - 15th March
 * to embrace the Arab world'' - Imperative Europe demonstrates it is there for long haul - 11th March
 * lucrative business in washing reputations'' - London has long been a place for autocrats to deposit their cash and whiten their images – as long as they can afford the sizeable fees - 8th March
 * pointers for the Middle East'' - Building the infrastructure of freedom and the rule of law will be a painstaking and painful business - 4th March
 * revolutions teach lesson in realpolitik'' - Reinventing foreign policy as export promotion was naive - 1st March
 * to speak to a bigger audience'' - One of the more obvious lessons of the toppling of Mubarak’s regime was that the revolution belongs to Egyptians. Washington must now address directly a generation of young Arabs – and Iranians – who want to shape their own destiny - 18th February
 * would have fared better in the euro'' - The thread linking the multiple mistakes in British economic policymaking in recent decades has been the righteous certainty of those making the wrong decisions - 15th February
 * aboard for a two-speed Europe'' - There is a snag – the German chancellor and French president want to couple only 17 of the Union’s 27 carriages to their refurbished locomotive - 11th February
 * makes a dash for the sidelines'' - The prime minister may regret the present retreat from influence - 8th February
 * Middle East sets its own course'' - Washington has always overestimated its influence - 4th February
 * pay-up and shut-up deal for the banks'' - British banks need to strike a bargain: politicians, regulators and the media will stop talking about bonuses when banks reimburse taxpayers - 1st February
 * bury a Palestinian state'' - The opportunity for a Middle East peace deal has probably passed - 28th January
 * screws turn on the News of the World'' - If I had to guess, I would say Murdoch is hopping mad - 25th January
 * is on the side of democracy'' - Freedom and the rule of law have an appeal well beyond the west - 21st January
 * reform could become PM’s poll tax'' - The UK prime minister has got the public policy and the politics badly wrong - 18th January
 * perils of mutual miscalculation'' - You do not have to take sides to see where the present China/US standoff is leading - 14th January
 * frowns on the face of British politics'' - Testing time for party leaders - 11th January



Articles: 2010

 * shamed by Heathrow’s terminal misery'' - None should have been surprised by the latest snow-induced standstill - 21st December
 * the way to a new global balance'' - Western hegemony coming to a close earlier than many had imagined - 17th December
 * coalition badly needs a Plan B'' - The opening months of 2011 will test whether recovery can be sustained through a fiscal squeeze - 14th December
 * risen China reaches for power'' - Beijing used to deny any intent to upset the global order. Now it appears to be formulating an Asian Monroe doctrine - 10th December
 * learns the lessons of a breach of trust'' - Policies and priorities rest almost entirely with the Tories. Clegg needs to change the balance of power - 7th December
 * history of the present in 250,000 cables'' - WikiLeaks shows us how American power is waning - 30th November
 * can save the planet'' - The top-down approach to climate change has faltered but things are still happening on the ground - 26th November
 * Irish crisis and a British nightmare'' - Governments cannot deflate their way back to budget balance - 23rd November
 * assertive China stirs an anxious conversation'' - The harsher China’s tone, the more eager its neighbours are to get closer to the US - 19th November
 * referendum lock on Britain’s ambition'' - The government’s European Union bill is replete with inconsistencies - 16th November
 * challenge to Old Europe'' - Ankara no longer sees why it should accept the role of supplicant or cipher - 12th November
 * keeps a rendezvous with reality'' - Austerity is all well and good, he now seems to be saying, as long as the prime minister still looks his air-brushed best in the public prints - 9th November
 * America raises the barricades'' - Fed up with high unemployment and an anaemic economic recovery, the country risks turning its back on the world - 5th November
 * cordial entente to match the realities of power'' - Britain and France want to retain their global reach. Neither can afford any longer to go it alone - 2nd November
 * speaks truth about power'' - A look at Barack Obama’s mixed record two years into his presidency - 29th October
 * reform, an accident waiting to happen'' - Andrew Lansley’s plan is misjudged in timing and substance - 26th October
 * end of Britain’s post-imperial ambition'' - Cool Britannia, self-confident globalism and liberal internationalism – all belong to a bygone era - 22nd October
 * back with no plan B'' - Osborne can only hope that his advisers are right - 21st October
 * the carriers sank a defence strategy'' - Aspiration without cash. The result - carriers without planes - 19th October
 * should be wary of dancing on Obama’s grave'' - Europe’s leaders failed to recognise how comfortable life was jeering from the sidelines - 15th October
 * cuts that fail the fairness test'' - There is anger in Whitehall about the ideological enthusiasm with which ministers have been wielding the axe - 12th October
 * between bombing Iran and an Iranian bomb'' - If Tehran succeeds in its ambition, it will probably start a nuclear race - 8th October
 * coalition more than the sum of its parts'' - Cameron is enjoying standing a little above the political fray - 5th October
 * tug of war that heralds Britain’s farewell to arms'' - The UK could be looking to abandon world player aspirations - 1st October
 * falls into the European statist trap'' - Labour has chosen an opposition leader over a would-be prime minister - 28th September
 * long drift towards irrelevance'' - A rhetorical recasting of its ambitions will not be enough to assure its future - 24th September
 * liberal threat to the Liberal Democrats'' - Many of Nick Cleggs supporters have already deserted - 21st September
 * interests collide in the new world disorder'' - To what degree will the big powers locate their foreign policies in a shared understanding of collective security? - 17th September
 * anxious autumn is Labour’s yet to lose'' - As Britain’s Con-Lib coalition balks at the scale of the challenge it has set itself, the opposition looks like it may reject the leadership candidate most serious about regaining power - 14th September
 * heads for Japanese irrelevance'' - The view that the EU can measure its influence against China and the US stretches credulity - 10th September
 * than a tale of tabloid skulduggery'' - The Andy Coulson affair raises questions about David Cameron’s judgment - 7th September
 * lessons for the left'' - People want to be supported by the state, but will rebel if they fear suffocation - 3rd September
 * leave next Labour leader a conundrum'' - Blair-Brown argument has not been resolved - 2nd September
 * defence of profligate public servants'' - Cameron’s administration stages show trials of well-heeled bureaucrats - 31st August
 * confidence comes face to face with austerity'' - Cameron has innate sense that he was made for the role - 6th August
 * aspirations carry a price tag'' - The UK’s self-image as a pocket-superpower has long been a flimsy conceit - 3rd August
 * years on, the markets are masters again'' - How political resolve has given way to fear - 30th July
 * has fallen victim to electoral success'' - Tories’ enforced marriage to the LibDems has bred complacency on Westminster’s opposition benches - 27th July
 * may fret but Obama understands America’s role'' - The trials and tribulations of the president’s foreign policy - 16th July
 * squalls before the cuts get serious'' - Ministers would be wise not to sound quite so enthusiastic about making ferocious spending cuts - 13th July
 * has more cards to play in the Middle East'' - The publication of a plan for a two-state settlement would greatly ratchet up the pressure - 9th July
 * grabs hold of British foreign policy'' - UK diplomats have taken to William Hague, the foreign secretary - 6th July
 * solidarity has put global governance in a spin'' - Heady talk of a new international architecture is long behind us - 2nd July
 * question haunting Britain’s kingmakers'' - Applying a brake on someone else’s policies is insufficient purpose for a political party – even for a junior partner in a coalition - 29th June
 * pays the price of penury'' - Margaret Thatcher, famous, or infamous, for her eagerness to take an axe to the big state, never dared to cut so deep - 24th June
 * cuts will test the coalition'' - The cuts will not, as Mr Clegg has insisted, be ‘progressive’. Those on the lowest incomes will suffer most. No wonder some Lib Dems already look uncomfortable - 23rd June
 * Budget that crowns the governor King'' - Many will find it curious that Mervyn King, who now has authority to oversee Britain’s banks and financial services industry, should wield such influence - 21st June
 * west must offer Turkey a proper seat at the table'' - Ankara has not turned its back on Europe - 18th June
 * tensions behind Cameron’s puff and PR'' - A Budget seen to drive Britain into recession would hit the coalition - 15th June
 * home truths on oil for president'' - The Deepwater Horizon crisis has shown Barack Obama at his worst - 11th June
 * pass test for Cameron’s mettle'' - Why are wealthy pensioners to be guaranteed winter fuel allowances? - 8th June
 * Palestinians cannot be hammered into submission'' - Israel’s punishment of civilians in Gaza is nothing if not self-defeating - 4th June
 * the prurient will rejoice at Laws’ resignation'' - Media prefers to throw rocks to seeking endeavour - 1st June
 * has joined Thatcher in Europe’s corner shop'' - If Germany succumbs fully to the British disease, the whole EU project is doomed - 28th May
 * goodbye to the politics of golly-gosh'' - Queen’s speech legislation will see enthusiasm rub against reality - 25th May
 * spending battle to open new wounds'' - Formally, the shots have yet to be fired in the battle for Whitehall spending cuts, but the Treasury has set the terms of its looming battle with the MoD - 21st May
 * powers do not want to play by the west’s rules'' - The uranium deal struck by Turkey and Brazil with Iran has caused irritation in the west - 21st May
 * must think again on Afghanistan'' - The slate can be wiped clean for a fundamental look at strategy and tactics - 18th May
 * coalition opts for pragmatism'' - The new government has traded ideology for power - 14th May
 * too has to convince the markets'' - Even with unprecedented spending cuts, the figures don’t add up - 11th May
 * struggle between new and old politics'' - When politicians say they are acting in the national interest, we should reach for the salt - 10th May
 * home truths about Britain’s special relationship'' - The UK is likely to have less to offer as far as the Americans are concerned - 7th May
 * New Labour era limps to a close'' - If Brown has been unable to show purpose, Cameron has failed to frame a convincing agenda - 4th May
 * unravels in a tangle of national interests'' - The risk is not so much of a rupture, but of atrophy from an absence of political leadership - 30th April
 * the unthinkable is unavoidable'' - What the UK party leaders say about working together may be set aside after the election - 27th April
 * fight waiting for the knockout blow'' - Everything has revolved around these confrontations. You can’t get much more old media than that - 23rd April
 * election debate is rewriting the political rules'' - The campaign is now about what voters think of politicians - 23rd April
 * snatches Cameron’s winning card'' - The leader of the UK’s third party has made an emotional connection with voters that has eluded his rivals - 20th April
 * Dem leader shows life beyond the bubble'' - Afforded the status of an equal, Clegg took his chances, even if, I struggle to recall much of what he said - 15th April
 * Benedict has turned his back on a church in crisis'' - The pews may gather dust in Europe and the US, but elsewhere business is booming - 15th April
 * is arguing about the past'' - Election manifestos must look to the future of the country - 13th April
 * Obama is president with an endgame'' - The turning point came with the passage of healthcare legislation - 9th April
 * election need not be a requiem'' - Significant parts of the economy seem vibrant - 6th April
 * ‘Honest Vince’ plays fast and loose'' - If a tax plan appears to be too good to be true, it generally is - 30th March
 * myopia reopens Europe’s German question'' - No leader can hide under the covers of self-interest - 26th March
 * faith-based politics'' - The big fact about Britain’s predicament has not changed: sooner or later an unsustainable government deficit will demand deep spending cuts and more tax rises - 25th March
 * has bigger problems than the unions'' - Recent industrial unrest is nothing like the 1970s - 23rd March
 * should table a Middle East peace plan'' - This may be the president’s last opportunity - 19th March
 * Tories need to offer hope, not pain'' - The voters are not ready for a message of austerity - 16th March
 * further than the fads and fashions of geopolitics'' - Maps of a new global order are as ephemeral as spring collections - 19th February
 * needs an Afghan exit strategy'' - The west has to intensify pressure on Hamid Karzai to talk to his enemies - 16th February
 * stirs a cold war spat about European security'' - By casting Nato in the role of aggressor, the Kremlin diverts attention from domestic failures - 12th February
 * is too soon for Cameron’s Tories to panic'' - Narrowing in the polls has caused anxiety for the UK opposition - 9th February
 * the bomb and the barricades'' - There are two stories about Iran – the confrontation with the west over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and the rising domestic opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad - 5th February
 * shared hypocrisy about tax and spend'' - Ask voters what they want from the next government and, like Brown and Cameron, they trip over the contradictions - 2nd February
 * west wavers between the enemy and the exit'' - The trouble with the war in Afghanistan is that it is impossible to separate the new realism from the palpable eagerness of western governments to depart. Each affirmation of the west’s resolve is accompanied by a signal that it is looking for a quick way out - 29th January
 * futile quest for Iraq’s smoking gun'' - Critics are certain that Tony Blair took Britain into an illegal war at the behest of George W. Bush; as certain as the former prime minister once was that Saddam was concealing WMD - 26th January
 * fearful Europe trails petulantly in US wake'' - Cavilling about US power measures Europe’s frustration and its fatalism. The present mood is one of pervasive gloom with European elites paralysed by sight of a future they fear has been claimed by the US and China - 22nd January
 * the big banks rigged the market'' -Taxes and fees on the banks are only a start. The next step must be to tackle the oligopolies which gave rise to their fat profits - 19th January
 * unholy alliance at war with Obama’s foreign policy'' - The president has accepted the advice of intelligence chiefs, military commanders and diplomats, that defeating al-Qaeda ultimately is about hearts, minds and politics as much as military force - 15th January
 * tug of war over Britain’s economic policy'' - The Bank of England is struggling with Britain’s Treasury for control of the levers of economic policy - 12th January
 * political fight set to reach well beyond Britain’s election'' - As the election campaign unfolds it seems that the most interesting political choices will come after rather than before Britain votes. The tensions within the two main parties are as compelling as anything seen so far in the contest between them - 8th January



Articles: 2009

 * too late to take the politics out of banking'' - Leading the running for daft sayings by bankers this year is the latest call for governments to keep out of financial services - 22nd December
 * global order swept away in the rapids of history'' - Bin Laden and Bush may turn out to be minor players in an era of tumultuous upheaval. The big clashes of coming decades are more likely to be between states as ideologies. The prevailing tensions will be between co-operation and competition, rules and anarchy, order and disorder - 18th December
 * choice: a Tory or a radical?'' - The Conservative leader used to promise to share the proceeds of economic growth between public services and lower taxes. Now the choice is between what services to cut and what taxes to raise - 15th December
 * an easy marriage becomes a ménage à trois'' - The challenge shared by Washington and Tokyo is how to engage a rising China whilst balancing its regional ambitions - 11th December
 * without purpose'' - Dividing lines are all Gordon Brown’s government has left. It has run out of ideas save arguing that David Cameron’s Conservatives would be worse - 10th December
 * Iraq, but learn the lesson of history'' - Britain should retain its security relationship with Washington. But if Iraq tells us anything it is that Britain’s willingness to fight alongside the US can never be unconditional - 8th December
 * to make a successful failure out of Copenhagen'' - The climate change conference next month is bound to fail, as the US is not ready to accept any of the elements needed for success. But negotiators must remain committed to an eventual deal and avoid the twin dangers of denial and despair - 13th November
 * open question in Obama’s Afghan plan'' - Friends of the US president are already warning Afghanistan is shaping up as the biggest potential threat to his hopes of re-election in 2012 - 10th November
 * Mr President. There’s no need to rush'' - For Obama’s critics on the right, diplomacy and engagement have become synonyms for vacillation and weakness. He should stand firm: many of the problems he faces, foreign policy in particular, will not be harmed by leaving some time to consider them - 6th November
 * parliamentarians the rate for the job'' - The uproar about MPs’ expenses threatens more serious damage than holding up the nation to ridicule. It promises to rob politics of the people it - 3rd November
 * future or the museum? Europe’s moment of choice'' - The debate about who should be chosen as the first president of the European Council has become a proxy for this more fundamental choice. Economic power is now shifting eastwards on a scale and at a speed beyond our previous experience - 30th October
 * turns east as Europe clings to past'' - The country, frustrated at the efforts of certain EU leaders to prevent its accession to the bloc, is assuming a role in line with its status as a fast-rising power at the strategic crossroads of east and west - 23rd October
 * five-step programme to save the BBC'' - In a spirit of constructive criticism, here is a plan that might persuade the politicians that Britain still needs a vibrant, albeit rather slimmer, BBC - 20th October
 * bonuses and the market: plus ça change'' - As the financial crash fades in the memory, the question is how long its repercussions will continue to affect the world. The answer should be obvious. Everything has changed; and nothing has changed - 16th October
 * of the politics of pessimism'' - For all its troubles, the Britain of my experience does not seem to be sliding into economic and social chaos - 9th October
 * Englanders are of little use to America'' - David Cameron should not expect open arms in Washington if opposition to the Lisbon treaty leads to a rupture with Europe - 6th October
 * loses its Lisbon hiding place'' - Lisbon has provided governments with an alibi. As long as they were arguing about majority voting or the size of the Commission, they could sidestep the issues of substance pressing down on the Union. But Europe cannot escape the existential choice of the coming decade - 2nd October
 * for Gordon’s last throw of the dice'' - The best reason for a series of TV debates is the democratic one: voters deserve the right to an informed choice - 29th September
 * things you need to know about the global puzzle'' - The UN and G20 jamborees leave the new world landscape a work in progress. But some contours stand in sharp relief. Philip Stephens looks at Chinese multilateralism; the Middle Eastern challenge to US power; Obama’s effort to frame new rules for the global game; and Europe’s place on the margins - 25th September
 * this the Liberal Democrat moment?'' - The result of the fraying of tribal loyalties on the left and the right is that the fabled two-party system now leaves ample room for a significant third force - 22nd September
 * west’s finger-wagging will not force Iran into line'' - Sanctions have not worked in slowing the nuclear programme, even if western intelligence services differ on just how far Iran has got. Isolation would play to Mr Ahmadi-Nejad’s favourite narrative of a western plot to humiliate Iran - 18th September
 * trumps candour in spending debate'' - For all the gusto with which David Cameron promises to swing the axe, he is decidedly cagey as to where the blade will fall - 15th September
 * misreading of the past holds a lesson for future'' - Thatcher and Mitterrand’s opposition to German reunification is one example of world leaders misreading the future at the end of the Cold War. The fear that the collapse of communism would see a return to the power politics of a century earlier proved unfounded - 11th September
 * rides to the rescue of the BBC'' - Slimming down the Beeb is one thing; dismantling it in the cause of liberal market fundamentalism is another - 8th September
 * global consensus is starting to crack'' - In the spring, leaders of the biggest economies could claim to have saved the world. What on earth do they do for an encore? - 4th September (see: 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit)
 * the banks (and bonuses) down to size'' - Lord Turner’s proposition that the market is rigged strikes at the heart of the carefully constructed myths of the financial services industry - 1st September
 * to stand still? The peace test for Netanyahu'' - With Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu still far apart on the issue of Israeli settlements, someone is going to have to lose face soon - 28th August
 * deal exposes the price of realism'' - No amount of protestations will counter the impression that this was essentially a political decision - 25th August
 * friendless Russia is held hostage to Putin’s vanity'' - The prime minister’s compulsion to flaunt his torso offers an unfortunate metaphor for Russia: a great, but waning power deluding itself that a show of muscle is the way to cling on to past glory - 21st August
 * truths about rationing healthcare'' - Beneath the transatlantic waves lies an awkward truth: all the models, the American included, ration access, while pretending otherwise - 18th August
 * of ambition leaves Europe in the slow lane'' - The world is witnessing as big a geopolitical upheaval as any in the past century. The international institutions and rules upon which Europe relies for security and prosperity are under strain. And Europe looks set to absent itself from the debate - 24th July
 * Tory mis-step that tells a worrying story'' - Cameron’s plans for Ofcom show that much of the Conservative prospectus is about grabbing a headline, not setting a framework for effective government - 21st July
 * Middle East chess game Obama cannot afford to lose'' - The president has sprinted from continent to continent with the speed and confidence of a grandmaster. He has made the opening moves in almost all of the important games, opting for boldness over caution. But what happens in the Middle East could well tip the outcome of many other games - 17th July
 * war that cannot be fought on the cheap'' - The goal now is not a shiny new democracy, but a self-sustaining Afghan state able to deny safe havens to al-Qaeda - 14th July
 * awe and domestic anxiety: a tale of two Chinas'' - Beijing is aware that the autocracy and corruption on which the present system rests will not withstand the pressures of economic and social change. It is too simplistic to see the country’s global dominance as a sure thing - 10th July
 * should say less and tell us more'' - What is a Tory government for? - 7th July
 * struggles to adapt to a changing picture of Iran'' - No one watches events in Iran more closely than Israel. Tehran has long been the abiding preoccupation, some would say obsession of political discourse in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Now the story line has changed - 4th July
 * struggles to adapt to a changing picture of Iran'' - Iran is no longer the country the west had thought, or wanted to think, it was. The post-election scenes on the streets of Iranian cities surely strengthen those who argue that the way to encourage Tehran’s return to the international community is through engagement - 3rd July
 * does not have a monopoly of wisdom'' - You have to admire Mervyn King’s chutzpah. The governor of the Bank of England has been speaking lately with customary self-confidence about Britain’s economic challenges. His prescription is simple: we should all agree that the Bank knows best - 30th June
 * falls away as the global crisis abates'' - There was a surprising degree of co-operation on the international response to the crisis in financial markets. But the restoration of calm has been the signal for cracks to appear about what to do next. The danger is that, without the glue of shared adversity, governments will fall to bickering again -26th June
 * silent debate about UK security'' - The days of the ‘cosy status quo’, in which the US assumes the burden, while Europe wastes scant resources, are over - 23rd June
 * exposes gap between idealism and realism'' - It may well prove impossible, whatever the west does, to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. But one thing that can be said for certain is that an attempt to bomb its nuclear installations would not halt the programme. To the contrary, nothing would be more calculated to entrench the present - 19th June (See: Iran: summary)
 * to rescue broadcasting from the BBC'' - On TV, where most of the money is spent, the public service ideal is now confined to a handful of ‘trophy’ programmes - 16th June
 * What crisis? The market confounds the left'' - Pace the doomsayers who predicted imminent Armageddon, liberal market capitalism has survived: somewhat humbled and, in the case of the financial services industry under much tighter official supervision, but recognisably much as it was - 12th June
 * sleepwalks towards Europe’s exit'' - Wrecking the Lisbon treaty would be a declaration of war. The crisis in Britain’s relationship with its partners would precipitate calls for a re-evaluation of its EU membership - 9th June
 * to bust-up'' - Britain: Gordon Brown promised permanent prosperity. Instead, as economic and political upheavals converge, a Labour government goes the squabbling way of the Conservatives - 8th June
 * government heads towards cliff edge'' - Behind the Labour party infighting and cabinet factionalism and the furore over parliamentary expenses lies a deeper sense that this is a government that no longer knows, or cares, what it is for, except to try to cling on to power - 5th June
 * real cure for Britain’s political malaise'' - Local government has been left to wither. As Whitehall has provided the money, it has micro-managed spending. Voters have been stripped of the right to make local choices - 2nd June
 * quite a revolution but, with luck, the end of an era'' - Public anger stirred by newspaper revelations of British MPs’ expenses claims dating back several years has seen MPs of all parties in full retreat before a modern day mob. The affair has been a salutary reminder of the manifest flaws of a smug institution - 22nd May
 * parliamentary regicide do the trick?'' - It is not often that the House of Commons defenestrates its Speaker. The last time was 300-odd years ago. So the toppling of Michael Martin was a measure of the panic that has gripped the nation’s legislators in the wake of the expenses furore - 20th May
 * re-arms itself for a vanished age'' - Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Britain is still buying aircraft designed to intercept Soviet MiGs over the North Sea - 19th May
 * Middle East peace plan puts Netanyahu on the spot'' - US vice-president Joe Biden’s recent speech about ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict laid out in plain terms the challenge for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel’s long-term security depends on peaceful co-existence with a viable Palestinian state - 15th May
 * yes, but so is the media humbug'' - The majority of MPs are decent men and women who want to change things. Ambitious? Yes. Ruthless? Often. Pompous? More often. But crooks? No - 12th May
 * works, but it cannot defuse every threat'' - Barack Obama has elevated diplomacy and engagement as vital instruments of American power, recognising that legitimacy counts alongside military muscle. The truth, however, is that it may be impossible to eliminate the most serious threats to international security - 8th May
 * ambitious mayor who lacks an ambition'' - For all the media attention, Boris Johnson has been fuzzy when it comes to the big strategic issues. His practical vision for London is as unclear as on the day of his election - 5th May
 * ever-fearful Europe risks forfeiting the future'' - The transatlantic argument about the right response to the global recession has been one rooted in temperament. Americans prefer to throw everything into fixing today’s problems and to worry about tomorrow, well, tomorrow. Continental Europeans fret about what might happen tomorrow if they throw caution to the winds today. The British are usually somewhere in the middle - 1st May
 * tide sweeps Britain into the past'' - Both Labour and the Conservatives are reclaiming pasts they thought they had long ago left behind - 28th April
 * abuse of the law handed victory to terrorists'' - Mr Obama has understood that the twisted logic of torture concedes to the enemy the very thing you are fighting to preserve. The Bush administration overturned the scales of justice to the advantage of terrorists. Mr Obama must set them right - 24th April
 * in sight of Number 10'' - The grim realities of this economic mess will imprison for at least a parliament whichever party wins power - 23rd April
 * full stop to era of good times'' - In a curious way, the significance of Mr Darling’s grim litany of bad news lay more in its description of the economic and political straitjacket that awaits whoever takes the helm in Downing Street after the election - 23rd April
 * for Cameron to write his prospectus'' - Labour is a victim of the lethal mix of hubris and exhaustion that afflicts governments in their third term. The jostling for the leadership succession is a symptom of the deep pessimism - 21st April
 * Guantanamo: time to cut the wire around Cuba'' - On the question of relations with the Castro regime Mr Obama has joined the long list of presidents imprisoned by the humiliation of the early 1960s. His team’s desire to invite comparisons between their man and Jack Kennedy is well known. Hanging on to JFK’s Cuba policy is surely a step too far - 17th April
 * market may be bust but so is the state'' - When the director-general of Britain’s biggest business organisation predicts a radical rebalancing between the state and the market – in favour of the former – few politicians would demur - 7th April
 * success reflects a different global landscape'' - The G20 summit’s deeper significance lay in its unspoken recognition of a changed geopolitical landscape. Not so long ago, this would have been a gathering of the Group of Eight rich nations, perhaps with cameo roles for China, India and a few others. Now, as Hu, Singh and the rest take their places as of right, the world is at last catching a true reflection of itself - 3rd April
 * leadership has failed the Bank of England'' - 31st March
 * zero: Obama grasps the nuclear nettle'' - In adding disarmament to his burgeoning agenda, the US president is opening doors to collective security that have been long slammed shut - 27th March
 * learns a familiar European lesson'' - Why should India, China, Russia or anyone else pay attention to the UK prime minister if he cannot carry his closest partners - 24th March
 * faces a choice: is it a big power or great power?'' - If it wants a lead role in the world concert, India cannot stand aloof from the rules. Rights come with responsibilities - 20th March
 * to the future will be a painful journey'' - Nothing has been said by any politician – even Vince Cable – to match the scale of the looming financial hangover - 17th March
 * global politics to rescue global capitalism'' - Is the G20 the answer? - 13th March
 * the banks first – and then shoot the bankers'' - Public fury at Sir Fred Goodwin and his chums is now an excuse for politicians to substitute populism for decisive action - 10th March
 * change he believes in: Obama shrugs off storm'' - Last week US president Barack Obama unveiled his first budget. What leapt out was the fact that he had decided to honour his manifesto pledges. Just about all of them. This demonstrated a political purpose reaching well beyond the immediate storms - 5th March
 * way to reset a once-special relationship'' - Thus far, Britain has seen the special relationship as setting it apart from the rest of Europe. The reverse should be true - 3rd March
 * diplomatic feint that looks to leave Japan in the cold'' - Japan’s Taro Aso this week stole the prize in the scramble to be first foreign leader across the threshold of Barack Obama’s White House. But behind this diplomatic flummery, the US is shuffling the hierarchies of its relationships in the region - 27th February
 * BBC’s public service grip is tightening'' - Once ‘reach’ becomes the test of the legitimacy of the licence fee, the corporation has a mandate to provide everything and anything - 24th February
 * Edge: Forgive me, but revenge is sweet'' - Philip Stephens admits to a guilty and illogical swell of satisfaction when he looks at one or two of the victims of the economic downturn - 21st February
 * leaders to confront demons of Europe’s past'' - The risk is that popular disturbances become self-sustaining: that a defensive move here fans the embers of nationalism there; that the single market unravels. The newer democracies of the EU in eastern and central Europe are particularly vulnerable - 20th February
 * limp excuse for a Tory foreign policy'' - The UK opposition party could, I suppose, argue that it has a set of impulses. There is no sign of any strategy - 17th February
 * tawdry episode that tells the story of political decay'' - The UK’s Labour party has been in power for something short of 12 years rather than the 18 of the Conservatives. But I detect the same mix of hubris and inertia. Office is treated as a birthright but most ministers have forgotten what it is for - 13th February
 * is time for banks to behave like banks'' - No, Britain’s bankers should not pay themselves extravagant bonuses. That some of them believe otherwise is depressing evidence of how remote they have become from the world beyond the deflated bubble of the financial services industry - 10th February
 * turned: a lesson from Latin America for the west'' - Chile has mixed and matched government and market, economic orthodoxy and social intervention. This was the insight that Tony Blair was supposed to have brought to British politics during the 1990s - 6th February
 * a slump: it’s the politics, stupid'' - We know what happened during the 1930s when tariffs were raised in response to similar calls to ‘protect’ British jobs - 3rd February
 * president’s men will test White House resolve'' - To succeed as Barack Obama’s special envoys to the Middle East and Afghanistan/Pakistan respectively, both George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke will need the authority of the president when the going gets tough - 30th January
 * falling pound recalls the ghosts of 1976'' - International faith in the British economy is at a low ebb. A renewed run on sterling could destabilise the banks - 27th January
 * that will shape a president promising change'' - At the heart of Barack Obama’s oration on Tuesday was a rare, if oblique, admission of the limitations of US power: “The world has changed, and we must change with it.” Philip Stephens looks at how the new presidency closes a number of chapters in American history - 23rd January
 * the bankers, nationalise the banks'' - The other day the prime minister remarked on the rising public anger at the behaviour of Britain’s banks. Unbridled rage would have been a more accurate description of the national mood - 20th January
 * Obama challenge: is Europe just a spectator?'' - The central geopolitical truth of the coming years will be the erosion of the effortless hegemony the west has exercised over global affairs. There could be no more important time to champion the values it has embedded in the multilateral order - 16th January
 * cannot escape the muddled centre'' - The UK’s Brown and Cameron are mistaken in assuming that political positions adopted now are sustainable in the medium term - 13th January
 * peace has been lost to Israel’s military victories'' - Missing is any sense that, beyond winning wars, Israel has the capacity to shape a different reality. Yet at times, plenty of Israeli politicians and officials will agree that the parameters of peace are clear - 9th January



Articles: 2008

 * for seasonal seers: future is not in the stars'' - The lesson of 2008 has been about how hard we find it to peer into the present. Economic interdependence and the shift in power east have been a commonplace for some time. It is only this year we have begun to see what the changes mean - 19th December 2008
 * choice of greater or lesser evils'' - If the government’s programme for the next parliament is at best vague, the Tories offer nothing more substantive - 16th December 2008
 * warming: how not to mobilise the masses'' - The shift to a low carbon economy will not be painless. But nor is global warming. The way to mobilise the masses in the battle to keep the planet cool is to recast the argument. Opportunity sells a lot better than do hair shirts - 12th December 2008
 * row: An unfortunate sense of déjà vu'' - The last time a senior German official publicly criticised Britain’s economic policy, the spat sent sterling tumbling and ruined the reputation of a Conservative government - 12th December 2008 (see: German ridicule for UK policies, BBC News, 10th December 2008)
 * mind the recession – save the pound'' - The Treasury, still in a state of denial about its mismanagement of the economy during the boom, remains firmly against the euro - 9th December 2008
 * mind the team: the president does the moves'' - Barack Obama’s choice of foreign policy heavyweights is significant for its ambition rather than its caution. If he really does want to recast America’s relationship with the world, surrounding himself with seasoned players will make the task easier not harder - 5th December 2008
 * police, and the state, are out of control'' - If the police think that they can discard due process, they have been taking their cue from the government - 2nd December 2008
 * banks put state back in the driving seat'' - Something big is happening. What started as a series of pragmatic ad hoc responses by governments and central banks is moving the boundary between state and market. Expediency is now overlaid with ideology. Government is no longer a term of abuse - 28th November 2008
 * to New Labour'' - The government’s gamble is that the global hurricane has rewritten the rules of politics as well as economics. Hence Mr Darling’s promise to raise the top rate of income tax to 45 per cent - 25th November 2008
 * confronts a choice between chaos and order'' - The US National Intelligence Council has produced Global Trends 2025, its four-yearly exercise in crystal ball-gazing, which tries to map the contours of the world more than 15 years hence. Barack Obama would do well to read it closely - 21st November 2008
 * choice for Obama lies on the road to Jerusalem'' - The Middle East poses an existential choice for the president-elect. Does he want to patch things up? Or does he want to redraw the strategic map of the region and thereby set a new direction for America’s role in the world - 14th November 2008
 * futile contest for Obama’s ear'' - Behind the general air of adulation is a profound misconception. This is the belief that things can be again as they were - 11th November 2008
 * Globalisation and the new nationalism collide - Why, just as they are becoming great powers, should China, India and the rest surrender sovereignty? As for the rich nations, they are all for a more inclusive global order as long as the addition of new members to the club in no way dilutes their own authority - 23rd October 2008
 * very wary of the bull market in Browns'' - Other leaders are asking whether this is the same politician who long scorned their demands for tighter regulation - 20th October 2008
 * it to the White House will be the easy part'' - What will voters say when Barack Obama, if he wins, says his health plan is unaffordable - 17th October 2008
 * in the age of control'' - As far as public esteem is concerned, bankers are now down there with second-hand car salesmen, estate agents and journalists - 14th October 2008
 * financial crisis marks out a new geopolitical order'' - Rich nations have yet to face up properly to the implications. They can imagine sharing power but on their terms - 10th October 2008
 * return to sobriety'' - In return for the bail-out of UK banks, the government is demanding – and here the voters will cheer – a radical change in culture. The champagne days are over but at some point the government will face a reckoning - 9th October 2008
 * is time to abandon imprudent caution'' - Gordon Brown must take more risks. This crisis demands a politician ready to anticipate rather than respond to events - 7th October 2008
 * financial concussions have shaken global politics'' - 3rd October 2008
 * faces the politics of hard choices'' - Events in the markets have shattered the illusion that politicians can have the best of all worlds all of the time - 30th September 2008
 * after the Olympics; a great but hesitant power'' - Each time I visit China I am struck by the hesitation. The world is in awe yet those steering the country show a strange ambivalence - 26th September 2008
 * yet out of danger'' - The best Gordon Brown could hope for was a breathing space. The applause in Manchester seemed to say he had succeeded. For how long is another question - 24th September 2008
 * the hurricane abates, a storm awaits'' - Labour is holding two conferences: one about the financial crash, the other about the crisis of Brown’s premiership - 23rd September 2008
 * capitalism needs global rules'' - Wise after the calamity, central bankers and market regulators are calling for tighter rules, closer oversight and a premium on sobriety - 19th September 2008
 * promises: Taxes are going up'' - What politician will threaten UK voters with higher taxes when banks are crashing and house prices tumbling - 16th September 2008
 * new president and a wake-up call'' - The next US leader will not be quite as powerful, while the departure of George Bush will deprive Europe of an alibi - 12th September 2008
 * and the burden of an unkept promise'' - After more than a year in the job, the UK’s PM has still to articulate the central purpose of his administration - 9th September 2008
 * reignites culture wars'' - Obama’s underprivileged background and McCain’s family wealth are lost to the Republicans’ distorting prism - 5th September 2008
 * nerves jangle at the mayor’s stumbles'' - Boris is Boris, senior Conservatives say. A great character, but scarcely a model for the way the party would run the country - 2nd September 2008
 * maps the boundaries of a greater Russia'' - Moscow’s invasion of Georgia points to a retreat from integration and a preference for force over rules - 29th August 2008
 * answer to the Heathrow horrors'' - The anti-monopoly commission’s report makes a powerful case that competition between the London airports may offer further options - 26th August 2008
 * Blindfolds that wrecked a deal to boost global trade - The Doha failure will not see the global trading system come crashing down. Yet it is more than a missed opportunity - 1st August 2008
 * A government bent on losing an election - The prevailing mood in the UK Labour party since the by-election loss of Glasgow East has been one of despair - 29th July 2008
 * Obama's message for Europe - There is little the region can quarrel with in the broad thrust of the national security strategy set out by the US presidential candidate this week - 17th July 2008
 * The pressing logic of Anglo-French defence - Sarkozy has been accused of surrendering Europe’s military leadership to Britain. There could be no more heinous crime - 14th July 2008
 * Europe promises cheers for Obama - The old continent has already decided: it will get the American president it deserves - 10th July 2008
 * Brown runs race against perceptions - We are back in 1980, sliding into the economic precipice. That, anyway, is what equity markets have lately seemed to say. It is also what most people seem to think. Britain’s voters are more pessimistic than at any time since Margaret Thatcher’s inaugural recession 28 years ago - 8th July 2008
 * Japan goes missing: invisible host at the summit - Japan’s pre-eminent interest lies in working to extend and strengthen the rules-based international order to draw in China and other rising powers. More than anything else, this part of the world needs a robust mutual security system - 3rd July 2008
 * The governor claims a dangerous victory - Recent events have left a nagging suspicion that the Bank of England’s new framework owes much to pride and ego - 30th June 2008
 * Bush's China policy may outlast his presidency - The Bushes are heading for Beijing. By the busload. Visiting the Chinese capital last week, I was told that President Hu Jintao hopes to greet three generations of America’s first family at the opening ceremony for the Olympics - 26th June 2008
 * Good Gordon swept aside by Bad Brown - Some years ago a distinguished former editor of this newspaper gave a prescient speech about the two politicians then running Britain’s Treasury. Good Gordon, he observed, was forever jostling with Bad Brown about the direction of economic policy - 23rd June 2008
 * Saving the planet will be difficult, but do not despair - The shortest distance in the discourse about climate change is that between denial and despair - 19th June 2008
 * Stop talking about Lisbon and get to work - The worst option would be to let another period of internal wrangling serve as an alibi for European inaction where it matters - 16th June 2008
 * A war needs a definition of victory - The question that western donors to Afghanistan might have asked themselves at this week’s Paris conference was an obvious one: why are we there? - 12th June 2008
 * Cameron needs more than tactical tricks - Some time soon the Conservatives need to get serious. If Gordon Brown’s government is buckling under the burdens of office, David Cameron’s party scarcely looks ready for them - 9th June 2008
 * The world wants a vote in an epic presidential contest - These are times when everything is measured against prior expectations, when tomorrow’s news was discounted yesterday, and when to be anything but cynical is to be credulous - 6th June 2008
 * A capital despoiled by monumental egos - The vista across the Thames from my office at the Financial Times pays homage to expensive mediocrity - 2nd June 2008
 * Truths for a new world of them and us - Globalisation belonged to us; financial crises happened to them - 30th May 2008
 * A party stranded between defeat and disaster - Step back for a moment from the maelstrom that is Gordon Brown’s government. As colleagues ponder a coup against the prime minister, it is worth reflecting on the truly breathtaking speed of his fall from grace - 26th May 2008
 * Friends or foes: a world through two lenses - John McCain and Barack Obama have grown impatient with Hillary Clinton. As Mrs Clinton ponders the terms under which she will eventually depart the field, Mr McCain and Mr Obama have already joined battle - 22nd May 2008
 * A transatlantic opportunity for Britain - Gordon Brown’s administration has the look of a government drowning. A defeat in this week’s Crewe and Nantwich by-election would leave many wondering whether the prime minister can regain dry land - 20th May 2008
 * Price paid by Burma's victims - In the aftermath of cyclone Nargis, Burma’s military junta has turned an unavoidable natural calamity into a calculated human catastrophe - 16th May 2008
 * Salmond bids for the best of both worlds - You have to hand it to Alex Salmond. The leader of the Scottish National party has spent a year as first minister doing nothing very much at all. He has done so with panache, ruthlessness and a trademark smile - 12th May 2008
 * Brown limps towards an unhappy ending - On Sunday Nicolas Sarkozy took time to commiserate by telephone with Gordon Brown following the British prime minister’s recent drubbing at the hands of voters. The French president knows what it is like to be unpopular - 8th May 2008
 * Democracy’s tide running against Brown - There is nothing in the British constitution to curtail the time in office of one or other political party. Term limits do not work in parliamentary democracies - 5th May 2008
 * In Depth: A Tory government-in-waiting? - Britain’s political ground has shifted. For the first time since Tony Blair swept New Labour to victory in 1997, the opposition Conservatives can lay a credible claim to be a government-in-waiting - 2nd May 2008
 * Clever conceits cannot hide the world’s jagged edges - Ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall politicians and pundits have been imposing patterns on the world. The search has been for something to replace the reassuring symmetry of the cold war. This undoubtedly noble endeavour has written a lot of speeches and sold a lot of books. We are little the wiser for it - 1st May 2008
 * Cameron’s success invites tougher scrutiny - Cripes! We might win. What on earth are we going to do then? No, that was not the inimitable Boris Johnson contemplating this week’s mayoral showdown with Ken Livingstone. It was one of David Cameron’s shadow team on the dawning prospect of a Conservative return to government - 28th April 2008
 * Hillary Clinton goes nuclear - When I first heard Hillary Clinton had promised to annihilate someone, I assumed the chosen target was Barack Obama - 24th April 2008
 * Get your retreat in early - As these things go, Gordon Brown’s retreat was at the humiliating end of the scale; but on matters as vital as carrying the Budget through the House of Commons, retreat is probably better than defeat - 23rd April 2008
 * Saviour is symptom of Italy’s ills - Earlier this week I heard an Italian senator speaking of his ambitions for Italy’s newly elected government - 17th April 2008
 * Even a slowdown brings some good news - Crisis, what crisis? As I write, a small voice tells me I may come to regret this column - 14th April 2008
 * The fight that calls for something other than a war - Terrorists are not all the same - 10th April 2008
 * A lesson for Brown in the fight for London - If Boris Johnson deposes Ken Livingstone next month it will not be because of a great groundswell of public confidence in his capacity to govern London - 7th April 2008
 * Last chance for the US to shape the new global order - Some time ago, long before he had stolen the lead from Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama sought the counsel of one of Washington’s wisest thinkers on foreign policy - 3rd April 2008
 * A health service lesson for British Airways - Friday evening and the accident and emergency department of London’s St Thomas’ hospital resembles nothing so much as Heathrow’s Terminal 5 - 31st March 2008
 * Medvedev should expect the west’s respect – and resolve - Russia has a new president-elect. There are hopes in the US and Europe that Dmitry Medvedev could foreshadow a fresh start. After the wearing clashes with Vladimir Putin, the impulse is understandable. No one has gained from the cold peace - 27th March 2008
 * T5: Still Heathrow and still a hassle - 27th March 2008
 * Brown's chance to build European bridges - Almost since Britain joined the European Union, its European policy has been described as an effort to drive a wedge between France and Germany - 17th March 2008
 * Europe needs a president, not a nonentity - Wanted: a president for Europe. Only nonentities need apply - 13th March 2008
 * ''UK Budget 2008: A gamble on global markets - I have still to get used to the idea that it is no longer Gordon Brown at the House of Commons despatch box; that the clunking fist has given way to the blinking eyebrows - 12th March 2008
 * ''UK Budget 2008: Osborne is trapped in Darling’s straitjacket - 10th March 2008
 * 3am in the White House: McCain takes the call - Best not forget John McCain. He might just win in November. Hillary Clinton has been showing him how - 6th March 2008
 * A compelling case for a do-nothing Budget - The news is scarcely sweet, so best keep it short. Richard Lambert, the former Financial Times editor who looks after the bosses as head of the CBI, says six brief paragraphs are all we need from Alistair Darling’s Budget next week - 3rd March 2008
 * Promising applause for an American in Pyongyang - I once heard a Chinese official say that North Korea’s Kim Jong-il was always abreast of global events - 28th February 2008
 * Time to break up airports monopoly - To anyone who travels regularly through Heathrow, Stephen Nelson’s departure as chief executive of BAA, the airports operator, can scarcely have come as much of a surprise - 27th February 2008
 * A hollow debate about defence spending - When Robert Gates turned up in Germany the other day to admonish America’s allies for their uneven contributions to the war in Afghanistan, everybody who is anybody in defence and security sat in the audience. Well, almost - 25th February 2008
 * Milosevic was the midwife to Kosovo’s nationhood - One easy way out is to blame it all on Woodrow Wilson. As the American president anticipated the peace to follow the war to end all wars, he thought some truths self-evident - 21st February 2008
 * Later not sooner: the Rock’s election legacy - All in all I thought that Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, put quite a good face on it. Northern Rock had fallen victim to the crisis in global credit markets. Support for the mortgage bank last autumn had forestalled contagion in the banking system. Nationalisation now best served the interests of taxpayers - 18th February 2008
 * Hollywood’s geopolitics lesson for China - Small tremors sometimes foreshadow bigger shocks. Few people will have known before this week that Steven Spielberg – he of Jaws, Jurassic Park, E.T. and other Hollywood epics – was to lend his creative talents to the Beijing Olympics - 14th February 2008
 * The Treasury Trabant has run out of road - The Treasury has never been accused of excessive humility. If Whitehall has always seen itself as a Rolls-Royce among government bureaucracies, the Treasury’s self-image has been that of the classic Silver Cloud. These days, another automotive marque springs more easily to mind – the Trabant - 11th February 2008
 * A chance to redesign American politics - Sometimes we overlook the obvious. Like everyone else this week I have been mesmerised by the contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - 7th February 2008
 *  US presidential election: The inevitable and the inextinguishable - If we were honest, we pundits would tell you we had already written the story of the night - 6th February 2008
 * ''Time for London to bet against Livingstone' - I would hazard a guess that David Cameron is ambivalent about Boris Johnson’s bid to be London’s mayor - 4th February 2008
 * Olmert walks friendless on road from Annapolis - Before I visited Israel the other day, some of my friends in the foreign policy community had admonished me for being overly pessimistic about the new road map drawn at Annapolis for a Middle East peace - 31st January 2008
 * Cameron fights Brown on Blairite ground - Forget the synthetic fury about campaign contributions. Who but the breathless BBC cares about whose brother-in-law wrote a campaign cheque for Alan Johnson? - 28th January 2008
 * Military deal that would banish ghosts of Suez - For half a century, the reference point for Anglo-French relations has been Suez. Events of the past few years have shown that the opposing conclusions drawn from the debacle in the desert were both wrong - 24th January 2008
 * Northern Rock: A fig-leaf for Labour’s failure - I cannot help thinking that there is something more than a touch ironic about the British government putting its reputation in the hands of an investment bank as it struggles to salvage something from the wreckage of Northern Rock - 21st January 2008
 * Sarkozy gambles on happy ending - Tony Blair once told me an amusing story about Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister. It came to mind after Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s lovestruck president, was pictured frolicking in the Red Sea with his latest paramour - 17th January 2008
 * A dispiriting return to Europe’s trenches - An unspoken truth about Britain’s turbulent marriage to Europe is how little things have changed over more than three decades - 14th January 2008
 * Reflection that defines choice for voters - There is not a scintilla of anything to be mistaken for modesty in Barack Obama’s pitch for the White House. Stripped of rhetorical ornament, it says vote for me because I am me - 10th January 2008
 * Westminster sees parallels in Washington - Gordon Brown is cheering for Hillary Clinton. David Cameron is backing Barack Obama. I am not sure about Nick Clegg. One thing, though, is certain: the contest between the Democratic contenders in New Hampshire is being watched as closely in Westminster as in Washington, DC - 7th January 2008



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