Julian Glover



Profile:
Full name: Julian Glover

Area of interest: Politics

Journals: The Guardian

Email: [mailto:julian.glover@guardian.co.uk julian.glover@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Julian Glover

Blog: Comment is free...; the blog art & architecture

Agent:

Networks:



Biography:
Education:

Career: Worked at The Economist and on several BBC Radio documentaries; joined The Guardian in 2000: launched and edited The Guardian Unlimited Politics website (ahead of the 2001 general election), became assistant news editor (politics) in 2003 – in charge of political coverage, in 2005 moved to the Westminster lobby as political correspondent, in 2006 became chief leader writer

Current position/role: Chief leader writer
 * also writes/has written for:

Other roles:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

TV/Radio: Worked on BBC Radio documentaries

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours:

Other: In a civil partnership with long-term partner, Matthew Parris, columnist and author 

Books & Debate:

 * Worked with John Major on the former PM's autobiography - John Major: the autobiography OCLC 42751073, 1999
 * The Guardian guide to Parliament (2001) OCLC 59512349

Latest work:

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate: 

The Guardian:
Column remit: Politics

Section: Leaders / Comment

Role: Chief leader writer

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:julian.glover@guardian.co.uk julian.glover@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Julian Glover

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Varies

Regularity:

Column format:

Average length:



Articles:

 * silent revolution in schools may ease the state-private divide'' - The education secretary's plans, quietly enacted, won't turn every school into Eton but could turn Eton into the exception - 23rd May 2011
 * crazy approach to our crazy loss-making railways'' - Unions, passengers and politicians will all find fault with Sir Roy McNulty's review this week – and it will change little - 16th May 2011
 * gave us Lembit Opik, but we still need Lib Dems'' - The Lib Dems can be infuriating, but a third party is vital if we want to avoid politics-as-bloodsport, and maintain democracy - 9th May 2011
 * coalition love-in is over, but it needn't mean divorce'' - Rivalry is natural, but if the government wants to survive it has to show that it's big enough to handle opposing views - 2nd May 2011
 * piled lie upon lie through the momentum of its own existence'' - What is given new prominence by these leaked Guantánamo files is the cold and incompetent stupidity of the system - 25th April 2011
 * positive miasma is a sort of Gestalt politics'' - The prime minister is often a mystery, even to his own party. But if he can't explain his vision, how can it be sold? - 18th April 2011
 * cultural cringe subverted'' - Only in Tasmania could Mona exist – an outsider's tilt at the orthodoxies of the art establishment - 14th April 2011
 * politicians say it, but most think it: our Afghan war is a disaster'' - The army is on the Soviet occupiers' path, with less success. What follows may be worse. All we can do, perhaps, is go - 11th April 2011
 * best architecture for spring 2011'' - From an exquisite new bridge in Salford, to a Finnish music venue - 5th April 2011
 * Clegg's social mobility plans should not be lost amid mockery'' - This may have felt like a horrible week for Nick Clegg, but he is brave in using his own privilege to abolish advantages for others - 7th April 2011
 * coalition must hold its nerve on NHS reform'' - Compromise is fine, but walk away from NHS reform completely and the government puts at risk pride and confidence in its entire programme for public services - 4th April 2011
 * community power halt the uglification of Britain's buildings?'' - Planning laws are to be shredded. But we should not fear more building, because England is greener than we realise - 28th March 2011
 * 2011: Guardian columnists' verdict'' - 24th March 2011
 * budget will not break this bloody-minded coalition'' - It's not the cuts but the AV referendum that will test Cameron and Clegg. Whatever happens, one side will feel defeated - 21st March 2011
 * anarchy and ecstasy of Cheltenham races'' - It's not just the horses and the crowds. I love Cheltenham because the normal rules don't apply - 18th March 2011
 * world's nuclear fate rests in Japan'' - A post-quake meltdown could end people's trust in atomic energy. But the planet would suffer for it - 14th March 2011
 * then and now: fond of dogs, tea and fancy foreign food'' - We are richer, freer and more diverse than 300 years ago but, as a book from 1808 reveals, so much remains the same - 21st February 2011
 * its dealings with Russia, Britain must tread a narrow path'' - The government's natural instinct is to improve relations – but it must not ignore the truth about Putin's regime - 14th February 2011
 * bus services are being slowly crushed by the pensioner burden'' - All sense but political sense says scrap the ill-judged generosity of spending £1bn a year so over-60s can travel free - 7th February 2011
 * situation report from the electoral reform battlefield'' - This isn't a battle over constituencies any more. It is now a showdown of wills between the executive and the opposition - 1st February 2011
 * growth, it's often best that the state does nothing'' - Economic recovery is unpredictable and easy to damage. The politicians' problem is that appearing hands-off looks dreadful - 31st January 2011
 * nationalising forestry was a disaster, an unthinking sell-off would be worse'' - We should fear the breakup of the Forestry Commission less and care about restoring our lost greenwoods more - 24th January 2011
 * coaltion that breaks things up to change society can't stop at the state'' - Fairness means liberals should be as unsparing in pursuit of private oligarchies like BSkyB as of public bureaucracies like the BBC - 17th January 2011
 * result relied on borrowed votes'' - The real talking point of the Oldham byelection is not the Labour victory, but the redistribution of votes between the main parties - 14th January 2011
 * rail is the future. At least, the state bets it is'' - I've returned from the Chilterns still a believer, but struck by the local protest and unsure the line is in the national interest - 6th December 2010
 * white sensations'' - We can now get plenty of data on the weather, but the numbers can't tell how it'll make us feel - 29th November 2010
 * the left falls into a negative sulk, the centre-right have become the optimists'' - Everything, the Labour party says, is about to get worse. The task of dreaming dreams has been left to Nick Clegg and David Cameron - 22nd November 2010
 * web may be lawless, but it won't stay that way'' - These skirmishes over Twitter are a reminder that, for all its pretence to liberty, we can't stop the internet civilising itself - 15th November 2010
 * could point the way to a Lib Dem obliteration'' - The byelection will provide a perfect experiment in coalition politics. Perversely, Labour has least to worry about - 7th November 2010
 * tips for the Liberal Democrats'' - Contrary to what many believe, the Lib Dems were right to choose coalition, and can remain a distinctive force - 4th November 2010
 * turn a failed bomb plot into an al-Qaida victory'' - Yemen is a catastrophe of a country, and we should help it. Talking up confrontation is a stupid response – and exactly what terrorists want to hear - 1st November 2010
 * Tower Hamlets fiasco is localism at its very worst'' - A dubious candidate was elected mayor by a tiny minority of voters. That's local democracy – the centre has to live with it - 25th October 2010
 * people now hate the Lib Dems for having power'' - This mindset doesn't judge the coalition for its actions but condemns its existence, and damns Clegg for compromising - 18th October 2010
 * left should recognise that equality is undesirable'' - It sounds horribly rightwing, but a fair society may be one in which people have the right to strive for inequality - 11th October 2010
 * must tackle the failure of the state, not abolish it'' - Ministers should mount a defence of smaller, more effective government – still the only way some goals can be achieved - 4th October 2010
 * advice to the coalition? Don't be nasty to Miliband'' - Smearing Labour's new leader, a decent man, as Red Ed will backfire on his critics. They should be testing him instead - 28th September 2010
 * theory meets anaesthetised local reality'' - The resigned acceptance of cuts I saw in Cannock is a good sign for the coalition. Yet there's raw meat for Labour here, too - 20th September 2010
 * the coalition wants to smash the state. That's good'' - The misery of cuts will grind the government down unless it boldly declares the ideology behind its spending plans - 13th September 2010
 * America could be a good friend, but we ignore it'' - Development and democracy flourish on the continent, and trade with it would help the UK to escape recession - 6th September 2010
 * dark side of gay liberation'' - Officially no one cares about a politician's sexuality. The William Hague case shows that isn't true - 2nd September 2010
 * Blair the actor, Gordon Brown the grump? No, the split was much deeper'' - Blair's book shows he thinks Brown was very wrong on policy - 1st September 2010
 * that cuts are accepted, we must all decide our fate'' - The coalition has shaped the argument brilliantly. But the spending review could fall apart without full public involvement - 3rd August 2010
 * reacts to Michael Gove's academies bill like a childhood nightmare'' - In its agitation, the oppositon has failed to notice the revolutionary part of the otherwise thin academies reform - 26th July 2010
 * matter again as the Commons is revitalised'' - But Westminster's new spirit may be stifled if the alternative vote, at core a top-down compromise, ever comes to pass - 19th July 2010
 * have the cenotaph: we don't need more memorials'' - If you want to put up a statue to the fallen of world war two it seems nothing can stop you. It is becoming a death cult, and it's time to end it - 12th July 2010
 * coalition must stay calm and ignore the sour yoghurt'' - The government must rise above the left's howl against budget cuts and explain its attempt at a fair distribution of pain - 5th July 2010
 * prime ministerial career ends in the ditch'' - The job traps you for life. Always departing in some form of ignominy, former PMs must then do penance for ever - 28th June 2010
 * is the moment to pack away the diamante wands'' - As the No 10 drinks party showed, the political battle over sexual politics is won. Yet the cultural battle is far from over - 20th June 2010
 * coalition's sunshine phase is over. Things are about to get nasty'' - Next week's budget will crush the fairytale mood. There is no great division in the coalition, but there may be in the country - 14th June 2010
 * Cameron wants to cut'' - The economic arguments will go on, but it's the PM's small-state instincts that have guided him to the decision to make these cuts - 8th June 2010
 * industry needn't pit sentiment against machismo'' - Theorists like Cable say bailing out British firms is pointless. Mandelson's cheque, however, would back a success story - 7th June 2010
 * Laws: felled by a creditable but misplaced sense of shame'' - This man of exceptional nobility has been broken: if not for entertainment, then because of a process no one seems able to stop - 31st May 2010
 * Laws: I fear he won't survive'' - This is a scandal – if it is a scandal – caused by the Liberal Democrat MP's inability to face up to his sexuality, not a desire to fiddle expenses - 29th May 2010
 * digital switchover is folly. Listeners like radio as it is'' - Billions must be spent on new sets. Car radios will stop working. But an industry has been built to impose this on us all - 24th May 2010
 * Clegg's careful not to over-promise'' - The zeal for reform is not in doubt, but the Con-Lib coalition has only a modest fund of political capital to draw on - 20th May 2010
 * public wants a ceasefire, so let's give peace a chance'' - Critics of the Lib-Con pact should pause: whether or not it brings permanent change, most people want this deal to work - 17th May 2010
 * in hand, in a liberal wonderland – that's Clegg and Cameron'' - Sceptics say the coalition can't last. But the PM and his deputy have created a government of breathtaking ambition - 13th May 2010
 * won't put up with being strung along forever'' - Cameron has held his party together during the negotiations, but he must avoid being tainted by Lib Dem indecision - 11th May 2010 (Cif at the polls)
 * onus is on Lib Dems. Do this Tory deal, or be consigned to irrelevance'' - Some of Clegg's MPs may desert – but that's no bad thing. Here is a real chance to take British politics beyond tribalism - 9th May 2010
 * left clinging to hope'' - With all three parties within a few points of each other, anything is possible – but Labour shouldn't be too optimistic - 4th May 2010
 * Cameron's view of progress isn't revolution, but quiet effectiveness'' - Cameron doesn't offer a new paradigm for government. He believes in taking things as they come, and in human potential - 4th May 2010
 * 2010: Could a blue-yellow coalition work?'' - Conservatives and Lib Dems share a lot of common ground. But would David Cameron agree to PR? - 26th April 2010
 * Clegg sees Labour as a dead party'' - Get real about the Lib Dems, Gordon Brown. They are gunning for your role as Britain's leading progressive force - 22nd April 2010
 * Stick us no more bills, please'' - Labour has passed enough new laws – too many to police. Politicians and the press should stop demanding them - 12th April 2010
 * is right - we need a liberal middle way'' - A Conservative leader seized by the idea of giving the ownership of group decisions back to groups deserves encouragement - 5th April 2010
 * defence policy is caught between pride and guilt'' - Fear of looking weak drives everything. Britain keeps buying the wrong equipment at the wrong price for the wrong wars - 21st March 2010
 * painful limits of localism'' - As the high-speed rail plans prove, the latest Tory attempt to distinguish between the national and the local is essential - 8th March 2010
 * 'Britain needs a Tory victory because …' Struggling to fill the blank? David Cameron is'' - It's co-ops one minute and harsh cuts the next. The Conservative leader must this week join the dots, clearly and simply - 22nd February 2010
 * vote for Cameron? Just look to Australia's Abbott'' - The Liberal leader offers a foretaste of a much nastier leader for Britain's centrist Tories - 12th February 2010
 * Straw demonstrates the flaws of the principled political careerist'' - The justice secretary kept his head down and put the government's survival first. He has been the vehicle for many wrongs - 1st February 2010
 * dictate the state of play. And sometimes get it wrong'' - The possibility of error in tracking voting intentions is increased by a spiral of silence. Labour shouldn't write off the election yet - 17th January 2010
 * needs more than latter-day Livingstones'' - If its wildlife is to be preserved, more income from the tourists who flock to safari parks must find its way to local people - 4th January 2010
 * if Tory toffs are Labour fantasy, Cameron needs to skewer that myth'' - Crude class war may not wash, but Conservatives are at risk if they don't show the modern intake is far from the stereotype - 7th December 2009
 * heats up Australian politics'' - Australia's Liberal leader is being forced out over emissions trading. The crisis may be a taste of what's to come elsewhere - 30th November 1009
 * cannot allow this foul insurgency to triumph'' - If we scuttle away from Afghanistan we will inflict horror on its people. The wrong people will win: in three years they might not - 23rd November 2009
 * bulldozing of nimbys must not become colonial'' - A new planning body that puts the national interest ahead of local concerns is welcome, but must be closely watched - 9th November 2009
 * Labour is not the only enemy Cameron must slay'' - If the Tories come to power, they will face further battles in trying to overthrow the entire progressive establishment - 26th October 2009
 * needs to read the one about the birthday cake and the feral abacus'' - The shock conservative loss in 1993 Australia is a cautionary tale: it is very, very risky to avoid explaining your plans - 13th October 2009
 * fast rail link could make all of Britain middle class'' - Without high-speed trains, London would become a first world island isolated from an impoverished hinterland - 28th September 2009
 * next election will be a battle of Worcester vs Lidl'' - As Britain becomes more diverse, voter intentions occur at microscopic levels that party pollsters struggle to measure - 14th September 2009
 * hard moorland way: trouble in our national parks'' - The question of who is in charge of the countryside takes in jealousy, diggers and class but deserves our honest attention - 31st August 2009
 * rail: the builder's estimate'' - Network Rail's figures for new rail links are so precise, they'll all turn out to be wrong. Someone else needs to take charge - 27th August 2009
 * Tories are fretting over the wrong thing this summer'' - Cameron's exclusivity and isolation from the past are his strengths. He is most at risk from the tide of old Tory ideas - 3rd August 2009
 * Did Brown save the world as the Tories did nothing? - During the banking crisis the PM had a plan. But it wasn't all good, and Cameron might have been just as effective - 20th July 2009
 * Mandelson shrugged off his ermine to take control of the country'' - Imagine the scenario: after a summer of further calamity Brown finally folds, leaving a lord to restore Labour fortunes - 6th July 2009
 * is openness in a V-sign, two fingers held up to voters'' - A parliament that felt remorse would not have allowed its expenses to come out dripping with ink from the censor's pen - 19th June 2009
 * still view the east from the Crusaders' battlements'' - David Miliband's plea for an end to the dark dualism between the west and Islam must be heeded - 25th May 2009
 * democracy'' - A new politics: In court, the jury system works. Why not bring unelected people into public bodies too? - 20th May 2009
 * deserve a full confession rather than a shallow apology'' - Our politicians peddled an economic illusion. They need to show us they now realise they're the reason for the failure - 27th April 2009
 * cuts are just massage. Cameron will need a hatchet'' - A Tory government will face a big bust-up with the public sector. Like the miners' strike 25 years ago, it could be definitive - 23rd March 2009
 * collapsing carbon market makes mega-pollution cheap'' - Europe's system to edge up the cost of emissions and boost green energy has backfired. There isn't much time to rescue it - 23rd February 2009
 * that's how to say sorry then'' - on the Bruce Springsteen apology over his Wal-Mart deal - 3rd February 2009
 * survivors of economic blast ask: what went wrong?'' - Davos has the air of crash inquiry into an airline that intends to keep on flying - 30th January 2009
 * tabloid hysteria is fake. The Baby P coverage is ghastly because it manipulates genuine outrage'' - Could it be that what we liberals really fear is the possibility that the tabloid press does reflect our own nation? - 27th November 2008
 * Churchill never even went to Australia so why do they still have bones to pick with him?'' - He had a habit of borrowing the dominion's navy and army for war, without telling its prime minister - 20th November 2008
 * simple rule for our politicians: just stay away from the Russian billionaire's superyacht'' - What part of: 'Oligarch. Big boat. Peter Mandelson. Spells trouble,' did George Osborne fail to understand? - 22nd October 2008
 * For Brown, prospect is loss of leadership - and his own seat - Glasgow East byelection - 25th July 2008
 * Sorry, Mr Brown, but 10 and 10 don't always add up to 20 - Perhaps more than any other, our prime minister is mesmerised by polls. If only he understood what they were telling him - 21st June 2008
 * Watch and learn, Mr Brown: nerds can be winners, too - Britain's embattled prime minister should take a leaf or two out of his focused and assured Australian counterpart's book - 10th April 2008
 * Davos 08: openly networking -When they could tear themselves away from their phones, Davos delegates were eager to find out about the future of mobile technology - 26th January 2008
 * Davos 08: the accidental presidents - Which leader was worse, George Bush or Vladimir Putin? - 25th January 2008
 * Davos 08: The vicar comes out - For a moment, it was as if he were still prime minister - except that, in his Downing Street days, Tony Blair didn't do God - 24th January 2008
 * Davos 08: Inside the brain - Neuro-economics anyone? The science of the mind is the next decade's greatest challenge, apparently. It could be terrifying - 24th January 2008
 * Davos 08: The Condi show - Condoleezza Rice's keynote speech was a huge draw, and her attempted defence of the neocon worldview was a plea for sympathy, if not an admission of failure - 23rd January 2008
 * Davos 08: Reasons to be anxious - The conference centre is full of people worrying about all sorts of doom: economic, environmental and political - 23rd January 2008
 * Davos 08: Climate change is out of fashion - The UN official who led the Bali climate change talks has an uncompromising message for the World Economic Forum - 23rd January 2008
 * The wind of no change - Seeking refuge in empty language, Jacqui Smith appeared on the Today programme this morning with absolutely nothing to say - 17th January 2008
 * Turnout down under - Next weekend's election in Australia should see 95% participation by voters: is there a lesson for Gordon Brown here? - 19th November 2007
 * The national indifference - England and Scotland are becoming foreign lands - thanks chiefly to ignorance on the south - 30th October 2007
 *  State inaction on climate is a grave dereliction of duty - Government exists to achieve tasks individuals cannot tackle alone. On the environmental crisis, it has badly failed - 8th September 2007
 * The allure of a snap election is laced with cowardice - A prime minister who had faith in his own character would resist the temptations of going to the country early - 1st September 2007
 * Campbell's coup - Political diaries can vary from the sensational to the staggeringly dull. If anyone can tell the difference, it should be Tony Blair's former spin doctor - 9th March 2007
 * Why the Cockerell crows - Neil Kinnock said Tony Blair likes chaps in uniforms, but what else did we learn from part one of Michael Cockerell's documentary? - 21st February 2007