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Refighting World War One
If anybody still thought British history wasn’t a heavily politicised subject then the current skirmishing between some of our leading political figures over the meaning of World War One should have...
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Scuttlers: what the present does to the past
I recently spotted this wine bar in what is now called the 'Northern Quarter' in Manchester city centre. A hundred years ago - in fact ten years ago - the area would have been known as Ancoats, one...
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‘The Good Life Factor’ and the rise of Margaret Thatcher
During an email exchange with Richard Kelly, Head of Politics at Manchester Grammar School and author of a highly regarded study of how Conservative Party conferences actually work, recalled: Back in...
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The ‘Yes, Minister Effect’ and trust in civil servants
On Twitter recently, Ben Page of Ipsos MORI compared levels of public trust in judges, civil servants and politicians in 1983 and 2013, findings that form part of his organisation's ongoing survey of...
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Britain or No Britain? Are we trapped in an episode of Deal or No Deal?
I’ve spent the last few years of my life immersed in stories of various kinds, stories about British democracy. So metaphor and simile have been my meat and drink, as it were. Perhaps I’ve done a bit...
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Don’t blame Blackadder
As Britain starts four years of commemorating the centenary of the First World War, Blackadder Goes Forth, first broadcast on BBC1 in 1989, has - bizarrely - taken centre stage. Conservative Education...
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A State of Play: the short world tour
Already hailed for its 'brilliant analysis' by John Rentoul my new book A State of Play was published on April 24th, and should be available in the book shops now, but of not, you can order it direct...
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The Other (and more relevant) Tony Benn
Benn the labour militant: how many remember him Most of the reactions to the death of Tony Benn have focused on the man who turned left in the 1970s, embraced union militancy and became ‘the most...
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Where are lesbians in political fiction?
a lesbian in politics: emotionally unstable, about to top herself Last week I gave a lecture as part of my final year undergraduate Fictionalised Politics course, which looks at how representative...
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Manchester, Salford and political fiction
When I wrote A State of Play. British Politics on the Screen, Stage and Page, From Anthony Trollope to The Thick of It I didn’t deliberately seek out fictions with a Manchester or Salford connection....
View ArticleWho won and who lost The Battle for Downing Street?
In one corner, the old school pro, whose reputation precedes them and who can do no more than repeat their long-established, hammy, act. In the other, a plucky outsider many ridicule for being...
View ArticleDavid Cameron’s A Bridge Too Far?
At the start of the 2015 election campaign David Cameron revealed to Daily Telegraph readers that he liked war films and in particular A Bridge Too Far. As someone who has spent a fair share of my time...
View ArticleWhy Labour lost
This is the draft conclusion to my analysis of Labour's campaign, for a special edition of Parliamentary Affairs and the Oxford University Press book Britain Votes 2015. Labour lost the 2015 general...
View ArticleWho’s afraid of Clement Attlee? Why Labour should remember 1945
According to Simon Heffer, those aspiring to lead the Labour party are ‘not even fighting the last election, but rather the one in 1945’. Heffer, an infamous reactionary, cited Clement Attlee’s victory...
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